History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880 Volume II Part 52

Q. Was he killed?

A. I thought so at the time; he fell on his face. He was shot in the forehead, and I thought he was killed. I heard afterward he was not.

Q. Did you notice any thing that took place while the flag of truce was in?

A. I saw the rebels slipping up and getting in the ditch along our breastworks.

Q. How near did they come up?

A. They were right at us; right across from the breastworks. I asked them what they were slipping up there for. They made answer that they knew their business.

Q. Are you sure this was done while the flag of truce was in?

A. Yes, sir. There was no firing; we could see all around; we could see them moving up all around in large force.

Q. Was any thing said about it except what you said to the rebels?

A. I heard all our boys talking about it. I heard some of our officers remark, as they saw it coming, that the white flag was a bad thing; that they were slipping on us. I believe it was Lieutenant Akerstrom that I heard say it was against the rules of war for them to come up in that way.

Q. To whom did he say that?

A. To those fellows coming up; they had officers with them.

Q. Was Lieutenant Akerstrom shot before or after he had surrendered?

A. About two minutes after the flag of truce went back, during the action.

Q. Do you think of any thing else to state? If so, go on and state it.

A. I saw a rebel lieutenant take a little negro[114] boy up on the horse behind him; and then I heard General Chalmers--I think it must have been--tell him to "Take that negro down and shoot him," or "Take him and shoot him," and he pa.s.sed him down and shot him.

Q. How large was the boy?

A. He was not more than eight years old. I heard the lieutenant tell the other that the negro was not in the service; that he was nothing but a child; that he was pressed and brought in there.

The other one said; "d.a.m.n the difference; take him down and shoot him, or I will shoot him." I think it must have been General Chalmers. He was a smallish man; he had on a long gray coat, with a star on his coat.[115]

The country and the world stood aghast. The first account of this human butchery was too much for credence: after a while the truth began to dawn upon the country; and at last the people admitted that in a Christian land like America a deed so foul--blacker than h.e.l.l itself!--had actually been perpetrated. The patience of the North and the Union army gave way to bitterest imprecations; the exultation and applause of the South and Confederate army were succeeded by serious thoughts and sad reflections. But it is the duty of impartial history to record that this b.l.o.o.d.y, sickening affair was not endorsed by all the rebels.

In a letter dated Okalona, Mississippi, June. 14, 1864, to the "Atlanta Appeal," a rebel gives this endors.e.m.e.nt of Forrest's conduct at Fort Pillow:

"You have heard that our soldiers buried negroes alive at Fort Pillow. This is true. At the first fire after Forrest's men scaled the walls, many of the negroes threw down their arms and fell as if they were dead. They perished in the pretence, and could only be restored at the point of the bayonet. To resuscitate some of them, more terrified than the rest, they were rolled into the trenches made as receptacles for the fallen.

Vitality was not restored till breathing was obstructed, and then the resurrection began. On these facts is based the pretext for the crimes committed by Sturgis, Grierson, and their followers.

You must remember, too, that in the extremity of their terror, or for other reasons, the Yankees and negroes in Fort Pillow neglected to haul down their flag. In truth, relying upon their gun-boats, the officers expected to annihilate our forces after we had entered the fortifications. They did not intend to surrender.

"A terrible retribution, in any event, has befallen the ignorant, deluded Africans."

Gen. Forrest was a cold-blooded murderer; a fiend in human form. But as the grave has opened long since to receive him; and as the cause he represented has perished from the earth, it is enough to let the record stand without comment, and G.o.d grant without malice! It is the duty of history to record that there is to be found no apologist for cruelties that rebels inflicted upon brave but helpless Black soldiers during the war for the extirpation of slavery. The Confederate conduct at Pillow must remain a foul stain upon the name of the men who fought to perpetuate human slavery in North America, but failed.

FOOTNOTES:

[112] New York Tribune, April 14, 1863.

[113] Rebellion Recs., vol. viii. Doc. pp. 418, 419.

[114] Gen. Chalmers has denied, with vehemence, that he ever did any cruel act at Fort Pillow, but the record is against him. Soldiers under brave, intelligent, and humane officers could never be guilty of such cruel and unchristian conduct as these rebels at Pillow. Gen.

Chalmers is responsible. As an ill.u.s.tration of the gentle and forgiving spirit of the Negro, it should be recorded here that many supported the candidacy of Gen. Chalmers for Congress, and voted for him at the recent election in Mississippi.

[115] See Report of Committee on Conduct of War.

Part 8.

_THE FIRST DECADE OF FREEDOM._

CHAPTER XXI.

RECONSTRUCTION[116]--MISCONSTRUCTION.

1865-1875.

THE WAR OVER, PEACE RESTORED, AND THE NATION CLEANSED OF A PLAGUE.--SLAVERY GIVES PLACE TO A LONG TRAIN OF EVENTS.--UNSETTLED CONDITION OF AFFAIRS AT THE SOUTH.--THE ABSENCE OF LEGAL CIVIL GOVERNMENT NECESSITATES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PROVISIONAL MILITARY GOVERNMENT.--AN ACT ESTABLIs.h.i.+NG A BUREAU FOR REFUGEES AND ABANDONED LANDS.--CONGRESSIONAL METHODS FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOUTH.--GEN. U. S. GRANT CARRIES THESE STATES IN 1868 AND 1872.--BOTH BRANCHES OF THE LEGISLATURES IN ALL THE SOUTHERN STATES CONTAIN NEGRO MEMBERS.--THE ERRORS OF RECONSTRUCTION CHARGEABLE TO BOTH SECTIONS OF THE COUNTRY.

Appomattox had taken her place in history; and the echo of the triumph of Federal arms was heard in the palaces of Europe. The United States Government had survived the shock of the embattled arms of a gigantic Rebellion; had melted the manacles of four million slaves in the fires of civil war; had made four million bondmen freemen; had wiped slavery from the map of North America; had demonstrated the truth that the Const.i.tution is the supreme law of the land; and that the United States is a NATION, not a league.

The brazen-mouthed, shotted cannon were voiceless; a million muskets and swords hung upon the dusty walls of silent a.r.s.enals; and war ceased from the proud alt.i.tudes of the mountains of Virginia to where the majestic Atlantic washes the sh.o.r.es of the Carolinas. A million soldiers in blue melted quietly into the modest garb of citizens. The myriad hum of busy shuttles, clanking machinery, and whirling wheels proclaimed the day of peace. Families and communities were restored and bound together by the indissoluble, golden ties of domestic charities. The war was over; peace had been restored; and the nation was cleansed of a plague.

But what was to be done with the millions of Negroes at the South? The war had made them free. That was all. They could leave the plantation.

They had the right of locomotion; were property no longer. But what a spectacle! Here were four million human beings without clothing, shelter, homes, and, alas! most of them without names. The galling harness of slavery had been cut off of their weary bodies, and like a worn-out beast of burden they stood in their tracks scarcely able to go anywhere. Like men coming from long confinement in a dark dungeon, the first rays of freedom blinded their expectant eyes. They were almost delirious with joy. The hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows, the pain and waiting, the prayers and tears of the cruel years of slavery gave place to a long train of events that swept them out into the rapid current of a life totally different from the checkered career whence they had just emerged. It required time, patience, and extraordinary wisdom on the part of the Government to solve the problem of this people's existence--of this "Nation born in a day."

Their joy was too full, their peace too profound, and their thanksgiving too sincere to attract their attention at once to the vulgar affairs of daily life. One fervent, beautiful psalm of praise rose from every Negro hut in the South, and swelled in majestic sweetness until the nation became one mighty temple canopied by the stars and stripes, and the Const.i.tution as the common altar before whose undimmed lights a ransomed race humbly bowed.

The emanc.i.p.ated Negroes had no ability, certainly no disposition, to reason concerning the changes and disasters which had overtaken their former masters. The white people of the South were divided into three cla.s.ses. _First_, those who felt that defeat was intolerable, and a residence in this country incongenial. They sought the service of the Imperial cause in war-begrimed Mexico; they went to Cuba, Australia, Egypt, and to Europe. _Second_, those who returned to their homes after the "affair at Appomattox," and sitting down under the portentous clouds of defeat, refused to take any part in the rehabilitation of their States. _Third_, those who accepted the situation and stood ready to aid in the work of reconstruction.

In the unsettled condition of affairs at the close of hostilities, as there was no legal State governments at the South, necessity and prudence suggested the temporary policy of dividing the South into military districts. A provisional military government in the conquered States was to pursue a pacific, protective, helpful policy. The people of both races were to be fed and clothed. Schools were to be established; agriculture and industry encouraged. Courts were to be established of competent jurisdiction to hear and decide cases among the people. Such a government while military in name was patriarchal in spirit. As early as the spring of 1865, before the war was over, an act was pa.s.sed by Congress providing for the dest.i.tute of the South.

"AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A BUREAU FOR THE RELIEF OF FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.

"_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress a.s.sembled_, That there is hereby established in the War Department, to continue during the present war of rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the bureau and approved by the President. The said bureau shall be under the management and control of a commissioner, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose compensation shall be three thousand dollars per annum, and such number of clerks as may be a.s.signed to him by the Secretary of War, not exceeding one chief clerk, two of the fourth cla.s.s, two of the third cla.s.s, three of the second cla.s.s, and five of the first cla.s.s. And the commissioner and all persons appointed under this act shall, before entering upon their duties, take the oath of office prescribed in an act ent.i.tled, 'An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes,' approved July 2, 1862.

And the commissioners and the chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give bonds to the Treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with securities to be approved as sufficient by the attorney general, which bonds shall be filed in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, to be by him put in suit for the benefit of any injured party, upon any breach of the conditions thereof.

"SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of dest.i.tute and suffering refugees and freedmen, and their wives and children, under such rules and regulations as he may direct.

"SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That the President may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an a.s.sistant commissioner for each of the States declared to be in insurrection, not exceeding ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the commissioner, aid in the execution of the provisions of this act, and he shall give a bond to the Treasurer of the United States in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, in the form and manner prescribed in the first section of this act.