abdicate to give up formally (a high office, throne, authority, etc.).
Hezekiah a biblical king of Judah in the time of Isaiah: 2 Kings 18–20.
forsaken abandoned; desolate; forlorn.
armies had come from the North to set them free reference to Union forces that fought in the South during the U.S. Civil War and, as they traveled between battles, freed southern slaves.
Slaves done ris “Slaves have risen,” a reference to a slave revolt at another plantation in which one or more slaves had turned against an oppressor.
judgment trumpet one of seven trumpets that will herald the apocalypse.
plagues with which the lord had afflicted Egypt reference to the ten plagues that God sent to Egypt so that the Israelites would be released from slavery and allowed to leave.
He done brought us out of Egypt God has set them free from slavery; a biblical allusion to the Israelites being led out of Egypt and slavery.
switch a thin flexible twig or stick used for whipping.
Peter and Paul in the dungeon cell reference to two Christian apostles who were martyred, probably during the reign of Nero.
the war WWI.
bleaching cream a lotion used to lighten the skin.
