This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Chapter
47
: freedmen's aid societies and an act of congress creating a Bureau of refugees, freedmen and abandoned lands
Chapter
55
:
first
appropriation by congress for the bureau; the reconstruction Act,
March
2
,
1867
; increase of educational work
Chapter
60
: opposition to Bureau and reconstruction work became personal; the
Congregational Church of
Washington
Chapter
62
: life in
Washington, D. C.
,
1866
to
1874
; assigned to duty in regular army as commander,
Department of the Columbia
Chapter
63
: in the
Northwest
, among the
Indians
; trip to
Alaska
; life in
Portland, Ore.
;
1874
to
1881
Chapter
64
: superintendent of the
United States military Academy
; commanding
Department of the Platte
,
Omaha, Neb.
Chapter
68
:
French
army maneuvers,
1884
; promotion to
Major General
,
United States army
,
San Francisco
1886
-
88
[418] the lowest resorts and hovels of the district; but he did not think that he and the other owners of that property ought to be required to bear so heavy a burden. I said to the gentleman that there were thousands of people, refugees and freedmen, in the same condition as those on his valuable property, and I could not then see how to relieve him; that I was charged in an opposition press with “feeding people in idleness,” and I must not add to our pauper list. Yet I answered him, however, that I knew I ought to make an effort to help him. At last, I proposed, as I should have done in the field, to go to the place where the trouble was pressing. We took a carriage and rode to the encumbered lots and rough structures. We called out all the men that we found in the buildings. Many of them did not lack intelligence. At first, I explained the situation as I understood it, telling the people who we were. When I said: “You cannot expect to stay here on other people's property without paying rent,” they very pertinently asked: “Where shall we go, and what shall we dot” I answered them by asking another question: “What would make you self-supporting!” Several replied: “Land I give us land!” They seemed to realize that they could not much longer stay there in the heart of the capital on that costly ground. Yet some were saucy and some stupid; but the greater number appeared anxious somehow to earn their way. At last, I said: “Now, if I could manage to secure you a homestead, say an acre of land apiece near the city, might I rely upon it that you would work, earn money, and repay my outlay?” Some of them fully understood me and earnestly promised to do so. Others hung down their heads and said nothing. The above is a detailed
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.