Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-05-04


it was coming long fore it did, and /
know de whole ting dat ye come for, ali
bout it, an no one done tols me OBJ il
one world knew it all de time myself"
"Knew what-knew whatY we asked
Knew dat yoa cum to free de poor
ole man"
"Well, whstll you do when you get
your freedomf' asked the Colonel,
''you' re too old now; you We got q good
home here, you'd stsrre to death if you
left IT.
by gollyl mars, de old man jis lief
die as not if be only gifts his freedom
We were both stuck with the sen
tence and walked away, leaving his black
veteran with bis wearj toll, Colonel"
remarked, IL, that's the most inscrn-
tible exhibition I've witnessed in the
Soathern confederacy. That's not hH-
man-no sir I tell you what 1t is, this
rebellion Is going to wash the d-d curse
OF slavery clean out Of the land; and
thank God I've got hand in It.
The gallant Colonel / up TO this time
had been pro slavery man. Now he is
one Of the most thorough Administra-
ton men in the army, and has about 8
thousand men under him building
bridges, whom he has impressed from
disloyal owners, and whom be has de-
elared free.
While on this subject, we take pleasure
in quoting a paragraph from Captain
Noyse's "Bivoauc and Battlefield" He
says:
Squads of contrabands wandered in
from the coustry daily, bssieging the Of
fee for passes northward and it Nas
touching to see how the poor creatures,
blind 70 the blessings Of the patriarchal
institution, rejoiced at the receipt Of the
magic bit Of paper which insured their
escape from bondage. Their Joy seem
ed 10 overflow the:r whole being, and
bubbled up IN Wild exclamation aud gro
tesqne grimace. We had quite a nun
Der Of these newly freed men about our
headquarters, in the employment Of the
/ Government as teamsters, biaeksmiths,
&c. A patient, d0eile race, eminsntly
Trustworthy, with mental faculties quite
undeveloped, il always seemed wonder
fol 10 me that they succeeded so well in
their new experiment Of freedom. II
may take generation to develop their
best qualities OF self-Support; but even
now they very readily fall into the per
formance Of their respective dutiea.
have witnessed their exuItation when,
for the frat time in their lives, they re-
esived honest pay for their honest labor,
and am Satisfied that this Is impulse
sufficient With them, as With "a, TO in
duee their best efforts | have seen them
| painfully spelling out their letters
| great six-foot meA even, struggling over
| the difficulties Of ehilds primer, and
am convinced Of their capacity and de.
sire for education | have employed
| them personally and for the Government,
and feel that they are honest aud faith
ful, anxious to be instructed what to do,
quick in learning, and energetic in do
ing Il To those who are troubling
themselves go much with the question.
"WhAt shall We do with them my an.
swer is, LET them very much alone,
and they will do for themselves As so
ciety is At present constituted, we need
a class who shall be "hswers OF wood
and drawers Of water; We require,
North as well a. South. all this labor; 10
expatriate IL would be a substantial lOsa
10 the whole country With proper guar
antees that they shall enjoy what they
shall honestly earn, they xill soon be
able to take abundant care Of them.
selves. II exiled.from free territory, or
forbidden the opportunity 10 work, they
must Of course become a public barded
but il free market be allowed for their
labor, the demand will fully equal the
supply, and the question ia ten years
will be, "How can we do without them
As TO their sighting value, |, of course,
know nothing: but this interesting ques.
tion seems TO be rapidly approaching a
| practical solution.
The above ia splendid Endorsement
Of our own sketch. They reioiced," be
says, at the magic bit Of paper which
insured their escape from bondage.
We could offer yoluminous illustrations,
but will content ourselves with the fol
lowing:
While General G. was provost marshal
of Nashville many incidents of like
nature we're thrust upon our observation
-one in particular. A stalwart looking
African presented himself to the Gen
eral one night, and informed him cha
certain resident upon the White
Greek pike was organizing band o
guerriIlas. After some conversation Gen
eral G. asked the negro who be belonged
to.
Use owned by Seshernists; marse; d,
wust kink in De country
"You areT'
"Yaas, sab; he's done bsin Seeh mis-
since yoa all come here-he's dc wust il
de whole place.
whats his namey inquired the Gen
eral
, Use belong to Mars A. massa"
"What, old Judge A, on the White
: Greek pikeT
aye iiis hit it de fsst time, rnassa."
: "why, be is no rebel | happen Z
, know him. What do stand there and te
, me thatlie fost You know be is no NOR
r Of q Secessiouist than | am. CUES
YOU are somewhat of a rascal You r
J telling q lie, and you know it.
Wal, Use under impression Cat be
+; Ett!e Secesh," said the negro.
You're under no such impression,
. reioiued the General; old Judge A. hs
always been Union man, and you kno
IL Isn't he2 answer me, sir.
4 Seem you kotehed me, | fess reel
on dsv don't make um much better"
a "Well, isn't he kind to yous'
. dear sir, bless him, he treat de nj
gas better'n be does De white folks"
/: Then what under the sun put it
II YOUR head TO come here with such
batch of liesY-what did you say ne WI
!, a Secessionist forT'
d "wAn, mars, tell yoa all bout
ie Use suaded TO this by dam counterbar
who belong TO de regiment on de pix
|, he tole me to come ober and tell you
.e all dat rse owned By Sesh'nist and |
get nv freedom. He tole me if sz
,s Use owned By 8 Union man, III have
n, work for nothin' sll de time Use be,
n q good, hard workin' nigga all my Iii
and be dam l 60 TO de debbil for L
freedom papers
b. Gen. G. could not, of course, take