Report on the Condition of the South Part 8

I speak with a.s.surance on this subject, because I have witnessed the proceedings in my district. I do not desire to reflect upon the personnel of the delegation from Mobile, which is composed of clever and honorable men, but whatever may be their political course, they will not act as the true representatives of the sentiments and feelings of the people.

I desire in this connexion to refer to the statements of Captain Poillon, which you have submitted to me, and to indorse the entire truthfulness thereof. I have known Captain Poillon intimately, and have been intimately acquainted with the proceedings of the Freedmen's Bureau. Many of the facts stated by Captain Poillon I know of my own personal knowledge, and all I have examined into and believe.

On the 4th of July I permitted in Mobile a procession of the freedmen, the only cla.s.s of people in Mobile who craved of me the privilege of celebrating the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Six thousand well-dressed and orderly colored people, escorted by two regiments of colored troops, paraded the streets, a.s.sembled in the public squares, and were addressed in patriotic speeches by orators of their own race and color. These orators counselled them to labor and to wait. This procession and these orations were the signal for a storm of abuse upon the military and the freedmen and their friends, fulminated from the street corners by the then mayor of the city and his common council and in the daily newspapers, and was the signal for the hirelings of the former slave power to hound down, persecute, and destroy the industrious and inoffensive negro. These men were found for the most part in the police of the city, acting under the direction of the mayor, R.H. Hough, since removed. The enormities committed by these policemen were fearful. Within my own knowledge colored girls seized upon the streets had to take their choice between submitting to outrage on the part of the policemen or incarceration in the guard-house. These men, having mostly been negro drivers and professional negro whippers, were fitting tools for the work in hand. Threats of and attempts at a.s.sa.s.sination were made against myself. Threats were made to destroy all school-houses in which colored children were taught, and in two instances they were fired. The same threats were made against all churches in which colored people a.s.sembled to wors.h.i.+p, and one of them burned. Continued threats of a.s.sa.s.sination were made against the colored preachers, and one of them is now under special guard by order of Major General Wood. When Mayor Hough was appealed to by this man for protection, he was heard to say that no one connected with the procession of the 4th of July need to come into his court, and that their complaints would not be considered. Although Mayor Hough has been removed, a large majority of these policemen are still in office. Mayor Forsyth has promised to reform this matter. It is proper to state that he was put in office by order of Governor Parsons, having twice been beaten at popular elections for the mayoralty by Mr. Hough. This gives an indication of what will result when the office will again be filled by a popular election.

The freedmen and colored people of Mobile are, as a general thing, orderly, quiet, industrious, and well dressed, with an earnest desire to learn and to fit themselves for their new status. My last report from the school commissioners of the colored schools of Mobile, made on the 28th of July, showed 986 pupils in daily attendance. They give no cause for the wholesale charges made against them of insurrection, lawlessness, and hostility against their former masters or the whites generally. On the contrary, they are perfectly docile and amenable to the laws, and their leaders and popular teachers of their own color continually counsel them to industry and effort to secure their living in an honorable way. They had collected from themselves up to the 1st of August upwards of $5,000 for their own eleemosynary inst.i.tutions, and I know of many n.o.ble instances where the former slave has devoted the proceeds of his own industry to the maintenance of his former master or mistress in distress.

Yet, in the face of these facts, one of the most intelligent and high-bred ladies of Mobile, having had silver plate stolen from her more than two years ago, and having, upon affidavit, secured the incarceration of two of her former slaves whom she suspected of the theft, came to me in my official capacity, and asked my order to have them whipped and tortured into a confession of the crime charged and the partic.i.p.ants in it. This lady was surprised when I informed her that the days of the rack and the thumbscrew were pa.s.sed, and, though pious, well bred, and a member of the church, thought it a hards.h.i.+p that a negro might not be whipped or tortured till he would confess what he _might_ know about a robbery, although not even a _prima facie_ case existed against him, or that sort of evidence that would induce a grand jury to indict. I offer this as an instance of the feeling that exists in all cla.s.ses against the negro, and their inability to realize that he is a free man and ent.i.tled to the rights of citizens.h.i.+p.

With regard to munic.i.p.al law in the State of Alabama, its administration is a farce. The ministers of the law themselves are too often desperadoes and engaged in the perpetration of the very crime they are sent forth to prohibit or to punish. Without the aid of the bayonets of the United States Alabama is an anarchy. The best men of Alabama have either shed their blood in the late war, emigrated, or become wholly incapacitated by their former action from now taking part in the government of the State.

The more sensible portion of the people tremble at the idea of the military force being eliminated, for, whatever may be their hatred of the United States soldier, in him they find their safety.

It has not been my lot to command to any great extent colored troops. I have had ample opportunity, however, of observing them in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, and, comparing them with white troops, I unhesitatingly say that they make as good soldiers. The two colored regiments under my command in Mobile were noted for their discipline and perfection of drill, and between those troops and the citizens of Mobile no trouble arose until after the proclamation of the provisional governor, when it became necessary to arm them going to and from their fatigue duty, because they were hustled from the sidewalk by infuriated citizens, who, carrying out the principles enunciated by Mayor Hough and the common council and the newspapers heretofore alluded to, sought to incite mob. I have said that a great deal of the trouble alluded to in the government of the State has arisen since the appointment and proclamation of the provisional governor. The people of Alabama then believed they were relieved from coercion of the United States and restored to State government, and that having rid themselves of the bayonets, they might a.s.sume the reins, which they attempted to do in the manner above described. When I speak of the people I mean the ma.s.ses, those that we call the populace. There are thinking, intelligent men in Alabama, as elsewhere, who understand and appreciate the true condition of affairs. But these men, for the most part, are timid and retiring, unwilling to take the lead, and even when subjected to outrage, robbery, and pillage by their fellow-citizens, refrain from testifying, and prefer to put up with the indignity rather than incur an unpopularity that may cost their lives. Hence there is danger of the mob spirit running riot and rampant through the land, only kept under by our forces.

That there are organized bands throughout the country who, as guerillas or banditti, now still keep up their organization, with a view to further troubles in a larger arena, I have no doubt, though, of course, I have no positive testimony. But this I know, that agents in Mobile have been employed to transmit ammunition in large packages to the interior. One man by the name of Dieterich is now incarcerated in the military prison at Mobile charged with this offence. A detective was sent to purchase powder of him, who represented himself to be a guerilla, and that he proposed to take it out to his band. He bought $25 worth the first, and $25 worth the second day, and made a contract for larger quant.i.ties. Deputations of citizens waited upon me from time to time to advise me that these bands were in being, and that they were in imminent peril upon their avowing their intentions to take the oath of allegiance, or evincing in any other way their loyalty to the government; and yet these men, while they claimed the protection of the military, were unwilling to reveal the names of the conspirators. I have seen General Wood's statement, which is true in all particulars so far as my own observation goes, and I have had even far better opportunities than General Wood of knowing the character of the people he now protects, and while protecting, is ignored socially and d.a.m.ned politically; for it is a noticeable fact that, after a sojourn in Mobile of upwards of six weeks in command of the State, during part of which time he was ill and suffering, he received but one call socially out of a community heretofore considered one of the most opulent, refined, and hospitable of all the maritime cities of the South, the favorite home of the officers of the army and the navy in by-gone days; and that one call from General Longstreet, who was simply in transitu.

THOMAS KILBY SMITH, _Brigadier General United States Volunteers_.

No. 10.

HEADQUARTERS NORTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI,

_Jackson, Mississippi, August_ 27, 1865.

General: The northern district of Mississippi embraces that portion of the State north of southern boundary lines of Clark, Jasper, Smith, Simpson, and Hinds counties, except the six counties (Warren, Yazoo, Issaquena, Was.h.i.+ngton, Sunflower, and Bolivar) const.i.tuting the western district.

The entire railroad system of the State is within my district, and although these lines of communication were seriously injured during the war, steps are being taken everywhere to repair them as fast as means can be procured. The break of thirty-five miles on the Southern (Vicksburg Mendrain) railroad, between Big Black and Jackson, is, by authority of the department commander, being repaired by my troops, and will be ready for operation in a few days.

The thirty-six counties under my military control const.i.tute the richest portion of the State, the soil being the most available for agricultural purposes, cotton (Upland) being the great staple, while in the eastern counties, in the valley of the upper Tombigbee, corn was grown very extensively, the largest proportion of the usual demand in the State for this cereal being supplied from that section.

The war and its consequences have laid waste nearly all the old fields, only a few acres were cultivated this year to raise sufficient corn for the immediate use of the respective families and the small amount of stock they succeeded in retaining after the many raids and campaigns which took place in the State of Mississippi. Even these attempts will only prove partially successful, for, although the final suppression of the rebellion was evident for the past two years, the collapse which followed the surrender of the rebel armies brought with it all the consequences of an unforeseen surprise. The people had in no way provided for this contingency, and of course became very restive, when all property which they had so long been accustomed to look upon as their own suddenly a.s.sumed a doubtful character. Their "slaves" began to wander off and left their masters, and those growing crops, which could only be matured and gathered by the labor of the former slaves. For the first time the people saw and appreciated the extreme poverty into which they were thrown by the consequences of the rebellion, and it will hardly surprise any one familiar with human nature, that people in good standing before the war should resort to all kinds of schemes, even disresputable ones, to retrieve their broken fortunes.

Theft and every species of crime became matters of every-day occurrence.

The large amount of government cotton in all parts of the State proved a welcome objective point for every description of lawlessness. Absent owners of cotton were looked upon by these people as public enemies and became the victims of their (mostly illegal) speculations during the rebellion. This state of affairs continued for some time in all portions of the district not occupied by United States troops, and were in most instances accompanied by outrages and even murder perpetrated on the persons of the late "slaves."

As soon as a sufficient number of troops could be brought into the district, I placed garrisons at such points as would, as far as my means permitted, give me control of almost every county. By the adoption of this system I succeeded in preventing this wholesale system of thieving, and a portion of the stolen goods was recovered and returned to the owners, while the outrages on negroes and Union men sensibly diminished.

From the beginning of the occupation until a recent period only five (5) cases of murder or attempted murder occurred in my whole district, and I had no apprehension but what I would be able to stop the recurrence of such crimes effectually. The troops at my disposal were, however, sadly reduced by the recent muster-out of cavalry and infantry regiments.

Attala and Holmes counties were, on my arrival, the theatre of the greatest outrages; the interior of these counties was garrisoned by cavalry detachments, which communicated with the infantry posts along the railroad, and they (the cavalry) were most effective in preventing crime and arresting malefactors, thus affording the much needed protection to peaceable inhabitants. The cavalry garrisons, however, were withdrawn about two (2) weeks ago for muster-out, and since that time four (4) murders, two of white Union men and two of negroes, have been reported to me from Attala county. The infantry garrisons along the railroad are actively endeavoring to effect the arrest of the suspected parties, but the chances of success are exceedingly doubtful, as only mounted troops can be successfully used for that purpose.

There is no doubt whatever that the state of affairs would be intolerable for all Union men, all recent immigrants from the north; and all negroes, the moment the protection of the United States troops was withdrawn.

In support of this opinion permit me to make a few remarks about the citizens. Although the people, as a general thing, are very anxious for peace, and for the restoration of law and order, they hardly realize the great social change brought about by the war. They all know that slavery, in the form in which it existed before the war, and in which they idolized it, is at an end; but these former slave owners are very loth to realize the new relative positions of employer and employee, and all kinds of plans for "new systems of labor" are under constant discussion. The princ.i.p.al feature of all plans proposed is that the labor of the nominally freedmen should be secured to their old masters without risk of interruption or change. This desire is very natural in an agricultural community, which has been left for generations in the undisturbed enjoyment of all the comforts and independent luxuries induced by a system where the laborer and not the labor was a marketable commodity. It is, however, just as natural that those most interested should differ essentially with the slaveholder on that point. They naturally claim that they (the laborers) have by the war and its consequences gained the right to hire out their labor to whomsoever they please, and to change their relations so as to insure for themselves the best possible remuneration. The defenders and protectors of this last position are princ.i.p.ally the agents of the Freedmen's Bureau and the co-operating military forces, and of course they are not liked. Their decisions and rules are looked upon by former slaveholders, and late rebels generally, as the commands of a usurper and a tyrant, and they will continue to be so regarded until a general resumption of agricultural pursuits shall have brought about a practical solution o this much vexed question, which, "in abstracts," is rather perplexing. I think that if each party is compelled to remain within the bounds of justice and equity by the presence of a neutral force, _i.e._ United States troops, one year's experience will a.s.sign to both employers and employees their respective relative positions.

As soon as this most desirable end is attained, and the labor of the southern States regenerated on a real free labor basis, and thus brought into harmony with the other portions of the Union, the exclusive and peculiar notions of the southern gentlemen, so much at variance with the views of the North, will have no longer any cause to exist, and the southern people will be glad to recognize the American nationality without reserve, and without the sectional limitation of geographical linos.

I desire to affirm that loyalty and patriotism have not as yet gained any solid foundation among the white population of the States, and such cannot be expected until the relations between employers and laborers have become a fixed and acknowledged fact; then, and not before, will a feeling of contentment and loyalty replace the now prevalent bitterness and recriminations.

The taking of the amnesty oath has not changed the late rebels (and there are hardly any white people here who have not been rebels) into loyal citizens. It was considered and looked upon as an act of expediency and necessity to enable them to build their shattered and broken fortunes up again.

The elevating feeling of true patriotism will return with the smile of prosperity, and it should be the duty of all men to co-operate together in securing that end. This can only be done by securing for the black race also a state of prosperity. This race, which at present furnishes the only labor in the State, must be prevented from becoming a wandering and restless people, and they must be taught to become steady citizens. This will best be accomplished by guaranteeing them the right to acquire property and to become freeholders, with protection in the undisturbed possession of their property. This and a general system of education will work a quicker and more satisfactory change than the most stringent police regulations could ever achieve.

At present the occupancy of the State by the United States troops is the only safeguard for the preservation of peace between the different cla.s.ses.

I am, general, with great respect, your obedient servant,

P. JOS. OSTERHAUS, _Major General U.S. Vols_.

Major General CARL SCHURZ, _Present_.

No. 11.

_STATEMENT OF MAJOR GENERAL CHARLES R. WOODS, COMMANDING DEPARTMENT OF ALABAMA_.

Mobile, Ala., _September_ 9, 1865.

I do not interfere with civil affairs at all, unless called upon by the governor of the State to a.s.sist the civil authorities. There are troops within reach of every county ready to respond to the call of the civil authorities, but there are some counties where the sheriffs and other officers of the law appear to be afraid to execute their warrants, even with the aid of my troops, because the protection the troops might give them is liable to be withdrawn as soon as the duties for which they are called upon are fulfilled, although the troops are continually ready to aid them at short notice.

In many of the counties, where there are no garrisons stationed, the civil authorities are unable or unwilling to carry out the laws. One case has come to my official notice where persons had been arrested on the complaint of citizens living in the country, for stealing, marauding, &c., but when called upon to come down to testify, the complainants declared that they did not know anything about the matter. There being no testimony, the accused parties had to be released. One of those who, by the offenders, was supposed to have made complaint, was, shortly after the release of the accused, found with his throat cut. It appears that in that locality the lawless element predominates, and keeps the rest of the community in fear of having their houses burnt, and of losing their lives.

The case mentioned happened in Was.h.i.+ngton county, about forty miles from this city, up the Alabama river. There is a garrison of four companies at Mount Vernon a.r.s.enal, not far from that place, which at all times are ready to render aid to the civil authorities.

I have sent a detachment of troops with an officer of the Freedmen's Bureau into Clark, Was.h.i.+ngton, Choctaw, and Marengo counties to investigate the reports of harsh treatment of the negroes that had come into the Freedmen's Bureau.

Cotton-stealing is going on quite generally, and on a large scale, wherever there is any cotton, and the civil authorities have completely failed in stopping it. It has been reported to me by citizens that armed bands attack and drive away the watchmen, load the cotton upon wagons, and thus haul it away. No case has come to my knowledge in which such offenders have been brought to punishment. Horse, mule, and cattle stealing is likewise going on on a large scale.

In compliance with instructions from General Thomas, I have issued orders to arrest, and try by military commission, all citizens who are charged with stealing government horses, mules, or other property. No such cases had been taken cognizance of by civil authorities within my knowledge.

As to the treatment of negroes by whites, I would refer to the reports of the Freedmen's Bureau.

I sent out officers to every point in the State designated by the governor, on an average at least two officers to a county, for the purpose of administering the amnesty oath, but owing to a misapprehension on the part of the people, but few were taken before these officers until the governor's second proclamation came out, requiring them to do so, when the oath was administered to a great many.

I have found myself compelled to give one of the papers appearing in this city (the Mobile Daily News) a warning, on account of its publis.h.i.+ng sensational articles about impending negro insurrections, believing that they are gotten up without any foundation at all, for the purpose of keeping up an excitement.

CHAS. R. WOODS, _Brevet Major General, Commanding Department of Alabama_.

No. 12.

[General Orders No. 22.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF MISSISSIPPI,

_Vicksburg, Miss., August_ 24, 1865.