Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1874-03-05
I IN ADVANUF'
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facts from personal observations. Buts
from many comrades who we're there.
abouts at the time have always underss
stood that when Ord's column of white
troops surprised and took Fort HARRISON.
which was the centre and key of our Con,
feslierate position, Whatever posts to- the
left of it'were given upfat all were a.ban-
doned attoncc under order and without
serious resistance, their isolated situation
rendering them untcnable. a hdiRtdftl
Of skirmishers, moved by the instinct off
old fighters, may, have given parting
shpot p3hf'l for two as they weereiqrdereJ Fl aWa
Four or five we're usually wounded in
battle to one killed outright. If five,
hundred ard forty-thrree iaa We're kitlad 1ita
that negro column,i two thb,issand saf
twenty-five hundred others must have
been wounded; so that is really wonder
full, that the small squad left should have
been able to terrify SO thoroughly with
their runcapped muskets that Thousand
old powdcr-burnt Conf. dcrates2 There
does not appear any good reason forstheir
running in such wild dismay;and no one
knows better than the gentleman from.
Massachusetts, that the men he, ,flsi Used TO To
meet in battle were not given to riuhhi6g
away without a good reason. q q gitnalgf
Mr.. Speaker, it appears now that We
men of the South must have been under
q strange delusion. Those serried lines
which used to charge us with such terri
bic vigor looked like white men to us;
and if the field ever remained in IN olir sSht
own hands, we found that the slain tsheE
roes who strewed the ground SO thickly
were, alas! our white American brothers
all honor to them; all honor to the her
roic dead OH both sides, who laid down
their lives for their principlesl we
thought then that the masses of heroic
white troops led by Grant, and Sherman
and Mcclellan, and Meade, and their
eSmpoofs, were the men ne ough ii 10 tlrcasi
but we learn now that it was the he,o
from Massachusetts ard his coloredlt.sops
that we had most reason to fear.3. sMof.
derful! that we should thus have been
destroyed by that which then, caused us
SO little apprehension! s's''
| am told that the records of the 8 War
show that only some fifteen hundred ne.
gro troops were killed in the entire .ffohdIr ffohdIr
years. That fact alone speaks volumes.
We know that n single corps ofswbite
troops Federal and Confederate alike
sometimes lost that many killed none
battle. Mcaghcr's brigade of heroic
lrishmen must lavelost large fraction
of that number at Fredericksburg. There
was fighting indeed. And though Twas
their adversary there, yet, in honor of
their matchlcss gallantry, I pray that tho
turf on their graves may he as green for
ever rs their own Emerald Isle.
Look at one more fact. Nearly three
years before the war ended the fourmil.
lion negroes ST the South knew thatits
result involved the question of theirlib.
erty. 4etwl,ilc the continent shook kw;th
the earthquake Of war and nobodyiwas
at home, but old men and boys 10 keep
them in order those negroes seized no
weapon and struck no blow. / do not
mention'it asia reproach to them 1T
merits rather the thanks of Southern
men, | mertiopit only to show. that the
negro is not like the white man. What
race of white men would have remained
quiet under the same circumstances?
When the proclamation ofemanctatfoh
was issued the peculiar patrons ofithene-
gro in the North expected him,to rise
and throw off the yoke and butcher, our
wives and children: and inthe abundance
of their philanthropy and humanitythey
hoped so, too. The result showed how
little they knew of the negro character;
and their whole policy sincc--ay, this
very bill to-day-shows ho,s little they
still understand him.
Sir, the negro may excel in minor qua
| lifips b,,t Ia, &, L., ~ 80 Il