Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1862-01-10
10000 slaves Without a Master.
Huron HEAD, PoRT ROYAL, S. c.,
Monday. Dec. %, 1861.

Monday, Dec. %, 1861.
The extreme improperly Of sending home
details of military movements in advance,
or in fact affordiug any premature informa-
ton whatever somewhat restricts the choice
of subjects; but there is one whose interest
is mover failing, and in regard to which new
developments are constantly occurring
The slave question cannot lose its import
ance-cannot become hackneyed. There
are now in Beaufort District alone, l am
Informed by official personages, nearly l6,-
900 slaves, whose masters have fed, and
Beaufort District is but a small portion of
the country at present in our hands. have
accompanied number of the reconnoisanccs
made in all directions from this post, both
by sea and land; have witnessed the ex-
ploration of the country from Tybee Island
on the South to North Edisto on the North,
an extent of at least sixty miles, and have
penetrated as far into the interior, on some
of these excursions, as our troops have yet
gone. Everywhere / find the same state
Of things existing; everywhere the blacks
hurry in droves to our lines; they crowd in
small boats around our ships; they swarm
upon our decks; they hurry to our officers,
from the cotton houses of their masters, in
an hour or two after our guns are fired. /
am writing now, not what l have heard,
but what | have seen. l am not
sending you opinions, or conclusions at
which have arrived, but facts that have
observed. l mean each statement make
to be taken literally; it is not garnished
for rhetorical effect, but put into such q
form as will most exactly convey to the
mind of reader the impression made OF
me. / have seen negroes who reported
themselves as just escaped from their mas
tiers, who came breathless to our forces, anc
said they dared not go back for their mas
tiers would kill them; who told that theil
masters were at that moment armed anc
threatening to shoot any slave that did moi
fly with them; who declared they had trick
ed their owners and came away in boat:
that they were hidden to take back to the
whites. l have talked with drivers ant
field hands, with house maids and coach
men and body servants, who were appar
emily as eager to escape as any. l hav'
heard the blacks point out how their mas
ters might be caught, where they were hid
den, and what were their forces. 1 hav
seen them used as guides and pilots.
have been along when they pointed out j
what house stores Of ammunition and arm
were kept, and where bodies of troops wer
stationed; in few hours have known thi
information verified. l have asked then
about the sentiment of the slave population
and bcen invariably answered that every
where it is the same.
l have invariably been told by the ne
groes that they were not we'll fed. Th
first reason black man, or woman, G
child assigns for deserting his master is tn
small quantity and poor quality of foo
given him; the next reason is the sam
story about clothing; then comes the CON
plant of hard usage, hard work, and occa
sionally of cruelty. The last is rare, in m
experience. The most of them speak, il
true, of Instances where negroes have bee
recently shot, but few allude to previou
hardships worse than whipping. Of lat
the accusations Of masters shooting the
slaves are more frequent, indicating (this
inference) that tho desperation of tho rebe
increases.--N Y. Times.