Under this order 32,400 men, women, and children had these provisions distributed to them, under a system which ensured that the food went to the weakest every day. These were all poor whites; the blacks were otherwise provided for. My supplies for the army[393] service as soldiers for that purpose, while they made their sons and nephews officers. They cannot protect those whom they have ruined, but have left them to the mercies and assassinations of a chronic mob. They will not feed those whom they are starving. Mostly without property themselves, they have plundered, stolen, and destroyed the means of those who had property, leaving children penniless and old age hopeless. Men of Louisiana, workingmen, property-holders, merchants, and citizens of the United States, of whatever nation you may have had birth, how long will you uphold these flagrant wrongs, and, by inaction, suffer yourselves to be made the serfs of these leaders? The United States have sent land and naval forces here to fight and subdue rebellious armies in array against her authority. We find, substantially, only fugitive masses, runaway property-burners, a whiskey-drinking mob, and starving citizens with their wives and children. It is our duty to call back the first, to punish the second, root out the third, feed and protect the last. Ready only for war, we had not prepared ourselves to feed the hungry and relieve the distressed with provisions. But to the extent possible within the power of the commanding general, it shall be done. He has captured a quantity of beef and sugar intended for the rebels in the field. A thousand barrels of these stores will be distributed among the deserving poor of this city, from whom the rebels had plundered it; even although some of the food will go to supply the craving wants of the wives and children of those now herding at “Camp Moore” and elsewhere, in arms against the United States. Capt. John Clark, Acting Chief Commissary of Subsistence, will be charged with the execution of this order, and will give public notice of the place and manner of distribution, which will be arranged, as far as possible, so that the unworthy and dissolute will not share its benefits. By command of
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Under this order 32,400 men, women, and children had these provisions distributed to them, under a system which ensured that the food went to the weakest every day. These were all poor whites; the blacks were otherwise provided for. My supplies for the army
A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.
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