The Negro in The American Rebellion. William Wells Brown

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      “Our officers, sir.”

      “Did you ever hear of old John Brown?”

      “Hear of him? Lord bless you, yes, boss: I’ve read his life, and have it now in my trunk in Charleston; sent to New York by the steward of ‘The James Adger,’ and got it. I’ve read it to heaps of the colored folks. Lord, they think John Brown was almost a god. Just say you was a friend of his, and any slave will almost kiss your feet, if you let him. They sav, if he was only alive now, he would be king. How it did frighten the white folks when he raised the insurrection! It was Sunday when we heard of it. They wouldn’t let a negro go into the streets. I was waiter at the Mills House in Charleston. There was a lady from Massachusetts, who came down to breakfast that morning at my table. ‘John,’ she says, ‘I want to see a negro church; where is the principal one?’ ‘Not any open to-day, mistress,’ I told her. ‘Why not?’ ‘Because a Mr. John Brown has raised an insurrection in Virginny.’ ‘Ah!’ she says; ‘well, they’d better look out, or they’ll get the white churches shut up in that way some of these days, too!’ Mr. Nicholson, one of the proprietors, was listening from the office to hear what she said. Wasn’t that lady watched after that? I have a History of San Domingo, too, and a Life of Fred. Douglass, in my trunk, that I got in the same way.”

      “What do the slaves think about the war?”

      “Well, boss, they all wish the Yankee army would come. The white folks tell them all sorts of bad stories about you all; but they don’t believe them.”

      John was taken to Gen. McClellan, to whom he gave all the information he possessed about the position, numbers, and organization of the rebel army. His knowledge was full and valuable, and is corroborated by all the facts we have learned from other sources. The principal features of it I have already transmitted to you by telegraph. At the close of the interview, he asked anxiously, —

      “General, you won’t send me back, will you?”

      “Yes,” replied the general, with a smile, “I believe I will.”

      “I hope you won’t, general. If you say so, I know I will have to go; but I come to yous all for protection, and I hope you won’t.”

      “Well, then, I suppose we will not. No, John, you are at liberty to go where you please. Stay with the army, if you like. No one can ever take you against your will.”

      “May the Lord bless you, general. I thought you wouldn’t drive me out. You’s the best friend I ever had; I shall never forget you till I die.” And John made the salute, re-mounted his horse, and rode back to the rear, his dusky face almost white with radiance.

      An hour later, he was on duty as the servant of Capt. Batchelor, Quartermaster of Couch’s Second Division; and I do not believe there was another heart in our corps so light as his in the unwonted joy of freedom. —New York Tribune.

      CHAPTER X – PROCLAMATIONS OF FREMONT AND HUNTER

      Gen. Fremont’s Proclamation, and its Effect on the Public Mind. – Gen. Hunter’s Proclamation; the Feeling it created.

      While the country seemed drifting to destruction, and the Administration without a policy, the heart of every loyal man was made glad by the appearance of the proclamation of Major-Gen. John C. Fremont, then in command at the West. The following extract from that document, which at the time caused so much discussion, will bear insertion here: —

      “All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by court martial, and, if found guilty, will be shot. The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men.”

      The above was the first official paper issued after the commencement of the war, that appeared to have the ring of the right kind of mettle. But while the public mind was being agitated upon its probable effect upon the Rebellion, a gloom was thrown over the whole community by the President’s removal of Gen. Fremont, and the annulling of the proclamation. This act of Mr. Lincoln gave unintentional “aid and comfort” to the enemy, and was another retrograde movement in the Way of crushing out the Rebellion.

      Gen. Fremont, before the arrival of the President’s letter, had given freedom to a number of slaves, in accordance with his proclamation. His mode of action may be seen in the following deed of manumission: —

      “Whereas, Thomas L. Snead, of the city and county of St. Louis, State of Missouri, has been taking an active part with the enemies of the United States, in the present insurrectionary movement against the Government of the United States; now, therefore, I, John Charles Fremont, Major-General commanding the Western Department of the Army of the United States, by authority of law, and the power vested in me as such commanding general, declare Hiram Reed, heretofore held to service or labor by Thomas L. Snead, to be free, and forever discharged from the bonds of servitude, giving him full right and authority to have, use, and control his own labor or service as to him may seem proper, without any accountability whatever to said Thomas L. Snead, or any one to claim by, through, or under him.

      “And this deed of manumission shall be respected and treated by all persons, and in all courts of justice, as the full and complete evidence of the freedom of said Hiram Reed.

      “In testimony whereof, this act is done at headquarters of the Western Department of the Army of the United States, in the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, on this twelfth day of September, A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-one, as is evidenced by the Departmental Seal hereto affixed by my order.

      “J. C. FREMONT,

      “Major-General Commanding.”

      “Done at the office of the Provost-Marshal, in the city of St. Louis, the twelfth day of September, A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-one, at nine o’clock in the evening of said day.

      “Witness my hand and seal of office-hereto affixed.

      “J. McKINSTRY,

      “Brigadier-General, Provost-Marshal.”

      The agitation in the public mind on account of the proclamation and its annulment, great as it was, was soon surpassed by one still more bold and sweeping from Major-Gen. David Hunter, in the following language, issued from his headquarters, at Hilton Head, S.C., on the 9th of May: —

      “Headquarters Department of the South, Hilton Head, S.C., May 9, 1802.

      “General Orders, No. 11:

      “The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising the Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it became a military necessity to declare them under martial law. This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible. The persons in these three States, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free.

      “DAVID HUNTER,

      “Major-General Commanding.

      “[Official.]

      “Ed. СКАЧАТЬ