Part 54 (1/2)
January 1st, 1861, Hon. J. P. Walker, at Mobile, Ala., received from R.
R. Riordan, Esq., of Charleston, S. C., a dispatch rejoicing that--
”Large gangs of negroes from plantations are at work on the redoubts, which are substantially made of sand-bags and coated with sheet-iron.”
These doubtless were slaves, and mere machines; but the Charleston _Mercury_ of January 3rd, brought the intelligence that--
”One hundred and fifty able-bodied free colored men yesterday offered their services gratuitously to the governor, to hasten forward the important work of throwing up redoubts, wherever needed, along our coast.”
Only the fire-eaters based their hope of success against the North,--the National Government,--upon the stubborn energies of the white soldiery; the deliberate men rested their hopes,--based their expectations, more upon the docility of the negro, than upon the audacity of their white troops.
The legislature of Tennessee, which secretly placed that State in the Southern Confederacy, enacted in June, 1861, a law authorizing the governor--
”To receive into the military service of the State all male free persons of color, between the age of 15 and 50, who should receive $8 per month, clothing and rations.”
And then it further provided--
”That in the event a sufficient number of free persons of color to meet the wants of the State shall not tender their service, the Governor is empowered, through the sheriffs of the different counties, to _press_ such persons until the requisite number is obtained.”
A few months after, the Memphis _Avalanche_, of September 3rd, 1861, exultingly announced the appearance on the streets of Memphis, of two regiments of negroes, under command of confederate officers. On the 7th of September, again the _Avalanche_ said:
”Upwards of 1000 negroes armed with spades and pickaxes have pa.s.sed through the city within the past few days. Their destination is unknown, but it is supposed that they are on their way to the 'other side of Jordan.'”
Nor were the negroes in Virginia behind those of the other Southern States. In April, the Lynchburg _Republican_ chronicled the enrollment of a company of free negroes in that city, also one at Petersburg.
Thus instead of revolts among the negroes, slaves and free, as predicted by some Union men at the North, many became possessed of a fervor,--originating generally in fear,--stimulated by an enthusiasm of the whites, that swept the populace like a mighty sea current into the channel of war. The negro who boasted the loudest of his desire to fight the Yankees; who showed the greatest anxiety to aid the confederates, was granted the most freedom and received the approval of his master.
The gayly decked cities; the flags, bunting and streamers of all colors; the mounted cavalry; the artillery trains with brazen cannons drawn by st.u.r.dy steeds; followed by regiments of infantry in brilliant uniforms, with burnished muskets, glittering bayonets and beautiful plumes; preceeded by bra.s.s bands discoursing the ever alluring strains of the quick-step; all these scenes greatly interested and delighted the negro, and it was filling the cup of many with ecstasy to the brim, to be allowed to connect themselves, even in the most menial way, with the demonstrations. There was also an intuitive force that led them, and they unhesitatingly followed, feeling that though they took up arms against the National Government, freedom was the ultimatum. Many of those who enlisted feared to do otherwise than fight for slavery, for to refuse would have invited, perchance, torture if not ma.s.sacre; to avert which many of the free blacks, as well as some of the slaves, gave an apparent acquiescence to the fervor of their lesser informed comrades, who regarded any remove from the monotony of plantation life a respite.
The readiness with which they responded to the call was only astonis.h.i.+ng to those who were unacquainted with the true feelings of the unhappy race whose highest hope of freedom was beyond the pearly gates of the celestial domain. One thing that impressed the blacks greatly was the failure of Denmark Vesy, Nat Turner and John Brown, whose fate was ever held up to them as the fate of all who attempted to free themselves or the slaves. Escape to free land was the only possible relief they saw on earth, and _that_ they realized as an individual venture, far removed from the field-hand South of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
It was not unnatural, then, for some to spring at the opportunity offered to dig trenches and a.s.sist Beauregard in mounting cannon, and loading them with shot and sh.e.l.l to fire upon Fort Sumter.
[Ill.u.s.tration: DOING MILITARY DUTY FOR THE CONFEDERATES.
Negroes building fortifications for the Confederates at James Island, S.
C., under direction of General Beauregard, to repel the land attack of the Federal troops.]
The negro did not at first realize a fight of any magnitude possible, or that it would result in any possible good to himself. So while the _free_ negroes trembled because they _were_ free, the slaves sought refuge from suspicion of wanting to be free, behind, _per se_, an enthusiasm springing, not from a desire and hope for the success of the confederates, but from a puerile ambition to enjoy the holiday excitement.
Later on, however, when the war opened in earnest, and the question of the freedom and slavery of the negro entered into the struggle; when extra care was taken to guide him to the rear at night; when after a few thousand Yankee prisoners, taken in battle, had sought and obtained an opportunity of whispering to him the _real_ cause of the war, and the surety of the negroes' freedom if the North was victorious, the slave negro went to the breastworks with no less agility, but with prayers for the success of the Union troops, and a determination to go to the Yankees at the first opportunity; though he risked life in the undertaking. When the breastworks had been built and the heavy guns mounted, when a cordon of earthworks encircled the cities throughout the South, and after a few thousand negroes had made good their escape into the Union lines, then those who had labored upon the fortifications of the South were sent back to the cotton-fields and the plantations to till the soil to supply the needs of the confederate soldiers who were fighting to keep them in bondage. But when the policy of the North was changed and union and _liberty_ were made the issues of the struggle, as against slavery and disunion, and the Union forces began to slay their enemies, the Confederate Government realized the necessity of calling the negroes from the hoe to the musket,--from the plantations to the battle-fields.
In the incipiency of the struggle, many of the States made provision for placing the negro at the disposal of the Confederate Government; but elated at their early victories, the leaders deemed the enforcement of the laws unnecessary, negro troops not being needed. As the change came, however, and defeats, with great losses in various ways depleted the armies, the necessity of the aid of the negroes became apparent.
Stronghold after stronghold, city after city, States in part, fell before the march of the Union troops. The negro had become a soldier in the Union army, and was helping to crush the rebellion. President Lincoln had declared all slaves in rebeldom free, and thousands of black soldiers were marching and carrying the news to the slaves.
This state of affairs lead President Davis and his cabinet to resign to the inevitable, as had the North, and to inaugurate the policy of emanc.i.p.ating and arming the slaves, knowing full well that it was sheer folly to expect to recruit their shattered armies from the negro population without giving them their freedom.
It was therefore in the last days of the confederate authorities, and it was their last hope and effort for success. Despair had seized upon them. The army was daily thinned more by desertion than by the bullets of the Union soldiers, while Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea had awakened the widest alarm. In the winter of 1864 and 1865 the question of arming the slaves was presented as a means of recruiting the depleted and disordered ranks of the army, and it soon a.s.sumed an importance that made it an absorbing topic throughout the Confederacy. There was no other source to recruit from. The appeal to foreigners was fruitless.
”The blacks had been useful soldiers for the northern army, why should they not be made to fight for their masters?” it was asked. Of course there was the immediate query whether they would fight to keep themselves in slavery. This opened up a subject into which those who discussed it were afraid to look; nevertheless it seemed unavoidable that a black conscription should be attempted, and with that in view, every precaution was taken by those who supported the scheme to avoid heightening the dissensions already too prevalent for good. The newspapers were advised of the intended change of policy, to which not a few of them acquiesced. General Lee was consulted, as the following letter, afterward printed in the Philadelphia _Times_, shows:
”HEADQUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA,