He became St. Clare's best friend, as well as Eva's. Eva and he were inseperable. They studied the bible together, and they gave each other hope in life. Although Tom was not with his family or friends (Tom had been on the Shelby farm his entire life), he was happy on the St. Clare farm.
However, all of that changed when Eva lost her life. She became very sick one year and she died soon after that. This led to Mr. St. Clare going into a depression stage in his life. He seemed to have lost all hope in life, and in god. So one day he decided to go to a local bar which turned out to be a fatal decision for him. He was stabbed in a barroom brawl that he was not a part in, and he died soon after. .
St. Clare had always promised Tom his unconditional freedom before he had been killed, and days before the killing St. Clare had been working on the pertinent paper-work. The only problem was that the paper-work was not finished by the time of his death, and Mrs. St. Clare was going to sell the plantation and the slaves. Tom had no choice but to face the auction block. .
At the auction, Tom sees a woman and her daughter sold separately. Then Tom was sold to the same man that bought the daughter. His name was Simon LeGree, and he was a cruel slave driver. LeGree also lived far in the South, but things were different from the St. Clare plantation. His was unattractive, and the slaves were living in poor conditions. .
LeGree put Tom to grueling manual labor along with the other slaves. The food was given in small ratios, the living quarters were small and old, and the clothes were raggedy. LeGree didn't like Tom from the start. It all began when he told Tom to whip the daughter from the auction named Emmiline. Tom said that was immoral, and that he would not do it. LeGree then put his two slave drivers to beat Tom senseless. Throughout his stay there, Tom also maintained that his soul was not for the slave owner, and only for God.