Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1861-11-21
THE NEGROES TRADING.

hEArly @ the morning after tho vicfbry
ID plantation negroes began 70 come INTO
GIMP, with the genuine African instinct
Tor trade. each had provided himself with
a turkey. q shoulder Of bacon. or two
shouldersapd brace of hams in the shape
Of af.rhshaa. porket which sobore kick
ing and squealing under his arm. 1t was
amusing to see the pertinacity with which
the fellows would cling 10 their prize. even
while waiting to be questioned under guafd
Of a. filo Of solriiers.n The instant one was
spohensto. the bitlof widsswake or rin,less,
crown Of straw which did duty as hat
would be jerkedoff With characteristic OBJ
seguiosmsess. the negro stand scraring and.
bowling, answering limeanwliaei his cate-I
chism. as well as he could with, the noisy
AMI struggling beast -distraciing his atten-
tiouHl Io sT<IKTflonq4yl 8uT
Several who came in brought wagons
loaded with knspsscks and otIier accopter-
ments which they had picked up on the
way All seemed ready 10 work. and
those who were fortpaate enough to- have
possessed themselves of some stray horse or
PAL, of plantation mules found abundant
occupation ,..ai.rr 49,. s... -
mu 2 THEY ARE CARED Fon. $40 ,fss9
As our troops were at first too bnsy in
inaking good their position TO attend to
anything else. and the Quartermasters had
already more upon their hands than they
could well attend to. the negroes who ap-
nsared were not encouraged to remain but
~ Il
tence or another to take care of themselves.
But by the morning of the second day fifty
were already at headquarters. and signs of
much greater influx were abundant.
Those who remained were put under the
charge of Capt. Goodrich. the Qaartermas-
ter of Gen. Wright's brigade. who saw
that their wants were well attended to. Civ
ing mp al old baildiog for their sccommo-
dation. aeH
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 inland as almost
wild with delighe a the advent of our
troops and the hasty flight Of their masters.
which they described with the utmost gus
Ito. 1- ea
THE DAY OF DEIrvEnaScE.
20 Lordr massa." said one. "we'se SO
glad to see you. We'se prayed and pray
ed the good Lord that he. would send you
Yankees. and we knowed yu'se was com
coming
"How could you know that?" asked DR.
Craven. lyon cant read the paper. how
did you get the news?"
mo, massa. we'se can't read. but we'st
can listen. Massa and missu> uses t.
read. and sometimes they's would real
loud. aud then we would lisien so"-ma
king an expressive &c. ture Indicative O.
close attention at key hole--"When Use
lgit chance Use wonld list'n. and Jim
him would listen. and we put the bits to-
Igeiber. and we knaw'd the Yankees wa'
coming Bless the Lord. massa."
CONVERSATION WITH THE coSTRABANDs.
| Another stout fellow asserted that tn,
lgood Lord had appeared to him in th'
shape of Yankee" who assured hin
that his hour OF delivcrsnce was at hand
The poor. trusting creatures. never seem
ed to question that war, which they haf
heard was all about them. must mean thei
deliverance from a bondage with which
Ithey do not seem to have been sufficiently
in love to follow the fortunes Of their flee
ling masters. sfss asfss..l .s.I
|. A drivers whip which was picked MP
and which the correspondent % the Eve
ming Post how has in his possession. wa
shown ono Of them. and he was asked ]
he knew what it was. -. ~. ~
.:Goliy. Nasal sail the negso;- with
suspicious. sidslong look at the familia
whip he Jaw raised sloft, Guess dis nigge
knows what dat dere u.s." and he proceed
ed to explain the use to which il was sp
pliei 4ss....,.s-... -
!. When some doubt was expressed as &
the negro statements in regard to numbers
one OF them answered:
i 1--WE can't read, but wefse can count.
Glow did. rou.learn to COUNT"
Picking cotton, massa. we'se sil go
Ito count when we pick cotton, masss."
There seems to be abundant work 70
them to do in c;::;eIIing cotton on Hilton
Head Island. which our troops iva occu
pied. and it is to be hoped that their servi
ces viii be in some way turned to accoun
for this purpose. 81 Aes x
Acres of il. already white for the har
west, were found within less than a mile o
Fort Walker. end will bc lost unies
speedily attended to. s' ''''if7 -
Several buildings filed with unginnet
cotton were also found further back towar'
Skull Creek. and on the islands beyon'
/, THAT stream similar deposits could be seen
A heavy smoke which was seen at q dis
lance, the negroes reported to come from
lot of cotton which had been fired by IN
tretreasing rebels. sscaI 'slsi e>sal
7 "a For s"rne reason the negroes at first ap
pearei inclined 10 wet until they wer
; called for before making their appearance
2 bnt the few who were dismissed on the frs
,lay spread the report that the Y ankles
; were indeed at hand. and the next mornin
7 a huml,cr came in from the mainland
where their masters had retreated. maxim
: their escape at night in q canoe. The re
2 port must havs spread as Ter ~ Besrfol
Il lin an astonislfingiy short space Of tims
2 for when orr boats went up tbegertbe nc
. Igroes were ready TO greet the'n.ieas Is
. BY that singular sort of freemssonr
= (which seems to be estsblished AMONG ii
y ~. 49, IA s-,sll eooI.l~ x-v,too