These stories of black and white people struggling against a common foe may seem strange to those who have only read the victor’s views of the War for Southern Independence. Volumes could be and are in the process of being written about how well the people of the South got along with each other until the Yankee showed up. Let us once again look at the words of one who lived as a slave during that time: “I suppose dem Yankees wuz all right in dere place, but dey neber belong in de South. … An’ as for dey a-setting me free! Miss, us [Negroes] … wuz free as soon as we wuz bawn. I always been free!”42
EX-SLAVES SPEAK OUT FOR THE SOUTH
During the late 1930s the federal government, through its Works Projects Administration (WPA), sent journalists and writers throughout the South, and a few Northern states to collect the firsthand testimony of the remaining ex-slaves of America. Their testimony was collected and is maintained in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. In the following text we reproduce some of the statements of those ex-slaves as a representative sample of the entire “Narratives.” We are in debt to the Reverend Steve Wilkins of Monroe, Louisiana, who has completed research on four state narratives, for his help with this information which is quoted from his forthcoming work on the “Slave Narratives.” In his research of the “Slave Narratives” Rev. Wilkins has found that a vast majority (more than seventy percent) of ex-slaves had only good experiences to report about life as a slave and about the Old South. We will use the very words of these ex-slaves to give us an idea what their life was like before the war. We will look at how the ex-slaves reported their feelings toward slavery, Yankees, freedom, and the Confederacy.
SLAVERY
Isaam Morgan, Mobile, AL
“Any time a slave worked over time or cut mo’ wood dan he s’pose to, Massa pay him money for it, ’cauze when ever one of us slaves seen somp’n we lak, we did jus lak de white folks does now. Us bought it. Massa never whupped none of his slaves…… No’m none of our slaves ever tried to run away. Dey all knowed dey was well off. … dey [Yankees] offered me a hoss iffen I would go nawth wid dem, but I jus’ couldn’t leave de Massa even dough I did want dat hoss mighty bad.”43
Simon Phillips, AL
“People has the wrong idea of slave days. We was treated good. My Massa never laid a hand on me the whole time I was wid him. … Sometime we loaned the massa money when he was hard pushed.”44
Mary Rice, AL
“Massa Cullen and Mistis Ma’y Jane was de bes’ Marster and Mistis in de worl’! Once when I was awful sick, Mistis Ma’y Jane had me brung in de Big House and put me in a room dat sot on de ’other side of the kitchen so she could take kere of me herself cause it was a right fur piece to de quarter and I had to be nussed day and night. … I was happy all de time in slavery days, but dere ain’t much to git happy over now. …”45
D. Davis, Marvell, AR
”… de furst of ebery week he [the master] gib each en ebery single man or family a task fer to do dat week en atter dat task is done den dey is fru wuk fer dat week en kin den ten de patches whut he would gib dem for ter raise whut dey want on, en whut de slabes raise on dese patches dat he gib dem would be deres whut-sum-eber [whatsoever] hit would be, cotton er taters er whut, hit would be, dey own, en dey could sell hit en hab de money fer dem selves ter buy whut dey want.”46
Elija Henry Hopkins, Little Rock, AR
“I was fed just like I was one of the [master’s] children. They even done put me to bed with them. You see, this discrimination on color wasn’t as bad then as it is now. They handled you as a slave but they didn’t discriminate against you on account of color like they do now. In slavery times, a poor white man was worse off than a nigger.”47
Sarah and Tom Douglas, AL
“Slavery times wuz sho good times. We wuz fed an’ clothed an’ had nothin to worry about… ,”48
Jane Georgiana, AL
“Ole Marster dead an’ gone an’ Ole Mistis too, but I ’members ’em jus’ lak dey was, when dey looked atter us whenst we belonged to ’em or dey belong to us, I dunno which it was.” “De times was better fo’ de war. … I goes to church an’ sings an’ prays, an’ when de good Lord teks me, I’se ready to go, en I specs to see Jesus an’ Ole Mistis an’ Ole Marster when I gits to de he’benly land’!”49
Gus Brown, Richmond, VA
[Brown was a body servant of William Brown, Confederate soldier] “I cannot forget old massa. He was good and kind. He never believed in slavery, but his money was tied up in slaves and he didn’t want to lose all he had. I knows I will see him in heaven and even though I have to walk ten miles for a bite of bread, I can still be happy to think about the good times we had then.”50
YANKEES AND FREEDOM
Hannah Irwin, AL
“I suppose dem Yankees wuz all right in dere place, but dey neber belong in de South. Why Miss, one of ’em axe me what wuz dem white flowers in de fiel’? You’d think dat a gentmen wid all dem decorations on hisself woulda knowed a fiel’ of cotton! An’ as for dey a-settin’ me free! Miss, us niggers on de Bennett place wuz free as soon as we wuz bawn. I always been free!”51
“Aunt” Adeline, Fayetteville, AR
“After the war many soldiers [Yankees] came to my mistress, Mrs. Blakely, trying to make her free me. I told them I was free but I did not want to go anywhere, that I wanted to stay in the only home that I ever known. … Sometimes I was threatened for not leaving but I stayed on.”52
Betty Curlett, Hazen, AR (parents were slaves)
“When Mars Daniel come home he went to my papa’s house and says John, you free.’ He says, ’I been free as I wanter be whah I is.’ He went on to my grandpa’s house and says, ’Toby, you are free!’ He raised up and says, ’You brought me here from Africa and North Carolina and 1 goiner’ stay wid you as long as ever I get sompin to eat. You gotter look after me!’ Mars Daniel say, ’Well I ain’t runnin’ nobody off my place as long as they behave.’ Purtnigh every nigger set tight till he died of the old sets. Mars Daniel say to grandpa, ’Toby you ain’t my nigger.’ Grandpa raise up and say, ’I is too.’”53
Cora Gillam, Little Rock, AR
“I’ll tell you lady, if the rough element from the North had stayed out of the South the trouble of reconstruction would not have happened. … they tried to excite the colored against their white friends. The white folks was still kind to them what had been their slaves. They would have helped them get started. I know that. I always say that if the South could of been left to adjust itself both white and colored would have been better off.”54
THE CONFEDERACY
Tom McAlpin, AL
“Boss, dere ain’t never been nobody afightin’ lak our ’Federates [Confederates] done, but dey ain’t never had a chance. Dere was jes’ too many of dem blue coats for us to lick. … Our ’Federates was de bes’ fightin’ men dat ever were. Dere warn’t nobody lak our ’Federates. … Yassuh, I was sont to Richmond to bring home some of our wounded ’Federates. They sont me caze dey knowed I warn’t afeered of nothin’. Dat’s de way I’ve always tried to be, white boss, lak my white people what raised me. God bless ’em.”55
Gus Brown, Richmond, VA
“The Yankees didn’t beat us, we wuz starved out! … I am a Confederate veteran… ,”56
Sam Ward, Pine Bluff, AR
“I never did care much for politics, but I’ve always been for the South. I love the Southland.”57
James Gill, Marvell, AR
“… all dem good times ceasted atter a while when de War come and de Yankees started all dere debbilment [devilment]. Us was Confederates all de while…… But de Yankees, dey didn’t know dat we was Confederates. … When de Yankees ud come dey would ax [ask] my mammy, ’Aunt Mary, is you seen any Se-cesh [secessionists] today’? and mammy, sheud say, ’Naw-suh’ eben iffen she had seen some of us mens, but when any our sojers ud come and say, ’Aunt Mary, is you seen any Yankees ’round here recent?’ she ud allus [always] tell dem de truf.”58
The statements
of these former slaves clearly show that many blacks very actively supported the Southern cause during the war. The modest statements of these people speak volumes about how they felt about their position in life at that time. Elija Hopkins of Little Rock made the statement that “In slavery times, a poor white man was worse off than a nigger.” It is clear from this statement that this slave did not feel as if he were at the bottom of Southern society. One song that slave children sang stated “I’d rather be a nigger than a poor white man.”59
The Abolitionist concept of Southern society placed the master on top and the black on the bottom of society. In reality, the structure of Southern society was not vertical, but rather circular. Each person could feel as if he or she were a little ahead of someone else in society. The white master felt better off than the white middle class, the slave felt better off than the poor white, and the white felt better off than the slave. Each group sensed that there was a group ahead and behind him in society as if they were stand in a circle. This allowed each group to respect another group without the fear of losing its place in society. Thus arose the closeness that has been reported by the Yankee about antebellum Southern society.
NORTHERN TREATMENT OF SOUTHERN BLACKS
The former Alabama slave, Hanna Irwin, clearly points out her feelings about the Yankee invader: “I suppose dem Yankees wuz all right in dere place, but dey neber belong in de South.” Many people believe that the Yankee was a great liberator of the black people. Yet, according to the Official Records: War of the Rebellion, nothing could be further from the truth. What the Yankee brought to the blacks was thievery, rape, and murder.
In a letter from J. T K. Hayward to J. W. Brook, who subsequently forwarded it to United States secretary of war Simon Cameron, Hayward described how Northern troops were “… committing rapes on the negroes and such like things. … These things are not exaggerated by me, … and no punishment, or none of any account, has been meted out to them.”60 In Alabama, Yankee colonel John B. Turchin allowed his men to do as they pleased in the town of Athens. The official records show he allowed his men to “… plunder and pillage the inhabitants. … They attempted an indecent outrage on … her [the mistress of the plantation] servant girl. A part of this brigade went to the plantation … and [stayed] in the negro huts for weeks, debauching the females. Several soldiers committed rape on the person of a colored girl. …”61 Colonel Turchin’s acts were so appalling that he was court-martialled and convicted for his crimes on July 7, 1862. Clearly his conviction had no ill effect upon his career as a Union officer. One month after his conviction, he was offered a promotion to the rank of Brigadier General of United States Volunteer Troops. Turchin served in that capacity until October 4, 1864.62 Even after the fall of Richmond, General Grant was notified that “A number of cases of atrocious rape by these men [Yankees] have already occurred. Their influence on the colored population is also reported to be bad.”63
Throughout the official records one can find reports of such fiendish activity by the “Yankee liberators.” Not only did the bluecoats commit heinous acts upon the black women of the South, but their actions against the black males were equally hideous.
It seems to be in vogue today to talk about black Union soldiers. What is not often told is how many of these men were compelled to become soldiers. In a letter from Gen. John A. Logan (U.S.) to General Grant, Logan states, “A major of colored troops is here with his party capturing negroes, with or with out their consent. … They are being conscripted.”64 In May of 1862 Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase received the following message. “The negroes were sad. … Sometimes whole plantations, learning what was going on, ran off to the woods for refuge. … This mode of [enlistment by] violent seizure… is repugnant.”65 The next day at the same plantation the following was reported:
On some plantations the wailing and screaming were loud and the [black] women threw themselves in despair on the ground. On some plantations the people took to the woods and were hunted up by the soldiers. … I doubt if the recruiting service in this country has ever been attended with such scenes before.66
Not since they experienced the degradations of the slave hunter in Africa had this race of people known such treatment. And all of this was being done by those who pretended to be friends of the slaves!
From Nashville, Union general Rousseau wrote to Gen. George Thomas the following: “Officers in command of colored troops are in constant habit of pressing all able-bodied slaves into the military service of the U.S.”67
Even after the blacks were placed in the Union army, they were still treated worse than they had been on the plantation. A black soldier named Sam Marshall was arrested for trying to visit his family. The following is an account of what happened to him. “About a dozen of the soldiers did escort him. … they tied him to a tree, and stripping him to the waist lacerated his back with a cowskin, the marks of which Sam will carry to his grave.”68 Over in Virginia Gen. Innis N. Palmer (U.S.) wrote General Butler in ’64 the following:
The negroes will not go voluntarily, so I am obliged to force them. … The matter of collecting the colored men for laborers has been one of some difficulty.. . . They must be forced to go, … this may be considered a harsh measure, but … we must not stop at trifles.69
This letter clearly shows how the Yankees had to resort to force in order to obtain the black soldiers they wanted. This attitude, as displayed in the letter, reveals what little respect these Union men had for the rights of the black men or for legality of any type. Once the Constitution, and the rights it is designed to protect, are disregarded, it becomes very easy to be a tyrant, and this is as true today as it was during the War for Southern Independence.
The preceding statements are but a very few which could be cited as proof of Northern disregard for the rights of the Southern blacks. For a complete review of the brutal and fiendish activity of the United States forces throughout the South, against not only the black but also against white civilians, we suggest reading The Uncivil War: Union Army and Navy Excesses in the Official Records edited by Thomas Bland Keys. Its information is derived from the Official Records: War of the Rebellion, the official report of the war generated by the federal government.
As we have already said, the relations between master and slave varied widely throughout the South. Unfortunately, most people are taught only about the “Simon Legree” or Uncle Tom’s Cabin type of relationship. Human nature being what it is, no doubt there were some such men in the Old South and in the North. But what about the other side of the story? What about the masters who did their utmost to care for and to improve the lives of their slaves? Jefferson Davis was just such a slave master.
JEFFERSON DAVIS’ VIEW OF SLAVERY
Jefferson Davis was influenced early in his life by his older brother, Joseph, who desired to improve the lot of man. Joseph was inspired by the writings of an English industrialist and social reformer, Robert Owen, the author of the book, A New View of Society.70 Owen’s conception of a new society was based upon fair and generous treatment of all people. This in itself was a revolutionary idea, with great potential for improving the lot of downtrodden industrial workers of the world. Joseph Davis met and talked with Owens, and he made a determination to use Owens’ approach on his Mississippi plantation. Joseph established as rules for the running of his plantation some of the most liberal regulations known to slavery. “The slave quarters exceeded what was considered ideal by the agricultural journals of the period. A variety of food was made available; in some cases with unlimited quantities. Davis even established a court system where a slave was punished except upon conviction by a jury of his peers.”71 Jefferson Davis patterned the conduct of his plantation after that of his older brother Joseph.
In the South at that time, there were several different views of slavery. From the extreme “Fire Eaters” who desired the continuation and extension of slavery, to those who, like Robert E. Lee, desired a quick end to the system. Like all other p
hilosophies, the “peculiar institution” of slavery had a middle ground. It was here that men such as the Davis brothers stood. In Jefferson Davis’ view the system of slavery would have a natural end. For it to arrive at that natural end, the enlightened slave master had to prepare his “people” for freedom. Davis stated, “The slave must be made fit for his freedom by education and discipline and thus be made unfit for slavery.”72 For this reason he attempted to “educate” his slaves in the ways of civilized society. On his plantation, Jefferson Davis instituted a system of slave laws, courts, and juries in an effort to improve the understanding of his slaves for what life under “freedom” would be like. It is worthy of note that, under Davis’ slave legal system, he could pardon a convicted person but not increase the punishment administered by the slave jury.
In view of how Davis’ slaves were treated on his plantation, is it any wonder that so many blacks had such respect for Davis? When asked by a Yankee how he felt about Jefferson Davis, an elderly slave replied, “… I loved him, and I can say that every colored man he ever owned loved him.”73
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