The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-03-15


sets forth, in q communication to his com,
manding officer, the difficulties of executing
alaw which required the consent of the faith,
er of colored minors, on account of the diff.
6eulty Of ascertsining the father, and the fire.
quent ihdisposition Of the white father to &C
knowledge his paternity. The Southern
press 'opened OUT on General Brisbin, in
consequence Of this communication, and be
responded at considerable length. We make
brief extracts of certain points from his
communication.
Here it is, as follows
The rebel papers oe kentucky are terribly ex :
creased over my statement that there are ma,
ny white men IN Kentucky who have colored
children Their distress is really amusing
and they have been quoting false statistics for
a week 10 prove that the white men of the
North are the real amslgamstionists. Having
failed TO satisfy even themselves, they have
left proof TO the devil, and gone TO abusing
me as Federal oficer--a thing in which
they have had much experience during the
last Eve years. The editor Of the Courier,
who has been down South during the entire
war, seeing what he could pick up in the rear
of the rebel army, wants to know what bat
ties | have been in. He says that he, Is a
gentleman, cannot associate with me. So
much the better for me, for | certainly have
no desire TO have any intercourse with him,
or any other rebel in Kentucky, except in the
courts of Justice when they are on trial for
their many crimes against the Government.
1t will not do for the Courier TO say Northern
people are amalgamationists, because there
are many yellow men and women in the
North, for il is awel known fact that nearly
all the yellow negroes in these States came
from the south. A yellow colored man, having
part of his MASTER blood and brains, as soon as
he grew up ran away up North TO live in free
dom, and the largest yellow population is
found in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, where
they ran across the border out Of Kentucky.
1t is foolish 10 deny this thing of smalgsms-
ton, for it is so pslpable that any man who
stands for half an hour on the corner of one
of our streets viii become convinced OF "the
mixed condition Of the population The
young men of the South have long practised
amalgamation, and so assiduous have they
been that scarcely single handsome yellow
girl has escaped their attentions.
THE REASON WHY.
The price lists Of the old slave markets
show that likely yellow girl would bring
four or i've hundred dollars more than black
girl This was not because yellow girls would
make better field hands than black girls, (for
they would not make as good nor was it
because they would make better house SER
wants than black girls; but it was because
they would make concubines for the slave
master and his sonsl The same lists show
that slave woman with a child at the breast
would bring three or four hundred dollars
more than a woman with no child at all. II
the child was male aud was wesned, it could
be sold for three or four hundred dollars
in gold without the mother, or, if sold with
the mother, would bring as high as FIVE hund.
red dollars. Thus the master could buy a
yellow girl, keep her one or two years, and il
nature was true to her course. sell her, aud
realize thirty per cent. on his investment,
Thereby uniting pleasure with profit This
was often done
HE KNOWS WHO THEY ARE.
have, perhaps, had a better opportunity
Of knowing the real condition of the colored
population of Kentucky than any other man
in the State When | was a commissioner OF
colored troops, it was made my duty, under
the law of March 5, 1866, TO issue certificates
OF freedom TO the wives and children OF col
ored soldiers. 1t often happened that black
women having yellow children would apply
for certificates of freedom for themselves and
families, and in examining the descriptive
lists OF their husbands, | would find the sol
der described as black man This led to
the inquiry how they-black women with
black husbsnds-conlG have yellow children.
when il generally TRANSFERRED that the children
were had, upon their bodies, bv the white
master or his sons, before or after their mar.
mage, and sometimes both. In all such ca
ses, the name of the actual parent as shown
nv the mofhor'a statarppnt traa Gar Jou,,
BY my Adjutant General. Some of these lists
are still IN my possession, and of their cor
rectness | have not doubt, for, however
Ignorant man may be as to who is the father
ola child, the mother is generally supposed
10 know.
The military police records of Lexington
show that out of population of 600 white
male adults, in 1866, there we're .ffty.thre
men living in concubinage with colored wo>
men.
MARRIAGE AMONG SLAVES DIsRrcARpKp BY
MASTERS.
The Courier says "black women did moi
take the trouble 10 get married. WHY
should they, when masters did not recognize
marriage among their slaves? What black
man could wish to marry when the Law Of the
country gave the white master absolute con.
troll over the body of his black wife? "She
was at all times subject TO the caprice, lust
pleasure, or brutality of her master and hi.
sons" The rights of the husband could b.
invaded with impunity, her baby sold out o.
her arms, and she herself torn from her hus
band and sold to another master Not many
years ago Kentucky slave master sold hi,
own negro children away from their mother
TO pay gambling debt. Is it any wonder
that NEGRO women did not take the trouble
e.. I
of smalgamation in Kentucky, as they came
under my own observation, and they will
serve to show to some extent 1.-The mix ed
condition of the population here as well as
elsewhere throughout the State
STORY OF A SLAVE GIRL.
One day in 1866, while seated in my Office
ct Louisville, Kentucky, handsome young
woman, elegantly dressed, with diamond
rings on her singers, came in and desired tc
speak with me privately. could hardly he.
lieve her when she told me that she wa. ne
gress and slave, but soon learned. that ner
statement was only too true. She said that
she had read in the newspapers that was
issuing freedom papers to colored people
aud she had come to get one. | explained
70 her that 1t was only in my power TO give
certificates TO the wives and children of col
ored soldiers, when the poor girl seemed SC
much disappointed that gave her a paper
declsring her forever free, and commanding
all my military subordinates in Kentucky &c
enforce her freedom. She said she could
not sleep at night for thinking about her free.
dom; that she was afraid her master nigh,
die and she be sold that she wanted a 20,
hhcate TO lay away in the trunk that he,
mother, who was yellow woman, had been
dead for many years; that she lived with he,
father on - street, who was wealthy. and
treated her much as one OF the family. tba,
he bad wife and other daughters who knev
the circumstance of her birth, but were very
kind 70 her. She further told me thai abs
had been educated and understood mpsic and
French, and thu there were but few persons
In Louisville o. s'de of her immediate FAM.
~ who knew tbs ne had black blood in her
veins. As she ~a- ,retty asked her bov
sne managed lie yonng gentlemen.
ana Wnen tnere mpany at her father :
mouse. one ss'' 'H' "a not attempt TO 20
INTO society' asa H Der II she ever mar
rieu, "ne'ner sne marry negro or a
wnite man! She t a she would marry a
white man, il any K was not Gkalv AZ
would ever be mar a all, AS wb;,e 80 80
would not wish TO al trs a.neero OIL III
her she need not l. "a she was h,aoL 81
said il would not b .ht so 10 daca;ra s ne
one, and that it w0ari ne found ON, ~ ~,