The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1864-11-09

| Mrs NewcOmb lectured on Saturday even
ing OH the condition of the freedmen Of the
the South. Some of her statements of what
she had seen and knew personally We're in
/ teresting She had been in the Mississippi
Valley several years in the employ OF the
/ Government, and the last nine months she
/ had spent visiting the Freedmen on her own
account. The Government al first prOpOs-
ed TO set all the negroes 10 work on the
abandoned plantations, giving them a share
Of the produce. But the guerrilas were so
numerous that they We're carried off cOntin-
ually, robbed OF their clothing, and killed
or sold into slavery. Even in the neigh
bOrhOOd of large cities like Nashville, a
! freedman who hired out to work any con-
siderable distance from the Notifications
was in danger Of being robbed and muir
dered by them Hence the Government
had found it the cheapest and best policy
Of supporting them TO assemble them into
camps all the way from New Orleans to
Cairo, usually choosing the islands in the
river as places Of greater security. The
freed people in these camps usually num-
bered from 800 TO 1000 mostly women and
children, and decrepit old men, the able
bodied men being in the army Every one
Of these camps was visited by Mrs. New
comb, and she was enabled to know the
exact number Of persons by ascertaining
the number of ratiOns issued These ra-
tiOns are often OF the poorest quail =, such
az a good farmer would not give to his ami
mails; but the freedmen We're obliged to eat
them or starve. This was no fault of the
Government directly, but was owing to the
knavery of dishonest contractors.
The restitution Of these poor wretches
was often extreme. When General Banks
returned from his Red River expedition, he
brought back about 5000 slaves, a part OF
whom We're dumped from the vessels at
Vicksburg very much IA cattle are unload
ed, only that once on shore no more atten-
ton was paid to them, except 10 deal out
their daily ratiOns. Cloth is extremely
scarce among the rebels, aud owners Of
slaves We're not disposed To be ut all liberal
Of clothes to them, because they expected
to lose them at some time, and they could
not afford to lose many clothes with the
slaves. Some of these at Vicksbure had
not had any shoes for three years; andsOme
of the women had only gunny bag tied
around their waists, all the upper part of
the body being without a rag of covering.
In this fOrlOrn condition, more than a hun
dred persisted Of cold and suffering before
they could be provided for.
The lecturer said these peOpe We're called
niggers, but we should be much deceived
if We supposed they were black. When she
first went to New Orleans she heard that
half the city was occupied by the white PEG
pie, and the other half by the blacks She
sailed out, and after going all over the city,
returned to ask where the black people
lived, as she had been unable TO find any
but white people. Those called ''niggers''
were twO-third5 white. There was large
number of teachers in the different camps.
and the freed people would learn as quick
rs any persons. She recommended TO
those disposed to give clothing not to do
nate to travelling lecturers, because they
were not always honest, and when thew
were, the articles would not reach the most
destitute class. But if donated directly TO
the Freedmen's Association, the clothing
would be distributed by the teachers to
those who most needed it,