To MAJOR GENERAL MEADE.
On the 10th of February, 1869, Captain Bean called on me and introduced
himself as a member of General Meade's staff, and said he had come from
Atlanta to Andersonville by order of General Meade to make
investigations in regard to the matters referred to in my letters. I
went with him to the stockade and pointed out the new fences made and
the grounds claimed by Mr. Souber. At his request I went with him to the
office of Mr. Williams, the superintendent of the cemetery, and in my
presence he told him _to notify Mr. Souber to suspend all work upon
these grounds_.
I confess that I was exceedingly gratified at this complete success of
my efforts. I felt that these historic grounds, this Gethsemane of the
nation, had been rescued from what I could but esteem a sacrilegious use
and possession, and that the flag that floated over the dead at
Andersonville had been honored by this order. When I told the Freedmen
the result of Captain Bean's visit their joy was great. In describing to
me, as they often had, the suffering and losses they had endured when
they were driven from their homes, and their cabins were burnt last
summer, they always, in their simplicity, spoke of it as the time "when
the Government busted up." And this truly described the condition of the
Government from that time to the present, so far as they were
concerned, for these facts show that no matter how horrible and brutal
the outrage and personal violence committed upon them there had been no
punishment to the perpetrators and no redress to the Freedmen. Now they
felt that the Government would again afford them some protection.
But great as was my joy, and the joy of the suffering Freedmen, it was
nothing to the _rage_ of those who, after so long a struggle, had been
defeated in their efforts to get possession of these grounds just as
they were about to become completely successful. Captain Bean visited
and left Andersonville on the 10th. On the 12th I received a Ku-Klux
letter, of which the following is a true copy:
****************
* Skull and *
* cross-bones. *
**************** "FEBRUARY 12, 1869.
"Dr. PEARSON (so-called).
"SIR: For your especial benefit I am instructed to write you this
special communication of warning and instruction.
"The citizens of this place are aware of a few facts relative to
yourself that I will proceed to designate: In the first place, they
know you to be a wandering _vagrant carpet bagger_, without visible
means of support, and living at present on the earnings of those who
are endeavoring to make an honest living by teaching. You have also
proved yourself a _scoundrel_ of the deepest dye by maliciously
interfering in matters which do not in the least concern you, to the
detriment of some of our citizens.
"This, therefore, is to warn you to LEAVE this county forthwith.
Twenty-four (24) hours from the above date is the time allowed for you
to leave. If after the said time your devilish countenance is seen at
_this place or vicinity your worthless life will pay the forfeit_.
Congressional reconstruction, the military, nor anything else under
Heaven, will prevent summary justice being meted out to such an
incarnate fiend as yourself.
"By order of committee."
I should do great injustice to Mr. Dikes, Mr. Souber, and Mr. Crawford,
and their sympathising friends, the author and inspirers of the above
letter, were I to say, or convey the impression, that they were worse
men than their neighbors. From what I have seen and heard of them I am
sure that in _mental culture_, in _kindness of heart_, in _loyalty_,
and in _Christian civilization_ they are decidedly _above_ rather than
_below_ the over-whelming majority of their fellow citizens. They
represent not the _lowest_ but the _highest_ type of patriotism,
philanthropy, and Christianity prevailing in that region. I challenge
their late Congressional representative, the Hon. Nelson Tift, to go
before his constituents and deny my statements in regard to the social
standing of these men.
The above letter states my offence: "You have proved yourself a
_scoundrel_ of the deepest dye, by maliciously interfering in matters
which do not in the least concern you, to the _detriment_ of some of our
citizens." But General Grant, General Wade, and Captain Bean interfered
far more potentially than I did. If I am a "_scoundrel_ of the deepest
dye" what must they be?
The "skull and bones," the insignia of the Ku-Klux Klan and not the
stars and stripes, represent the dominant power in that region.
"Congressional reconstruction, the military, &c.," are successfully
defied. The power of the United States Government is not felt or feared.
They only know it as powerless to prevent the atrocities enacted before
their eyes during and since the war.
The flag that I had united with others to honor with procession, songs,
and cheers, was powerless to protect me, and floats dishonored above the
graves of the 12,848 martyr heroes who suffered and died in the
stockades at Andersonville, as prisoners of war never suffered and died
before.
I need hardly say that with my knowledge of the condition of things
around me, as presented _only in part_ in this communication, I left
Andersonville as desired by the _Ku-Klux Klan_. I knew that human
life--that my life was not worth as much as the life of a chicken in any
law-abiding, law-governed community, for should any evil disposed person
there maliciously kill his neighbor's chicken he would be compelled to
pay some slight fine or endure some brief imprisonment; but no one of
all the perpetrators of the crimes I have named has suffered or has
dreamed or suffering any fine, imprisonment, or punishment whatever. I
knew that in their own language my life was "_worthless_." I went South
to reside in 1843, and there are few who know it as thoroughly. As agent
of the American Bible Society, and in other capacities, I have traveled
tens of thousands of miles over different States on horseback before the
war. Bishop Kavenaugh, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in
introducing me to the Louisville Conference in 1858, told them that
though a Presbyterian I had "out itinerated the itineracy itself." And
yet I have never seen or heard as much of outrage and personal violence
upon the colored people in any five years of slavery as I heard and saw
at Andersonville, Georgia, from December 22, 1868, to February 12, 1869.
I have never known crime to be committed in any community with such
perfect impunity. I have yet to learn of a _single_ instance where the
civil courts in that part of the State have rendered any punishment or
redress for outrages like those I have detailed. The fact that such
crimes have for years been committed with perfect impunity--that the men
who perpetrate them have not the slightest fear or thought of ever being
punished--that the Freedmen who have suffered outrages such as these,
and others entirely too gross for me to repeat, have not the faintest
shadow of a hope that their wrongs will ever be redressed, has reduced
these poor people to a state of almost utter hopelessness and despair.
Turner Hall, a freedman, a deacon in the Congregational church in
Andersonville, under whose black skin beats one of the most patriotic
and noble Christian hearts I have ever known, writes: "We seem to be
forsaken of God and man."
I have talked with many of these men, who in the late Presidential
election, with a spirit as noble as ever beat in the heart of a martyr,
slept in swamps for weeks, were hunted like wild beasts, and perilled
all means of livelihood for their wives and children, and their own
lives, that they might vote for General Grant for President. Those of
them that were employed in the National Cemetery at Andersonville,
Georgia, were threatened with dismission in case they voted for General
Grant. Notwithstanding this threat some of them went to the polls,
voted for General Grant, and were immediately dismissed by Henry
Williams, superintendent of the cemetery. This was done to deter the
others, but they went forward and executed a "freeman's will" by voting
for General Grant. (Mr. Williams has since been removed.) And what to
this hour has been their reward from their friends? I forbear to press
this question.
But with facts like these in mind can anyone suppose that a fair
election--an election in which the thousands of Freedmen in Georgia
shall give expression to their political wishes--can be held in that
State in 1870. The thing is simply impossible. Until these ignorant,
outraged people shall have some demonstration that there is power,
either in the State or Federal Government, to afford them protection,
and punish such outrages as that of Rev. Robert Hodges upon Cane Cook,
the Freedmen cannot be expected again to risk their _livings_ and their
_lives_ in voting for those whom they know to be their only friends.
It will be proper for me to add that I did not come to Washington at the
suggestion or with the knowledge of any party in Georgia. I belong to no
"delegation." I came here at my own charges, in the interests of
patriotism and suffering humanity, to lay these facts before Congress
and the highest officers of the Government. All my self respect and
honor as a man, all my regard for the rights of _American citizenship_,
all my toils for the triumph of the starry banner, all my labors for the
education and protection of the ignorant and outraged Freedmen, and all
the emotions stirred in my soul as again and again I have walked amid
the graves of the nation's martyred dead at Andersonville, compelled me
to the performance of these unsought labors. _I ask that these Freedmen
may be protected and their wrongs redressed. I ask for the vindication
of the rights of American citizenship in Georgia and everywhere beneath
our own flag upon our own soil._
With great respect, your obedient servant,
H. W. PIERSON.
Hon. CHARLES SUMNER,
_United States Senate_.