the nature that pertained to everything else. They were exceedingly few
and such as took place were novel or unique in character. When a city of
the staid and fixed character like Richmond increased its resident
population in a few months from sixty thousand people to one hundred and
twenty thousand or more, the newcomers being largely refugees from all
parts of the South, together with Confederate officials and their
families, also from all over the South and when in addition this new
element furnished very much of the life of the Confederate capitol it
may be comprehended what was the result socially. Overhanging the city
was the constant menace and stir of the great conflict. So that while
entertaining constantly took place, it was unobtrusive and exceedingly
simple. The most elaborate receptions were those at the Governor’s
Mansion, simple as they were. The more prominent given by any private
individual was by a well known and wealthy merchant where the
refreshments consisted exclusively of ice cream and pound cake. The
usual and popular method of entertaining were what might probably now be
styled evening, not afternoon teas; in place however of the elaborate
refreshments which might now be expected to be found at such was then
really served tea, then a rare and wonderful luxury. In addition to the
tea served in cups and handed around to those sitting in the parlor was
also served buttered bread, very seldom cake; it being remembered that
white sugar was also a great rarity in war times. I attended a wedding
of the daughter of one of the most prominent gentlemen in Richmond.
There were no refreshments and there were no presents whatsoever to the
bride. I do not think there was at the close of the war a single jewelry
store in existence in the City.
One of the most remarkable features of the war was the intense animosity
engendered among neighbors with sympathies on opposite sides. Those who
were formerly most intimate friends now became most bitter enemies, not
only ceasing all intercourse, but ready to inflict contumely and injury
on each other. This spirit was not so apparent in the South because with
almost unanimity the Southern people accepted the results of secession
whatever opposition they may have first offered. But in the North on the
border line where there was a numerous Southern element within the
Northern lines this bitter antagonism was pronounced, the more so
against all known to be in sympathy with the South. No more typical
place existed for this than Baltimore. In the towns and cities of what
is now West Virginia the same conditions existed. From Baltimore and
Maryland large numbers had gone South to engage in the service. Besides
these associations with the Confederate soldiers from Maryland very many
of whom came from some of the wealthiest and most prominent families of
the State were the business and social ties that had grown up between
the South and Baltimore as the Southern metropolis, so that with few
exceptions the leading people of the city were in sympathy with the
Southern cause. In many cases confiscation of the property of those who
had gone south took place, confined of course under the Constitution to
the life of the party affected. In other cases arrests were made under
the smallest pretexts, all sorts of persecutions little and great were
indulged in towards the Southern sympathizers, espionage being one of
the numerous annoyances. Relationship whether near or remote seemed to
make slight difference, and it seems now almost impossible to account
for the bitterness engendered. Of course material interests were
originally responsible, and no doubt the divergent views over whether
the state should or not secede, with the results that would affect such
material interests and the high pitch to which the contentions over the
matter wrought up the advocates pro or con were the causes that led to
the bitterness that existed. The Southerners were styled
“secessionists,” “rebels”, “traitors”, “copperheads”, with the soldiers
however a Southern soldier was always “Rebel” or a “Johnny Reb”. The
favorite popular ballad commenced something like “We’ll hang Jeff Davis
on a sour apple tree.” In the South on the other hand there was but one
name for the Northerner and whether soldier or civilian he was
invariably called “yankee”. Deep down in the Southern heart however
there was no recognition of a social relation with neighbors of Northern
sympathies and for some years after the war ended I knew of instances of
Southern women, who in marrying Union army officers were regarded not
only as having impaired their social status but as having done an act to
reflect upon their own family standing. And at the close of the war, in
Maryland, particularly in Baltimore, there was a distinct spirit
manifested to sedulously ostracise socially those who had been active in
espousing the Union cause during the war. And as equally a generous
welcome was extended to all who came from the South. It seems almost
inconceivable to those of the present day not aware of the bitter
antagonism existing during the war that such could ever indeed have
existed. To illustrate what would occur on a slightest pretext: In some
way it was suggested that a Confederate flag was harbored in our house.
The provost marshal sent a company of soldiers who surrounded the house,
while the Captain and a guard accompanied by my father searched every
portion of the premises from the top to the cellar with a perfectly
fruitless result. Again three paroled Confederate prisoners called upon
my father to be extended some assistance pecuniarily. This he
unhesitatingly extended to all needy Confederate prisoners who called
upon him, and while talking with these three word was conveyed to the
provost marshal that a seditious meeting was taking place in his house,
resulting in a provost guard being sent who placed my father and his
visitors under arrest, to be quickly released, however, as soon as the
matter was investigated. The smallest pretext and barest suspicion of
disloyal sentiment or act led to invasion of the sanctity of one’s house
and an interference with one’s business or professional duties.
But with all the sectional antagonism, the women of Southern sympathies
in Northern communities wrought out results that showed their disregard
of militaryism; for they were unsparing in their work to help the
Southern prisoners. No prisoners with an acquaintance of a friend among
the women was allowed to suffer for clothes or luxuries and to help the
large bodies of Southern prisoners in Northern prisons, sewing societies
were formed that met regularly at the members’ houses where all kinds of
clothes needed by the prisoners were made up. These meetings which I
often attended were a delightful experience. A vast number of pretty
girls and young married women all actively engaged in sewing and cutting
out, exchanging experiences and information and each occasion to be
wound up with light refreshments.
A topic of constant discussion is the effect of the war so far as the
negro is concerned. I have seen the negro in slavery before and during
the war and now a freedman for forty years since the war closed and I
feel that I am capable of expressing an opinion upon the subject. As a
slave he was generally well treated, and was generally contented and
happy. He was usually free from care or responsibility, all his wants
being provided for by his master. He had a task to perform and the
performance of it was exacted of him, sometimes this task was
exceedingly light, it was scarcely ever severe. It was natural he should
wish to be able to essay or not to essay this task as his humor
suggested to him and the wish for this I believe was the principal
incentive for freedom to most of the slaves. Very many I believe gave
the matter of freedom no consideration and cared nothing about it. When
the close of the war brought freedom to the vast body of those who were
slaves their reasoning suggested to them as it did to very many of the
less informed whites that the war had been fought purely to free the
negro. The corollary to this in the mind of the negro was that they were
the equal of the whites, and immediately upon the close of the war the
teaching inculcated among themselves with greatest assiduity was the
matter of equality. During the lapse of forty years however the question
of equality has in a measure worked itself out as it always does
dependent upon personal and material factors. When persons occupy grades
of servants, laborers, mechanics, storekeepers, merchants and
professional men the question of color in that all are black will not
put them on an equality one with the other and the question of equality
is not helped by trying to extend the equalizing so as to put the
colored man whatever his condition in life on a level with the white man
whatever his condition. This was a struggle so patent in the case of the
freedmen immediately after the close of the war that was bound in the
course of years to disappear from the hopelessness of it. The result is
that from my observation the negro has measurably been bettered after
the many years that have elapsed since the war, so that now his
deportment and manners are better, he is more honest and he has not
deteriorated as a worker and he is getting nearer to the deportment he
possessed before his character was disrupted by the harmful teachings of
those idealists in the New England States who professed before and
during the war to be his only true friends.
There was one restriction upon the negro in slavery that was a great
source of trouble to him and that was the existence of the law which
forbade absence from home after dark except upon a written pass
furnished by the master or his agent, any member of the family as a
quasi agent, even the children could give these passes, and I have often
given such. Absence without such pass subjected the slave to arrest and
detention until morning when a trial took place in the Mayor’s court,
the penalty being the public whipping post. This was about the only
occasion a slave in any well ordered family was likely to be visited
with a whipping, which was then a legal penalty inflicted by public
authority for a violation of the law. And such whipping was very apt to
arouse indignation on the part of the master and certainly his family
between whom and the slaves there always existed a bond of affection as
well as material interest. So far from whipping slaves by the master’s
authority not only did self interest forbid this, but as before
indicated this was recognized as one of the acts of maltreatment which
resulted in loss of social status to any family that was known to so
deal with their slaves. A tender regard for slaves was so assiduously
exacted by public sentiment in the South that it was accepted as a
serious reflection to sell one. I have frequently read accounts of the
awful slave pens and jails where slaves being sold were detained until a
purchaser and new master was found all of which accounts are purely
mythical written by dreamers with vivid imaginations and no actual
experience. I have been again and again in these houses of slave dealers
where slaves remained pending a sale. The last one I visited was in
accompanying my father for the purpose of purchasing a cook. All of
those present, some twenty-five women, were called to the large front
room and they ranged themselves in line. Every one was neatly dressed
and showed in their appearance and demeanor unmistakable signs of kind
treatment and being well cared for. Thinking people reading such
accounts must see instantly that outside of any sentiment of humanity
good business policy required the best treatment at such places. The
slaves were sent there to be sold and the best price was wanted and that
price was to be obtained only when a good impression was made on the
purchaser and it was made alone by the appearance of the slave. To
secure a healthful appearance and indications of a good disposition and
temperament required good treatment, and the disposition and temperament
was so carefully looked after by a purchaser as health and ability to
work, for it was recognized that most slaves came to slave dealers’
hands because the previous master had found some trouble on this score
of disposition or temperament this being the single exception outside of
failure in business when an owner felt justified by public opinion to
make sale of his slaves.
The life on a large plantation for a negro slave was an almost ideal
life. Each plantation of from about five hundred to several thousand
acres with its several hundred slaves was a perfect community in itself.
Every trade and occupation necessary to the effective running of the
plantation was represented. One of the slaves was a skilled blacksmith
and wheelwright, another a competent carpenter, still another a
shoemaker and so on throughout the list of utilities. In the order of
dignity and preferment the house servants came first. There were plenty
of them in every household and the work assigned to each was exceedingly
light, they were dressed well, ate the same food used by the family,
were well trained both mentally and morally, participated from the ties
of interest that bound them to the family in its pleasure to a greater
extent than could have been experienced by hired servants and in
sickness or trouble were cared for with a tenderness no less than would
be shown to a favorite child. Next in the order of regard came the
coachman, the gardener, the assistant overseer, who was always a slave;
indeed all whose duties brought them more especially in frequent contact
with the whites on the plantation. Then came the field hands, both men
and women, and no happier lot of human beings in their work could be
found than were ordinarily these same people whatever might be the task
to which they were assigned. I have been with them in hoeing corn, in
cutting wheat, in threshing grain, in curing tobacco, indeed in every
work which went on and I speak from my own personal experience in
stating as I do the spirit with which they worked. Every provision was
made for their well being, self interest of the master, independent of
dictates of humanity, and pressure of public opinion required this. The
negro quarters were sufficiently far from the house to permit of the
pleasures that appealed to the negro heart without the noise disturbing
the white folks. Each negro family usually had a cabin, ample and
comfortable, with a garden attached in which were raised vegetables and
the hours of field labor were such as to leave ample time to cultivate
this garden. Rations of staple food were served with the same regularity
and provisions for health and comfort as in army life. They were
supplied with ample clothing. Whether in health or sickness and from
birth to death the care of his slaves was the first regard of the slave
owner, and an exception to such was not tolerated in the community. The
family bible of the master’s family first contained the births, deaths
and marriages of the members of his family, then in the same bible
followed exactly similar entries with reference to his slaves. The
members of his family became the instructors of the negro children in
Sunday school work. The adult negroes were given ample opportunity and
encouraged to attend religious meetings. The negro slave was indeed
without a care or anxiety for his comfort or welfare from the time of
his birth to the period when he was tenderly laid away in the plot set
aside on every plantation for the negro burial ground.
[Illustration]
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.