'j1 
 
 Ct —r- 
 
 1^ 5o 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 ENDOWED BY THE 
 
 DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC 
 
 SOQETIES 
 
 El 85 
 .J622 
 
 iQgh 
 
 
 4 
 
MAY 3 1973 
 
 UNIVtHbl I Y Uh N.U. A I CHAPEL HILL 
 
 10001313259 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 Presented 
 
 In Memory Of 
 
 Elizabeth Rosenthal 
 
This book is due at the WALTER R. DAVIS LIBRARY on 
 the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it 
 may be renewed by bringing it to the library. 
 
 0(^fi2m 
 
 DATE 
 DUE 
 
 19^ 
 
 iEBJJ 
 
 
 /<7'7'7 
 
 imlii 
 
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A SCHOOL HISTORY 
 
 (FOURTH READER CRADE'^ 
 
 Negro Race IN THE United States, 
 
 WITH A SHORT INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE RACE. 
 
 SHORT SKETCH OF LIBERIA. 
 
 Edward A. Johnson, LL.B . 
 
 Former Principal of the Washington School, Ra'.- .gh X. C. 
 
 REVISED EDITION, 1894. 
 
 Under the Supervision of 
 
 S. M. FINGER, 
 
 Ex-State Superintendent of Public Ins^truction of North Carolina, Newtou, N. C. 
 
 and 
 
 W. B. KENDRICK, 
 
 Raleigh, N. C. 
 
 RALEIGH, N. C: 
 
 EDWARDS & BROUGHTON, PUBLISHERS. 
 1894. 
 
Copyright, 1894, 
 
 Kdward a. Johnson, I<l. 
 
 Raleigh, N. C. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To the many thousand colored teachers in our 
 country this book is dedicated. During my expe- 
 rience of eleven years as a teacher I have often felt 
 that the children of the Negro race ought to study 
 some work that would give them information on 
 the many brave deeds and noble characters of their 
 own race. In this particular our school histories 
 are generally deficient. It must, indeed, be a stim- 
 ulus to any people to be able to refer to their ances- 
 tors as distinguished in deeds of valor, and pecu- 
 liarly so to the colored people. Patriotism and 
 valor under such circumstances as those under 
 which they lived possess a peculiar merit and 
 beauty. Though a slave, the Negro shed his blood 
 in the defence of the government in those days 
 when a foreign foe threatened its destruction. In 
 each of the American wars the Negro was faithful, 
 yes, faithful to a land not his own in point of rights 
 and freedom. 
 
 May I not hope that the study of this little work 
 by the boys and girls of the race will inspire in 
 them a new self-respect and confidence? Much, of 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 course, will depend on you, dear teachers, into 
 whose hands I hope to place this book. B}^ your 
 efforts, and those of the children, you are to teach 
 from the truth of history that complexions do not 
 govern patriotism, valor, and sterling integrity. 
 
 My endeavor has been to shorten this work as 
 much as I thought consistent with clearness. Per- 
 sonal opinions and comments have been kept out. 
 A fair impartial statement has been my aim. Facts 
 are what I have tried to give, without bias or preju- 
 dice; and may not something herein said hasten 
 on that day when the race for which these facts are 
 written, following the example of the noble men 
 and women who have gone before, shall raise them- 
 selves to the highest pinnacle of all that is noble in 
 human nature? 
 
 I respectfully request that my fellow-teachers 
 will see to it that the word Negro is written with a 
 capital ^V. It deserves to be so enlarged, and will 
 help, perhaps, to magnify the race it stands for in 
 the minds of those who see it. 
 
 E. A. J. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter. 
 
 I. Introduction, ...... 
 
 II. General View of Slavery in the World, 
 
 III. Beginning of Slavery in the Colonies, 
 
 IV. The New York Colony 
 
 V. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut 
 
 VI. New Hampshire and Maryland 
 
 VII. Delaware and Pennsylvania, 
 
 VIII. North Carolina, 
 
 IX. South Carolina, 
 
 X. Georgia, .... 
 
 XI. Habits and Customs of the Southern Colonies 
 
 XII. Negro Soldiers in Revolutionary Times, . 
 
 XIII. Negro Heroes of the Revolution, 
 
 XIV. The War of 1812, 
 
 XV. Efforts for Freedom, .... 
 
 XVI. Frederick Douglass, .... 
 
 XVII. Liberia 
 
 XVIII. Nat. Turner and Others who vStruck for Freedom 
 
 XIX. Anti-Slavery Agitation 
 
 XX. Examples of Underground Railroad Work, 
 
 XXI. Slave Population of i860, . . . , 
 
 XXII. The Civil War, 
 
 XXIII. Employment of Negro Soldiers, 
 
 Page. 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 19 
 25 
 26 
 
 35 
 41 
 42 
 47 
 49 
 55 
 58 
 65 
 75 
 81 
 
 85 
 89 
 91 
 99 
 102 
 
 103 
 104 
 109 
 
6 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chapter. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Fort Pillow ii8 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Around Petersburg, . 
 
 
 
 
 121 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 The Crater, 
 
 
 
 
 125 
 
 XXVII. 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Incidents of the War, 
 The End of the War, 
 
 
 
 
 130 
 137 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Reconstruction — 1 865- '68, 
 
 
 
 
 140 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Progress Since Freedom, . 
 
 
 
 
 143 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Religious Progress, . 
 
 
 
 
 147 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Educational Progress, 
 
 
 
 
 154 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Financial Progress, . 
 
 
 
 
 160 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Some Noted Negroes, 
 
 
 
 
 163 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Conclusion, 
 
 Index 
 
 
 
 
 180 
 I8S 
 
A 5CMOOL hlSTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEGRO RAGE IN THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Origin of the Negro is definitely known. 
 Some very wise men have endeavored to assign the 
 race to a separate creation and deny its kindred with 
 Adam and Eve. Bnt historical records prove the 
 Negro as ancient as the most ancient races. His- 
 tory, traced from the flood, makes the three sons of 
 Noah — Ham, Shem, and Japheth — the progenitors 
 of the three primitive races of the earth. The 
 Mongolian descended from Shem and settled in 
 Southern and Eastern Asia ; the Caucasian descen- 
 ded from Japheth and settled in Europe ; the Ethi- 
 opian descended from Ham and settled in Africa 
 and adjacent countries. From Ham sprang the 
 Egyptians, who, probably in honor of Ham, their 
 great head, named their principal god Mammon or 
 Afnmon. While it is generally agreed that the 
 
8 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Negroes sprang from Ham, his descendants were 
 not all black people. The color of the ancient 
 Egyptians ranged from olive to dark brown, and 
 in their features they seem as nearly related to the 
 Caucasian as to the Negro type. 
 
 Ham was the father of Canaan, from whom 
 descended the powerful Canaanites so troublesome 
 to the Jews. Cush^ the oldest son of Ham, was the 
 father of Nimrod, " the mighty one in the earth " 
 and founder of the Babylonian Empire. Nimrod's 
 son built the unrivalled City of Nineveh in the pic- 
 turesque valley of the Tigris. According to the 
 Bible statement, " God created of one blood all 
 nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth?'' 
 It will, therefore, be seen that the origin of the 
 Negro is high enough to merit his proudest boasts 
 of the past, and arouse his grandest hopes for the 
 future. 
 
 That the Africans were once a Great People is 
 shown by their natural love for the fine arts. They 
 are poetic by nature, and national airs sung long 
 ago by exploring parties in Central Africa are still 
 held by the Africans, and strike the ears of more 
 modern travellers with joy and surprise. 
 
 Ancient Cities Discovered in the very heart of 
 Africa, having well laid off streets, improved wharfs 
 and conveniences for trade, connect these people 
 with a better condition in the past than now. While 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 9 
 
 many of the native Africans are desperately savage, 
 yet in their poor, degraded condition it is the unan- 
 imous testimony of missionaries and explorers that 
 many of these people have good judgment, some 
 tribes have written languages, and show skill in 
 weaving cloth, smelting and refining gold and iron 
 and making implements of war. 
 
 Their Wonderful regard for truth and virtue is 
 surprising, and fixes a great gulf between them and 
 other savage peoples. They learn readily, and, 
 unfortunately, it is too often the case that evil 
 teaching is given them by the traders who frequent 
 their country. 
 
 Long Years Spent in the most debilitating climate 
 on earth and violation of divine law, made the 
 African what he was when the slave trade com- 
 menced in the i6th century. But his condition 
 was not so bad that he could not be made a good 
 citizen. 
 
 SOME QUOTATIONS FROM LEADING WRITERS ON 
 THE NEGRO. 
 
 "The sphinx may have been the shrine of the 
 Negro population of Egypt, who, as a people, were 
 unquestionably under our average size. Three mil- 
 lion Buddhists in Asia represent their chief deity, 
 Buddha, with Negro features and hair. There are 
 
10 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 two Other images of Buddha, one at Ceylon and the 
 other at Calanse, of which Lieutenant Mahoney 
 says: 'Both these statues agree in having crisped 
 hair and long, pendant ear-rings.'" — Morton. 
 
 "The African is a man with every attribute of 
 humankind. Centuries of barbarism have had the 
 same hurtful effects on Africans as Pritchard de- 
 scribes them to have had on certain of the Irish 
 who were driven, some generations back, to the hills 
 in Ulster and Connaught" — the moral and physical 
 effects are the same. 
 
 " Ethnologists reckon the African as b}^ no means 
 the lowest of the human family. He is nearly as 
 strong physically as the European ; and, as a race, 
 is wonderfully persistent among the nations of the 
 earth. Neither the diseases nor the ardent spirits 
 which proved so fatal to the North American In- 
 dians, the South Sea Islanders and Australians, 
 seem capable of annihilating the Negroes. They 
 are gifted wnth physical strength capable of with- 
 standing the severest privations. Many w^ould 
 pine away in a state of slavery. No Krooman can 
 be converted into a slave, and yet he is an inhabit- 
 ant of the low, unhealthy west coast; nor can any 
 of the Zulu or Kaffir tribes be reduced to bondage, 
 though all these live in comparatively elevated 
 regions. We have heard it stated by men familiar 
 with some of the Kaffirs, that a blow given, even 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 11 
 
 in play, by a European, must be returned. A love 
 of liberty is observable in all who have the Zulu 
 blood, as the Makololo, the Watuta. But blood 
 does not explain the fact. A beautiful Barotse 
 woman at Naliele, on refusing to marry a man 
 whom she did not like, was, in a pet, given l)y the 
 head man to some Mambari slave traders from Ben- 
 guela. Seeing her fate, she seized one of their 
 spears, and, stabbing herself, fell dead." — Living- 
 ston's Works. 
 
 " In ancient times the blacks were known to be 
 so gentle to strangers that many believed that the 
 gods sprang from them. Homer says that when 
 Jupiter, father of the gods, wishes to take a holi- 
 day, he visits the sea, and goes to the banquets of the 
 blacks — a people humble, courteous and devout." 
 
 EXTRACT FROM AN ACCOUNT OF AFRICAN WOMEN BY MRS. FRANK 
 SHELDON, A NOTED AFRICAN EXPLORER. 
 
 "In many of these villages (meaning African villages) the people 
 wore not a shred of clothing, and yet their manner was such, their 
 perfect unconsciousness so great that it was impossible to take offense 
 for they had none among themselves. I made some inquiries and 
 found that their code of morals was perfect, and that licentiousness 
 as we know it does not exist. To be sure some of them practice 
 polygamy, but the husbands and their wives live, according to their 
 laws, in a perfectly pure state of domestic happiness. One of the 
 most impressive lessons I think I received in that country was tliat 
 of the purity of the morals of these uncontaminated people, and I 
 wonder if it is true that those whom I call the naturals are after all 
 the only virtuous people, taking them right through and through, 
 that are to be found."— i^/-^. Erafik Sheldon. 
 
12 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 THE CURSE OF NOAH WAS NOT DIVINE ! 
 
 The following passage of Scripture has been much quoted as an 
 argument to prove the origin and inferiority of the Negro race. 
 " And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard : 
 and he drank of the wine, and was drunken and was uncovered in 
 his tent, and Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his 
 father, and told his two brethren without, and Shem and Japheth 
 took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went back- 
 ward and covered the nakedness of their father ; and their faces were 
 backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness, and Noah 
 awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto 
 him, and he said. Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he 
 be unto his brethren. And he said : Blessed be the Lord God of 
 Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God .shall enlarge Japheth, 
 and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his 
 servant." 
 
 After the flood Noah's special mission as a preacher to the people 
 was over. He so recognized it himself, and settled himself down 
 with his family on a vineyard. He got drunk of the wine he made. 
 A drunken prophet strikes the mind with ridicule ! Yet, such was 
 Noah then, if a prophet at all, and such the character of that prophet 
 whom biased minds have chosen as the expounder of a curse on the 
 Negro race. It is not strange that so few people have championed 
 the curse theory of the race, when we think that in so doing they 
 must at the same time endorse Noah's wickedness. 
 
 But, aside from this, the so-called prophecy of Noah has not 
 become true. The best evidence of a prophecy is its fulfillment. 
 Canaan's decendants have often conquered, though Noah seemed to 
 prophesy that they would not. Goodrich makes the Canaanites, so 
 powerful in the fortified cities of Ai and Jericho, the direct descend- 
 ants of Canaan. They were among the most powerful people of 
 olden times. They and their kindred built up Egypt, Phoenicia, the 
 mother of the alphabet, and Nineveh and Babylon, the two most 
 wonderful of ancient cities. The Jews, God's chosen people, were 
 enslaved by the kindred of Canaan both in Egypt and Babylon. 
 Melchizedek (King of Righteousness), a sacred character of the Old 
 Testament, was a Canaanite. So, rather than being a race of slaves, 
 as Noah seemed to predict, the Canaanitish people have been a great 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 13 
 
 people. The great nations of antiquity were in and around Eastern 
 Africa and Western Asia. These nations sprang from the four sons 
 of Ham — Cush, Mizarim, Phut and Canaan. The Cushites were 
 Ethiopians, who lived in Abyssinia. The Mizarimites were Egypt- 
 ians, who lived in Egypt, and were so distinguished for greatness. 
 The Canaanites occupied the country including Tyre and Sidon and 
 stretching down into Arabia as far as Gaza and including the prov- 
 ince of the renowned Queen of Sheba. We contend that Noah did 
 not utter a prophecy when he spoke to Canaan as quoted above from 
 the Scriptures. It seems hardly necessary in this age of enlighten- 
 ment to refer to the Curse Theory argued so persistently, but still there 
 are those who yet believe it. 
 
 The Color Theory was also quite popular formerly as an argument 
 in support of the curse of Noah. We hold that the color of the race 
 is due to climatic influences, and in support of this view we quote in 
 reference to Africa as follows : "As we go westward we observe the 
 light color predominating over the dark : and then, again, when we 
 come within the influence of the damp from the sea air, we find the 
 shade deepened into the general blackness of the coast population." 
 
 There are five distinct types of races. The Caucasian is white ; 
 the Mongolian, yellow ; the Malay, brown ; the American Indian, 
 red ; and the Ethiopian, black. The wisest of men have always been 
 puzzled to account for these different colors of the races of mankind, 
 all from the same common ancestry. Those who hold to the curse 
 theory to explain the blackness of the Negro might be embarrassed 
 if asked to account for the distinct colors of the other races. They 
 would not find in the Bible any similar curse by which to account for 
 the other colors, and they would not be able in any way to connect the 
 other races with Canaan and so make Noah's supposed curse account 
 for the colors. It would seem that no better explanation can be 
 given than climatic influences and habits of life. 
 
14 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF SLAVERY IN THE 
 WORLD. 
 
 Before we proceed to the study of the Negro in 
 the Colonies and in the United States, it may be 
 well to glance at the subject of slavery in ancient 
 times. 
 
 From the earliest dawn of history slavery existed 
 in some form, and it was not circumscribed by color 
 or race lines. It was rather a question of physical 
 power, and the number of slaves was very great as 
 compared with those who owned and controlled 
 them. 
 
 Even in cultured Greece and Rome there were 
 slaves from various causes as follows : 
 
 1. By capture in war ; 
 
 2. By birth, that is, slavery was hereditary ; 
 
 3. By sale of children by their parents ; 
 
 4. By judicial sentence for crime ; 
 
 5. By commerce, that is, slaves were bought and 
 sold for gain ; 
 
 6. By failure to pay debts, etc. 
 
 Slavery was interwoven into the whole life of 
 the people in all ages until comparatively recent 
 times, whether we consider the life of savages or 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 15 
 
 civilized peoples. Its character was of the most 
 abject kind, and involved the most severe and 
 menial labor. Even under the old Roman law, the 
 master had such authority over his slaves as 
 allowed him to put them to death. 
 
 As we come down through the Middle Ages slave- 
 ry gradually gave way to serfdom ; and finally 
 serfdom disappeared, and in modern times personal 
 freedom has been almost universall}^ declared in 
 civilized nations. 
 
 The progress from slavery to freedom was very 
 slow. For thousands of years Negroes had been 
 sold from the eastern coast of Africa to Arabia, 
 Persia, India, the Barbary States, Egypt and Asia 
 Minor. After the discovery of America they were 
 sold from the western coast of Africa to the West 
 Indies, Brazil — to all the American colonies, which 
 were under the control of the British, French, 
 Spaniards, Dutch and Portuguese. 
 
 About the middle of the fifteenth century the Por- 
 tuguese began the Western African slave trade by 
 selling Negroes to the Spaniards, and soon there- 
 after the Spaniards introduced the children of these 
 slaves into their colonies in the West Indies. It 
 was not long after this introduction of Negro slaves 
 into the colonies of the newly-discovered western 
 world until the slave trade was eagerly engaged in, 
 and none of the governments of the old world inter- 
 
16 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fered or considered it wrong, although they were 
 largely under the influence of the Christian Church. 
 This can be accounted for by considering the firm 
 hold that slavery had upon the world and the 
 ufifortunate condition of the Negroes themselves. 
 Perhaps it was in most cases the weakest of the 
 Negro tribes in Africa that were conquered b}^ their 
 neighbors, and by them sold to the white slave 
 traders. 
 
 In 1792 Denmark led off in the abolition of the 
 slave trade; England followed in 1807, and the 
 United States in 1808. After the abolition of the 
 slave trade by these and other nations that made it 
 unlawful to bring slaves from Africa and sell them 
 in the markets of the world, there remained the 
 great problem of freeing those slaves that had been 
 bought and were owned by individual citizens. 
 This problem will be considered in this book. 
 
 While it seems strange to people of this genera- 
 tion that Negro slavery should ever have existed, 
 yet the wonder will not appear so great if we con- 
 sider that slavery in some form is as old as history. 
 While the conscience of the civilized world either 
 approved or tolerated Negro slavery, the traffic in 
 slaves went on. Men invested their money in them 
 and naturally were slow to set them free or allow 
 the Government to do so. So the conflict between 
 conscience and self-interest grew. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 17 
 
 The Negroes became more intelligent by contact 
 with the whites, aud so more and more did it become 
 necessary that repressive measures be adopted to 
 keep them in subjection. This fact accounts for 
 the harsh means that were sometimes adopted to 
 keep them to their labor and to keep them from 
 running away from their masters. In the United 
 States the usual means adopted was whipping, but 
 sometimes other and, perhaps, more severe punish- 
 ment was used. The master, however, did not 
 have authority to put his slave to death. 
 
 That the Negroes were improved during their 
 term of slavery in the United States is admitted, 
 but the time came when they were to be set free 
 and given opportunity more rapidly to improve as 
 citizens of a great Republic. There are persons 
 who believe that a term of slavery was realh^ the 
 best means of starting the Negroes on the road to 
 civilization and citizenship ; and there are also 
 those who believe that the Negro's experience and 
 training in the United States are to result in the 
 more speedy civilization of his brethren in Africa. 
 So let us approach the study of the Negro in the 
 United States with toleration, and free from preju- 
 dice. 
 
 As to the hand of Providence in it all, let us weigh 
 the following words of Dr. A. G. Haygood : 
 
 " Let me ask, and let sober people answer, 
 
18 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 wlietlier the wild Africans were fitted for freedom 
 when they were first landed from the slave-ships 
 that brought them from their savage homes to the 
 plantations. Were not their American masters, 
 unworthy of their sacred trust, as many of them 
 were, better fitted, judged by any test, to prepare 
 these people for freedom than were their African 
 masters and conquerors who sold them to the 
 slavers ? For what is generally forgotten should 
 be always remembered — most of the Negroes sold 
 into slavery in America were brought from slavery 
 in Africa. And surely I do not go too far when I 
 say American slavery was freedom compared with 
 the slavery from which they were taken." 
 
 " One may be entirely consistent when he says, 
 I recognize the hand of Providence in the coming 
 to this coiaitry of several thousands of savage and 
 heathen Africans ; I recognize the hand of Provi- 
 dence in the circumstances of their enslavement 
 in such a country and among such a people^ and I 
 rejoice now, and thank God from day to day, that 
 this same Providence has set them free forever. If 
 any object, he must say, either Providence was not 
 in their comings their enslavement^ or their emanci- 
 pation y 
 
 \ 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF SLAVERY IN THE 
 COLONIES. 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 Slavery existed in the Colonies by custom and not 
 by law. It did, however, exist in the colonies. 
 Slavery was a custom of the world, and whoever 
 desired to do so brought Negroes to the colonies 
 and sold them to any person who would buy, there 
 being no law to forbid it. After they were intro- 
 duced it became necessary to pass laws to regulate 
 and control them. So in the statutes of all the colo- 
 nies, except Vermont, there will be found laws 
 which recognize slaver}^ as a fact existing at the 
 time of their enactment. 
 
 The first Negroes landed at Jamestown, Va. In 
 the year 1619, a Dutch trading vessel, being in 
 need of supplies, weighed anchor at Jamestown, 
 and exchanged fourteen Negroes for food and sup- 
 plies. The Jamestown people made slaves of these 
 fourteen Negroes, but did not pass any law to that 
 effect until the year 1662, when the number of 
 slaves in the colony was then nearly 2,000, most of 
 whom had been imported from Africa. 
 
20 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 How They were Employed. The Jamestown 
 colony early discovered the profits of the tobacco 
 crop, and the Negro slaves were largely employed 
 in this indnstry, where they proved very profitable. 
 They were also enlisted in the militia, but could 
 not bear arms except in defence of the colonists 
 against the Indians. A large part of the manual 
 labor of all kinds was performed by the slaves. 
 
 The Slaves Imported came chiefly from the west 
 coast of Africa. They were crowded into the holds 
 of ships in droves, and often suffered for food and 
 drink. Many, when opportunity permitted, would 
 jump overboard rather than be taken from their 
 homes. Various schemes were resorted to by the 
 slave-traders to get possession of the Africans. 
 They bought many who had been taken prisoners 
 by stronger tribes than their own ; they stole 
 others, and some they took at the gun and pistol's 
 mouth. 
 
 Many of the Captives of the slave-traders sold 
 in this country were from tribes possessing more or 
 less knowledge of the use of tools. Some came 
 from tribes skilled in making gold and ivory orna- 
 ments, cloth, and magnificent steel weapons of war. 
 The men had been trained to truthfulness, honesty, 
 and valor, while the women were virtuous even 
 unto death. Their system of marrying off the 
 young girls at an early age, and thus putting them 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 21 
 
 under the guardianship of their husbands, is a pro- 
 tection to them; and the result is plainly seen b^^ 
 travellers who testify positively to the uprightness 
 of the women. 
 
 The Ancestors of the American Negroes, though 
 savage in some respects, M^ere not so bad as many 
 people think. The native African had then, and 
 he has now, much respect for what we call law and 
 justice. This fact is substantiated by the numerous 
 large tribes existing, individuals of which grow to 
 be ver}^ old, a thing that could not happen were 
 there the wholesale brutalism which we are some- 
 times told exists. All native Africans universally 
 despise slavery, and even in Liberia have a con- 
 tempt for the colored people there who were once 
 slaves in America. 
 
 The Jamestown Slaves were doomed to servitude 
 and ignorance both by law and custom ; they were 
 not allowed to vote, and could not be set free even 
 by their masters, except for "some meritorious 
 service." Their religious instruction was of an 
 inferior order, and slaves were sometimes given to 
 the white ministers as pay for their services. 
 
 The Free Negroes of Jamestown were afterwards, 
 in some respects, in a similar condition to that of 
 the slaves. They could vote and bear arms in 
 defence of the colony, but not for themselves. 
 They were taxed to bear the expenses of the gov- 
 
88 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ernment, but could not be educated in the schools 
 they helped to build. Some of them managed to 
 acquire some education and property. 
 
 The Negro Heroes who may have exhibited their 
 heroism in many a daring feat during the early 
 history of Jamestown are not known. Judging, 
 however, from the records of later years, we may 
 conclude that the Negro slaves of Jamestown were 
 not without their Banneka or Blind Tom. Certainly 
 their labor was profitable and may be said to have 
 aided much in building up the colony. 
 
 When John Smith became Governor of the James- 
 town colony, there were none but white inhabit- 
 ants ; their indolent habits caused him to make a 
 law declaring that " he who would not work should 
 not eat." Prior to this time the colony had not 
 prospered, but with the help of slave labor it grew 
 prosperous and recovered from its hardships. 
 
 Thomas Fuller, sometimes called " the Virginia 
 Calculator," must not be overlooked in speaking of 
 the record of the Virginia Negro. He was stolen 
 from his home in Africa and sold to a planter near 
 Alexandria, Va. His genius for mathematics won 
 for him a great reputation. He attracted the atten- 
 tion of such men as Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Phila- 
 delphia, who, in company with others, was passing 
 through Virginia. Tom was sent for by one of 
 the company and asked, how many seconds a man 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 23 
 
 of seventy years, some odd months, weeks and 
 days, had lived ? He gave the exact number in 
 a minute and a half. The gentleman who questioned 
 him took his pen, and after some figuring told him 
 he must be mistaken, as the number was too great, 
 " Top, massa !" cried Tom, " you hab left out the 
 leap year" — and sure enough Tom was correct. — 
 Williams. 
 
 The following was published in several newspa- 
 pers when Thomas Fuller died : 
 
 " Died. — Negro Tom, the famous African Cal- 
 culator, aged 80 years. He was the property of 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Cox, of Alexandria. Tom was a 
 very black man. He was brought to this country 
 at the age of fourteen, and was sold as a slave with 
 many of his unfortunate countrymen. This man 
 was a prodigy ; though he could neither read nor 
 write, he had perfectly acquired the use of enumer- 
 ation. He could give the number of months, days, 
 weeks, hours, minutes and seconds for any period 
 of time that a person chose to mention, allowing in 
 his calculations for all the leap years that happened 
 in the time. He would give the number of poles, 
 yards, feet, inches and barleycorns in a given dis- 
 tance — say the diameter of the earth's orbit — and 
 in every calculation he would produce the true 
 answer in less time than ninety-nine out of a hun- 
 dred men would take with their pens. And what 
 
24 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 was, perhaps, more extraordinary, though inter- 
 rupted in the progress of his calculations and 
 engaged in discourse upon any other subject, his 
 operations were not thereby in the least deranged. 
 He would go on where he left off, and could give 
 any and all of the stages through which his calcu- 
 lations had passed. Thus died Negro Tom, this 
 untaught arithmetician, this untutored scholar. 
 Had his opportunities of improvement been equal 
 to those of thousands of his fellow-men, neither 
 the Royal Society of London, the Academy of 
 Sciences at Paris, nor even a Newton himself need 
 have been ashamed to acknowledge him a brother 
 in science." 
 
 How many of his kind might there have been 
 had the people of Jamestown seen fit to give the 
 Negroes who came to their shores a laborer's and 
 emigrant's chance, rather than enslavi»ng them ! 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NEW YORK COLONY. 
 
 The enslavement of the Negro seems to have 
 commenced in the New York Colony about the same 
 time as at Jamestown (1619). The slaves were 
 used on the farms, and became so profitable that 
 about the time the English took the colony from 
 the Dutch, 1664, there was a great demand for 
 slaves, and the trade grew accordingly. 
 
 The Privileges of the Slaves in New York were, 
 for a while, a little better than in Virginia. They 
 were taken into the church and baptized, and no 
 law was passed to prevent their getting an educa- 
 tion. But the famous Wall Street, now the finan- 
 cial centre of the New World, was once the scene 
 of an auction block where Indians and persons of 
 Negro descent were bought and sold. 
 
 The Riot of 1712 shows the feeling between the 
 master and servant at that time. The Negro popu- 
 lation being excluded from schools, not allowed to 
 own land, even when free, and forbidden to "strike 
 a Christian or Jew" in self-defence, and their testi- 
 mony excluded from the courts, arose in arms and 
 with the torch; houses were burned, and many 
 whites killed, before the militia suppressed them. 
 Many of the Negroes of New York were free, and 
 many came from the Spanish provinces. 
 
26 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS, RHODE ISLAND, AND 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Negro slavery existed in Massachusetts as early 
 as 1633. The Puritan fathers who came to this 
 country in search of liberty, carried on for more 
 than a century a traffic in human flesh. The New- 
 England ships of the lytli century brought cargoes 
 of Negroes from the west coast of Africa and the 
 Barbadoes. They sold many of them in New 
 England as well as in the Southern colonies. In 
 1764 there were nearly 6,000 slaves in Massachu- 
 setts, about 4,000 in Rhode Island, and the same in 
 Connecticut. 
 
 The Treatment of the slaves in these colonies at 
 this time was regulated by laws which classed them 
 as property, "being rated as horses and hogs." 
 They could not bear arms nor be admitted to the 
 schools. They were baptized in the churches, but 
 this did not make them freemen. 
 
 Better Treatment was given the slaves as the 
 colonies grew older and were threatened with wars. 
 It was thought that the slaves might espouse the 
 cause of the enemy, and for this reason some leni- 
 ency was shown them, and the conscience of the 
 people was also being aroused. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 27 
 
 Judge Samuel Sewall, a Chief Justice of Massa- 
 chusetts wrote a tract in 1700 warning the people 
 of New England against slavery and ill treatment 
 of Negroes. He said: "Forasmuch as Liberty is 
 in real value next unto Life, none ought to part 
 with it themselves, or deprive others of it, but upon 
 most mature consideration." 
 
 Judge Sewall's tract greatly excited the New 
 England people on the subject of emancipating 
 their slaves. "The pulpit and the press were not 
 silent, and sermons and essays in behalf of the 
 enslaved Africans were continually making their 
 appearance." 
 
 The Slaves themselves, aroused by these favorable 
 utterances from friendly people, made up petitions, 
 which they presented with strong arguments, for 
 their emancipation. A great man}' slaves brought 
 suits against their masters for restraining them of 
 their libert3\ In 1774 a slave "of one Caleb Dodge," 
 of Essex County, brought suit against his master, 
 praying for his liberty. The jury decided that 
 there was " no law in the Province to hold a man to 
 serve for life," and the slave of Caleb Dodge won 
 the suit. 
 
 Felix Holbrook and other slaves presented a peti- 
 tion to the Massachusetts House of Representatives 
 in 1773, asking to be set free and granted some 
 unimproved lands where they might earn an honest 
 
28 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 living as freemen. Consideration of this petition 
 was delayed a year. It was finall3^ granted, but 
 the Englisli Governors, Hutchinson and Gage, 
 refused to sign it. 
 
 British Haired to Negro freedom thus made itself 
 plain to the New England slaves, and a few years 
 later, when England fired her guns to subdue the 
 revolution begun at Lexington, the slave popula- 
 tion enlisted largely in the defence of the colonists. 
 And thus the Negro slave, by valor, patriotism and 
 industry, began to loosen the chains of his own 
 bondage in the Northern colonies. 
 
 PHILUS WHEATLEY. 
 
 Before passing from the New England colonies 
 it would be unfortunate for the readers of this book 
 were they not made acquainted with the great and 
 wonderful career of the young Negro slave who 
 bore the above name. She came from Africa and 
 was sold in a Boston slave market in the year 1761 
 to a kind lady who was a Mrs. Wheatley. As she 
 sat with a crowd of slaves in the market, naked, 
 save a piece of cloth tied about the loins, her mod- 
 est, intelligent bearing so attracted Mrs. Wheatley 
 that she selected her in preference to all the others. 
 Her selection proved a good one, for, with clean 
 clothing and careful attention, Phillis soon began 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 29 
 
 to show a great desire for learning. Though onlj^ 
 eight years old, this young African, whose race all 
 the learned men said were incapable of culture, 
 within little over a year's time so mastered the 
 
 English language as to be able to read the Bible 
 intelligently. Her achievements in two or three 
 years drew the leading lights of Boston to Mrs. 
 Wheatley's house, and with them Phillis talked and 
 
30 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 carried on correspondence concerning the popular 
 topics of the day. Everybody either knew or knew 
 of Phillis. She became skilled in Ivatin and trans- 
 lated one of Ovid's stories, which was published 
 largely in English magazines. She published many 
 poems in English, one of which was addressed to 
 General George Washington. He sent her the fol- 
 lowing letter in reply, which shows that Washing- 
 ton was as great in heart as in war : 
 
 Cambridge, 28 February, 1776. 
 
 ^'Miss Phillis: — Your favor of the 26th October 
 did not reach my hands till the middle of Decem- 
 ber I thank you most sincerely for your 
 
 polite notice of me in the elegant lines you enclosed ; 
 and however undeserving I may be of such enco- 
 mium and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit 
 a striking proof of your poetical talents, in honor 
 of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I 
 would have published the poem, had I not been 
 apprehensive that, while I only meant to give the 
 world this new instance of your genius, I might 
 have incurred the imputation of vanity. This and 
 nothing else, determined me not to give it place in 
 the public prints. 
 
 " If you should ever come to Cambridge, or near 
 headquarters, I shall be happy to see a person so 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 31 
 
 favored by the Muses, and to whom Nature has been 
 so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations. I 
 am with great respect, 
 
 "Your humble servant, 
 
 "George Washington." 
 — Williams. 
 
 Phillis was emancipated at the age of twenty-one. 
 Soon after that her health failed and she was sent 
 to Europe, where she created even a greater sensa- 
 tion than in America. Men and women in the 
 very highest stations of the Old World were won- 
 derstruck, and industriously attentive to this humble 
 born African girl. While Phillis was away Mrs. 
 Wheatley became seriously ill and her daily long- 
 ings were to see "her Phillis," to whom she was so 
 much devoted. It is related that she would often 
 turn on her sick-couch and exclaim, "See! Look 
 at my Phillis ! Does she not seem as though she 
 would speak to me ? " Phillis was asked to come, 
 and in response to the multitude of kindnesses 
 done her by Mrs. Wheatley, she hastened to her bed- 
 side where she arrived just before Mrs. Wheatley 
 died, and " had time to close her sightless eyes." 
 
 Mr. Wheatley, after the death of his wife, mar- 
 ried again and settled in England. Phillis being 
 thus left alone also married. Her husband was 
 named Peters. He, far inferior to her in almost 
 
32 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 every way, and becoming jealous of the favors 
 shown her by the best of society, became very 
 cruel. Phillis did not long survive his harsh treat- 
 ment, and she ditd December 5, 17S4, at the age 
 of about 41, "greatly beloved" and mourned on 
 two continents. 
 
 Thus passed away one of the brightest of the 
 race, whose life was as pure as a crystal and de- 
 voted to the most beautiful in poetry, letters and 
 religion. 
 
 She composed this verse : 
 
 " 'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, 
 Taught my benighted soul to understand 
 That there's a God — that there's a Saviour, too ; 
 Once I redemption neither sought nor knew." 
 
 Contrar}/ to the Connectiait slaveholders' unbelief 
 in the intellectual capacity of the Negro, and their 
 assertions of his utter inferiority in all things, they 
 early enacted the most rigid laws prohibiting the 
 teaching of any Negro to read, bond or free, with 
 a penalty of several hundred dollars for every such 
 act. The following undeniable story is woven into 
 the fabric of Connecticut's history, and tells a sad ' 
 tale of the prejudice of her people against the 
 Negro during the days of slavery there : 
 
 Prudence Crandall, a young Quaker lady of 
 talent, was employed to teach a " boarding and day- 
 school." While at her post of duty one day, Sarah 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 33 
 
 Harris, whose father was a well-to-do colored far- 
 mer, applied for admission. Miss Crandall hesi- 
 tated somewhat to admit her, but knowing the girl's 
 respectability, her lady-like and modest deportment, 
 for she was a member of the white people's church 
 and well known to them, she finally told her yes. 
 The girl came. Soon Miss Crandall was called 
 upon b}^ the patrons, announcing their disgust and 
 loathing that their daughters should attend school 
 with a "nigger girl." Miss Crandall protested, 
 but to no avail. The white pupils were finally 
 taken from the school. Miss Crandall then opened 
 a school for colored ladies. She enrolled about 
 twenty, but they were subjected to many outrageous 
 insults. They were denied accommodation alto- 
 gether in the village of Canterbury. Their well 
 was filled up with trash, and all kinds of unpleasant 
 and annoying acts were thrust upon them. The 
 people felt determined that Canterburj^ should not 
 have the disgrace of a colored school. No, not 
 even the State of Connecticut. Miss Crandall sent 
 to Brooklyn to some of her friends. They pleaded 
 in her behalf privately, and went to a town meeting 
 to speak for her, but were denied the privilege. 
 Finally, the Legislature passed a law prohibiting 
 colored schools in the State. From the advice of 
 her friends and her own strong will, Miss Crandall 
 continued to teach. She was arrested and her 
 
34 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 friends were sent for. They came, but would not 
 be persuaded by the Sheriff and other ofScers to 
 stand her bond. The people saw the disgrace and 
 felt ashamed to have it go down in history that she 
 was put in jail. In agreement with Miss Crandall's 
 wishes her friends still persisted, so about night 
 she was put in jail. The news flashed over the 
 country, much to the Connecticut people's chagrin 
 and disgrace. She had her trial — the court evaded 
 giving a decision. She opened her school again, 
 and an attempt was made to burn the building while 
 she and the pupils were there, but it proved unsuc- 
 cessful. One night about midnight they were 
 aroused to find themselves surrounded by persons 
 who with heavy iron bars and clubs broke the win- 
 dows and tore things to pieces. It was then thought 
 unwise to continue the school longer. So the doors 
 were closed, and the poor girls, whose only offence 
 was a manifestation for knowledge, were sent to 
 their homes. This law, however, was repealed in 
 1838, after being in force five years. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 35 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MARYLAND. 
 
 New Hampshire slaves were very few in number. 
 The people of this colony saw the evils of slavery 
 very early, and passed laws against their importa- 
 tion. Massachusetts was having so much trouble 
 with her slaves that the New Hampshire people 
 early made up their minds that, as a matter of busi- 
 ness as well as of humanity, they had best not try 
 to build up their colon}^ by dealing in human flesh. 
 
 Maryland was, up to 1630, a part of Virginia, 
 and slavery there partook of the same features. 
 Owing to the feeling existing in the colony between 
 the Catholics, who planted it, and the Protestants, 
 the slaves were treated better than in some other 
 provinces. Yet their lot was a hard one at best. 
 By law, a white person could kill a slave and not 
 suffer death ; only pay a fine. 
 
 . While Slaves existed in this colony, many of 
 whom came as criminals from England. They, it 
 seems, were chiefly domestic servants, while the 
 Negroes worked the tobacco fields. 
 
36 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 BENJAMIN BANNEKA, ASTRONOMER AND MATHEMA- 
 TICIAN. 
 
 Banneka was born in Maryland in the year 1731. 
 An English woman named Molly Welsh, who came 
 to Maryland as an emigrant, is said to have been 
 his maternal grandmother. This woman was sold 
 as a slave to pay her passage to this conntry on 
 board an emigrant ship, and after serving out her 
 term of slaver}/ she bought two Negro slaves her- 
 self. These slaves were men of extraordinary 
 powers, both of mind and body. One of them, said 
 to be the son of an African king, was set free by 
 her, and she soon married him. There were four 
 children, and one of them, named Mar}', married 
 a native African, Robert Banneka, who was the 
 father of Benjamin. 
 
 The School Days of young Benjamin were spent 
 in a " pay school," where some colored children 
 were admitted. The short while that Benjamin 
 was there he learned to love his books, and when 
 the other children played he was studying. He 
 was very attentive to his duties on his father's farm, 
 and when through with his task of caring for the 
 horses and cows, he would spend his leisure hours 
 in reading books and papers on the topics of the 
 day. 
 
 The Post-Office was the famous gathering place in 
 those days, and there it was that young Benjamin 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 37 
 
 was accustomed to go. He met many of the lead- 
 ing people of the community, and fluent!}^ discussed 
 with them dilfficult questions. He could answer 
 almost an}' problem put to him in mathematics, and 
 became known throughout the colonies as a genius. 
 Many of his answers to questions were be3^ond the 
 reach of ordinary minds. 
 
 Messrs. Ellicolt & Co., who built flour mills on the 
 Patapsco river, near Baltimore, very early discov- 
 ered Banneka's genius, and Mr. George Ellicott 
 allowed him the use of his library and astronomical 
 instruments. The result of this was that Benjamin 
 Banneka published his first almanac in the year 1 792, 
 said to have been one of the first almanacs published 
 in America. Before that time he had made numerous 
 calculations in astronom}', and constructed for him- 
 self a splendid clock that, unfortunatel}^, was burned 
 with his dwelling soon after his death. 
 
 Banneka's Reputation spread all over America, 
 and even to Europe. He drew to him the associa- 
 tion of the best and most learned men of his coun- 
 try. His ability was a curiosity to everybody, and 
 did much to establish the fact that the Negro of 
 his time could master the arts and sciences. It is 
 said that he was the master of five different lan- 
 guages, as well as a mathematical and astronomical 
 genius. He accompanied and assisted the commis- 
 sioners who surveyed the District of Columbia. 
 
38 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 He sent Mr. Thomas Jefferson one of his alma- 
 nacs, which Mr. Jefferson prized so highly that he 
 sent it to Paris, and wrote Mr, Banneka the follow- 
 ing letter in reply. Along with Mr. Banneka's 
 almanac to Mr. Jefferson he sent a letter pleading 
 for better treatment of the people of African descent 
 in the United States. 
 
 MR. Jefferson's letter to benjamin banneka. 
 
 "Philadelphia, August 30, 1791. 
 
 " Dear Sir — I thank you sincerely for your letter 
 of the 19th instant, and for the almanac it con- 
 tained. Nobody wishes more than I do to see such 
 proofs as you exhibit that Nature has given to our 
 black brethren talents equal to those of the other 
 colors of men, and that the appearance of the want 
 of them is owing only to the degraded condition of 
 their existence, both in Africa and America. I can 
 add, with truth, that no one wishes more ardently 
 to see a good system commenced for raising the 
 condition, both of their body and mind, to what it 
 ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of their pres- 
 ent existence, and other circumstances which can- 
 not be neglected, will admit. I have taken the 
 liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de 
 Cordorat, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences of 
 Paris and member of the Philanthropic Society, 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 39 
 
 because I cousidered it a document to which 37our 
 whole color had a right for their justification against 
 the doubts which have been entertained of them. 
 " I am, with great esteem, sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 " Thos. Jefferson." 
 Mr. Bejamm Banneka^ near Ellicott'^s 
 Lower Mills ^ Baltimore County. 
 
 The Personal Appearance of Mr. Banneka is 
 drawn from the letters of those who wrote about 
 him. A certain gentleman who met him at EHi- 
 cott's Mills gives this description : " Of black com- 
 plexion, medium stature, of uncommonly soft and 
 gentlemanly manners, and of pleasing colloquial 
 powers." 
 
 .Mr. Banneka died about the j^ear 1804, very 
 greatly mourned by the people of this country and 
 Europe. He left two sisters, who, according to his 
 request, turned over his books, papers, and astro- 
 nomical calculations to Mr. EHicott. Perhaps there 
 has been no greater mind in the possession of any 
 American citizen than that of Benjamin Banneka. 
 He stands out in history as one of those phenome- 
 nal characters whose achievements seem to be 
 nothing short of miraculous. 
 
 , Frances Ellen Watkins was another of Mary- 
 land's bright women. She distinguished herself 
 
40 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 as an anti-slavery lecturer in the Eastern States, 
 and wrote a book entitled, "Poems and Miscella- 
 neous Writings ; By Frances BUen Watkins." In 
 that book was the following poem entitled " Ellen 
 Harris": 
 
 (i) Like a fawn from the arrow, startled and wild, 
 A woman swept by me bearing a child ; 
 In her eye was the night of a settled despair, 
 And her brow was overshadowed with anguish and care. 
 
 (2") She was nearing the river, — on reaching the brink 
 
 She heeded no danger, she paused not to think ! • 
 
 For she is a mother — her child is a slave, — 
 
 And she'll give him his freedom or find him a grave! 
 
 (3) But she's free, — yes, free from the land where the slave 
 From the hand of oppression must rest in the grave; 
 Where bondage and torture, where scourges and chains. 
 Have placed on our banner indelible stains. 
 
 (4) The blood-hounds have missed the scent of her way ; 
 The hunter is rifled and foiled of his prey ; 
 
 Fierce jargon and cursing, with clanking of chains, 
 Make sounds of strange discord on Liberty's plains. 
 
 (5) With the rapture of love and fulness of bliss, 
 She placed on his brow a mother's fond kiss, — 
 Oh! poverty, danger, and death she can brave, 
 For the child of her love is no longer a slave! 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 41 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DELAWARE AND PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Delaware was settled, as you will remember, by 
 the Swedes and Danes, in 1639. They were a sim- 
 ple, contented, and religious people. It is recorded 
 that they had a law very early in their history de- 
 claring it was "not lawful to buy and keep slaves." 
 •It is very evident, though, that later on in the his- 
 tory of the colony slaves were held, and their con- 
 dition was the same as in New York. While the 
 north of the colony was perhaps fully in sympathy 
 with slavery, the western part was influenced by 
 the religious sentiment of the Quakers in Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 The Friends of Pennsylvania were opposed to 
 slavery, and although slavery was tolerated bylaw, 
 the way was left open for their education and re- 
 ligious training. In 1688, Francis Daniel Pasto- 
 rious'-' addressed a memorial to the Friends of Ger- 
 man town. His was said to be the first protest 
 against slavery made by any of the churches of 
 America. He believed that " slave and slave-owner 
 should be equal at the Master's feet." 
 
 William Penn showed himself friendly to the 
 slaves. 
 
 *Willianis, 
 
42 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 This colony, in geographical position, lies be- 
 tween South Carolina and Virginia. While it held 
 slaves, it may be justly said its position on this 
 great question was not so burdensome to the slave 
 as was that of some of the other Southern colonies; 
 and even to the present time the Negroes and whites 
 of this State seem to enjoy the most harmonious 
 relations. Large communities of free Negroes lived 
 in this State prior to the civil war, and, as late as 
 the year 1835, they could vote. They had some 
 rights of citizenship and some of them became 
 men of note. ^ 
 
 Prior to the Civil War there were schools for 
 these free people. Some of them owned slaves 
 themselves. In this colony the slaves were worked, 
 as a rule, on small farms, and there was a close 
 relation established between master and slave, which 
 bore its fruits in somewhat milder treatment than 
 was customary in colonies where the slave lived 
 on large cotton plantations governed by overseers, 
 some of whom were imported from the North. 
 
 The Eastern Section of North Carolina was thickly 
 peopled with slaves, and some landlords owned 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 43 
 
 hundreds if not thousands — so many that they did 
 not know them when they met them. 
 
 The increase and surplusage of the slave popu- 
 lation in this State was sold to the more Southern 
 colonies, where they were used on the cotton, rice, 
 and sugar plantations. 
 
 A NORTH CAROLINA SLAVE POET. 
 
 George M. Hortou was a poet. He was the slave 
 of James M. Horton, of Chatham County, N. C. 
 'Several of his special poems were published in the 
 Raleigh Register. In 1829, A. M. Gales, of this 
 State, afterwards of the firm of Gales & Seaton, 
 Washington, D. C, published a volume of the slave 
 Horton 's poems, which excited the wonder and ad- 
 miration of the best men in this country. His 
 poems reached Boston, where they were much 
 talked of, and used as an argument against slaver}^ 
 Horton, at the time his volume was published, could 
 read but not write, and was, therefore, compelled to 
 dictate his productions to some one who wrote them 
 down for him. He afterwards learned to write. 
 He seemed to have concealed all his achievements 
 from his master, who knew nothing of his slave's 
 ability except what others told him. He simply 
 knew George as a field hand, which work he did 
 faithfully and honestly, and wrote his poetr}' too. 
 Though a slave, his was a noble soul inspired with 
 
44 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the Muse from above. The Raleigh Register said 
 of him, July 2d, 1829: "That his heart has felt 
 deeply and sensitively in this lowest possible condi- 
 tion of human nature (meaning slavery) will be 
 easily believed, and is impressively confirmed by 
 one of his stanzas, viz. : 
 
 "Come, melting pity from afar, 
 And break this vast, enormous bar 
 
 Between a wretch and thee; 
 Purchase a few short days of time, 
 And bid a vassal soar sublime 
 On wings of Liberty." 
 
 REV. JOHN CHAVIS. 
 
 To preserve the memory, as well as to perpetuate 
 the work and worth of a very eminent colored citi- 
 zen of North Carolina, I here present for the infor- 
 mation of the youths, and all other persons who do 
 not know anything of the history of his life, a bio- 
 graphical narrative of the Rev. John Chavis. This 
 gentleman, a regularly ordained minister of the 
 Presbyterian Church, came to the United States in 
 the year 1822. He settled in North Carolina, and, 
 after remaining here the period of time required by 
 law, was naturalized and became a citizen of the 
 State and United States. In culture and literary 
 attainments he far excelled a majority of all classes 
 of the people living in the State at that day and 
 date. A Christian gentleman, possessing all the 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 45 
 
 qualities which go to make a true aud uoble man, 
 he was honored for his eminent ability and 
 respected for his Christian character. He lived in 
 the town of Fayetteville for a period of two years, 
 preached and taught school. He removed from 
 Fa3^etteville, and afterwards lived respectively in 
 the counties of Franklin, Wake and Chatham, in 
 each of which he preached and taught school. The 
 school organized and taught by him in Chatham 
 County was patronized almost exclusively by the 
 white people. In the light of present surroundings, 
 it may seem strange and incredulous that the white 
 people of North Carolina would send their children 
 to a colored school-teacher, and consent to have 
 their lives and characters shaped and moulded by 
 him, but this is accounted for in the fact that the 
 recorded history of those times goes to show that 
 classical scholars and thoroughly equipped school- 
 teachers were not near so plentiful among the white 
 people then as they are now, and they were not so 
 very particular as to the color of the " Gamaliel " 
 at whose feet their children should sit, provided he 
 had the ability and learning to impart the desired 
 information. As evidence of this gentleman's emi- 
 nence as an instructor, and the influence which his 
 precept and example had upon the lives and char- 
 acter of his pupils, I mention the names of a few 
 who were so fortunate as to enjoy the benefit of his 
 
46 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 instruction and careful training. The late Honor- 
 able Kenneth Rayner^ one of his pupils, was well 
 known to the people of North Carolina as an emi- 
 nent lawyer, and, before the civil war, as a repre- 
 sentative from North Carolina in the United States 
 Congress, and after said war was the able and effi- 
 cient Solicitor-General of the United States Treasury 
 under President Arthur's administration. Mr. Thos. 
 J. Curtis, a successful business man, and for several 
 years Mayor of the town of Fayette ville, was another, 
 and yet another was the late Honorable Abram 
 Rencher, of Chatham County, who was one of the 
 most distinguished men the State has ever pro- 
 duced. There were a great many others, but it is 
 not necessary to mention by name any more. These 
 are enough to show that if justice had been done, 
 this illustrious colored gentleman would have had 
 a place in the recorded history of the State of his 
 adoption as one of her earliest, most successful 
 educators and eminent men. — \Taken from an 
 account of'''' The Free People of Color m North Car- 
 olina^^'' by fohn S. Leary7\ 
 
NEGRO RACE IiV THE UNITED STATES. 47 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Charters for the settlement of North and South 
 Carolina were obtained at the same time — 1663. 
 Slavery commenced with the colony. Owing to the 
 peculiar fitness of the soil for the production of 
 rice and cotton, slave labor was in great demand. 
 White labor failed, and the colony was marvellously 
 prosperous under the slave system. Negroes were 
 imported from Africa by the thousands. Their 
 labor proved very productive. 
 
 A Negro Regiment in- the service of Spain was 
 doing dut}^ in Florida, and through it the Spanish, 
 who w^ere at dagger's ends with the British colonies, 
 sent out spies who offered inducements to such of 
 the South Carolina slaves as would run away and 
 join them. Many slaves ran away. Very rigid 
 and extreme laws were passed to prevent slaves 
 from running awa3^ 
 
 A Riot followed the severe treatment of the slaves 
 under the runaway code; 1748 is said to have 
 been a year in which the crowd of slaves assem- 
 bled in the village of Stono, slew the guards at 
 the arsenal and secured the ammunition. They 
 then marched to the homes of several leading men 
 
48 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 whom they murdered, together with their wives 
 and children. The slaves captured considerable 
 rum in their plundering expedition, and having 
 indulged very freely, stopped for a frolic, and in 
 the midst of their hilarity were captured by the 
 whites, and thus ended the riot. 
 
 The Discontent of the Slaves grew, however, in 
 spite of the speedy ending of this attempt at insur- 
 rection. The treatment of the slaves was bearing 
 its fruits in a universal dissatisfaction, and in South 
 Carolina, as in Massachusetts, it began to be a 
 serious question as to what side the slaves would 
 take in the war of the coming Revolution. Eng- 
 land offered freedom and money to slaves who would 
 join her army. The people of South Carolina did 
 not wait long before they allowed the Negroes to 
 enlist in defence of the colonies, and highly com- 
 plimented their valor. If a slave killed a Briton 
 he was emancipated ; if he were taken prisoner 
 and escaped back into the Province, he was also set 
 free. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 49 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 GEORGIA. 
 
 From the time of its settlement in 1732 till 1750 
 this colony held no slaves. Many of the inhabitants 
 were anxious for the introduction of slaves, and 
 when the condition of the colony finally became 
 hopeless they sent many long petitions to the Trus- 
 tees, stating that "//^^ o?ie thing jieedfuP^ for their 
 prosperity was Negroes. It was a longtime before 
 the Trustees would give their conseut; they said 
 that the colony of Georgia was designed to be a 
 protection to South Carolina and the other more 
 Northern colonies against the Spanish, who were 
 then occupying Florida, and if the colonists had to 
 control slaves it would weaken their power to defend 
 themselves. Finally, owing to the hopeless con- 
 dition of the Georgia colony, the Trustees 3nelded. 
 Slaves were introduced in large numbers. 
 
 Prosperity Came with the slaves, and, as in the 
 case of Virginia, the colony of Georgia took a fresh 
 start and began to prosper. It was in large part 
 the honest and faithful toil of the Negro that turned 
 the richness of Georgia's soil into English gold, 
 built cities and created large estates.* 
 
 * The famous minister, George Whitfield, referring to his planta- 
 tion in this colony, said : "Upwards of five thousand pounds have 
 
50 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Oglethorpe Planned the Georgia colouy as a 
 home for Englishmen who had failed in business 
 and were imprisoned for their debts. These Eng- 
 lish people were out of place in the wild woods of 
 America, and continued a failure in America, as 
 well as in England, until the toiling but " heathen " 
 African came to their aid. 
 
 Cotton Plantations were numerous in Georgia 
 under the slave system. The slave-owners had 
 large estates, numbering thousands of acres in 
 many cases. The slaves became experts in the 
 culture of cotton. The climate was adapted to 
 sugar-cane and rice, both of which were raised in 
 abundance. 
 
 blount'jp fort. 
 
 This fortification, erected by some of the armies 
 duringtheearly colonial wars, had been abandoned. 
 
 been expended in the undertaking, and yet very little proficiency 
 made in the cultivation of my tract of land, and that entirely owing 
 to the necessity I lay under of making use of white hands. Had a 
 Negro been allowed I should now have had a sufficiency to support a 
 great many orphans, without expending above half the sum which 
 had been laid out." He purchased a plantation in South Carolina, 
 where slavery existed, and speaks of it thus : " Blessed be God ! This 
 plantation has succeeded ; and though at present I have only eight 
 working hands, yet in all probability, there will be more raised in 
 one year, and without a quarter of the expense, than has been pro- 
 duced at Bethesda for several years past. This confirms me in the 
 opinion I have entertained for a long time, that Georgia never can 
 or will be a flourishing province without Negroes are allowed.'" 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 51 
 
 It lies on the west bank of the Apalachicola river 
 in Florida, forty miles from the Georgia line. 
 Negro refngees from Georgia fled into the ever- 
 glades of Florida as a hiding-place during the war 
 of the Revolution, In these swamps they remained 
 for forty years successfully baffling all attempts to 
 re-enslave them. Many of those who planned the 
 escape at first were now dead, and their children 
 had grown up to hate the lash and love liberty. 
 Their parents had taught them that to die in the 
 swamps with libert}^ was better than to feast as a 
 bondman and a slave. When Blount's Fort was 
 abandoned and taken possession of by these children 
 of the swamp, there were three hundred and eleven 
 of them, out of which i!t>t more than twenty had 
 ever been slaves. They were joined by other slaves 
 who ran away as chance permitted. The neigh- 
 boring slave-holders attempted to capture these 
 people but failed. They finally called on the Presi- 
 dent of the United States for aid. General Jack- 
 son, then commander of the Southern militia, dele- 
 gated Lieutenant Colonel Clinch to take the fort 
 and reduce these people to slavery again. His 
 sympathies being with the refugees, he marched to 
 the fort and returned, reporting that "the fortifica- 
 tion was not accessible by land." 
 
 Commodore Patterson next received orders. He 
 commanded the American fleet, then lying in Mobile 
 
52 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Bay. A " sub-order was given to Lieutenant Loomis 
 to ascend the Apalachicola river with two gun- 
 boats, to seize the people in Blount's Fort, deliver 
 them to their owners, and destroy the fort." At 
 early dawn on the morning of September the 17th, 
 1816, the two boats, with full sail catching a gentle 
 breeze, moved up the river towards the fort. They 
 lowered a boat on their arrival and twelve men went 
 ashore. They were met at the water's edge and 
 asked their errand by a number of the leading men 
 of the fort. Lieutenant Loomis informed them 
 that he came to destroy the fort and turn over its 
 inmates to the "slave-holders, then on board the 
 gun-boat, who claimed them as fugitive slaves." 
 The demand was rejected. The colored men re- 
 turned to the fort and informed the inmates. Great 
 consternation prevailed. The women were much 
 distressed, but amid the confusion and excitement 
 there appeared an aged father. He assured the 
 people that the fort could not be taken, and ended 
 his speech with these patriotic words: "Give me 
 liberty, or give me death." A shout went up from 
 the entire fort as from one man, and they prepared 
 to defend themselves. 
 
 The Gun-boats Soon Opened Fire. For several 
 hours they buried balls in the earthen walls and 
 injured no one. Bombs were then fired. These 
 had more effect, as there was no shelter from them. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 53 
 
 All this seemed little more than sport for the in- 
 mates of the fort, who saw nothing but a joke in 
 it after shelter had been found. 
 
 Lieutenant Loomis saw his failure. He had a 
 consultation, and it was agreed to fire "hot shot at 
 the magazine." So the furnaces were heated and 
 the fiery flames began to whizz through the air. 
 This last stroke was effectual; the hot shot set the 
 magazine on fire, and a terrible explosion covered 
 the entire place with debris. Many were instantly 
 killed by the falling earth and timbers. It was now 
 dark. Fifteen persons in the fort had survived the 
 explosion. The sixty sailors and ofi&cers now 
 entered, trampling over the wounded and dying, 
 and took these fifteen refugees in handcuffs and 
 ropes back to the boats. The dead, wounded and 
 dying were left. 
 
 As the two boats moved away from this scene 
 of carnage the sight weakened the veteran sailors 
 on board the boats, and when the officers retired 
 these weather-worn sailor veterans " gathered before 
 the mast, and loud and bitter were the curses uttered 
 against slavery and against the officers of the gov- 
 ernment." 
 
 The Dead Remained unburied in the fort. The 
 wounded and dying were not cared for, and all were 
 left as food for vultures. For years afterward the 
 bones of these brave people lay bleaching in the sun. 
 
54 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Having briefly considered the establishment of 
 slavery in the colonies, where the Negro slave was 
 employed mainly in menial occupations and where 
 he accepted the conditions imposed upon him with 
 a full knowledge of the wrong done, but still jubi- 
 lant with songs of hope for deliverance, and trust 
 in God, whose promises are many to the faithful, 
 let us turn to the war of tlie Revolution. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE SOUTH- 
 ERN COLONIES. 
 
 Barnes gives the following account of the habits 
 and customs of the Southern colonies during the 
 days of slavery: 
 
 "The Southern Colonists differed widely from the 
 Northern in habits and style of living. In place 
 of thickly-settled towns and villages, they had large 
 plantations, and were surrounded by a numerous 
 household of servants. The Negro quarters formed 
 a hamlet apart, with its gardens and poultrj^ yards. 
 An estate in those days was a little empire. The 
 planter had among his slaves men of every trade, 
 and they made most of the articles needed for com- 
 mon use upon the plantation. There were large 
 sheds for curing tobacco, and mills for grinding 
 corn and wheat. The tobacco was put up and con- 
 signed directly to England. The flour of the Mount 
 Vernon estate was packed under the eye of Wash- 
 ington himself, and we are told that barrels of flour 
 bearing his brand passed in the West India market 
 without inspection. 
 
 "Up the Ashley and Cooper (near Charleston) 
 were the remains of the only bona fide nobility ever 
 
66 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 established on our soil. There the descendants of 
 the Landgraves, who received their title in accord- 
 ance with Locke's grand model, occupied their 
 manorial dwellings. Along the banks of the James 
 and Rappahannock the plantation often passed from 
 father to son, according to the law of entail. 
 
 " The heads of these great Southern families lived 
 like lords, keeping their packs of choice hunting 
 dogs, and their stables of blooded horses, and roll- 
 ing to church or town in their coach of six, with 
 outriders on horseback. Their spacious mansions 
 were sometimes built of imported brick. Within, 
 the grand staircases, the mantels, and the wainscot, 
 reaching in a quaint fashion from floor to ceiling, 
 were of mahogany elaborately carved and paneled. 
 The sideboards shown with gold and silver plate 
 and the tables were loaded with the luxuries of the 
 Old World. Negro servants thronged about, ready 
 to perform every task. 
 
 "All labor was done by Slaves, it being consid- 
 ered degrading for a white man to work. Even the 
 superintendence of the plantation and slaves was 
 generally committed to overseers, while the master 
 dispensed a generous hospitality, and occupied 
 himself with social and political life." 
 
 We must not give this picture of life in the Southern Colonies too 
 wide afi application. While it is true as to many families, it is to be 
 remembered that vastly more persons owned but few slaves, and still 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 57 
 
 more owned none. Therefore a large majority of the families could 
 not and did not live in any such style, and they did labor themselves, 
 frequentl}' along with their slaves, and they were not considered 
 degraded thereby. Labor was not considered degrading by the great 
 body of the Southern people. 
 
 SLAVERY INTRODUCED IN THE COLONIES. 
 
 In Virginia, the last of August, 1619. 
 
 In New York, 1628, or earlier. 
 
 In Massachusetts, between 1633 and 1637. 
 
 In Marj^land, 1634, or earlier. 
 
 In Delaware, between 1636 and 1639. 
 
 In Connecticut, between 163 1 and 1636. 
 
 In Rhode Island from the beginning, 1647. 
 
 New Jersey, not known ; as early though as in 
 New Netherlands. 
 
 South Carolina and North Carolina from the ear- 
 liest days of their existence. 
 
 In New Hampshire, slavery existed from the 
 beginning. 
 
 Pennsylvania doubtful. 
 
 In Georgia, 1750. 
 
A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 NEGRO SOLDIERS IN REVOLUTIONARY 
 TIMES. 
 
 Objections lo Enlisting Negroes caused much dis- 
 cussion at the beginning of the Revolutionary war. 
 The Northern colonies partially favored their enlist- 
 ment and rightly reasoned that if the Negroes were 
 not allowed to enlist in the Colonial ami}', where 
 their sympathies were, they would accept the propo- 
 sitions of the British, who promised freedom to 
 ever}' slave who would desert his master and join 
 the English arm3^ 
 
 Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, and the 
 other British leaders, saw a good chance to weaken 
 the strength of the colonies by offering freedom to 
 the slaves if they would fight for England. They 
 knew that the slaves would be used to throw up 
 fortifications, do fatigue duties, and raise the provi- 
 sions necessary to support the Colonial army. So 
 Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation offering free- 
 dom to all slaves who would join his army. As 
 the result of this, Thomas Jefferson is quoted as 
 saying that 30,000 Negroes from Virginia alone 
 joined the British ranks. 
 
 The Americans became fearful of the results that 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 59 
 
 were sure to follow the plans of Lord Dunmore. 
 Sentiment began to change in the Negro's favor; 
 the newspapers were filled with kind words for the 
 slaves, tr^ang to convince them that the British 
 Government had forced slavery upon the colonies 
 against their will, and that their best interests were 
 centred in the triumph of the Colonial arm}^ A 
 part of an article in one paper, headed "Caution to 
 the Negro," read thus: "Can it, then, be supposed 
 that the Negroes will be better used by the English, 
 who have always encouraged and upheld this 
 slavery, than by their present masters, who pity 
 their condition; who wish in general to make it as 
 easy and comfortable as possible, and who would, 
 were it in their power, or were they permitted, not 
 onl}- prevent an}^ more Negroes from losing their 
 freedom, but restore it to such as have already un- 
 happily lost it They will send the Negroes 
 
 to the West Indies where every year the}' sell many 
 thousands of their miserable brethren. Be not 
 tempted, ye Negroes, to ruin yourselves by this 
 proclamation!" The colonies finally allowed the 
 enlistment of Negroes, their masters being paid for 
 them out of the public treasury. Those slaves who 
 had already joined the British were offered pardon 
 if they would escape and return, and a severe pun- 
 ishment was to be inflicted on those who left the 
 colony if they were caught. 
 
60 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 To OfTsel the Plans of Lord Dunmore, the Ameri- 
 cans proposed to organize a Negro army, to be com- 
 manded by the brave Colonel Laurens ; and on this 
 subject the following letter was addressed to John 
 Jay, President of Congress, \>y the renowned Alex- 
 ander Hamilton. This letter also shows in what 
 esteem the Negro slave of America was held by 
 men of note: 
 
 "Headquarters, March 14, 1779. 
 " To John Jay. 
 
 "Dear Sir: — Col. Laurens, who will have the 
 honor of delivering you this letter, is on his way 
 to South Carolina on a project which I think, in 
 the present situation of affairs there, is a very good 
 one, and deserves every kind of support and en- 
 couragement. This is, to raise two, or three, or 
 four battalions of Negroes, with the assistance of 
 the government of that State, by contributions from 
 the owners in proportion to the number they pos- 
 sess. If 3^ou think proper to enter upon the subject 
 with him, he will give you a detail of his plan. He 
 wishes to have it recommended by Congress and 
 the State, and, as an inducement, they should en- 
 gage to take those battalions into Continental pay. 
 
 " It appears to me that an experiment of this kind, 
 in the present state of Southern affairs, is the most 
 rational that can be adopted, and promises very 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 61 
 
 important advantages. Indeed, I hardly see how a 
 sufficient force can be collected in that quarter 
 without it, and the enemy's operations are growing 
 infinitely more serious and formidable. I have not 
 the least doubt that the Negroes will make very 
 excellent soldiers with proper management, and I 
 will venture to pronounce that they cannot be put 
 in better hands than those of Mr. Laurens. He has 
 all the zeal, intelligence, enterprise, and every other 
 qualification necessary to succeed in such an under- 
 taking. It is a maxim with some great military 
 judges that, "with sensible officers, soldiers can 
 hardly be too stupid;" and, on this principle, it is 
 thought that the Russians would make the best 
 troops in the world if they were under other officers 
 than their own. I mention this, because I hear it 
 frequently objected to the scheme of embodying 
 Negroes, that they are too stupid to make soldiers. 
 This is so far from appearing, to me, a valid objec- 
 tion, that I think their want of cultivation (for their 
 natural faculties are probably as good as ours), 
 joined to that habit of subordination from a life of 
 servitude, will make them sooner become soldiers 
 than our white inhabitants. Let officers be men 
 of sense and sentiment, and the nearer the soldiers 
 approach to machines perhaps the better. 
 
 "I foresee that this project will have to combat 
 much opposition from prejudice and self-interest. 
 
62 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The contempt we have been taught to entertain for 
 the blacks makes us fancy many things that are 
 founded neither in reason nor experience, and an 
 unwillingness to part with property of so valuable a 
 kind will furnish a thousand arguments to show the 
 impracticability or pernicious tendency of a scheme 
 which requires such a sacrifice. But it should be 
 considered that if we do not make use of them in 
 this way the enemy probably will, and that the best 
 way to counteract the temptations they hold out will 
 be to offer them ourselves. An essential part of 
 the plan is to give them their freedom with their 
 muskets. This will secure their fidelity, animate 
 their courage, and, I believe, will have a good influ- 
 ence upon those who remain b}- opening a door to 
 their emancipation. This circumstance, I confess, 
 has no small weight in inducing me to wish the suc- 
 cess of the project, for the dictates of humanity and 
 true policy equall}' interest me in favor of this un- 
 fortunate class of men. With the truest respect 
 and esteem, I am, sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 "Alex. Hamilton." 
 
 George Washington, James Madison, and the 
 
 Continental Congress gave their consent to the plan 
 of Col. Laurens, and recommended it to the South- 
 ern Colonies. It was resolved by Congress to com- 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 63 
 
 pensate the master for the slaves used by Col. Lau- 
 rens at the rate of $i,ooo apiece for each "able- 
 bodied Xegro man of standard size, not exceeding 
 thirt\'-five 3'ears of age, who shall be so enlisted 
 and pass muster. That no pay be allowed to the 
 said Negroes, but that they be clothed and sub- 
 sisted at the expense of the United States; that 
 ever}' Negro who shall well and faithfully serve 
 as a soldier to the end of the present war, and shall 
 then return his arms, shall be emancipated and 
 receive the sum of fifty dollars." 
 
 Congress commissioned Col. Laurens to carry 
 out this plan. "He repaired to South Carolina 
 and threw all his energies into his noble mission." 
 The people of the States of Georgia and South 
 Carolina refused to co-operate with him. 
 
 A Letter from General Washington will help us 
 to understand the condition of aifairs in South 
 Carolina and Georgia. He wrote to Col. Laurens 
 as follows: "I must confess that I am not at all 
 astonished at the failure of your plan. That spirit 
 of freedom which, at the commencement of this 
 contest, would have gladly sacrificed everything to 
 the attainment of its object, has long since subsided, 
 and every selfish passion has taken its place. It is 
 not the public but private interest which influences 
 the generality of mankind, nor can the x'Vmericans 
 any longer boast an exception. Under these cir- 
 
64 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cumstances it would rather have been surprising 
 if you had succeeded, nor will you, I fear, have 
 better success in Georgia." 
 
 Col. Laurens was killed in battle, but he had not 
 entirely abandoned his plan of enlisting the slaves. 
 But in spite of the recommendations of Congress, 
 he could not succeed, for the States of South Caro- 
 lina and Georgia coveted their slaves too much to 
 allow this entering wedge to their ultimate freedom. 
 Had his plan been carried out, slavery would prob- 
 ably have been abolished as soon at the South as at 
 the North. The Negroes who would have come 
 out of the war of the Revolution would have set 
 themselves to work to relieve the condition of their 
 brethren in shackles, 
 
 Connecticut Failed to endorse the enlistment of 
 Negroes by its Legislature, but Mr. Williams in his 
 history gives the roster of a company of Negroes in 
 that State, numbering fifty-seven, with David Hum- 
 phreys, Captain. White officers refused to serve in 
 the company. David Humphreys continued at the 
 head of this force until the war closed. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 65 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 NEGRO HEROES OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 Among Those whose blood was first shed for the 
 cause of American liberty was the runaway slave, 
 Crispus Attucks. Having escaped from his master, 
 William Brown, of Framingham, Massachusetts, at 
 the age of twenty-seven, being then six feet two 
 inches high, with " short, curled hair," Attucks 
 made his way to Boston. His master in 1750 
 offered a reward of ten pounds for him, but Crispus 
 was not found. When next heard from he turns 
 up in the streets of Boston. 
 
 THE LEADER WHO FEEL IN THE FAMOUS BOSTON 
 MASSACRE. 
 
 Attucks had no doubt been listening to the fiery 
 eloquence of the patriots of those burning times. 
 The words of the eloquent Otis had kindled his 
 soul, and though a runaway slave, his patriotism 
 was so deep that he it was who sacrificed his life 
 first on the altar of American Liberty. 
 
 General Gage, the English commander, had taken 
 possession of Boston. Under the British flag gaily 
 dressed soldiers marched the streets of Boston as 
 through a conquered city ; their every act was an 
 
66 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 insult to the inhabitants. Finally, on March 5, 
 1770, Crispus Attucks, at the head of a crowd of 
 citizens, resolved no longer to be insulted, and de- 
 termining to resist any invasion of their rights as 
 citizens, a fi^-ht soon ensued on the street. The 
 
 
 Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre. 
 
 troops were ordered to fire on the "mob,'' and 
 x\ttucks fell, the first one, with three others, Cald- 
 well, Gray, and Maverick. The town bell was 
 rung, the alarm given and citizens from the country 
 ran into Boston, where the greatest excitement 
 prevailed. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 67 
 
 The Burial of Allucks, the only unknown dead, 
 was from Faneuil Hall. The funeral procession 
 was enormous, and many of the best citizens of 
 Boston readily followed this former slave and un- 
 known hero to an honored grave. Many orators 
 spoke in the highest terms of Crispus Attucks. A 
 verse mentioning him reads thus: 
 
 " Long as in freedom's cause the wise contend, 
 Dear to your country shall your fame extend ; 
 While to the world the lettered stone shall tell 
 Where Caldwell, Attucks, Gray and Maverick fell." 
 
 Peler Salem shoots Major Pitcairn at Bunker Hill. 
 
 Bunker Hill was the scene of a brave deed by a 
 Negro soldier. Major Pitcairn was the commander 
 of the British forces there. The battle was fierce ; 
 victory seemed sure to the English, when Pitcairn 
 
68 A SCHOOL HISTOR Y OF THE 
 
 naounted an eminence, shouting triumphantly, "The 
 day is ours." At this moment the Americans stood 
 as if dumfounded, when suddenly there rushed 
 forth Peter Salem^ who fired directly at the officer's 
 breast and killed him. Salem was said to have been 
 a slave, of Framingham, Massachusetts. General 
 Warren, who was killed in this battle, greatl}^ eulo- 
 gized Crispus Attucks for his bravery in Boston, 
 and had he not been stricken down so soon, Peter 
 Salem would doubtless also have received high enco- 
 miums from his eloquent lips. 
 
 Five Thousand Negroes are said to have fought 
 on the side of the colonies during the Revolution. 
 Most of them were from the northern colonies. 
 There were, possibly, 50,000 Negroes enlisted on 
 the side of Great Britain, and 30,000 of these were 
 from Virginia. 
 
 SOME INDIVIDUALS OF REVOLUTIONARY TIMES. 
 
 Primus Hall was body-servant of Colonel Picker- 
 ing in Massachusetts. General Washington was 
 quite intimate with the Colonel, and paid him many 
 visits. On one occasion Washington continued his 
 visit till a late hour, and being assured by Primus 
 that there were blankets enough to accommodate 
 him, he resolved to spend the night in the Colonel's 
 quarters. Accordingly two beds of straw were made 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 69 
 
 down, and Washington and Colonel Pickering re- 
 tired, leaving Primus engaged about the tent. Late 
 in the night General Washington awoke, and seeing 
 Primus sitting on a box nodding, rose up in his bed 
 and said : " Primus, what did you mean by saying 
 that you had blankets enough ? Have you given 
 up your blanket and straw to me, that I may sleep 
 comfortably while you are obliged to sit through 
 the night?" " It's nothing," said Primus, "don't 
 trouble yourself about me, General, but go to sleep 
 again. No matter about me; I sleep very good." 
 "But it is matter; it is matter," replied Wash- 
 ington, earnestly. " I cannot do it. Primus. If 
 either is to sit up, I will. But I think there is no 
 need of either sitting up. The blanket is wide 
 enough for two ; come and lie down here with me." 
 " O, no, General," said Primus, "let me sit here; 
 I'll do very well on the box." Washington said, 
 " I say, come and lie down here ! There is room 
 for both, and I insist upon it." And, as he spoke, 
 he threw up the blanket and moved to one side of 
 the straw. Primus hesitated, but Washington con- 
 tinuing to insist, Primus finally prepared himself 
 aud laid down by Washington, and on the same 
 straw, and under the same blanket, where the 
 General and the Negro servant slept till morning. 
 Washington is said to have been out walking one 
 day in company with some distinguished gentle- 
 
70 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 men, and during the walk he met an old colored 
 man, who very politely tipped his hat and spoke to 
 the General. Washington, in turn, took off his hat 
 to the colored man, on seeing which one of the com- 
 pany, in a jesting manner, inquired of the General 
 if he usually took off his hat to Negroes. Where- 
 upon Washington replied: "Politeness is cheap, 
 and I never allow any one to be more polite to me 
 than I to him." 
 
 %.Q 
 
 Brave Colored Arlilleryinai 
 
 Judge Story gives an account of a colored artil- 
 leryman who was in charge of a cannon with a 
 white soldier at Bunker Hill. He had one arm so 
 badly wounded he could not use it. He suggested 
 to the white soldier that he change sides so as to 
 use the other arm. He did this; and while thus 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 71 
 
 laboring under pain and loss of blood, a shot came 
 which killed him. 
 
 SAMUEL LATHAM. 
 
 New London, Connecticut, was taken by the 
 British under command of Arnold, the traitor, in 
 1 78 1. The American troops retreated to Fort Gro- 
 ton, where the American commander, Ledyard, was 
 in command. The British came up and overcame 
 the Americans after a bold resistance. The British 
 officer vainl}' strode into the ramparts and said, 
 " Who commands this fort ?" Ledyard replied, " I 
 once did ; you do now," handing the Briton his 
 sword at the same time, which he took and ran 
 through Ledyard up to the hilt. Samuel Latham, 
 a Negro slave, stood near the American. Scarcely 
 had the British officer'' s hand left the murderous hilt 
 when Latham ran him through with his bayonet. 
 The enemy rushed on him, and after a most daring 
 fight he fell, not till pierced by thirty-three bayo- 
 nets. Latham had been left at home by his 
 master to care for the stock when the latter left to 
 help defend the fort; but as soon as he could un- 
 hitch his team he too made haste to the scene of 
 the fra}^, and the above bold deed shows how deeply 
 he felt moved to give his life in defence of his 
 country. 
 
72 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 John Freeman pinned Major Montgomery to the 
 ground while he was being lifted upon the walls of 
 Fort Griswold. 
 
 Samuel Charlton was in the battle of Monmouth 
 and several others. Washington complimented 
 him for his bravery. He returned to his master in 
 New Jersey after the war, and at his master's death 
 Charlton, with the other slaves, was set free and 
 given a pension during his life. 
 
 James Armislead acted as scout for LaFayette in 
 the Virginia campaign. He returned to his master 
 after the surrender of Cornwallis, and was set free 
 by a special act of the Virginia Legislature. 
 
 Negro Soldiers in the North enlisted with the colo- 
 nies so that they might thus get their freedom from 
 their Northern masters, while Negro soldiers in the 
 South enlisted with the British, who promised free- 
 dom to all who would join their ranks. 
 
 Did the Negro Soldiers get their freedom after 
 the war of the Revolution was over ? We may say 
 yes, so far as the Northern colonies are concerned, 
 but not without much opposition in the courts and 
 legislatures. Virginia also passed an act in 1783 
 emancipating the slaves who had fought in the 
 Revolution. Many individual slaves were eman- 
 cipated by special acts of the legislatures for their 
 courage and bravery. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 73 
 
 George Washington set his slaves free by bis will, 
 and many slave-owners did tbe same. 
 
 Tbe slaves who joined tbe British army were 
 subjected to all sorts of horrors. Thousands died 
 with small-pox and other contagious diseases. A 
 great number were sent to the West Indies in 
 exchange " for rum, sugar, coffee and fruit." 
 
 LAFAYETTE AND KOSCIUSKO. 
 
 LaFaj^ette, the brilliant j^oung Frenchman, and 
 Kosciusko, the generous Pole, volunteered their ser- 
 vices in behalf of freedom for the Americans during 
 the Revolution. They fought, though, for the free- 
 dom of all Americans. LaFayette said in a letter 
 to a Mr. Clarkson : "I would never have drawn 
 my sword in the cause of America if I could have 
 conceived that thereby I was founding a land of 
 slavery." 
 
 While Visiting America in 1825 he expressed a 
 warm desire to see some of the many colored sol- 
 diers whom he " rem^embered as participating with 
 him in various skirmishes." -He believed in free- 
 dom to all men, and to put in practice his anti- 
 slavery ideas he bought a plantation in French 
 Guiana. There he collected all the "whips and 
 other instruments of torture and punishment, and 
 
74 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 made a bonfire of them in the presence of the 
 assembled slaves." 
 
 He Gave One Day in each week to the slaves, and 
 as soon as one could earn enough he might pur- 
 chase another day, and so on until he gained his 
 freedom." 
 
 Kosciusko Expressed great sorrow to learn that 
 the colored men who served in the Revolution were 
 not thereby to gain their freedom. He left $20,000 
 in the hands of Thomas Jefferson to be used in 
 educating colored children. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. lb 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE WAR OF 1S12. 
 
 The War of the Revolution ended in 1781 at 
 Yorktown. Many of the brave Negroes who shed 
 their blood and helped to win America's liberty 
 from England were, as soon as the war closed, put 
 back into bondage. They were in the " Land of 
 the Free," but themselves slaves. Other troubles 
 arose very soon between England and America. 
 England still kept standing armies in America, and 
 claimed the right to search American vessels for 
 British sailors who had deserted. They often took 
 off American seamen. 
 
 One Negro and Two White sailors were taken 
 from the American man-of-war " Chesapeake " after 
 she had been fired upon. Canada gave arms to and 
 incited the Indians in the Northwest against the 
 Americans. Finally, in 181 2, war was declared, 
 during Madison's administration. 
 
 . Negro Troops were very much needed, as the 
 Americans had a very poor navy, and England, 
 having whipped the French, was now ready to turn 
 all her forces against America. 
 
 A Call for Volunteers from the Union was issued, 
 and many thousands of free Negroes answered the 
 
76 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 call. The slaves were not allowed to enlist in the 
 militia. Gen. Jackson thus spoke to his colored 
 troops : 
 
 " To the Men of Color — Soldiers : From the 
 shores of Mobile I collected you to arms. I invited 
 you to share in the perils and to divide the glory 
 with your white countrymen. I expected much 
 from you, for I was not uninformed of those quali- 
 ties which must render you so formidable to an 
 invading foe. I knew that you could endure hun- 
 ger and thirst and all the hardships of war. I 
 knew that you loved the land of your nativity, and 
 that, like ourselves, you had to defend all that is 
 most dear to man. But you have surpassed all my 
 hopes. I have found in you, united to these quali- 
 ties, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great 
 deeds. 
 
 " Soldiers, the President of the United States 
 shall be informed of your conduct on the present 
 occasion, and the voice of the Representatives of 
 the American nation shall applaud your valor as 
 your General now praises your ardor. The enemy 
 is near. His sails cover the lakes ; but the brave 
 are united, and if he finds us contending among 
 ourselves, it will be for the prize of valor, and fame, 
 its noblest reward." 
 
 The Battle of New Orleans, we will remember, 
 ended in defeat for the British. Over two thousand 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 77 
 
 were lost to the British, while the American loss 
 was seven killed and six wounded. There were 
 over four hundred Negroes in this battle, and ihey 
 occupied " no mean place and did no mean service." 
 The British had a battalion of Negroes from the 
 Island of San Domingo in this battle. The idea 
 of fortifying the city with cotton is said to have 
 been the suggestion of a slave who was a native 
 African, and learned this mode of defence from the 
 Arabs. 
 
 Mr. D. Lee Child, in a letter to a friend, states 
 that the famous coitori breastzvorks, recognized the 
 world over as a stroke of genius on the part of 
 Gen. Jackson, was the suggestion of a colored man, 
 a native African. He gives some data from a Por- 
 tuguese manuscript to prove that this mode of de- 
 fence is in practice among the native Africans, who 
 thus defend their wives and children against the 
 Arabs. 
 
 NEGROES IN THE NAVY OF l8l2. 
 
 There seemed to be no discrimination against any 
 class of citizens joining our navy ; nor is there now. 
 About one-fifth of the marines were Negroes. That 
 they did valuable service is testified to by numerous 
 commanders. Read what Commander Nathaniel 
 Shaler of the "private armed" schooner "Gover- 
 nor Tompkins " says, in a letter as follows : — 
 
78 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " At Sea, Jan. i, 1813. 
 "My officers conducted themselves in a way that 
 would have done honor to a more permanent ser- 
 vice The name of one of my poor fellows 
 
 who was killed ou^ht to be registered in the book of 
 fame^ and remembered with reverence as long as 
 bravery is a virtue. He was a black man, by the 
 name oi John Johnson. A twenty-four pound shot 
 struck him in the hip and took away all the lower 
 part of his body. In this state the poor, brave 
 fellow lay on the deck, and several times exclaimed 
 to his shipmates, ^ Fire aivay^ my Iwys ; 7io haul a 
 color down .f The other was a black man by the 
 name of John Davis, and was struck in much the 
 same way. He fell near me, and several times re- 
 quested to be thrown overboard, saying he was only 
 in the way of others. While America has such tars, 
 she has little to fear from the tyrants of the ocean." 
 
 Captain Perry had command of the American 
 fleet on Lake Erie. He objected to recruits sent 
 him, and described them in a letter to Commodore 
 Chauncey as "a motley set — blacks, soldiers and 
 boys." Commodore Chauncey replied: "I regret 
 that you are not pleased with the men sent you. 
 .... I have yet to learn that the color of the skin, 
 or the cut and trimmings of the coat, can affect a 
 man's qualifications or usefulness. I have fifty 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 79 
 
 blacks on board this ship, and many of them are 
 among my best men." 
 
 Usher Parsons, Surgeon of the "Java," under 
 Commodore Perry, wrote that the whites and blacks 
 of his ship messed together, and there seemed to 
 be no prejudice. 
 
 The End of the War of 1812 meant victory for 
 America, and the Negro had scored a telling point 
 in behalf of his recognition as an American citizen. 
 But still many were in slavery. 
 
 Major Jeffreys, a " regular," during the engage- 
 ment of Major-General Andrew Jackson at Mobile, 
 mounted a horse and rallied the retreating troops 
 to victor}^ against the British, when the white com- 
 manders were forced to retire and defeat seemed 
 certain. Gen. Jackson gave him the title of Major, 
 which he bore till his death in Nashville, Tenn. He 
 was much respected by all classes. On one occa- 
 sion a white ruffian insulted him. Words ensued, 
 and Major Jeffre3's was forced to strike the white 
 man in self-defence. For this, at the age of seventy 
 years, this veteran, who had won a victory for his 
 country on the battle-field, was ordered to be given 
 "nine and thirty lashes with a raw hide." He did 
 not recover from the effects of this treatment, and 
 soon died of a broken heart. 
 
 Jordon Noble was among the colored veterans 
 of the War of 1812. For a long time after the war 
 
80 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 he lived in New Orleans, where he was brought out 
 on every great occasion to give enthusiasm. Jor- 
 don Noble's name appearing in connection with 
 any great occasion was sufficient guarantee of a 
 tremendous crowd. He was drummer to the First 
 Regiment Louisiana Volunteers in the Mexican 
 War of 1846, and led the attack against the British 
 in the Battle of New Orleans under Jackson in 18 14. 
 He was known as the "matchless drummer." 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 81 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EFFORTS FOR FREEDOM. 
 
 The War of 1812 was now over. America re- 
 mained at peace with other nations about thirty-two 
 years, when the Mexican war broke out in 1846. 
 During this interval a war of words between Amer- 
 icans themselves was waged ; and there were heroes 
 in this contest, many of them Negroes and former 
 slaves, and some of them women, who merit equal 
 rank with the brave heroes of former battles. 
 
 The Abolitionists, who were opposed to slavery, 
 furnished many brave hearts and strong minds from 
 their ranks. Their work began very early in the 
 history of the colonies; it continued with slow 
 growth for awhile, but, nevertheless, certain and 
 effectual. The Quakers of Pennsylvania were fore- 
 most in the work of abolition. They set nearly all 
 their slaves free. Anti-slavery societies were formed 
 in nearly all the Northern States. 
 
 Benjamin Lundy is mentioned as tlie earliest 
 leader of the Abolitionists. He published a paper 
 called. 77?^ Genius of Universal Emancipation. He 
 visited nineteen States of the Union, travelled 
 upwards of five thousand miles on foot, and more 
 than twenty thousand in other ways, and held more 
 
82 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 thau two hundred public meetings. Lundy's paper 
 was not regarded as very dangerous to the institu- 
 tion of slavery ; but "CVi^ Journal of the Tivies^ pub- 
 lished first at Bennington, Vermont, in support of 
 J. Q. Adams for the Presidenc}^, became the invet- 
 erate foe to slavery under the editorship of William 
 Lloyd Garrison, who was mobbed in the streets of 
 Boston, and imprisoned for libel in the city of Bal- 
 timore for denouncing the crew of the ship "Francis 
 Todd," on board of which were many ill-treated 
 slaves bound for the slave marts of New Orleans. 
 Garrison and Lundy united in getting out The 
 Gejuns of Universal Emancipation at Baltimore. 
 
 Arthur Tappan paid Garrison's fine, and the enemy 
 to slavery commenced his war with more vigor and 
 zeal than before. In 1831 The Liberator v7?iS first 
 published by Garrison, and, as was his desire, it 
 continued till "everj^ slave in America was free." 
 
 A "Colored Wan," James Forten, sent fifty dollars 
 among the first twent3'-five subscriptions that came 
 to The Liberator. Garrison thought it his duty to 
 obey God rather than man, and he denounced the 
 Constitution of the United States as being a "Cov- 
 enant with death and an agreement with hell," 
 because he held that it supported slavery. 
 
 The National Anti-Slavery Convention, white, was 
 held in 1836; it had delegates from ten States, 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 83 
 
 and 1006 anti-slavery societies existed in the differ- 
 ent States. 
 
 The Free Colored People of the North had also held 
 an anti-slavery convention in 1831, Their first 
 work was to get recognition from the white organi- 
 zations, who shut them out. The "Anti-Slavery 
 Free Women of America" organized in 1837, in 
 New York. Mary S. Parker was President, Ange- 
 lina E. Grimkie, Secretary. 
 
 Miss Sarah Forten addressed the following verses 
 to her white sisters in behalf of co-operation : 
 
 "We are thy sisters. God has truly said 
 That of one blood all nations he has made. 
 O Christian woman! in a Christian land, 
 Canst thou unblushing read this great command? 
 Suffer the wrongs which wring our inmost heart, 
 To draw one throb of pity on thy part? 
 Our skins may differ, but from thee we claim 
 A sister's privilege and a sister's name." 
 
 Soon after this the free Negroes of the North 
 acted together with the whites in the great fight 
 against slavery. Negro orators told in eloquent 
 st3^1e the sad story of the bondage of their race. 
 
 Frederick Douglass, once a slave in Maryland, 
 electrified the whole country with his eloquence. He 
 stood then, and stands now, as a living, breathing, 
 convincing argument against the claim that the Ne- 
 gro's intellectual capacities fit him only for slavery. 
 Mr. Douglass visited Europe and was received there 
 
84 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 with an ovation, for the cause of the slave had leaped 
 across the Atlantic and touched a sympathetic chord 
 in many a British, heart. 
 
 Many Books were written by Negroes, as well as 
 whites. Frederick Douglass wrote " My Bondage 
 and My Freedom ;" Bishop Loguen, " As a Slave 
 and as a Freeman ;" other works were written by 
 Rev. Samuel R. Ward, Rev. Austin Stewart, Solo- 
 mon Northrop, Dr. Wm. Wells Brown, and others. 
 William Whipper edited an abolition paper, known 
 as the National Reformer. 
 
 Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Mrs. Harriet Beecher 
 Stowe, was the most read, and the most effectual 
 work against slavery. Mrs. Stowe desired to arouse 
 the people to see the wrong of slavery, to the end 
 that it might be speedily abolished. The book was 
 a success in the accomplishment of the object aimed 
 at. While some of her characters were described 
 as kind and humane in the treatment of their slaves, 
 the book so portrayed the hardships necessarily inci- 
 dent to slavery in the separation of families, etc., 
 and the cruelties which could be practiced under 
 it, that it, in a special manner, arrested the atten- 
 tion of the people, and was very widel}^ read. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 85 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 
 
 This great man is well known to the world. He 
 is a conspicuous representative of the talents and 
 capabilities possessed by the colored race. Born a 
 slave on a plantation in Maryland, he has gradu- 
 ally, by industry and patient labor, worked himself 
 to a high rank of honor, both in America and 
 Europe. When Frederick Douglass speaks the 
 world listens. 
 
 The first ten years of Mr. Douglass' youth were 
 spent on one of the many plantations of a rich 
 planter named Lloj^d, in the State of Maryland. 
 He was separated from his mother, who saw him 
 only at long intervals. He and other little slave 
 boys grew up almost from infancy in their tow 
 shirts, with their ash-cake rations and frequent 
 beatings given them by a certain "old Aunt Kate," 
 who had charge of the children on the plantation. 
 In this wild wa}^ young Fred was left to grow up 
 as best he could among the rough farm hands and 
 without a mother's care. He describes his mother 
 to have been a noble-looking woman, with the 
 deepest of motherly affection and very fond of him, 
 
86 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 as shown by her running dangerous risks and often 
 walking many long miles to see him. 
 
 ^# 
 
 ");. 
 
 ^ 
 
 At the age of ten years he was sent by his "Old 
 Master" to live with his young mistress, in Balti- 
 more, who was connected with the Lloyd family. 
 This young lady became attached to him, and 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 87 
 
 taught him to read. He learned to read the Bible 
 and made such rapid progress that the young lady, 
 feeling very proud of her work, told her husband. 
 When he found it out he forbade her teaching him 
 au}^ further, saying it was unlawful, " could only 
 lead to mischief," and, "if 3^ou give a nigger an 
 inch he will take an ell." Nevertheless, Fred soon 
 became proficient in reading, and he learned to 
 write by the models in his young master's copy- 
 book. He bought a book called the Columbian 
 Orator, in wliich he found speeches from Sheridan, 
 Lord Chatham, William Pitt, and Fox. These he 
 read many times and gained much mental help from 
 them. 
 
 Finally, young Fred, whose mind now was en- 
 lightened, became so dissatisfied with his position 
 as a slave that he grew morose and gloomy. His 
 \^ouug mistress chided him for this conduct, and it 
 finall}'' became necessary to hire him out. He soon 
 found a good opportunity and ran away to New 
 Bedford, Mass. Here he found emplo3mient and 
 spent his leisure time in study. He read Scott's 
 "Lady of the Lake," and there came across the 
 name of Douglass, which he for the first time as- 
 sumed. He attended church ; was surprised to see 
 the colored people transacting their own business. 
 Some of the first money he earned in New Bedford 
 was invested in a snbscription to lyie Liheralor. 
 
88 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 He was not long in coming to the front. His story 
 of escape from slavery was told in the various 
 churches, and the year 1841 found him on the stage 
 before an anti-slavery convention at Nantucket. A 
 tremendous crowd was present, and the wildest 
 enthusiasm prevailed. Mr. William Lloyd Garri- 
 son followed Mr. Douglass with a strong speech 
 for the abolition of slavery. Mr. Douglass' career 
 thus begun, continued ; he spoke often and mightily 
 for the cause of freedom. He became a leading 
 orator of the time, and his presence was sufficient 
 to draw a crowd in the bitterest pro-slavery com- 
 munity. 
 
 Since freedom, Mr. Douglass has held several 
 important positions under the National Govern- 
 ment. He was once Recorder of Deeds in the 
 District of Columbia, and Minister to the Haytian 
 Republic. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 89 
 
 CHAPTSR XVII. 
 
 LIBERIA. 
 
 The Republic of Liberia was founded in 1816, by 
 the American Colonization Society as a place of 
 refuge and safety to the colored people of America 
 who, before the abolition of slavery in the various 
 States, had been set free by their masters, or, 
 through industry, had purchased their liberty them- 
 selves. It is located on the West Coast of Africa, 
 south of Sierra Leone, and is very productive of 
 rice, coffee, indigo, peanuts, arrowroot, sugar, pep- 
 per, logwood, palm-oil, and cotton. Gold and other 
 minerals are found in considerable quantities. The 
 climate seems ill-adapted to the American Negro. 
 
 Mr. Jehudi Ashmun was the pioneer in planting 
 the colony, assisted by Lott Carey. The natives 
 resisted the settlers, and for the first six years 
 there were continual attempts to drive them out. 
 Mr. Ashmun's health finally failed, and he was 
 compelled to leave the colony, now numbering 1,200 
 free Americana, to themselves in this new and wild 
 land. They shed bitter tears on his departure, some 
 clinging even to his garments. But, left to them- 
 selves, the Negroes did not lose all hope. They set 
 about to found a government similar to that of the 
 
90 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 United States. They elected their first President, 
 Joseph J. Roberts; organized a cabinet, established 
 schools, made labor obligator}-, and their flag is now 
 recognized by the nations of Europe and the United 
 States. 
 
 Its population is now over 20,000 Negroes who 
 went from America, or who are the descendants of 
 American Negroes. The influence of Liberia is 
 exercised over a million of people along the West 
 Coast of Africa. They speak English, and from 
 them many tribes have learned our language and 
 the arts of civilization. Tlie United States has sent 
 six Ministers to represent her at Monrovia, the 
 Liberian capital, viz. : from North Carolina, Messrs. 
 J. H. Smythe, Moses A. Hopkins, and F,. E. Smith ; 
 from New York, Henry H. Garnet; Alexander 
 Clark, of Iowa, and C. H. J. Taylor, of Kansas. 
 The exports of Liberia aggregate about three- 
 quarters of a million dollars annually. 
 
 Success has thus far attended the country, though 
 the climate, atmosphere, and the surroundings are 
 most unfavorable and not stimulating. The fact that 
 these colored people have succeeded shows what 
 the race can do under favorable cirAimstances. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 NAT. TURNER AND OTHERS WHO 
 "STRUCK" FOR FREEDOM. 
 
 Nathaniel Turner is well reiiienibered by many 
 of the older people of Southampton, Virginia, as 
 being the leader of the famous " Nat Turner Insur- 
 rection" of that county. He was an unusually 
 bright child, having learned to read and write with 
 such skill and rapidity that his own people and the 
 neighbors regarded him as a prodigy. It is said 
 that his mother predicted in his presence one day 
 that he would, be a prophet, and he remembered 
 her prediction till he grew older. Turner devoted 
 himself to the study of the Scriptures and the con- 
 dition of his people. He believed his lot was to set 
 them free. He said he had visions of white and 
 black spirits fighting in battle. He imagined a 
 voice spoke thus to him in a vision : "Such is your 
 luck ; such you are called to see ; and let it come 
 rough or smooth you must bear it." He thought, 
 while laboring in the fields, "he discovered drops 
 of blood on the corn, as tliough it were dew from 
 heaven," and he thought he saw on the leaves of 
 trees pictures of men written in blood. 
 
 A Plan of Insurrection was devised in the month 
 
92 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of February, 1831. Nat, together with four of his 
 friends, Sara Edwards, Henry Porter, Nelson Wil- 
 liams, and Hark Travis, held a council of war, as 
 it were, in some lonely, desolate spot in the woods, 
 where they discussed the project of freeing the 
 slaves. Nat said, in his speech, that his purpose 
 was not to shed blood wantonly ; but in order to 
 arouse his brethren he believed it necessary to kill 
 such of the whites as would be most likely to give 
 them trouble. He, like John Brown, expected his 
 slave brethren to join him. 
 
 The Fatal Stroke was given in the month of 
 August, 1 83 1. The first house visited was that of 
 a Mr. Joseph Travis. While on the way, a slave 
 from this plantation joined Nat's party. He was a 
 giant of a man, athletic, quick, and " best man on 
 the muscle in the county," and was known as 
 " Will." The slaves were armed with axes and 
 knives, and they killed, indiscriminately, young 
 and old, fifty-seven white persons, before they them- 
 selves were killed or captured. 
 
 Several Artillery Companies from Richmond, Pe- 
 tersburg, Norfolk and Portsmouth, with one cavalry 
 company, were ordered out to take Nat and his fol- 
 lowers. In a hand-to-hand struggle "Will" fell. His 
 last words were : "Bury my axe with me." Nat 
 escaped with some others to the swamps, where he 
 eluded the whites for nearly three months. After 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 93 
 
 surrendering, he was brought into court, and an- 
 swered Not Guilty to the inquiry of the judge. 
 The trial was gone through with. Nat was con- 
 victed and condemned to die on the gallows. He 
 received the sentence with total indifference, but 
 made a prophecy that on the day of his execution 
 unusual occurrences would appear in the heavens ; 
 the sun would be darkened and immense clouds 
 would appear, and threatening lightning. Many 
 of the people believed it. The sheriff could find 
 no one willing to cut the rope ; but a drunken sot, 
 crazed by liquor, did the act for pay. The day of the 
 execution, strange to say, as Nat had prophesied, was 
 one of stormy and gloomy aspect, with terrible thun- 
 der, ram and lightning. Nat kept up his courage to 
 the last; and his neck in the noose not a muscle 
 quivered, or a groan was uttered. He was, undoubt- 
 edly, a wonderful character. Knowing, as he did, 
 the risk he ran, what an immense courage he must 
 have had to undertake this bold adventure. He 
 was thus spoken of by a Mr. Gray, who interviewed 
 him: "It has been said that he was ignorant and 
 cowardly, and that his purpose was to murder 
 and rob. It is notorious that he was never known 
 to have a dollar in his life, to swear an oath, or 
 drink a drop of spirits. He can read and write, 
 and for natural intelligence and quickness of appre- 
 
«4 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 hension is surpassed by few men I have ever 
 seen."* 
 
 Avery Watkins, a colored preacher of Rocking- 
 ham, North Carolina, is said to have been hanged 
 in Rockingham, North Carolina, charged with 
 endorsing the Nat Turner insurrection, because in 
 a private conversation with his family he related to 
 them something of what Nat Turner was doing in 
 Southampton, where he had lately been on a visit 
 to his grandmother. According to the account of 
 Mr. W. H. Quick, he was taken by a mob at a 
 camp-meeting, and tried and hung in the same 
 month, in the year 183 1. 
 
 IVIadison Washington was the name of a brave 
 slave who, being a part of a cargo of 135 slaves en 
 route to New Orleans from Virginia, when Oie boat 
 was eight days out organized the slaves, made an 
 onslaught on the officers, took possession of the 
 boat and carried it to Nassau, an English posses- 
 sion, where England gave them protection, refusing 
 to surrender them as "murderers and mutineers to 
 perish on Southern gibbets." 
 
 The Kindness of Washington in dressing the Cap- 
 
 * One author says : " Upwards of one hundred slaves were slaugh- 
 tered in the Southampton Tragedy, many of them in cold blood 
 while walking in the streets, and about sixty white persons. Some 
 of the alleged conspirators had their noses and ears cut off, the flesh 
 of their cheeks cut out, their jaws broken asunder, and in that con- 
 dition they were set up as marks to be shot at." 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 95 
 
 tain's wounds and protecting and caring for his 
 wife and children, marked him as a most magnani- 
 mous foe. Only one white man of the twelve com- 
 manding the ship was killed. He having fired into 
 the slaves came at them with a pike ; thereupon 
 he was stabbed by one of Washington's men, who 
 wrenched a bowie-knife from the hands of the cap- 
 tain. Washington's only wish was, not blood, but 
 freedom, which he gained. 
 
 "the VIRGINIA MAROONS." 
 
 The Famous Dismal Swamp, some fifty miles 
 long, extending from Norfolk, Virginia, into North 
 Carolina, was a noted rendezvous for runaway slaves 
 before tlie civil war. It is estimated that the slave 
 propel^' in this swamp was worth a million and a 
 half dollars. The}^ carried on a secret trade with 
 the Virginia merchants, but any merchant caught 
 fostering these people by trading with them was 
 punished severely by law. The traders who were 
 pursued found shelter among the maroons of the 
 swamp. The chivalry of the Old Dominion never 
 dared to venture into this colony, and blood-hounds 
 sent in came out no more. The Dismal Swamp 
 colony continued from generation to generation, 
 defying and outwitting the slave-owners right in 
 the midst of one of the strongest slave-holding 
 communities in the South. 
 
96 a school history of the 
 
 "the amistad captives." 
 
 Fifty-four Africans on board the Spanish slave- 
 schooner "Amistad," under Captain Ramon Ferrer, 
 on June 28, 1839, sailed from Havana, Cuba, for 
 Porto Principe, another place on the island of Cuba, 
 about three hundred miles distant from Havana. 
 The fifty-four slaves were just from Lemboko, their 
 native country in Africa. Joseph Cinquez, son of 
 an African prince, vi^as among them. He was 
 shrewd, brave and intelligent. He looked on with 
 disgust at the cruel treatment given him and his 
 fellow-slaves, some being "chained down between 
 the decks — space not more than four feet — by their 
 wrists and ankles; forced to eat rice, sick or well, 
 and whipped upon the slightest provocation Cin- 
 quez witnessed the brutality as long as his noble 
 nature would allow, and when they were about five 
 nights out from Havana, he chose a company of 
 confederates from among his brethren and made an 
 assault on the captain of the boat, and took him and 
 his crew prisoners. Two sailors struck out for land 
 when they found their captain and cook in chains, 
 and left the boat in full possession of the Negroes. 
 The man at the helm (Montes) was ordered to steer 
 direct for Africa, under pain of death. This he did 
 by day, but at night would make towards the coast 
 of America. Finally, after continual wandering, 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 97 
 
 the vessel was cited off the coast of the United States 
 in August. All the ports were notified, and a num- 
 ber of revenue cutters were dispatched after her. 
 She was finally captured on the 26th of August, 
 1839, by Lieut. Gidney of the United States Navy, 
 and the " Amistad " and her fifty-four Africans were 
 landed in New London, Connecticut. The two 
 Spaniards found on board the vessel were examined 
 by the United States officials, and the whole num- 
 ber of Africans were bound over to await trial as 
 pirates. They being unable to give bond of course 
 went to prison, but not to stay long. Public senti- 
 ment was everywhere aroused in their favor. The 
 anti-slavery friends organized schools among them; 
 the Africans learned rapidl}' and soon told all the 
 details of the capture of the "Amistad " in English 
 from their own lips without an interpreter. The 
 trial occupied several months, during which they 
 busied themselves in cultivating a garden of fif- 
 teen acres in a most skillful and intelligent man- 
 ner. Their grievances were told all over America, 
 and aroused the sympathies of the people. Finally, 
 the court decided that the "Amistad captives " were 
 not slaves but freemen. A thrill of joy passed 
 through many an American heart, as well as their 
 own, and when the news of this decision spread 
 abroad, subscriptions began to come in. Mr. Lewis 
 Tappan took a lively interest in the Africans, and 
 
98 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in one way and another soon got together enough 
 money to send them home to Africa, where they so 
 much wanted to go. " If 'Merica men offered me 
 as much gold as fill this cap," said one, "and give 
 me houses, land and everything, so dat I stay in 
 this country, I say No! No!! I want to see my 
 father, my mother, my brother, my sister." One 
 said, "We owe everything to God; He keeps us 
 alive, and makes us free. When we go home to 
 Mendi, we tell our brethren about God, Jesus Christ 
 and Heaven." One was asked, if he was again 
 captured and about to be sold into slavery, would 
 he murder the captain and cook of another vessel, 
 and if he wouldn't pray for rather than kill them? 
 Cinquez heard it and replied, shaking his head, 
 "Yes; I would pray for 'em and kill 'em, Too." 
 
 These people were sent to Sierra Leone in Africa 
 in company with five sainted missionaries. Great 
 Britain sent them from Sierra Leone to their homes, 
 and thus their efforts for freedom were successful. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 9« 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION. 
 
 Slavery or No Slavery was the question now before 
 the American people. Millions of tracts, pamphlets, 
 circulars and newspapers, besides the ministers and 
 orators of the North, were now making sentiment 
 against slavery. The people of the North were 
 aroused. 
 
 The Census of 1850 gave a population of three 
 and one-half million slaves in America, and they 
 lived in the States of Delaware, New Jersey, Mary- 
 land, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
 Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
 Texas, Arkansas, Utah Territory, Kentucky, Mis- 
 souri and Tennessee. Soon after this New Jersey, 
 Delaware and Maryland freed their slaves. 
 
 The Political Parlies were forced to take up the 
 slavery question. The politicians were wily, and 
 yielded to both sides for polic3^'s sake. The South 
 opposed every legislative act that favored the abo- 
 lition of slavery. The great Daniel Webster hesi- 
 tated to take a decided stand either way, and in 1858 
 Charles Sumner, a staunch anti-slavery man, came 
 to the Senate from Massachusetts in Webster's 
 place. Mr. Sumner said more and did more for the 
 
100 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 freedom of the slave than perhaps any of the great 
 statesmen of his time. He offered no compromise, 
 and asked only for liberty to the slaves. 
 
 The Fugitive Slave Law allowed masters to cap- 
 ture their slaves in any State of the Union. Hence 
 arose the underground railroad, which was a secret 
 system for transporting runaway slaves into Canada. 
 Some slaves were sent in boxes, and some carried 
 in the night from one person to another until they 
 reached the Canadian line. A great many runaway 
 slaves made good their escape through this system. 
 
 New States coming into the Union caused great 
 discussion as to whether they should come in as 
 free States or slave States. Civil war broke out in 
 Kansas between the inhabi#nts of that Territory 
 who wanted, and those who did not want, slaves. 
 The anti-slaver}' people were led b}' John Brown, 
 afterward the leader in an attempt to capture the 
 arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and arm the 
 slaves. He was hanged as an insurrectionist. 
 
 Opposition in the North to the Abolitionists was 
 manifested by many of the commercial people, who 
 saw nothing in the whole question but the dollars 
 and cents which they hoped to make out of the 
 slave's products of cotton, tobacco, sugar and rice. 
 But the agitation continued. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, endorsed by the anti-slavery 
 people, was proposed as the Republican candidate 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 101 
 
 for President in i860, whereupon South Carolina 
 declared if Lincoln was elected she would secede 
 from the Union. Lincoln was elected, and accord- 
 ingly South Carolina seceded, and was soon followed 
 by the other slave-holding States. 
 
102 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 EXAMPLES OF UNDERGROUND RAIL- 
 ROAD WORK. 
 
 William and Ellen Craft were slaves in the State 
 of Georgia. Their hearts 3/earned for freedom. 
 Their minds were at once set to work to formulate 
 some plan of escape. It was at last settled. Ellen 
 being very fair, while William was dark, was to pass 
 for a young invalid planter, William being her 
 slave and servant. Not being able to write, and 
 without beard, she put her hand into a sling and 
 tied her face up; after putting on male attire they 
 were ready to start out. William attended to all 
 the business, such as registering at the hotels and 
 buying tickets. They stopped at a first class hotel 
 in Charleston, and also in Richmond, finall}^ reach- 
 ing Philadelphia safely. Ellen gave up her male 
 attire, untied her face, released her arm from the 
 sling, and her speech came to her. They put them- 
 selves under the care of the Abolitionists, were sent 
 to Boston, but after the passage of the Fugitive 
 Slave Bill, attempts were made to capture and put 
 them back into slavery again. They were at last 
 sent to England, where they remained for nearly 
 twent}^ years; then they returned and made their 
 home in Savannah, Georgia, where, we learn, they 
 are still living. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 103 
 
 CHAPTER XXT. 
 
 THE SLAVE POPULATION OF i860. 
 
 In the sixteen slave States there were 3,950,000 
 slaves in i860, and 251,000 free colored people. 
 Nearly 3,000,000 of the slaves were in the rural 
 districts of the South ; and the slave products of 
 cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar-cane, hemp, and molas- 
 ses amounted to about $136,505,435. These prod- 
 ucts, made by slave labor, formed the basis of 
 Southern prosperity. The civil war which com- 
 menced in the following yeai , was destined to shake 
 the very foundation of Southern civilization. From 
 a people unaccustomed to hard work, it was to take 
 away those who worked for them, and those same 
 people who were to be taken away were to receive 
 the priceless boon of citizenship. Let us now study 
 some of the efforts of Negroes in helping to achieve 
 this citizenship, after which we shall see how well 
 they deserved to be citizens. 
 
104 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 ENLISTMENT OF NEGROES. 
 
 The Secession of South Carolina and the other 
 Southern States was the signal for war. True to its 
 declaration to do so, this State seceded when Lin- 
 coln was inaugurated in 1861. Forf Sumter was 
 fired on by the Confederates and captured. The 
 North was divided on the question of slavery, and 
 the Government at Washington was slow in mak- 
 ing any efforts to forcibly resist the secession of the 
 Southern States. A few troops were sent into the 
 field with the hope of frightening the South. 
 
 The Battle of Bull Run was fought, and dis- 
 gracefully lost to the Union. It took some losses 
 and failures to make the North believe the South 
 would fight. Finally, after the defeat at Bull Run, 
 
 Lincoln issued a Proclamation for 75,000 volun- 
 teers. But the motto was, no blacks need apply. 
 There was great prejudice in the North against the 
 Negro's enlisting to fight for his freedom, and the 
 President was also opposed to it. 
 
 The Confederates used Negroes in building fortifi- 
 cations and in performing various kinds of labor. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 105 
 
 General Hunter, stationed at Port Royal, South 
 Carolina, did not agree with the Federal Congress 
 nor President Lincoln. When he succeeded Gen- 
 eral Sherman, instructions from the Secretary of 
 War to "accept the services of all loyal persons" 
 were handed him, and he seized this opportunity 
 (there being nothing said about Negroes) to enlist 
 a Negro regiment of fugitive slaves. His conduct 
 was inquired into by Mr. Wickliffe, a Congressman 
 from Kentucky, and a resolution of censure was 
 offered. 
 
 Major-General Hunter replied to the inquiry made 
 in Congress as to his enlisting slaves, that the 
 Negroes seemed to be the only loyal people in that 
 locality, and they were anxious to fight for their 
 freedom, and gave every evidence of making "in- 
 valuable auxiliaries." They knew the country and 
 were accustomed to the climate. 
 
 General Phelps, stationed in Louisiana about this 
 time, was making a bold fight for the enlistment 
 of Negroes in and around New Orleans. He was 
 opposed by General Benj. F. Butler, who protested 
 so strongly against it that finally General Phelps 
 was forced to resign and return to his home in Ver- 
 mont. The sentiment of the Northern army seemed 
 to have a conspicuous leaning towards admitting 
 the right of the South to hold slaves. General 
 Butler refused the runaway slaves quarters in his 
 
106 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 headquarters. General McClellan said, with others, 
 that if he thought he was fighting to free the "nig- 
 gers " he would sheath his sword. He soon failed 
 in the Virginia campaign and was forced to resign. 
 
 Mr. Stevens proposed a bill in Congress author- 
 izing the President to " raise and equip 150,000 sol- 
 diers of African descent." Meanwhile, Col. Thos. 
 W. Higginson and Col. Montgomery, with a com- 
 pany of Negro troops were ascending the St. John 
 River, in Florida, where he captured Jacksonville, 
 which had been abandoned by white Union Troops. 
 Among those who favored Mr. Stevens' measure 
 were Horace Greeley and Edwin M. Stanton, who 
 seemed to have been convinced t)f the worth of the 
 colored troops from the testimony of such men as 
 Phelps, Higginson, Hunter and Montgomer}^, who 
 had already seen what Negro troops could accom- 
 plish. 
 
 Public Sentiment was being aroused on the sub- 
 ject. The newspapers discussed the matter. The 
 New York Tribune said : " Drunkenness, the bane 
 of our army, does not exist among the black troops." 
 " Nor have I yet discovered the slightest ground of 
 inferiority to white troops." Mr. Lincoln very soon 
 changed his mind, Congress gave its consent, and 
 the order went forth to enlist Negroes in defence 
 of the Union. 
 
 The Right to Fight for what they thought would 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 107 
 
 ultimately end in their freedom was hailed with 
 shouts of joy wherever the tidings reached the 
 Negroes. 
 
 At Newbern, N. C, they made a great demonstra- 
 tion. The enlisting places at New Orleans and 
 other Southern cities then in the hands of the Fed- 
 erals were the scenes of the wildest confusion in 
 the mad rush of the colored people to register their 
 names on the army records. 
 
 A Difficulty arose in getting sufficient arms for 
 all the colored troops ; and a further difficulty was 
 to be met in selecting white officers who had the 
 courage to brave public sentiment and take the 
 command of Negrb troops. Negro daring and ex- 
 cellency on the battle-field soon broke down these 
 flimsy weaknesses of the white officers, and the sum- 
 mer of 1863 found over 100,000 Negroes in the 
 Union ranks, and over 50,000 armed and equipped 
 on the fields of battle. 
 
 Their Pay was seven dollars per month, with 
 board and clothing. The whites received thirteen 
 dollars per month with board and clothing. Thus 
 the former slave went forth to meet his 'master on 
 the battle-field, sometimes to capture or be captured ; 
 sometimes to fall side by side, one piercedlwith the 
 Southern, the other with the Northern bayonet. 
 
108 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS. 
 
 Two Proclamations were issued by Mr. Lincoln. 
 The first, on the 22d of September, 1862, defined 
 the issue of the war to be "for the object of prac- 
 tically restoring the constitutional relation between 
 the United States, and each of the States, and the 
 people thereof." It offered, first, to pay the masters 
 for their slaves and colonize them in America or 
 Africa. Second, it proposed to free the slaves of 
 those persons and States then engaged in actual 
 rebellion. Third, it offered to pay from the Federal 
 treasury loyal masters who had lost their slaves in 
 and during the rebellion. 
 
 The Second Proclamation was issued January i, 
 1863, and is the one we celebrate. This measure 
 was urged upon Mr. Lincoln by the Abolitionists 
 and those who wished the Negro free. Though the 
 Abolitionists saw in the proclamation the consumma- 
 tion of their prayers and hopes, Mr. Lincoln and his 
 Cabinet regarded the proclamation as a war measure, 
 very necessary under the circumstances to shorten 
 the war. The South would have surrendered in 
 half the time had not a large number of slaves re- 
 mained on the plantations raising supplies for the 
 Confederate army, and supporting and protecting 
 their masters' families. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 109 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 
 
 Mr. Williams Says : "All history, ancient and 
 modern, Pagan and Christian, justified the conduct 
 of the Federal Government in the employment of 
 slaves as soldiers. Greece had tried the experiment, 
 and at the battle of Marathon there were two regi- 
 ments composed of slaves. The beleagured city of 
 Rome offered freedom to her slaves who would vol- 
 unteer as soldiers, and at the battle of Cannae a 
 regiment of Roman slaves made Hannibal's cohorts 
 reel before their unequalled courage. Negro offi- 
 cers, as well as soldiers, had shared the perils and 
 glories of the campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte; 
 and even the Royal Guard at the Court of Imperial 
 France had been mounted with black soldiers. In 
 two wars in North America, Negro soldiers had fol- 
 lowed the fortunes of military life and won the ap- 
 plause of white patriots on two continents. So, 
 then, all history furnished a precedent for the guid- 
 ance of the United States Government in the civil 
 war of America." 
 
 Just How Well the Negro Soldiers Behaved may 
 be gathered from a description of 
 
110 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 SOME FAMOUS BATTLES IN WHICH NEGROES FOUGHT. 
 
 Port Hudson, May 27, 1863. The Negro regi- 
 ment under Col, Nelson was assiged the difficult 
 task of taking this fort, which seemed almost im- 
 pregnable. It was situated on a high bluff over- 
 looking the river in front. Around the sides and 
 rear, close under the bluff, ran a bayou twelve feet 
 deep and from fifteen to twenty feet wide. Looking 
 out from openings in the embankment were the 
 grim mouths of many deadly cannon. They were 
 arranged so as to make a straight raking charge on 
 the front of any approaching force, while a score 
 and a half of heavy guns were to cut down the left 
 and right wings with grape and canister. 
 
 Having Marched AH Night, the "Black Regi- 
 ment" stacked arms at 5 A. m. One hour was given 
 for rest and breakfast. Many, completely overcome 
 by the enervating heat and dust, sank down "in 
 their tracks" and slept. 
 
 The Officers received their instructions at 5.30, 
 and at 6 o'clock the bugle sounded. " Fall in !" was 
 heard ringing out among the soldiers ; and the scene 
 reminded one more of a holiday party than a march 
 to death. The troops seemed anxious to fight. The 
 white troops looked on with uneasiness and doubts 
 concerning the Negro's courage. The Confederates 
 in the fort ridiculed the idea that Negroes were to 
 charge them. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. Ill 
 
 The Negro Regiment moved towards the fort. 
 There was death-like silence, save the tramp of sol- 
 diers and the tap of drum. " Forward ; double- 
 quick, march !" rang out along the line ; not a piece 
 was fired. Now the Confederate guns open on the 
 left ; one shell kills twelve men. " Right aboutP'' 
 was the command. The regiment wheeled to the 
 right for about three hundred yards, then coolly 
 and steadily faced the enemy again by companies. 
 
 Six Deathly charges were thus made, when Col. 
 Nelson reported to Gen. Dwight his inability to 
 take the fort because of the bayou being too deep 
 for the men to wade. Gen. D wight replied : "I 
 shall consider that he has accomplished nothing 
 unless he takes those guns." The soldiers saw it 
 was impossible, as well as Col. Nelson, yet " again 
 the order to charge " was obeyed with a shout. 
 
 Captain Andre Callioux commanded Company E 
 in the next charge. He marched his colored breth- 
 ren over the dead bodies of their comrades, crying, 
 " Follow me !" and while flashing his sword within 
 fifty yards of the belching Confederate guns, he 
 was smitten down in front of his company by a 
 shell. 
 
 Color-Sergeant Anselmas Planciancois said to Col. 
 Nelson before the fight : " Colonel, I will bring 
 back these colors to you in honor, or report to God 
 the reason why." It was now between ii and i2; 
 
112 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 o'clock in the morning. The fight began at 7 A. M. 
 The gallant Callioux was lying dead on the field. 
 His men now charged almost in the mouth of the 
 Confederate guns. Planciancois bore the flag in 
 front. A shell strikes the staff and blows off half 
 of the brave sergeant's head ; he falls, wrapped in 
 the folds of his nation's flag, his brains scattered 
 amid them, but still his strong grip holds the staff 
 even in death. 
 
 Corporal Heath catches it up to bear it to the 
 front again. Pierced b}^ a musket-ball, which split 
 his head, he, too, falls upon the body of the brave 
 Planciancois. Still another corporal lifts the flag 
 and bears it through the fray. And thus the Negro 
 troops, on almost their very first trial, silenced all 
 clamors as to their bravery. Port Hudson was not 
 taken then, but the reason for defeat lay not in a 
 lack of unrivalled daring and heroic courage on 
 the part of the Negro troops. The loss was 37 
 killed and wounded, and 271 missing. 
 
 The- New York Times says of this battle : " Gen. 
 Dwight, at least, must have had the idea not only 
 that they (Negro troops) were men, but something 
 more than men from the terrific test to which he 
 put their valor. The deeds of heroism performed 
 by these men were such as the proudest white men 
 might emulate. Their colors are literally bespat- 
 tered with blood and brains. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 113 
 
 "The color-sergeant of the ist Louisiana, on 
 being mortally wounded, hugged the colors to his 
 breast, when a struggle ensued between the two 
 color corporals on each side of him as to who should 
 have the honor of bearing the sacred standard. 
 One black lieutenant actually mounted the enemy's 
 
 works four times Although repulsed in an 
 
 attempt which, situated as things were, was all but 
 impossible, these regiments, though badly cut up, 
 were still on hand, and burning with a passion ten 
 times hotter from their fierce baptism of blood." 
 
 General Banks wrote, concerning the " Black 
 Regiment" at Port Hudson: "It gives me pleasure 
 to report that they answered every expectation. 
 Their conduct was heroic," The success of the 
 Negro troops at Port Hudson rang in the halls of 
 Congress, in the lecture-room, in the pulpit, in the 
 newspapers; poets sang of it, and Northern orators 
 vied with each other in eloquent pictures of the 
 scene of that great fight which settled the question 
 as to the Negro's fitness for the army. 
 
 Milliken's Bend, 6th of June, 1863. The Confed- 
 erates came up from Louisiana, about 3,000 strong. 
 They rested over night, while the Federals were 
 collecting at the temporary fort in the bend of the 
 Mississippi. The Union men-of-war, " Choctaw " 
 and " Lexington " appeared, coming up the river 
 before daylight, on the morning of the 6th of June. 
 
114 ^ SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The Negro troops were without training, being 
 lately recruited, but they fought like veterans. 
 The Confederates fell back under their heavy fire 
 in front, and charged the Union flanks. Upon this 
 the Union troops found shelter from the gun-boats, 
 and broadside after broadside made the Confederates 
 hasten away. 
 
 An Eye Witness' Description : "As before stated, 
 the Confederates drove our force towards the gun- 
 boats, taking colored men prisoners. This so en- 
 raged them that they rallied and charged the enemy 
 more heroically and desperately than has been re- 
 corded during the war. It was a genuine bayonet 
 charge, a hand-to-hand fight. Upon both sides men 
 were killed with the butts of muskets. White and 
 colored men were lying side by side pierced by 
 bayonets, and in some instances transfixed to the 
 earth. One brave man took his former master pris- 
 oner, and brought him into camp with great gusto. 
 A Confederate prisoner made a particular request 
 that his own Negroes should not be placed over him 
 as a guard. 
 
 "Union loss one hundred killed, five hundred 
 wounded, mostly Negroes. Confederate loss two 
 hundred killed, five hundred wounded, two hundred 
 taken prisoner, and two cannon." 
 
 The battle of Milliken's Bend, and of Fort Pil- 
 low which is referred to on succeeding pages of this 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 115 
 
 book made many friends for the colored soldiers. 
 Their soldierly qualities were on trial ; the experi- 
 ment of arming Negroes to fight for the Union was 
 being tried. This the colored troops seemed to 
 realize, and it stimulated them to do their very best. 
 They fought courageously, and fully satisfied all 
 doubts concerning their valor. 
 
 The Draft Riot broke out in New York in July, 
 1863. An order came from Washington authoriz- 
 ing soldiers to be drafted in New York City. The 
 Democratic newspapers ridiculed the idea of the 
 people's being drafted into service " to fight the bat- 
 tles of 'niggers and Abolitionists.' " General Wool 
 finally put down the riot after killing thirteen of 
 the rioters, wounding eighteen and taking twenty- 
 four prisoners. "They had burned the Colored 
 Orphan's Asylum, hung colored men to lamp-posts, 
 and destroyed the property of this class of citizens 
 with impunity." 
 
 The 54th Massachusetts was the first colored 
 regiment organized in the free States, Colonel Shaw 
 commander. It played a prominent part in the 
 attempt to take Fori Wagner near Charleston, 
 S. C. It marched two days and nights through 
 swamps and drenching rains to be in time for the 
 assault. Soaking wet, muddy, hungry and fatigued, 
 they reached the field in time and gladly accepted 
 the "post of honor and danger," immediately in 
 
116 
 
 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 front. After a five minutes' rest they double- 
 quicked a half-mile to the fort, where, after a most 
 gallant and desperate fight. Sergeant William H. 
 
 Carney planted the regimental flag on the works. 
 Nearly all the officers of the regiment were killed, 
 and it was led off by a boy — Lieut. Higginson. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 117 
 
 "Sergeant Carney," says an eye-witness, "re- 
 ceived a severe wound in the thigh, but fell only 
 upon his knees.. He planted the flag upon the 
 parapet, lay on the outer slope, that he might get 
 as much shelter as possible; there he remained for 
 over half an hour, till the second brigade came up. 
 He kept his colors flying till the second conflict was 
 ended. When our forces retired, he followed, creep- 
 ing on one knee, still holding the flag." When he 
 entered the hospital (bleeding from one wound in 
 the head and another in the thigh) "his wounded 
 comrades cheered him," and he said, ^''Boys^ the old 
 fla^ 7iever touched the ground?^ 
 
 The sentiment against the Negro soldiers at the 
 North had somewhat abated in the face of the irre- 
 sistible bravery as exhibited by Negro troops at 
 Wagner and Port Hudson. The North saw that 
 wonderful results could be achieved by Negro 
 soldiers. 
 
 The Confederates exchanged before this some 
 Union ofiicers, but refused to exchange Negroes. 
 
118 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 FCRT PILLOW. 
 
 This fort is located on the east bank of the Mis- 
 sissippi, about fifty miles above Memphis, in Ten- 
 nessee. It crowned the top of a steep bluff, covered 
 with trees and shrubbery. Major L. F. Booth was 
 in command with a garrison of 557 men, 262 of 
 whom were colored. There were six artillery pieces. 
 Gen. N. B. Forrest, commanding a large force of 
 Confederate cavalry, appeared at the fort at sunrise 
 on the 13th of April, 1864, and demanded its sur- 
 render. Major Booth drew up his force in the in- 
 trenchments around the parapet. Thus a contin- 
 ual firing was kept up till the afternoon, during 
 which Major Booth was killed. Major Bradford 
 took command. The firing ceased for the guns to 
 cool off and to be cleaned. Meanwhile, under a 
 flag of truce, Gen. Forest demanded the surrender 
 of the fort. The Confederates, taking advantage 
 of the truce, were hiding in the trenches from which 
 Major Bradford had withdrawn his men into the 
 fort. A few moments later they rushed in. The 
 Union troops offered stubborn resistance, but, with 
 superior numbers crowding in from front, rear and 
 sides they were overcome and surrendered. 
 
 The War in the West was now about at an end. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 119 
 
 Sherman set out upon his famous march through 
 Georgia ; Grant, having opened up the Mississippi, 
 marched on Richmond, which had now become the 
 strategic point of the war. McClellan, Hooker, 
 Meade, and Burnside had failed in their assaults on 
 this the Confederate capital. All hopes were now 
 centred on Grant. To him was assigned the task, 
 and this brings us to the 
 
 CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA, 1 864. 
 
 Twenty Thousand Strong marched the Negro 
 troops into the campaign of Virginia. On their 
 way they passed through Washington. Mr. Lin- 
 coln, with General Burnside and friends, reviewed 
 the long line from the balcony of Willard's Hotel. 
 As the long, heavy columns filed past, the Presi- 
 dent acknowledged their almost continuous " Hur- 
 rah for Lincoln !" He was deeply touched by the 
 spectacle ; there were tears in many eyes that saw 
 the brave thousands of sable sons, but a little while 
 ago slaves, now gallantly marching to defend the 
 Union. It was a scene never forgotten by those 
 who saw it. 
 
 With Equal Pay, a recognition as soldiers b}^ 
 President Davis, and a brilliant record, marched 
 the Negro troops into the Virginia campaign. Gen. 
 Butler, who was now convinced by the scenes at 
 Port Hudson, Forts Pillow and Wagner of the 
 
120 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Negro's capacity for fighting, was stationed at Ber- 
 muda Hundreds with a large corps of Negro troops. 
 
 General Grant Threw his Forces across the Rapi- 
 dan, and met the Confederates in The Wilderness. 
 He left Gen. Ferrero, with his colored troops, to pro- 
 tect his wagon train in the rear. General Ewell^ with 
 the Confederate cavalry, whipped around in search 
 of these supplies. Gen. Ferrero, with his Negro 
 troops, met Ewell. The Confederates made a bold 
 charge, and captured twenty-seven wagons. The 
 hungr}^ soldiers prepared to feast on their plunder. 
 
 General Ferrero opened fire. The Confederates 
 charged again, giving the colored troops their very 
 best, but the Negro regiments did not budge. Gen. 
 Ferrero then ordered his troops to charge, and, in 
 this, the first fight between Negro troops and Vir- 
 ginians, the Confederates were driven from the field. 
 "It was the first time at the Hast," says General 
 Badeau, in his Military History of Grant, " when 
 the colored troops had been engaged in any impor- 
 tant battle, and the displa}^ of soldierly qualities 
 won a frank acknowledgment from both troops and 
 commanders, not all of whom had before been will- 
 ing to look upon Negroes as comrades. But after 
 that time, white soldiers in the Army of the Poto- 
 mac were not displeased to receive the support of 
 the black ones ; they had found the support worth 
 having." 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 121 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 AROUND PETERSBURG. 
 
 Here it was that Negro soldiers covered them- 
 selves with merited glory in the presence of white 
 troops on both sides; surprising in their daring to 
 officers trained at West Point, and that, too, on the 
 very soil where slavery first made its appearance in 
 this country. 
 
 The City of Petersburg lies on the Appomattox, 
 river near the James, and not far from Richmond, 
 with which it has railroad connection, and it formed 
 the base of supplies up the James for the troops in 
 defence of Richmond. It therefore became an im- 
 portant point to reduce. It was strongly fortified 
 on all sides for miles out. 
 
 The Task of Taking the "Cockade City," as it 
 was called, fell to Gen. Smith, assisted by Gen. 
 Kautz, coming up on the east, Brooks following 
 Kautz; Martindale, who was to move up the Appo- 
 mattox, and Hinks, who moved between the two. 
 The Black Brigade was under Gen. Hinks, who 
 discovered a Confederate battery on a knoll six 
 miles out from the city. Under range of the Con- 
 federate guns he formed his line for a charge. The 
 battery must be taken at the point of the bayonet. 
 
122 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 "Forward!" rang out along the line, and as the 
 troops cleared the woods, the enemy opened a raking 
 fire with canister, siege-gun and musket. But 
 away swept the black brigade, their ranks shattered 
 with deadly shells. As they closer came, a fusilade 
 of musketry came down upon them; a hundred 
 men fell; but leaping and dashing, with a wild 
 cheer, they burst over the breastworks, drove the 
 enemy from their guns, and instantly turned them 
 on their scattered ranks beating a hasty retreat 
 towards Petersburg— and the colored troops had 
 won the day. 
 
 Brooks and Wlartindale were now in front of the 
 Confederates' main line near the river. Hinks, 
 with his Negro corps of 3,000, was ordered towards 
 "Dunn's House," three miles from the city on the 
 road leading east. 
 
 To Reach His Position it was necessary to cross 
 an open space in full reach of the sharpshooters 
 and artillery of the enemy. They crossed this 
 space by moving forward a few paces and then lying 
 down ; at every quiet moment they would steal for- 
 ward; they thus reached their position under the 
 most trying test. But on reaching their post, so 
 thick and deadly was the firing from all sides that 
 they dared not rise; so thus they lay from one till 
 five o'clock P. M., while torrents of lead whizzed over 
 their heads. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 123 
 
 "Dunn's House" was defended by three forts, one 
 in front, one north, and another south. Deep 
 ravines lay in front, while an almost impassable 
 abatis of trees impeded the wa}/ to the forts. Seven 
 hundred yards in front lay Hinks' black troops in 
 deep suspense, anxious for orders to go forward. 
 Meanwhile, shells plowed the earth around them 
 for four long hours, which seemed to them like 
 days. 
 
 At five o'clock the command "Forward!" was 
 greeted with a rush and a shout. The brave Negro 
 troops went forward at a double-quick ; the skir- 
 mishers were the first to reach the embankments, 
 and were greeted with a shower of bullets which 
 tumbled man}- headlong and lifeless into the pits. 
 But on came the main body ; they swept into the 
 midst of the enemy, grabbed their guns and fired 
 them upon them as they " ran for their lives." 
 Three hundred Confederates were taken prisoners, 
 and several pieces of artillery were captured. 
 
 Smith Had Petersburg now at his mercy. Brooks 
 and Martindale had swept the enemy in front of 
 them simultaneously with Hinks, and the way was 
 open to march immediately into the city. Gen. 
 Smith, however, decided to wait for the arrival of 
 Gen. Birney with the Second Corps — and this delay 
 caused the loss of many thousand lives. 
 
 Next Morning, as the sun peeped up over the 
 
124 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 yellow waters of the Appomattox, the condition of 
 things had changed. The flower of Lee's army 
 had come up in the night-time, and Grant was com- 
 pelled afterwards to lay siege to the city, under 
 which it finally surrendered. 
 
 Secretary Stanton was wild with delight over the 
 valor of the colored troops at Petersburg. Said he : 
 " The hardest fighting was done by the black troops. 
 The forts they stormed were the worst of all. After 
 the affair was over. Gen. Smith went to thank them, 
 and tell them he was proud of their courage and 
 dash. ' He says they cannot be excelled as soldiers, 
 and that hereafter he will send them in a difficult 
 place as readily as the white troops." 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 125 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE CRATER. 
 
 Petersburg was now surrounded b}- the Union 
 army. There was continual skirmishing. Burnside 
 commanded the Ninth Corps, composed partly of 
 Negro troops. By fierce fighting he made his way 
 up to within a hundred and fifty yards of the Con- 
 federate batteries. Projecting out in front of them 
 was a strong fort. After consultation a trench was 
 dugout some hundred and fifty yards long, branch- 
 ing off in two directions at the end under the fort. 
 It was packed with powder and explosives, the 
 design being to blow the place up. As arranged, 
 on the 30th of July, 1864, the match was applied. 
 Dampness prevented an explosion. Lieut. Jacob 
 Douty and Sergeant Henry Rus volunteered to go 
 into the trenches and ascertain and remove the 
 difficulty, and very soon after they came out, at 4:45 
 A. M., the match was again applied, and — read the 
 result, by Gen. Badeau : "The mine exploded with 
 a shock like that of an earthquake, tearing up the 
 Confederates' works above them, and vomiting men, 
 guns and caissons two hundred feet into the air. 
 The tremendous mass appeared for a moment to 
 hang suspended in the heavens like a huge in- 
 
126 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dented cone, the exploding powder still flashing 
 out here and there, while limbs and bodies of muti- 
 lated men, and fragments of cannon and wood- 
 work, could be seen. Then all fell heavily to the 
 ground again, with a second report like thunder. 
 When the smoke and dust had cleared away, only 
 an enormous crater, thirty feet deep, sixty feet 
 wide, and a hundred and fifty feet long, stretched 
 out in front of the Ninth Corps, where the Confed- 
 erate fort had been." 
 
 At the moment of the explosion the Union bat- 
 teries belched forth from one hundred and ten 
 deadly cannon and fifty mortars, and verily the 
 earth seemed to tremble from the shock. 
 
 The Plan was to follow the discharge of the bat- 
 teries with a charge. Gen. Burnside had arranged 
 his Negro troops for the post of honor. A dispute 
 arose between him and Gen. Meade as to the wis- 
 dom of this plan. The whole matter was referred 
 to Gen. Grant, who ordered iofs to he draivn by the 
 different Generals as to " who should go into the 
 crater." The lot fell on Gen. Ledlie. Gen. Ledlie 
 accordingly endeavored to draw up his troops into 
 the mouth of the crater. The Tenth New Hamp- 
 shire faltered and broke ranks. Generals Potter 
 and Wilcox marched their troops into the dreadful 
 hole, where the}^ halted long enough for the Con- 
 federates to make an attack. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. \Tl 
 
 Gen. Potter Struggled out with his division and 
 charged the enemy, but had to retire. Gen. Burn- 
 side now ordered his colored troops around the 
 edges of the crater ; the Confederates were now 
 gathering around from all sides, and under a heavy 
 fire drove the colored troops into the deadly hole, 
 from which they continued to rally until nightfall. 
 
 A Ridiculous Mistake was made by the Federals 
 in not marching into the city immediately after the 
 explosion, when the Confederates were nonplussed 
 and breaking away in mad confusion. Gen. Grant 
 says of this disgraceful affair : " The four divisions 
 of his (Burnside's) corps were commanded by 
 Generals Potter, Wilcox, Ledlie and Ferrero. The 
 last was a colored division ; and Burnside selected 
 it to make the assault. Meade interfered with this. 
 Burnside then took Ledlie's division." 
 
 Before the committee that investigated the affair 
 Gen. Grant said : " General Burnside wanted to put 
 his colored division in front ; I believe if he had 
 done so it would have been a success." 
 
 Four Thousand Four Hundred Union soldiers 
 perished through the mistake then of not allowing 
 the colored troops to take the Confederate works 
 which Gen. Grant says they would have taken. 
 
 Some of the Confederate Commanders also gave 
 strong testimony to the bravery of the Negro sol- 
 diers as they fought in the crater. 
 
128 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " Encouraged, Threatened, Emulating the white 
 troops, the black men fought with desperation. 
 Some Confederate soldiers recognized their slaves at 
 the crater. A Captain of the Forty-first Virginia 
 gave the military salute to ' Bob ' and ' Ben,' whom 
 he had left hoeing corn in Dinwiddie." 
 
 Petersburg being Captured, the siege of Rich- 
 mond was begun with a vigor and determination 
 such as only a Grant could command. Meanwhile, 
 a lively discussion was going on at the Confederate 
 capital as to the proposition of Mr. Benjamin to 
 arm the slaves in defence of the city. Gen. Lee 
 and President Jefferson Davis favored this plan, and 
 recommended that such colored people as would 
 join the Confederate ranks should be set free, but 
 the Confederate Congress refused to allow the slaves 
 to be armed or to be used in any way except as 
 laborers. 
 
 Gen. Lee was now employing his best troops and 
 military manoeuvres to keep Grant out of the Con- 
 federate capital. His retreats and skirmishes, ex- 
 ecuted with genius and tact, delayed the event; 
 but opposed by superior numbers, his army half- 
 starved, and the Confederacy subjugated in the 
 Southwest, he saw the uselessness of a further 
 hopeless sacrifice of his men, and surrendered ac- 
 cordingly at Appomattox, on the 9th of April, 1865, 
 " his army, numbering only 27,516." 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 129 
 
 When the Union Army marched into Richmond 
 they found the city burning, which was due to the 
 careless firing by the retreating Confederates of the 
 abandoned army supplies. There was great con- 
 fusion and destruction of property. The colored 
 troops were organized into fire brigades, and soon 
 extinguished the fires. 
 
130 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIl. 
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Rodman's Point, N. C, was the scene of a brave 
 deed by a Negro. A flatboat full of troops, with 
 a few colored troops among them, tried to land at 
 this place. The Confederate soldiers were lying 
 in wait for the boat, and the soldiers in it could only 
 save themselves by lying flat on the bottom out of 
 reach of their deadly guns. But if the boat re- 
 mained where it was very long it would be sur- 
 rounded and captured. One of the colored soldiers 
 saw the danger, and knowing the boat must be 
 pushed off or all would be killed, suddenly rose up 
 and said: "Somebody got to die to get us all out 
 dis 'ere, and it mout jes as well be me as anybody!'" 
 Saying this he deliberately stepped on shore and 
 pushed the boat off. The men in the bottom were 
 saved, but the Negro hero's body " fell forward into 
 the end of the boat pierced by five bullets." He 
 had done what no other of them dared do to save 
 the lives of his comrades. 
 
 A Negro Established a Clothes-line Telegraph in 
 the Falmouth camp on the Rappahannock in 1863. 
 The Confederate and Union armies occupied oppo- 
 site sides of the river, and used every means of 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 131 
 
 gaining knowledge of each other's movements. 
 The colored attendant in the Union camp proved 
 ver}' valtiable here as elsewhere during the war. 
 Pi. colored man named Dabney drifted into the 
 Union lines one da}^ from a neighboring farm, and 
 soon proved very useful because of his full know- 
 ledge of the topography of the country. He was 
 given employment as " cook and body servant." 
 He became much interested in the system of army 
 signals employed, and begged to have them ex- 
 plained to him. This was done, and he learned 
 them readily. His wife soon came over, and after 
 staying awhile was allowed to return as servant to 
 a " secesh woman " whom General Hooker was 
 about to send to her friends on the other side. She 
 \^nt over and took a place as laundress at "the 
 headquarters of a prominent reber-'' General." Dab- 
 ney, her husband, was on the Union side, and soon 
 began to know all about what was to take place in 
 the Confederate camp. An hour or two before any 
 movement took place he could tell all about it, and 
 it always turned out as he said. The wonder and 
 puzzle to the Union men was how he got his infor- 
 mation, as he didn't seem to neglect his work to go 
 off for any information, and he did not converse with 
 the scouts. After numerous questions and many 
 requests he finally took one of the officers to a 
 prominent point near by, and pointed out a cabin on 
 
132 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the banks of the river, in the suburbs of the enemj^'s 
 camp. He asked the officer if he saw a clothes- 
 line with clothes hanging on it. The officer replied 
 "Yes," whereupon Dabney said : "Well, that clothes- 
 line tells me in half an hour just what goes on in 
 their camp. You see, my wife over there, she washes 
 for the officers, and cooks and waits around, and as 
 soon as she hears of any movement or anything 
 going on she comes down and moves the clothes on 
 that line so I can understand it in a minute. That 
 there gray shirt is Longstreet, and when she takes 
 it off it means he's gone down about Richmond. 
 That white shirt means Hill, and when she moves 
 it up to the west end of the line Hill's Corps has 
 moved up stream. That red one is Stonewall. He's 
 down on the right now, and if he moves she wnl 
 move that red shirt." One morning Dabney came 
 in and reported a movement over there, but said it 
 " Don't mean anything, the}^ are only making 
 believe." An officer went out to look at the clothes- 
 line telegraph through his field-glass There had 
 been quite a shifting over there of the army flannels. 
 "But how do you know but there's something in it ?" 
 " Do you see those two blankets pinned together at 
 the bottom ?" said Dabney. " Yes, but what of it ?" 
 said the officer. " Why, that's her way of making 
 a fish-trap ; and when she pins the clothes together 
 that way it means that Lee is only trying to draw 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 133 
 
 US into his fish-trap." As long as the two armies 
 lay watching each other on opposite banks of the 
 stream, Dabney, with his clothes-line telegraph, 
 continued to be one of the promptest and most 
 reliable of General Hooker's scouts. — {Taken fro7n 
 Civil War — Song and Story.) 
 
 William Staines, Hero of the Fight at Belmont, 
 was servant to General McClernand. He was close 
 by his employer during many an engagement. On 
 one occasion, in the course of the fight, a captain 
 of one of the companies was struck by a spent ball, 
 which disabled him from walking. Staines, the 
 colored servant, rode up to him and shouted, " Cap- 
 tain, if you can fight any longer for the Stars and 
 Stripes take my horse and lead your men." He 
 Wen dismounted and helped the wounded officer 
 into his saddle, and, as he was walking away, a 
 rebel dragoon rushed forward at the officer to take 
 him prisoner. The brave Staines did not flinch, 
 but drew his revolver and put a ball through the 
 rebel's'^'" head, scattering his brains over the horse's 
 neck. {Revised froin Civil War — Song and Story.) 
 
 *Iu this and other quotations in this book the word "rebel" is 
 used. The usual definition of this word is, one ivho takes up artns 
 against the lawful authority of the government under which he lives — 
 one who opposes lawful authority. The Confederate soldier did not 
 recognize the word "rebel" as applicable to himself. From his 
 standpoint he was not o'p-pos'in^ lawful authority, but resisting ww/aze/- 
 ful invasion. He did not think that under our Constitution there 
 
134 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Hon. Robert Small was the pilot and captain of 
 the steamer " Planter," and also a member of Con- 
 gress from South Carolina after the Civil War. 
 Moving from Beaufort, South Carolina, to Charles- 
 ton in '51, he was employed as "rigger," thereby 
 getting a knowledge of ships and the life of sailors. 
 His greatest work was with the "Planter," a Confed- 
 
 existed any authority on the part of the Federal Government to send 
 armed troops to invade the territory of any one of the States. As 
 he looked at the great conflict, he was fighting for great and vital 
 principles of government, viz. : the right and duty of a sovereign State 
 to defend her sovereignty, and to have her citizens protected in their 
 property and other rights in accordance with the Constitution of the 
 United States as Interpreted by the Supreme Court. From the begin- 
 ning of the United States Government, the centralizing tendency 
 and the strict construction and State's rights views contended with 
 each other until the arrayed forces met in the late war in deadh' c^ 
 flict on fields of battle. These forces were contending on both 
 for what they believed to be right, or allowed by the written Constitu- 
 tion. On the part of the Federal Government, the efficient war-cry 
 was, save the Union; on the part of the Confederate Government, 
 drive the invading armies from the Southern sovereign States. Slavery 
 was simply the exciting cause over which the great principles con- 
 tended for were fought out. As President Lincoln's emancipation 
 proclamation shows, the freedom of the Negroes was proclaimed not 
 as a constitutional right, but as a military necessity. Uppermost in 
 Mr. Lincoln's mind was the saving of the Union, to which result the 
 freeing of the slave was an incidental consequence. The original 
 cause of the civil war is to be found in the fact that a difference of 
 opinion existed from the beginning of the Republic as to the inter- 
 pretation of the powers conveyed by the Constitution to the Federal 
 Government. In this great war, the great question at issue was the 
 relation between the States and the General Government under their 
 written Constitutions. Amid this conflict, happily, the slaves obtained 
 their freedom. 
 
 c^- 
 iiWs 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNilED STATES. 
 
 135 
 
 erate transport steamer in 1861 afterwards used as 
 a dispatch boat. The officers retired from the boat 
 on the night of May i 3, 1862, and left eight colored 
 men on watch, Small being one of the number. He 
 
 s::r;^"..'v 
 
 Robert Small. 
 
 was only called a wheelman then, but in reality 
 was a pilot. He, with the others on board, con- 
 ceived the risk}^ plan of giving the boat over to the 
 Federals. Everything being ready, and after taking 
 on Small's wife and three children, they started out 
 at 2 o'clock. In passing out of the harbor and by 
 
136 ^ SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 each fort the steamer gave her signals as though 
 the Confederate captain was on board, and every- 
 thing was all right. The dangerous plan, which, 
 if it had been found out would have ended in instant 
 death, was a success. The boat was given over to 
 the Federal Captain Nichols, who found her quite 
 an additional help to the Union. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIT. 
 
 THE END OF THE WAR. 
 
 For four years the American people had been 
 fighting among themselves. At the outbreak of the 
 struggle the freedom of the slaves was not looked 
 for by many. But the Abolitionists, who grew 
 stronger as the war progressed, pressed their views 
 upon the leaders of the country. They took every 
 advantage of every opportunity to make the freedom 
 of the slaves the main issue of the war ; and their 
 efforts, coupled with the desire of the Union leaders 
 to weaken the Confederacy by employing Negro 
 troops, to whom they offered freedom, caused the 
 final proclamation of Mr. Lincoln in 1863, giving 
 freedom to the slaves. 
 
 In this war there were employed on the Union 
 side more than 186,000 colored soldiers, whose 
 bravery stands vouched for by every Union and 
 many Confederate generals, who saw them as dar- 
 ing in the face of death as their fellow white sol- 
 diers. 
 
 On the Confederate side the Negroes were not 
 armed, but many of them were employed as labor- 
 ers in the armies. But all over the South, while 
 their mastef-s were away at war, the Negro men and 
 
138 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 women were enlisted in the ranks of the private 
 duties of the Southern soldiers' homes, which, ever 
 be it remembered to the honor and credit of the 
 Negro race of America, they protected faithfully 
 and industriously. The opportunity for outrage 
 and plunder was open on every side, but not a hurt- 
 ful hand was laid on the thousands of white widows, 
 orphans, and aged, who lay defenceless in the 
 Negroes' power. This action on the part of the 
 slaves proves that the race is not fond of bloodshed, 
 and is kind even to its foes. 
 
 Some Plantations, on the contrary, were found in 
 better trim on the return of the masters from the 
 war than when the}^ left them. 
 
 Negro Body-servants accompanied their masters 
 into the war, shared the roughs of camp-life, aiiTl 
 often were the last to minister to their wants in the 
 hospital, and the first to bear the tidings home to 
 the anxious family after death, taking with them 
 sometimes the treasured watch or ring. 
 
 Mr. James H. Jones/'' of Raleigh, N. C, served as 
 messenger to Mr. Jefferson Davis during his Presi- 
 dency of the Confederacy at Richmond. He was 
 with him when captured by the Union troops in 
 
 *He emphatically denies the assertion that has gained currency to 
 the effect that Mr. Jefferson Davis, while escaping from the Union 
 forces, was attired in female clothes. Mr. J. states that the Confed- 
 erate President used a large cloak, which he usually wore indoors, to 
 disguise himself w'ith. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 139 
 
 southwest Georgia, and was also confined with him 
 in the "Rip-Raps," at Hampton Roads, Virginia. 
 After the war Mr. Jones kept up a correspondence 
 with Mr. Davis until his death, and received a new 
 photograph whenever Mr. Davis had a new one 
 taken. Mr. Jones is now an honored citizen of 
 Raleigh. He was lately presented with a gold- 
 headed cane by Mrs. Davis in token of her regard 
 for him in view of his devotedness to her husband. 
 
140 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 RECONSTRUCTION, i865-'68. 
 
 After the Surrender of Lee at Appomattox, the 
 
 question arose as to what should be done with the 
 Southern States that for four years had contended 
 against the flag of the Union, and had set up a flag 
 of their own. The Southern flag was now con- 
 quered ; and the plan of the North was to restore 
 these conquered States to the Union. Amnesty 
 was offered all those who desired it. A Ptovisional 
 Government was first established in North Carolina, 
 with W. W. Holden at its head ; other States were 
 organized in the same way. Conventions were 
 called by the Provisional Governors of the several 
 States, and new constitutions adopted in conformity 
 with the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 The Right to Vote During Slavery was denied 
 the colored people. Exclusion from public places 
 was established by law. Thirty-nine lashes was the 
 punishment for keeping firearms. When white 
 persons were implicated, colored people could not 
 testify in the courts. 
 
 The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, 
 making the race citizens, was not favorably received 
 by the legislatures of the reconstruced States. So 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 141 
 
 The Civil Rights Bill was passed by Congress, giv- 
 ing the colored people the right to enter public 
 places, and ride on first-class railroad cars. This 
 bill has been declared unconstitutional by r ir Su- 
 preme Court. The colored people were considered 
 not well qualified to vote and there was opposition 
 to their exercising this right, so the fifteenth amend- 
 ment was passed guaranteeing to them the right to 
 vote and to have their votes counted. Thus, the 
 eleven Southern States were reconstructed on a 
 basis of universal suffrage, and the colored race 
 began to develop statesmen, orators, lawyers, judges, 
 teachers of various kinds, ministers, and discreet, 
 far-seeing business men. 
 
 THE freedmen's bureau. 
 
 The design of this institution was to educate the 
 newly emancipated colored people in all the ways 
 of freedom. Schools were opened, to which there 
 was a general rush, so great was the thirst for 
 knowledge. Many gray heads could be seen among 
 the children, and the " Blue Back Speller " was 
 often to be seen even in the Sabbath-schools. Such 
 an ardent desire for knowledge was, possibly, never 
 witnessed anywhere before. Many very old people 
 learned to read the Bible, and the joy they seemed 
 to get from this long coveted privilege was often 
 poured out in thankful and fervent prayer. 
 
142 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Gen. 0. 0. Howard was a leading spirit in the 
 establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau. His de- 
 sign was to make the colored people better citizens 
 in every respect. With him was associated a saintly 
 corps of devoted missionary-inclined white men and 
 women, who planted school-houses and churches 
 for the Negroes in many a hamlet in the former 
 slave States. 
 
 Many of These People came from the best fami- 
 lies of the North, were well educated, refined and 
 cultured. Their pupils were not slow in catching 
 the beautiful graces of these instructors, and their 
 extra qualities are demonstrated in the wonderful 
 educational progress the race has made within only 
 twenty-six years of actual freedom. 
 
 The Plan was to locate schools at central points 
 where teachers and preachers might be trained to 
 go out into the rural districts in which the majority 
 of the race lived. The money was contributed by 
 benevolent people of the North, and a wiser invest- 
 ment, both for God and humanity, was never made. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 143 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 PROGRESS SINCE FREEDOM. 
 
 Through More Than Two Centuries we have now 
 traced our ancestors' history. We have seen how 
 they performed the hard tasks assigned them by 
 their masters : following the hoe and the plow with 
 a laugh and a song ; making magnificent estates, 
 building mansions, furnishing them with the splen- 
 dor of the times ; so eager in patriotism as to be the 
 first to shed their blood on the altar of their coun- 
 try's liberty. All this they did with no other 
 reward than a slave's cabin and a life of bondage 
 for themselves and children. Scarcel}^ have they 
 ever sought revenge in riot or bloodshed. Stolen 
 from a home of savage freedom they found them- 
 selves slaves in America, but the greatness of the 
 Negro's nature crops out plainly in the wonderful way 
 in which he adapted himself to his new conditions. 
 The fact that he went to work willingly, worked so 
 long and faithfully, and rebelled so little, marks him 
 as far superior to the Indian, who never accepts the 
 conditions of labor, either for himself or another ; 
 and universally enjoys the rank of a savage rather 
 than that of a civilized being. A plant placed in 
 the window of a dark chamber gradually bends its 
 
144 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 foliage toward the sunlight; so the Negro, surrounded 
 by the darkness of slavery, bent his life toward the 
 light of his master's God. He found Him. In 
 Him he trusted, to Him he prayed, from Him he 
 hoped for deliverance ; no people were ever more 
 devout according to their knowledge of the word ; 
 no people ever suffered persecution more bravely ; 
 no people ever got more out of the few talents 
 assigned them ; and for this humble devotion, this 
 implicit trust and faithfulness, God has now rewarded 
 them. The race comes out of slavery with more than 
 it had before it ivent in. Bnt there was no need of 
 any slavery at all. Virginia.^ New England, and 
 the other colonies might have held the Negro long 
 enough to serve out his passage from Africa, and 
 then given him his freedom, as they did their white 
 slaves imported from England, or they might have 
 forbidden him to be sold to the colonists as a slave. 
 The mistake was made then ; the mistake became 
 a law which the people were educated to believe 
 was just. Many did not believe in slavery, and 
 most slaveholders sought to make the condition of 
 their slaves comfortable. The affection arising 
 between the slave and his master often governed 
 the treatment. The Negro being largely endowed 
 by nature with affection, affability, and a forgiving 
 spirit, generall}^ won for himself good treatment. 
 Then, too, the master had some soul, and where 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 145 
 
 that ingredient of his make-up was deficient, a self- 
 ish interest in the slave as his property somewhat 
 modified the spirit that might have more often 
 visited itself upon the unfortunate slave in lashes 
 and stripes. 
 
 Many Affections and Friendships formed between 
 master and slave exist to the present day. Some 
 slaves are still at the old homestead, conditions 
 entirely reversed, voting differently at the polls, 
 hut friends at home ; and in death the family of one 
 follows that of the other to the grave. 
 
 When the War Ended, the whole South was in an 
 unsettled condition — property destroyed, thousands 
 of her sons dead on the battle-field, no credit, con- 
 quered. But if the condition of the whites was 
 bad, that of the blacks was woi'se. They were with- 
 out homes, money, or learning. They were now to 
 feed, clothe and protect themselves ; and, as free 
 citizens, the}^ were required to support the govern- 
 ment, and obey its laws, which they could not read. 
 
 It was Natural that they should make mistakes. 
 But the\^ made less mistakes than the bummers who 
 came South for plunder during reconstruction times, 
 and with the false promise of " forty acres and a 
 mule" led the unlettered race into a season of 
 idleness and vain hopes. But this condition did not 
 last. The Negro inherited the ability to work from 
 the institution of slaver3^ He soon set about to 
 
146 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Utilize this ability. I ask what race could have done 
 more ? And this the Negro has done, though vir- 
 tually ostracised from the avenues of trade and spec- 
 ulation. His admission to a trades-union is the 
 exception rather than the rule in America. A col- 
 ored boy taking a place as porter in a store at the 
 same time with a white boy, may find the white boy 
 soon promoted to a clerkship, then to a partnership 
 in the firm, if he is smart ; but the colored boy 
 remains, year after year, where he first commenced, 
 no matter how worthy, no matter how competent. 
 His lot is that of a menial ; custom assigns him 
 there, and in looking for clerks and partners he is 
 not thought of by the white business man ; and thus, 
 by the rigid laws of custom, he has continually lost 
 golden opportunities to forge his fortune ; yet he 
 has prospered in spite of this, and it bespeaks for 
 him a superior manhood. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 147 
 
 CHAPTER XXXr. 
 
 RELIGIOUS PROGRESS. 
 
 Before the war, the colored people of the South 
 worshipped mainly in the white churches, or in sep- 
 arate churches usually ministered to by white pas- 
 tors. But the colored people, naturally inclined to 
 religion, soon developed preachers of their own. 
 They composed their own music, which expressed, 
 in their own way, thanks and petitions to heaven. 
 Their music is original, entertaining and pathetic — 
 and the only original music of the American Con- 
 tinent, when we remember that other than Negro 
 techniques and melodies are all borrowed from the 
 masters of Europe. 
 
 Debarred of the Privileges of schools, it is not 
 surprising that the religion of the slaves should be 
 otherwise than somewhat twisted from the cultured 
 tone of the Bible to suit the whims of an unlettered 
 race. It can be truly said though, that, considering 
 the circumstances, they did not bury the talents 
 given them. But the religious progress since free- 
 dom is so marvellous as to completely overshadow 
 much of the darkaess of the past. Let us notice 
 briefly several of the great religious denominations 
 of the race. The colored people produce fewer infi- 
 
148 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dels than auy other similar number of people in 
 America. They are proverbially religious and God- 
 fearing. 
 
 The A. W. E. Church, founded by Rev. Richard 
 Allen, of Philadelphia, Penn., because of the spirit 
 of caste and race feeling of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church during and after the American Revolu- 
 tion, has exerted abroad and unmeasured influence 
 upon the Negro race. From a meeting held in 
 1816, at Rev. Allen's private house, has sprung sur- 
 prising results. The denomination has more than 
 4,000 churches valued at over $5,000,000 ; more than 
 660 parsonages valued at near $500,000. It has a 
 publication department, which sends out the Chris- 
 tian Recorder and the A. M. E. Review to thousands 
 of people. The salaries of the editors of these 
 papers amount to over $10,800. In 1887 tbe money 
 raised for all purposes was about $1,000,000. Wil- 
 berforce University is a noted institution controlled 
 by the A. M. K. Church. The influence of this 
 church for good among the people cannot be meas- 
 ured. The bishops are an extraordinary set of 
 learned men, many of whom are self-made, but yet 
 are authors, orators, linguists, theologians and 
 scholars that will compare favorably with the best 
 theological brain of America. 
 
 The Baptist denomination was founded by Roger 
 Williams. The church ofi&cers derive their power 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 149 
 
 from the members. In the beginning, Roger Wil- 
 liams' influence had a tendency to keep down race 
 prejudice. But from the rapid increase of slaves, 
 the feeling grew until self-interest demanded a sep- 
 aration. The Baptists form a body of useful and 
 intelligent people. The South has a host of Bap- 
 tists, who own much valuable property. There are 
 more Baptists in Virginia than in any other South- 
 ern State. Some of the churches have very large 
 congregations. There are a large number of Bap- 
 tist churches in the District of Columbia, some of 
 which have interesting histories. There are among 
 the noble, true and faithful workers of the Baptists 
 many men who have consecrated their lives to their 
 church in the spreading of the Gospel. 
 
 The Baptist denomination exercises a religious and 
 educational influence over more colored people than 
 any other denomination in America. We gather 
 from the minutes of their National Convention of 
 1887, that they had a total membership in the 
 United States of 1,155,486; and that they had 6,605 
 ordained ministers, 3,304 Sabbath-schools with 10,- 
 718 teachers and officers and 194,492 pupils. They 
 owned $3,056,571 worth of church property, since 
 1887 the increase has been very large. They main- 
 tain a large number of colleges and seminaries, in 
 which are annually taught more than 3,609 pupils. 
 
 The A. M. E. Zion Church is another of the pow- 
 
150 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 erful religious denominations among the colored 
 people, and it is everywhere urging the race to a 
 higher standard of living in all respects. Their 
 membership is in the neighborhood of 500,000. 
 They support and control, entirely, Livingston Col- 
 lege, of Salisbury, N. C, a progressive and well- 
 manned institution, and the Star of Zion is the 
 church organ. The Livingston College Faculty 
 is all colored, and it has property valued at over 
 $100,000. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church North supports 
 many churches in the South ministered to by colored 
 pastors. There are several schools supported by 
 them, prominent among which is Bennet College of 
 Greensboro, N. C, which is controlled entirely by 
 a colored Faculty. Other schools of this denomi- 
 nation, manned by white Faculties, are, with Ben- 
 net College, doing a most necessary and beneficial 
 work among the colored people, among which are 
 Claflin University, Orangeburg, S. C, and Clark 
 University, Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 The American Missionary Association is doing a 
 great work among the colored people of the South 
 along the lines of education and church work. 
 The Congregational churches of the South are, to 
 a great extent, assisted by this Society. Many large 
 schools are under its care, such as Atlanta Univer- 
 sity (originally) ; Fisk University, Nashville, Ten- 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 151 
 
 nessee ; Straight University, New Orleans; Howard 
 University, Washington, D. C; Hampton Insti- 
 tute (originally) . The estimated daily expenditures 
 of this Association in the South for Negro schools 
 and churches is $1,200. It is accomplishing a 
 great work. 
 
 The Baptist Home Mission Society reaches as many 
 colored people through its church work and schools 
 as au}/ of the many Northern benevolent institu- 
 tions. Its schools are distributed throughout the 
 South, and it would be hard to estimate the good 
 they are accomplishing. Some of the schools aided 
 in whole or in part b}^ this Society, are : 
 
 Wayland Seminary, Washington, D. C 
 
 Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C. 
 
 Hartshorn Memorial College, Richmond, Va. 
 
 Spellman Seminary, Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 Benedict College, Columbia, S. C. 
 
 State University, Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Atlanta Baptist Seminary. 
 
 Roger Williams University, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 Jackson College, Jackson, Miss. 
 
 Arkansas Baptist College, Little Rock, Ark. 
 
 Leland University, New Orleans, La. 
 
 Howe Institute, New Iberia, La. 
 
 Selma University, Selma, Ala. 
 
 Missouri College, Macon, Mo. 
 
 Bishop College, Marshall, Texas. 
 
152 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Hearne Academy, Hearne, Texas. 
 
 Guadalupe College, Seguiu, Texas. 
 
 Indian University, Muskogee, Indian Territory. 
 
 Atoka Academy, Atoka, Indian Territory. 
 
 "The Christian Church" maintains an excellent 
 educational and church work among the colored 
 people, and the work of this denomination is grow- 
 ing rapidly. The Franklin Institute is one of the 
 schools of this denomination and is located at 
 Franklin, N. C. It is supported mainl}^ by North- 
 ern contributions. 
 
 The Episcopalians are also supporting several 
 schools and doing an effective church work among 
 the colored people. One of the oldest and best in- 
 stitutions of this denomination is the St. Augus- 
 tineh School., Raleigh, N. C, at which many useful 
 men and women have received their training. 
 
 Some of the Northern societies spend hundreds 
 of thousands of dollars every year on Negro edu- 
 cation and religion in the South. 
 
 The Presbyterian Church has not spread as rap- 
 idly among the Negroes as some others, and yet 
 within the past twenty-five years that Church has 
 taken a strong hold among them, chiefly in Vir- 
 ginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Tennes- 
 see. Within the territory embraced in these States 
 there are 2 Synods, 10 Presbyteries, about 200 min- 
 isters, 250 churches, 18,000 communicants, and 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 153 
 
 15,000 Sabbath-school scholars. Except twelve or 
 fifteen ministers, and a few score members, these 
 synods are composed of Negroes, who control the 
 affairs of the churches and schools. They are in 
 ecclesiastical fellowship with the Northern Presby- 
 terian Church. Their organ is the Africa- American 
 Presbyterian^ published at Charlotte, N. C, by the 
 Africo-American Presbyterian Publishing Com- 
 pany. This journal has a wide circulation. 
 
 Educational Work of the Presbyterians.— Under 
 the auspices of the Presbyterians are Lincoln Uni- 
 versity, Oxford, Pennsylvania, which is their lead- 
 ing institution for educating colored men, and from 
 which more Negro graduates have gone out, into 
 all the professions and as ministers and teachers, 
 into the different denominations, than from any 
 similar school in the country ; Biddle University, 
 Charlotte, N. C, ranking among the first in the 
 South, which has an able Faculty of white and 
 colored men ; and the far-famed Scotia Seminary, 
 at Concord, N. C. Scotia Seminary has done, and 
 is doing, much for the education of colored girls, 
 and ranks second to none of the seminaries of its 
 kind. 
 
154 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. 
 
 Can the Negro learn anything? was the first 
 question he had to answer after schools were estab- 
 lished for him. He has answered this question 
 satisfactorily to the most incredulous in every in- 
 stance where brought to a test. The fact that all 
 the slave States had laws against his being taught 
 before the war, and that they opposed it afterwards, 
 ought to be a sufficient answer. There are several 
 individuals of the race who have written valuable 
 text-books.* 
 
 WHAT THE SOUTH IS DOING FOR NEGRO EDUCATION. 
 
 It would be a serious error to omit, in speaking 
 of the educational progress of the Negro since free- 
 dom, what has been done to help him by the South- 
 ern States. Though at first bitterly opposed to 
 Negro education, there has been a wonderful change 
 of sentiment on this subject. They made laws 
 against Negro education before the war, now they 
 make laws for it. In the more liberal portions of 
 
 *See Johnson's Illuslrated History of Uie Negro Race. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 155 
 
 man}' Southern States, good schools are provided 
 for the colored children. vSome States have asylums 
 for the deaf, dumb, blind and insane. The South 
 spends annually about $6,000,000 on Negro public 
 schools, and this sum will soon be increased. Some 
 of the States have Normal Schools, Universities and 
 Training Schools for the colored youth. There are 
 some who oppose Negro education on the ground 
 that the whites pa}^ two thirds of the taxes. A false 
 position this — the laborer and consumer pa}^ the 
 taxes on capital. The Negro is the laborer of the 
 South, and a large consumer. He produces more 
 than a bilhnu dollars woytli of farm prodticls annu- 
 ally^ wol estimating other products; and it is his 
 toil, his muscle that makes a large part of the 
 School fund. 
 
 The High Schools, Seminaries, Colleges and Pro- 
 fessional Schools for the colored people number 
 several hundred. Many of them are controlled 
 entirely by colored Faculties. IMau}^ schools have 
 mixed Faculties of colored and white teachers. 
 Dr. H. M. Tupper inaugurated this movement b}' 
 putting young colored men at work in Shaw Uni- 
 versity, which has been followed by many of the 
 other schools supported b}' donations from white 
 friends in the Nortii. The plan works admirabl}- 
 well, and, besides teaching the race to confide in 
 the ability of its own educated men and women, it 
 
156 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 affords lucrative employment to many who are by 
 nature and choice fitted for the work of teaching. 
 
 A Self-made Man is a worthy description when 
 applied to a Saxon. But a knowledge of the facts 
 will teach us that nine-tenths of all the leading 
 Negroes were and are self-made. The royal road 
 to knowledge is beyond question closed to the young 
 colored man. 
 
 There is no Large Estate to draw on for school 
 bills ; no rich uncle or kinsman to foot the bill, and 
 wait till success in after years for a settlement. 
 His own brawu}^ muscle is usually the young col- 
 ored student's means of support. Many of them 
 work in school between hours. In fact, most of the 
 schools for colored people in the South assign cer- 
 tain hours each day in which the students are to 
 labor. Some institutions do not spend one cent for 
 domestic labor during the whole of the school terms. 
 Yet they, in some instances, raise quite enough faf m 
 and garden products for their tables, and sometimes 
 make brick enough to put up extra buildings. The 
 fact that in none of the colored schools the expense 
 for tuition, board, lodging, laundry-work and inci- 
 dentals is over $12 per month (and in some cases 
 it is as low as $6), is a strong argument in favor oF 
 the help the Negro youth furnishes towards his own 
 education. People with such a love for knowledge 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 157 
 
 that they are willing to thus toil for it may be relied 
 upon to use that knowledge properl3^ 
 
 When the War Closed there were about four mil- 
 lion colored people in the United States. Very few 
 of them could read. Now they number about eight 
 millions, and nearly half of them can read. There 
 are about 1,200,000 colored children in the schools, 
 annually taught by 27,000 Negro teachers. The 
 colored people of the South have made more prog- 
 ress in education since the war than in anything 
 else ; and they are still thirsty for knowledge. The 
 schools everywhere are crowded The love of know- 
 ledge seems to be instinctive, and thousands of 
 faithful mothers spend many weary nights at the 
 ironing-board and wash-tub in order to get money 
 to help their children obtain an education. With 
 the start the}- now have, twenty-five years more of 
 earnest work will show marvellous changes in the 
 educational condition of the race. No people ever 
 learned more in so short a time. 
 
 ^lUSICAL PROGRESS. 
 
 The Fisk Jubilee Singers have sung the fame of 
 the Negro in all America, much of Europe and 
 Australia. The slave music is said to be the only 
 
158 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 original music of America.'^' The Indian has none, 
 and white Americans have borrowed from the mas- 
 ters of Europe. Negro melodies are now a part of 
 the classical music of this country. The peculiarity 
 of Negro song is its patlios and trueness to nature. 
 It stirs the soul and revives a sunken hope. Travel- 
 lers describe the music of the native African as 
 sung in a major key, which key characterizes the 
 
 *DR. DVORAK'S INNOVATION. 
 
 The following official announcement will awaken the keenest 
 interest in every reader of 7 he Colored American : 
 
 "The National Conservatory of IMusic of America, 
 " 126 AND 128 East 17TH St., New York, May 16, 1893. 
 
 " The National Conservatory of Music of America proposes to enlarge its sphere 
 of usefulness by adding to its departments a branch for the instruction in music of 
 colored pupils of talent, largely with the view of forming colored professors of 
 merit. The aptitude of the colored race for music, vocal and instrumental, has 
 long been recognized, but no definite steps have hitherto been taken to develop it, 
 and it is believed that the decision of the Conservatory to move in this new direc- 
 tion will meet with general approval and be productive of prompt and encourag- 
 ing results. Several of the trustees have shown special interest in the matter. 
 Prominent among these is Mrs. Collis P. Huntington. Tuition will be furnished to 
 students of exceptional talent free of charge. Two young but efficient colored 
 pupils have already been engaged as teachers, and others will be secured as cir- 
 cumstances may require. 
 
 " Application for admission to the Conservatory classes is invited, and the assign- 
 ment of pupils will be made to such instructors as may be deemed judicious. 
 
 " Dr. Antonin Dvorak, Director of the Conservatory, expresses great pleasure at 
 the decision of the trustees, and will assist its fruition by sympathetic and active 
 co-operation. 
 
 " :\Iay I ask you to place these facts before your readers, and in favoring a worthy 
 cause once again oblige yours, very truly, 
 
 '■JEANNETTE M. Thurber, President." 
 
 This is the result of some observations Ijy Dr. Antonin Dvorak, 
 the foremost figure among living composers and the acknowledged 
 leader of the dramatic school. He believes thoroughly that Negro 
 melodies will form the basis for a truly original American music. He 
 is quoted as saying: "lam now satisfied that the future music of 
 this country must be founded upon what are called the Negro melo- 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 159 
 
 songs of a conquering people. Slaver}'- has not 
 extracted this characteristic totally from the Ameri- 
 can Negro's songs. While he sings not the con- 
 quering major of battle, he thrills you with the 
 pleasing minor of hope. Dr. Talmage says : 
 "Everybody knows the natural gift of the African 
 for singing. No singing on this continent like that 
 of the colored churches in the South. Everybody 
 going to Richmond or Charleston wants to hear the 
 Africans sing." 
 
 dies. This must be the real foundation of any serions and original 
 school of composition to be developed in the United States. When 
 I first came here last year I was impressed with the idea, and it has 
 developed into a settled conviction. These beautiful and varied 
 themes are the product of the soil. They are American. These are 
 the folk-songs of America, and your composers must turn to them. 
 In the Negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a 
 great and noble school of music. They are pathetic, tender, passion- 
 ate, melancholy, solemn, religious, bold, merry, gay, or what you 
 will. It is music that suits itself to any mood or any purpose. There 
 is nothing in the whole range of composition that can not be sup- 
 plied with themes from this source." 
 
 " Many of the Negro melodies— most of them, I believe — are the 
 creations of Negroes born and reared in America. That is the pecu- 
 liar aspect of the problem. The Negro does not produce music of 
 that kind elsewhere. I have heard the black singers in Hayti for 
 hours at the bamboula dances, and, as a rule, their songs are not 
 unlike the monotonous and crude chantings of the Sioux tribes. It 
 is so also in Africa. But the Negro in America utters a new note, 
 full of sweetness, as characteristic as any music of any country." 
 
 This is a most delicate tribute from an authority so eminent and 
 discriminating as Dr. Dvorak. He is profoundly impressed with the 
 possibilities of Negro melody, and delights to dwell upon it by the 
 column. He has studied the field very closely, and expresses a con- 
 viction that must be highly interesting to the .American Negro. 
 
160 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII, 
 
 FINANCIAL PROGRESS. 
 
 The Freedmen's Saving Bank, though it failed, 
 furnishes a strong argument in favor of the thrift 
 and industry of the recently emancipated slaves. 
 In this bank the colored people deposited during 
 the years between 1866 and 187 1, about $57,000,- 
 000. The original design of this institution was 
 doubtless good, but it fell into bad hands, and the 
 consequence was a most disgraceful failure. 
 
 The Negro's Confidence in banks was, on his first 
 trial of them, badly shaken. He has not recovered 
 yet. Many colored people who would deposit their 
 money now, are reluctant to do so when they re- 
 member the " Freedmen's Bank failure." The 
 branch offices of the bank in the different States 
 were placed in the hands of colored men who worked 
 for salaries under instructions from the home office 
 at Washington, D. C. To this day sentiment at- 
 taches blame on these colored bank officers, who 
 themselves were as much deluded as the depositors. 
 It was a sad and disgraceful piece of legalized rob- 
 bery. But the Negro is putting his money in other 
 enterprises^ and though unsuccessful in his first, 
 his last efforts at economy are bearing rich fruit. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 161 
 
 The property owned by the colored people now is 
 computed at the following figures : 
 
 Twenty-five Years' Accumulations: Alabama, 
 $9,200,125; Arkansas, $8,010,315; Florida, $7,- 
 900,400; Georgia, $10,415,330; Kentucky, $5,900,- 
 010; Louisiana, $18,100,528 ; Mississippi, $13, 400,- 
 213; Missouri, $6,600,343; North Carolina, $11, - 
 010,652; South Carolina, $12,500,000; Texas, 
 $18,010,545; Tennessee, $10,400,211; Virginia, 
 $4,900,000. 
 
 The Colored Churches in the United States own 
 $16,310,441 ; the total amount of property owned 
 by the colored people in all the States is rated at 
 over $263,000,000. 
 
 Much Properly is owned by the colored people of 
 the North and West. Some of their estates run 
 high into the hundred thousands. Many of them, 
 though shut out almost entirely from the trades 
 and business avenues, have accumulated handsome 
 homes, and live in elegance and refinement. 
 
 All the States have numbers of colored individ- 
 uals whose wealth is rated between five and ten 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 In closing these chapters on t\\^ progress of the 
 race since the war, we desire to say to you, our 
 young readers, that much has been done to raise 
 the race in the estimation of the world, but much 
 more remains to be done. What has been said is 
 
162 .-/ SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 not to make you content and satisfied, but rather 
 to inspire new zeal and fresh courage, that each one 
 of you may add something^more to what has already 
 been accomplished. You can, you must, and we 
 believe you will. Do not falter on account of diffi- 
 culties. Set your standard high and go to it, remem- 
 bering that labor, coupled with a strong devotion to 
 integrity, will surely conquer. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 163 
 
 CHAPTER XXXTV. 
 
 SOME NOTED NEGROES. 
 
 Hon. Hiram R. Revels, a native of North Caro- 
 lina, graduate of Knox College, 111., A. M. E. min- 
 ister, President of Alcorn University, Mississippi, 
 elected to the State Senate, Mississippi, was the 
 first Negro to hold the position of U. S. Senator, 
 elected to fill the place of Jefferson Davis in 1869, 
 to the wonder and surprise of all America. 
 
 ROBERT B. ELLIOTT. 
 
 On the pages of history the name of Hon. Rob- 
 ert B. Elliott shines forth with lustre. He was 
 one of earth's sons, plucked too soon to reap 
 the harvest which was in store for him. This 
 eloquent orator and distinguished lawyer was a 
 graduate from an* English college. After finishing 
 there he studied law under Fitz-Herbert, of the 
 London bar. He then came to the United States, 
 and began his brilliant and successful career. It 
 was in the Forty-second Congress, while a repre- 
 sentative of South Carolina, that he impressed him- 
 self indelibly upon the country as a man of giant 
 intellect and rare oratorical ability. Alexander 
 
164 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Stephens of Georgia, Beck of Kentucky, Harris 
 of Virginia, had severely assailed the constitution- 
 ality of the Civil Rights Bill, after which Mr. 
 Elliott arose and addressed the House as follows, 
 an effort that bespeaks the ability of the man : 
 " Mr. Speaker, while I am sincerely grateful for the 
 high mark of courtesy that has been accorded me 
 by this House, it is a matter of regret to me that it 
 is necessary at this day that I should arise in the 
 presence of an American Congress to advocate a 
 bill which simply asserts rights and equal privileges 
 for all classes of American citizens. I regret, sir, 
 that the dark hue of my skin ma}/ lend a color to the 
 imputation that I am controlled by motives personal 
 to myself in my advocacy of this great measure of 
 natural justice. Sir, the motive that impels me is 
 restricted by no such narrow boundary, but is as 
 broad as your Constitution. I advocate it, sir, 
 because it is right. The bill, however, not only 
 appeals to your justice, but it demands a response 
 to your gratitude. In the events that led to the 
 achievement of American independence the Negro 
 was not an inactive or unconcerned spectator. He 
 bore his part bravely upon man}/ battle-fields, 
 although uncheered by that certain hope of polit- 
 ical elevation which victory would secure to the 
 white man. The tall granite shaft which a grate- 
 ful State has reared above its sons who fell in 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 165 
 
 Bishop D. A. Payne. 
 
166 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 defending Fort Griswold against the attack of Ben- 
 edict Arnold, bears the name of Jolm Freeman and 
 others of the African race, who there cemented with 
 their blood the corner stone of your Republic. In 
 the State which I have had the honor in part to 
 represent, the rifle of the black man rang out 
 against the troops of the British crown in the dark- 
 est days of the American Revolution. ""' '^' '•' '^ 
 The Negro, true to that patriotism that has ever 
 characterized and marked his history, came to the 
 aid of the Government in its efforts to maintain the 
 Constitution. To that Government he now appeals ; 
 that Constitution he now invokes for protection 
 against unjust prejudices founded upon caste." 
 
 Rev. D. A. Payne, D.D., LL.D. was the most noted 
 bishop of the A. M. E. Church, also its true and 
 tried friend. He was a great educator, and liad the 
 Negro's best interests at heart ; many generous and 
 noble deeds he did for liis race ; he was the scholar 
 and reverenced father of the A. M. E. Church. 
 
 William Wells Brown was bom of slave parents ; 
 he escaped to the North and so improved his time 
 from then on, until lie was known to the world as 
 a competent physician ; a historian of tlie Negro 
 race, a lecturer and an author. 
 
 Senalor B. K. Bruce is another son of the Negro 
 race. Though he did not receive his privilege as 
 a man until 1865, when he had attained to the age 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNTIED STA TES. 
 
 167 
 
 of 24, the intellectual fires then burning in his soul 
 were no longer smothered. Though a Virginian, 
 he entered into public life in Mississippi. Much 
 
 B. K. Bruce. 
 
 useful knowledge he gathered wliile sergeant-at- 
 arms of the State Seriate of Mississippi, which 
 helped him to admirably fill his place as U. S. Sen- 
 ator. It was, also, his honor to hold the position 
 of Register of the U. vS. Treasury. 
 
168 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Rev. J. C. Price, D. D., the well-known temperance 
 orator and educator, lives in the hearts of many- 
 people. His clear and distinct voice, fascinating 
 manner and excellent ability to handle a story, 
 gave him a hearty welcome in every place to which 
 he went. He was the first colored preacher to 
 stand in the pulpit of Henry Ward Beecher. With 
 the sympathy and love of a parent for his pupils, 
 he with honor held until his death the position of 
 President of Livingston College, North Carolina. 
 He was a native of North Carolina. 
 
 EDMONIA LEWIS. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, by the diligent use of 
 the powers God gave her, has done much to demon- 
 strate to the world what genius exists in the race 
 she represents. Left an orphan in early life, she 
 was not educated according to her desire, but was 
 conscious of a power and a burning zeal to make 
 herself felt in the world. 
 
 Her first visit to Boston proved the turning point 
 in her life. When she for the first time saw the 
 statue of Franklin her soul was touched. While 
 the dull stone seemed cold to others, there was a 
 chord in her 3^oung soul which the cold lineaments 
 played upon, and she exclaimed exultingly, " I can 
 make a stone man." Wm. Lloyd Garrison, always 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ready to help the race, introduced her to a leading 
 Boston sculptor. He gave her some clay and a 
 model of a human foot, saying, "Go home and 
 
 J. C. Price. 
 
 make that ; if there is anything in'you it will come 
 out." Her first effort was brought to the teacher, 
 who examined it, then broke it to pieces, telling her 
 to try again. She did so, and succeeded. Her 
 
170 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 achievements since have placed her among the 
 prominent artists of the world. She now resides at 
 Rome, where her studio is the famed resort of art- 
 lovers the world over. Some of her works are, 
 busts of Charles Sumner, Lincoln, HiaM^atha's Woo- 
 ing, Forever Free, Hagar in the Wilderness, Ma- 
 donna with Infant Christ, and two Adoring Angels. 
 She was patronized by the leading Englishmen, 
 such as D'Israeli, and others. 
 
 Rev. W. J. Simmons, A. M., D. D., was, beyond 
 question, one of the strongest characters of the 
 race. He was the President of the Normal and 
 Theological Institute at Louisville, Ky. At one 
 time he was editor of the American Baptist^ and did 
 a telling work in that position by his strong edito- 
 rials and telling points in behalf of the interests of 
 the race. But Dr. Simmons is better known as an 
 educator. He took charge of the Institute at Louis- 
 ville when nothing but failure seemed to stare it in 
 the face ; and from an appearance of hopeless ruin 
 he worked it up to a point of great excellency. It 
 now stands as one of the most important factors of 
 Negro education in the South, and its success is 
 due to the indomitable energy, force, and brain of 
 Dr. Simmons. He also furnished the literature of 
 the race with a valuable work known as " Men of 
 Mark." In it you will be pleased to read elegant 
 sketches of many of the race's best men. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 171 
 
 " BlindTom," the Negro Musical Prodigy, isknown 
 as well in Europe as America. His correct name 
 is Thomas Bethnne. He was born May 25, 1849, 
 at Columbus, Georgia. When a babe he seemed 
 totally blind, but in later years he could see a little. 
 
 Blind Tom. 
 
 His memory of dates, persons and places seems 
 almost perfect. Shake his hand to-day and speak 
 to him, tell your name, and ten years after he will 
 recall your voice and name. He is uniformly and 
 studiously polite, and entertains the highest regard 
 f )r truth in all things. At four years of age he 
 found his way to his master's piano for the first 
 
172 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 time. He had attempted to use his voice in imi- 
 tating the piano and other sounds before this. He 
 imitated all the sounds he knew on the piano, and 
 when his supply was exhausted he began to com- 
 pose for himself. He would play, as he would 
 remark, " what the windsaid^^'' or the " birds said^'' 
 or the " trees saidy When five years old, during 
 a thunder-storm, he composed his " Rain Storm^'' 
 which is so true to Nature that one imagines, on 
 hearing it, that he can hear the thunder roar, and 
 " looks for the lightning to flash." One author 
 says of him: "I can't teach him anything; he 
 knows more of music than we know, or can know. 
 We can learn all that great genius can reduce to 
 rule and put in tangible form; he knows more than 
 that. I do not even know what it is; but I feel it 
 is something beyond my comprehension. All that 
 can be done for him will be to let him hear fine 
 playing ; he will work it all out for himself after 
 awhile." 
 
 He plays the most difficult classical music of 
 Mendelssohn and Beethoven, and cannot read a 
 note. His marches include " Delta Kappa Epsilon," 
 by Peace ; " Grand March de Concert," by Wallace. 
 He imitates as perfectly as if natural, " Battle of 
 Manassas," " Douglass' Speech," guitar, banjo, 
 church organ, Dutch woman and hand-organ, a 
 harp, Scotch bagpipe, and a music-box — all on the 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 173 
 
 piano. His equal, if it ever existed in the world, 
 has not been known. He stands out as a phenom- 
 enon, a genius, a prodigy in black. He still lives, 
 and is constantly improving and adding to his large 
 stock of musical achievements. 
 
 Toussainl L'Ouverture. — It is supposed that 
 L'Ouverture was born in 1743, in San Domingo, 
 on " All Saints' Day," from which he was named 
 Toussaint. The name L'Ouverture (which means 
 the conqueror) was given him after he had won 
 a high place in the army b}^ man}^ brilliant con- 
 quests. He was born a slave, and was said to be 
 a direct descendant of an African king. He was 
 educated by his god-father, Pierre Baptiste. Later 
 he had an interesting family, and was as happy as a 
 slave could be. He believed himself destined to 
 lead his race out of bondage. Having access to his 
 master's librar}^, he read much ; and it is recorded 
 that he always mastered whatever work he under- 
 took to study. It is generally conceded b}^ his ene- 
 mies that he was honest, honorable and just. On 
 the night of August 21, 1791, the revolution 
 which was destined to free the blacks of Hayti be- 
 gan. It was, really, the culmination of a series of 
 political struggles which had been waged with fury 
 between the government of France, the white plant- 
 ers, and the mulattoes who thought that they were 
 entitled to equal political privileges with the whites. 
 
174 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 This point was bitterly contested by the whites of 
 the colony, until the mulattoes succeeded in incit- 
 ing the blacks to murder and pillage. Toussaint 
 took no part in the murderous proceedings of this 
 
 Toussaint L'Ouverture. Too'saN' loo'ver'tlir'. 
 'Soldier— Statesman— Martyr."— Wendell Phillips. 
 
 night, and did not leave the plantation until he had 
 safely provided for all the whites thereon, whom he 
 afterwards had conveyed to Baltimore. He was 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 175 
 
 always opposed to a general massacre of the whites, 
 and throughout his career, as a commander, exerted 
 his influence to preserve their lives. Upon enter- 
 ing military life his promotion was rapid, as he pos- 
 sessed all the requisites of a great commander and 
 leader. Having risen to a generalship, because of 
 his many successes, France acknowledged his rank 
 and tendered to him a commission as commander- 
 in-chief of the armies of San Domingo in 1797. 
 There followed three j^ears of unparalleled pros- 
 perity, during which time L'Ouverture's ability as 
 a statesman and ruler was shown to great advan- 
 tage. Napoleon, however, became jealous of L'Ou- 
 verture's power, and the old troubles in Hayti being 
 renewed, they declared their independence in 1801. 
 Napoleon sent large armies to the island, but they 
 all failed to conquer the brave band of blacks under 
 their indomitable leader, Toussaint. Finally, they 
 resorted to stratagem. They pretended to make 
 peace, after which Toussaint was invited on one oc- 
 .casion to dine on board a French man-of war, and 
 there he was captured, sent to France, confined in 
 a dark, damp dungeon, and allowed to die of hun- 
 ger. He died in 1803, heroically proclaiming that 
 though the French might murder him, the tree of 
 libert}^ would still grow in San Domingo; how un- 
 like Napoleon, the author of Toussaint's torture, 
 who ended his existence in writhing and fretting on 
 
176 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the island of St. Helena, in similar confinement, a 
 just retribution, it seems, in atonement for the wrong 
 he had done L'Ouverture! 
 
 " His life lay in thought and in action rather than 
 in words. Self-contained, he was also self-sufficing. 
 Though he disdained not the advice of others, he 
 was, in the main, his own council-board. With an 
 intense concentration of vitality in his own soul, he 
 threw into his outer life a power and an energy 
 which armed one man with the power of thousands, 
 and made him great alike in command of others 
 and in command of himself. He seemed created 
 for government by the hand of Providence. That 
 strength of soul and self-reliance which made him 
 fit to rule, also gave him subjects for his sway. 
 Hence it was, that he could not remain in the herd 
 of his fellow-slaves. Rise he must, and rise he did ; 
 first to humble ofiices, then to the command of a 
 regiment, and then to the command of the armies 
 of San Domingo." 
 
 EXTRACT FROM AN ADDRESS ON TOUSSAINT L'OUVER- 
 TURE BY WENDELL PHILLIPS, i860. 
 
 "Some doubt the Courage of the Negro. Go to 50,000 graves of 
 the best soldiers France ever had and ask them what they think of 
 the Negro's sword. And if that does not satisfy you, go to France 
 to the splendid mausoleum of the Counts of Rochambeau, and to 
 the 8,000 graves of Frenchmen who skulked home under the English 
 flag, and ask them. And if that does not satisfy you, come home, 
 and if it had been October, 1859, you might have come by way of 
 quaking Virginia, and ask her what she thought of Negro courage. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 177 
 
 You also remember this, that we Saxons were slaves about four 
 hundred years, sold with the land, and our fathers never raised a 
 finger to end that slavery. They waited till Christianity and civiliza- 
 tion, till commerce and the discovery of America, melted away their 
 chains. Spartacus in Italy led the slaves of Rome against the 
 Empress of the world. She murdered him and crucified them. There 
 never was a slave rebellion successful but once, and that was in St. 
 Domingo. Every race has been, some time or other, in chains. But 
 there never was a race that, weakened and degraded by such chattel 
 slavery, unaided, tore off its own fetters, forged them into swords, 
 and won its liberty on the battle-field, but one, and that was the 
 black race of St. Domingo. God grant that the wise vigor of our 
 Government may avert that necessity from our land ; may raise into 
 peaceful liberty the four million committed to our care, and show, 
 under democratic institutions, a statesmanship as far-sighted as that 
 of England, as brave as the Negro of Hayti ! 
 
 So much for the courage of the Negro. Now look at his endu- 
 rance. In 1S03, he said to the while men: "This island is ours; 
 not a white foot shall touch it." Side by side with him stood the 
 South American Republics, planted by the best blood of the coun- 
 trymen of Lope de Vega and Cervantes. They topple over so often 
 that you could no more daguerreotype their crumbling fragments 
 than you could the waves of the ocean. And yet, at their side, the 
 Negro has kept his island sacredly to himself It is said that, at first, 
 with rare patriotism, the Haytien Government ordered the destruc- 
 tion of all the sugar plantations remaining, and discouraged its cul- 
 ture, deeming that the temptation which lured the French back 
 again to attempt their enslavement. Burn over New York to-night, 
 fill up -her canals, sink every ship, destroy her railroads, blot out 
 every remnant of education from her sons, let her be penniless, 
 with nothing but her hands to begin the world again— how much 
 could she do in sixty years? And Europe, too, would lend her 
 money, butshe will not lend Hayti a dollar. Hayti, from the ruins 
 of her colonial dependence, is become a civilized State, the seventh 
 nation in the catalogue of commerce, with this country, inferior in 
 morals and education to none of the West Indian Isles. Foreign 
 merchants trust her courts as willingly as they do our own. Thus 
 far she has foiled the ambition of Spain, the greed of England, and 
 
178 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the statesmanship of Calhoun. Toussaint made her what she is. In 
 this work, there was grouped around him a score of men, mostly of 
 pure Negro blood, who ably seconded his efforts. They were able in 
 war, and skilful in civil affairs, but, not like him, remarkable for that 
 rare mingling of high qualities which, alone makes true greatness 
 and insures to one leadership among men, otherwise almost his 
 equals. Tous.saint was indisputably their chief. Courage, purpose, 
 endurance — these are the tests. He did plant a State so deep that 
 all the world has not been able to root it up. 
 
 I would call him Napoleon, but Napoleon made his way to empire 
 over broken oaths and through a sea of blood. This man never 
 broke his word. "No Retaliation" was his great motto and the 
 rule of his life ; and the last words uttered to his son in France were 
 these : " My boy, you will one day go back to St. Domingo ; forget 
 that France murdered your father." I would call him Cromwell, but 
 Cromwell was only a soldier, and the State he founded went down 
 with him into his grave. I would call him Washington, but the 
 great Virginian held slaves. This man risked his empire rather than 
 permit the slave trade in the humblest village of his dominions. 
 
 You think me a fanatic to-night, for you read history, not with 
 your eyes but with your prejudices. But fifty years hence, when 
 truth gets a hearing, the Muse of History will put Phocion for Greek, 
 and Brutus for the Roman, Hampden for England, Fayette for 
 France, choose Washington as the bright consummate flower of our 
 earlier civilization, and Fremont the ripe fruit of our noon-day — 
 then dipping her pen in the sunlight, will write in the clear blue 
 above them all the name of the soldier, the statesman, the martyr, 
 Toussaint L'Ouverture." 
 
 "Sleep calmly in thy dungeon tomb, 
 
 Beneath Besancon's alien sky. 
 Dark Haytien ! — for the time shall come, 
 
 Yea, even now is nigh — 
 When, everywhere, thy name shall be 
 
 Redeemed from Color^s infamy : 
 And men shall learn to speak of thee. 
 As one of earth's great spirits, born 
 In servitude, and nursed in scorn, 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. \'i 
 
 Casting aside the weary weight 
 And fetters of its low estate, 
 In that strong majesty of soul 
 Which knows no color, tongue or clime, 
 Which still have spurned the base control 
 Of tyrants through all time ! " 
 
 John G. Whittier. 
 
180 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Up to the present time the Negro has been a suc- 
 cess in every avenue of life. As a soldier and citi- 
 zen, he has always been faithful to his country's 
 flag. He has filled successfully many honorable 
 positions, from that of town constable to the Regis- 
 try of the Treasury of the United States, and the 
 United States Senatorship ; he has been a legisla- 
 tor. State and National, a judge, a lawyer, a juror, 
 a successful business man, and has won honor, 
 respect and confidence in every such position, and 
 all this in thirty years. Almost every conceivable 
 hindrance has been overcome, and he continues to 
 rise in the scale of advancement, not by efforts of 
 disparagement of others, but by encouraging to 
 give and receive, and to help as will best promote 
 the elevation of his race. 
 
 It is an erroneous view of education which 
 assumes that books and schools, useful as they are, 
 do the whole work. The child is educated by what 
 he sees, hears and does. The educating value of 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 181 
 
 work has never been fully appreciated. Labor 
 compels one to think, it awakens consciousness and 
 self-reliance, and develops mental power. It is very 
 often the case that a degree of foresight, practical 
 wisdom, and executive ability are shown in the 
 management of commercial or agricultural inter- 
 ests. Every child's education is deficient who has 
 not learned to work in some useful form of indus- 
 try. Labor aids in disciplining the intellect and 
 energizing the character. Especially does farm 
 work task and test the mind by leading a boy to 
 plan and contrive, and to adapt means to ends in a 
 great variety of ways. The necessities and strug- 
 gles of the farm demand patience and persever- 
 ance, develop force of character and energy of will, 
 and teach the needful lesson that " Where there is 
 a will there is a way." 
 
 How many of the leading men of our country, 
 like Washington, Clay and Lincoln, grew up on a 
 farm, and gained the invaluable discipline for the 
 conflicts of life. 
 
 The business of the farmer varies with the sea- 
 sons, and, as is often the case, he is remote from 
 villages, and his inventive genius makes him a car- 
 
182 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 penter or blacksmith — a man-of-all-work, " handy 
 at anythiug." 
 
 With all our improved gymnastics none is better 
 than manual labor, when it is intelligently directed 
 and cheerfully performed, and especially farm work. 
 
 Studying nature in any one or more of its varied 
 forms, each so fitted as to charm children, refreshes 
 their minds as well as recreates their bodies, and 
 stimulates that curiosity which is the parent of 
 interest and memory. 
 
 Nature, being the great teacher of childhood, may 
 we not suggest, at least, that this daily contact of 
 the Negro child with facts and objects which sur- 
 round him have been the instrument for his devel- 
 opment, and of his continued progress ; the very 
 stimulus, however unconscious it may have been, 
 of his future ambition and possibilities. 
 
 Industry is essential to thrift and virtue, to the 
 culture of mental and moral nature. Men of mark 
 are men of work. In whatever land man can sub- 
 sist in indolence, he droops in intellect. Man rises 
 in the scale where his necessities compel constant 
 industry, which not only supplies necessities but 
 stimulates demands above absolute wants. 
 
NEGRO RACE IN THE UNITED STATES. 183 
 
 A scholar, thinker and worker once said : " The 
 fine arts do not interest me so much as the coarse 
 arts, which feed, clothe, house and comfort a people. 
 I should rather be a great man as Franklin than a 
 Michael Angelo ; nay, if I had a son I should rather 
 see him a mechanic who organized use than a great 
 painter who only copied beauty." 
 
 And, for further encouragement, it will not be 
 out of place to add that an able minister said : " It 
 is not work but worry that kills men. Work is 
 healthy. ^ You can hardly put more on a man than 
 he can bear. It is not the revolution that destroys 
 the machiner}^, but the friction." 
 
 Increased effort and energ}- of mind must be bal- 
 anced by proper activit}^ of the body. The mind 
 was made for work. It can gain strength only by 
 spending it. Grumblers make poor scholars, and 
 the curse of Heaven rests on laziness. 
 
 The colored man should, therefore, take encour- 
 agement, keeping in mind that, " He that is sloth- 
 ful in his work is brother to him that is a greater 
 waster," and " Be of good cheer," which is a wise 
 prescription. 
 
184 A SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE. 
 
 BE TRUE. 
 
 " Be true to right : let justice still 
 
 Her even balance claim ; 
 Unawed, unbribed, through good or ill, 
 Make rectitude your aim." 
 
 " Be true to truth : the proudest name 
 
 That sterling worth may win 
 Is soiled and tarnished past reclaim 
 Where falsehood enters in." 
 
 " Be true to reason : let her light 
 
 Be ever glorified, 
 And make through life her beacon bright 
 A fixed, enduring guide." 
 
 " Be true to self-respect : the world 
 
 May judge thy motives wrong, 
 And slander's poisoned shafts be^hurled 
 
 Where virtue moves along." 
 
 "These are the virtues, these the ways 
 
 That bring their own reward ; 
 And to observe them all thji-'days 
 
 Keep constant watch and guard. 
 He who from these his guidance takes 
 Gives to the race the hope that makes 
 
 The march of man sublime ; 
 And each good deed, each wrong withstood, 
 Lives in its influence for the good, 
 
 Throughout all coming time !" 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abolitionism, growth of, 8i, 82 
 Abolitionists, opposition to' Northern, 100 
 
 work of the, 81, 82 
 African cities, ancient, S, 9 \ 
 Africans, native, present condition of 
 
 racial traits of, 10, 11 
 Africa- American Presbyterian, 153 
 Allen, Rev. Richard, 148 
 Almanac, Banneka's, 36 — 39 
 Amendment, Constitutional, thirteenth, 
 140 
 fifteenth, 141 
 A. M. E. Review, 148 
 Amistad Captives, the 96 
 Anti-slavery agitation, 99—101 
 books, 84' 
 conventions, 82, 83 
 " Anti-slavery Free Women of Amer- 
 ica," 83 
 Armistead, James, 72 
 Army, colonial, slaves in the, 60, 61 
 compensation for, 63 
 (See Soldiers, Troops.) 
 Ashmun, Jehudi, 89 
 
 Association, Missionary, American, 150 
 Asylum, Colored Orphans', burning of, 
 
 115 
 Attucks, Crispus, patriotism of, 66, 67 
 
 Bank, Freedmen's Savings, 160 
 Banks, General, on the conduct of Ne- 
 gro troops, 113 
 Banneka, Benjamin, attainments of, 
 death of, 39 
 Jefferson's letter to, 38 
 Robert, 36 
 Baptists, colored, extent of, 149 
 Battle of Bull Run, 104 
 of Bunker's Hill, incident of, 67 
 Negro's heroism at, 67, 6S 
 Peter Salem at, 68 
 of Milliken's Bend, Negro troops at, 113 
 of New Orleans, cotton breastworks at 
 
 the, 77 
 of Petersburg, Negro troops at, 121-129 
 of Port Hudson, Negro troops at, iio- 
 
 113 
 of the Wilderness, Negro troops at, 120 
 Bethune, Thomas ("Blind Tom"), 171 
 Bill, Civil Rights, 141. 164 
 "Black Brigade," Hinks', 122 
 " Blind Tom," 171 
 Brown, John, insurrection of, 100 
 
 William Wells, 166 
 Bruce, Senator B. K., 166 
 Bunker Hill, incident of battle, 67 
 
 1 Bureau, Freedmen's, design of, 141 
 
 Burnside, Genl., at Petersburg, 126, 128 
 j Butler, B. F., opposition to Negro enlist- 
 ! ment, 105 
 
 j Callioux, Capt. Andre, ni 
 ' Canaanites, the, 12, 13 
 Carej', Lott, S9 
 
 Carney, Sergeant, heroism of 117 
 Charlton, Samuel, bravery of 72 
 j Chauncey, Com., retort to Capt. Perry, ,78 
 
 Chavers, Rev. John. 44-46 
 I Children, school, colored, numberof, 157 
 Christian Recorder, 148 
 Church. A. M. E.. influence of, 148 
 Ziou, 149 
 Baptist, founded, 149 
 
 influence of the, 149 
 Methodist Episcopal, 150 
 j Presbj'terian, 152 
 Episcopalian, 152 
 I Christiaa church, 152 
 
 Churches, colored, property owned by, 
 : 161 
 
 Cinquez, Joseph, 96 
 Cities, ancient African, S, 9 
 Civil Rights Bill, 164 
 "Cockade City," 121 
 College, Livingston, 150 
 Clarke, Alex, 90 
 
 Colonies, slavery in the beginning of, 19 
 dates of introduction, 57 
 Southern, habits and customs of, 55 
 Colonists, Southern, habits and cus- 
 toms, 55 
 Colored schools in the South, 154, 155 
 j Convention, Anti-slavery, National, 82 
 of free colored people, 83 
 Cotton plantations, Georgia, 50 
 ! Crandall, Prudence, Negro school of, 
 I 32-34 
 
 I Crater, the, at Petersburg, 125 
 ! Curtis, Thomas J., 46 
 
 Dabney's CLOTHES-LiNEtelegraph, 130, 
 
 131 
 Davis, Jefferson, capture of, 138 (n) 
 
 John, bravery of, 77 
 Deeds of daring, Negro, 66, 71, 72 
 Disfranchisement of the Southern Ne- 
 gro, 140 
 Dismal Swamp, slave property in, 95 
 Dodge, Caleb, slave test-suit of, 27 
 Douglass, Frederick, biography of, wri- 
 tings of, 85-8S 
 
186 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Dunmore, Lord, enlistment of Negroes 
 
 by, 5S 
 Dunn's house, Negro corps at, 123 
 
 Education, Negro in the South, 154-160 
 
 self-help in, of Southern Negroes, 156 
 Elliott, Robert B. (orator), 163 
 Emancipation for military service, 63 
 
 in Virginia, 72 
 
 of New England slaves, 26, 27 
 
 Proclamations, 108 
 Enlistment (see Soldiers, Troops). 
 Explosion, mine, at Petersburg, 125 
 
 Families, Southern, habits and cus- 
 toms, 55. 
 Fisk Jubilee Singers, 157 
 Fort, Blount's, refugees in, 50-54 
 
 Griswold, incident at, 72 
 
 Groton, incident at, 71 
 
 Pillow. Negro troops at, 118. 
 
 Sumter, capture of, 104 
 
 Wagner, Negro troops at, 115 
 Forten, James, 82 
 
 Miss Sarah (poetess). 83 
 Freedmen's Bureau, design of, 141 
 
 Savings Bank, 160 
 Freedom, Negro, efforts for, 81, 96, 97 
 Freeman, John, heroism of, 72 
 Friends, the, opposition to slavery, 41 
 Fugitive slave law, 100 
 Fugitives (see Slaves). 
 Fuller, Thomas, 22 
 
 Garnet, H. H., 90 
 Garrison, William Lloyd, 82, 168 
 Genius ofEmavcipation, The, 82 
 Government, Provisional, first, at the 
 
 South, 140 
 Grant, Genl., at Petersburg, 127, 12S 
 
 Habits and Customs of Southern colo- 
 nists, 55 
 Hall, Primus, incident of, 68 
 Ham, descendants of, 13 
 Hamilton. Alexander, letter of, 60 
 Harris, Sarah, 33 
 Haygood, Bishop, 17, 18 
 Heath, Corporal, bravery of, 112 
 Heroes, Negro, 22 
 
 of the Civil War, in, 112, 133 
 
 of the Revolution, 65 
 Holbrook, Felix, petition of, 27 
 Hopkins, M. A., 90 
 Horton, George M. (poet), 43 
 Howard, Genl. O. O , 142 
 Hunter, Genl., enlistment of Negroes 
 by, 105 
 
 Incidents, 66, 70, 130-136 
 Institute, Louisville, 170 
 Insurrection, John Brown's, 100 
 
 Nat Turner's, 90-94 
 Jamestown, Negroes at, first, 19 
 Jeffreys, Major; bravery and treatment 
 of, 79 
 
 Johnson, John, bravery of, 78 
 Jones, James H., 13S 
 Journal of the Twies, 82 
 Jubilee Singers, Fisk, 157 
 
 Kosciusko's aid for the education of 
 colored children, 74 
 
 Labor, slave, in South Carolina, 47 
 La Fayette, Genl., anti-slavery ideas of, 
 
 ^ 73, 74 
 
 Latham, Samuel, braverj' and death 
 of, 71 
 
 Laurens, Col., death of, 64 
 enlistment of Negroes by, 60-64 
 
 Law, slave, fugitive, 100 
 
 Lee, Genl., surrender at Appomattox, 
 128 
 
 Lewis, Edmonia (artist), 168 
 
 Liberator, The, 82 
 
 Liberia, colonization of, 89-90 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, election of, 100, loi 
 proclamation for volunteers of, 104 
 Proclamation, Emancipation, 108 
 opposition of, to colored troops, 104-10S 
 review of colored troops by, 119 
 
 L'Ouverture, Toussaint, 173 
 
 Loomis, Lieut., attack and capture of 
 Blount's fort by, 52-54 
 
 Lundy, Benjamin (abolitionist), 81 
 
 Maroons, the Virginia, 95 
 
 Massacre, Boston, Crispus Attucks at, 
 
 66, 67 
 McClellan, Genl., 106 
 Milliken's Bend, Negro troops at, 113 
 Music, Negro, 157 
 originality of, 84 
 " My Bondage and My Freedom," 84 
 
 National Reformer, The, 84 
 Navy, Negroes in the, of 1S12, 77 
 Negro, the, freed, ostracization of, 145,146 
 origin of, 7-13 
 
 writings on, quotations from, 9 
 Negro education in the South, 154 
 heroes, 22, 65, 72 
 refugees, Blount's Fort, 50 
 
 massacre of, 53 
 soldiers, conduct of, 109 
 employment of, 109 
 enlistment of, 105 
 opposition to the, 105 
 first regiment of, 115 
 troops at Petersburg, 121 
 in Virginia, 119 
 Negroes, Americati, ancestors of, 7-1S 
 Colonial, e*ilistment of, 60-64 
 British, 58, 68 
 Hamilton's letter on, 60 
 objections to the, 58 
 Washington's letter, 63, 64 
 enlistment of, war of the Rebellion, 104 
 re-enslavement of, after the Revolu- 
 tion, 75 
 some noted, 163, 179 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Nelson's colored troops at Port Hudson, 
 
 110-113 
 Kew London, Conn., capture of, 71 
 Noah, curse of, not divine, 12-13 
 
 sons of, 13 
 Noble, Jordan (veteran soldier), 80 
 
 Pastorious,, Francis Daniel, 41 
 Payne Rev D. A. (bishop), 165 
 Petin, William, 41 
 Perry, Capt., retort of Com. Chauacey 
 
 to, 7S 
 Petersburg-, attack of Negro troops in, 
 
 121-124 
 Phelps, Genl., 105 
 Planciancois, Anselmas, bravery of, 
 
 III, 112 
 " Planter," the surrender of, 134-136 
 Plantations, cotton, Georgia, 49 
 Population, Negro, in 1850, 99, and i860, 
 103, 
 at the present time, 157 
 Port Hudson, Negro soldiers at. 110-113 
 Presbyterians, educational work of, 153 
 Price. Dr. J. C. (orator), 169 
 Proclamations, emancipation, 104 
 Progress from slavery to freedom, 15. 
 
 of Negro culture, 142, 151 
 
 educational, 154, 157 
 
 financial, 160-162 
 
 musical, 157 
 
 religious, 147-153 
 Prophecy, Noah's, not divine, 12 
 Providence in the Negro problem, 17 
 
 Quakers, Penna., abolitionism of, 81 
 
 Race, colored, progress of, since free- 
 dom, 143-146 
 Races, primitive, progenitors of, 9 
 
 colors of, 13 
 Railroad, underground, the, 102 
 
 civil war, 104 
 Reconstruction of Southern States, 140 
 
 rebel Southern view of, 133 
 Refugees, Negro. Georgia, 50-51 
 Regiment, first colored, 115 
 Revels, Hon. Hiram, 163 
 Revolution, American, Negro heroes of, 
 65-68 
 soldiers of, 58, 65, 67 
 Richmond, siege and fall of, 129 
 Riot, draft. New York, 115 
 
 Negro, in New York (1712), 25 
 
 slave (174S), in South Carolina, 47 
 
 Salem, Peter, bravery of 67 
 
 School, colored, first, in New England, 32 
 
 Schoolchildren, number of, 157 
 
 teachers, colored, number of, 157 
 Schools, colored, establishment of, 141 
 
 Southern, educational expense, 156 
 
 expenditure on, 155 
 Seminary, Scotia, 153 
 Senator,"u. S., first Negro, 163 
 Serfdom, 15 
 Sewall, judge Samuel, 27 
 
 Sheldon, Mrs. Frank, 7, 11 
 Simmons. Rev. W. J. (educator), 170 
 Singers, Jubilee, Fisk, 157 
 Slave and master, affection between, 
 144. 145 
 law, fugitive, 100 
 population in 1850, 99 
 in i860, 103 
 Slavery existed by custom (see Negro), 
 14 
 general view of in the world ; always 
 existed in some form in Greece 
 and Rome, 14 
 in Connecticut, introduction of, 32 
 in Delaware, 41 
 in Georgia, 49 
 in Jamestown, Va., 19 
 in Maryland, 35 
 
 in Massachusetts, existence of, 26 
 in New Hampshire, introduction of, 35 
 in New Jersey, introduction of, 52 
 in New York colony, 25 
 in North Carolina, 42 
 in Pennsylvania, 41 
 in Rhode Island, introduction of, 26 
 in South Carolina, 47 
 in Virginia, introduction of, 19 
 Slaves, American, ancestors of, 21 
 
 condition, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 35, 42, 47 
 Slave trade, beginning of, abolition of, 
 
 14-16 
 Slaves, colonial, compensation of mas- 
 ter for enlisted, 63 
 emancipation of, for military ser- 
 vice, 63 
 emancipation of, in Massachusetts, 27 
 
 in Virginia, 72 
 faithfulness of during civil war, 138 
 freed, condition of, at close of the 
 
 Civil War, 145 
 fugitive, 100 
 enlistment of, 104-109 
 at Blount's Fort, 50-54 
 importation of, in America, 20 
 introduction of, ig 
 runaway, in South Carolina. 47 
 white, in Maryland, 36 
 New F;ngland, emancipation of, 27 
 Small, Hon. Robert, 134 
 Smith, Geul., at Petersburg, 123 
 Gov. John, edict of, 22 
 Prof E. E., 90 
 Societies, anti-slavery, formation of, 
 number in 1836, 82, 83 
 Northern, for the education of South- 
 ern Negroes, 150-151 
 Society, colonization, American, 89 
 Soldiers, Negro, colonial, compensation 
 of 63 
 enlistment of, 64, 76, 77 
 in Revolutionary times, 48, 65 
 in 181 2, Jackson's address to, 76 
 of the Civil War, conduct of, 109, no 
 first regiment of, 115 
 prejudice to, 104 
 
 public sentiment against, 104, 105 
 change of, 117 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Soldiers, Negro, Stevens' bill to enlist, 
 1 06 
 
 Smythe, J. H., 90 
 
 Staines, "William, bravery of, 133 
 
 Stanton, encomium of, on Negro troops, 
 124 
 
 Star of Zion, The, 150 
 
 States, admission as free or slave, agi- 
 tation, TOO 
 Southern, reconstruction of, 140 
 
 Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 84 
 
 Suffrage, universal, effect of Southern , 
 140-141 
 
 Sumner, Charles, 99 
 
 Tappan, Arthur, 82 
 
 Lewis. 97 
 Taylor, C. H. J., 90 
 Teachers, colored school, number, 157 
 Telegraph, clothes-line, Dabney's, 130- 
 
 133 
 Troops, Negro, as soldiers, 106 
 
 bravery of, 124 
 
 first regiment of 115 
 
 pay of the, 107 
 Troops. Negro, Colonial (see Soldiers) 
 
 at Fort Pillow, u8 
 
 at Milliken's Bend, 113 
 
 at Petersburg, 121- 124 
 
 at Port Hudson, no 
 
 at the Wilderness, 120 
 
 in Confederate army, 104 
 
 in ITnion army, 107, 137 
 
 in Virginia campaign, 119 
 (see Army, Soldiers.) 
 Tupper. Dr. H M., 155 
 Turner, Nathaniel, execution of, 93 
 
 Turner, Nathaniel, insurrection of, 91-92 
 
 " Uncle Tom's Cabin," 84 
 Underground railroad, 100 
 
 work of the, 102 
 University, Alcorn, 163 
 
 Biddle, 153 
 
 Lincoln, 153 
 
 Selma, 151 
 
 Shaw, 151, 155 
 
 Wilberforce, 148 
 
 Virginia Calculator, the, 22 
 
 War, Civil, American, 104 
 Mexican, outbreak of the, 81 
 of 1812, 75 
 enlistment of free Negroes for, 75, 76 
 Negroes in the navy of, 77 
 of the Civil War, 104 
 
 incidents of, 130 
 Revolutionary, end of the, 72 
 Negroes in the, 65-72 
 Washington, George, freedom of slaves 
 by, 73 
 incidents of, 69 
 Madison, freedom of, 94 
 Watkins, Avery (preacher), 94 
 
 Frances, Ellen, 39, 40 
 Webster, Daniel, 99 
 Welsh, Molly, 36 
 Wheatley, Phillis, culture of, 28 
 death of, 32 
 
 Washington, s letter to, 30 
 Whitfield, George, 49 («) 
 Williams, George W. (author), i»9 
 Roger, 148 
 
This book is due at the LOUIS R. WILSON I IRR a d v u 
 last date stamped under "Date Due "If not on hnM, °" 'u' 
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