pierce the freedman at port royal

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18(S3.] The Freedmen at Port Royal. 2 9 1

watch for many months beside this be

loved one. It was not a wild delirium

which had taken possession of him; the

only fit of that kind was that in which

he t r ied to drown himself in the R hine ,

— at the t ime when the papers got holdof the terrible secret. His insanity was

manifested in his conviction that he was

occupied by the souls of Beeth ove n and

Schubert . Much in the ma nne r of your

Am erica n m ediums, he would be seized

by a control l ing power,—would snatch a

pencil, and dash out upon paper the wild

est discords. The se we would play for

him, at his request, from morning till

n ight , — during much of which t ime he

would seem to be in a happy trance.

Of this music no chord or melody was

tr ue ; they were jangl in g memories ofhis earlier works.

" On e day he c alled his wife and my

self, and took our hands in h is ow n: —

' Beethov en says that my earth ly music

is ov er; i t cannot be unders tood h er e;

he writes for angels, and I shall write

for them. ' The n, turnin g to me, he said ,

— ' Louis , my friend, farewe ll! This ismy las t praye r for you,' — handing m e the

pape r which I h ave shown yo u; ' and

now leave us, to come again and kiss me

when I am cold.'

" Then I left him alone with his Clara.

" A month from that t ime, Schumann

was no more ."

Out under the glowing sunset, I clasp

ed hands part ing with Louis Boehner,

and said, as my voice would let me, —

" Tak e th is pape r, and w hen you would

have a friend, such as you have been toRobert Schumann, come and help me

to bo that friend."

TH E FR EE DM EN A T PORT ROYAL.

T w o quest ions are concerned in the

social problem of our time. One is. Will

the people of African descent work for a

living ? and the othe r is. Will they fight

for their freed om? A n affirmative an

swer to these must be put beyond any

fair dispute before they will receive per

man ent securi ty in law or opinion. W ha t

ever may be the theses of philosophers or

the instincts of the justest men, the gen

eral sense of mankind is not likely to ac

cord the rights of complete citizenship to

a race of paupers, or to hesitate in impos

ing compulsory labor on those who have

not industry sufficient to support them

selves . Nor, in the present development

of human nature, is the conscience of

great communities likely to be so perva

sive and controlling as to restrain them

from disrega rding t he rights of those whom

it is perfectly safe to injure, because they

have not the pluck to defend themselves.

Sent iment may be lavished upon them

in poetry and tears, but it will all be

wasted. Lik e all unpriv ileged classes be

fore them, they will have their full recog

ni t ion 'as ci t izens and men when they

hav e vindicated th eir title to be an es

tate of the realm, and not before. Let

us, then, take the world as we find it, and

try this people accordingly . But it is not

pert inent to any pract ical inquiry of our

time to predict what triumphs in art, lit

erature, or government they are to ac

complish, or what romance is to glow

upon their history. No IHad may bo

wri t ten of them and their woes . No Plu

tarc h may ga ther th e lives of their heroes .

No Vand yck may del ight to warm his

canvas with their forms. Ho w ma ny

or how few astronomers l ike Ban neke r,

chieftains like Toussaint, orators like

Douglass they may have, it is not worth

while to conjectu re. It is be tter to dis

miss the se fanciful discussions. To vin

dicate their title to a fair chance in the



29-2 The Freedmen at Port Royal. [ S e p t e m b e r ,

•worM as a free p eop le, it is sufficient, an d

alone sufficient, that i t appear to reason

able minds that they are in good and

evi l very much l ike the rest of mankind,

and that they are endowed m about the

same degree wi th the conservat ive andprogressive e lements of character com

mon to ordinary humani ty.

It is given to the people of this coun

try and time, could they realize i t , to

make a new chapter of hum an ex peri

ence. Th e past may suggest, bu t i t can

do li t t le eithe r in directing or dete rrin g.

There is nothing in the gloomy vat ic ina

tions of Tocqneville, wise and benevolent

as he is, which should be permitted to

dark en our future . The mediaeval an

tagonisms of races, when Christ iani ty

threw but a par t ia l l ight over mankin d,

and before commerce had unfolded the

harmony of interests among people of di

verse origin or condition, determine no

laws which will fetter the richer and more

various develo pme nt of mod ern life. No r

do the results of emancipation in the

West Indies, more or less satisfactory as

they may be , a iford any m easure of the

progress which opens before our en fran

chised masses. Th e insular and c ontra ct

ed life of the colonies, cramped also as

they were by debt and absenteeism, has no

paral le l in the grand currents of thought

and activity ever sweeping throtigh the

cont inent on which our problem is to be

solved.

In the l ight of these views, the a t tempt

shal l be made to report t ruthful ly upon

the freedmen a t Po rt Roy al . A word,

how ever, as to the nam e. Civilization,

in i ts career, may often be traced in

the nomenclatures of successive periods.

These people were first called contra

band s a t Fort ress Monroe ; but a t P ort

Royal , where they were next int rodu

ced to us in any considerable number,

they were generally referred to as freed

men . These terms are mi lestones in our

progress; and they are yet to be lost

in the bet ter and m ore comprehensive

designation of cit izens, or, when discrimi

nation is convenient, cit izens of African

descent .

Th e enterprise for the protect ion and

development of the freedmen a t Port

Royal has won i t s way to the regard of

man kind. Th e best minds of Eur ope ,

as well as the best fi-iends of the United

Sta tes, l ike Cairnes and Gaspa rin, havetestified much interest in i ts progress. A n

Eng lish periodical of considerab le m erit

not iced a t some length " Mr. Pierce 's

Ten Thousand Cl i en ts . " In Pa r l i am ent ,

Earl Russel l noted i t in i t s inc ipient

stage , as a reason why Eng land should

not interve ne in Am erican affa irs . Th e

" Revue des De ux M ond es," in a re

cent number, character izes the colony as

" that small pacific army, far more impor

tant in the history of civilization than all

the military expeditions despatched from

time to t ime since the commencement ofthe civil war."

No li t t le historical intere st covers th e

region to which this account belongs.

Explora t ions of the coast now known

as that of the Carolinas, Georgia, and

Florida , involving the r ival pre tensions

of Spain and F ran ce , were made in the

f irst ha l f of the sixteenth century . Th ey

were conduc ted by Ponce de Leon , Vas-

quez, Ver razan i , and Soto, in search of

the founta in of perpetual youth, or to ex

tend empire by r ight of discovery. Bu tno permanent se t t lement by way of colo

ny or garrison was attempted until l . ' )62.

In that year , — the same in which he

drew his sword for his faith, and ten

years before the Massacre of St . Bar

tholomew, in which he fell the most i l

lustrious victim, — Ad mir al Coligny , th e

grea t Pro t e s t an t chief, anxious to found

bey ond th e seas a refuge for pers ecute d

Huguenots, fi t ted out the expedition of

Je an Ribaul t , which, af ter a voyage of

over three months across the ocean and

northward a long the coast , cast anchoron May 27th in the harbor of Port Roy

al , and gave i t the name which i t re ta ins

to this day. Th at year was a lso to be

ever memorable for another and far dif

ferent enterprise , which was dest ined to

be wri t ten in dark and perpetual l ines on

hum an history. Th en i t was that Jo hn



1 8 6 3 . ] The Freedmen at Port Royal. 2 9 3

Hawkins sailed for Africa in quest of the

first cargo of negroes ever brought to the

New World . Th e exped i tion o f R ibau l t

was the first visit of Europeans to Port

Koyal or to any part of South Carolina,

and the garrison left by him was the firstset t lement unde r their auspices ever m ade

on th is cont inent north of Mexico. Th ere

is not space or need to detail here the

mutiny and suffering of this military col

ony, their abandonment of the post , the

terrib le voyage homeward, or the perse

verance of Coligny in his original pur

pose. Nor is it within the compass of this

narrat ive to recount the fortunes of the

second garrison, which was founded on

the St . John 's , the v is i t of John Hawkins

in 1565 with timely relief, the return of

Ribau l t from Fr an ce and his sad fate ,the ferocity of Melendez against all her

et ic Frenchmen, and the avenging chiv

alry of Dominic de -Gourges. Th e stu

den t is baffled in attem pts to fix localities

for the deeds and explorations of this pe

riod, even with the he lp of the several

accounts and the drawings of Le Moyne ;

and, besides, these later vicissitudes did

not involve any permanent occupat ion as

far north as Por t Roy al , tha t region ha v

ing been abandoned by the Frenc h, and

being then visited by the Spanish only

for t rade or adventure.

Some merchants of Barbados, in 1663,

sent Wil l iam H il ton and other commis

s ioners to Florida, then including Port

Royal , to explore the country with refer

ence to an emigrat ion th i the r. Hil ton 's

Narrat ion, published in London the year

after, mentions St. Elle ns as one of th e

points v is ited , mean ing St . H elena , but

probably including the Sea Is lands un

der tha t name . Th e nat ives were found

to speak many Spanish words, and to be

famil iar enough with the r epo rt of guns

not to be alarmed by it. T he commis

sioners, whose explorations were evi

dent ly pro mp ted by motives of gain, close

a somewhat glowing description of the

country by saying, " And we could wish

that al l they that want a happy set t le

ment of our English nat ion were well

t ransported th i ther."

Hi ther to Eng la nd had bo rne no p ar t

in explor ing this region. Bu t, relieved

of her civil wars by the Restoration, she

beg an to seek colonial emp ire on the

southern coast of Nor th Am erica. In

1663 , Charles II . granted a charter toClarendon, Monk, Shaflsbury , — each fa

mou s in t he conflicts of those time s, —•

and to the ir associates, as propr ietors of

Carol ina. Th e genius of Joh n Locke,

more fitted for philosophy than affairs,

devised a constitution for the colony, —

an idle work, as it prove d. In 1670, the

first emigrants , und er Governor Wil l iam

Sayle, arrived at Po rt Roya l , with th e

purpose to remain there; but , d is turbed

probably with apprehensions of Spanish

incursions from Florida, they removed

to the ban ks of the A shley, and, afteranoth er chang e of site, founded Charle s

ton.

In 1682, a colony from Scotland un

der Lord Cardross was founded at Po rt

Koya l , but was driven away four y ears

later by the Spanish . No perm anen t

settlem ent of the Beaufo rt district ap

pea rs to have succeeded until 1700. This

district is divided into four pa rishes, St.

Pe te r ' s , S t . Luke ' s , S t . He lena , and

Pr inc e Willia m, being fifty-eight miles

long and th irty-two broad, and contain

in g 1,224,960 acres . St . He lena parish

includes the islands of St. Helena, La

dies, Po rt R oyal , Paris , and a few small

er islands, which, together with Hilton

Head, make the district occupied by our

forces. Th e largest and most populous of

these islands is St. Hel ena , being fifteen

miles long an d six or seven broad , con

taining fifty plantations and three thou

sand negroes , and perhaps more s ince

the evacuat ion of Edis to . Po rt Royal is

two-thirds or three-quarters the size of

St . Helena, Ladies half as large, and

Hil ton He ad one-th ird as large. Paris ,

or Parry, has five plantations, and Coo-

saw, Mo rgan, Cat , Can e, and Barnw ell

hav e each one or two . Beaufo rt is the

largest town in the district of tha t nam e,

and the only one at Po rt Royal in our

possession. Its popula tion, black and

white, in time of pea ce m ay have been



2 9 4 Hie Freedmen at Port Royal. [ S e p t e m b e r ,

between two and three thousand. Th e

first lots were granted in 1717. Its Epis

copal churc h was built in 1720. Its li

bra ry was instituted in 1802, had increa s

ed in 1825 to six or eight hun dre d vol

umes , and when our military occupationbegan contained about th irty-five hun

d red .

Th e orig in of the name P ort R oyal ,

given to a harbor at first and since to an

is land, has already been note d. ' Th e

name of St. Helena, applied to a sound,

a parish, and an island, originated prob

ably with the Span iards, and was g iven

by them in t r ibute to Saint Helena, the

mother of Constant ine the Great , whose

day in the calendar is August 18th .

Broad River is the equivalent of La

Grande, which was g iven by Ribaul t .Hil ton H ead m ay have been derived from

Captain H il ton , who came from Barba

dos. Coosaw is the name of a tribe of

Ind ians . Beau fort is likely to have been

so called for He nry , D uk e of Beauford,

one of the lord proprietors, while Caro

l ina was a province of Great Bri tain .

Th e Beauf ort District is not inv ested

with any considerable Revolut ionary ro

ma nce . In 1779, the British forces hold

ing Sav annah sent two hund red t roops

with a how itzer a nd two field-pieces to

Bea ufort. Fo ur companies of militia

from Char lesto n with tw o field-pieces,

reinforced by a few volunteers from

Beaufort, repulsed and drove them otF.

Th e Bri t ish made marau ding incursions

from Charleston in 1782, and are said to

have levied a mihtary contribut ion on

St . Helena and Port Royal Is lands .

Th ere are the remains of Indian mounds

and a ncie nt forts on the islands. O ne

of the se last, it is said, can be trac ed on

Paris Island, and is claimed by some an

tiquaries to be the Charles Fort built by

Rib ault . Th ere are the well-preserved

walls of one upon the plantation of John

J. Sm ith on Po rt Royal Island, a few

miles south of Beaufort, now called Camp

Saxton, and recent ly occupied by Col

onel Higg inson's regim ent. It is built

of cem ented oyster-shells. Common re

mark refers to it as a Spanish fort, but

it is likely to be of English construction.

Th e site of C harles Fo rt is claimed for

Beaufort , Lemon Is land, Paris Is land,

and other points.

The Sea Islands are formed by the in

tersection of the creeks and arms of thesea. Th ey have a uniform level, are

without any s tones , and present a rather

monotonous and uninteres t ing scenery ,

spi te of the raptures of Fre nc h explorers .

The creeks run up in to the is lands at

numerous points, affording facilities for

transportation by flats and boats to the

buildings which are usually near them.

Th e soil is of a light, sandy mould, a nd

yields in the best seasons a very moder

ate crop, say fifteen bushels of corn and

one hundred or one hundred and th irty

pounds of ginned cotton to the acre, •—•quite different from th e planta tions in Mis

sissippi and Texas, where an acre pro

duces five or six hun dre d pounds. Th e

soil is not ric h enou gh for the cult ivat ed

grasses, and one finds but little turf. T h e

coarse saline grasses, gathered in stacks,

.furnish the chief material for manure.

The long-fibred cotton peculiar to the

region is the result of the climate, which

is affected by the action of the salt wa

ter upon the atmosphere by means of

the creeks which permeate the land in

all directions. T he seed of this cotton,planted on the upland, will produce in

a few years the cotton of coarser text

ure ; and the seed of the lat ter , p lanted

on the islands, will in a like period pro

duce the finer s taple. Th e Trea sury De

partment secured eleven hundred thou

sand pounds from the islands occupied

by our forces, including Edisto, being the

crop, mostly unginned, and gathered in

storehouses, when our -military o ccupa

t ion began.

Th e characteris tic t rees are the l ive-oak, its wood almost as heavy as lig-

num-vitse, the trunk not high, but some

times five or six feet in diameter, and

extending its crooked branches far over

the land, with the long, pendulous, fune

real moss adhering to them , — and the

palmetto, shooting up its long, spongy

stem thirty or forty feet, unrelieved by



1 8 6 3 . ] The Freedmen at Port Eoyal. 2 9 5

vines or branc hes, with a disproportion

ately small cap of leaves at the summit,

the most ungainly of trees, albeit it gives

a name and coa t -o f -a rms to the S ta te .

Besides these, are the p ine, the red

and white oak, the cedar, the bay, thegum , the maple, and the ash. Th e soil

is luxuriant with an undergrowth of

impene trable v ines . T hese in terlacing

the trees, supported also by shrubs, of

which the cassena is the most distin

guished variety, and faced with ditches,

make the prevailing fences of the plan

tat ions . The hedges are adorned in

Ma rch and Apri l with the yel low jes

samine, {jelseminum,') — the cross-vine

(bignonia,) with its mass of rich red

blossoms, — the Chero kee rose, (Icevi-

gata,) spreading out in long wavingwreaths of w hite , — and, two months

later , the palmetto royal , (yucca glorio-

sa,') which protects the fence with its

prickly leaves, and dehghts the eyes with

its pyramid-like clusters of white flow

ers. Some of these trees and shrubs

serve a utilitari an end in ar t an d m edi

cine . The live-oak is famous in ship

bui ld ing. The palmetto , or cabbage-pal

metto, as it is called, resists destruction

by worm s, and is used for facing wha rves.

I t was employed to protect Fo rt M oul

trie in 17 76, when bombarded by the

British fleet; and the cannon-balls were

buried in its spongy substance. Th e

moss (tillandsia usneoides) served to

calk th e rud e vessel of the first F re nc h

colonists, longin g for hom e. It may be

used for bedding after its life has been

killed by boiling water, and for the sub

sistence of cattle when destitute of other

food. Th e cassena is a powerful diuretic.

The game and fish, which are both

abundant and of desirable kinds, and to

the pursui t of winch the p lanters weremuch addicted, are described in Eliot 's

book. • Russel l 's " D ia ry " may also be

consulted in relation to fishing for devil

and drum.

The best dwellings in Beaufort are

capacious, with a piazza on the first and

second stories, through each of which

runs a largo hall to admit a free circula

tion of air. On ly one, howe ver, app ear

ed to have been bui l t und er the super

vision of a professional arc hite ct. Thos e

on the plantations, designed for the plant

ers or overseers, were, with a few ex

cept ions, of a very mean character, anda thriv ing mechanic in New England

would tur n his back on them as unfit to

l ive in . Their yards are without turf,

having as their best feature a neighbor

ing grove of orange - trees . On e or two

dwellings only appe ar to be ancient. In

deed, they are not well enough built to

last long. Th e estates upon Edisto Is

land are of a more patrician character,

and are occasionally surrounded by spa-

clous flower-gardens and ornam enta l trees

fancifully trimmed.

Th e names of the p lanters indicatedmainly an English origin, although some

may be traced to Huguenot families who

sought a refuge here from the religious

persecut ions of France.

The deserted houses were general ly

found strewn with rehgious periodicals,

mainly Baptis t magazines . This charac

teristic of Southern life has been else-'

where observed in the progress of our

arm y. Occasionally some book deno un

cing slavery as criminal and ruinous was

found among those left behind. On e of

these was Hewatt 's history of South

Carolina, published in 1779, and re

printe d in Carroll 's collection. An othe r

•was Gregoire's vindication of the negro

race and tribute to its distinguished ex

amples , t ranslated by Warden in 1810.

These people seem, indeed, to have had

light enough to see the infinite wrong of

the system, and it is difficult to believe

them entirely sincere in their passion

ate defence of it . Th eir very violence,

when the moral basis of slavery is as

sailed, seems to be that of a man whodistrusts the rightfulness of his daily con

duct, has resolved to persist in it , and

therefore hates most of all the prophet

who comes to con front him for his mis

deeds, and, if need be, to publish them

to mankind.

Well-authe nt icated ins tances of cruel ty

to slaves wer e brough t to notice withou t



2 9 6 The Freedmen at Port Royal. [ S e p t e m b e r ,

bein g sought for. Th e whip ping-tr ee is

now often po inted out, still showing the

place where it was worn by the rope

which boun d the sufferer to it . O n the

plantat ion whe re my own quar ters were

was a woman who had been so beatenwhen approaching the t r ials of materni ty

as to crush out the life of the unborn

child . Bu t th is p lanter had one daugh

ter who looked with horror on the scenes

of which she was the unwilling witness.

She declared to her parents and s is ters

that it was hell to live in such a place.

She was accustomed to advise the ne

groes how best to avoid being whip ped.

W he n the wa r began, she assured them

that the s tory of the masters that the

Yankees were going to send them to

Cub a was all a lie. Sur ely a kind Pro videnc e will care for this noble gi rl! This

war wil l , indeed, emancipate o thers than

blacks from bonds which marria ge and

kin dre d hav e involved. B ut it is un

pleasant to dwell on these painful scenes

of the past, constant and authe ntic as

they a re ; and they hardly concern the

• prac tical question which now presses for

a solution. Nor in referrin g to them is

there any need of in just ice or exaggera

t ion . Hu ma n nature has not the phys

ical endurance or moral pers is tence to

keep up a perpetual and universal cruelty ; and th ere are fortunate slaves who

never received a blow from their mas

t e r s . Besides, there was less labor ex

acted and less discipline imposed on the

loosely ma nage d plantations of the Sea

Islands than in other districts where

slave-labor was better and more profitr

ably organized and directed .

The capture of Hil ton Head and Bay

Poin t by the navy, November 7 th , 1861,

was followed by the imm ediate militar y

occupation of the Sea Islands. In t he

la t t e r pa r t o f December , the S ecre ta ry

of the T reasur y , Mr. Chase, whose fore

sight as a statesman and humane dispo

sition nat ura lly .turned his thoug hts to

the subject, deputed a special agent to

visit this district for the purpose of re

porting upon the condition of the negroes

who had been aband oned by the wh ite

population, and of suggesting some plan

for the organization of their labor and the

promotion of their general well-being.

Th e agen t , leav ing New Yor k J anu ary

13th, 1862, reached that city again on hisway-to Washington on the 13th of Feb ru

ary, having in the mean time visited a

large number of the p lantat ions , and talk

ed familiarly with the neg roes in thei r cab

ins. Th e results of his observations, in re

lation to the condition of the people, their

capacities and wishes, the culture of their

crops, and the best mode of adm inistra

tion, on the whole favorable, were embod

ied in a repo rt. Th e plan proposed by

h im recommended the appo in tmen t o f

superintendents to act as guides of the

negroes and as local magistrates, with anadequ ate corps of teachers . I t was ac

cepted by the Secretary with a fu l l in

dorsement , and i ts execut ion in trusted

to the same agent . The agen t present

ed the subject to several members of

Congress, with whom he h ad a perso n

al acquaintanc e, but , though they lis

tened respectfully, they seemed either to

dread the magnitude of the social ques

tion, or to feel that it was not one with

which they as legislators were called up

on immediately to deal . The S ecreta ry

himself, and Mr. Olmsted, then connected with the San itary Comm ission, alone

seemed to grasp it, and to see the neces

sity of immediate action. It is doubtful

i f any mem ber of the Cabinet , excep t

Mr. Chase, took then any interest in the

enterprise, though it has since been fos

tered by the Secre tary of W ar . A t the

suggestion of the Sec reta ry, th e P resi

dent appointed an in terview with the

agent . Mr. Lincoln , who was then chaf

ing under a prospect ive bereavement , lis

tened for a few moments, and then said,

somewhat impatiently, that he did not

think he ought to be troubled with such

detai ls ,—that there seemed to be an i tch

ing to get negroes into our lines; to which

the age nt repl ied , that these negroes were

within them by the invitation of no one,

being domiciled there before we com

menced occupat ion. Th e Preside nt then




•wrote and handed to the agent the fol

l o w i n g c a r d : —

" I shall be obliged if the S ec. of the

Tre asu ry wi l l in his discre tion give Mr.

Pierce such inst ruct ions in regard to PortRoyal contrabands as may seem judic ious.

" A . L I N C O L N .

" Feb. 15,1862."

Th e Presid ent , so history must w ri te

i t , approached the great quest ion slowly

and re luc t an t ly ; and in Februa ry , 1862 ,

he l i t t le dreamed of the proclamat ions he

was to i ssue in t h e Sep tem ber and J an

ua ry fol lowing. Pe rha ps tha t slowness

and re luctan ce were wel l , for thereb y i t

was given to this people to work out

thei r own sa lvat ion, ra ther than to be

saved by any chief or prophet .

Notwi ths t and ing the p l an o f supe r in

t enden t s was accep ted , t he re were no

funds wherew ith to pay them . At this

stage the " Educat ional Commission," or

ganized in Boston on the 7th of Feb

rua ry , and the " Freed men ' s R e l i e f As

socia t ion," organized in New York on

the 20th of the same month, gal lant ly

vo lun tee red to pay bo th supe r in t enden t s

and teachers , and did so unt i l Ju ly 1st ,

when the Government , hav ing de r ived a

fund from the sale of confiscated cotton

lef t in the terr i tory by the Rebels, under

took the pay men t of t he supe r in t enden t s ,

the tw o spciet ies, together wi th an othe r

organized in Phi ladelphia on the 3d of

March , and ca l led the " Po r t Ro ya l R e

l ief Commit tee ," providing for the sup

por t o f t he t eache rs .

W he n these volunta ry associa t ions

spra ng into being to save an enterprise

which otherwise must have fa i led, no

authori ta t ive assurance had been given

as to the legal condition of the negroes.Th e S ecre ta ry, in a le t ter to the agen t ,

had said, that, after being received in

to our service , they could not , wi thout

great injust ice , be restored to thei r mas

ters, and should therefore be fit ted to be

come se l f-support ing c i t izens. Th e Presi

dent was reported to have sa id free ly, in

private , tha t negroes who were wi thin

VOL. X I I . • 20

our l ines, and had been employed by the

Government , should be protected in thei r

freedom. N o oflicial assu ranc e of this

had, however , been given; and i t s ab

sence disturbed the societies in their for

mat ion. A t one meet ing of the Bostonsocie ty. ac t ion was tem porari ly arrested

by the expression of an opinion by a gen

t leman present , tha t there was no evi

dence showing that these people , when

educated, would not be the vic t ims of

some unh app y compromise . A publ ic

meet ing in Providence, for thei r relief,

i s sa id tp have broken up wi thout ac t ion, .

because of a speech from a furloughed

officer of a regiment stationed at Port

Roy al , who con sidered such a resul t th e

probab le one. Bu t the socie t ies, on re

flection, wisely determ ined to do w hatthey could to prepare them to become

self-supporting citizens, in the belief, t ha t ,

when they ha d become such, no Gov ern

ment could ever be found base enough to

turn I ts back upon them. The se associa

t ions, i t should be sta ted, have been man

aged by persons of much considera t ion in

thei r respect ive communi t ies, of unosten

ta t ious phi lanthropy, but of energet ic and

pract ica l benevo lence , hardly one of whom

has ever fi l led or been a candidate for a

poHtical oflice.

There was a pleasant interview at this

t ime which may f it ly be ment ioned . Th e

vene rab le Jos l ah Q uincy , j us t en t e red on

his ninety-f irst ye ar , hear ing of the enter

pr ise , desi red to see one who had charge

of i t . I went to his chamber, wh ere he

had been confined to his bed for many

week s wi th a frac tured l imb. H e ta lked

l ike a pat r iot who read the hour and i t s

duty . H e fe lt t roubled lest adeq uate

power had not been given to protect the

ente rpris e, — said th at bu t for his disa

bili ty he should be glad to write something about i t , but tha t he was l iving

" the p ostscript of his l if e" ; and as we

parted, he gave his hearty benedic t ion to

the work and to myself Restored in a

me asu re to activity, he is sti ll spared to th e

generation which fondly cherishes his old

age ; and recent ly, a t the organizat ion of

the Union Club, he read to his fellow-citi-




zens, gathering c lose about him and ha ng

ing on his speech, words of counsel and

encouragement .

On the morning of the 3d of March,

1862, the first delegation of superintend

ents and teac hers , fifty-three in all , ofwhom twe lve wer e wom en, lef t the har

bor of New York, on board the Uni ted

Sta tes steam-transport At lant ic , a iTiving

at Beaufo rt on the 9th. I t was a voy

age neve r to be forgot ten. Th e enter

pr ise was new a nd «t ran ge, an d i t was

not easy to pre dict i ts future . Success

• or defeat m ight be in store for us ; a nd

we could only t rust in God that our

st rength would be equal to our respon

sibilit ies. As the colonists app roac hed the

shores of South Carol ina , they were ad

dressed by the agent in charge", who toldthem the l i t t le he had learned of thei r

dut ies, enjoined pat ience a nd hum ani ty,

impressed on them the greatness of thei r

work, the resul ts of which were to cheer

or dishearten good men, to se t t le , per

haps , one way or the other , the socia l

problem of the age , — assuring them that

never did a vessel bear a colony on a

nobler mission, not ev en the Mayflower,

when she conveyed the Pi lgr ims to Ply

mouth, tha t i t would be a poorly wri t ten

history which should omit the i r individ

ual names, and that, if faithful to their

t rust , there would come to them the high

est of all recognitions ever accorded to

angels or to men, in this hfe or the next ,

— " Inasmu ch a s ye have done it un to the

least of these , ye have done i t unto Me."

This f i rst de legat ion of superintendents

and teachers were dist r ibuted during the

first fortnight after their arrival at Beau

fort , and at i ts close they had all reached

thei r appoin ted posts . The y took thei r

quarters in the deser ted houses of the

plan ters . These had a l l lef t on the ar

r ival of our army, only four w hi te me n,

c i t izens of South Carol ina , remaining,

and none . of those being slaveholders,

except one , who had only two or three

slaves. Ou r opera t ions we re , therefore ,

not interfered wi th by landed proprie tors

who were loyal or pre tended to be so.

The negroes had, in the mean t ime, been

without persons to guide and care for

them, and had been exposed to the Care

less and conflicting talk of soldiers who

chanc ed to mee t them . Th ey we re also

brought in connect ion wi th some em

ployes of the G overnmen t , engaged inthe collection of cotton found upon the

planta t ions, none of whom were doing

anything for thei r educat ion, and most

of whom were in favor of leasing the

planta t ions and the negroes upon them

as a&crtpft"^fe6cE, looking forward to their

restoration to their masters at the close

of the war. The y were unce rta in as to the

in t en t ions o f t he Y ankees , and were w on

dering at the confusion, as they called it .

They were beginning to plant corn in

thei r patches, but were disincl ined to

plan t cot ton, regardin g i t as a badg e ofservi tude. No schools had been open ed,

except one a t Beaufort , which had been

kep t a few w eeks by two freedmen, one

bea r ing the name of John Mi l ton , unde r

the auspices of the Kev. Dr. Peck. This

is not the place to detail the obstacles we

met wi th, one af ter anoth er overcome, —

the calumnies and even personal violence

to which we were subjected. The se things

occurred a t an ear ly period of our st rug

gle , when the nat ion was groping i t s way

to l ight , and are n ot l ike ly to occur again.

Let unworthy men sleep in the obl ivion

they deserve , and le t others of bet ter na

tures, who were then bl ind, but now see ,

not be taun ted wi th thei r inconsidera te

acts. The nickname of Gibeoni tes, ap

plied to the colonists, may, however, be

f it ly remem bered. I t may now just ly

cla im rank wi th the honored t i t les of

Pu ri tan and Methodist . Th e higher ofl i-

cers of the army w ere uniformly respect

ful an d disposed to coop eration. O ne of

these may properly be men t ioned. Ou r

most important opera t ions were in the

dist r ic t under the command of Brigadier-

General Isaac I. Stevens, an officer whose

convictions were not supposed to be fa

vorable to the enterprise , and who, dur

ing the polit ical contest of 1860, had been

the chairman of the Nat ional Breckin

ridg e Com mittee. B ut such >vas his hon

or as a gent leman, and his sense of the




duty of subordination to the wishes of

the Go vern men t , th a t his personal cour

tesies a nd official aid w er e ne ve r wan1>

ing. H e receive d his mo rta l woun d a t

Chantil ly, Virginia, on the first of Sep

temb er fol lowing, and a brav er and ablerofficer has not fallen in the service.

Notw ithstanding our work was .com

menc ed six weeks too la te , and o ther hin

drances occurred, deta i led in the second

report of the agent , some e ight thousand

acres of es culents, — a fair s upply of food,

— and some four thousand f ive hun dred

acres of cotton (after a deduction for

ove r -e s t ima te s) were p l an ted . Th i s was

done upon one hundred and e ighty-nine

planta t ions, on which were nine thousand

and fifty people, of whom four thousand

four hundred and twenty-nine were f ie ld-hands, made up of men, women, and

chi ldren, and equivalent , in the usual

classification and estimate of the produc

t ive capaci ty of laborers, to three thou

sand eight hundi-ed and five and one-

half ful l hand s. Th e cot to n-cr op pro

duced will not exceed sixty-five thousand

pound s of ginned cot ton. W or k enough

was done to have produced f ive hundred

thousand pounds in ordinary t imes; but

the imm atu rity of the pod , resu lting fi-om

the la teness of the plant ing, exposed i t

to the ravages of the frost and the worm.Troops being ordered No rth, af ter the dis

asters of the Peninsular campaign, Edisto

was evacuated in the middle of July, and

thus on e thousand acres of esculents, and

nearly seven hu ndred acres of cot ton, the

cultivation of which had been finished,

we re abando ned. In the autum n, Major-

Ge neral Mitchel l req uired for ty tons of

corn - fodder and s eve nty- e igh t thousand

pounds of corn in the ear, for army-forage.

These are but some of the adverse influ

ences to which the agricul tura l o pera

t ions were subjected.

It is fi t t ing here that I should bear

my test imony to the superintendents and

teac her s commissioned by the associa

t ions. Th ere was as high a purpose and

devot ion among them as in any colony

that ever wen t for th to bear th e evangel of

civilization. Am ong the m we re some of

the choicest young men of New England,

f i 'esh from Harvard, Yale , and Brown,

from the divinity-schools of Andover and

Cam bridge, — men of pract ica l ta lent and

exp erien ce . Th ere were some of whom

the world was scarce worthy, and towhom, wh ether they are amoug th e l iv

ing or the dead, I de l ight to pay the

ti-ibute of my resp ect an d adm iration.

Fo ur of the or iginal delegat ion h ave

died. Wil l iam S. Clark died a t Boston,

Ap ri l 25th, 1863, a consumptive when

he entered on the work, which he was

obliged to leave six months before his

dea th. H e was a faithful and conscien

t ious teacher . Tho ugh so man y mon ths

had passed since he left these labors,

their fascination was such that he dtvelt

fondly upon them In his last days.

The colony was first broken by the

dea th of Franc i s E . Ba rna r d , a t S t . H e

lena Island, October 18th, 1862. H e

was devoted, en thusiast ic , — and though

no t fitted, as it at first ap pe are d, for the

pract ica l dut ies of a superintendent , ye t

eve n in t i lls respec t disappo inting m e en

tirely . H e was an evangelist , also, and_

he preached w i th more unct ion than any

oth er the go spel of freedom, — alway s,

however , enforc ing the dut ies of indust ry

and se l f-rest ra int . H e was neve r sad, but

a lways buoyan t and t rustful . H e and

a com rade w ere th e first to be sepa rat

ed from the company, whi le a t Hi l ton

Head, and before the rest went to Beau

fort , — bein g assigned to E disto, which

had been occupied less than a month,

and was a rem ote and exposed po int ;

but he went fearlessly and without ques

t ion. Th e evacuat ion of Edisto in Ju

ly, the heat, and the labor involved in

bringing away and se t t l ing his people

at the vi l lage on St . Helena Island, a

summer resort of the former residents,

where were some fifty vacant houses,

we re too mu ch for him. Hi s excessive

exert ions brought on malar ious fever .

Th i s p roduced an unna tu ra l exc i t ement ,

and a t mid -da y, un de r a hot sun, he

rode about to a t ten d to his people . H e

died, — men, wom en, and chi ldren, for

whom he had toiled, fi l l ing the house with



300 The Freedmen at Port Royal. [ S e p t e m b e r ,

thei r sobs during his depart ing hours.

His fvmeral was thronged by them, bis

coffin strewn with flowers which they

and his comrades had plucked, and then

his remains were borne to his nat ive

town , whei-e burial-rites were again performed in the old church of Dorchester.

Re ad his publ ished jour nal , a nd f ind how

a noble youth can Uve fourscore years in

a li t t le moj 'e tha n one score. O ne high

privilege was accorded to him. H e liv

ed to bear of the inmiortal edict of the

twenty-second of September, by which

the freedom of his people was to be se

cured for all t ime to come.

Sam uel D. Ph i l l ips was a young man

of mu ch religious feeling, though he n ev

er 'a dve rt ise d himself as having i t , and

a devout com munican t of the Episcopal

Church . H e was a gent lem an born and

bred, inheri t ing the qu al i ty as wel l as

add ing to i t by self-discipline. H e had

good business-ca paci ty, never complain

ed of inconveniences, was humane, yet

not misled by sent iment , and he gave

mo re of his t ime, otherwise unocc upied,

to teaching than a lmost any other super

inten den t . I was recen t ly asking the

most advanced pupils of a school on St.

Helena who f i rst taught them thei r le t

t e r s , and the frequent answer was, " Mr.

Phi l l ips." H e was a t home in the au

tumn for a vacation, was at the funeral

of Barnard in Dorchester , and though

at the time in imperfect health, he hast

ened back to his charge, feeling that the

death of Barnard, whose dist r ic t was the

same as his own, rendered his immediate

return necessary to the comfort of his

people . H e went , — but his heal th n ev

er came back to him. PIIs qu arte rs w ere

in the same house where Barnard had

died, and in a few days, on th e 6th of

Dec emb er, he followed him. H e was

tended in his sickness by the negroes,

and one day, having asked that his pillow

might be turned , he ut tered the wo rds,

"T ha nk God ," and d i ed . The re was

the same grief as a t Ba rna rd 's death,

the same funera l -r i tes a t the St . Hele

na Church, and his remains were born e

North to bereaved re la t ives.

Danie l Bowe was an a lumnus of Yale

Col lege , and a student of the Andover

Theological Seminary, not yet grad uat

ed when he turned from his professional

studies at the summons of Christian duty.

He labored faithfully as a superintendent, looking after the physical, moral,

and ' educat ional interests of his peo ple .

He had a difficult post, was overburdened

with labor, and perhaps had not the facul

ty of takin g as good car e of himself as

was even consistent wi th his dut ies. H e

came home in the summer, commended

the enterprise and his people to the c i t

izens and students of Andover , and re

tur ned . H e afterw ards fell i l l , and , again

coming North, died October 30th,-a few

days af ter reaching New Yo rk. Th e

young w oman w ho was bet rothed to him,but wh om he did not l ive to wed , has since

his' deat h sough t this field of labo r; and

on my recent visit I found her upon the

planta t ion where he had resided, teaching

the children whom he had first taught,

and whose parents be had guided to free

dom. Truly , the age of Christ ian ro

mance has not passed away!

On the first of July, 1862, the admin

istration of affairs at Port Royal having

been t ransferred from the Treasury to

the W ar Depa r tment , t he cha rge o f t he

freedmen passed into the hands of Brig

ad ie r -G ene ra l Rufus Sax ton , a na t ive

of Massachuset ts , who in chi ldhood'had

breathed the free air of the valley of

the Connect icut , a man of sincere a nd

hum ane n a tu re ; and unde r h is wi se and

benevolent care they st il l rema in. Th e

Sea I s l ands , and a l so Fe rnand ina and

St . August ine in Florida , are wi thin our

l ines in the Department of the South,

and some sixteen or e ighteen thousand

negroes are supposed to be under his

jur isdic t ion.

The negroes of the Sea Islands, when

found by us, had become an ab ject rac e,

more docile and submissive tha n thos e

of an y other locality. Th e nat ive Afri

can was of a fierce and mettlesome tem

per , sul len and untam able . Th e master

was obl iged to abate something of the



1 8 6 3 . ] Tlie Freedmen at Port Eoyal. 3 0 1

usual rigor in dealing with the import

ed slaves. A tax-commissioner, now at

Po rt Royal , and formerly a res ident of

South Carol ina, to ld me tha t a nat ive

African belonging to his father, though a

faithful man, would perpetually insist ondoing his work in his own way, and be

ing asked the threatening quest ion," A'n ' t

you going to mind ? " would answ er, w ith

spirit , " No, a 'n ' t gwine t o ! " and the

ma ster desisted. Seve re discipline drove

th e native s to the w ilderness, or involved

a mu tilation of person w hich destroye d

their value for proprieta ry purpose s . ' In

1816, eight hundred of these refugees

we re living free in the swamps and ever

glades of Florida. Th ere the ancestors

of some of them had lived ever since the

early par t of the eighteenth cen tury , rea ring families, carrying on farms, and rais

ing cat t le . Th ey had two hund red and

fifty men fit to bea r a rms , led by chiefs

brav e and skilful. Th e story of the Ex

iles of Flor ida is one of painful inter est.

The testimony of officers of the army who

served against them is , that they were

more dangerous enemies than the In

dians, fighting the most skilfully and

standing the longest . Th e tax-commis

sioner before referred to, who was a res

ident of Charles ton during the t r ial and

execution of the confederates of Denm ark

Vesey, relates tha t one of the nat ive

Africans, when called to answer to the

charge against h im, haughti ly responded,

— " / was a prince in my country, and

have as much right to be- free as you !"

Th e Carol in ians were so awe - s t ruck by

his defiance tha t they t ransported him.

Anoth er, at the execut ion, turne d in

dignantly to a comrade about to spea k,

and said, " Die silent, as I do.'" and

the man hushed. The early newspapers

of Georgia recount the d is turbances on

th e plantati ons occasioned by these na

tive Africans, and even by their chil

dren, being not unt i l the th ird genera

tion reduced to obedient slaves.

Now here has the deteriorat ion of the

negro es from their native manh ood been

carried so far as on these Sea Islands, —

a deterioration due to their isolation from

the excitem ents of more populous districts,

the constant surveillance of the overseers,

and their in termarriage with each oth

er, involving a physical degeneracy with

which inexorable Nature punishes d iso

bedience to her laws. Th e populat ionwith its natural increase was sufficient for

the cultivation of the soil under existing

modes, and there fore no fresh blood was

adm itted, such as ia found pour ing fi-om

the Border States in to the sugar and cot^

ton regions of the Southwest . This un

manning and depravat ion of the nat ive

charac ter had been c arried so far, that th e

special agent, on his first exploration, in

Ja nu ar y, 18 62, was obliged to confess th e

existence of a general disinclination to

military service on the part of the ne

groes ; though i t is t rue that eve n theninstances of courage and adve nture ap

peared , which indicated th at the m ore

manly feeling was only latent, to be de

veloped un der the insp iration of even ts.

An d so, let us rejoice, it has bee n. You

may think yourself wise, as you note the

docility of a subject race; but in vain

will you attempt to study it until the

bur den is lifted. Th e slave is unkn ow n

to all, even to himself, while the bondage

lasts. Nature is ever a k ind mother.

She soothes us with he r dece its, not in

surgery alone, when the sufferer, else

wri th ing in pain , is t ransported with the

sweet delirium, but she withholds from

the spirit the sight of her divinity until

her opportuni ty has come. Not even

Tocqueville or Olmsted, much less the

master, can measure the capaci t ies and

possibilities of the slave, unti l the slave

himself is t ransmuted to a man.

My recent v is i t to Port Royal extend

ed from M arch 25th to M ay 10th. It

was pleasant to meet the first colonists,who still toiled at their posts, and special

ly grateful to receive the welcome of the

freedmen, and to note the progress they

had made . Th ere wer e in teres t ing scenes

to fiU the da ys. I saw an aged n egro ,

CsBsar by na me, not less than one hun

dred years old, who had left children in

Africa, wh en stolen away. Th e vicissi-



302 Tlie Freedmen at Port Royal. [ S e p t e m b e r ,

tude s of such a life were striking , — a free

savage in the wilds of his native land, a

prisoner on a slave-ship, then for long

years a toiling slave, now again a freeman

under the benign edict of the Pres ident ,

— his life cover ing an h istoric ce ntur y.A faithful and industrious negro. Old Si

mon, as we called him, hearing of my

arrival , rode over to see me, and brough t

me a prese nt of tw o or three quarts of

pea- nuts and some sevente en eggs. I had

an in terview with Don Carlos, whom I

had seen in May, 1862, at Edisto, the

fai thful at tendant upon Barnard , and who

had be en both with h im and Phil l ips dur

ing their las t h our s ,— now not less tha n

seventy years of age, and early in life a

slave in the Alston family, where he had

known Theodosia Burr, the daughter of

Aar on Bur r, and wife of Govern or A ls ton.

H e talked in tel l igent ly upon ' her person

al history and her mysterious fate. H e

had known John Pierpont , when a teach

er in the family of Colonel Alston, and

accompanying the sons on their way

North to college after the completion of

their prep arato ry s tudies . Pier pont was

a classmate of John C. Calhoun at Yale

College, and, upon graduat ing, went

South as a private tu tor.

Aunt PhilUs was not likely to be overlooked,— an old woman, with much p ower

of expre ssion, living on the plan tation

where my quarters had formerly been.

The at tack on Charles ton was going on,

and she said, " If you 're as long beating

Secesh ev erywh ere as you have been in

ta kin g th e tow n, guess it '11 tak e you

some time ! " Indeed, the negroes had

somewhat less confidence in our power

than at first, on account of our not hav

ing followed up the capture of Bay Point

and Hil ton Head. The same quaint o ld

creature, speaking of the d isregard of themasters for the feelings of the slaves, said,

with much emphasis , " They thought God

w a s d e a d ! "

I visited Barnw ell Island, the only pla n

tation upon which is that of Trescot, for

merly Secretary of Legat ion at London,

a visit to whom Russell describes In his

" Di ary ." Bu t the mansion is not now as

whe n Russell saw it. Its large librar y is

deposi ted in the Smithsonian Inst i tu t ion

at Washing ton. I ts spacious rooms in the

first and second stories, together with the

attics, are all filled with the families of

neg ro refiigees. Fr om this point, lookingacross the water, we could see a cavalry-

picket of the Reb els . Th e superin te nd

ent who had charge of the p lanta t ion , and

accompanied me, was Charles FoUen, an

inheri ted name , l inked with the s t ruggles

for freedom in both hemispheres.

The negro graveyards occasional ly at

t racte d me from the road. The y are

usually in an open field, under a clump

of some dozen or twenty t rees , perhaps

l ive-oaks , and not fenced. Th ere may be

fif ty or a hundred graves , mark ed only

by sticks eighteen inches or two feet high

and about as large as the wrist. Mr . Olm

sted saw some stones in a negro grave

yard at Savannah, erected by the s laves ,

and bea ring rathe r i l l i terate inscrip t ions ;

but I never succeeded in finding any but

wooden memorials, not even at Beaufort.

Only in one case could I find an inscrip

tion, and t hat w as in a buria l-place on

Ladies Is land. Th ere was a board at

the head of the grave, shaped something

l ike an ordinary gravestone, about three

feet high and six inches wide. Th e inscriptio n wa s as follows : —

OLd Jiwde PArt hisLife on tlie2 of WAYKe at frow

LAuer

On th e foot-board wore these w or ds: —•

We 11d ow N.

The rude artist was Kit, the son of theold ma n. H e can read, and also write

a little, a nd, like his decea sed father, is a

negro preacher. H e said tha t he used to

carry his father in his arms in his old age,

— that the o ld man had n o pain , and, as

the son expressed it, " sunk in yea rs."

1 inquired of Kit concerning several of

the graves; and I found, by his intelli-



1,863.] TJie Freedmen at Port Royal. 303

gen t answers , t ha t t he i r t enan t s were

disposed in families and were known.

Th ese lowly burial-plac es, for wh ich a rt

has done nothing, are not wi thout a fas

cination, and In some hours of l ife they

tak e a faster hold on the sen t iments th anmore imposing cemeter ies, adorned wi th

shafts of marble and grani te , and r ich in

illustrious dead.

Th ere were some supersti t ions among

the people , perhaps of Afr ican or igin,

which the teachers had detected, such as

a belief in hags as evil spirits, and in a

kind of wi tchcraf t which only cer ta in

persons can cure . Th ey have a super

st i tion, tha t , whe n you tak e up and re

move a sleeping child, you must call i ts

spirit , else i t will cry, on awaking, until

you have taken i t back to the same placean d invoked its spirit . Th ey believ.e tha t

turn ing an a l l igator on his back w i ll br ing

ra in; and they wi l l not ta lk about one

when in a boat, lest a storm should there

by be brought on.

But the fea tures in the present condi

tion of the freedmen bearing directly on

the solution of the social problem de

serve most considera t ion.

And, first, as to education. T h e r e a r e

more than thi r ty schools in the terr i tory,

conducted by as many as forty or forty-

f ive teachers, who ar e commissioned b y

the three associa t ions in Boston, New

York, and Phi ladelphia , and by the

Am erican Missionary Associat ion. Th ey

have an average a t tendance of two thou

sand pupils, and are more or less fre

quen ted by an addi t ional thousand. Th e

ages of the scholars range in the main

from eight to twelve years. Th ey did not

know even thei r le t ters pr ior to a year

ago last March, except those who were

being taug ht in the single school a t Beau

fort a l ready referred to, which had bee ngoing on for a few weeks. Ve ry man y

did not have the opportuni ty for inst ruc

tion ti l l weeks and even months after.

Du ring the spring and summ er of 1862

theri^were not more than a dozen schools,

and these were much interrupted by the

heat, and by the necessity of assigning

at t imes some of the teachers to act as

superin tenden ts. Teac hers came for a '

brief t ime, and upon its expiration, or for

other cause , re tu rne d hom e, leaving th e

schools to be broken up. I t was not un

t i l October or November that the educat iona l a r rangement s were pu t i n to much

sh ape ; and they are sti l l bu t imperfect

ly organ ized. In some localit ies the re is

as yet no teacher , and this because the

associa tions have n ot had th e funds w here

wi th to provide one.

I v isited ten of the schools, and con

versed wi th the teachers of others. Th ere

wer e , i t may be noted, some mixed bloods

in the schools of the town of Be au for t,-^

ten in a school f f ninety, thi r teen in an

other of sixty-four , and twenty in anoth

er of seve nty. In the schools on thep lan ta t ions the re were neve r more than

half a dozen in one school, in some cases

but two or three , and in others none.

Th e adv anced c lasses were read ing sim

ple stories and didactic passages in the or

dina ry school-books, as Hillard 's Seco nd

Pr imary Reade r , Wi l l son ' s Second Read

er , and others of simi lar grad e. Those

who h ad enjoy ed a briefer period of in

st ruct ion were reading short sentences or

learnin g the a lphabet . In severa l of the

schools a class was engaged on an ele

mentary lesson in ar i thmet ic , geography,

or wri t ing. Th e eagerness for know ledge

and the facili ty of acquisit ion displayed

in the beginning had not abated.

On the 25th of March I visited a school

a t the Centra l Bapt ist Church on St .

He len a Island , bui l t in 1855, shaded by

lofty live-oak trees, with the long, pendu

lous moss everywhere hanging from thei r

wide-spreading branches, and surround

ed by the gravestones of the former pro

pr i e to r s , which bea r t he eve r - recur r ing

names of Fr ipp and Chapl in. This school

was opened in Septembe r last, but m any

of the pupi ls had received some inst ruc

tion before. O ne hu nd red and thii^ty-

one chi ldren were present on my f i rst

visit , an d one hu nd red an d forty-five on

my second, which was a few days later.

Like most of the schools on the planta

tions, it ope ned at noon and closed aA



804 Tlie Freedmen at Port Royal. [ S e p t e m b e r ,

three o'clock, leaving the forenoon for

the children to work in the field or per

form other service in which they could be

useful. On e class, of twelve pupils, rea d

page 70th in Wil lson 's Reader , on " Go

ing Aw ay." The y had not read the passage before , and they went through i t

with li tt le spelling or hesitation. Th ey

had recited the first thirty pages of

Tow le 's Sp el ler, and the mul t ipl ica t ion-

table as high as fives, and were commen

cing the sixes. A few of the scholars,

the youngest , or those who had come

latest to the school, were learning the

alph abe t. A t the close of the school,

they rec i ted in concert the Psalm, " The

Lord is my shepherd," r iquir ing prompt

ing a t the beginning of some of the

verses. The y sang wi th much spi r i thymns which had been taught them by

the teachers, as, —

also , -

" My country, 't is of thee,Sweet land of liberty";

" Sound the loud timbrel"

also, Whit t ler ' s new song, wri t ten ex

press ly for this school, th e closing s taa -

zas of which are ,—

" The very oaks are greener clad.

The waters brighter smile;Ob , never shone a da y so gladOn sweet St. Helen's Isle!

" For none in all the world beforeWere ever glad as we, —

We 're free on Carolina's shore,We 're all at home and free! "

Never has that pure Muse, which has

sung only of truth and light, as the high

est beauty and noblest ar t , been conse

cra ted to a bet te r service than to wri te

the songs of praise for these li t t le chil

dren, chat te ls no longer , whom the Sav

iour , were he now to walk on ear th,

would bless as his own.

The prevalent song, however , heard

in every school, in church, and by the

way-side , i s tha t of "John Brown," which

very much amuses our white soldiers, par

ticularly w hen the singers roll out, —

' We '11 han g Jeff Davis on a sour apple tre e! "

The children also sang their own songs,

" In de mornin' when I rise,Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh? *

In de mornin' when I rise,

Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ?

" I wash my hands in de mornin' glorj'.Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ?

I wash my hands in de moniin' glory,Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ?

" Pray, Tony, pray, boy, you got de order,Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ?

Pray, Tony, pray, boy, you got de order,Tell 'my Jesus, Huddy oh ?

" Pray, Rosy, pray, gal," etc.

Also, —

" I would not let you go, my Lord,I would not let you go,

I would not let j'ou go, my L ord,I w ould not let you go.

" Dere 's room enough, dere 's room enough,Dere 's room enough in de heab'nly

groun',Dere 's room enough, dere's room enough,

I can't stay behin'.

'' I can't stay behin', my Lord,I can't stay behin',

I can't stay behin', my Lord,1 can't stay behin'.

" De angels march all roun' de trone,De angels march all roun' de trone,De angels march all roun' de trone,

I can't stay behin'.

" I can't stay bebin', my Lord,I can't stay behin',

I can't stay bohin', my Lord,I can't stay behin'.

" Dere 's room enou gh," etc.

Other songs of the negroes are com

mon, as , " The Wres th ng Jaco b , " " Down

in the lonesome val ley," " Rol l , J ord an,

rol l ," " Heab 'n sha l l -a be my home."Russel l ' s "Diary" gives an account of

these songs, as he heard them in his even

ing row over Broad R iver , on his way to

Trcscot ' s esta te .

One of the teachers of this sehooMs an

accomplished woman from Philadelphia.

* Howd'y ' do?




An othe r is from New port , Rhode Is land,

where she had prepared herself for th is

work by benevolent labors in teaching

poor chi ldren. Th e th ird is a young wom

an of African desc ent, of olive complexion,

finely cul tured, and at tuned to al l beautiful sympath ies, of gen tle addre ss, and,

what was special ly not iceable, not pos

sessed with an overwrought consciousness

of her race . She had read the best books,

and natural ly and graceful ly enriched her

conversat ion with them . She had en

joyed the fr iendship of Wh it t ier ; had

been a pupil in the Gramm ar-School of

Salem, then in the State Normal School

in that ci ty , then a teacher in one of the

schools for white children, where she had

received only the k indest t reatm ent both

from the pupils and their pare nts , — andlet this be spoken to the honor of that an

cient town. She had refused a res idence

in Europe, where a better social life and

less unple asan t d iscriminat ion awa ited

her, for she would not dissever herself

from the fortunes of her people; and

now, not with a superficial sentiment,

but with a profound purpose, she devotes

herself to their elevation.

At Coffin Point, on St. Helena Island,

I visited a school kept by a young wom

an from the town of Milton, Massachusetts, " the child of par ent s passed in to

the skies," whose lives have both been

written for the edification of the Chris

tian world. She teaches tw o schools,

at different hours in the afternoon, and

with dift'erent scholars in each. On e class

had read through Hil lard 's Second Pri

mary Header, and were on a review,

rea ding Lessons 19, 20, and 21 , while I

was present . Being quest ioned as to

the subjects of the lessons, they answer

ed in tel l igent ly . Th ey reci ted the twos

of the mult ip l icat ion-table, explained numeral letters and figures on the black

boa rd, and wrote letter s and figures on

slates. Ano ther teach er in the adjoining

dis tr ict , a gradu ate of Ha rva rd , and the

son of a well-known U nitar ian clergyman

of Providence, Rhode Is land, has two

sehix)ls, in one of which a class of three

pupils was about finishing Ellsworth's

F i rs t P rog ress ive Reader , and ano ther ,

of seven pu pils, had j us t finished H il

l a rd 's Second Pr imary Read er . Ano ther

teacher, from Cambridge, Massachuset ts ,

on ' the same is land, numbers one hun

dre d pupils in his two schools. H e exercises a class in elocution, requiring

the same sentence to be repeated with

different ton es and inflections, and one

could not but remark the excel lent imi

tat ions .

In a school at S t . He lena vi l lage, w here

were col lected the Edis to refugees , n ine

ty -tw o pupils were pre sent as I we nt

in . Tw o ladies were engag ed in teach

ing, assisted by Ned Loyd White, a col

ored man, who had picked up clandes

tinely a knowledge of reading while still

a slave. On e class of boys an d anot her

of g irls read in th e seventh cha pter of

St . Joh n, having begun th is Gospel an d

gone thus far . Th ey s tumbled a l it t le on

words like " unrighteousness " and " cir

cumcision " ; otherwise the y got along

very well . W he n the Edis to refugees

were brought here, in July , 1862, Ned,

who is about forty or forty-five years

old , and Uncle Cyrus , a man of seventy ,

who also could read, gathered one hun

dred and fifty children into two schools,

and taught them as best they could for

five months unt i l teachers were provided

by the societies. N ed has since receiv

ed a donation from one of the societies,

and is now regularly employed on a

salary. A woman comes to one of the

teachers of this school for instruction in

the evening, after she has put her chi l

dren to bed. She had become in teres ted

in learning by hearing her younger s is ter

read when she came home from school;

and when ^ e asked to be taught , she

had learned from this sister the alphabet

an d some words of one syllable. Only asmall proportion of the adults are, how

ever, learning.

On the 8th of April, I visited a schdol

on Ladies Is land, kept in a small church

on the Eust is es tate , and taught by a

young woman from Kingston, Massachu

setts. She had manifested much persist

ence in going to this field, went with the



30G The Freedmen at Port Royal. [ S e p t e m b e r ,

first delegation, and still keeps the school

which she opene d in March , 1862. She

taugh t the pupils their let ters . Sixty-

six were present on the day of my vis

it. A class of ten pu pils rea d the story

which commences on page 86th of Hil-l a rd ' s Second Pr imar y Read er . One g ir l ,

Els ie , a ful l b lack, and rat he r ungain ly

withal , rea d so rapidly that she had to

be checked, — the only case of such fast

rea ding tha t I found. She assisted the

teacher by taking the beginners to a cor

ner of the room and exercis ing them up

on an alphabet card , requiring them to

give the names of letters taken out of

their regula r order, and with the let ters

making words , which they were expected

to repe at after her. One class reci ted

in Ea ton 's Fir s t Lessons in A ri thmetic ;

and two or three scholars with a rod

pointed out the s tates , lakes , and large

rivers on the ma p of the Un ited States ,

and also the diiferent continents on the

ma p of the world , as they w ere cal led .

I saw the teac he r of this school at her

residen ce, late in the afternoon, giv ing fa

miliar instruction to some ten boys and

girls, al l but two being under twelve

yea rs , who read the twenty-fi rs t chap ter

of the Book of Reve lat ion , and th e s tory

of Lazarus in the eleventh chapter of St .Joh n. Els ie was one of these. Seeing

me taking notes, she looked archly at the

teach er, and whispered, — " H e 's put

ting me in the book "; and as Elsie guess

ed, so I do. Th e teac her was instru ct

ing her pupils in some dates and facts

which have had much to do with our

his tory . Th e questions and answers ,

in which all the pupils join ed, we re

t h e s e : —

" W he re were s laves f irst brought to

th is country ? "

" Virginia."

" W h e n ? "

^" 1620."

' " W ho b rough t them ? "

" D u t c h m e n . "

" W ho cam e the same year to Ply

mouth , Massachuset ts ? "

" Pi lgrims."

" Did they b ring slaves ? "

" N o . "

A teacher in Beaufort put these ques

t ions, to which answers were g iven in

a loud tone b y the whole sc hool: —

" Wh at country do you l ive in ? "

" Un i ted S ta tes . "

" What State ? "

" South Carol ina."

" W ha t Island ? "

" Po r t Roya l . "

" W h a t t o w n ? "

" Beaufort ."

" AVho is you r Go ver nor ? "

" Genera l Sax ton ."

" Who is your Pres ident ? "

" Abraham Linco ln ."

" W h a t has he done for you ? "

" He 's freed us."There were four schools in the town of

Beaufort, all of which I visited, each hav

ing an average at tendance of from six ty

to n inety pupils , and each provided with

two teachers . In some of them wri t ing

was taught . But i t is unnecessary to de

scribe them, as they were very much l ike

the others. Th ere Is, besides, at B eaufort

an industrial school, which meets two af

ternoons in a week, and is conducted by

a lady from New York, with some dozen

ladies to assist her. Th ere were present ,

the afternoon I visited It, one hu ndr edand th irteen girls from six to twenty

years of age, all plying the needle, some

with p ieces of patchw ork, and others

with apron s, pillow - cases, or h an dk er

chiefs.

Though I have never been on the

school-committee, I accep ted in vitatio ns

to address the schools on these visits, and

particularly plied the pupils with ques

t ions, so as to catch the tone of their

minds; and I have rarely heard chi ldren

answer with more readiness and spiri t .

W e ha d a dialogue substantially as follows : —

" Children, what are you going to do

wh en you grow up ? "

" G oing to work. Sir ."

" O n w hat ? "

" Cotton and corn, Sir."

" W ha t are vou aolna to do with the



1 8 6 3 . ] The Freedmen at Port Royal. 307

" Ea t i t . "

" W ha t are you going to do with the

cotton ? "

" SeU it."

" Wh at are you going to do with the

money you get for it ? "One boy answered in adv ance of the

res t , —

" Put i t in my pocket , Sir ."

" Tha t won ' t do . W h at ' s be t t e r than

that ? "

" Buy clo thes , Sir ."

" W ha t else will you buy ? "

" Shoes, Sir."

" W ha t else a re you going to do with

your money ? "

Th ere w as some hesi tation at th is point .

Then the quest ion was put , —

" W ha t ar e you going to do Sun

days ? "

" Going to meet ing."

" W ha t ar e you going to do there ? "

" Going to s ing."

" W ha t else ? "

" Hear the parson ."

" W ho 's going to pay him ? "

On e boy said, — " Gov ernm ent pays

him " ; but the res t answered, —

" W e 's pays h im."

" W e ll , when you grow up, you '11

probably get married , as o ther peopledo , and you '11 hav e you r little ch ildren ;

now, what wil l you do with them ? "

There was a t i t ter at th is quest ion;

bu t the gener al response came, —

" Send 'em to school. Sir."

" Well, who '11 pay the teacher ? "

" W e 's pays h im."

On e who l is tens to such answers can

hard ly th ink tha t there i s any na tu ra l

incapaci ty in these chi ldren to acquire

with maturi ty of years the ideas and hab

its of good citizens.

The children are cheerful, and, in most

of the schools, wel l-behaved, exce pt tha t

it is not easy to keep them from whisper

ing and talk ing. Th ey are joyous, and

you can see the boys after school playing

the soldier, with corn-s talks for guns.

The memory is very suscept ib le in them,

— too much so, perhaps, as it is ahead of

the reasoning facul ty .

The labor of the season has in terrupt

ed at ten danc e on the schools, the par

ents being daeirous of having the chil

dren aid them in p lant ing and cul t ivat ing

their crops , and i t not being though t best

to al low the teac hing to in terfere in anyway with industrious habi ts .

A few freedmen, who had picked up

an imperfect knowledge of reading, have

assisted our teach ers, thoug h a wa nt of

proper t rain ing material ly detracts ffom

the ir usefulness in this respe ct. Ne d

and Uncle Cyi 'us have already been

mentioned . Th e lat ter , a man of earnest

piety , has died since my visit. An tho ny

kept four schools on Hil ton Head Is land

las t summer and autumn, being paid at

f i rs t by the superin tendents , and after

wards by the negroes themselves; but in

November he enl is ted in the negro regi

me nt . He t t ie was anothe r of these. She

ass is ted B arn ard at Edis to las t spring,

continued to teach after the Edis to peo

ple were brought to St . Helena vi l lage,

and one day brought some of her pupils

to the school at the Baptist Church, say

ing to the teachers there that she could

carr y them no farther. The y could read

their letters and words of one syllable.

He tt ie had belonged to a p lan ter on W ad -

melaw Is land, a k ind old gent leman, anat ive of Rhode Is land, and about the

only citizen of Charleston who, when

Samuel Hoar went on his miss ion to

South Carolina, stood up boldly for his

official and perso nal protec tion. He ttie

had been taught to read by his daughter;

and let th is be remembered to the honor

of the young woman.

Such are the general features of the

schools as the y me t my eye. Th e most

advanced classes, and these are but little

ahead of the rest, can read simple stories

and the p lainer passages of Scrip ture;

and they could even pursue self-in

struction, if the schools were to be sus

pended . The knowledge they have thus

gained can neve r be ext i rpate d . Th ey

could read with much profi t a newspaper

special ly prepared for them and adapted

to their condit ion . Th ey are learn ing

that the world is not bounded north



308 The Freedmen at Port Royal. [ S e p t e m b e r ,

by Charleston, south by Savannah, west

by Columbia , and east by the sea , wi th

dim visions of New Yo rk «n this p lanet

or some other , — abou t thei r concep

t ion of geograp hy when we found them .

Th ey are acq uir ing th e knoM'ledge of

figures with w hich to do the business

of life. Th ey are singing the songs of

freemen. Visit their scho ols; rem em

ber tha t a l i t t le more tha n a twelve

mo nth ago they knew not a le t ter ,

and that for genera t ions i t has been

a cr ime to teach thei r race; then con

template what i s now t ranspir ing, and

you have a scene which prophets and

sages would have del ighted to wi tness.

It will be difficult to find equal progress

in an equal per iod since the morning

rays of Christian truth first l ighted the

hi ll -sides of Ju de a. I have nev er look

ed on St . Pete r ' s , or beheld the glor ies of

ar t which Michel Angelo has wrought or

t ra ce d; bu t to my mind the spectacle of

these poor souls st ruggl ing in darkness

and bewilderment to ca tch the gleams of

the upper and bet ter l ight t ranscends in

mora l g rand eur any th ing tha t has eve r

come from morta l hands.

Next a s t o industry. The l abore r s ,

during thei r f i rst year under the newsystem, have acquired the idea of owner

ship, and of the securi ty of wages, and

have come to see that labor and slavery

are not the same thing. Th e not ion that

they were to ra ise no more cot ton has

passed a wa y, since work u pon it is found

to be remunera t ive , and connec ted wi th

the proprie torship of land. Ho use -ser

van ts, who were a t f i rst par t icular ly se t

against i t , now general ly prefer i t . Th e

laborers have col lec ted the pieces of the

gins which the y destro yed on the flight

of thei r masters, the ginning being obnoxious work, repai red them, and ginned

the cot ton on the promise of wages. E x

cept up on p lanta t ions in the vic ini ty of

camps, where other labor i s more imme

d ia t e ly remunera t ive , and an unhea l thy

exci tem ent prevai ls , there is a gene ra l dis

position to cultiv ate i t . Th e cultu re of the

cot ton is volun tary, the only pen al ty for

not engaging in i t being the imposition of

a rent for the tenem ent and land adjacent

there to occupied by the negro, not ex

ceeding two dol lars per mon th. Both the

Government and private individuals, who

hav e become owner s of one-fou rth of the

land by the recent tax-sa les, pay twenty-

five cents for a standard day's-work, which

may, by beginning ear ly, be performed

by a heal thy an d act ive hand by no on ;

and the same was the case wi th the tasks

under the slave-system on very many

of the planta t ions. As I was r iding

through one of Mr. Phi lbr ick 's f ie lds

one morning, I counted f i f ty persons a t

work who belonged to one planta t ion.

Thi s gen t l eman , who went ou t wi th the

first delegation, and at the same time

gave largely to the bene volent contr ibu

t ions for the enterprise , was the leading

purch aser a t th e tax-sa les, and comBin-

ing a f ine humani ty wi th honest sagaci ty

and close calculation, no man is so well

f it ted to t ry the expe rimen t . H e bough t

thi r teen planta t ions, and on these has

had planted and cul t ivated e ight hun

dred an d sixteen acres of cot ton wh ere

four hundred and n ine ty -n ine and one

twelv e-hun dredth acres were cul t ivated

last year , — a larg er incre ase , how ever ,

than will generally be found in other dist r ic ts , due mainly to prompter payments.

The gene ra l supe r in t enden t o f Po r t Ro ya l

Island sa id to m e,— " W e hav e to rest ra in

ra ther than to encourage the negroes to

tak e land for cot ton." Th e genera l su

pe r in t enden t o f Hi l ton Head I s l and sa id ,

tha t on tha t i s land the negroes had , be

sides adequate corn, taken two, three ,

and in a few cases four ac res of cotton

to a hand , and there was a gen era l dis

posi tion to cul t ivate i t , excep t ne ar the

camps . A supe r in t enden t on St . He lena

Island said, that, if he were going to carry on any work, he should not want bet

ter laborers. H e had charge of the refu

gees from Edisto, who had been brought

to St . Helena vi l lage , and who had c lear

ed and fenced patc hes for gard ens , fell

ing the t rees for that purpose .

The laborers do less work, perhaps,

than a Yan kee would th ink they migh t




d o i bu t they do about as m uch as he h im

self would do, after a resi denc e of a few

years in the same chmate, and when

he had ceased to work under the in

fluence of No rther n habi ts . Nor thern

men have sometimes been unjust to theSouth , when comparing the resul ts of la

bor in the different sections. God neve r

in ten ded that a man should to i l unde r a

tropical sun with the same energy and

constancy as in our bracing lat i tude.

There has been less complaint this yetir

tha n last of " a pain in t he small of th e

bac k," or of " a fever in the hea d," —

in other words, less shamming. T h e

work has been gr eat ly derange d by the

draft , some features of which have not

been very ski l fu l ly arranged, and by the

fitfulness with which the laborers have

been t reated by the mihtary authori t ies .

The work both upon the cot ton and the

corn is done only by the women, chil

dren, and disabled men. I t has been

suggested tha t field-work does not becom e

women in the new condit ion; and so i t

may seem to some persons of jus t sy mpa

th ies who have not yet lea rned tha t no

honest work is dishonorable in man or

woman. Bu t th is ma tter may be left to

reg ula te itself Field-w ork, as an occu

patio n, ma y not be consistent with the

finest feniinine culture or the most com

plete womanliness ; but i t in no way con

flicts with virtue, self-respect, and social

development . W ome n work in the f ield

in Switzerland, the frees t country of Eu

rope ; and we may look with pride on the

triumphs of th is generat ion, when the

American negroes become the peers of

the Swiss peasan try . Be t ter a woman

witb the hoe than without it , when she is

not yet fitted for the needle or the book.

The negroes were also showing their

capaci ty to organize labor and a pply capital to it . H ar ry , to whom I referre d in

my second report, as " my faithful guide

and at ten dan t , who had done for me

more service than a ny white man could

render," with funds of his own, and some

borrowed m oney, bought a t the rece nt

tax-sales a small fal-m of three hundred

and th irteen acres for three hundred and

five dol lars . H e was to p la nt s ix teen

and a half acres of cotton, twelve and

a half of corn, and one and a half of po

ta toes. I rode throu gh his farm on th e

10th of April, my last day in the t err i

tory, and one-third of his crop was thenin. Besides some serv ant's dut y to an

ofiicer, for which he is well paid, he

does the wor k of a full h an d on his

plac e. H e hires otfe wom an and two

me n, one of the latte r b eing old and on

ly a three-q uarter s hand. H e has two

daughters , s ix teen and seventeen years

of age, one of whom is likewise only a

three-qua rters hand. His wife works also ,

of whom he said, " She 's the best han d

I g o t" ; and if Celia is only as smart

with he r hoe as I kno w her to be with

her tongue, Harry 's es t imate must be

right . H e has a horse twenty-five years

old and b lind in both eyes, whom he

guides with a rope , — carryin g on farm

ing, I thought, somewha t un de r difincul-

t ies. Harry lives in the house of the

former overseer, and delights, though not

boastingly, in his position as a landed

proprietor. H e has promised to wri te

m e, or rath er d ictate a let ter , g iv ing an

acco unt of the progress of his crop. H e

has had much charge of Government

property , and when Captain Hooper, of

Genera l Sax ton ' s staff, was coming North

las t autum n, H ar ry proposed to accom

pany him; but at last, of his own accord,

gav e u p th e p roject, sayin g, " It '11 not

do for all two to leave together."

Another case of capaci ty for organiza

t ion should be noted. Th e G overnm ent

is bui ld ing twenty-one houses for the

Edisto people, eightee n feet by fourteen,

with two rooms, each provided with a

swinging board-window, and the roof pro

jecting a little as a protection from rain.

The jou rney men -carpe n te rs a re seven teen colored men, who have fifty cents

per day without rat ions , working ten

hours. They are under the d irect ion of

Frank Barnwell , a freedman, who re

ceives twe nty dol lars a month . Ra rely

have I talked with a more in tel l igent

contractor. I t was my great regret that

I had not time to visit the village of



SIO The Freedmen at Port Royal. [ S e p t e m b e r ,

improved houses near the Hi l ton Head

. ; ;amp, which Gene ral Mitchel l had e xtem

porized, and to which he gave so much

of the noble enthusiasm of his last days.

Ne x t as to the development ofmaiihood.This has been shown, in the first place,

in the prevalent d isposi t ion to acquire

lan d. It did not app ear upon our first in

trod uctio n to thesef people, an d th ey did

not seem to under s tand us when we used

to tel l them that we wanted them to own

land . Bu t it is now an active desire. A t

the recent tax-sales, six out of forty-seven

plantat ions sold were bought by them,

compris ing two thousand five hundred

and ninety-five acres, sold for twenty-one

hu nd re d and forty-five dollars. In other

cases the negroes had authorized the super in ten den t to b id for them, but the land

was reserved by the Un ited States . One

of the purchases was tha t made by H ar

ry , noted above. Th e other f ive were

mad e by the negroes on the p lantat ions

combining the funds they had saved from

the sale of their pigs, chickens, and eggs,

and from the payments made to them for

work, — they th en dividing off th e t rac t

peace ably among themselves . On one

of these, where Kit , before mentioned, is

the leading spiri t , there are twenty-three

field-hands, who are equiv alen t to eigh

tee n fu ll hands . Th ey have plante d and

are cul t ivat ing s ix ty-three acres of cot

ton, fifty of corn, six of potatoes, with as

ma ny more to be p lanted , four and a

half of cow-peas , three of pea-nuts , and

one an d a half of rice. Th ese facts are

most significant. Th e instinct for land

— to hav e one spot on earth wh ere a man

may s tand, and whence no human being

ca n of right driv e him — is one of the most

conservat ive elements of our nature; and

a people who have it in any fair degreewOl never be nomads or vagabonds.

This developing manhood is further

seen in their growing consciousness of

rights , and the ir readiness to defend th em

selves, eve n whe n assailed by white m en.

The former s laves of a p lanter, now at

Beaufort , who was a res ident of New

Yo rk w hen the war. broke out , have gen

erally left the plantation, suspicious of

his presence, saying that they will not be

his bondmen, and fearing that in some

way he may hold them, i f they remain

on it. A rema rka ble case of the asser

t ion of r ights occurred one day duringmy visit. Tw o white soldiers, with a

corporal, went on Sunday to Coosaw Isl

and, where one of the soldiers, having a

gun, shot a chicken belonging to a negro .

The negroes rushed out and wrested

the gun from the corporal , to whom the

soldier had hand ed i t , th inkin g th at the

negroes would not take it from an offi

cer. Th ey then carried i t to the super

in tendent , who took i t to head-quarters ,

whe re an order was g iven for th e arre s t

of the trespasser. Oth er ins tanees might

be added, but these are sufficient.

Another evidence of developing man

hood appears in their desire for the com

forts and conveniences of household life.

The Philadelphia society , for the purpose

of maintain ing reasonable prices , has a

s tore on St . Helena Is land, which is un

der the charge o f Fr iend Hunn , o f the

good fellowship of Wil l iam Pe nn . H e

was once fined in De lawa re thre e thou

sand dollars for harbo ring a nd assisting

fugit ive s lave s; but he now harbors and

assists them at a much che aper rat e .

Th oug h belonging to a society which is

the advocate of peace, h is tone is qui te as

warl ike as tha t of the world 's people. In

th is s tore alone — and th ere are o thers on

the is land, carried on by private ente r

pri se— two thousand dol lars ' wor th of

goods are sold mon thly. T o be sure, a

rather large proportion of these consists

of molasses and sugar, " swe eten ing," as

the negroes cal l i t , being in great de

mand, and four barrels of molasses hav

ing bee n sold the day of my visit. Bu t

there is also a great demand for p lates ,knive s, forks, tin wa re, and bet ter cloth

ing, including even hoop-skirts . Neg ro-

cloth, as it is called, osnaburgs, russet-

colored shoes, — in short , the d is t inct ive

ap pa rel formerly dealt out to them , as a

uniform al lowance, — are very general ly

rejec ted. Bu t the re is no article of house-

hold-fiu-niture or wearing apparel, used




by persons of moderate means among us ,

which they wil l not purchase, when they

are al lowed the opportuni ty of labor and

earn ing wages . W ha t a mark e t the Sou th

wou ld open under the new sys tem! I t

would set all the mills an d workshops astir.Four millions of people would become

purchasers of all the various articles of

manufacture and commerce, in p lace of

the few coarse, simple necessaries, laid in

for them in gross by the p lanters . He re

is the solution of the vexed industrial

question. Th e indisposition to labor is

overcome in a heal thy nature by in

stincts and motives of superior force,

such as the love of life, the desire to be

well clothed and fed, the sense of secu

rity derived from provision for the future,

the feeling of self- respect, the love offamily and childre n, an d the convictions

of dut y. The se all exist in the negro,

in a state of greater or less development.

To give one or two examples . One m an

brought Captain Hooper seventy dol lars

in silver, to keep for him, which he had

obtained from selling pigs and chickens,

— thus provid ing for the future. Sol

diers of Colonel Higginson's regiment,

having confidence in the same officer,

intru sted h im, wh en they w ere paid off,

with seven hun dred dol lars , to be t rans

mit t ed by him to their wives , and th is be

s ides what they had sent home in o ther

ways,—showing the family-feeling to be

act ive and s trong in them. The y have

also the social and religious inspirations to

labor. Thu s, early in our occupat ion of

Hil ton Head, they took up, of their own

accord, a collection to pay for the candles

for their evening meetings, feeling that it

was not r ight for the Government longer

to provide them. Th e resul t was a contri

bution of two dollars and f orty-eight cents.

Th ey had jus t fled from their m asters,

and had received only a small p i t tance

of wages, and this little sum was not un

like the two mites which the widow cast

in to the t reasury . Ano ther col lect ion

was taken, las t June, in the church on

St . Helena Is land, upon the suggest ion

of the pastor that they should share in

the expe nses of worship. Fifty-tw o dol

lars w as the r esult, — not a bad collec

tion for some of our Northern churches.

I have seen these people where they are

said to be lowest, and sad indeed are

some features of their lot, yet with all

earnestness and confidence I enter myprotes t against the wicked sat i re of Car-

lyle.

Is there not here some solution of the

question of prejudice or caste which has

troubled so many good minds ? W hen

these people can no longer be used as

slaves, me n will tr y to see how th ey can

ma ke the most out of them as freemen.

Your Ir ishman, who now works as a day-

laborer, honest ly th inks that he hates the

ne gr o; but when the war is over, he

will have no objection to going South and

selling him groceries and household-implements at fifty per cent, advance on

New-York prices , or to h iring him to

raise cotton for twenty-five or fifty cents

a day. Our prejudices , und er any rea

sonable adjustment of the social system,

readi ly accommodate themselves to our

interests, even without much aid from

the moral sent iments .

L et those who would stu dy well this

social question, or who in public trusts

are charged with its solution, be most

careful here. Ev ery motive in the minds

of these people, whethe r of ins tinct , de

sire, or duty, must be addressed. All the

elements of hum an nat ure m ust be ap

pealed to , physical , moral , in tel lectual ,

social, an d religious. Imp erfect inde ed

is any system which, like that at New

Orleans, offers wages, but does not wel

come the teacher. I t is of l i t t le moment

whether three dol lars or th irty per month

be pa id th e la bore r, so long as the re is

no school to bind both parent and child

to civil society with new hopes a nd du

t ies.

There are some vices charged upon

these people, or a portion of them , and

truth requires that nothing be withheld .

T he re is said to be a good deal of p ett y

pi lfering among them, al though they are

faithful to trust s. Thi s is the natu ral

growth of the old system, and is quite




l ikely to accompany the t ransi t ion - s ta te .

Besides , the present d is turbed and unor

gan ize d condition of things is not favor

able to the rig id wrtu es . Bu t inferences

from this must not be pressed too far.

W he n I was a private soldier in Yirginia,as one of a three-months ' regiment , we

used to hide from each other our little

comforts and delicacies, even our dishes

and clo thing, or they were sure to d isap

pear . Bu t we should have rid iculed an

adventurous th inker upon the character

istics of race s a nd classes, who should have

leaped therefrom to the conclusion that

all white men or all soldiers are thieves.

And what inferences might not one draw,

discredi table to al l t rad ers and manufact

ure rs , from the universal adulteration of

article s of food! The se people , it is said,are disposed to falsehood in order to get

rat ions and small benefits , — a natu ral

vice which comes with slavery , and too

often attends on poverty without sla

very . Those of most demonstrat ive p i

ety are rare ly bet te r than the res t , not ,

indeed, hypocritical, but satisfying their

consciences by self-de precia tion and in

dulgence in emotion,—psychological man

ifestations which one may find in more

advan ced communit ies. Th ey show no

special gra titud e to us for libera ting them

from bonds. Nor do they ordinarily dis

play much exhilarat ion over their new

condit ion , — being qui te unl ike the I ta l

ian re volutionist who used to pu t on his

toga, walk in the forum, and personate

Br utus and Cassius. The ir appreciat ion

of their better lot is chiefly seen in their

dread of a return of their masters , in

their exci tement when an at tack.is fear

ed, in their anxious questionings while

the assault on Charleston was going on,

and in their desire to get their fiiends

and relat ives aw ay from the Rebe ls , —

an appreciation of freedom, if not osten

tatious, at least sensible.

But away with such frivolous modes

of dealing with the rights of races to

self-development! Because Englishm en

may be classified as hard and conceited.

Frenchmen as capricious , Austrians as

dull, and the people of one other nation

are sometimes thought to be vainglorious,

shall these therefore be slaves ? An d

where is that model race which shal l

sway them al l ? A people may have

gra ve defects, bu t it ma y not therefo re

be rightfully disabled.

During my recent v is i t , I had an op

portunity, on three different occasions,

to note carefully C olonel T. W . Hi g-

ginson's colored regiment, known as the

Fu 's t Regiment of South-Carol ina Vol

unteers . Major-G eneral Hu nte r 's f irst

regiment was mainly made up of con

scripts, drafted May 12th, 1862, and dis

band ed August 11th , thre e months after

wards , there being no funds wherewith

to pay them, and the discharged men go

ing home to find the cotton and corn theyhad planted overgrown with weeds. On

the 10th of October, General Saxton, be

ing provided with competent authori ty

to raise five thousand colored troops, be

gan to recrui t a regiment . His a uthori

ty f rom the W ar Dep ar tm en t bo re d a te

August 25th, and the order conferring it

states the object to be " to guard the plan

tat ions , and protect the inhabi tants from

captiv i ty and murde r." This was the f i rs t

clear authori ty ever g iven by the Govern

ment to raise a negro regiment in th is

war. Th ere were, indeed, some ambigu

ous words in the instructions of Secretary

Cameron to General Sherman, when the

orig inal expedit ion went to Port Royal ,

authorizing him to organize the negroes

into companies and squads for such ser

vices as the y migh t be fitted for, bu t t his

not to mean a genera l arming for mil i tary

service. Sec retary Stanton, though fur

nishing muskets and red t rousers to Gen

eral Hunter 's regiment , d id not th ink the

autho rity sufficient to justify the p ay me nt

of the regiment . Th e first regiment , asraised by General Saxton, numbered

four hundred and ninety-nine men when

Colonel Higginson took command of it on

the 1st of De cem ber ; an d on the 19th of

Ja nu ary , 1863, i t had increased to eight

hun dre d and forty-nine. I t has made

three expedit ions to Florida and Geor

gi a, — one before Colonel Higginson as-




sumed the command, descr ibed in Mrs.

Stowe 's le t ter to the women of Eng

land, and two under Colonel Higginson,

one o f which was made in Jan ua ry up

the St . Mary 's , and th e other in M arch

to Jack son ville, wh ich it occupied for afew days unt i l an evacuat ion was order

ed from head - quar ters. Th e men a re

volunteers , having bee n led to enl ist by

dut y to thei r rac e , to thei r kindre d st iE

in bonds, and to us, the ir all ies. Theu-

drill is good, an d the ir t ime e xcelle nt.

They have borne themselves wel l in thei r

expedi t ions, qui te equal l ing the whi te

regim ents in ski rmishing. In morale

they seemed very much l ike whi te men,

and wi th about the same proport ion of

good and indifferent soldiers. Som e

I saw of the finest metal, l ike RobertSut ton, whom Higginson describes in his

i-eport as " the rea l cond uctor of th e

whole expedi t ion a t the St . M ary 's ," an d

S e r g e a n t H o d g e s, a m a s t e r - c a r p e n t e r ,

capable of di rec t ing the labors of nu

merous journey men . Anothe r sa id , ad

dressing a me et ing a t Beaufort , tha t he

had been rest less, nights, thinking of the

war and of his people , — that , when he

heard of the regiment being formed, he

felt tha t his t ime to act h ad com e, an d

tha t i t was his duty to enl ist, — tha t he

did not fight for his rations and pay, but

for wife, children, and people.

These men, as a l ready int imated, are

very m uch l ike other men, easi ly depress

ed, and as easi ly reanimated by words

of encouragement . Ma ny have been re

luctant to engage in mi l i tary service , —

their imaginat ion invest ing i t wi th the ter

rors of instant and cer ta in death. Bu t

this re luctance has passed away wi th par

ticipation in active service, with t he ad

venture and inspiration of a soldier 's l ife ' ,

and the la tent manhood has recovered

i ts r ightful sway. Said a superintend

ent who was of the first delegation to

Po r t R oya l i n March , 1862 , — a t ru tk -

fii l man, and not given to rose-colored

views, — " I did not hav e fa i th . in arm

ing n egroes, when I visi ted the North last

autum n, but I have now. Th ey wi l l be

not mere machines, but rea l t igers, when

V O L . X I I . 2 1

aro use d; an d I should not wish to face

them." On e amusing inc iden t may be

ment ioned . A man deserted from the

regimen t , was discovered hidden in a

chimney in the dist r ict whe re he had

l ived, was taken back to camp, went toFlorida in Higginson's f i rst expedi t ion,

bore his pa rt well in th e skirmishes, be

came excited" wi th the service , was m ade

a sergeant, and, receiving a furlough on

his re tu rn, we nt to the planta t ion where

he had hid, and sa id he would not take

five thousand dollars for his place.

But more significant, as showing the

success of the experim ent , i s the cha nge

of feehng among the whi te soldiers to

wards the negro regiment , a change due

in part to the just pol icy of General

Saxton, in part to the President ' s Procla

mat ion of Ja nu ar y 1st , which has done

much to c lear the a tmosp here eve ryw here

within the army-l ines, but mo re than a l l to

the soldierly conduct of the neg roes them

selves durin g thei r expedi t ions. I had

one excel lent opportuni ty to note this

chang e. On the 6th of Apri l , Colonel

Higginson's regiment was assigned to

p icke t -du ty on Por t Roya l I s l and , — the

first active duty it had performed on the

Sea Islands, — and was to re l ieve the

Penn sylva nia Fi f ty-Fif th. W hen , af ter

a march of ten miles, i t reached the ad

vanced picket - sta t ion, there were about

two hundred soldiers of the Pennsylvania

Fif ty-Fif th awai t ing orders to proceed to

Bea ufor t. I said, in a careless tone, to

one of the Pennsy lvania soldiers, who was

looking at Higginson's regiment as i t stood

in line, —

" Is n ' t this ra ther new, to be re l ieved

by a negro regiment ? "

" Al l r ight ," sa id he . " Th ey 've as

much right to fight for themselves as I

have to fight for them."

A squad of half a dozen men stood by,

making no dissent , and accept ing him

as thei r spokesman. Mov ing in anothe r

direction, I said to a soldier, —

*' W h at do you th ink of that regi

ment ? "

Th e answer was, —

" All right. I 'd ra the r they 'd shoot



su T}ie Freedmen at Port Royal, [ S e p t e m b e r

the Rebels than have the Rebels shoot

m e " ; and none of the by-standers dis

sen ted .

As one of the negro companies march

ed off the field to picket a station at the

Ferry, they passed wi thin a few feet ofsome twenty of the Pennsylvania sol

diers, just formed into l ine prepara tory

to marc hing to Beaufort . • Th e counte

nance s of the la t ter , w hich I watched, ex

hibited n o expression of disgust, dislike, or

disapprobat ion, only of curiosity . Oth er

whi te soldiers gave to the weary negroes

the hominy lef t f rom the morning meal .

The Major of the Fif ty-Fif th, highest in

comm and of the re l ieved regim ent , ex

pla ined very courteously to Colonel Hig-

ginson the sta t ions and dut ies of the

picke ts, and proffered a ny furthe r aiddesired . Th is was , i t is tru e, an official

du ty , bu t t he re a re more ways than one

in wh ich to perform even an official du

ty. I rode back to Beaufort , par t of the

way , in compan y wi th a capta in of the

First Massachuset ts Cavalry, who was

the officer of the day. H e said " he was

n ' t much of a negro-man, but he had no

objection to their doing our fighting."

He pronounced the word as spel led wi th

two ^ s ; but I prefer to re ta in the good

Engl ish. Colonel Mon tgomery , who l iad

a partly fi l led regiment, most of whom

were conscripts , sa id that on his re turn

from Jacksonvi l le he sent a squad of his

men ashore in charge of some prisoners

he had taken. Some whi te soldiers see

ing them approach from the wharf, one

said, •—•

" W ha t are those coming ? "

" Ne gro soldiers," (word pronou nced

as in the former case ,) was the answer.

" Dam n ' e m !" was the e j acu la t ion .

Bu t a s t hey approached nea re r , "W ha t

have they got wi th 'em '? " was inquu-ed.

" W hy , some Secesh pr isoners."

" Bul ly for the n egroes !" ( the same

pronu ncia t ion as before ,) was then the

response from all .

So quick was the t ransi t ion, wh en i t

was found that the negroes had demon

strated their usefulness ! I t i s, perhap s,

humil ia t ing to remember that such an

unreasonable and unpatr iot ic pre judice

has a t any t ime e xiste d; but i t i s neve r

worth whi le to suppress the t ruth of his

tory . This prejud ice has bee n effectu

a l ly b roken in t he Free Sta t e s ; and one

of the page ants of this epoch was th e^tr iumphal march through Boston, on the

28th of May, on i t s way to embark for

Po r t Roya l , of t he F i f ty - Fou r th Reg i

ment of Massachuset ts Volunteers, the

first regim ent of neg ro soldiers which the

F re e Sta tes have sent to the war. On th e

day previo us. Ma y 27th, a far different

scene t ranspired on the banks of the Mis

sissippi. Tw o black regimen ts, enlisted

some months before in Louisiana un der

the order of Major-General But ler , both

with line and one with field officers of

thei r own l ineage, made charge af tercharge on the bat ter ies of Port Hudson,

and w ere mown down l ike summer 's grass,

the survivors, ma ny wi th mut i la ted l imbs,

c losing up the thinn ed rank s and p ress

ing on again, careless of l ife, and mindful

only of honor an d duty , wi th a subl imi ty

of courage unsurpassed in the annals of

war, and leaving there to a l l mankind an

immorta l record for themselves and thei r

r a c e .

I cannot here forbear a momentary

t r ibu te t o We ntw or th Higg inson . Devo t

ing himself heroically to his gre at w ork,

absorbed in i t s dut ies, and bearing his

oppressive responsibili ty as the leader of

a regiment in which to a great extent

are now involved the for tunes of a race ,

he adds another honorable name to the

t rue chival ry of our t ime.

Homeward-bound , I s topped fo r two

days a t Fort ress Monroe, and was again

among the familiar scenes of my soldier-

l ife . I t was there that M ajor-G eneral

Butler, first of all the generals in the

arm y of the Repub l ic , and ant ic ipat ing

even Republ ican sta tesmen, had c lear ly

pointed to the cause of the war. A t

Craney Island I met two accomplished

women of the Socie ty of Friends, who,

on a most cheerless spot , and wi th every

inconvenience , were teaching the chi l

dren of the freedmen. Tw o good men .



1 8 6 3 . ] No and Tes. 3 1 5

one at the fort and the o ther at Norfolk ,

were distributing the laborers on farma

in the v icin i ty , and providing them with

implem ents a nd seeds which the benev

olen t societies had furnished. Visitin g

Hampton, I recognized, in the shant iesbuUt upon th e c harre d ru in s , the familiar

faces of those who, in the early days of

the war, had been for a brief period un

der my charge. The ir hea rty greet ings

to one whom they rem emb ered as the

first to point th em to freedom and chee r

i,hem with its prospe ct co uld h ard ly be

received without emotion. Bu t there is

no time to linger over these scenes.

Such are some of the leading features

in the condit ion of the freedmen, part ic

ularly at Po rt Roy al . Th e enterprise for

their aid, begun in doubt, is no longer a

bar e hope or possibility. It is a fruition

and a consummation. Th e negroes wil l

work for a living. Th ey will fight for their

freedom. Th ey are ad ap ted to civil so

ciety . As a people, they are not exem pt

from the frailties of our common human

ity, nor from the vices which hereditary

bondage always superadds to these. As

i t is said to take three genera t ions to sub

due a freeman completely to a slave, so'it

may not be possible in a single generation

to res tore the pris t ine manhood. One

who expects to find in emancipated slaves

perfect men and women, or to real ize inthem some fair dream of an ideal race,

wil l meet d isappointment; but there is

nothing in their nature or condit ion to

daun t the Chr i st i an pa t r io t ; ra ther , the re

is eve ryth ing to che er and fortify his

fai th . Th ey have shown capaci ty for

knowledge, for free industry, for sub

ordination to law and discipline, for sol

dierly fortitude, for social and family re

lations, for religious culture and aspira

t ions ; and these qual i t ies , when s t i rred

and sustained by the inci tements a nd

rewards of a jus t society , and combining

with the currents of our cont inental civ

ilization, will, und er th e guida nce of a

benevolent Providence which forgets nei

ther the m nor us , ma ke them a co nstant

ly progress ive race, and secure them ev

er after from the calam ity of ano ther en

slavement, and ourselves from the worse

calamity of being again their oppress

ors.

N O A N D Y E S .

I WATCHED her at her spinning ;

And th is was my beginning

Of wooing and of winning.

But when a maid opposes ,

And throws away your roses ,

You say the case forecloses.

Yet sorry wit one uses .

W ho loves and th ink s he loses

Because a maid refuses .

For by her once denying

She only means complying

Upon a second try ing.

pierce the freedman at port royal

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