Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-11-22
The Great Naval Victory.
Addit1ona1 Details.
HOW THE NEGROES RECEIVED OUR ME-

we landed to take possession of the fort,
and among those found on shore by the
marines were several belonging to Gen
eral Drayton, commander of the post,
whose plantation on Hilton Head
Island was we'll stocked with fellows of
the genuine ebony cast. Two of them
:, were taken on board the Wabash, and
gave much interesting and reliable in
formation in regard to the situation of
the affairs on the island.
! One of them asserted that his master
had that morning assured him that he
might fall into other hands before
night, and he seemed to have been
sufficiently pleased with the prospect of
a change OF masters to get his little
bundle ready to be taken off.
THE NEGROES TRADING.
Early in the morning after the vic
tory the plantation negroes began to
come into camp, with the genuine Afri-
can instinct for trade. each had provi-
ded himself with turkey, shoulder of
bacon, or two shoulders and brace of
hams in the shape of a struggling por-
ker, which he bore kicking and squeal-
ing under his arm. 1t was amusing to
see the pertinacity with which the fell
lows would cling to their prize, even
while waiting to be questioned under
guard of file of soldiers. The instant
one was spoken to, the bit Of wide
awake or the rimless crown of straw
which did duty as hat would be jerked
off with characteristic obssquiousness,
the negro stand scraping and bowling
answering meanwhile his catechism, as
we'll as he could with the noisy and
struggling beast distracting his attention
Several who came in brought wagons
loaded with knapsacks and other ac-
counterments which they had picked up
on the way. All seemed ready to owork,
and those who were fortunate enough to
have possessed themselves of some stray
horse or pair of plantation mules
found abundant occupation.
THEY ARE CARED FOR
AS our troops were at first too busy
i'll making good their position to attend
to anything else, and the Guartermas-
ters had already more upon their hands
than they could well attend to, the ne,
groes who appeared were not encouraged
to remain but were at once sent back,
and on one pretense or another to take
care of themselves. But by the morn
ing of the second day fifty were already
at headquarters, and signs of much
grea ter influx were abundant
Those who remained were put under
the charge Of Capt. Goodrich, the Quar-
termaster of Gen. Wright's brigade
who saw that their wants were well at
tended to, giving up an old building to
their accommodation.
Our troops were accompanied in their
first reconnaissance into the island by
DR.. J. J. Craven, the efficient Surgeon
of the Third brigade, who reports the
negroes on the plantations further in
land as almost wild with delight at the
advent of our troops and the hasty flight
Of their masters, which they described
with the utmost gusto.
THE DAY OF DELIvERANCE.
90 Lord! massa," said one, ''we'se so
glad to see you. We'se prayed and
prayed the good Lord that he would
send you Yankees, and we knowed you Sc |
was coming.
"How could you know that?" asked |
DR.. Craven. ''You can t read the paper;
how did you get the news?'
mo, massa, we'se can't read, but |
we'se can listen. Massa and missus uses |
to read. and sometimes they's would |
read loud, and then we wonld listen So
making an expressive gesture indlca-
tive of close attention at keyhoe-
when Use git chance Use would !
list'n, anG Jim, him would listen, and |
We put the bits together, and we knew d. |
the Yankees was coming. Bless the |
Lord, massa. ~
CONVERSATION WITH THE CONTRA
BANDS.
Another stout fellow asserted that the
good Lord had appeared to him in the !
shape of yankee" who assured him
that his hour of deiverance was at hand
The poor, trusting creatures, never
seemed to question that war, which
they had heard was all about them.
must mean their deliverance from a
bondage with which they do not seem
to have been sufficiently in love to fol-
low the fortunes of their fleeing masters.
A drivers whip which was picked up,
and which the correspondent of the
Evening Post now has in his possession,
was shown one of them and he was
asked if he knew what it was
"Golly, Nasal said the negro, with
a suspicious, sidelong look at the famil-
lar whip he saw raised aloft. Guess dis
nigger knows what dat there is, and he
proceeded to explain the use to which it
was applied.
When some doubt was expressed as to
the negro statements in regard to num-
bers, one of them answered.:
"We can't read, but we Sc can count"
Glow did you learn to count?''
"Plcklng cotton, Elassa. Wese all
got to count when we pick cotton, massa.''
There seems to be abundant work for
them to do in picking cotton on Hilton
Head Island, which our troops have oc-
eupied, and it is to be hoped that their
services will De in some way turned to
account for this purpose
Acres Of it, already white for the har-
vest, were found within less thin mile
of Fort Walker, and will be lost unless
speedily attended to.
Several buildings filed with unginned
cotton were also found further back to-
ward Skull Greek, and on the islands
beyond that stream similar deposits
could be seen. A heavy smoke which
was seen at distance, the negroes re-
ported to come from a lot of cotton
which had been fred by the retreating
rebels.
For some reason the negroes at first
appeared inclined to wait until thew
were called for before making their ap-
pearance, but the few who were dis
missed on the first day spread the rc-