Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1862-07-25
vvhich Side viii FREQ tho s,ove.,

Samuel Wilkeson, Of the New Y Yorl5 Tribune
closes powerfully written letter from the Pen.
insula upon tho suicidal policy Of refusing to
use the negroes of the South, with this startling
and prophetic declaration of one of the most in
fuential colored men who have come to the army:
/ have talked with many intelligent men of
color on this subject. The superior man of all
is known as tom" one day drew him out OF
his guarded silence on this theme by saying, a
am surprised Tom, that the negroes in this Pen
insula don't fight for us"
81 reckon you amt, Mr.. w. You know too
much"
"Why don't they fight for us, Toml"
"They expected 10, Sir, and all the colored
men, from here to Texas, expected to-"
"Why didn't theyP
'You know as well as /. We were driven
from your lines and camps, and pretty plainly
told that you didn't want anything to do with
us; that you meant to carry ON the war as you
could, and pretty poor fist you are making OF
ii, too, Mr.. W" said Tom, warming into earn
estness. "The North can't conquer the South
without the help of the slaves. We men of col
or, who have communication with each Other
through all the States (the leading men mean
h1io'o this. We know, too, that if the war lasts
one party or The Oitcr party will give us our
freedom" ya
what is that you say--the Shareholders free
their slaves?
"They certainly will do it, if they can't whip
you Otherwise You may depend on that NJ,
friends through Tic South az toR mc SOL Our po-
sition Mr.. w. is like that of the San Domingo
blacks. They put their aid in the market be-
tween the whites and the mulatoes-put it fn
sale. The price was their freedom. We mean
to sell ourselves for frcedom-we hope to yoa
Northern mcH If your politicians and Generals
kick us away, we will try to make our market
with the rebels. But you had better bargain
with us--had better free us and arm us. How
long would this war last if we were freed by ac
of Congress and the Presidents Proclamation
both of them ratified in General Orders by the
Commanders of all the Union armies in thu
South2 Why, the rebel armies would mel
away in a week. Every officer aud every pri.
vate who had any interest of any kind in pIIn.
tation, or village even, would run straight home
to protect it against imagined injury Consider
us armed; there's no use of talking, Mr. W
The revolution at the South is accomplished
and the Union is severed, and you can't savc Il
'cihtom the social reUo5,tion. And, mark my
words, Mr.. W, The attempt TO save u acithow doing
as justice oiU end IN you dson po2itical sIdycrB ana
your ruin, and in this England will be the prin-
cipal agent.
There are colored men in Washington who
know the value of the dinner table talk of great
men, and jeff Davis, and Keitt and Floyd, have
always made much of the jealousy in England
OF the manufacturers of your North. You have
got to have us, Mr.. w. Our climate will xii
your troops, save in December, January, Febru
ary and March, The South is a Wilderness
You are ignorant of it, and can be ambushed ev
cry day. And it is so big that if with half ,
million men You overrun it, it would take mil
lion men to occupy it. And then, what sort oi
a Union will you have saved, in which the peo-
pie of thirteen States refuse to take political ac-
tion, and have but to raise their fingers to Their
slaves to set them loose upon you and drive you
northward. You had better take us, Mr. w
Indeed you have got TO take us. For If 90,
irish 10 back out Of this you ,coBf be permitted
to do Il, You have got TO conquer or be conquer
ed. ! know the Shareholders. They went into
/ this war for power, and if you don't whip then
in Virginia and South Carolina, they viii whiI
you in Pennsylvania and New York, and theI
reconstruct the Union with themselves at tn,
top and you at the bottom, You phae men o.
the North wW 90 into S3apcyh unless you take ID
black men of the South ont of Slavery; and Mr.
W., you haze not got great deal Of time lett I,
,ohich to decide ,Ohdt you aoN dol"