Report on the Condition of the South Part 13

About the last of May, a planter hung his servant (a woman) in presence of all the neighborhood. Said planter had _killed_ this woman's husband three weeks before. This occurred at Suggsville, Clark county.

About the last of April, two women were caught near a certain plantation in Clark county and hung; their bodies are still suspended.

On the 19th of July, two freedmen were taken off the steamer Commodore Ferrand, tied and hung; then taken down, their heads cut off and their bodies thrown in the river.

July 11, two men took a woman off the same boat and threw her in the river. This woman had a coop, with some chickens. They threw all in together, and told her to go to the d.a.m.ned Yankees. The woman was drowned.

There are regular patrols posted on the rivers, who board some of the boats; after the boats leave they hang, shoot or drown the victims they may find on them, and all those found on the roads or coming down the river are most invariably _murdered_.

This is only a few of the murders that are committed on the helpless and unprotected freedmen of the above-named counties.

All the cases I have mentioned are _authentic_, and _numerous_ witnesses will testify to all I have reported. _Murder with his ghastly train stalks abroad at noonday and revels in undisputed carnage_, while the bewildered and terrified freedmen know not what to do. To leave is death; to remain is to suffer the increased burden imposed on them by the cruel taskmaster, whose only interest is their labor _wrung_ from them by every device an inhuman ingenuity can devise. Hence the lash and murder are resorted to to intimidate those whom fear of an awful death _alone_ causes to remain, while patrols, negro dogs, and spies (disguised as Yankees) keep _constant_ guard over these unfortunate people.

I was in Was.h.i.+ngton county in the latter part of June, and there learned there was a disposition to _coerce_ the labor of these people on plantations where they had always been abused. I was alone, and consequently could not go where my presence was most required, but I learned enough then to convince me there were many grievances which required military power to redress. Since my return I have been attentive to the recital of the horrors which these people suffer, and have carefully perused their statements, which receive corroborate testimony.

I have been careful in authenticity, and very much that has been related to me I have declined accepting as testimony, although I believe its truth.

The history of all these cases, besides others, I have in full, with all their horrible particulars.

Believing, sir, you required the earliest intelligence in this matter, I concluded not to await your arrival.

With much respect, I am, sir, your obedient servant,

W.A. POILLON, _Captain and a.s.s't. Sup't. Freedmen_.

Brig. Gen. SWAYNE.

A true copy of the original deposited in this office.

CHARLES A. MILLER, _Major and A.A.A. General_.

No. 23.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, _July_ 8, 1865.

Captain: I have the honor to report that, in compliance with Special Orders No. 5, Headquarters Sub-district Southwest Mississippi, I proceeded to the counties of Madison, Holmes, and Yazoo, but that I did not reach Issaquena from the fact that the country between Yazoo City and that county has been so overflowed as to render the roads impa.s.sable.

I found a provost marshal of freedmen at Yazoo City--Lieutenant Fortu, who seemed to understand his duties well, and to have performed them satisfactorily. There was no officer of the bureau in either of the other counties. The whole country is in a state of social and political anarchy, and especially upon the subject of the freedom of the negroes, but very few who understand their rights and duties.

It is of the utmost importance that officers of the bureau should be sent to all the counties of the State to supervise the question of labor, and to insure the gathering of the growing crop, which, if lost, will produce the greatest suffering. In no case ought a citizen of the locality be appointed to manage the affairs of the freedmen: first, because these men will wish to stand well with their neighbors and cannot do justice to the negro; and secondly, because the negroes only know these men as oppressors of their race, and will have no confidence in their acts. The officers of the bureau should be especially charged to impress upon the freedmen the sacredness of the family relation and the duty of parents to take care of their children, and of the aged and infirm of their race. Where a man and woman have lived together as husband and wife, the relation should be declared legitimate, and all parties, after contracting such relations, should be compelled to legal marriage by severe laws against concubinage.

Where parents have deserted their children, they should be compelled to return and care for them; otherwise there will be great suffering among the women and children, for many of the planters who have lost the male hands from their places threaten to turn off the women and children, who will become a burden to the community. The two evils against which the officers will have to contend are cruelty on the part of the employer, and s.h.i.+rking on the part of the negroes. Every planter with whom I have talked premised his statements with the a.s.sertion that "a n.i.g.g.e.r won't work without whipping." I know that this is not true of the negroes as a body heretofore. A fair trial should be made of free labor by preventing a resort to the lash. It is true that there will be a large number of negroes who will s.h.i.+rk labor; and where they persistently refuse compliance with their contracts, I would respectfully suggest that such turbulent negroes be placed upon public works, such as rebuilding the levees and railroads of the State, where they can be compelled to labor, and where their labor will be of benefit to the community at large.

It will be difficult for the employers to pay their laborers quarterly, as required by present orders. Money can only be realized yearly on a cotton crop, because to make such a crop requires an entire year's work in planting, picking, ginning, and sending to market. The lien upon the crop secures the laborer his pay at the end of the year, for which he can afford to wait, as all the necessaries of life are furnished by the planter, who could not pay quarterly except at a great sacrifice.

The present orders recommend that the freedmen remain with their former masters so long as they are kindly treated. This, as a temporary policy, is the best that could be adopted, but I very much doubt its propriety as a permanent policy. It will tend to rebuild the fallen fortunes of the slaveholders, and re-establish the old system of cla.s.s legislation, thus throwing the political power of the country back into the hands of this cla.s.s, who love slavery and hate freedom and republican government. It would, in my opinion, be much wiser to diffuse this free labor among the laboring people of the country, who can sympathize with the laborer, and treat him with humanity.

I would suggest that great care be taken in the selection of officers of the bureau to be sent to the various counties. The revolution of the whole system of labor has been so sudden and radical as to require great caution and prudence on the part of the officers charged with the care of the freedmen. They should be able to discuss the question of free labor as a matter of political economy, and by reason and good arguments induce the employers to give the system a fair and honest trial.

Nowhere that I have been do the people generally realise the fact that the negro is free. The day I arrived at Jackson _en route_ for Canton, both the newspapers at that place published leading editorials, taking the ground that the emanc.i.p.ation proclamation was unconst.i.tutional, and therefore void; that whilst the negro who entered the army _might_ be free, yet those who availed themselves not of the proclamation were still slaves, and that it was a question for the State whether or not to adopt a system of gradual emanc.i.p.ation. These seem to be the views of the people generally, and they expressed great desire "to get rid of these garrisons," when they hope "to have things their own way." And should the care and protection of the nation be taken away from the freedmen, these people will have their own way, and will practically re-establish slavery, more grinding and despotic than of old.

Respectfully submitted:

J.L. HAYNES, _Colonel First Texas Cavalry_.

Captain B.F. MOREY, _a.s.sistant Adjutant General_.

Official:

STUART ELDRIDGE, _Lieutenant and Acting a.s.sistant Adjutant General_.

Colonel Haynes was born and raised near Yazoo City, Mississippi. He owns a plantation, and owned negroes before the war. He left the State in 1862, and went to New Orleans, where he received a commission to raise a regiment of Texas troops.

SAMUEL THOMAS, _Colonel_.

No. 24.

RAILROAD, _Camp near Clinton, Miss., July_ 8, 1865.

Sir: I am induced by the suffering I daily see and hear of among colored people to address you this communication. I am located with my command four miles west of Clinton, Hines county, on the railroad. A great many colored people, on their way to and from Vicksburg and other distant points, pa.s.s by my camp. As a rule, they are hungry, naked, foot-sore, and heartless, aliens in their native land, homeless, and friendless. They are wandering up and down the country, rapidly becoming vagabonds and thieves from both necessity and inclination. Their late owners, I am led to believe, have entered into a tacit arrangement to refuse labor, food or drink, in all cases, to those who have been soldiers, as well as to those who have belonged to plantations within the State; in the latter case, often ordering them back peremptorily to their "masters."

One planter said in my hearing lately, "These n.i.g.g.e.rs will all be slaves again in twelve months. You have nothing but Lincoln proclamations to make them free." Another said, "No white labor shall ever reclaim my cotton fields." Another said, "Emigration has been the curse of the country; it must be prevented here. This soil must be held by its present owners and their descendants." Another said, "The const.i.tutional amendment, if successful, will be carried before the Supreme Court before its execution can be certain, and we hope much from that court!"

These expressions I have listened to at different times, and only repeat them here in order that I may make the point clear that there is already a secret rebel, anti-emigration, pro-slavery party formed or forming in this State, whose present policy appears to be to labor a.s.siduously for a restoration of the old system of slavery, or a system of apprentices.h.i.+p, or some manner of involuntary servitude, on the plea of recompense for loss of slaves on the one hand, and, on the other, to counterbalance the influence of Yankee schools and the labor-hiring system as much as possible by oppression and cruelty. I hear that negroes are frequently driven from plantations where they either belong, or have hired, on slight provocation, and are as frequently offered violence on applying for employment. Dogs are sometimes set upon them when they approach houses for water. Others have been met, on the highway by white men they never saw before, and beaten with clubs and canes, without offering either provocation or resistance. I see negroes almost every day, of both s.e.xes, and almost all ages, who have subsisted for many hours on berries, often wandering they know not where, begging for food, drink, and employment.

It is impossible for me or any officer I have the pleasure of an acquaintance with to afford these people relief. Neither can I advise them, for I am not aware that any provisions have been, or are to be made to reach such cases. The evil is not decreasing, but, on the contrary, as the season advances, is increasing.

I have heretofore entertained the opinion that the negroes flocked into the cities from all parts of the country; but a few weeks' experience at this station has changed my views on the subject, and I am now led to believe that those who have done so comprise comparatively a very small part of the whole, and are almost entirely composed of those belonging to plantations adjoining the towns. However, those who did go to the cities have been well cared for in comparison with those who have remained in the country. A small proportion of the latter cla.s.s are well situated, either as necessary house-servants, body-servants, or favorites by inclination, as mistresses, or by necessity or duty, as each master may have been induced to regard long and faithful service or ties of consanguinity.

Throughout the entire country, from Vicksburg to the capital of the State, there is but little corn growing. The manner of cultivating is very primitive, and the yield will be exceedingly small. I estimate that in this country fully one-half of the white population, and a greater proportion of the colored people, will be necessitated either to emigrate, buy food, beg it, or starve. The negro has no means to buy, and begging will not avail him anything. He will then be compelled to emigrate, which, in his case, is usually equivalent to turning vagabond, or, induced by his necessities, resort to organized banding to steal, rob, and plunder. I am at a loss to know why the government has not adopted some system for the immediate relief and protection of this oppressed and suffering people, whose late social changes have conduced so much to their present unhappy condition, and made every officer in the United States army an agent to carry out its provisions. Were I employed to do so, I should seize the largest rebel plantation in this and every other county in the State, part.i.tion it in lots of suitable size for the support of a family--say ten acres each--erect mills and cotton gins, encourage them to build houses and cultivate the soil, give them warrants for the land, issue rations to the truly needy, loan them seed, stock, and farming utensils for a year or two, and trust the result to "Yankee schools" and the industry of a then truly free and proverbially happy people. Some other system might be better; few could be more simple in the execution, and in my opinion better calculated to "save a race" now floating about in a contentious sea without hope or haven.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

H.R. BRINKERHOFF, _Lieutenant Colonel 52d U.S. Colored Infantry, Commanding Detachment_.

Major General O. O. HOWARD, _Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C._

Official:

STUART ELDRIDGE, _Lieutenant, Acting a.s.sistant Adjutant General_.

No. 25.