The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917

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[66] Gayerre, IV, p. 335.

[67] Gayerre, IV, p. 336.

[68] _Ibid._, p. 336.

[69] He said: "Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been
deprived of a participation in the glorious struggle for national
rights in which our country is engaged. This no longer exists.

As sons of freedom, you are now called upon to defend our most
inestimable blessing. As Americans, your country looks with confidence
to her adopted children for a valorous support as a faithful return
for the advantages enjoyed under her mild and equitable government. As
fathers, husbands and brothers, you are summoned to rally round the
standard of the eagle to defend all which is dear in existence.

Your country, although calling for your exertions, does not wish you
to engage in her cause without amply remunerating you for the services
rendered. Your intelligent minds are not to be led away by false
representations. Your love of honor would cause you to despise the man
who would attempt to deceive you. In the sincerity of a soldier and
the language of truth I address you.

To every noble-hearted, generous freeman--men of color, volunteering
to serve during the present contest with Great Britain and no longer,
there will be paid the same bounty in money and lands now received by
the white soldiers of the United States, viz.: $124 in money and 160
acres of land. The non-commissioned officers and privates will also be
entitled to the same monthly pay and daily rations and clothes,
furnished to any American soldier. On enrolling yourselves in
companies, the Major-General commanding will select officers from your
government from your white citizens. Your non-commissioned officers
will be appointed from among yourselves.

Due regard will be paid to the feelings of freemen and soldiers. You
will not, by being associated with white men in the same corps, be
exposed to improper comparisons, or unjust sarcasm. As a distinct,
independent battalion or regiment, pursuing the path of glory, you
will undivided, receive the applause and gratitude of your country
men.

To assure you of the sincerity of my intentions and my anxiety to
engage your invaluable services to our country, I have communicated my
wishes to the Governor of Louisiana, who is fully informed as to the
manner of enrollment, and will give you every necessary information on
the subject of this address." See Williams, "History of the Negro
Race," II, 25 and 26.

[70] Gayarre, IV, p. 406.

[71] He was probably regarded as a quadroon who had been accepted by
the white race. See Gayarre, IV, 406.

[72] Gayarre, IV, p. 451.

[73] _Ibid._, p. 427 et passim.

[74] For years after the Civil War, one of the most picturesque
figures in New Orleans was Jordan B. Noble, who at the time of the
Battle of New Orleans was a slim youth. It was his tireless beating of
the drum which led to battle the American forces on the nights of
December 23 and January 8. He lived to be an old man, and appeared on
several occasions at the St. Charles theatre, where a great audience
turned out to do him honor and give an ovation when he beat the drum
again as he had on those memorable nights. The Delta records a benefit
given him at the theatre in 1854. In 1851 _The New Orleans Picayune_
in commenting on the celebration of the victory of New Orleans notes
the presence in the line of parade of 90 colored veterans. "And who
did more than they to save the city?" it asks in the midst of a highly
eulogistic review of the battle. Grace King, "New Orleans, the Place
and the People," 256; and Grace King's letter to A. O. Stafford in
1904.

[75] Gayarre, IV, pp. 517-531.

[76] Fortier, "Louisiana," II, p. 231.

[77] Cable, "The Creoles," p. 211; Grace King, "New Orleans," 260.

[78] Martineau, "Society in America," p. 326 et passim.

[79] Channing, "The Jeffersonian System," 84.

[80] For a general sketch see Ballard and Curtis's "A Digest of the
Statutes of the State of Louisiana," pp. 65 et seq.

[81] Dunn, "Indiana," 234; and 1 Miss. (Walker), p. 36.

[82] See "The Revised Statutes of Louisiana," 1852, pp. 524 et seq.

[83] Rhodes, "History of the United States," III, 331.

[84] Flint, "Recollections of the Last Ten Years," 345.

[85] Olmsted, "The Cotton Kingdom," II, 213.

[86] Captain Marryat, Diary in America, 67-68.

[87] Desdunes, "Nos Hommes et Notre Histoire," 32.

[88] This fact is based on the statements of the persons concerned.

[89] Grace King, "New Orleans," 272.

[90] Trotter, "Music, and Some Musical People," pp. 339-340.

[91] _Ibid._, pp. 340-341; Desdunes, "Nos Hommes et Notre Histoire,"
pp. 117-118.

[92] The most definite picture, and the best possible of the state of
the persons of color in Louisiana, is to be found in Parton's "Butler
in New Orleans." History will never agree about Gen. Butler. He is
alternately execrated by the South, sneered at by the North, written
down by his contemporary officers, and canonized by the abolitionists.
If he did nothing else worthy of record, at least he gave the splendid
militia composed of the free men of color a chance to prove their
loyalty to the union by entering the Civil War as fighters.

We are indebted to him for the pictures he draws of the slave
population of Louisiana; of the wealth and beauty of the free men and
women of color. Their population was 18,647. "The best blood of the
South flows in the veins of these free people of color," he writes,
"and a great deal of it, for the darkest of some of them were about
the complexion of Daniel Webster." Parton, "General Butler in New
Orleans," p. 517.

[93] _New Orleans Picayune_, Feb. 9, 1862.

[94] Report of the Select Committee on the New Orleans Riots, p. 126.

[95] Ficklen, "Reconstruction in Louisiana," 121.

[96] From Ex-Lieutenant Governor Antoine we have a statement as to how
the troops were organized at Baton Rouge. Of the gallant officers of
this first regiment, one man lives to tell of its glories. This was
Col. James Lewis, who was in command for four months at Port Hudson.

[97] The battle of Port Hudson, like the battle of New Orleans, is
almost too well known to be told of. It takes its place naturally in
history with desperate fights, reminding one somewhat of the battles
of Balaklava. It was early in the morning of May 27, 1863, that the
engagement began. The colored men in line numbered 1,080. When the
order for assault was given they charged the fort, which belched forth
its flame and shot and shell. The slaughter was horrible, but the line
never wavered. Into the mill of death the colored troops hurled
themselves. The colors were shot through and almost severed from the
staff; the color-sergeant, Anselmas Planciancois, was killed, and two
corporals struggled for the honor of bearing the flag from his dying
hands. One of them was killed.

The bravest hero of the day was Capt. Andre Caillioux, whose name all
Louisianians remember with a thrill of pride. He was a freeman of West
Indian extraction, and fond of boasting of his blackness. With superb
heroism and splendid magnetism he led his men time and again into the
very "jaws of death" in the assault, and fell at the front in one last
heroic effort within fifty yards of the fort.

"Still forward and charge for the guns," said Caillioux,
And his shattered sword-arm was the guidon they knew;
But a fire rakes the flanks and a fire rakes the van,
He is down with the ranks that go down as one man.

A correspondent of the _New York Times_ gave a most glowing account of
the battle. "During the time the troops rallied, they were ordered to
make _six distinct charges_, losing 37 killed, 155 wounded, and
sixteen missing.... The deeds of heroism performed by these colored
men were such as the proudest white men might emulate.... I could fill
your columns with startling tales of their heroism. Although repulsed
in an attempt which, situated as things were, was almost impossible,
these regiments, though badly cut up, are still on hand, and burning
with a passion ten times hotter from their fierce baptism of blood."
See Williams, "History of the Negro Race," II, 321.

The battle of Milliken's Bend will always rank as one of the hardest
fought engagements in the Civil War. It was an important point on the
river, because it commanded Vicksburg, and in General Grant's scheme
to effect the reduction of that city, it was necessary to control this
point. The engagement was on June 6, 1863, and continued from three in
the morning until twelve noon. Never did men fight with greater
courage against such odds at the point of the bayonet than did these
colored troops. The appalling list of casualties shows how they stood
the test. Of the officers in the colored forces, seven were killed,
nine wounded, three missing. Of the enlisted men, 123 killed, 182
wounded, 113 missing. In commenting on this battle, Schouler, in his
history of the United States, speaks of the great bravery shown by the
troops, and points out there was a sudden change of opinion in the
South about enlisting colored troops on the side of the Confederacy.
"Many of the clear-sighted leaders of this section proposed seriously
to follow the Northern President's example,--and arm Negro slaves as
soldiers." He adds: "That strange conclusion, had it ever been
reached, would perhaps have reunited North and South eventually in
sentiment,--by demonstrating at length the whole fallacy upon which
the social difference of sections had so long rested. For as a
Confederate writer expressed it, 'if the Negro was fit to be a
soldier, he was not fit to be a slave,'" Schouler, "History of U. S.,"
Vol. VI, p. 407; and Williams, "History of the Negro Race," II,
326-328.

[98] Colonel Lewis's statement.

[99] Based on the statements of slaves.

[100] Rhodes, "History of the U. S.," VII, 104 et seq.; Schouler,
"History of U. S.," VI, 245 et seq.

[101] Ficklen, "Reconstruction in Louisiana," 47 et seq.

[102] _Ibid._, pp. 64, 65.

[103] In the meanwhile, Confederates had set up a capital at
Shreveport, and their governor recommended Negro conscripts in the
Confederate army. His reasoning was acute and clear: He said, "The
Negro must play an important part in the war. He caused the fight, and
he must have his portion of the burden to bear." See Ficklen,
"Reconstruction," 63.

[104] Ficklen, "Reconstruction," 63.

[105] Blaine's "Twenty Years of Congress," II, 39, 40.

[106] Lincoln, Address of, April 11, 1865.

[107] 39 Cong. House of Representatives, No. 16.

[108] Ficklen, "Reconstruction in Louisiana," 146-179.

[109] Not all Southern sympathizers saw menace in granting the Negro
political privileges. Seeing it inevitable, General Beauregard wrote
in 1867, "If the suffrage of the Negro is properly handled and
directed, we shall defeat our adversaries with their own weapons. The
Negro is Southern born. With education and property qualifications, he
can be made to take an interest in the affairs of the South, and in
its prosperity. He will side with the whites." Letter of Gen.
Beauregard.

[110] With the year 1868 one of the most picturesque and splendid
figures in the history of the state springs fully into the light.
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback had already made himself known by
his efforts to recruit soldiers for the Louisiana Native Guards; by
his stringent demands for the rights of the colored man on all
occasions. He was the dashing young Lochinvar of the political
struggle. He had made his first move in 1867 by organizing the Fourth
Ward Republican Club, and had been appointed Inspector of Customs by
Collector of Port Kellogg. In the Constitution of 1868 he took his
definite role of a fighter to be feared, respected and followed--and
for many a year afterwards, the history of Louisiana is written around
his name. Simmons, "Men of Mark," 672.

[111] Accounts of this appeared in the _Tribune_, the best, and almost
the only influential organ of the Republican party in the state, the
editor of which was Dr. Roudanez, a well-to-do man of color. It was
not a financial success, though a powerful factor in the political
arena. Dr. Roudanez said that he spent over $35,000 on the paper in
the effort to keep up an honest organ. It was suspended in April,
1868, but was revived later.

[112] Journal of the Convention, 124, 192, 205 et passim.

[113] Simmons, "Men of Mark," 678.

[114] Journal of the Senate, 1868, p. 21.

[115] Pinchback's own Statement.

[116] Based on the statements of the persons participating in these
affairs.

[117] Rhodes, "History of the U. S.," VII, 287.

[118] Mr. T. T. Allain is now living in Chicago. He has much to say in
praise of the efficient, honest and courageous men of color who
administered the affairs of Louisiana during this period. Mr. Allain
himself was a State Senator.

[119] The report consisted of answers to the following questions:

1. What was the condition of the accounts of the Treasurer connected
with the verification of the entries of such accounts as well as
ascertaining by such verification whether the receipts had been
correctly entered and disbursed, and the cash properly and legally
applied.

2. What mode of settlement had been established by the Treasurer in
receiving revenue turned in by tax collectors.

3. What discrimination, if any, had been exercised in the payment of
warrants.

The report in part was:

"Beyond these matters your committee find the books of the Treasurer
to have been kept in an orderly manner; the disbursements have been
regularly entered, and the cash presently all accounted for up to the
first of January, 1877, to which period this report alone extends.
These vouchers and orders are all on hand and the warrants for each
payment are properly canceled....

"These figures do not of necessity import proof absolute and
conclusive of any undue favoritism, although by circumstances and
legitimate inference they point to that conclusion. Warrants being
negotiable it has been impossible to ascertain who held those
outstanding, and therefore impossible to fix a proper proportion of
payment, but the fact that the multitude of payments made to the same
person, while other warrant holders were forced to wait, and the
intimacy existing between themselves or their employees and the
Treasurer are, undeniably, circumstances which, unexplained, justify
at least a suspicion that these parties have enjoyed facilities,
preferences and privileges at the Treasury over the general public, to
which they were not entitled.

"It is true that these figures are explained by statements that the
proportion paid the respective persons mentioned were only in
proportion to the amount which the warrants held by them bore to the
whole amount of outstanding warrants, but this explanation in itself
merits notice and explanation, because of the fact that the persons
named were the holders of such a large amount of warrants imply some
inducement on their part to invest in them, more especially as by
avocation the majority of them were not brokers but employees in the
Custom-House. Some of them have testified that all the warrants they
held were paid. Another has refused to disclose for whom he collected.
A third was a relative of a personal employee of the Treasurer. One
has been shown to be a constant frequenter of his office, and must
have been an intimate of the Treasurer's from the fact that he appears
to have been the payee of a check for $75,000 illegally drawn, as
mentioned before. They point, at least, to the necessity of such
legislation as may be adequate to prevent even possible suspicion of
favoritism in the future. Under the provisions of the acts of the
General Assembly, passed at the session of 1877, the danger of
favoritism has been very much safeguarded and needs supplementing in
only minor particulars.

"The Treasurer certainly by comparison deserves commendation for
having accounted for all moneys coming into his hands, being in this
particular a remarkable exception. EDWARD D. WHITE, JAMES D. HILL, SAM
H. BUCK."--Report of Joint Committee to Investigate the Treasurer's
Office, State of Louisiana, to the General Assembly, 1877, pp. 7-12,
Majority Report.

NOTES ON CONNECTICUT AS A SLAVE STATE

On June 17 Mr. E. B. Bronson, the Winchester historian and president
of the Winchester Historical Society, delivered before the woman's
club and the students of the Gilbert School an address on "Connecticut
as a Slave State." The address in part was:

"The caste system was in full being in church, business and
social life. There was no more question about his right of
keeping slaves than of his owning sheep. The minister--the leader
and aristocrat of the day--invariably owned his slave or slaves.
Even the heavenly-minded John Davenport and Edward Hopkins were
not adverse to the custom, and Rev. Ezra Stiles, one time
president of Yale college and later a vigorous advocate of
emancipation, sent a barrel of rum to Africa to be traded for a
'Blackamoor,' because, he said, 'It is a great privilege for the
poor Negroes to be taken from the ignorant and wicked people of
Guiana and be placed in a Christian land, where they can become
good Christians and go to heaven when they die.' Religious
freedom was an inherent right of the mind, but slaveholding was a
matter of the pocketbook, and an entirely different proposition
in the Puritan eyes. The fact of the matter is, he kept them
because it paid.

"The high-water mark of slavery in Connecticut was reached in
1774, and thereafter steadily declined. To speak in the Billy
Sunday vernacular, 'Connecticut had hit the sawdust path.' The
number of slaves rapidly decreased from 6,562 in 1774 to only
2,759 in 1790, and 10 years later, in 1800, there were only 951
slaves in the state. Still the good work went on, and in 1810
only 310 were left. In 1820 but 97, and in 1830, 200 years from
the commencement of the evil system, there were only 25 slaves
owned within Connecticut's borders. In 1840 there were 17. In
1848 Connecticut experienced a full change of heart and enacted a
law forever doing away with this blot upon her fair escutcheon,
and emancipated all slaves remaining in Connecticut. At this time
there were but six slaves remaining in bondage within the state.

"Throughout the whole history of this slavery thraldom in
Connecticut, some curious laws were passed, showing that the
Puritan was not fully satisfied with the situation. In 1702,
there was enacted a law which arose from the practice of turning
loose a slave who had broken down, and was of little use, and
abandoning him, thus forcing him to care for himself. This law
obliged the last owner of the slave and his heirs, and
administrators, to pay for the care of these wrecks of humanity.
In 1711 it was further enacted, that in case the former owner
refused to give the care required, the selectmen of the town
where the owner resided, should care for the needy slave, and
collect with costs from his owner. In 1774 it was enacted that
'no Indian, Negro, or mulatto slave, shall at any time hereafter
be brought or imported into this state, by sea or by land, from
any place or places whatsoever, to be disposed of, left or sold,
within this state.'

"In 1784, a law was passed which provided that no Negro or
mulatto child born after March 1, 1784, should be held in
servitude beyond the age of 25 years. In 1797, a further
enactment released all colored children from slavery, when they
'had attained the age of 21 years.' Connecticut gradually was
'coming to her own' again. Even the ministry received a change of
heart, for in 1788, the general association of ministers of
Connecticut declared the slave trade to be unjust, and that every
justifiable measure ought to be taken to suppress it. In 1789,
Connecticut shippers were prohibited from engaging in the slave
trade anywhere.

"One of the interesting points to note in this gradual
metamorphosis is that as the number of slaves gradually
diminished, the number of free Negroes correspondingly increased,
showing that but comparatively few left the state. The caste
system was in full force everywhere. It was very evident in the
church. For years the system of 'dignifying the pews,' as it was
termed, was practiced. That is, assigning seats to the different
members of the parish by a committee appointed for that purpose.
For a man must go to church whether he wished to or not, and pay
his share of supporting the minister, by a tax laid upon him and
collected by the town. Social standing secured the first choice
of seats, wealth the second, and piety the last. In this
assignment one or more pews were 'set off' away up in the top of
the gallery for the slaves of the social leaders and ministers.
At the First Congregational church, Winsted, there were two pews
thus 'set off' in the gallery, and they were so high up that they
were called 'Nigger heaven.'

"In 1837, a number of enthusiasts were invited to meet in
Wolcottville (now Torrington) to organize a county abolition
society. Upon looking for a place of meeting, they found that
every church, public and private hall, was closed against them,
and also heard public threats of violence if they persisted in
attempting to hold a meeting, from the proslavery element of the
town. A barn was offered them as a meeting place and promptly
accepted. The barn was filled, floor, scaffold, haymow and
stables, by these disciples of abolition. It was a very cold day
in January, and much suffering resulted in spite of their warm
zeal. Roger S. Mills of New Hartford was appointed chairman, and
Rev. R. M. Chipman of Harwinton secretary, and Daniel Coe of
Winsted offered prayer. The following officers were appointed:
President, Roger S. Mills; vice-presidents, Erastus Lyman of
Goshen, Gen. Daniel Brinsmade of Washington, Gen. Uriel Tuttle of
Torringford and Jonathan Coe of Winsted; secretary, Rev. R. M.
Chipman of Harwinton, and treasurer, Dr. E. D. Hudson of
Torringford. While being addressed by an agent of the American
society, and suffering from extreme cold, they were attacked by a
mob of proslaveryites who had paraded the streets of Wolcottville
and had elevated their courage with New England rum. They
gathered around the barn which was near the Congregational
church, yelling, blowing horns, thumping on tin pans and kettles,
and ringing furiously the church bell, and finally, by brute
force, broke up the meeting which took a hasty adjournment.

"When the people were leaving Wolcottville the entire village
seemed to be a bedlam. Dea Ebenezer Rood was set upon while in
his sleigh, and some of the mob endeavored to overturn him and
cause his horses to run away. But the blood of his Puritan
ancestors became rampant, and in defiance he shouted: 'Rattle
your pans; hoot and toot; ring your bells, ye pesky fools, if it
does ye any good,' and plying his whip to his now frantic horses
he escaped the mob.

"Torringford street arose in its anger and might, at this insult,
opened her church doors, and the abolition convention held
session there for two days. Although there was great opposition
on the street at this new move, there was no other demonstration.

"Inspired by Dea Rood's defiance, the abolition spirit blazed
high, and monthly meetings were held in barns, sheds, and groves,
throughout the county. These enthusiasts were called all sorts of
opprobrious names such as, 'Nigger friends, and disturbers of
Israel,' and some were excommunicated from the churches. These
were indeed stirring days; Connecticut had received a change of
heart, and in her ecstasy had forgotten her own sins.

"Even our own village did not escape unscathed. A pastor of the
First Congregational church who had strong antislavery
principles, dared to preach an abolition sermon one Sunday from
his pulpit, and the next morning the village was flooded with a
'Broadside' demanding the people to rise, and teach this
disturber a lesson, and not allow such sins to be perpetrated in
their midst. A copy of this sheet was even nailed upon his own
doorway, and is now deposited in our historical society, and is
worthy of your perusal.

"Even the historic cannon now reposing in our historical rooms
was used to break up 'pestilent abolition meetings' in our own
midst. Thus I have endeavored to give you some idea of an
interesting phase in the history of our Commonwealth, that may
not be familiar to all, and which I would term as a Connecticut
mistake."--_The Springfield Republican_, June 18, 1916.

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