The Washington herald., 1914-01-19

generally termed at that time ''The Port
Royal Experiment''-the caring for field
negroes by the government.
serious problem had been thrust upon
the Federal authorities by the military
occupation of the Sea Islands. The PLAN
tation owners had departed SO hastily
for Charleston and Savannah on the ap-
1861, that they had been unable to take
with them their slaves
No sooner was it generally known IN
the North that large numbers OF slaves
had been abandoned" by their owners
in the Sea Islands than various philan-
thropic societies took up the question OF
what should be done with them.
This was the first graphing with the
problem of caring for the freed negro
and making him self-supporting, task
that was to prove but a light prelude to
a painful chapter of reconstruction In
the Southern States, when the absent
plantation owner should return, disarmed
and impoverished, to find his lands in the
possession Of his former slaves
Plan to Care fer Blacks.
Although low and sandy. with a coarse
soil not adapted to the culture Of varied
crops, the Sea Islands produced much Of
the worlds finest cotton.
The island district, of which Beaufort
was the chief town, lying between
Charleston and Savannah, was cut up
with many bayous and inlets Of the sea,
and the salt air had peculiarly bene-
ficial effect upon the hber OF the plant
From the day of their occupation OF
this district the Federals had never lost
sight of the value Of this crop.
With more than 10000 soldiers in the dis
trict il was easy for them to hold the
Sea Islands without fear Of interruption
from the enemy. For these reasons the
problem of the freed negro there de-
veloped much more sharply, and at an
earlier date, than in any other part OF
the South.
Northern men and women who hao
fought with tongue and pen for the
abolition of slavery felt a special ap-
peal to their philanthropy in the situa-
tion of the negroes Of the Sea Islands.
President Lincoln was early impor-
tuned to send special Government agent
to the islands to care for the negroes
there. The person chosen for the mis-
sion was Edward L. Pierce. Of Massa-
chusetts.
The plan of making the negroes wards
of the North appealed to the Secretary
of the Treasury. Salmon p. Chase, who,
being anxious to conserve to the Federal
Government the great resources of the
Sea Islands in cotton, indorsed it and
recommended it to President Lincoln.
The Emancipation Proclamation was
still months off. and Lincoln, whose mind
at the moment was harassed with the
private sorrow of the loss of one of his
sons, showed a dissemination to take up
the question when it was put before him.
saying somewhat impatiently to Mr..
Pierce that he ought not be troubled
with such details; that there seemed to
be an itching to get negroes into our
lines
Lincoln, however, gave Mr.. Pierce a
note asking the Secretary of the Treas
ury to give him 'such instructions as
may be judicious" with regard to the
Port Royal contrabands." Z
With this authority the special agent
lad gone to Port Royal in March, 1852,
to begin, eleven months in advance of the
Proclamation Of Emancipation, the care
of thousands of freed negroes.
1t was early found that Congress was
not inclined to make any appropriation
for the Port Royal venture and three
societies, the Educational Commission,
organized in Boston; the Freedmen's Re-
lief Association. of New York, and the
Port Royal Relief Committee at Phila-
delphia, volunteered to pay the salaries
of the teachers of plantation superin-
tendents.
The first delegation of these-fifty-thre