COTTON-PLANTING IN 1863.
Leasing the Plantations.--Interference of the
Rebels.--Raids.--Treatment of Prisoners.--The Attack upon Milliken's
Bend.--A Novel Breast-Work.--Murder o four Officers.--Profits of
Cotton-Planting.--Dishonesty of Lessees.--Negroes Planting on their
own Account.
It was late in the season before the plantations were leased and the
work of planting commenced. The ground was hastily plowed and the seed
as hastily sown. The work was prosecuted with the design of obtaining
as much as possible in a single season. In their eagerness to
accumulate fortunes, the lessees frequently planted more ground than
they could care for, and allowed much of it to run to waste.
Of course, it could not be expected the Rebels would favor the
enterprise. They had prophesied the negro would not work when free,
and were determined to break up any effort to induce him to labor.
They were not even willing to give him a fair trial. Late in June they
visited the plantations at Milliken's Bend and vicinity.
They stripped many of the plantations of all the mules and horses that
could be found, frightened some of the negroes into seeking safety
at the nearest military posts, and carried away others. Some of the
lessees were captured; others, having timely warning, made good their
escape. Of those captured, some were released on a regular parole not
to take up arms against the "Confederacy." Others were liberated on a
promise to go North and remain there, after being allowed a reasonable
time for settling their business. Others were carried into captivity
and retained as prisoners of war until late in the summer. A Mr.
Walker was taken to Brownsville, Texas, and there released, with the
privilege of crossing to Matamoras, and sailing thence to New Orleans.
It was six months from the time of his capture before he reached New
Orleans on his return home.
The Rebels made a fierce attack upon the garrison at Milliken's Bend.
For a few moments during the fight the prospects of their success were
very good. The negroes composing the garrison had not been long under
arms, and their discipline was far from perfect. The Rebels obtained
possession of a part of our works, but were held at bay by the
garrison, until the arrival of a gun-boat turned the scale in our
favor. The odds were against us at the outset, but we succeeded in
putting the enemy to flight.
In this attack the Rebels made use of a movable breast-work,
consisting of a large drove of mules, which they kept in their front
as they advanced upon the fort. This breast-work served very well at
first, but grew unmanageable as our fire became severe. It finally
broke and fled to the rear, throwing the Rebel lines into confusion.
I believe it was the first instance on record where the defenses
ran away, leaving the defenders uncovered. It marked a new, but
unsuccessful, phase of war. An officer who was present at the defense
of Milliken's Bend vouches for the truth of the story.
The Rebels captured a portion of the garrison, including some of
the white officers holding commissions in negro regiments. The negro
prisoners were variously disposed of. Some were butchered on the
spot while pleading for quarter; others were taken a few miles on the
retreat, and then shot by the wayside. A few were driven away by their
masters, who formed a part of the raiding force, but they soon
escaped and returned to our lines. Of the officers who surrendered as
prisoners of war, some were shot or hanged within a short distance
of their place of capture. Two were taken to Shreveport and lodged in
jail with one of the captured lessees. One night these officers were
taken from the jail by order of General Kirby Smith, and delivered
into the hands of the provost-marshal, to be shot for the crime of
accepting commissions in negro regiments. Before morning they were
dead.
Similar raids were made at other points along the river, where
plantations were being cultivated under the new system. At all these
places the mules were stolen and the negroes either frightened or
driven away. Work was suspended until the plantations could be newly
stocked and equipped. This suspension occurred at the busiest time in
the season. The production of the cotton was, consequently, greatly
retarded. On some plantations the weeds grew faster than the cotton,
and refused to be put down. On others, the excellent progress the
weeds had made, during the period of idleness, rendered the yield
of the cotton-plant very small. Some of the plantations were not
restocked after the raid, and speedily ran to waste.
In 1863, no lessee made more than half an ordinary crop of _cotton_,
and very few secured even this return. Some obtained a quarter or an
eighth of a bale to the acre, and some gathered only one bale where
they should have gathered twelve or twenty. A few lost money in the
speculation. Some made a fair profit on their investment, and others
realized their expectations of an enormous reward. Several parties
united their interest on three or four plantations in different
localities, so that a failure in one quarter was offset by success in
another.
The majority of the lessees were unprincipled men, who undertook the
enterprise solely as a speculation. They had as little regard for the
rights of the negro as the most brutal slaveholder had ever shown.
Very few of them paid the negroes for their labor, except in
furnishing them small quantities of goods, for which they charged five
times the value. One man, who realized a profit of eighty thousand
dollars, never paid his negroes a penny. Some of the lessees made open
boast of having swindled their negroes out of their summer's wages, by
taking advantage of their ignorance.
The experiment did not materially improve the condition of the negro,
save in the matter of physical treatment. As a slave the black man
received no compensation for his labor. As a free man, he received
none.
He was well fed, and, generally, well clothed. He received no severe
punishment for non-performance of duty, as had been the case before
the war. The difference between working for nothing as a slave,
and working for the same wages under the Yankees, was not always
perceptible to the unsophisticated negro.
Several persons leased plantations that they might use them as points
for shipping purchased or stolen cotton. Some were quite successful
in this, while others were unable to find any cotton to bring out.
Various parties united with the plantation-owners, and agreed
to obtain all facilities from the Government officials, if their
associates would secure protection against Rebel raids. In some cases
this experiment was successful, and the plantations prospered, while
those around them were repeatedly plundered. In others, the Rebels
were enraged at the plantation-owners for making any arrangements with
"the Yankees," and treated them with merciless severity. There was no
course that promised absolute safety, and there was no man who could
devise a plan of operations that would cover all contingencies.
Every thing considered, the result of the free-labor enterprise was
favorable to the pockets of the avaricious lessees, though it was not
encouraging to the negro and to the friends of justice and humanity.
All who had been successful desired to renew their leases for another
season. Some who were losers were willing to try again and hope for
better fortune.
All the available plantations in the vicinity of Vicksburg, Milliken's
Bend, and other points along that portion of the Mississippi were
applied for before the beginning of the New Year. Application for
these places were generally made by the former lessees or their
friends. The prospects were good for a vigorous prosecution of the
free-labor enterprise during 1864.
In the latter part of 1863, I passed down the Mississippi, _en
route_ to New Orleans. At Vicksburg I met a gentleman who had been
investigating the treatment of the negroes under the new system, and
was about making a report to the proper authorities. He claimed to
have proof that the agents appointed by General Thomas had not been
honest in their administration of affairs.
One of these agents had taken five plantations under his control, and
was proposing to retain them for another year. It was charged that he
had not paid his negroes for their labor, except in scanty supplies
of clothing, for which exorbitant prices were charged. He had been
successful with his plantations, but delivered very little cotton to
the Government agents.
The investigations into the conduct of agents and lessees were
expected to make a change in the situation. Up to that time the War
Department had controlled the whole system of plantation management.
The Treasury Department was seeking the control, on the ground that
the plantations were a source of revenue to the Government, and should
be under its financial and commercial policy. If it could be proved
that the system pursued was an unfair and dishonest one, there was
probability of a change.
I pressed forward on my visit to New Orleans. On my return, two weeks
later, the agents of General Thomas were pushing their plans for the
coming year. There was no indication of an immediate change in the
management. The duties of these agents had been enlarged, and the
region which they controlled extended from Lake Providence, sixty
miles above Vicksburg, to the mouth of Red River, nearly two hundred
miles below. One of the agents had his office at Lake Providence, a
second was located at Vicksburg, while the third was at Natchez.
Nearly all the plantations near Lake Providence had been leased or
applied for. The same was the case with most of those near Vicksburg.
In some instances, there were several applicants for the same
plantation. The agents announced their determination to sell the
choice of plantations to the highest bidder. The competition for the
best places was expected to be very active.
There was one pleasing feature. Some of the applicants for plantations
were not like the sharp-eyed speculators who had hitherto controlled
the business. They seemed to be men of character, desirous of
experimenting with free labor for the sake of demonstrating its
feasibility when skillfully and honestly managed. They hoped and
believed it would be profitable, but they were not undertaking the
enterprise solely with a view to money-making. The number of these
men was not large, but their presence, although in small force, was
exceedingly encouraging.
I regret to say that these men were outstripped in the struggle for
good locations by their more unscrupulous competitors. Before the
season was ended, the majority of the honest men abandoned the field.
During 1863, many negroes cultivated small lots of ground on their own
account. Sometimes a whole family engaged in the enterprise, a single
individual having control of the matter. In other cases, two, three,
or a half-dozen negroes would unite their labor, and divide the
returns. One family of four persons sold twelve bales of cotton, at
two hundred dollars per bale, as the result of eight months' labor.
Six negroes who united their labor were able to sell twenty bales. The
average was about one and a half or two bales to each of those persons
who attempted the planting enterprise on their own account. A few
made as high as four bales each, while others did not make more than
a single bale. One negro, who was quite successful in planting on his
own account, proposed to take a small plantation in 1864, and employ
twenty or more colored laborers. How he succeeded I was not able to
ascertain.
The commissioners in charge of the freedmen gave the negroes every
encouragement to plant on their own account. In 1864 there were thirty
colored lessees near Milliken's Bend, and about the same number at
Helena. Ten of these persons at Helena realized $31,000 for their
year's labor. Two of them planted forty acres in cotton; their
expenses were about $1,200; they sold their crop for $8,000. Another
leased twenty-four acres. His expenses were less than $2,000, and he
sold his crop for $6,000. Another leased seventeen acres. He earned
by the season's work enough to purchase a good house, and leave him
a cash balance of $300. Another leased thirteen and a half acres,
expended about $600 in its cultivation, and sold his crop for $4,000.
At Milliken's Bend the negroes were not as successful as at
Helena--much of the cotton crop being destroyed by the "army worm." It
is possible that the return of peace may cause a discontinuance of the
policy of leasing land to negroes.
The planters are bitterly opposed to the policy of dividing
plantations into small parcels, and allowing them to be cultivated
by freedmen. They believe in extensive tracts of land under a single
management, and endeavor to make the production of cotton a business
for the few rather than the many. It has always been the rule to
discourage small planters. No aristocratic proprietor, if he could
avoid it, would sell any portion of his estate to a man of limited
means. In the hilly portions of the South, the rich men were unable to
carry out their policy. Consequently, there were many who cultivated
cotton on a small scale. On the lower Mississippi this was not the
case.
When the Southern States are fairly "reconstructed," and the political
control is placed in the hands of the ruling race, every effort will
be made to maintain the old policy. Plantations of a thousand or of
three thousand acres will be kept intact, unless the hardest necessity
compels their division. If possible, the negroes will not be permitted
to possess or cultivate land on their own account. To allow them to
hold real estate will be partially admitting their claim to humanity.
No true scion of chivalry can permit such an innovation, so long as he
is able to make successful opposition.
I have heard Southern men declare that a statute law should, and
would, be made to prevent the negroes holding real estate. I have
no doubt of the disposition of the late Rebels in favor of such
enactment, and believe they would display the greatest energy in its
enforcement. It would be a labor of love on their part, as well as of
duty. Its success would be an obstacle in the way of the much-dreaded
"negro equality."