The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-05-12

tage fear and despair of the stay home rebels
and purchased a. very low figure or rented On the
uted throughout the different Southern States from Viz
gnia TO Texas Here officers OF every grade and SOL
der just as soon as their term Of service expired took
up their abode Many old planters, in spite Of the
alleged ignorance Of these Northernes Of the negros
plan of assocatng them with themselves for the sake Of
the control they could exercise the negroes in free
DOM and Tor the sake Of the little capital they could
png 10 the FARMS In this by purchase or rental
II Is perfectly surprising how many Of young men
may be found already attached to- incorporated in
southern society. Many Southern men, little more
enterprsing than Others visited cities OF Europe and
brought back with them both capital aud agents OF
eyed associations and have set their plans operation
with greater vigor than before the war have thus
hastily glanced at the classes Of who claimed to be
poor but really mott they were only embarassed
and l have indicated the manner in which re-
lief has been found When the Southern arm
les were broken up and scattered thousands OF
men were thrown upon society without OF money
one who had, before the rebellion, been in our army
told me that the surrender found him Shreveport La
were In Baltimore
THE RowDY PORTION.
You VIII lind many of these men now agents Of OK.
press companies conductors workmen on railroads
manning steamers clerks Stores keepers Of boarding
eds AnS few nE,e,s and some actually at work IN the
selves 70 secret bands called Regulators" "ngger-
killers" "jayhawkers or something Of the kind In
MMrehton, va, short lineage, band Of them,
posed partly of sons of some noe and partly OF
lower class Of rowdies with and other missiles
New Bedford, Mass was teaching colored School
The citizens afterwards together and deprecated this
outrageous conduct and the young lady OF pro-
tecton but learn that neither the civil power nor the
moral force of public sentiment proved sufficient to save
her from second cowardly assault at her lodgings
similar band met together in the Shenandoah valley
waylaid brave teacher and ordered him to leave the
State; This he declined to do and the mean humanity
rowdies rushed upon him and beat him nearly DEATH
1t Is these that drove the lovers peace from Randolph
county, North Carolina that have burned colored
have shot negro soldiers in almost every State They
are poor, VILE whiskey drinking, gambling cutthroats
VINO aa their counterpart in the bank robbers
when the clergymen and the ladies Of Southern
society. who are described by our inspcc-
$50 bitter in their hate" when they shall return
to the normal condition of Christians preach and
practise Christian love- these vile miscreants will be
SO bold they will not assume the airs of proud indie.
pendent arstocras while they guilty OF conduct that
outrages every feeling Of humanity and honor.
The foregoing embrace the ruling classes who
temporarily impoverished but who rapidly just
them and those who always poor because reckless
and disspated criminal The really poor among the
traveller In Georgia they are usually called Georgia
crackers; in South Carolina 'sand hilers" and gener-
ally elsewhere white trash and poor whites" These
even the terors of the battle field insufficient TO dis
turb them. remember that after short sharp engage
ment at Graysve on Braggs retreat from his defeat at
Mission Ridge entered the house of Of these poor
families. There rooms in the house; one con-
tanned old and his wife, and the other family Of
eight-ather mother and six children In their fright
these poor people had torn up the floor and put two
three of the smallest children beneath It, and had made
barrcades against shells Of bcdsteads turned up
their sides supporting such straw beds and bed clothing
as they could get together The whole air Of this estab
clothing. and that in tatters, with scarcely any
food, with faces seldom If ever washed, and hair
usually blank, le,hargc habits; but they soon
resumed their habual lstless, depressed appearance
Want Of wholesome food and the excessive of tobac
CO. With the usual hopeless amless modes of living in
filth and want had produced here elsewhere the most
ptabe objects Of humanity. This family was a sample
Often the absence of the father and the elder brothers
would deepen the gloom and despair that seemed TO
hover round their home circles 1t often positive
relief to find woman crying bitterly on account of her
losses for II was different from the lethargy
IN ns Os %
the railroad at every post and town in Alabama among
tn .snns ans Valleys ao in Georgia on tho py
Caroinas often the farms Of the wealthy sometimes
as squatters and sometimes occupying the abandoned
buildings Of the fugitive propretors where they
enjoying greater Injuries than ever before
TT TiMoSY OF TIE lLABaNA COMMISSIONER
where condition then aggravated by tho desolation of
war, and afterwards by the short crops of the season.
am not surprised at the testimony of the Alabama Com.
missioner that the restitution extreme and the in
crease that tho suffering In portions of the State
Is truly alarming, and wen calculated to the SYM
pathies OF every one who can be touched by the Of
hunger or the suffering Of his fellow man, During the
month OF March appears that the Freedmens Bureau
gave food to these destitute WHITES mostly women and
Children the number Of seventeen thousand two hun
bred and four.
TESTIMONY or THE ARKANSAS ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER
From Arkansas the Assistant Commissioner says
.rhesc people, always poor, yet mild climate and
during time Of peace able provide the simple neccs.
saries OF life are now in condition deplorAbe in the
extreme. II the testimony OF the County Judge and
leading citizens Of the different counties taken
they would make the number In the State OF Arkansas
who would perish from stars aton without government
aid, between 80 900 and 40 600 persons and prob
aoiy True ,nat nearly ,n,s number rs suossng upon
food Very many families that do not ask for food from
government have been for weeks entirely without meat
Of any kind" To these whites In Arkansas General
Sprague issued during the last quarter some 234 063
raions. have never felt called upon to the
gross ISLANDERS that had confined our work 10 the
negroes; yet, by such facts have mentioned II rs
evident that the allegation is simply political fiction
THE rooR FREEDMEN.
now come to the freedmen. Every man or woman
In the land who reads the newspapers familiar with
their condition Suddenly set free, they nearly all
dwclt in, the gardens they cultivated the horses they
rode the implements Of hsbandry they had usedthcse
plantation and you have the entire picture The old with
gray hair and bent forms and toterng steps, creeping
lame and too weak 10 be removed abandoned by fugitive
owners and LETT alone 10 suffer and to die have
seen them mpng along the armys line Of march happy
TO be free for their chdrens sake Few indeed Of these
poor weary beings have much to live for Yet almost
always they are thanking God for his goodness
Thcn there the able bodied, with strong muscles
cheerful, hopeful and happy in the conscious wealth OF
self ownership. ''w you work =" They laugh at the
question ''Gve us chance; give as pay. and see"
All these arc not alikenot remarkable being exempt
from the ordinary characteristics of human beings You
have the wise and the unwsc, the prudent and the i'm.
prudent the bright and sprghy and the sulen and
pid We find in that circle the ordinary variety Of
characters and the ordinary exhibition of human weak
There the pious and the profanc the vrtuous
and the vicious the trusting and the Jealous the faithful
and the reacherous the industrious aud the lazy and
were you TO upon OF the islands with heart
full OF charity and purpose elevate these poor people
you would often be greatly tried Il would demand
your part patience forbearancc and constant supply OF
grace TO make any visible progress and should you
come In contact with old resident whites fear thcr
theories might gain upon you that the ncgro's
In peculiar Yet II Is not hard PERCEIVE upon compari
and reflection that these Islands are precisely like
the rest OF the world only restricted in sire and develop
ment
CHILDREN.
Besides the old and the middle aged plant alton Is
without the young-the children. planter with host
OF these around him said to me, in forlorn tone
What shall do with these mschievous little scampsf
The Frcedmen's Bureau will not let whip them. |
their fathers and mothers will not do IT, what TO
dor ! suggested the novel expedicnt Of hiring a |
schoomaster, for could not forget how that func-