The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1865-03-24
Charleston.
EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER FROM s'cARLE.
TON"

CHARLESTON, Feb. "a, 1865.
THE FREEDMEN.
1t is impossible for me to give COM
plete representation of the Joy of the
freedmen of this city over the arrival of
the Yankees On Monday morning last,
when the steamer w. w. Colt, with Gen.
Gilmore's flag at the fore and the Stars
and Stripes at the stern, steamed up the
harbor, with the band playing 'sHail Co.
lumbia,' there was a sudden gathering of
colored people upon the wharves. They
were full of ecstacy. Springing upon the
pier before the lines were thrown out, |
met a gray-bearded old man, who touched
his hat, bowed himself to the ground, and
said: ''Good morning, massa.''
eve are Yankees, uncle. Are you not
afraid of us o. | said.
''God bless you. no, massa. I've
prayed for you to come, and God has
heard me- he said, grasping my hand.
He threw his old battered hat upon the
ground, looked upward and poured out his
gratitude from an overaowing heart.
''Are you slave!"
eyes, massa''
"Well, you are a slave no longer You
are us free as | am
SIS 1t so, masSa - he asked, with indie
scribable earnestness; and again raising
his eyes toward heaven, he gave thanks to
God, with an emotion such as | never be-
fore witnessed.
ROSA's MOTHER.
Two years ago, when was at Hilton
Head, my laundress was Rosa, colored
young woman, who escaped from Charles
ton, in 1862, with her husband and four
other persons, in small boat On that
occasion, Rosa dressed herself in mems
clothes, and the whole party early one
morning rowed past Sumter and made for
the gunboats.
IF you 60 to Charleston, | wish you
would see if my mother is there said
Rosa, on Sunday last ''Governor Aiken's
head man knows where she lives Ac-
companied by a correspondent of the New
York Tribune. | went up King Street to
Governor Aiken's. We found his head
man in the yard-a courteous black, who,
as soon as he learned that we were Yam
KEGS, and had a message from Rosa to her
mother, dropped all work and started with
Us, eager to do anything for a Yankee.
4 walk to John Street, an entrance
through 4 yard to the rear of dwelling
house, brought us to the mother, in little
dingy room, cluttered with pots, kettles
tables and chairs. The old woman was
sitting on a stool before the fire, cooking
her scanty breakfast of corn cake. She
had little rice meal in bag, given her
by a rebel officer. She must be past sixty
years of age-a large, strong woman, with
a wide, high forehead and intellectual fea-
lures She was clothed ina skirt of dingy
negro cloth, a sack of old red carpeting,
and poor. thin canvass shoes of her own
make Never had | such an introduction.
Here comes de great Messiah. wild
news of Rosa!' said my introducer, with
an indescribable dramatic flourish. The
mother sprang from the stool with cry
of JOY. '.From Rosa? From Rosa O,
thank the Lord" She took hold of my
hands, looked at me with an intensity OF
tecling-an earnestness, JOY, and yet with
a shade of doubt, as if it could not be
true.
''From Rosa %
"1es, aunty."
l shall not attempt to give her langu-
age. She looked up into Heaven-yeS,
into Heaven! She saw not us, but God
and Jesus. The tears rolled from hel
eyes. She recounted in prayer all the
long years of slavery, the suffering. the
unrequited toll, the heart-achingS, the
prayers of the past, and now Gsd had
heard her. have seen great dramatists
upon the stage, and have been moved tC
tears by preachers and orators; but never
have l heard such an outpouring of soul
as by that poor slave woman. 1t was q
conversation between herself and the Saw.
our. She told him the story of her life,
OF all It's sorrows, of His goodness and
kindness and love, the tears rolling dowr
her cheeks all the while, and falling il
great drops upon the floor. She wanted
. us to stay and partake of her scantv meal
She pressed my hands again and again
and when | told her | must 90, she kneel
ed upon the floor, and asked for gods bes
blessings and for Jesus love to follow me-
1t was prayer from her heart We hac
carried her the news that she was free
and that her Rosa was still alive 1t wa:
the long looked for jubilee morning to her
and we were Gods angels. 1t was one o
the most thrilling moments / ever expert
enced, Or that expect to experience
"Berwlck" stood sympathetic statue, un
able to control his emotion. This woman
had been a slave she had been sold, sh'
, had been exposed to insult, she had nc
rights which white man was bound tt
respect. So the chief justice of the Unit
:, ed States said. God ordained her, in hi
benlticent goodness, to be a slave. S.
! Rev. DR.. Thornell, the great South Caro-
:. lima theologlan, said. Slavery is divin
: missionary institution, said the Southern
Presbyterles. Remembering these things
| went out from that humble dwellin,
, with my convictions deepened that thi
is Gods war, and that he is on the sid
. ! of the meek and lowly, the poor, the de
spised and oppressed, and that this natio