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December 20th (search for this): chapter 2
men than target-shooting, which they enjoyed. I had the; private delight of the arrival of our much-desired surgeon and his nephew, the captain, with letters and news from home. They also bring the good tidings that General Saxton is not to be removed, as had been reported. Two different stands of colors have arrived for us, and will be presented at New Year's,--one from friends in New York, and the other from a lady in Connecticut. I. see that Frank Leslie's illustrated Weekly of December 20th has a highly imaginative picture of the muster — in of our first company, and also of a skirmish on the late expedition. I must not forget the prayer overheard last night by one of the captains: O Lord! when I tink ob dis Kismas and las' year de Kismas. Las' Kismas he in de Secesh, and notin‘ to eat. but grits, and no salt in 'em. Dis year in de camp, and too much victual! This too much is a favorite phrase out of their grateful hearts, and did not in this case denote an excess o
December 24th (search for this): chapter 2
e last night and told me his story; and he showed all his white teeth as he added, Dey tink de Lord meant for say de Yankees. Last night, at dress-parade, the adjutant read General Saxton's Proclamation for the New Year's Celebration. I think they understood it, for there was cheering in all the company-streets afterwards. Christmas is the great festival of the year for this people; but, with New Year's coming after, we could have no adequate programme for to-day, and so celebrated Christmas Eve with pattern simplicity. We omitted, namely, the mystic curfew which we call taps, and let them sit up and burn their fires, and have their little prayer-meetings as late as they desired; and all night, as I waked at intervals, I could hear them praying and shouting and clattering with hands and heels. It seemed to make them very happy, and appeared to be at least an innocent Christmas dissipation, as compared with some of the convivialities of the superior race hereabouts. December
December 25th (search for this): chapter 2
r us it is absolutely omitted from the list of vices. I have never heard of a glass of liquor in the camp, nor of any effort either to bring it in or to keep it out. A total absence of the circulating medium might explain the abstinence,--not that it seems to have that effect with white soldiers,--but it would not explain the silence. The craving for tobacco is constant, and not to be allayed, like that of a mother for her children; but I have never heard whiskey even wished for, save on Christmas-Day, and then only by one man, and he spoke with a hopeless ideal sighing, as one alludes to the Golden Age. I am amazed at this total omission of the most inconvenient of all camp appetites. It certainly is' not the result of exhortation, for there has been no occasion for any, and even the pledge would scarcely seem efficacious where hardly anybody can write. I do not think there is a great visible eagerness for tomorrow's festival: it is not their way to be very jubilant over anyth
December 25th (search for this): chapter 9
ords. XX. the Baby gone home. De little baby gone home, De little baby gone home, De little baby gone along, For to climb up Jacob's ladder. And I wish I'd been dar, I wish I'd been dar, I wish I'd been dar, my Lord, For to climb up Jacob's ladder. Still simpler is this, which is yet quite sweet and touching. XXI. Jesus with us. He have been wid us, Jesus, He still wid us, Jesus, He will be wid us, Jesus, Be wid us to the end. The next seemed to be a favorite about Christmas time, when meditations on de rollin‘ year were frequent among them. XXII. Lord, remember me. O do, Lord, remember me! O do, Lord, remember me! O, do remember me, until de year roll round! Do, Lord, remember me! If you want to die like Jesus died, Lay in de grave, You would fold your arms and close your eyes And die wid a fiee good will. For Death is a simple ting, And he go from door to door, And he knock down some, and he cripple up some, And he leave some here to pray. O d
April 18th, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 17
ngs done by Government toward the colored soldiers as am I of writing about them. This is my only excuse for intruding on your columns again. By an order of the War Department, dated August 1, 1864, it is at length ruled that colored soldiers shall be paid the full pay of soldiers from date of enlistment, provided they were free on April 19, 1861,--not otherwise; and this distinction is to be noted on the pay-roll — so In other words, if one half of a company escaped from slavery on April 18, 1861, they are to be paid thirteen dollars per month and allowed three dollars and a half per month for clothing. If the other half were delayed two days, they receive seven dollars per month and are allowed three dollars per month for precisely the same articles of clothing. If one of the former class is made first sergeant, his pay is put up to twenty-one dollars per month; but if he escaped two days later, his pay is still estimated at seven dollars. It had not occurred to me that a
April 19th, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 17
there is a discrimination against those colored soldiers who were slaves on April 19, 1861. Every officer, who through indolence or benevolent design claimed on his he full pay of soldiers from date of enlistment, provided they were free on April 19, 1861,--not otherwise; and this distinction is to be noted on the pay-roll — so Iiate it. Help yourselves, if you can. In other words, a freedman (since April 19, 1861) has no rights which a white man is bound to respect. He is incapable of ms of pay,--and those few members of the Southern regiments who were free on April 19, 1861. But in the South Carolina regiments this only increases the dissatisfactiaking the distinction between those who were and those who were not free on April 19, 1861. The question is, whether those who were not free at the breaking out ospect of pay due, between those colored soldiers who were free on or before April 19, 1861, and those who were not free until a later date; Or at least that there may
1862 AD (search for this): chapter 1
omplexion of the late Mr. Webster. The First South Carolina, on the other hand, contained scarcely a freeman, had not one mulatto in ten, and a far smaller proportion who could read or write when enlisted. The only contemporary regiment of a similar character was the First Kansas colored, which began recruiting a little earlier, though it was not mustered in — the usual basis of military seniority till later. See Appendix. These were the only colored regiments recruited during the year 1862. The Second South Carolina and the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts followed early in 1863. This is the way in which I came to the command of this regiment. One day in November, 1862, I was sitting at dinner with my lieutenants, John Goodell and Luther Bigelow, in the barracks of the Fifty-First Massachusetts, Colonel Sprague, when the following letter was put into my hands :-- Beaufort, S. C., November 5, 1862. My dear Sir,--I am organizing the First Regiment of South Carolina Volunteer
1862 AD (search for this): chapter 17
eral was officially consulted. Under this decision the Northern colored regiments have already got their arrears of pay,--and those few members of the Southern regiments who were free on April 19, 1861. But in the South Carolina regiments this only increases the dissatisfaction among the remainder, who volunteered under the same pledge of full pay from the War Department, and who do not see how the question of their status at some antecedent period can affect an express contract. If, in 1862, they were free enough to make a bargain with, they were certainly free enough to claim its fulfilment. The unfortunate decision of Mr. Solicitor Whiting, under which all our troubles arose, is indeed superseded by the reasoning of the Attorney-General. But unhappily that does not remedy the evil, which is already embodied in an Act of Congress, making the distinction between those who were and those who were not free on April 19, 1861. The question is, whether those who were not fre
1862 AD (search for this): chapter 18
nd sent to your homes, without even a hope of reward. And when our country, necessitated by the deadly struggle with armed traitors, finally granted you the opportunity again to come forth in defence of the nation's life, the alacrity with which you responded to the call gave abundant evidence of your readiness to strike a manly blow for the liberty of your race. And from that little band of hopeful, trusting, and brave men, who gathered at Camp Saxton, on Port Royal Island, in the fall of 1862, amidst the terrible prejudices that then surrounded us, has grown an army of a hundred and forty thousand black soldiers, whose valor and heroism has won for your race a name which will live as long as the undying pages of history shall endure; and by whose efforts, united with those of the white man, armed rebellion has been conquered, the millions of bondmen have been emancipated, and the fundamental law of the land has been so altered as to remove forever the possibility of human slavery
March, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 4
habit and energetic by impulse,--all had a certain air of Southern languor, rather picturesque, but perhaps not altogether bracing. General Hunter received us, that day, with his usual kindliness; there was a good deal of pleasant chat; Miles O'Reilly was called in to read his latest verses; and then we came to the matter in hand. Jacksonville, on the St. John's River, in Florida, had been already twice taken and twice evacuated; having been occupied by Brigadier-General Wright, in March, 1862, and by Brigadier-General Brannan, in October of the same year. The second evacuation was by Major-General Hunter's own order, on the avowed ground that a garrison of five thousand was needed to hold the place, and that this force could not be spared. The present proposition was to take and hold it with a brigade of less than a thousand men, carrying, however, arms and uniforms for twice that number, and a month's rations. The claim was, that there were fewer rebel troops in the Depart
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