Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1866-05-25


Cd with sthe Assistant Commissioner OF tho
State; Colonel E -Whittlesey, 70 whom we ad-
|, dressed the jnterrogatory DO you kno FOL
any person. To the military service now; oniduty
with the Fresdmen's Bureau in this Depart
! 'ment who 10 or has been sinoes entering upon
the duties Of his Office, sugsssd or interested,
either directly or indirectly, IN tho cultivation
OF any lauds within the department !" He
asswered, mo" Subsequently he addressed
us q mote, hereto aPPsnded, 10 which he stated
+ freedmen and trying fairly, the, experiment Of
free labor; he and some other officers of the
Buresu had loaned money, and thus in directly
had An interest In oultivating farms On re:
ceivipg this note We addressed Colonel Whit.
tlesey further interogations, q copy Of which
j. hereto annexed, to which he replied in a
communication, also hereto appended, disclo.
sing the fact that he is Interested as an equal
partner with the Rev. Horace james, of Mas
sachusetts, formerly captain and acting quar-
termsstsr Freedmen's Bureau. aud with Mr.
Winthrop Tsppan, Of Maine, in the cultivation
Of large fanm in Pitt County, N. G. He alec
stated therein that Captain F. A. Seeley, SUI
perintsndent of the Bureau for the Eastern
District. \. c.. 10 lnterested IN the cultivation
of plantation in Wayne county, N. c., with
Mr.. Potter, and that Captain Isaac Rosekranz,
Copmissary Subsistence, ts interested with a
MIR: Brooks in the cultivation Of a plantation
in Pitt county, N. c. -,
An honorable exception to the general char
acts. Of the officials, was found in Msior CilIy,
of Salisbury. having charge of the Eastern
District embracing fity ono counties Of the
State, who was found to be an able and com
petent officer. . -
At Newbern. CAP. F. A. saeley. superinten.
dent of the Bureau in Eastern North Carolina,
was ascertained TO be largely interested in
plantation of seven hundred acres of corn, and
Capt Rosekran1 sub-agent at the game place
and Commissary Of Subsi.tsnee. to be.epgaged
in the cultivation of large plantation, with
the labor Of freedmen. whom he supplies With
rations a. part Of theis wages.
The atrocious conduct of. the Rsv. Mr.. Fitz,
formerly an army chaplain. and now Assistant
Commissioner of the Bureau. for . COLONY Of
freedmen at Trsnt River. near Nswbsrn, is thu.
set forth: .. -.
Among the many acts of cruelty committed
by Superintendent Fitz We found that he had
in two instances suspended freedmen with
cords around their wrists, their feet not touch.
ing the floor. and kept them m this position, in
one four, in the other case six hours that lie
sentenced freedman to an imprisonment of
three monthe for trivial offepce. that of wran.
Cling with his wife. He kept another mao
VIM was aTFee'fo ior oeot smut up IN the block
house-the prison--for uonths while his wife
and two children. reduced 20 ahject destitu.
tion died with the smallpox, and took him
from the prison under. guard and compelled
him to bury his last child in the cradle in which
it died. On another occasion, when one Of his
guards reported - him that . colored woman
had spoken unexpectedly of him, without
oven inquiriog what the woman had said he
ordered her to be imprisoned until the next
morning at nine o'clock, when she should be
broght before him to answer for the indipnity.
ln one instance he imprisoned ak children for
ten days for playing In the streets on the Sab.
bati, day. He imposed q fne of sixty dollars
upon an aged freedman for having told anoth.
er freedman that he was about to- be arrested
BY Mr.. Fitz. This poor old man, not having
the money TO pay the fne, waa imprisoned un.
til the next day, when his son paid the same.
with three dollars additional as jail fees.
At GoldsboFs. the supenntende G. O. O.Gayia
chaplain in the United States Army, il cultiya.
ting one farm on Government aceouot, and two
others on his own account
The evils Of the whole system il thus clearly
set forth: 81 g
Without attempting to discuss the propriety
of officers of the Bureau in tho miIitary sep.
vice Of the United States, who are paid by the
government for the performance. Of their du.
ties, engaging In private business., and employ.
ing freedmen for such purposes while CONTROL
ing -throughtheir official positions that class of
labor, we deem it our duty to state some Of
the effects produced. both upon the officers
themselves aud upon the planters with whom
they come In competition. by such conduct
Major Wickersham, in contracting to furnish
forty laborers TO work q rice plantation, be-
comes At once interested against the laborsrs
whom he eompels TO labor, perhsps uniustlv
when unfairly. dealt With by the person work.
ing them on the plantation; and on thsir refn.
sing to work, he inHicts upon them unlawfnl
and, for breach of contract, unhesrd Of , mi,n,
lsilmeots, putting them on chain gangs al If
they were convicted ariminals. Col. 'Whit.le.
sey, or any other officer of less rank and ID
fuepce In the Bureau, who. saEs engaged in
Working plsntatiohs rented Sor essR or o1:
Shores bocomes fnterested In securing: n low
rate, Of Hages and In making 6the mosts strin.
gent labor regulations, 70 tbs great detrimsnt
Of :ths: freedmen. They thereby giSe thesanc-;
tion OF the government. 10 the 'exfablishtnant
of: wages far below what the labor i. e really
worth. Officers Of the Quartsrpsster's and
Conimissary Departments who, are thus en-
gagged are subjeeted'to the temptation Of, ap.
ProPriatinng to their own use auarterma aster's
stores and rations to supply and pay their own,
iaborers: Complaints have bssn made to me
by the planters that these agents Of tue Bureau
use the power of their positions to obtain and
control the best labor: in the State. There il
no doubt that some Of the i'll feeling 'msnifested
toward the Bureau on the part of the planters
is attibutabls to this fact :. -. :. i =.
Generals steedmau and Fullerton have iust
completed thefr investigations in this state,
and we tlook forward with mne6 interest to,
the report Of their observations here we ZEE
it, stated that there hes been mesh offieiSl mis-:
conduct 10 the lower. part of; the State, but We
believe u 70 be Otherwise In The Upper Dfs.
trieta5 M We have heard Of no complaint In our
Dtstriet. aud fsgsrd Captsin. Becker ia. 8 very
THFE srafwstanie Frils Tts strsxber1rsy.
Fsts gisssb by the: :1sdies Of sear yillsgs; on;
I, Thhursdsy hightaof he pat week ia bshsif of)