On the following Monday morning, at the ministers' meeting,

appropriate remarks were made, and resolutions drawn up. The following

appeared in the daily papers:

"BAPTIST MINISTERS' MEETING.

"The Monday morning meeting of the Baptist ministers of Boston

and vicinity was held at ten o'clock, Monday, as is the weekly

custom. After the devotional exercises, the committee to prepare

resolutions on the death of the late Rev. Leonard Andrew Grimes

made their report to the meeting. Pending the acceptance of the

report remarks eulogizing the deceased were made by Rev. R. H.

Neale, D.D., and others. The resolutions, which were thereupon

given a place upon the records of the meeting, are as follows: In

the death of Leonard Andrew Grimes, for twenty-seven years the

pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston, the city in which

he lived, the race for which he labored have sustained an

irreparable loss. The _confrère_ of Daniel Sharp, Baron Stow,

Phineas Stow, Nathaniel Colver, Rev. Mr. Graves of the

'Reflector,' he was one whose coming might always be welcomed

with the exclamation of our Saviour concerning Nathaniel: 'Behold

an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.' His last efforts

were put forth for his race. He carried to the Board of the

American Baptist Home Mission Society, of which he had been for

many years an honored member, a large contribution from his

church, to help on Christ's work among the Freedmen, and, on

returning from New York, stopped at New Bedford to comfort a

broken-hearted mother, whose little child was dying, and then

came to the city, and in fifteen minutes after crossing the

threshold of his home passed on to God.

"His death affected the ministry and churches as when 'a

standard-bearer fainteth.' His familiar face was ever welcome.

His resolute bearing, his unswerving fidelity to Christ, to

truth, to the church at large, and his own denomination in

particular, and his life-long service as a philanthropist, his

devotion to the interests of the negro, to whom he was linked by

ties of consanguinity and of sympathy, made him a felt power for

good in our State and in our entire country. No man among us was

more sincerely respected or more truly loved. His departure,

while it came none too soon for the tired warrior, impoverishes

us with the withdrawal of an all-embracing love, and leaves God's

poor to suffer to an extent it is impossible to describe.

"_Resolved_, That the death of this good minister of Jesus Christ

imposes heavy responsibilities upon his surviving brethren. The

interests of the race of which he was an honored representative

are imperilled. Their noble champion has gone up higher; but no

waiting Elisha saw the ascent, and cried, 'My father, my father,

the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof'; so who can hope

to wear his mantle and continue his work?

"_Resolved_, That we tender to his afflicted widow, and to the

church he had so long and faithfully served, this poor expression

of our sympathy, and this truthful evidence of our love.

"_Resolved_, That the good of his race, just passing from the

morning of emancipation into the noonday radiance of a liberty of

which they have dreamed, and for which they have prayed, demands

that a permanent record be made of this noble man of God."

The ministers' meeting adjourned after the reading of the foregoing

resolutions, to attend the funeral services, which were to take place

in Charles Street Church. At an early hour in the morning the body was

placed in front of the altar in the church of the deceased, where it

lay in state all the forenoon, and where appropriate services were

conducted by Drs. Cheney, Fulton, and others. Thousands, of every

grade and hue, thronged the church to have a last fond look at the

face so full of sunlight in life, and so peaceful in death.

At one o'clock the remains were removed to Charles Street Church,

where the funeral services were conducted with a feeling of solemnity

and impressiveness worthy of the sad occasion. The addresses of Drs.

Neale and Fulton were fall of tenderness and grief. Both of these

gentlemen were, for many years, the intimate friends of the deceased.

They were all associated together in a noble work for a number of

years, and there were no hearts so sad as those of Brothers Neale and

Fulton. Clergymen of every denomination were present, and the

congregation contained men and women from all the walks of life. The

funeral was considered one of the largest that ever took place in

Boston.

On the following Sabbath quite a number of the Boston pulpits gave

appropriate discourses upon the "Life and Character of the late L. A.

Grimes." The most noticeable were those delivered by Rev. R. N. Neale,

D.D., Rev. Justin D. Fulton, D.D., and Rev. Henry A. Cook.

Within the last decade quite a number of educated Colored Baptist

clergymen have come into active work in the denomination. The old-time

preaching is becoming distasteful to the people. The increasing

intelligence of the congregations is an unmistakable warning to the

preachers that a higher standard of preaching is demanded; that the

pew is becoming as intelligent as the pulpit. The outlook is very

encouraging. However, the danger of the hour is, that too many Negro

churches may be organized. We have the quantity; let us _have_ the

_quality_ now.

FOOTNOTES:

[132] It was our good fortune to be present. We remember distinctly

his happy face, his words of gratitude and thanks. And as we looked

around every face wore an expression of complete satisfaction.

Part 9.

_THE DECLINE OF NEGRO GOVERNMENTS._

CHAPTER XXVII.

REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION.

1875-1880.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENTS AT THE

SOUTH.--SOUTHERN ELECTION METHODS AND NORTHERN SYMPATHY.--GEN.

GRANT NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DECLINE AND LOSS OF THE REPUBLICAN

STATE GOVERNMENTS AT THE SOUTH.--A PARTY WITHOUT A LIVE

ISSUE.--SOUTHERN WAR CLAIMS.--THE CAMPAIGN OF 1876.--REPUBLICAN

LETHARGY AND DEMOCRATIC ACTIVITY.--DOUBTFUL RESULTS.--THE

ELECTORAL COUNT IN CONGRESS.--GEN. GARFIELD AND CONGRESSMEN

FOSTER AND HALE TO THE FRONT AS LEADERS.--PEACEFUL

RESULTS.--PRESIDENT HAYES'S SOUTHERN POLICY.--ITS FAILURE.--THE

IDEAS OF THE HON. CHARLES FOSTER ON THE TREATMENT OF THE SOUTHERN

PROBLEM.--"NOTHING BUT LEAVES" FROM CONCILIATION.--A NEW POLICY

DEMANDED BY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.--A REMARKABLE SPEECH BY THE

HON. CHARLES FOSTER AT UPPER SANDUSKY, OHIO.--HE CALLS FOR A

SOLID NORTH AGAINST A SOLID SOUTH.--HE SOUNDS THE KEY-NOTE FOR

THE NORTH AND THE NATION RESPONDS.--THE DECAY AND DEATH OF THE

NEGRO GOVERNMENTS AT THE SOUTH INEVITABLE.--THE NEGRO MUST TURN

HIS ATTENTION TO EDUCATION, THE ACCUMULATION OF PROPERTY AND

EXPERIENCE.--HE WILL RETURN TO POLITICS WHEN HE SHALL BE EQUAL TO

THE DIFFICULT DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP.

From 1868 to 1872 the Southern States had been held by the Republican

party, with but a few exceptions, without much effort. The friends of

the Negro began to congratulate themselves that the Southern problem

had been solved. Every Legislature in the South had among its members

quite a fair representation of Colored men. Among the State officers

there was a good sprinkling of them; and in some of the States there

were Negroes as Lieut.-Governors. Congress had opened its doors to a

dozen Negroes; and the consular and diplomatic service had employed a

number of them in foreign parts. And so with such evidences of

political prosperity before their eyes the friends of the Negro at the

North regarded his "calling and election sure."

In 1873 a great financial panic came to the business and monetary

affairs of the country. It was the logic of an inflated currency, wild

and visionary enterprises, bad investments, and prodigal living. Banks

tottered and fell, large business houses suspended, and financial ruin

ran riot. Northern attention was diverted from Southern politics to

the "destruction that seemed to waste at noon-day." Taking advantage

of this the South seized the shot-gun and wrote on her banners: "_We

must carry these States, peaceably if we can; forcibly if we must._"

An organized, deliberate policy of political intimidation assumed the

task of ridding the South of Negro government. The first step was in

the direction of intimidating the white leaders of the Republican

organizations; and the next was to deny employment to all intelligent

and influential Colored Republicans. Thus from time to time the

leaders of the Republican party were reduced to a very small number.

Without leaders the rank and file of the party were harmless and

helpless in State and National campaigns. This state of affairs seemed

to justify the presence of troops at the polls on election days. Under

an Act of Congress "the President was empowered to use the army to

suppress domestic violence, prevent bloodshed," and to protect the

Negroes in the constitutional exercise of the rights conferred upon

them by the Constitution. This movement was met by the most determined

opposition from the South, aided by the sympathy of the Northern

press, Democratic platforms, and a considerable element in the

Republican party.

In 1874 the condition of affairs in the South was such as to alarm the

friends of stable, constitutional government everywhere. The city of

New Orleans was in a state of siege. Streets were blockaded with State

troops and White Line leagues, and an open battle was fought. The

Republican State government fell before the insurgents, and a new

government was established _vi et armis_. Troops were sent to New

Orleans by the President, and the lawful government was restored. The

Liberal movement in the North, which had resulted in the defeat of the

Republican tickets in Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey,

Connecticut, and even in Massachusetts, greatly encouraged the Bourbon

Democrats of the South, and excited them to the verge of the most open

and cruel conduct toward the white and black Republicans in their

midst.

A large number of Northern Legislatures passed resolutions condemning

the action of the President in sending troops into the South, although

he did it in accordance with law. Many active and influential

Republicans, displeased with the action of the Republican governments

at the South, and the conduct of the Forty-third Congress, demanded

the destruction of the Republican party. The Liberal movement had

started in 1872. Its leaders thought the time had come for a new

party, and counselled the country accordingly.

The Forty-fourth Congress was organized by the Democrats. The Cabinet

Ministers were divided on the policy pursued toward the South. In the

autumn of 1875 the shot-gun policy carried Mississippi; and from the

6th of July till the Republican government in that State went down

into a bloody grave, there was an unbroken series of political

murders.

President Grant was met by a Democratic Congress; a divided Cabinet:

Zachariah Chandler and Edwards Pierrepont were in sympathy with him;

Bristow and Jewell represented the Liberal sentiment. Then, the

Republican party of the North, and many leading journals, were urging

a change of policy toward the South. The great majority of Republicans

wanted a change, not because they did not sympathize with the Negro

governments, but because they saw some of the best men in the party

withdrawing their support from the administration of Gen. Grant. There

were other men who charged that the business failures in the country

were occasioned by the financial policy of the Republican party, and

in a spirit of desperation were ready to give their support to the

Democracy.

It was charged by the enemies of Gen. Grant that when he was elected

President he had a solid Republican South behind him; that under his

administration everything had been lost; and that he was responsible

for the political ruin which had overtaken the Republican party at the

South. The charge was false. The errors of reconstruction under the

administration of President Andrew Johnson, and the mistakes of the

men who had striven to run the State governments at the South had to

be counteracted by the administration of President Grant. This indeed

was a difficult task. He did all he could under the Constitution; and

when Congress endeavored to pass the Force Bill, the Hon. James G.

Blaine, of Maine, made a speech against it in caucus. Mr. Blaine had a

presidential ambition to serve, and esteemed his own promotion of

greater moment than the protection of the Colored voters of the

South. And Mr. Blaine never allowed an opportunity to pass in which he

did not throw every obstacle in the way of the success of the Grant

administration. Mr. Blaine has never seen fit to explain his

opposition to the Force Bill, which was intended to strengthen the

hands of the President in his efforts to protect the Negro voter at

the South.

When the National Republican Convention met at Cincinnati, Ohio, in

the summer of 1876, there was still lacking a definite policy for the

South. Presidential candidates were numerous, and the contest bitter.

Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, at that time Governor of Ohio, was nominated

as a compromise candidate. There was no issue left the Republican

party, as the "bloody shirt" had been rejected by the Liberals, and

was generally distasteful at the North. But the initial success of the

Democratic party South, and the loss of many Northern States to the

Republicans, had emboldened the South to expect national success. But

a too precipitous preparation for a raid upon the United States

Treasury for the payment of rebel war claims threw the Republicans

upon their guard, and, for the time being, every other question was

sunk into insignificance. So the insolence of the "Rebel Brigadier

Congress," and the letter of Samuel Jones Tilden, the Democratic

candidate for the Presidency, on the question of the Southern war

claims, gave the Republican party a fighting chance. But there were a

desperate South and a splendid campaign organizer in Mr. Tilden to

meet. And with a shot-gun policy, tissue ballets, and intimidation at

the South, while a gigantic, bold, and matchless system of fraudulent

voting was pushed with vigor in the North, there was little show of

success for the Republican ticket. The contest on the part of the

Republicans was spiritless. It was difficult to raise funds or excite

enthusiasm. The Republican candidate had only a local reputation. He

had been to Congress, but even those who had known that had forgotten

it. A modest, retiring man, Gov. Hayes was not widely known. The old

and tried leaders were not enthusiastic. Mr. Blaine had no second

choice. He was for himself or nobody. The Democrats prosecuted their

campaign with vigor, intelligence, and enthusiasm. They went "into the

school districts," and their organization has never been equalled in

America.

The result was doubtful. One thing, however, was sure: the Negro

governments of the South were now a thing of the past. Not a single

State was left to the Republican party. Florida, Louisiana, and South

Carolina were hanging by the slender thread of doubt, with the

provisions of a returning board in favor of the Republican party. The

returning boards were the creation of local law; their necessity

having grown out of the peculiar methods employed by Democrats in

carrying elections. These boards were empowered to receive and count

the votes cast for presidential electors; and wherever it could be

proven that intimidation and fraud had been used, the votes of such

precincts, counties, etc., were to be thrown out. The three doubtful

States named above were counted for the Republican presidential

electors. Their work was carried before Congress. A high joint

electoral commission was created by law, composed of the ablest men of

the two parties in Congress, with the salt of judicial judgment thrown

in. This commission examined the returns of the three doubtful States,

and decided not to go behind the returns; and, according to a previous

agreement, one branch of Congress ratifying, the candidate having the

more votes was to be declared duly elected.

The country was in an unprecedented state of excitement; and even

European governments felt the shock. The enemies of Republican

government laughed their little laugh, and said that the end of the

republic had come. British bankers brought out into the light

Confederate bonds; while stocks in the United States went through an

experience as variable as the weather in the Mississippi valley. The

public press was intemperate in its utterances, and the political

passions of the people were inflamed every hour. The national House of

Representatives was a vast whirlpool of excitement,--or, rather it was

an angry sea stirred to its depths, and lashing itself into aimless

fury by day and by night. When the vote of a State was called, some

Democrat would object, and the Senate, which was always present, would

retire, and the House would then open a war of words running through

hours and sometimes days. When the debate ended, or rather when the

House had reached the end of its parliamentary halter, the Senate

would again enter, the vote of the State would be counted, and the

next one called. Thus the count proceeded through anxious days and

weary nights. Business was suspended; and the bulletin boards of

commercial 'changes were valueless so long as the bulletin boards of

the newspapers contained "the latest news from Washington."

In this state of affairs there was need of statesmen at the head of

the Republican minority in Congress. There were orators; but the

demand was for men of judgment, energy, executive ability,--men in

whom the Democrats had confidence, who could put a stop to

filibustering, and secure a peaceful solution of a unique and

dangerous problem.

These were forthcoming; the late President Garfield and Gov. Foster,

then a member of Congress, with Kasson, Hale, and other members of

Congress, were among those most active and effective in securing a

peaceful result.

When the electoral fight was on, and the end seemed uncertain, these

gentlemen stepped to the front and fairly won the reputation of

statesmen. They saw that if the filibustering of the Democrats were

brought to a close, it would have to be accomplished by the leaders in

that party and on that side of the House. Accordingly they secured

Fernando Wood, of New York, as the leader in opposition to

filibustering, and John Young Brown, of Kentucky, as his lieutenant.

The Republican policy was to allow the Democrats to lead and do the

talking, while they should fall into line and vote when the proper

time came. But Fernando Wood at the head of the Republicans as a

leader, was a spectacle as strange and startling as Satan leading a

prayer-meeting. It was too much for an orthodox, close-communion,

hard-shell Republican like Martin I. Townsend!

On Thursday afternoon, the last day of the alarming scenes in

Congress, nearly everybody had lost hope. There was no telling at what

moment the government would be in anarchy. In the midst of the

confusion, excitement, and threatening danger, the Hon. Charles Foster

was the most imperturbable man in Congress. On Thursday afternoon

Senator Hoar, a member of Congress from Massachusetts, saw Mr. Foster

seated at his desk writing as quietly and composedly as if in his

private office; he seemed perfectly oblivious to the angry storm which

was raging about him. The cold-blooded, conservative New England

Senator was as greatly amazed at the serenity of the clear-headed

Western Congressman as he was distressed at the impending disaster. He

went to Mr. Foster and talked very discouragingly respecting the

situation. He said that the Senate was growing impatient at the

dilatory conduct of the House, and would probably, at the earliest

convenience, send a message to the House demanding that the latter

open their doors and admit the Senate to complete the count.

Congressman Foster stated to the Senator that the House was not in a

temper to be driven; that a resolution of the character of the one

proposed would hinder rather than help a peaceful solution of the

vexatious count; and that if he would only possess his soul in

patience, before the rising of another sun R. B. Hayes would be

peaceably and constitutionally declared the President of the United

States. And it was even as he said; for before four o'clock the next

morning the count was completed, and Hayes declared the President of

the United States for the Constitutional term of four years. This is

given as one of the many unwritten incidents that occurred during this

angry, and, probably, most perilous controversy that ever threatened

the life of the American Republic.

A new policy for the South was now inevitable. From October 1876 till

March 1877, President Grant had refused to recognize Chamberlain as

Governor of South Carolina, or Packard as Governor of Louisiana. He

had simply preserved those governments _in statu quo_. He had heard

all that could be said in favor of the Republican side of the

question, and seemed to believe that it was now beyond his power to

hold up the last of the Negro governments with bayonets. He was right.

It would have been as vain to have attempted to galvanize those

governments into existence as to have attempted the resuscitation of a

dead man by applying a galvanic battery. Governments must have, not

only the subjective elements of life, but the powers of

self-preservation. The Negro governments at the South died for the

want of these elements. It was a pity, too, after the noble fight the

Republican party of Louisiana and South Carolina had made, and after

they had secured their electoral votes for Hayes, that their State

officers who had been chosen at the same time should have been

abandoned to their own frail governmental resources. But this was

unavoidable. Their governments could not have existed twenty-four

hours without the presence and aid of the United States army. And this

could not have been done in the face of the sentiment against such use

of the army which had grown to be nearly unanimous throughout the

country. If the Republicans could have inaugurated their officers and

administered their governments they would have received the applause

of the administration at Washington and the God-speed of the

Republican party of the North; but the moment the United States

troops were withdrawn the Negro governments melted into nothingness.

Every thing had been tried but pacification. The men who best

understood the temper of that section knew it was incapable, as a

whole, of receiving the olive branch in the spirit in which the North

would tender it. But a policy of conciliation was demanded; the

Northern journals asked it. An ex-Major-General of the Confederate

Army was called to the Cabinet of President Hayes, and was given a

portfolio where he could do more for the South than in any other

place. Gen. Longstreet, a gallant Confederate soldier during the late

war, was made Postmaster at Gainesville, Georgia, and afterward sent

as Minister to Turkey. Col. Mosby, another Confederate soldier, or

guerilla, was sent to China, and Col. Fitzsimmons was made Marshal of

Georgia. It was the policy of the Hon. Charles Foster to have the

President recognize young men at the South who had the pluck and

ability to divide the Bourbon Democratic party of that section, and

hasten the day of better feeling between the sections. But the

President, either incapable of comprehending this idea, or jealous of

the credit that the country had already bestowed upon him, blundered

on in selecting men to represent his policy in the South who had no

following, and were, therefore, valueless to his cause. His heart was

right, but he put too much confidence in Southern statesmen.

The South showed no signs of improvement. White Republicans were

intimidated, persecuted, and driven out. The black Republicans were

allowed to vote, but the Democrats counted the votes and secured all

the offices. The President was under the influence of Alex. H.

Stephens, of Georgia, and Wade Hampton, of South Carolina. He expected

much; but he received nothing. Instead of gratitude he received

arrogance. The Southern leaders in Congress sought to deprive the

Executive of his constitutional veto; to starve the army; and to

protract the session of Congress. The North had invited its "erring

brethren" back, and had killed the fatted calf, but were unwilling to

allow the fellow to eat all the veal! The conduct of the South was

growing more intolerable every day; and the President's barren policy

was losing him supporters. He had not tied to any safe advisers. Hon.

Charles Foster, Senator Stanley Matthews, and Gen. James A. Garfield

could have piloted him through many dangerous places. But he shut

himself up in his own abilities, and left his friends on the outside.

The South had gulped down every thing that had been given it, and was

asking for more. Every thing had been given except the honor of the

cause that the Union army had fought for. To complete the task of

conciliation it was only required that the nation destroy the

monuments to its hero dead, and open the treasury to the payment of

rebel war claims, and pension the men who were maimed in an attempt to

shoot the government to death. To the credit of President Hayes let

history record that he did not surrender his veto power to arrogant

and disloyal Southern Congressmen. He became convinced at last that

the South was incapable of appreciating his kindness, and was willing

to change front. His policy was inevitable. It did great good. It

united the Republican party against the South; and a splendid cabinet,

a clean administration, and the resumption of specie payments wrought

wonders for the Republican party.

There was a ripe sentiment in the North in favor of "a change" of

policy. The very men who had advocated pacification; who had "flowers

and tears for the Gray, and tears and flowers for the Blue"; who

wanted the grave of Judas equally honored with the grave of Jesus--the

destroyer and the Saviour of the country placed in the same

calendar;--were the first men to grow sick of the policy of

pacification. But what policy to inaugurate was not clear to them.

In the summer of 1878 the Hon. Charles Foster returned to Ohio from

Washington City. He had seen State governments in the North slip from

the control of Republicans, because of the folly of the Hayes' policy

of pacification toward the South. He had the good-sense to take in the

situation. He saw that it was madness to attempt any longer to

conciliate the South. He saw that the lamb and lion had lain down

together, but that the lamb was on the inside of the lion. Brave,

intelligent, and far-seeing, on the 1st of August, 1878, he gave the

Republican party of the North a battle-cry that died away only amid

the shouts of Republican State and National victories in 1880. This

was all the North needed. A leader was demanded, and the Hon. Charles

Foster sounded the key-note that met with a response in every loyal

heart in the country. His idea was that as the South had not kept the

faith; had not accorded protection to the Negro voter; had not broken

up old Bourbon Democratic organizations, it was the imperative duty

of the North to meet that section with a solid front. Hence his

battle-cry: "_A Solid North against a Solid South._" The following is

his famous speech--pure gold:

"I happened to be one who thought and believed that the

President's Southern policy, as far as it related to the use of

troops for the support of State governments, was right. I

sustained it upon the ground of high principle, nevertheless it

could have been sustained on the ground of necessity. The

President has extended to the people of the South the hand of

conciliation and friendship. He has shown a desire, probably

contrary to the wishes of the great mass of his party, to bring

about, by the means of conciliation, better relations between the

North and South. In doing this he has alienated from him the

great mass of the leading and influential Republicans of the

country. He had lost their sympathy, and to a great degree their

support. What has he received in return for these measures of

conciliation and kindness? How have these measures been received

by the South? What advance can we discover in them, of the

recognition of the guarantees of the rights of the Colored men

under the Constitutional Amendments? We see Jeff. Davis making

speeches as treasonable as those of 1861, and these speeches

endorsed and applauded by a great portion of their press and

people. We see also the declaration of Mr. Singleton, of

Mississippi, in answer to a question of mine on the floor of the

House, declaring that his paramount allegiance in peace and war

was due to his State.

"No gentleman from the South, or even of the Democratic party,

has taken issue with him. We see also, all over the South, a

disposition to resist the execution of the United States laws,

especially in the matter of the collection of internal revenue.

To-day there are four U. S. officers under arrest by the

authorities of the State of South Carolina, in jail and bail

refused, for an alleged crime in their State, while in fact these

officers were discharging their duty in executing the laws of the

United States in that State. Their State courts and their

officers refused to obey the writs of the United States courts in

the surrender of these men to the United States authorities. No

former act of this treasonable State shows a more defiant

attitude toward the U. S. Government, or a greater disposition to

trample upon its authority. I trust the Administration will, in

this case, assert in the most vigorous manner possible the

authority of the United States Government for the rescue and

protection of these officers. I have no bloody shirt to wave. If

there is one man in this country, more than another, who desires

peace and quiet between the sections, I believe I am that man.

Gentlemen may philosophize over this question until they are

gray, but you cannot escape the discussion of this question so

long as a Solid South menaces the peace of the country. A Solid

Democratic South means the control of the country by the spirit

and the men who sought its destruction.

"My own opinion is that there can be no peace--this question will

not down, until the menace of the Solid South is withdrawn. I had

hoped that the policy of President Hayes would lead to the

assertion, by a very considerable portion of the South, of their

antagonism to Bourbon Democracy.

"I confess to a degree of disappointment in this, though I think

I see signs of a breaking up of the Solid South in the

independent movement that seemed to be gaining a foothold in all

sections of that country. But the effective way to aid these

independent movements, this breaking up of the Solid South, is

for the North to present itself united against the Solid South. A

Solid South under the control of the Democratic party means the

control of the party by this element. It means the repeal of the

Constitutional Amendments, if not in form, in spirit. It means

the payment of hundreds of rebel claims. It means the payment of

pensions to rebel soldiers. It means the payment for slaves lost

in the Rebellion. It means the abrogation of that provision of

the Constitution which declares, that the citizens of one State

shall have all the rights, privileges, and immunities of the

citizens of other States.

"If my Democratic friends who seem to be anxious to bring about

peace and quiet between the sections are sincere and desire to

make their expressions effective, they should act with that party

that presents a solid front, a United North, so long as we are

menaced with the Solid South.

"If it could be understood in the South that they are to be met

with a Solid North, I do not believe that the Solid South would

exist in that condition a single year. They retain this position

because they believe that they can have the support of a fragment

of the North; and thus with this fragment rule and control the

country. I would have no fear of the control of the country by

the Democratic party if it were made up of something like equal

proportion from all sections of the country. I discuss this

question, first, because I believe it the most important question

at issue in the pending canvass. _I repeat that it is the

imperative duty of the North to meet the Solid South with a

united front._"[133]

This speech was delivered at Upper Sandusky, Wyandotte Co., Ohio. It

thrilled the North, and put new life into the Republican party. It

gave him the nomination for governor, and from 23,000 Democratic

majority he redeemed the State by a Republican majority of 17,000. A

wave of enthusiasm swept the country. His battle-cry became the

editorial of a thousand journals, and hundreds of orators found

ammunition enough in his little speech of a hundred lines to keep up a

campaign of two years' duration. It is a fact that history should not

omit to record, that from the 1st of August, 1878, until the election

of James A. Garfield to the presidency, there was no cessation to the

campaign in the North.

But the securing of a Solid North did not restore the Negro

governments at the South. The North had rallied to rebuke an insolent

South; to show the Democrats of that section that the United States

Treasury should be protected, and that the honor of the nation _would_

be maintained unsullied. If the South would not pay its honest debts

there was every reason for believing that it would not pay the

national debt. It was to be regretted that the Negro had been so

unceremoniously removed from Southern politics. But such a result was

inevitable. The Government gave him the statute-book when he ought to

have had the spelling-book; placed him in the Legislature when he

ought to have been in the school-house. In the great revolution that

followed the war, the heels were put where the brains ought to have

been. An ignorant majority, without competent leaders, could not rule

an intelligent Caucasian minority. Ignorance, vice, poverty, and

superstition could not rule intelligence, experience, wealth, and

organization. It was here that the "one could chase a thousand, and

the two could put ten thousand to flight." The Negro governments were

built on the shifting sands of the opinions of the men who

reconstructed the South, and when the storm and rains of political

contest came they fell because they were not built upon the granite

foundation of intelligence and statesmanship.

It was an immutable and inexorable law which demanded the destruction

of those governments. It was a law that knows no country, no

nationality. Spain, Mexico, France, Turkey, Russia, and Egypt have

felt its cruel touch to a greater or less degree. But a lesson was

taught the Colored people that is invaluable. Let _them_ rejoice that

they are out of politics. Let white men rule. Let them enjoy a

political life to the exclusion of business and education, and they

too will sooner or later be driven out of their places by the same law

that sent the Negro to the plantations and to the schools. And if the

Negro is industrious, frugal, saving, diligent in labor, and laborious

in study, there is another law that will quietly and peaceably,

without a social or political shock, restore him to his normal

relations in politics. He will be able to build his governments on a

solid foundation, with the tempered mortar of experience and

knowledge. This is inevitable. The Negro will return to politics in

the South when he is qualified to govern; will return to stay. He will

be respected, courted and protected then. Then as a tax-payer, as well

as a tax-gatherer, reading his own ballot, and choosing his own

candidates, he will be equal to all the exigencies of American

citizenship.

FOOTNOTES:

[133] Cincinnati Commercial, Aug. 1, 1878.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE EXODUS--CAUSE AND EFFECT.

THE NEGROES OF THE SOUTH DELIGHT IN THEIR HOME SO LONG AS IT IS

POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO REMAIN.--THE POLICY OF ABRIDGING THEIR

RIGHTS DESTRUCTIVE TO THEIR USEFULNESS AS MEMBERS OF

SOCIETY.--POLITICAL INTIMIDATION, MURDER, AND OUTRAGE DISTURB THE

NEGROES.--THE PLANTATION CREDIT SYSTEM THE CRIME OF THE

CENTURY.--THE EXODUS NOT INSPIRED BY POLITICIANS, BUT THE NATURAL

OUTCOME OF THE BARBAROUS TREATMENT BESTOWED UPON THE NEGROES BY

THE WHITES.--THE UNPRECEDENTED SUFFERINGS OF 60,000 NEGROES

FLEEING FROM SOUTHERN DEMOCRATIC OPPRESSION.--THEIR PATIENT,

CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE.--THEIR INDUSTRY, MORALS, AND FRUGALITY.--THE

CORRESPONDENT OF THE "CHICAGO INTER-OCEAN" SENDS INFORMATION TO

SENATOR VOORHEES RESPECTING THE REFUGEES IN KANSAS.--THE POSITION

OF GOV. ST. JOHN AND THE FAITHFUL LABORS OF MRS. COMSTOCK.--THE

RESULTS OF THE EXODUS BENEFICENT.--THE SOUTH MUST TREAT THE NEGRO

BETTER OR LOSE HIS LABOR.

The exodus of the Negroes from Southern States forms one of the most

interesting pages of the almost romantic history of the race. It

required more than ordinary causes to drive the Negro from his home in

the sunny South to a different climate and strange country. It was no

caprice of his nature, nor even a nomadic feeling. During the entire

period of the existence of the Republican governments at the South the

Negroes remained there in a state of blissful contentment. And even

after the fall of those governments they continued in a state of quiet

industry. But there followed the decline of those governments a policy

as hurtful to the South as it was cruel to the Negroes.

During the early years of reconstruction quite a number of Negroes

began to invest in real estate and secure for themselves pleasant

homes. Their possessions increased yearly, as can be seen by a

reference to statistical reports. Some of the estates and homesteads

of the oldest and most reputable white families, who had put every

thing info the scales of Confederate rebellion, fell into the

possession of ex-slaves. Such a spectacle was not only unpleasant, it

was exasperating, to the whites. But so long as the Republican

governments gave promise of success there was but little or no

manifestation of displeasure on the part of the whites. Just as soon,

however, as they became the masters of the situation, the property of

many Negroes was seized, and sold upon the specious plea--"for

delinquent taxes"; and the Negroes were driven from eligible places to

the outskirts of the larger towns and cities. No Negro was allowed to

live in the vicinity of white persons as tenants; and it became a

social crime to sell property to Negroes in close proximity to the

whites. In the rural districts, where Negroes had begun to secure

small farms, this same cruel spirit was "the lion in their way." The

spirit that sought to keep the Negro ignorant as a slave, now that he

was at least nominally free, endeavored to deprive him of one of the

necessary conditions of happy and useful citizenship: the possession

of property, the aggregations of the results of honest labor. Nothing

could have been more fatal to the growth of the Negro toward the

perfect stature of free, intelligent, independent, and self-sustaining

manhood and citizenship. The object and result of such a system can

easily be judged. It was intended to keep the Negroes the laboring

element after as well as before the war. The accomplishment of such a

result would have been an argument in favor of the assertion of the

South that the normal condition of the Negro was that of a serf; and

that he, did not possess the elements necessary to the life of a

freeman. Thus would have perished the hopes, prayers, arguments and

claims of the friends of the cause of universal, manhood suffrage.

Among the masses of laboring men the iniquitous, outrageous, thieving

"_Plantation Credit System_" was a plague and a crime. Deprived of

homes and property the Negroes were compelled to "work the crops on

the shares." A plantation store was kept where the Negroes' credit was

good for any article it contained. He got salt meat, corn meal, sugar,

coffee, molasses, vinegar, tobacco, and coarse clothing for himself

and family. An account was kept by "a young white man," and at the end

of the season "a reckoning" was had. Unable to read or cipher, the

poor, credulous, unsuspecting Negroes always found themselves in debt

from $50 to $200! This necessitated another year's engagement; and so

on for an indefinite period. There was nothing to encourage the

Negroes; nothing to inspire them with hope for the future; nothing for

their families but a languid, dead-eyed expectation that somehow a

change _might_ come. But the crime went on unrebuked by the men who

were growing rich from this system of petty robbery of the poor. For

the cheapest qualities of brown sugar, for which the laboring classes

of the North pay 8 cents, the Negroes on the plantations were charged

11 and 13 cents a pound. Corn meal purchased at the North for 4 cents

a quart, brought 9 and 10 cents at the plantation store. And thus for

every article the Negroes purchased they were charged the most

exorbitant prices.

There were two results which flowed from this system, viz.: robbing

the families of these Negroes of the barest comforts of life, and

destroying the confidence of the Negro in the blessings and benefits

of freedom. No man--no race of men--could endure such blighting

influences for any length of time.

Moreover the experiences of the Negroes in voting had not been

extensive, and a sudden curtailing and abridgment of their rights was

a shock to their confidence in the government under which they lived,

and in the people by which they were surrounded. It was thought

expedient to intimidate or destroy the more intelligent and determined

Negroes; while the farm laborers were directed to refrain from voting

the Republican ticket, or commanded to vote the Democratic ticket, or

starve. There never was a more cruel system of slavery than this.

Writing under date of January 10, 1875, General P. H. Sheridan, then

in command at New Orleans, says:

"Since the year 1866 nearly thirty-five hundred persons, a great

majority of whom were colored men, have been killed and wounded

in this State. In 1868 the official record shows that eighteen

hundred and eighty-four were killed and wounded. From 1868 to the

present time no official investigation had been made, and the

civil authorities in all but a few cases have been unable to

arrest, convict, or punish the perpetrators. Consequently there

are no correct records to be consulted for information. There is

ample evidence, however, to show that more than twelve hundred

persons have been killed and wounded during this time on account

of their political sentiments. Frightful massacres have occurred

in the parishes of Bossier, Caddo, Catahoula, Saint Bernard,

Grant, and Orleans."

He then proceeded to enumerate the political murders of Colored men in

various parishes, and says:

"Human life in this State is held so cheaply that when men are

killed on account of political opinions, the murderers are

regarded rather as heroes than as criminals in the localities

where they reside."

This brief summary is not by a politician, but by a distinguished

soldier, who recounts the events which had occurred within his own

military jurisdiction. Volumes of testimony have since been taken

confirming in all respects General Sheridan's statement, and giving in

detail the facts relating to such murders, and the times and

circumstances of their occurrence. The results of the elections which

immediately followed them disclose the motives and purposes of their

perpetrators. These reports show that in the year 1867 a reign of

terror prevailed over almost the entire State. In the parish of St.

Landry there was a massacre of Colored people which began on the 28th

of September, 1868, and lasted from three to six days, during which

time between three and four hundred of them were killed. "Thirteen

captives were taken from the jail and shot, and a pile of twenty-five

dead bodies were found burned in the woods." The result of this

Democratic campaign in the parish was that the registered Republican

majority of 1,071 was wholly obliterated, and at the election which

followed a few weeks later, not a vote was cast for General Grant,

while Seymour and Blair received 4,787.

In the parish of Bossier a similar massacre occurred between the 20th

and 30th of September, 1868, which lasted from three to four days,

during which time two hundred Negroes were killed. By the official

registry of that year the Republican voters in Bossier Parish numbered

1,938, but at the ensuing election only _one_ Republican vote was

cast.

In the parish of Caddo, during the month of October, 1868, over forty

Negroes were killed. The result of that massacre was that out of a

Republican registered vote of 2,894 only _one_ was cast for General

Grant. Similar scenes were enacted throughout the State, varying in

extent and atrocity according to the magnitude of the Republican

majority to be overcome.

The total summing up of murders, maimings, and whippings which took

place for political reasons in the months of September, October, and

November, 1868, as shown by official sources, is over one thousand.

The net political results achieved thereby may be succinctly stated as

follows: The official registration for that year in twenty-eight

parishes contained 47,923 names of Republican voters, but at the

presidential election held a few weeks after the occurrence of these

events but 5,360 Republican votes were cast, making the net Democratic

gain from said transactions 42,563.

In nine of these parishes where the reign of terror was most

prevalent, out of 11,604 registered Republican votes only nineteen

were cast for General Grant. In seven of said parishes there were

7,253 registered Republican votes, but not one was cast at the ensuing

election for the Republican ticket.

In the years succeeding 1868, when some restraint was imposed upon

political lawlessness and a comparatively peaceful election was held,

these same Republican parishes cast from 33,000 to 37,000 Republican

votes, thus demonstrating the purpose and the effects of the reign of

murder in 1868.

In 1876 the spirit of violence and persecution which, in parts of the

State, had been partially restrained for a time, broke forth again

with renewed fury. It was deemed necessary to carry that State for

Tilden and Hendricks, and the policy which had proved so successful in

1868 was again invoked, and with like results. On the day of general

election in 1876 there were in the State of Louisiana 92,996

registered white voters, and 115,310 Colored, making a Republican

majority of the latter of 22,314. The number of white Republicans was

far in excess of the number of Colored Democrats. It was, therefore,

well known that if a fair election should be held the State would go

Republican by from twenty-five to forty thousand majority. The policy

adopted this time was to select a few of the largest Republican

parishes and by terrorism and violence not only obliterate their

Republican majorities, but also intimidate the Negroes in the other

parishes. The sworn testimony found in our public documents and

records at Washington shows that the same system of assassinations,

whippings, burnings, and other acts of political persecution of

Colored citizens, which had occurred in 1868, was again repeated in

1876, and with like results.

In fifteen parishes where 17,726 Republicans were registered in 1876

only 5,758 votes were cast for Hayes and Wheeler, and in one of them

(East Feliciana) where there were 2,127 Republicans registered, but

_one_ Republican vote was cast. By some methods the Republican

majority of the State was supposed to have been effectually suppressed

and a Democratic victory assured. And because the legally constituted

authorities of Louisiana, acting in conformity with law and justice,

declined to count some of the parishes thus carried by violence and

blood, the Democratic party, both North and South, has ever since

complained that it was fraudulently deprived of the fruits of the

victory thus achieved, and it now proposes to make this grievance the

principal plank in the party platform[134] for the future.

The worm trampled upon so persistently at length turned over. There

was nothing left to the Negro but to go out from the land of his

oppression and task-masters.

The Exodus was not a political movement. It was not inspired from

without. It was but the natural operation of a divine law that moved

whole communities of Negroes to turn their faces toward the setting

sun. When the Israelites went out of Egypt God commanded their women

to borrow the finger-rings and ear-rings of the Egyptians. All had

sandals on their feet, staves in their hand, and headed by a matchless

leader. God went before them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar

of fire by night. But when the Negroes began their exodus from the

Egypt of their bondage they went out empty; without clothing, money,

or leaders. They were willing to endure any hardships short of death

to reach a land where, under their own vine and fig-tree, they could

enjoy free speech, free schools, the privilege of an honest vote, and

receive honest pay for honest work. And how forcibly they told why

they left the South.

"Now, old Uncle Joe, what did you come for?"

"Oh, law! Missus, I follers my two boys an' the ole woman an'

then 'pears like I wants a taste of votin' afore I dies, an' the

ole man done wants no swamps to wade in afore he votes, 'kase he

must be Republican, ye see."

"Well, old Aunty, give us the sympathetic side of the story; or,

tell us what you think of leaving your old home."

"I done have no home nohow, if they shoots my ole man an' the

boys, an' gives me no money for de washin."

A bright woman of twenty-five years is asked her condition, when she

answers; "I had n't much real trouble yet, like some of my neighbors

who lost every thing. We had a lot an' a little house, an' some stock

on the place. We sold all out 'kase we did n't dare to stay when

votin' time came again. Some neighbors better off than we had been all

broken up by a pack of "_night-riders_"--all in white,--who scared

everybody to death, run the men off to the swamps before elections,

run the stock off, an' set fire to their places. A poor woman might

as well be killed and done with it."

In the early Spring of 1879, the now famous Exodus of the Negroes from

the South set in toward the Northern States.

"Many already have fled to the forest and lurk on its outskirts,

Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate of the morrow. Arms

have been taken from us, and warlike weapons of all kinds;

Nothing is left but the blacksmith's sledge and the scythe of the

mower."

The story of the emigration of a people has been often repeated since

the world began. The Israelites of old, with their wanderings of forty

years, furnish the theme of an inspired poem as old as history itself.

The dreadful tale of the Kalmuck Tartars, in 1770, fleeing from their

enemies, the Russians, over the desolate steppes of Asia in

mid-winter; starting out six hundred thousand strong, men, women, and

children, with their flocks and herds, and reaching the confines of

China with only two hundred thousand left, formed an era in oriental

annals, and made a combination from which new races of men have

sprung. But still more appropriate to this occasion is the history of

the Huguenots of France, driven by religious persecution to England

and Ireland, where, under their influence, industries sprang up as the

flowers of the field, and what was England's gain was irreparable loss

to France.[135] The expulsion of the Acadians, a harmless and

inoffensive people, from Nova Scotia, is another instance of the

revenge that natural laws inflict upon tyranny and injustice. Next to

the persecuted Pilgrims crossing a dreary ocean in mid-winter to the

sterile coasts of a land of savages for freedom's sake, history hardly

furnishes a more touching picture than that of forty thousand

homeless, friendless, starving Negroes going to a land already

consecrated with the blood of the martyrs to the cause of free Soil

and unrestricted liberty. It was grandly strange that these poor

people, persecuted, beaten with many stripes, hungry, friendless, and

without clothing or shelter, should instinctively seek a home in

Kansas where John Brown had fought the first battle for liberty and

the restriction of slavery! Some journeyed all the way from Texas to

Kansas in teams, with great horned oxen, and little steers in front no

larger than calves, bowing eagerly to the weary load. Worn and weary

with a nine weeks' journey, the travellers strained their eyes toward

the land of hope, blindly yet beautifully "trustin' de good Lord."

Often they buried their dead as soon as they arrived, many dying on

the hard floor of the hastily-built wooden barracks before beds could

be provided, but praying all night long and saying touchingly: "Come,

Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Come with dyin' grace in one hand and savin'

love in the other."[136]

A relief association was organized at once. A dear, good, old Quaker

lady, in her sixty-fourth year, a quarter of a century of which had

been spent in relieving suffering humanity, came forward and offered

her services free of charge. The association was organized as _The

Kansas Freedmen's Relief Association_. Mrs. Comstock was just the

person to manage the matter of raising funds and securing clothing. In

Gov. J. P. St. John, Mrs. Comstock and the association found a

warm-hearted Christian friend.

Notwithstanding the plain, world-known causes, the Hon. D. W.

Voorhees, United States Senator from Indiana, introduced a resolution

providing for the investigation of "_the causes of the migration of

the Colored people from the Southern to the Northern States_." It cost

the Government thousands of dollars, but developed nothing save what

the country had known for years, that the political cruelties and

systematic robbery practised upon the Colored people in the South had

forced them into a free country.

In one year those who had taken up a residence in Kansas had become

self-sustaining. They took hold of the work with enthusiasm; they

proved themselves industrious and frugal.

The Relief Association at first supplied them with stoves, teams, and

seed. In round numbers, in a little more than a year, $40,000 was

used, and 500,000 pounds of clothing, bedding, etc. England

contributed 50,000 pounds of goods and $8,000 in money; the chief

givers being Mrs. Comstock's friends who knew her in her good work

abroad. Much of the remainder had come in small sums, and from the

Christian women of America. One third was furnished by the Society of

Friends. Ohio gave more than any other State. The State and municipal

funds of Kansas were not drawn upon at all, though much had come from

private sources.

During the first year in Kansas, the freedmen entered upon 20,000

acres of land, and plowed and fitted for grain-growing 3,000 acres.

They built 300 cabins and dugouts, and accumulated $30,000. In 1878

Henry Carter, of Tennessee, set out from Topeka on foot for Dunlap,

sixty-five miles away; he carrying his tools, and his wife their

bedclothes. In 1880 he had forty acres of land cleared and the first

payment made, having earned his money on sheep ranches and elsewhere

by daily labor. He has built a good stone cottage sixteen feet by ten,

owns two cows, a horse, etc. In Topeka, where there were about 3,000

refugees, nearly all paupers when they came, all have found means in

some way to make a living. These people have shown themselves worthy

of aid. Mrs. Comstock has heard of only five or six cases of

intoxication in nine months, and of no arrests for stealing. They do

not want to settle where there is no church, and are all eager to have

a Bible and to learn. Schools have been opened for the adults--the

public schools of Kansas wisely making no distinction on account of

color,--and also industrial schools, especially for women, who are

quite ignorant of the ordinary duties of home life.

In the month of February, 1880, John M. Brown, Esq., General

Superintendent of the Freedmen's Relief Association read an

interesting report before the Association, from which the following

extract is taken:

"The great exodus of Colored people from the South began about

the 1st of February, 1879. By the 1st of April 1,300 refugees had

gathered around Wyandotte, Ks. Many of them were in a suffering

condition. It was then that the Kansas Relief Association came

into existence for the purpose of helping the most needy among

the refugees from the Southern States. Up to date about 60,000

refugees have come to the State of Kansas to live. Nearly 40,000

of them were in a destitute condition when they arrived, and have

been helped by our association. We have received to date $68,000

for the relief of the refugees. About 5,000 of those who have

come to Kansas have gone to other States to live, leaving about

55,000 yet in Kansas. About 30,000 of that number have settled in

the country, some of them on lands of their own or rented lands;

others have hired out to the farmers, leaving about 25,000 in and

around the different cities and towns of Kansas. There has been

great suffering among those remaining in and near the cities and

towns this winter. It has been so cold that they could not find

employment, and, if they did, they had to work for very low

wages, because so many of them are looking for work that they are

in each other's way.

"Most of those about the cities and towns are men with large

families, widows, and very old people. The farmers want only

able-bodied men and women for their work, and it is very hard for

men with large families to get homes among the farmers. Kansas

is a new State, and most farmers have small houses, and they

cannot take large families to live with them. So, when the

farmers call for help, they usually call for a man and his wife

only, or for a single man or woman.

"Now, in order that men with large families may become owners of

land, and be able to support their families, the K. F. R.

Association, if they can secure the means, will purchase cheap

lands, which can be bought at from $3 to $5 per acre, on long

time, by making a small payment in cash. They will settle the

refugees on those lands, letting each family have from twenty to

forty acres, and not settling more than sixteen families in

anyone neighborhood, so that they can easily obtain work from the

farmers in that section or near by. I do not think it best to

settle too many of them in any one place, because it will make it

hard for them to find employment.

"If our association can help them to build a small house, and

have five acres of their land broken, the women and children can

cultivate the five acres, and make enough to support their

families, while the men are out at work by the day to earn money

to meet the payments on their land as they come due. In this way

many families can be helped to homes of their own, where they can

become self-sustaining, educate their children, and be useful

citizens to the State of Kansas.

"Money spent in this way will be much more profitable to them

than so much old clothing and provisions. Then they will no

longer be objects of charity or a burden to benevolent people."

The sad stories of this persecuted people had touched the hearts of

the friends of humanity everywhere. Money and clothing came on every

train, and as fast as the association could secure homes for the

refugees they were distributed throughout the State.[137]

A special correspondent of the "Chicago Inter-Ocean" was despatched to

Topeka to report the condition of things there, and to throw some

light upon the great intellect of Senator Voorhees. He reported as

follows:

"TOPEKA, KAN., April 9.--During the last few days I have, in

obedience to your request, been taking notice of the exodus, as

it may be studied here at the headquarters for relief among the

refugees in Kansas. This is the third visit your correspondent

has made to the 'promised land' of the dusky hosts who, fleeing

from persecution and wrongs, have swarmed within its borders to

the number of 25,000. In a letter written while here in December

last the number then within the State was estimated at about

15,000, and since that date at least 12,000 more have come. In

the 'barracks' to-day I found what seemed to be the same one

hundred * * * who crowded about the stove that cold December day;

but they were not the same, of course, for their places have been

filled many times with other hundreds, who have found their first

welcome to Kansas in the rest, food, and warmth which the charity

of the North has provided here. So efficient have the plan of

relief and the machinery of distribution been made, that of the

thousands who have passed through here, none have remained as a

burden of expense to the association more than four or five days

before places were found where their own labor could furnish them

support.

"If that pure statesman of Indiana whose great heart was so

filled with solicitude for the welfare of his colored brethren,

that he asked Congress to appropriate thousands of dollars to

ascertain why they moved from one State to another, will come

here he will be rewarded by such a flood of light on the question

as can never penetrate the recesses of his committee room in

Washington. He need hardly propound an inquiry; he had, indeed,

best not let his great presence be known, for in the presence of

Democracy the negro has learned to keep silence. But in search of

the truth let him go to the file of over 3,000 letters in the

Governor's office from negroes in the South, and read in them the

homely but truthful tales of suffering, oppression, and wrongs.

Let him note how real is their complaint, but how modest the boon

they seek; for in different words, sometimes in quaint and often

in awkward phrases, the questions are always the same: Can we be

free? Can we have work, and can we have our rights in Kansas? Let

him go next to the barracks and watch the tired, ragged, hungry,

scared-looking negroes as they come by the dozens on every train.

If he is not prompted by shame, then from caution necessary to

the success of his errand, let him here conceal the fact that he

is a Democrat, for these half-famished and terrified negroes have

been fleeing from Democrats in the South, and in their ignorance

they may not be able to comprehend the nice distinction between a

Northern and Southern Democrat. If he will be content simply to

listen as they talk among themselves, he will soon learn much

that the laborious cross-examination of witnesses has failed to

teach him. He may take note of the fact that fleeing from

robbery, oppression, and murder, they come only with the plea for

work and justice while they work. He may see reason to criticise

what generally has been deemed by Southern Democrats at least,

the unreasonable folly in a negro which prompts husband and wife

to go only where they can go together, but he will find nothing

to cause him to doubt the sincerity and good faith with which the

negro grapples with the problem of his new life here. If he would

learn more of this strength of resolution and the patience which

they have brought to the search for a home in a free land, let

him inquire concerning the lives of these refugees in Kansas. It

may seem of significance and worthy of approving note to him,

that as laborers they have been faithful and industrious; that in

no single case have they come back asking aid of the relief

association nor become burdens in any way upon corporate or

public charities; that as citizens they are sober and law-abiding

to such a degree that he would hardly be able to discover a

single case of crime so far among them; and, finally, that in

those instances where they were able to purchase a little land

and stock, they have made as good progress toward the acquirement

of homes and property as have the average poor white immigrants

to the State. He will first learn, then, from the refugees

themselves something of the desperate nature of the causes that

drove them from the South, and secondly, from their lives here,

with what thrift, patience, and determination they have met the

difficulties which they have encountered in their efforts to gain

a foothold, and as men among men, in the land of equal rights.

From the Hon. Milton Reynolds, President of the Auxiliary Relief

Association at Parsons, I learn that the negroes who have come

into the southern part of the State, mostly from Texas, are all

either settled on small tracts of land or employed as laborers at

from $8 to $12 per month, and are all doing well. Mr. Reynolds's

testimony to this effect was positive and unqualified. To assist

these refugees in Southern Kansas--over 3,000 in all--only $575

has been expended. From Judge R. W. Dawson, who was the Secretary

of the association under the old management and during the early

months of the movement, one year ago, when 6,000 refugees were

distributed throughout the State and provided with homes at a

cost of $5,000, I learned much of interest concerning the welfare

and progress of this advance guard of the great exodus. Judge

Dawson, although not connected now with the relief work, feels of

course a great interest in the welfare of those to whose

assistance he contributed much, and loses no opportunity for

observation of their condition while travelling over the State.

He says he knows of no case where one has come back to the

association for aid, and that, as laborers and citizens, their

conduct has been such as to win the approval of all classes. Four

colonies have been established. State lands were bought by the

association and given to the colonies with the understanding

that, to secure their title, they must make the second and third

payments on the land purchased on the one-third cash and

two-thirds time payment plan. Two of the newest of these colonies

are still receiving aid from the association, but the others are

self-sustaining and will be able, it is thought, to make the

small purchase payments on the land as they become due.

"If our inquiring Statesman is interested in observing in what

spirit these refugees receive the aid which has made existence

possible here during the cold winter months, he may be profited

by spending a few days in looking about the city of Topeka. There

are in Topeka alone over 3,000 refugees, and nearly all of them,

paupers when they came, have found means in some way to make a

living. In many cases it is a precarious subsistence that is

gained, and in not a few cases among late arrivals he would find

evidences of want and destitution, but, compared with this, he

cannot but be struck with the small number of applicants to the

Relief Association for aid. Only 213 rations were issued outside

the barracks last week to the 3,000 refugees who came here only a

few months since without money, and frequently without clothing,

to undertake what seemed under the circumstances the desperate

purpose of making a living.

"The dangers and difficulties which beset the refugees' departure

from a land where even the right to emigrate is denied him are

great. * * * He may learn (Mr. Voorhees), however, from copies of

over 1,000 letters in the Governor's office, that Gov. St. John

has never, in reply to their appeals, failed to warn them of the

difficulties that would beset their way here, and has never

extended them promise of other assistance than that implied in

the equal rights which are guaranteed to every citizen of Kansas.

Further than this, however surprising it may be to Mr. Voorhees'

theory of the causes of the exodus, it is nevertheless a fact

that this very association, which is charged with encouraging the

exodus, has sent the Rev. W. O. Lynch, a colored man, to the

South to warn the colored people that they must not come here

expecting to be fed or to find homes already prepared, and to do

all in his power to dissuade them from coming at all. Still they

come, and why they come the country has determined long in

advance of Mr. Voorhees' report. * * *

"While we have Mr. Voorhees here we would be glad to have him

glance at a State document to be found upon Governor St. John's

table, which bears the Great Seal and signature of Gov. O. M.

Roberts, of the State of Texas. It is a requisition by the

Governor of Texas upon the Governor of Kansas for the body of one

Peter Womack, a colored man, who was indicted by the Grand Jury

of Grimes County at the last November term for the felony of

fraudulently disposing of ten bushels of corn. From further

particulars we learn that this Peter Womack gave a mortgage early

in the spring of 1879 upon his crop just planted to cover a debt

of twenty dollars due the firm of Wilson and Howel. When Womack

came to gather his crop, he yields to the importunities of

another white creditor ten bushels of corn _to be applied_ upon

the debt. About this time this Peter Womack becomes influential

in inducing a number of his colored neighbors in Grimes County to

emigrate to Kansas. Undeterred by threats and despite the

bull-dozing methods employed to cause him to remain a 'citizen'

of Texas, Womack, with others, sick of a condition of citizenship

which is nothing less than hopeless peonage, leaves stock and

crops behind to seek a home in Kansas. His acts in inciting the

movement of these black serfs are not forgotten, however, by the

white chivalry of Grimes County. The evidence of this surrender

on a debt of ten bushels of corn, mortgaged for another debt, is

hunted up, presented to the Grand Jury of Grimes County, he is

promptly indicted for a felony, and the great State of Texas

rises in her majesty and demands a surrender of his body. The

demand is in accordance with law, undoubtedly,--Texas law,--but

if Texas would occasionally punish one of the white murderers who

do not think it necessary to leave her borders, this pursuit of a

negro for selling ten bushels of corn from a mortgaged crop would

seem a more imposing exhibition of the power of the commonwealth

to enforce its laws."[138]

The effect, or rather the results of the Exodus have been twofold. It

taught the Southern people that there was need of some effort to

regain the confidence of the Negroes; that the Negro is the only

laborer who can cultivate that section of the country; that the Negro

can get on without the Southern people a great deal better than they

can get on without Negro labor; that the severe political treatment

and systematic robbery of the Negroes had not only driven them out,

but had discouraged white people from settling or investing money at

the South; that dissatisfied labor was against their interests; that

it was the duty of business men in the South to take a firm stand for

the protection of the Negroes, because every stroke of violence

administered to the Negroes shocked and injured the business of that

section; and that kind treatment of and protection for the Negroes

would insure better work and greater financial prosperity. On the

other hand, the Exodus benefited the Negroes who sought and found new

homes in a new country; and it secured better treatment for those who

remained behind. The Exodus was in line with a great law that governs

nations. The Negro race must win by contact with the white race; by

absorbing all that is good; by the inspiration of example. He must

come in contact now not with a people who hate him, but with a people

of industrious, sober, and honest habits; a people willing to

encourage and instruct him in the duties of life. Race lines must be

obliterated at the South, and the old theory of the natural

inferiority of the Negro must give way to the demonstrations of Negro

capacity. A new doctrine must supplant the old theories of pre-slavery

days, and every man in the Republic must enjoy a citizenship as wide

as the continent, and, like the coin of the Government, pass for his

intrinsic value, and no more.

FOOTNOTES:

[134] See Senator Windom's speech on the Exodus, Monday, June 14,

1880; also the report of the Senate Committee having under

consideration the investigation of the causes of the migration of the

Colored people from the Southern to the Northern States.

[135] Pamphlet on Exodus.--Anonymous.

[136] The Congregationalist, Aug. 11, 1880.

[137] We visited Kansas twice in 1880, and again in 1881. We conversed

with Gov. St. John, Mr. John M. Brown, and other gentlemen related to

and familiar with the matter of the Exodus, and found that those who

at the first so violently opposed the coming of the Negroes had been

pleased with their simplicity, patience, industry, and character. They

were all doing well. The association had discontinued its work, and

the people were settled in quiet homes.

[138] Chicago Inter-Ocean, April 15, 1880.

CHAPTER XXIX.

RETROSPECTION AND PROSPECTION.

THE THREE GRAND DIVISIONS OF THE TRIBES OF AFRICA.--SLAVE MARKETS

OF AMERICA SUPPLIED FROM THE DISEASED AND CRIMINAL CLASSES OF

AFRICAN SOCIETY.--AMERICA ROBS AFRICA OF 15,000,000 SOULS IN 360

YEARS.--NEGRO POWER OF ENDURANCE.--HIS WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENTS AS

A LABORER, SOLDIER, AND STUDENT.--FIRST IN WAR, AND FIRST IN

DEVOTION TO THE COUNTRY.--HIS IDIOSYNCRASIES.--MRS. STOWE'S

ERRORS.--HIS GROWING LOVE FOR SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.--HIS GENERAL

IMPROVEMENT.--THE NEGRO WILL ENDURE TO THE END.--HE IS CAPABLE

FOR ALL THE DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP.--AMALGAMATION WILL NOT

OBLITERATE THE RACE.--THE AMERICAN NEGRO WILL CIVILIZE

AFRICA.--AMERICA WILL ESTABLISH STEAMSHIP COMMUNICATION WITH THE

DARK CONTINENT.--AFRICA WILL YET BE COMPOSED OF STATES, AND

"ETHIOPIA SHALL SOON STRETCH OUT HER HANDS UNTO GOD."

It has been shown that the tribes of Africa are divisible into three

classes: The tribes of the mountain districts, the tribes of the

sandstone districts, and the tribes of the alluvial districts; those

of the mountain districts most powerful, those of the sandstone

districts less powerful, and those of the alluvial districts least

powerful. The slave markets of America were supplied,[139] very

largely, from two classes of Africans, viz.: the criminal class, and

the refuse of African society, which has been preyed upon by local

disease, decimated by wars waged by the more powerful tribes which

have pushed down from the abundant supply that has poured over the

terraces of the mountains for centuries. Nevertheless, some of the

better class have found their way to this country. About 137 Negro

tribes are represented in the United States.

For every slave landed safely in North America, there was one lost in

procuring and bringing down to the coast, and in transportation. Thus

in the period of 360 years, Africa was robbed of about 30,000,000 of

souls! When it is remembered that the Negroes in America sprang from

the criminal, diseased, and inferior classes of Africa, it is nothing

short of a phenomenon that they were able to endure such a rigorous

state of bondage. Under-fed and over-worked; poorly clad and miserably

housed; with the family altar cast down, and intelligent men allowed

to run over it as swine; and with the fountains of knowledge sealed by

law against the thirstings of human souls for knowledge, the Negroes

of America, nevertheless, have shown the most wonderful signs of

recuperation, and the ability to rise, against every cruel act of man

and the very forces of nature, to a manhood and intelligent

citizenship that converts the cautious, impartial, and conservative

spirit of history into eulogy! They have overcome the obstacles in the

path of the physical civilization of North America; they have earned

billions of dollars for a profligate people; they have made good

laborers, efficient sailors, and peerless soldiers. In three wars they

won the crown of heroes by steady, intrepid valor; and in peace have

shown themselves the friends of stable government. During the war for

the Union, 186,017[140] Colored men enlisted in the service of the

nation, _and participated in 249 battles_. From 1866 to 1873, besides

the money saved in other banking houses, they deposited in the

Freedmen's Banks at the South $53,000,000! From 1866 to 1875 there

were seven Negroes as Lieutenant-Governors of Southern States; two

served in the United States Senate, and thirteen in the United States

House of Representatives. There have been five Negroes appointed as

Foreign Ministers. There have been ten Negro members of Northern

legislatures; and in the Government Departments at Washington there

are 620 Negroes employed. Starting without schools this remarkable

people have now 14,889 schools, with an attendance of 720,853 pupils!

And this does not include the children of color who attend the white

schools of the Northern States; and as far as it is possible to get

the statistics, there are at present 169 Colored students attending

white colleges in the Northern States.

The first blood shed in the Revolution was that of a Negro, Crispus

Attucks, on the 5th of March, 1770. The first blood shed in the war

for the Union was that of a Negro, Nicholas Biddle, a member of the

very first company that passed through Baltimore in April, 1861; while

the first Negro killed in the war was named _John Brown!_ The first

Union regiment of Negro troops raised during the Rebellion, was raised

in the State that was first to secede from the Union, South Carolina.

Its colonel was a Massachusetts man, and a graduate of Harvard

College. The first action in which Negro troops participated was in

South Carolina. The first regiment of Northern Negro troops fought its

first battle in South Carolina, at Fort Wagner, where it immortalized

itself. The first Negro troops recruited in the Mississippi Valley

were recruited by a Massachusetts officer, Gen. B. F. Butler; while

their first fighting here was directed by another Massachusetts

officer, Gen. N. P. Banks. The first recognition of Negro troops by

the Confederate army was in December, 1863, when Major John C.

Calhoun, a grandson of the South Carolina statesman of that name, bore

a flag of truce, which was received by Major Trowbridge of the First

South Carolina Colored Regiment. The first regiment to enter

Petersburg was composed of Negroes; while the first troops to enter

the Confederate capital at Richmond were Gen. Godfry Weitzel's two

divisions of Negroes. The last guns fired at Lee's army at Appomattox

were in the hands of Negro soldiers. And when the last expiring effort

of treason had, through foul conspiracy, laid our beloved President

low in death, a Negro regiment guarded his remains, and marched in the

stately procession which bore the illustrious dead from the White

House. And on the 15th of May, 1865, at Palmetto Ranch, Texas, the 62d

Regiment of Colored Troops fired the last volley of the war!

Several attempts have been made to define the racial characteristics

of the Negro, but they have not been attended with success.

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe has written more and written better about

the American Negro than any other person during the present century.

She has given laboriously and minutely wrought pictures of plantation

life. She has held up to the gaze of the world portraitures comic and

serio-comic, which for the gorgeousness and awfulness of their drapery

will perish only with the language in which they are painted.

But Mrs. Stowe's great characters are marred by some glaring

imperfections. "Uncle Tom" is too goodish, too lamb-like, too

obsequious. He is a child of full growth, yet lacks the elements of an

enlarged manhood. His mind is feeble, body strong--too strong for the

conspicuous absence of spirit and passion.

"Dred" is the divinest character of the times--is prophet, preacher,

and saint. He is _so_ grand. He is eloquent beyond compare, and as

familiar with the Bible as if he were its author. And every hero Mrs.

Stowe takes in charge must make up his mind to get religion, lots of

it too, and then prepare to die. There is a terrible fatality among

her leading characters.

Mrs. Stowe has given but one side of Negro character, and that side is

terribly exaggerated. But all strong natures like hers are given to

exaggeration. Wendell Phillips never tells the truth, and yet he

always tells the truth. He is a man of strong convictions, and always

pronounces his conviction strongly. He has a poetical nature, is a

word-painter, and, therefore, indulges in the license of the poet and

painter. Mrs. Stowe belongs to this school of writers. The lamb and

lion are united in the Negro character. Mrs. Stowe's mistake consists

in ascribing to the Negro a peculiarly religious character and

disposition. Here is detected the mistake. The Negro is not, as she

supposes, the most religious being in the world. He has more religion

and has less religion than any other of the races, in one sense. And

yet, divorced from the circumstances by which he has been surrounded

in this country, he is not so very religious. Mrs. Stowe seizes upon a

characteristic that belongs to mankind wherever mankind is enslaved,

and gently binds it about the neck of the Negro. All races of men

become religious when oppressed. Frederick the Great was an infidel

when with his friend Voltaire, but when suffering the reverses of war

in Silesia he could write very pious letters to his "favorite sister."

This is true in national character when traced to its last analysis.

Men pray while they are down in life, but curse when up. And of

necessity the religion of a bond people is not always healthy. There

is an involuntary turning to a divine helper; a sort of religious

superstition, that believes all things, hopes all things, and is

patient. The soul of such a people is surcharged with an almost

incredulous amount of poetry, song, and rude but grand eloquence. And

when the songs that cheered and lighted many a heavy heart in the

starless night of bondage shall have been rescued and purified by the

art of music, the hymnology of this century will be greatly indebted

to this much-abused people. So, under this religious garb, woven by

the cruel experiences consequent upon slavery, the lion slumbers in

the Negro.

Every year since the close of the Rebellion the Negro has been taking

on better and purer traits of character. Possessed of an impressible

nature, a discriminating sense of the beautiful, and a deep, pure

taste for music, his progress has been phenomenal. Strong in his

attachments, gentle in manners, confiding, hopeful, enduring in

affection, and benevolent to a fault, there is no limit to the outcome

of his character.

Like the oscillations of the pendulum of a clock the Negro is swinging

from an extreme religious fanaticism to an extreme rationalism. But he

will finally take his position upon a solid religious basis; and to

his "faith" will add virtue, knowledge, and good works. Everywhere

under good influences he has made a good citizen. No issue in the

State has been foreign to him. He has proven his patriotism and his

fondness for this land to which he was dragged in chains, and in his

obedience to its laws and devotion to its principles has stood second

to none. His home promises much good. His whole life seems to have

undergone a radical change. He has shown a disposition and delight in

the education of his children; and the constantly growing demand for

competent teachers and educated preachers shows that he has outgrown

his old ideas concerning education and religion. From an insatiable

desire for gewgaws he has turned to a practice of the precepts of

economy. From the state of semi-civilization in which he cared only

for the comforts of the present, his desires and wants have swept

outward and upward into the years to come and toward the Mysterious

Future. He has learned the difficult lesson that "man shall not live

by bread alone," and has shown himself delighted with a keen sense of

intellectual hunger. One hundred weekly newspapers, conducted by

Negroes, are feeding the mind of the race, binding communities

together by the cords of common interests and racial sympathy; while

the works of twenty Negro authors[141] lend inspiration and purpose

to every honest effort at self-improvement.

The fiery trials of the young Colored men who gained admission to West

Point, and the noble conduct of the four regiments of black troops in

the severe service of the frontiers have strengthened the hopes of a

nation in the final outcome of the American Negro.

* * * * *

But what of the future? Can the Negro endure the sharp competition of

American civilization? Can he keep his position against the tendencies

to amalgamation? Since it has been proven that the Negro is not dying

out, but on the contrary possesses the powers of reproduction to a

remarkable degree, a new source of danger has been discovered. It is

said that the Negro will perish, will be absorbed by the dominant race

ere long; that where races are crossed the inferior race suffers; and

that mixed races lack the power to reproduce their species; and that

hence the disappearance of the Negro is but a question of time. Mr.

Joseph C. G. Kennedy, superintendent of the Federal Census during the

war, took the following view of this question:

"That an unfavorable moral condition has existed and continues

among the free Colored, be the cause what it may, notwithstanding

the great number of excellent people included in that population,

no one can for a moment doubt who will consider that with them an

element exists which is to some extent positive, and that is the

fact of there being more than half as many mulattoes as blacks,

forming, as they do, 36-1/4 per cent. of the whole Colored

population, and they are maternally descendants of the Colored

race, as it is well known that no appreciable amount of this

admixture is the result of marriage between white and black, or

the progeny of white mothers--a fact showing that whatever

deterioration may be the consequence of this alloyage, is

incurred by the Colored race. Where such a proportion of the

mixed race exists, it may reasonably be inferred that the

barriers to license are not more insuperable among those of the

same color. That corruption of morals progresses with greater

admixture of races, and that the product of vice stimulates the

propensity to immorality, is as evident to observation as it is

natural to circumstances. These developments of the census, to a

good degree, explain the slow progress of the free Colored

population in the Northern States, and indicate, with unerring

certainty, the gradual extinction of that people the more rapidly

as, whether free or slave, they become diffused among the

dominant race. There are, however, other causes, although in

themselves not sufficient to account for the great excess of

deaths over births, as is found to occur in some Northern cities,

and these are such as are incident to incongenial climate and a

condition involving all the exposures and hardships which

accompany a people of lower caste. As but two censuses have been

taken which discriminate between the blacks and mulattoes, it is

not yet so easy to determine how far the admixture of the races

affects their vital power; but the developments already made

would indicate that the mingling of the races is more unfavorable

to vitality, than a condition of slavery, which practically

ignores marriage to the exclusion of the admixture of races, has

proved, for among the slaves the natural increase has been as

high as three per cent. per annum, and ever more than two per

cent., while the proportion of mulattoes at the present period

reaches but 10.41 per cent. in the slave population. Among the

free Colored in the Southern States, the admixture of races

appears to have progressed at a somewhat less ratio than at the

North, and we can only account for the greater proportionate

number of mulattoes in the North by the longer period of their

freedom in the midst of the dominant and more numerous race, and

the supposition of more mulattoes than blacks having escaped or

been manumitted from slavery."

Whatever merit this view possessed before the war of the Rebellion, it

is obsolete under the present organization of society. The

environments of the Negro, the downward tendencies of his social life,

and the exposed state in which slave laws left him, have all perished.

In addition to his aptitude for study and capacity for improvement, he

is now under the protecting and restraining influences of congenial

climate; and pure sociological laws will impart to his offspring the

power of reproduction and the ability to maintain an excellent social

footing with the other races of the world. The learned M. A.

DeQuatrefages says, concerning this question:

None of the eminent men with whom I regret to differ take any

account of the influence of the action of the surroundings. I

believe that the conditions of the surroundings play as important

a part in the crossing of races as they do in other matters. They

may sometimes favor, sometimes restrict, sometimes prevent, the

establishment of a mixed race. This simple consideration accounts

for many apparently contradictory facts. Etwick and Long have

affirmed that in Jamaica the mulattoes hold out only because they

are constantly recruited by the marriage of whites with

negresses. But in San Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, there

are, we may say, no whites, and the population consists of two

thirds mulattoes and one third negroes. The numbers of the

mulattoes are there well kept up by themselves without the

introduction of fresh blood. In respect to fertility; different

instances of crossing between individuals of the two same races

may give different results, according to the place where they are

effected. I believe it is unnecessary to insist and show that the

physical and physiological faculties of children born of mixed

unions ought to present analogous facts.

"In my view the aggregation of physical conditions does not in

itself alone constitute the environment. Social and moral

conditions have an equal part in it. Here, again, it is easy to

establish, in the results of crossings, differences which have no

other cause than differences in these conditions. It is true that

mongrels, born and grown up in the midst of the hatred of the

inferior race and the contempt of the superior race, are liable

to merit the reproaches which are commonly attached to them. On

the other hand, if real marriages take place between the races,

and their offspring are placed upon a footing of equality with

the mass of the population, they are quite able to reach the

general level, and sometimes to display superior qualities.

"All of my studies on this question have brought me to the

conclusion that the mixture of races has in the past had a great

part in the constitution of a large number of actual populations.

It is also clear to me that its part in the future will not be

less considerable. The movement of expansion, to which I have

just called attention, has not slackened since the days of Cortez

and Pizarro, but has become more extended and general. The

perfection of the means of communication has given it new

activity. The people of mixed blood already constitute a

considerable part of the population of certain states, and their

number is large enough to entitle them to be taken notice of in

the population of the whole world.

* * * * *

"These facts show that man is everywhere the same, and that his

passions and instincts are independent of the differences that

distinguish the human groups. The reason of it is that these

differences, however accentuated they may seem to us, are

essentially morphological, but do not in any way touch the wholly

physiological power of reproduction."[142]

Race prejudice is bound to give way before the potent influences of

character, education, and wealth. And these are necessary to the

growth of the race. Without wealth there can be no leisure, without

leisure there can be no thought, and without thought there can be no

progress. The future work of the Negro is twofold: subjective and

objective. Years will be devoted to his own education and improvement

here in America. He will sound the depths of education, accumulate

wealth, and then turn his attention to the civilization of Africa. The

United States will yet establish a line of steamships between this

country and the Dark Continent. Touching at the Grain Coast, the Ivory

Coast, and the Gold Coast, America will carry the African

missionaries, Bibles, papers, improved machinery, instead of rum and

chains. And Africa, in return, will send America indigo, palm-oil,

ivory, gold, diamonds, costly wood, and her richest treasures, instead

of slaves. Tribes will be converted to Christianity; cities will rise,

states will be founded; geography and science will enrich and enlarge

their discoveries; and a telegraph cable binding the heart of Africa

to the ear of the civilized world, every throb of joy or sorrow will

pulsate again in millions of souls. In the interpretation of _History_

the plans of God must be discerned, "_For a thousand years in Thy

sight are but as yesterday when it is passed, and as a watch in the

night_."

FOOTNOTES:

[139] From the year 1500 to 1860 the number of slaves imported from

Africa were as follows:

Number of Negroes imported Total.

into America per annum.

From 1500 to 1525 500 12,500

From 1525 to 1550 5,000 125,000

From 1550 to 1600 15,000 750,000

From 1600 to 1650 20,000 1,000,000

From 1650 to 1700 35,000 1,750,000

From 1700 to 1750 60,000 3,000,000

From 1750 to 1800 80,000 4,000,000

From 1800 to 1850 65,000 3,250,000

----------

Total, 350 years 13,887,500

From 1850 to 1860, increase for decade 749,931

----------

Total importation of Negro slaves into America

during a period of 360 years 14,637,431

or about 15,000,000 in round numbers.

The above figures are taken from Mr. Dunbar's Mexican Papers. The

process by which he reaches his conclusions and secures his figures is

rather remarkable.

[140] This includes the officers, most of whom were white men.

[141] Thus far the Negro has not gone, as an author, beyond mere

narration. But we may soon expect a poet, a novelist, a composer, and

a philosophical writer.

[142] Revue Scientifique, Paris.

THE END.

APPENDIX.

Part 5.

_ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION._

CHAPTER VI.

WALKER'S APPEAL.

One of the most remarkable papers written by a Negro during the

Anti-Slavery Agitation Movement was the Appeal of David Walker, of

Boston, Massachusetts. He was a shopkeeper and dealer in second-hand

clothes. He was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, September 28,

1785, of a free mother by a slave father. When quite young he said:

"If I remain in this bloody land, I will not live long. As true as God

reigns, I will be avenged for the sorrow which my people have

suffered. This is not the place for me--no, no. I must leave this part

of the country. It will be a great trial for me to live on the same

soil where so many men are in slavery; certainly I cannot remain where

I must hear their chains continually, and where I must encounter the

insults of their hypocritical enslavers. Go, I must!"

He went to Boston, Massachusetts, where he took up his residence. He

applied himself to study, and in 1827, capable of reading and writing,

he began business in Brattle Street. He was possessed of a rather

reflective and penetrating mind. And before Mr. William Lloyd Garrison

unfurled his flag for the Agitation Movement, David Walker wrote and

published his Appeal in 1829. It was circulated widely, and touched

and stirred the South as no other pamphlet had ever done. Three

editions were published. The feeling at the South was intense. The

following correspondence shows how deeply agitated the South was by

Walker's Appeal. The editor of the _Boston Courier_ observed: "It will

be recollected that some time in December last [1829] Gov. Giles sent

a message to the Legislature of Virginia complaining of an attempt to

circulate in the city of Richmond a seditious pamphlet, said to have

been sent there from Boston. We find in the _Richmond Enquirer_ of the

18th inst. [February, 1830] the following Message from the Governor,

enclosing a correspondence which unravels all the mystery which has

hitherto enveloped the transaction."

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Feb. 16th, 1830.

SIR: In compliance with the advice of the Executive Council, I do

myself the honor of transmitting herewith the copy of a letter

from the Honorable Harrison Gray Otis, Mayor of Boston, conveying

the copy of a letter from him addressed to the Mayor of Savannah,

in answer to one received by him from that gentleman respecting a

seditious pamphlet written by a person of color in Boston, and

circulated by him in other parts of the United States.

Very respectfully, your obd't serv't,

WM. B. GILES.

The Hon. LINN BANKS, _Speaker of the House of Delegates_.

_To his Excellency, the Governor of Virginia_:

SIR: Perceiving that a pamphlet published in this city has been a

subject of animadversion and uneasiness in Virginia as well as in

Georgia, I have presumed that it might not be amiss to apprize

you of the sentiments and feelings of the city authorities in

this place respecting it, and for that purpose I beg leave to

send you a copy of my answer to a letter from the Mayor of

Savannah, addressed to me on that subject. You may be assured

that your good people cannot hold in more absolute detestation

the sentiments of the writer than do the people of this city, and

as I verily believe, the mass of the New England population. The

only difference is, that the insignificance of the writer, the

extravagance of his sanguinary fanaticism tending to disgust all

persons of common humanity with his object, and the very partial

circulation of this book, prevent the affair from being a subject

of excitement and hardly of serious attention.

I have reason to believe that the book is disapproved of by the

decent portion even of the free colored population in this place,

and it would be a cause of deep regret to me, and I believe to

all my well-disposed fellow-citizens, if a publication of this

character, and emanating from such a source, should be thought to

be countenanced by any of their number.

I have the honor to be respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. G. OTIS, _Mayor of the City of Boston_.

BOSTON, Feb. 10, 1830.

_To the Mayor of Savannah_:

SIR: Indisposition has prevented an earlier reply to your favor

of the 12th December. A few days before the receipt of it, the

_pamphlet_ had been put into my hands by one of the Board of

Aldermen of this city, who received it from an individual, it not

having been circulated here. I perused it carefully, in order to

ascertain whether the writer had made himself amenable to our

laws; but notwithstanding the extremely bad and inflammatory

tendency of the publication, he does not seem to have violated

any of these laws. It is written by a free black man, whose true

name it bears. He is a shopkeeper and dealer in old clothes, and

in a conversation which I authorized a young friend of mine to

hold with him, he openly avows the sentiments of the book and

authorship. I also hear that he declares his intention to be, to

circulate his pamphlets by mail, at his own expense, if he cannot

otherwise effect his object.

You may be assured, sir, that a disposition would not be wanting

on the part of the city authorities here, to avail themselves of

any lawful means for preventing this attempt to throw firebrands

into your country. We regard it with deep disapprobation and

abhorrence. But, we have no power to control the purpose of the

author, and without it we think that any public notice of him or

his book, would make matters worse.

We have been determined, however, to publish a general caution to

Captains and others, against exposing themselves to the

consequences of transporting incendiary writings into your and

the other Southern States.

I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

H. G. OTIS.

Part 6.

_THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION._

CHAPTER XI.

LIST OF WORKS BY NEGRO AUTHORS.

"Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa." Autobiography. Boston, 1837.

"Light and Truth." Lewis (R. B.). Boston, 1844.

"Volume of Poems." Whitfield, (James M.). 1846.

"Volume of Poems." Payne, (Daniel A., D.D.). 1850.

"The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored

People of the United States, Politically Considered." Delaney (Martin

R.). Philadelphia, 1852.

"Principia of Ethnology: The Origin of Races and Color." Delaney

(Martin R.).

"Narrative of the Life of an American Slave." London, 1847. "My

Bondage and My Freedom." New York, 1855. "Life and Times." Hartford,

Conn., 1882. Douglass (Frederick).

"Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro," etc. Ward (Rev. Samuel Ringgold).

London, 1855.

"The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution." Nell (Wm. C).

Boston, 1855.

"Narrative of Solomon Northup." New York, 1859. "Twenty-two Years a

Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman." Rochester, 1861. Stewart (Rev.

Austin).

"The Black Man." Boston, Mass., 1863. "The Negro in the Rebellion."

Boston, 1867. "Clotelle." Boston, 1867. "The Rising Sun." Boston,

1874. "Sketches of Places and People Abroad." 1854. Brown (Wm. Wells,

M.D.).

"An Apology for African Methodism." Tanner (Benj. T.). Baltimore,

1867.

"The Underground Railroad." Still (William). Philadelphia, 1872.

"The Colored Cadet at West Point." Flipper (H. O.), U. S. A. New York,

1877.

"Music and Some Highly Musical People." Trotter (James M.). Boston,

1878.

"My Recollections of African Methodism." Wayman (Bishop A. W.).

Philadelphia, Pa., 1881.

"First Lessons in Greek." Scarborough (W. S., A.M.). New York, 1882.

"History of the Black Brigade." Clark (Peter H.)

"Uncle Tom's Story of His Life." From 1789 to 1879. Henson (Rev.

Josiah). Boston.

"The Future of Africa." New York, 1862, Charles Scribner & Co.

"The Greatness of Christ," and other Sermons. Crummell (Rev.

Alexander, D.D.). T. Whittaker, 2 and 3 Bible House, New York, 1882.

"Not a Man and Yet a Man." Whitman (A. A.).

"Mixed Races." Sampson (John P.). Hampton, Va., 1881.

"Poems." Wheatley (Phillis). London, England, 1773.

"As a Slave and as a Freeman." Loguen (Bishop, J. W.).

CHAPTER XIII.

THE JOHN BROWN MEN.

The subjoined correspondence was published in the _Republican_, J. K.

Rukenbrod, editor, at Salem, Ohio, Wednesday, December 28, 1859. The

beautiful spirit of self-sacrifice, the lofty devotion to the sublime

principles of universal liberty, and the heroic welcome to the hour of

martyrdom, invest these letters with intrinsic historic value.

LETTER FROM EDWIN COPPOCK TO HIS UNCLE JOSHUA COPPOCK.

CHARLESTON, VA., December 13, 1859.

MY DEAR UNCLE: I seat myself by the stand to write for the _last_

time, to thee and thy family. Though far from home, and overtaken

by misfortune, I have not forgotten you. Your generous

hospitality toward me during my short stay with you last Spring

is stamped indelibly upon my heart; and also the generosity

bestowed upon my poor brother, at the same time, who now wanders

an outcast from his native land. But thank God he is free, and I

am thankful it is I who have to suffer instead of him.

The time may come when he will remember me. And the time may come

when he will still further remember the _cause in which I die_.

Thank God the principles of the cause in which we were engaged

_will not die with me and my brave comrades_. They will spread

wider and wider, and gather strength with each hour that passes.

The voice of truth will echo through our land, bringing

conviction to the erring, and adding numbers to _that glorious

Army who will enlist under its banner_. The cause of everlasting

truth and justice will go on "conquering and to conquer," until

our broad and beautiful land shall rest beneath the banner of

freedom. I had hoped to live to see the dawn of that glorious

day. I had hoped to live to see the principles of the Declaration

of our Independence fully realized. I had hoped to see the dark

stain of slavery blotted from our land, and the _libel_ of our

boasted freedom erased; when we can say in truth that our beloved

country is "the land of the free, and the home of the

brave."--But this cannot be. I have heard my sentence passed, my

doom is sealed. But two brief days between me and eternity. At

the expiration of those two days, I shall stand upon the scaffold

to take my last look at earthly scenes. But that scaffold has but

little dread for me; for I honestly believe I am innocent of any

crime justifying such punishment.

But by the taking of my life, and the lives of my comrades,

Virginia is but hastening on that glorious day, when the slave

will rejoice in his freedom; when he can say that _I too am a

man_, and am groaning no more under the yoke of oppression. But I

must now close. Accept this short scrawl as a remembrance of me.

Remember me to my relatives and friends. And now Farewell.

From thy nephew,

EDWIN COPPOCK.

P. S. I will say for I know it will be a satisfaction to all of

you, that we are all kindly treated, and I hope the North will

not fail to give Sheriff Campbell and Captain Avis due

acknowledgment for their kind and noble actions.

E.

LETTER FROM EDWIN COPPOCK TO THOMAS WINN.

MY DEAR FRIEND THOMAS WINN: For thy love and sympathy, and for

thy unwearied exertion in my behalf, accept my warmest thanks. I

have no words to tell the gratitude and love I have for thee. And

may God bless thee and thy family, for the love and kindness thee

has always shown towards my family and me. And when life with

thee is over, may we meet on that shore where there is no

parting, is the farewell prayer of thy true friend.

EDWIN COPPOCK.

* * * * *

THAT LETTER.

The following is the letter from Edwin Coppock, seized upon by the

Virginia authorities as a pretence for not commuting his sentence. The

offensive remark consisted alone wherein he spoke of the chivalry as

"the enemy." There certainly is nothing in this communication that

could justify a Government in taking the life of a man whom it

otherwise considered not guilty of a capital crime, but whose greatest

offence was that of being found, as Wise claimed, in bad company. We

give the letter entire:

EDWIN COPPOCK TO MRS. BROWN.

CHARLESTON JAIL, VIRGINIA, November --, 1859.

MRS. JOHN BROWN--Dear Madam: I was very sorry that your request

to see the rest of the prisoners was not complied with. Mrs. Avis

brought me a book whose pages are full of truth and beauty,

entitled "Voice of the True-Hearted," which she told me was a

present from you. For this dear token of remembrance, please

accept my thanks.

My comrade, J. E. Cook, and myself, deeply sympathize with you in

your sad bereavement. We were both acquainted with Anna and

Martha. They were to us as sisters, and as brothers we sympathize

with them in the dark hour of trial and affliction.

I was with your sons when they fell. Oliver lived but a few

moments after he was shot. He spoke no word, but yielded calmly

to his fate. Watson was shot at 10 o'clock on Monday morning, and

died about 3 o'clock on Wednesday morning. He suffered much.

Though mortally wounded at 10 o'clock, yet at 3 o'clock Monday

afternoon he fought bravely against the men who charged on us.

When the enemy were repulsed, and the excitement of the charge

was over, he began to sink rapidly.

After we were taken prisoners, he was placed in the guard-house

with me. He complained of the hardness of the bench on which he

was lying. I begged hard for a bed for him, or even a blanket,

but could obtain none for him. I took off my coat and placed it

under him, and held his head in my lap, in which position he died

without a groan or a struggle.

I have stated these facts thinking that they may afford to you,

and to the bereaved widows they have left, a mournful

consolation.

Give my love to Anna and Martha, with our last farewell.

Yours truly,

EDWIN COPPOCK.

* * * * *

COOK'S LAST LETTER TO HIS WIFE.

CHARLESTOWN JAIL, Dec. 16, 1859.

MY DEAR WIFE AND CHILD: For the last time I take my pen to

address you--for the last time to speak to you through the tongue

of the absent. I am about to leave you and this world forever.

But do not give way to your grief. Look with the eyes of hope

beyond the vale of life, and see the dawning of that brighter

morrow that shall know no clouds or shadows in its sunny

sky--that shall know no sunset. To that eternal day I trust,

beloved, I am going now. For me there waits no far-off or

uncertain future. I am only going from my camp on earth to a home

in heaven; from the dark clouds of sin and grief, to the clear

blue skies, the flowing fountains, and the eternal joys of that

better and brighter land, whose only entrance is through the vale

of death--whose only gateway is the tomb.

Oh, yes! think that I am only going home; going to meet my

Saviour and my God; going to meet my comrades, and wait and watch

for you. Each hour that passes, every tolling bell, proclaims

this world is not our home. We are but pilgrims here, journeying

to our Father's house. Some have a long and weary road to wander;

shadowed o'er with doubts and fears, they often tire and faint

upon life's roadside; yet, still all wearied, they must move

along. Some make a more rapid journey, and complete their

pilgrimage in the bright morn of life; they know no weariness

upon their journey, no ills or cares of toil-worn age. I and my

comrades here are among that number. Our pilgrimage is nearly

ended; we can almost see our homes. A few more hours and we shall

be there.

True, it is hard for me to leave my loving partner and my little

one, lingering on the rugged road on which life's storms are

bursting. But cheer up, my beloved ones; those storms will soon

be over; through their last lingering shadows you will see the

promised rainbow. It will whisper of a happy land where all

storms are over. Will you not strive to meet me in that clime of

unending sunshine? Oh! yes, I know you will; that you will also

try to lead our child along that path of glory; that you will

claim for him an entrance to that celestial city whose maker and

builder is God. Teach him the way of truth and virtue. Tell him

for what and how his father left him ere his lips could lisp my

name. Pray for him. Remember that there is no golden gateway to

the realms of pleasure here, but there is one for the redeemed in

the land that lies starward. There I hope we may meet, when you

have completed your pilgrimage on the road of life. Years will

pass on and your journey will soon be ended. Live so that when

from the verge of life you look back you may feel no vain

regrets, no bitter anguish for mis-spent years. Look to God in

all your troubles; cast yourself on Him when your heart is dark

with the night of sorrow and heavy with the weight of woe. He

will shed over you the bright sunshine of His love, and take away

the burden from your heart.

* * * * *

And now farewell. May that all-wise and eternal God, who governs

all things, be with you to guide and protect you through life,

and bring us together in eternal joy beyond the grave. Farewell,

fond partner of my heart and soul. Farewell, dear babe of our

love. A last, long farewell, till we meet in heaven.

I remain, in life and death, your devoted husband.

JOHN E. COOK.

* * * * *

FUNERAL OF JOHN E. COOK.

The funeral of Capt. Cook took place at Brooklyn on the 20th, from the

residence of Mrs. S. L. Harris. The services were conducted by the

Rev. Mr. Caldicott, of the Lee Avenue Dutch Reformed Church, and at

the Cypress Hills Cemetery by the Rev. Wm. H. Johnson. Of the body the

day previous, the _Tribune_ says:

Owing to the length of time that elapsed between the decease and

the time the body was delivered into the charge of Dr. Holmes,

the process of embalming has been somewhat difficult, and

consequently the appearance of the remains is not so natural as

it otherwise would have been. Last evening the body was placed

in an erect position, in order to allow the injected fluid to

settle in the veins and arteries, so as to give to the face a

more natural appearance. The swelling has entirely disappeared

from the neck and face, and the decomposition which had set in

had been checked. The remains will not be enshrouded until this

morning, when they will be placed in the coffin, enclosed in a

white merino robe with a satin collar, satin cord about the

waist, and a black neckerchief about the neck.

Yesterday afternoon the father, sisters, and wife of the deceased

were permitted to view the remains. His wife removed the

breast-pin and a miniature of their child from about his neck,

which she had placed there but a few days previous to his

execution. She is but eighteen years of age, and has an infant

four months old. She is from Harper's Ferry, Va., where she was

married about seventeen months since. She, as well as the other

relatives, was overwhelmed with sorrow, and it was some moments

before they were sufficiently recovered to be enabled to leave

the body. The refusal of the Consistories of the Lee Avenue and

Fourth Reformed Dutch Churches to permit the services to be held

in their edifices has given rise to the expression of much

feeling, and many of the friends of the deceased infer that this

refusal is made from a fear of censure on the part of some of the

members of their congregations, in allowing a Christian burial to

the remains.

* * * * *

In the little burial-ground at Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio, there is

a monument dedicated to the memory of three of the John Brown Men, as

follows:

L. S. Leary, died at Harper's Ferry, Oct. 20, 1859,

aged 24 years.

S. Green, died at Charlestown, Virginia, Dec. 2, 1850,

aged 28 years.

J. A. Copeland, died at Charlestown, Virginia, Dec. 2, 1859,

aged 25 years.

The monument bears the following inscription:

These Colored citizens of Oberlin, the heroic associates of the

Immortal John Brown, gave their lives for the Slave.

* * * * *

THE NEGRO ARTIST OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY ON THE CAPITOL.

When the bronze castings were being completed at the foundry of Mr.

Mills, near Bladensburg, his foreman, who had superintended the work

from the beginning, and who was receiving eight dollars per day,

struck, and demanded ten dollars, assuring Mr. M. that the advance

must be granted him, as nobody in America, except himself, could

complete the work. Mr. M. felt that the demand was exorbitant, and

appealed in his dilemma to the slaves who were assisting in the

moulding. "I can do that well," said one of them, an intelligent and

ingenious servant, who had been intimately engaged in the various

processes. The striker was dismissed, and the negro, assisted

occasionally by the finer skill of his master, took the striker's

place as superintendent, and the work went on. The black

master-builder lifted the ponderous, uncouth masses, and bolted them

together, joint by joint, piece by piece, till they blended into the

majestic "Freedom," who to-day lifts her head in the blue clouds above

Washington, invoking a benediction upon the imperilled Republic!

Was there a prophecy in that moment when the slave became the artist,

and with rare poetic justice, reconstructed the beautiful symbol of

freedom for America?[143]

FOOTNOTES:

[143] Washington Correspondent of the New York Tribune, December 2,

1863.

Part 7.

_THE NEGRO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION._

CHAPTER XIX.

NEGROES AS SOLDIERS.

Gen. Benj. F. Butler commanded a number of Negro Troops at Fort

Harrison on the 29th Sept., 1864. After white troops had been driven

back by the enemy, Gen. Butler ordered his Negro troops to storm the

fortified position of the enemy at the point of the bayonet. The

troops had to charge down a hill, ford a creek, and--preceded by

axemen who had to cut away two lines of _abatis_--then carry the works

held by infantry and artillery. They made one of the most brilliant

charges of the war, with "Remember Fort Pillow" as their battle-cry,

and carried the works in an incredibly short time.

Nearly a decade after this battle, Gen. Butler, then a member of

Congress from Massachusetts, said, in a speech on the Civil Rights

Bill of this affair:

"It became my painful duty to follow in the track of that

charging column, and there, in a space not wider than the clerk's

desk, and three hundred yards long, lay the dead bodies of five

hundred and forty-three of my colored comrades, fallen in defence

of their country, who had offered up their lives to uphold its

flag and its honor, as a willing sacrifice; and as I rode along

among them, guiding my horse this way and that way, lest he

should profane with his hoofs what seemed to me the sacred dead,

and as I looked on their bronze faces upturned in the shining

sun, as if in mute appeal against the wrongs of the country for

which they had given their lives, whose flag had only been to

them a flag of stripes, on which no star of glory had ever shone

for them--feeling I had wronged them in the past, and believing

what was the future of my country to them--among my dead comrades

there, I swore to myself a solemn oath--'May my right hand forget

its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,' if I

ever fail to defend the rights of those men who have given their

blood for me and my country that day and for their race forever,

and God helping me, I will keep that oath."

* * * * *

BATTLES IN WHICH COLORED TROOPS PARTICIPATED.

"Alliance," Steamer, Fla. Bermuda Hundred, Va.

March 8, 1865. May 4, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 99th Inf. U. S. C. T. 4th Inf.

Amite River, La. Bermuda Hundred, Va.

March 18, 1865. May 20, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 77th Inf. U. S. C. T. 1st Cav.

Appomattox Court House, Va. Bermuda Hundred, Va.

April 9, 1865. Aug. 24 and 25, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 41st Inf. U. S. C. T. 7th Inf.

Arkansas River, Ark. Bermuda Hundred, Va.

Dec. 18, 1864. Nov. 30 and Dec. 4, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 54th Inf. U. S. C. T. 19th Inf.

Ash Bayou, La. Bermuda Hundred, Va.

Nov. 19, 1864. Dec. 1, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 93d Inf. U. S. C. T. 39th Inf.

Ashepoo River, S. C. Bermuda Hundred, Va.

May 16, 1864. Dec. 13, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 34th Inf. U. S. C. T. 23d Inf.

Ashwood, Miss. Berwick, La.

June 25, 1864. April 26, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 63d Inf. U. S. C. T. 98th Inf.

Ashwood Landing, La. Big Creek, Ark.

May 1 and 4, 1864. July 26, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 64th Inf. U. S. C. T. Batt'ry E, 2d Lt. Art.;

60th Inf.

Athens, Ala. Big Springs, Ky.

Sept. 24, 1864. Jan. --, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 106th, 110th, U. S. C. T. 12th Hy. Art.

and 111th Inf.

Barrancas, Fla. Black Creek, Fla.

July 22, 1864. July 27, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 82d Inf. U. S. C. T. 35th Inf.

Baxter's Springs, Kan. Black River, La.

Oct. 6, 1863. Nov. 1, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 83d (new) Inf. U. S. C. T. 6th Hy. Art.

Bayou Bidell, La. Bogg's Mills, Ark.

Oct. 15, 1864. Jan. 24, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 52d Inf. U. S. C. T. 11th (old) Inf.

Bayou Boeuf, Ark. Boyd's Station, Ala.

Dec. 13, 1863. March 18, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 3d Cav. U. S. C. T. 101st Inf.

Bayou Mason, Miss. Boykin's Mill, S. C.

July --, 1864. April 18, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 66th Inf. U. S. C. T. 54th (Mass.) Inf.

Bayou St. Louis, Miss. Bradford's Springs, S. C.

Nov. 17, 1863. April 18, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 91st Inf. U. S. C. T. 102d Inf.

Bayou Tensas, La. Brawley Fork, Tenn.

Aug. 10, 1863. March 25, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 48th Inf. U. S. C. T. 17th Inf.

Bayou Tensas, La. Brice's Cross Roads, Miss.

July 30 and Aug. 26, 1864. June 10, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 66th Inf. U. S. C. T. Batt'y F, 2d Lt. Art.;

55th and 59th Inf.

Bayou Tunica, La. Briggin Creek, S. C.

Nov. 9, 1863. Feb. 25, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 73d Inf. U. S. C. T. 55th (Mass.) Inf.

Bryant's Plantation, Fla. Decatur, Tenn.

Oct. 21, 1864. Aug. 18, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 3d Inf. U. S. C. T. 1st Hy. Art.

Cabin Creek, Caddo Nation. Decatur, Ala.

July 1 and 2, 1863. Oct. 28 and 29, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 79th (new) Inf. U. S. C. T. 14th Inf.

Cabin Creek, Caddo Nation. Decatur, Ala.

Nov. 4, 1865. Dec. 27 and 28, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 54th Inf. U. S. C. T. 17th Inf.

Cabin Point, Va. Deep Bottom, Va.

Aug. 5, 1864. Aug. 14 to 18, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 1st Cav. U. S. C. T. 7th and 9th Inf.

Camden, Ark. Deep Bottom, Va.

April 24, 1864. Sept. 2 and 6, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 57th Inf. U. S. C. T. 2d Cav.

Camp Marengo, La. Deep Bottom, Va.

Sept. 14, 1864. Oct. 1, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 63d Inf. U. S. C. T. 38th Inf.

Cedar Keys, Fla. Deep Bottom, Va.

Feb. 16, 1865. Oct. 31, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 2d Inf. U. S. C. T. 127th Inf.

Chapin's Farm, Va. Deveaux Neck, S. C.

Sept. 29 and 30, 1864. Dec. 7, 8, and 9, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 2d Cav.; 1st, 4th, U. S. C. T. 32d, 34th, 55th (Mass.),

5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 102d Inf.

9th, 22d, 29th (Conn.), 36th,

37th, and 38th Inf. Drury's Bluff, Va.

May 10, 16, and 20, 1864.

Chapin's Farm, Va. U. S. C. T. 2d Cav.

Nov. 4, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 22d Inf. Dutch Gap, Va.

Aug. 24, 1864.

Chattanooga, Tenn. U. S. C. T. 22d Inf.

Feb. --, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 18th Inf. Dutch Gap, Va.

Sept. 7, 1864.

"Chippewia," Steamer, Ark. U. S. C. T. 4th Inf.

Feb. 17, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 83d (new) Inf. Dutch Gap, Va.

Nov. 17, 1864.

"City Belle," Steamer, La. U. S. C. T. 36th Inf.

May 3, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 73d Int. East Pascagoula, Miss.

April 9, 1863.

City Point, Va. U. S. C. T. Cos. B. and C.,

May 6, 1864. 74th Inf.

U. S. C. T. 5th Inf.

Eastport, Miss.

City Point, Va. Oct. 10, 1864.

June --, 1864. U. S. C. T. 61st Inf.

U. S. C. T. Batt'y B, 2d Lt. Art.

Fair Oaks, Va.

Clarksville, Ark. Oct. 27 and 28, 1864.

Jan. 18, 1865. U. S. C. T. 1st, 5th, 9th, 22d,

U. S. C. T. 79th (new) Inf. 29th (Conn.), and

37th Inf.

Clinton, La.

Aug. 25, 1864. Federal Point, N. C.

U. S. C. T. 4th Cav. Feb. 11, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 39th Inf.

Coleman's Plantation, Miss.

July 4, 1864. Fillmore, Va.

U. S. C. T. 52d Inf. Oct. 4, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 1st Inf.

Columbia, La.

Feb. 4, 1864. Floyd, La.

U. S. C. T. 66th Inf. July --, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 51st Inf.

Concordia Bayou, La.

Aug. 5, 1864. Fort Adams, La.

U. S. C. T. 6th Hy. Art. Oct. 5, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 3d Cav.

Cow Creek, Kan.

Nov. 14, 1864. Fort Anderson, Ky.

U. S. C. T. 54th Inf. March 25, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 8th Hy. Art.

Cox's Bridge, N. C.

March 24, 1865. Fort Blakely, Ala.

U. S. C. T. 30th Inf. March 31 to April 9, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 47th, 48th, 50th, 51st,

Dallas, Ga. 68th, 73d, 76th,82d, and 86th Inf.

May 31, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 40th Inf. Fort Brady, Va.

Jan. 24, 1865.

Dalton, Ga. U. S. C. T. 118th Inf.

Aug. 15 and 16, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 14th Inf. Fort Burnham, Va.

Dec. 10, 1864.

Darbytown Road, Va. U. S. C. T. 41st Inf.

Oct. 13, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 7th, 8th, 9th, and Fort Burnham, Va.

29th (Conn.) Inf. Jan. 24, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 7th Inf.

Davis's Bend, La.

June 2 and 29, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 64th Inf.

Fort Donelson, Tenn. Henderson, Ky.

Oct. 11, 1864. Sept. 25, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 4th Hy. Art. U. S. C. T. 118th Inf.

Fort Gaines, Ala. Holly Springs, Miss.

Aug. 2 to 8, 1864. Aug. 28, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 96th Inf. U. S. C. T. 11th (new) Inf.

Fort Gibson, Caddo Nation. Honey Hill, S. C.

Sept. 16, 1864. Nov. 30, 1864,

U. S. C. T. 79th (new) Inf. U. S. C. T. 32d, 35th, 54th,

and 55th (Mass.), and 102d Inf.

Fort Gibson, Caddo Nation.

Sept., 1865. Honey Springs, Kan.

U. S. C. T. 54th Inf. July 17, 1863.

U. S. C. T. 79th (new) Inf.

Fort Jones, Ky.

Feb. 18, 1865. Hopkinsville, Va.

U. S. C. T. 12th Hy. Art. Dec. 12, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 5th Cav.

Fort Pillow, Tenn.

April 12, 1864. Horse-Head Creek, Ark.

U. S. C. T. Batt'y F, 2d Lt. Art.; Feb. 17, 1864.

11th (new) Inf. U. S. C. T. 79th (new) Inf.

Fort Pocahontas, Va. Indian Bay, Ark.

Aug., 1864. April 13, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 1st Cav. U. S. C. T. 56th Inf.

Fort Smith, Ark. Indiantown, N. C.

Aug. 24, 1864. Dec. 18, 1863.

U. S. C. T. 11th (old) Inf. U. S. C. T. 36th Inf.

Fort Smith, Ark. Indian Village, La.

Dec. 24, 1864. Aug. 6, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 83d (new) Inf. U. S. C. T. 11th Hy. Art.

Fort Taylor, Fla. Island Mound, Mo.

Aug. 21, 1864. Oct. 27 and 29, 1862.

U. S. C. T. 2d Inf. U. S. C. T. 79th (new) Inf.

Fort Wagner, S. C. Island No. 76, Miss.

July 18 and Sept. 6, 1863. Jan. 20, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 54th (Mass.) Inf. U. S. C. T. Batt'y E, 2d Lt. Art.

Fort Wagner, S. C. Issaquena County, Miss.

Aug. 26, 1863. July 10 and Aug. 17, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 3d Inf. U. S. C. T. 66th Inf.

Franklin, Miss. Jackson, La.

Jan. 2, 1865. Aug. 3, 1863.

U. S. C. T. 3d Cav. U. S. C. T. 73d, 75th, and 78th Inf.

Ghent, Ky. Jackson, Miss.

Aug. 29, 1864. July 5, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 117th Inf. U. S. C. T. 3d Cav.

Glasgow, Mo. Jacksonville, Fla.

Oct. 15, 1864. March 29, 1863.

U. S. C. T. 62d Inf. U. S. C. T. 33d Inf.

Glasgow, Ky. Jacksonville, Fla.

March 25, 1865. May 1 and 28, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 119th Inf. U. S. C. T. 7th Inf.

Goodrich's Landing, La. Jacksonville, Fla.

March 24 and July 16, 1864. April 4, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 66th Inf. U. S. C. T. 3d Inf.

Grand Gulf, Miss. James Island, S. C.

July 16, 1864. July 16, 1863.

U. S. C. T. 53d Inf. U. S. C. T. 54th (Mass.) Inf.

Gregory's Farm, S. C. James Island, S. C.

Dec. 5 and 9, 1864. May 21, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 26th Inf. U. S. C. T. 55th (Mass.) Inf.

Hall Island, S. C. James Island, S. C.

Nov. 24, 1863. July 1 and 2, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 33d Inf. U. S. C. T. 33d and

55th (Mass.) Inf.

Harrodsburg, Ky.

Oct. 21, 1864. James Island, S. C.

U. S. C. T. 5th Cav. July 5 and 7, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 7th Inf.

Hatcher's Run, Va.

Oct. 27 and 28, 1864. James Island. S. C.

U. S. C. T. 27th, 39th, 41st, 43d, Feb. 10, 1865.

and 45th Inf. U. S. C. T. 55th (Mass.) Inf.

Haynes Bluff, Miss. Jenkins's Ferry, Ark.

Feb. 3, 1864. April 30, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 53d Inf. U. S. C. T. 79th (new) and

83d (new) Inf.

Haynes Bluff, Miss.

April, 1864. Jenkins's Ferry, Ark.

U. S. C. T. 3d Cav. May 4, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 83d (new) Inf.

Helena, Ark.

Aug. 2, 1864. John's Island, S. C.

U. S. C. T. 64th Inf. July 5 and 7, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 26th Inf.

John's Island, S. C. Mount Pleasant Landing, La.

July 9, 1864. May 15, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 7th and 34th Inf. U. S. C. T. 67th Inf.

Johnsonville, Tenn. Mud Creek, Ala.

Sept. 25, 1864. Jan. 5, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 13th Inf. U. S. C. T. 106th Inf.

Jones's Bridge, Va. Murfreesboro', Tenn.

June 23, 1864. Dec. 24, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 28th Inf. U. S. C. T. 12th Inf.

Joy's Ford, Ark. N. and N. W. R. R., Tenn.

Jan. 8, 1865. Sept. 4, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 79th (new) Inf. U. S. C. T. 100th Inf.

Lake Providence, La. Nashville, Tenn.

May 27, 1863. May 24, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 15th Inf.

Lawrence, Kan.

July 27, 1863. Nashville, Tenn.

U. S. C. T. 79th (new) Inf. Dec. 2 and 21, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 44th Inf.

Little Rock, Ark.

April 26 and May 28, 1864. Nashville, Tenn.

U. S. C. T. 57th Inf. Dec. 7, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 18th Inf.

Liverpool Heights, Miss.

Feb. 3, 1864. Nashville, Tenn.

U. S. C. T. 47th Inf. Dec. 15 and 16, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 12th, 13th, 14th, 17th,

"Lotus," Steamer, Kan. 18th, and 100th Inf.

Jan. 17, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 83d (new) Inf. Natchez, Miss.

Nov. 11, 1863.

Madison Station, Ala. U. S. C. T. 58th Inf.

Nov. 26, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 101st Inf. Natchez, Miss.

April 25, 1864.

Magnolia, Tenn. U. S. C. T. 98th Inf.

Jan. 7, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 15th Inf. Natural Bridge, Fla.

March 6, 1865.

Mariana, Fla. U. S. C. T. 2d and 99th Inf.

Sept. 27, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 82d Inf. New Kent Court House, Va.

March 2, 1864.

Marion, Va. U. S. C. T. 5th Inf.

Dec. 18, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 6th Cav. New Market Heights, Va.

June 24, 1864.

Marion County, Fla. U. S. C. T. 22d Inf.

March 10, 1865.

U. S. C. T. 3d Inf. Olustee, Fla.

Feb. 20, 1864.

McKay's Point, S. C. U. S. C. T. 8th, 35th,

Dec. 22, 1864. and 54th (Mass.) Inf.

U. S. C. T. 26th Inf.

Owensboro', Ky.

Meffleton Lodge, Ark. Aug. 27, 1864.

June 29, 1864. U. S. C. T. 108th Inf.

U. S. C. T. 56th Inf.

Palmetto Ranch, Texas.

Memphis, Tenn. May 15, 1865.

Aug. 21, 1864. U. S. C. T. 62d Inf.

U. S. C. T. 61st Inf.

Pass Manchas, La.

Milliken's Bend, La. March 20, 1864.

June 5, 6, and 7, 1863. U. S. C. T. 10th Hy. Art.

U. S. C. T. 5th Hy. Art.;

49th and 51st Inf. Petersburg, Va.

June 15, 1864, to April 2, 1865.

Milltown Bluff, S. C. U. S. C. T. 5th (Mass.) Cav.;

July 10, 1863. 1st, 4th, 5th,6th, 7th, 10th, 19th,

U. S. C. T. 33d Inf. 22d, 23d, 27th, 28th, 29th,

29th (Conn.), 30th, 31st, 36th,

Mitchell's Creek, Fla. 39th, 41st, 43d, 45th, and

Dec. 17, 1864. 116th Inf.

U. S. C. T. 82d Inf.

Pierson's Farm, Va.

Morganzia, La. June 16, 1864.

May 18, 1864. U. S. C. T. 36th Inf.

U. S. C. T. 73d Inf.

Pine Barren Creek, Ala.

Morganzia, La. Dec. 17, 18, and 19, 1864.

Nov. 23, 1864. U. S. C. T. 97th Inf.

U. S. C. T. 84th Inf.

Pine Barren Ford, Fla.

Moscow, Tenn. Dec. 17 and 18, 1864.

June 15, 1864. U. S. C. T. 82d Inf.

U. S. C. T. 55th Inf.

Pine Bluff, Ark.

Moscow Station, Tenn. July 2, 1864.

Dec. 4, 1863. U. S. C. T. 64th Inf.

U. S. C. T. 61st Inf.

Pleasant Hill, La.

Mound Plantation, La. April 9, 1864.

June 29, 1863. U. S. C. T. 75th Inf.

U. S. C. T. 46th Inf.

Plymouth, N. C.

Nov. 26, 1863, and April 18, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 10th Inf.

Plymouth, N. C. Saltville, Va.

April 1, 1864. Oct. 2, 1864.

U. S. C. T. 37th Inf. U. S. C. T. 5th and 6th Cav.