The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-11-14
A FRIEND OF THE SOLDIER
Iowa CITY, Nov. 6,1S63.

SoLD1ERs.-A member of the 54th Massas
chusetts Regiment, writing from Port Roy
al to the Anglo-Atrican, gives the following
report of a speech recently made to that
regiment by Col. James Montgomery, who,
it will be remembered, is the commander
of a negro regiment in South Carolina
which burnt the town of Blutfton. The
The Anglo-A n lean is an organ of the negro
race, edited by negro, and published in
New York. Its correspondent, writing
from Hilton Head, gives the following out
line of Colonel Montgomery's address to
his troops, drawn up in line before him:
~ want to speak to you. You want
plain talk and l shall give it to you. l am
your friend. I made the first anti-slavery
speech ever made in Kansas. l was the
first man who employed negroes in the
United States service. / fought six years
in Kansas for nothing, and do not come
here for pay. I can make $4,000 year.
get only $1,000 here. l sacrifice my ease
and comfort, (for l enjoy myself at home.)
1 have fought United States soldiers
There is General now in the rebel army
whom fought, killed his horsefrom under
him, and took him prisoner when in the
United States service. / would have been
hung long ago, if / had held still. Old
Jimmy Buchanan offered a reward for my
head. 1t was very mean one to be sure,
and l was very indignant. He offered only
yearling niger, worth about two hun
bred and fifty dollars. If he had offered a
full grown niger 1 would not have cared
so much. You ought to be glad to pay for
the privilege to fight, instead of squabbling
about money. A great many of yon
are fugitive slaves, and can by
law be returned to your masters. The
Government by its act in setting you free,
has paid you a thousand dollars bounty. /
know what the trouble is; the noisy Abo-
litionists have been telling you, you are
better than any body else. They are your
worst enemies. You have two classes OF
and those who see in the Ethiopian SYM
Dol of injured innocence. l have seen q
hundred regiments, but never saw one SO
fully equipped as this. Look at your tents
and cooking stoves. You want to be plac-
ed on the same footing as white soldiers
You must show yourselves rs good soldiers
as the white. For all any body knows you
bravery in battle. I should be very glad
to make you as good soldiers as the white
You are a race Of slaves. A few years age
your fathers worshiped snakes and croco.
dies in Africa. Your features partake OF
"A beastly character. Your religious exer.
cises in this camp are mixture of barbar.
ism and Christianity. I am disguised with
from the low whites. 1 hear them say to
you, Bully boys, bully boys, don't take
this paw What do they mean by this p
DO YOU mean to bully the Government out
of your money, or that you are stubborn as
bulls? Education expands the brain anG
improves the features. Your features car
be improved. Your beauty can not recon-
med you. Your yellow faces are evidences
of rascality. You should get rid of this BAG
blood. My advice to you is, the lightest o
YOU must marry the blacklist woman. You
owe your suttler nearly $1,000, and YOU
refusal to take your pay shows that you in
tend to cheat him out of his goods. Yor
went to his agent after he had gone away
and. because he would not trust you, broke
open his place and robbed him. The meI
that robbed him should be hung. He haG
no right to trust you, and could be hand
led for it. 1t is mutlny TO refuse TO TAX
your pay, and mutiny is punishable witt
DEATH"