The Washington herald., 1914-01-19

} In the Library OF Congress coiiectionD
people. soon began with enthusiasm to
wrestle with the alphabet.
Teaching the Freed Slave.
The crop Of 1867 was not successful
one, as the seed was bad and the yield
Of the neglected lands much below nor
NAL. Early in the spring Mr.. Pierce had
found that the plantations were stripped
Of able-bodied men by order Of Maj. Gen.
David Hunter. commanding the military
department, who wanted them to bear
arms. Later there was an epidemic OF
smallpox.
These difficulties Notwithstanding about
5000 acres Of corn and forty-five acres Of
cotton were planted on 1ss plantations,
on which were $3.50 people. Of whom 4.le9
were field hands,
The second seasons crop-that of 1858
was larger. The negroes, under the
intelligent care Of the superintendents
and the constant ministrations Of North
ern school teachers and preachers, were
mentally better equipped to labor with
effect.
On July I, 1862, affairs at Port Royal
had been transferred from the Treasury
to the War Department. removing the
difficulty of impressment into military
service of field hands and bringing the
charge Of the freedmen into the hands
Of Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton. Of Massa-
chusetts, who was in sympathy by train
ing and temperament with the object in
hand. 1t was estimated that 5000 negroes
thus came under the control Of ne<Fed-
eral officer.
The problems before Gen. Saxton were
varied. The teachers, of whom there
were forty-five, in thirty schools, with
1000 pupils. nearly all under twelve years
of age, bore ardent testimony to the
quickness of perception among the young
blacks. The older negroes were less
responsive.
The former slave at first was at a loss
to understand his new position. Two
years of freedom had given him grad
ually widening views. Land had been
rented to him on very favorable terms
and the proposal to sell land in small
sections, and to put up cabins for the
occupancy of the blacks, had developed
from the philanthropic plans Of the pro-
moters of the enterprise almost as q mat
ter Of course.
The spirit of both blacks and whites
toward the end of 1855 was optimistic.
Gen. Saxton decreed for THANKSGIVING
a general holiday. and ordered that on
each plantation an OK should be roast
ed and served free to the negroes.
cRSCuA8tOIB UCI 1lauos
The tax sales of the plantations, the
process which was to strip the owners of
the land in their absence of the last of
the substance they had staked upon the
Confederacy. did not result as its promot.
ers planned. The buyers of forty-seven
of the Plantations were negroes, but
conflicting orders from Washington re-
suited in much fine land passing into
the hands of Northern speculators.
Land was sold to the negroes at a
uniform rate of $125 an acre in lots of
from ten to forty acres, but some Of the
best plantations were sold at auction and
were bought by white men from the
North.
In truth the sales of the plantations
were not without much confusion of opin.
ion and authority, and before they were
accomplished the price of Sea Island land
had jumped to SIS and so an acre. As
it was ali sold under reservation of the
absent owners right to redeem his title
by process Of law within q given num-
ber of years. the proceedings laid the
foundation for much heart-burning and
many bitter law suits after the war.
In these the blacks would not fare as
well as the whites.
Education did much for the freed men
of the Sea Islands, but as time went on
the teachers were to labor at a growing
disadvantage. The partisans Of the slave
tired in time Of being a patron to the
freed man.
The sale of the Sea Island lands was
prelude to an attempt at early en-
franchisement of the negroes in that Sec
ton On April II, 1854. convention was
called at Beaufort to elect delegates from
South Carolina. without distinction of
color" to a national convention at Bal
timore. This was attended by about 15o
celored men and perhaps 100 whites.
1t elected twelve whites and four colored
delegates. none of whom was allowed to
vote in the Baltimore convention, which
nominated Lincoln for the Presidency.
Temorrow: Farragut Reeennoiters
Mobile Bay.
copyright. Dlxl