Floyd Snelson, foreman of the hands employed by the Government in the
National Cemetery, Andersonville, Georgia, says:
"That in July, 1868, after the work was suspended in the cemetery,
and the Lieutenant in charge had gone to Marietta, Georgia, and the
schools for the freedmen were closed, and the teachers had left for
the North, Mr. B. B. Dikes notified all the colored people who
occupied buildings on the land now claimed by him, formerly
occupied by the Confederate Government, in connection with the
Andersonville prison, that they must get out of their buildings
within four days, or he would have them put out by the Sheriff, and
they would have the cost to pay. Nearly all of these men had been
in the employ of the Government, at work in the National Cemetery,
many of them from the commencement of this work after the
surrender. They all occupied these buildings by permission of the
officer in charge of the cemetery, by whom they were employed. Many
of them had built these houses at their own expense, and cleared,
fenced, and cultivated gardens of from one to four acres, which
were covered with corn, potatoes, and other vegetables, which, with
their houses, they were required to leave without any compensation.
Including these laborers and their families, about two hundred
persons occupied these buildings. On account of the great
difficulty of getting homes for so many on such short notice, most
of these colored people applied to Mr. Dikes for the priviledge of
occupying their houses and paying rent, either in money or a part
of the crops that they were growing. But he refused, and said they
could not stay on any terms. On the day appointed by Mr. Dikes,
(Wednesday, July 29th, 1868,) the most of the white people in from
six to ten miles around, appeared in Andersonville, with their
arms, and Mr. Souber, the magistrate of the district, and Mr.
Raiford, the Sheriff of the county, accompanied by a party of some
twenty-six or thirty armed white men, went to the houses of all
these people, (except a very few who had vacated their premises,)
and threw all their furniture, and provisions of every kind, out of
doors. They then nailed up the doors of all their cabins, on the
inside, and punched off a part of the roofs, and got out in this
way. By about two P. M., all these people, with their furniture,
bedding, provisions, and everything that they possessed, were
turned out of doors.
"About four o'clock, the most violent rain storm, accompanied with
the most terrific thunder and lightning ever known here, commenced
and continued the most of the night. Every mill-dam and many of the
mills in a circle of ten miles were washed away and so completely
destroyed that but one of them has been repaired so as to be used.
The women--some of them about to be confined--children and invalids
were exposed to this storm during the night. Their beds, clothing,
provisions, and themselves were as completely drenched as if they
had been thrown into a brook. Some of these people got homes by
working for their board. Some able-bodied men got twenty-five cents
a day. Some of them, (Deacon Turner Hall, of the Congregational
Church, Andersonville, among the number,) walked from ten to twenty
miles a day, and could get neither homes nor work at any price at
all. Many women and children lay out of doors guarding their
things, and exposed to the weather nearly a week, before they could
get any shelter at all--their husbands and fathers roaming over the
country to find some kind of a home. The Rev. F. Haley, of the
American Missionary Association, arrived the next day, to look
after the property of the mission. His life was threatened, but the
colored people rallied around him to protect him, and he left the
next day unharmed. Large numbers of the white people, from the
neighborhood, assembled at Andersonville every day until Saturday
night, when they set fire to nine (9) of the buildings, that had
been built by the colored people, and burnt them up, and tore down
their fences and destroyed their crops. The colored people,
supposing that they intended to burn the buildings occupied for the
"Teacher's Home" and the "Freedmen's School," rallied and protected
them. No one of the men engaged in these outrages, has ever been
arrested or punished in any way, and no one of these freedmen has
ever had any redress for his sufferings and losses. I will make
oath to these statements."
ANDERSONVILLE, GA., _Feb. 12, 1869_.