The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-05
Chronicles Of The Canebrake
Chapter 4
BY JOHN wITHERsPOoN DUB0sE

for this only. Visitors came at option
to spend the day and dine; to spend two
or three days; dance, feast, play cards,
ride, and possess the premises Nobody
thought for a moment of taxing another
IN such visiting The storeroom had been
filed from Mobile; the barns were always
full; the pastures always supplied NUT
ton and beef the gardens were always
green. 1t was a condition of unparal-
leled hospitality. But at last the main fea-
ture. the trained domestic servants who
had been through the generations, asso
ciates and companions of the master,
the mistress and their children, and their
friends, gave zest and security to the
character of the home. With the domes-
tic servant 1t was our" company, Our
table, our" family and hospitality. The
metamorphosie of the race was wonder
full. The halls and parlors were lighted
and the music and games and dancing
began. The black faces from the planta-
ton could be dlscerned In the shadows
of the trees and shrubbery. intensely
studying the scene within. To them 1t
was a polite education. To the credit
of the race, they profited by 1t.
The negro of the canebrake planta-
ton was not a tenant not a serf, not
hired man. He was the human part of
the Institution. He was an African In
ment. His relative progress in mind and
manners was not less determinate than
the progress of the master race His
relative race advancement was sufficient
emphasis to the scheme of the Creator.
1t was African progress. The race diff
ferentation was assured from the begin
ming, world without end.
An apparently universal misapprehen-
sion of the attitude of Abraham Lincoln
IN RI the raUn1,ftton Uh nvarfoo1x
the cotton plantation of the south may
justify the parenthetical facts now re-
cited. In the month of March, 1855, Mr..
William Crawford Bib, a prominent
citizen and cotton planter of Montgom-
cry, driving on the highway with Gov
ernor Watts. put to the Governor the
startling question what action that high
officer had taken or contemplated to
supply Alabama soldiers with clothing
and shoes. The Governor did not see the
way He was distressed Bib proposed
and the Governor heartily concurred that
the former should set out Immediately
for Washington city, working his way as
best he could by the Mississippi and
Ohio rivers, thence overland to the doors
of the White House itself Thence he
would propose to President Lincoln to
exchange cotton. through the port Of
Mobile, for the quartermaster stores AL
ALBANIA soldiers in the Confederate serv-
Ice sorely needed.
The Journey was most adventurous.
The enemy occupied the entire line of
travel beyond the Alabama and Missis-
sippi boundary. At Meridian the Gov
ernors commissioner was arrested and
lodged in jail. Some gold unlocked the
door. Overland to Memphis the course
led The general commanding there was
handling all the cotton that came his
way and he made no resistance to Mr..
Bib or his enterprise. Indeed he gave
pass through his lines and Bibb took
passage on the military steamer for
Louisville.
Mr.. Bbb, by Encouragement, met the
President In his private office In the
White House, April II, 1865. The two
were alone unmolested for an hour or
more. The President sat with his long
legs swinging over one arm of his chair.
Bibb rose to go.
NO." said the great man, selling the
visitor firmly by the coat lapel
"Mr President does your proclama-
ton free the slaves?'
mo only those within army lines
have no authority to free the slaves
Congress has sent out to the states a
| fifteenth amendment. If that article is
| ratified general emancipation must fol-
| low If left to me, would pay for the
| slaves and free them"
Mr.. President, now that the Confed
eracy has fallen, what will be the posi-
| ton of your government toward our lead
| ing military and civil menu
| II would pardon jeff Davis himself /
| he asks for 1t. Your states have theil
own governments intact. You have only
to send your senators and representa-
| tives back to Congress-
| The President gave Mr.. Bibb pass
back to his home and gave him a certif
/ Of oil
and possessions from military interior
| ence In less than 4S hours from this
| interview Mr. Lincoln was dead and
wild riot, raging for several years "
! Alabama, marked his fall. Five hun
bred bales of Mr.. Bibb's cotton was
burned by Wilson's raiders
| The Freedman's bureau opened an onice
at Demopolis Immediately on the surren-
der of Gen. Richard Taylor. Carpet bag
gers Nocked into the country. Scalawags
cropped out, timidly here and there. one
or two in a community. The planters
with singular composure and dignity bided
events General Hardee came with his
Young wife to live on their plantations
He was a very cool-tempered and wise
man. At a public meeting he said; MY
friends. neighbors and fellow soldiers, we
stand on a volcano. Let all be prudent
He said no more. He called up the many
| freedmen on MS laIu tHe olu SidNCS, VI
fered them liberal terms to cultivate 1t
and satisfied them. He rode around among
| his neighbors, told what he had done and
advised them what to do. Peace prevailed
The gentlemen Of the plantations were
| invited by Mr.. Chapron to meet the gen
| eral of the United States army, stationed
at Demopolis, at dinner The wines and
French drinks were pacifying and the
table conversations convinced the general
| that the canebrake needed no martial re-
straint He went out to Mrs. McRae' S
'Athol" plantation and saw much society
The freedmen and especially the domestic
servants, remained generally on the plan
tations and conducted themselves with re-
markable propriety. The condition was
like a revolving wheel from which the
power that drove 1t had been suddenly
removed, leaving 1t to turn on and on OF
its own habit
The great river steamers that piled the
Alabama and Tombigbee were most DEM