Chapter IX: Part 9

After one of these handsome entertainments, where we had been
attended by negro slaves, I observed a cloud upon the brow of my
young friend, for which I could not account, till he confessed,
that the sight of men who were the property of their fellow
creatures, and subject to every indignity, excited such painful
reflections, that he could not banish them from his mind. I
endeavoured to soothe him, by representing that their treatment
here is gentle, compared with that exercised in the southern
states, and in the West Indies; though the efforts that have been
made for the abolition of slavery, have improved their conditions
every where.

It is indeed to be regretted, that men, so ardent in the love of
liberty for themselves as the Americans are, should continue, in
any degree, to tolerate the slave trade. Many amongst them,
however, have used every endeavour to abolish it, particularly
Anthony Benezet. He was born at St. Quintin, in Picardy, in 1712.
France, at this time, suffered from religious persecution; which
drove the parents of Benezet to England, where he embraced the
doctrines of the Quakers. He went to America in 1736, and settled
at Philadelphia, in a commercial line of business; but that
employment being unsuitable to his turn of mind, he quitted it
for the instruction of youth, and undertook the management of a
school, belonging to the society whose principles he had adopted.
From that period, he devoted the chief part of his life to public
instruction, to the relief of the poor, and the defense of the
unhappy negroes.

The amiable Benezet was warmed with universal philanthropy: he
felt a brotherly affection for all men, of all countries, and of
all colours. Not contented with persuasion, he composed many
books, in which he collected authorities from Scripture and other
writings, to discourage and condemn the slave-trade and slavery.
The first influence of his works was perceived amongst the
Quakers. Many of them determined to emancipate their slaves; and
the society since has been very active in promoting the
abolition. Benezet knew that instruction was necessary for those
blacks whose liberty he had procured; and finding few willing to
undertake a task, that prejudice had rendered contemptible, he
determined to devote his own time to the glorious occupation of
enlightening the ignorant and neglected, and his little fortune
to the establishment of a school for the negroes. The influence
of a good example is powerful. Those who had not courage to
begin, cheerfully assisted the work; and the school now enjoys a
revenue of two hundred pounds per annum. This good man died in
1784; honoured by the tears of the blacks, and the regrets of
every friend to humanity. John Woolman, also a member of the same
society, remarkable for the simplicity of his manners, and his
opposition to the slave-trade, united with Benezet and others, in
application to the British government for the abolition. Their
efforts were ineffectual. America after gaining her independence,
has listened, more favourably, to the cause of humanity. Most of
the northern and middle states have proscribed for ever, the
importation of slaves; and in some others, the prohibition is
limited to a certain time. Georgia is the only state that
continues to receive transported slaves. Rhode Island had a great
traffic in slaves, but has totally prohibited it. The abolition,
and amendment in the condition of the negroes, certainly advance,
though by slow degrees; and it is to be devoutly wished, that in
time these improvements will extend to all parts of the world,
where slavery prevails. It will be interesting to you, my dear
brother, to know the steps that have procured these advantages.
In 1780, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania abolished slavery
for ever; compelled the owners of slaves to have them registered;
declared their children free at the age of twenty-eight; placed
them, while under that age, on the footing of hired servants; and
assured to them the privilege of trial by jury. But this was not
sufficient to secure to them all the intended advantages: by a
second act it was ordained, that no negro could be sent into a
neighbouring state without his consent; that all vessels and
cargoes employed in the slave trade should be confiscated; and
that all stealers of the negroes should be condemned to the
public works. The little state of Delaware followed this noble
example. New York has sanctioned nearly the same regulations in
their favour as Pennsylvania. A society, connected with one in
London, and others in the American states, formed for the express
purpose of promoting the abolition, has greatly ameliorated their
condition, in all respects; especially by affording numbers of
them a degree of instruction in religion, and the useful arts of
reading and writing, which they acquire with as much facility as
white men brought up in the same manner. From this information we
may encourage the hope, that the time approaches when their
shackles shall be removed, and they shall participate with the
other races of mankind, in the common benefits of liberty and
independence: that instead of the treatment of beasts of burthen,
they shall be considered as rational beings, and co-heirs with us
of immortality: that a conscientious care of educating their
children in the great duties of Christianity, will produce a
happy change from the vices in which, from ignorance and a
combination of unfavorable circumstances, they now live, to the
practice of religion and morality, and entitle them to rank on an
equality with their fellow-creatures. Besides these public acts
in favour of the negroes, many individuals have generously given
liberty to their slaves; amongst others that have fallen under my
notice, I shall mention the instance of Messrs. David and John
Barclay, respectable merchants in London, who received, as an
equivalent for a debt, a plantation in Jamaica, stocked with
thirty-two slaves. They immediately resolved to set these negroes
free; and that they might effectually enable them afterwards to
provide for themselves, the surviving brother, David, sent an
agent from England to manage the business, and convey them to
Philadelphia, having first supplied them with all necessaries;
where, under the fostering hand of his friends in the city, with
the assistance of the Abolition Society, they were apprenticed to
mechanic trades, and the children sent to school to be properly
instructed. This benevolent act was rewarded with extraordinary
success. Except two, these liberated slaves prospered, and became
useful members of the community.

Many of those who are free, gain a great deal of money; as I
conclude, from a ball given among themselves, at which we were
present, where, though all of a sooty black, the company was well
dressed, came in coaches, and were regaled with a good supper and
variety of refreshments.--Priscilla Wakefield, _Excursions in
North America_, 1806, p. 16 et seq.

BOOK REVIEWS

_Andrew Johnson, Military Governor of Tennessee._ By CLIFTON R. HALL, Ph.D. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1916. Pp. 234.

This book, according to the author, is an attempt to "trace the personality of Andrew Johnson through the years 1862-1865 when the burden of military government and reconstruction in Tennessee rested principally upon his shoulders." The author has intentionally neglected to give detailed treatment of the military administration in West Tennessee by the generals of the regular army and also of the Federal trade regulations in the State. No effort is here made to trace the career of Johnson after the close of his services in Tennessee. The account is largely based on the papers of Johnson found in the _Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies_ and on the newspapers of that period, especially the _Nashville Union_. The author is conscious of his failure adequately to present the "Confederate side of many controverted points," because of "a most regrettable dearth of material for this purpose."

Dr. Hall aims to answer certain charges, among which are such as the assertion that Johnson purposely delayed the work of reconstruction and that he by rather harsh treatment excluded many unquestionably loyal men from the work of reconstruction. The purpose of the work is to show how the lesson learned by Johnson in reconstructing his own State constituted a training for the higher work to which he was so suddenly and unexpectedly called. With this end in view the writer considers first secession, and then gives a sketch of Andrew Johnson leading up to his inauguration as Military Governor. Then follow such topics as the defense of Nashville, repression under Rosecrans, military and political reverses, the progress of reorganization and the presidential campaign of 1864. Throughout the treatise an effort is made to show the arduousness of the task of the Governor-of-all-work had to do and how he summoned to his aid the constructive element and reestablished order. There is given also an account not only of the opposition of those who looked upon the Governor as a traitor but of that of the militant factions that divided on the question as to how the State should be reconstructed. Lincoln's plan of reconstruction is presented as a factor which figured largely in the problems the Governor had to solve.

How the question of slavery was then treated by the men solving the problem of maintaining the Union is not neglected. Andrew Johnson is referred to as product of the poor white stock that hoped to see the evil of slavery exterminated because it was at variance with the principles of democracy, but on the other hand believed that it was so deeply rooted in the life of the nation that it should not be molested so long as it "remained in strict subordination to and in harmony with the government." The writer shows also how Johnson felt that in case of secession the Federal Government could not coerce a State, yet believing that this government, the best and freest on earth, should be preserved, he undermined his own anti-coercion doctrine by denouncing the right of secession and urging that although the Federal Government could not coerce a State, it had a right to guarantee the loyal citizens representing it a constitutional form of government. Some space is given to the discussion of the exception of Tennessee from the Emancipation Proclamation, the growing tendency of Johnson to ignore slavery to preserve the Union, how the opponents sought to weaken him by saying that he was opposed to the institution and finally how he suffered it to be sacrificed to save the Union. Passing mention is given the working out of the problem of abolition and the proposition as to what relief and what privileges should be given the emancipated Negroes.

J. O. BURKE

* * * * *

_The New Negro._ By WILLIAM PICKENS, Dean of Morgan College, Baltimore. Neale Publishing Company, New York, 1916. Pp. 239.

"The New Negro" is a collection of speeches and essays through which this well known orator has endeavored to present his views on the race problem in the United States. Primarily polemic and ex-parte, this work will hardly attract the attention of the investigator. But when an author like this one, a man of reputation and influence among his people, writes on such subjects as the "renaissance" of the Negro, his constitutional status, and discusses Alexander Hamilton, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln, the serious reader might well pause to give this work more than ordinary consideration.

The book does not bear the stamp of research; the aim of the work is to defend the Negro and laud those who have championed his cause. The bold claims which Negroes have been making from time immemorial are set forth in brilliant and forceful style. In this respect the book is a success. It goes over old ground, but it does its work well. Although not historical, some valuable facts of Negro history are given from page to page. It contains, however, a few statements which are not essential to the establishment of the Negro's claim to great achievement. It is very difficult to demonstrate to a thinking man the advantage to the Negro of such a contention as the much mooted connection of Alexander Hamilton and Robert Browning with the black race when those men spent their lives and passed into history as white men. Such argument has just about as much bearing on the present as the efforts now being made by certain enthusiastic race leaders to prove that Christ was a black man rather than a Jew. Fraught then with opinions rather than with organized facts adequate to the development of the subject constituting its title, the book must be classed as controversial literature.

It may be well to note here, however, exactly what the author means by the "new Negro." The "new Negro," says he, "is not really new; he is the same Negro under new conditions. Those who regret the passing of the 'old Negro' and picture the new as something very different must remember that there is no sharp line of demarcation between the old and the new in any growing organism like a germ, a plant or a race." The "new Negro" then is simply the Negro differently circumstanced. He is ignored by the white man and, therefore, misunderstood. The "new Negro" is living under the handicap of isolation by white men who differ from their former masters who lived in close contact with them. The result is that the white man of today, choosing not to become acquainted with the Negro, has constructed within his mind a person entirely different from what the Negro actually is. The "new Negro" is not treacherous, indolent and criminal as suspected. He "is a sober, sensible creature, conscious of his environment, knowing that not all is right, but trying hard to become adjusted to this civilization in which he finds himself by no will or choice of his own. He is not the shallow, vain, showy creature which he is sometimes advertised to be. He still hopes that the unreasonable opposition to his forward and upward progress will relent. But, at any rate, he is resolved to fight, and live or die, on the side of God and the Eternal Verities."

* * * * *

_Cotton as a World Power._ By JAMES A. B. SCHERER, LL.D. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1916. Pp. 452.

Here we see cotton again not as king but as a world power. It is the new Golden Fleece. The Civil War brought home to the public mind that this vegetable fleece is really golden "and that its golden values are so interwoven with the solidarity of mankind as to depend to a peculiar degree for their stability on the maintenance of an unbroken network of international trade. Cotton is here considered peculiar in that it is the only crop of importance, all of which is sold by those who produce it. It, therefore, gives rise to an enormous commerce and provides a medium of exchange that almost entirely takes the place of gold in the settlement of interstate and international balances." By it countries are bound together "in its globe engirdling web; so that when a modern economist concerns himself with the interdependence of nations he naturally looks to cotton for his most effective illustration."

Showing its startling growth in the Orient and the Occident even from the time of Alexander the Great, cotton is traced as a factor in the development of ancient nations and in the rise of the modern. It strikes one as being a little strange to read in this economic treatise such captions as "The Vegetable Lamb" and "Cotton Mythology." The author then gives in more detail the earliest history of the industry, referring to Hindu skill, Alexander's trade routes, Egyptian mummies, the microscope, the transit from Rome to Spain, cotton and the Renaissance, Edward III as the weaver king, the entrance of cotton into England and the transformation of the country.

Taking up the industrial revolution the author develops the subject more scientifically. The work contains less of mere history and gives a more economic view of the forces set to work by the culture of cotton throughout the civilized world. The numerous inventions which figured so conspicuously in the rise of the industry are discussed. In this portion of the work, however, the author has hardly said anything new. He has merely restated well-known facts so as to give them a somewhat enlarged and original treatment. Here we read more about Kay, Hargraves, Arkwright, Compton, Cartwright, Watt, Davy and Brindley, whose inventive genius supplied the mechanical appliance upon which this industrial progress was based. Mention is also made of the captains of industry who set this machinery going and directed the world-wide movement which resulted in multiplying the wealth of some and bringing comfort and prosperity to many. The references to the influence of cotton on such writers as Malthus and Darwin and upon such explorers as Columbus and Cortes show the breadth with which the author treats the subject.

A large part of this work, of course, is devoted to tracing the connection of cotton with the early manufacturing in the United States, its impetus to slavery, its influences upon States' rights, its effects on manufacturing in New England and on protection, free trade, secession, the reconstruction of the South and the social problem. On the whole this is an excellent work and will be received by students of economic history as a valuable contribution in its field.

C. B. WALTER

* * * * *

_Centennial Encyclopedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church._ By RICHARD R. WRIGHT, JR., Ph.D., Editor-in-chief, assisted by JOHN R. HAWKINS, LL.B. Book Concern of the A. M. E. Church, Philadelphia, Pa., 1916. Pp. 392.

This is a neatly printed and handsomely bound volume of valuable facts meeting a long-felt need. It contains an introduction by Bishop L. J. Coppin, a foreword entitled "One Hundred Years of African Methodism," a sketch of "What African Methodism Has to Say for Itself," by Dr. J. T. Fenifer, the historian of the church, and the Chronology of African Methodism by Dr. R. R. Wright. In these pages one finds in epitome the leading facts of the history of this church from the time of its establishment by Richard Allen to the present time.

Then follows the Centennial Encyclopedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. "The purpose of this work," according to the editors, "is to present in some literary form the work of the men and women, both ministers and laymen, who have helped to make the Church what it is and especially those now living who receive the inheritance of the fathers and upon whose shoulders rest the responsibility of passing the work down to a new century." The editors disclaim pretension to scientific historical treatment. The work is rather biographical and autobiographical and was prepared under such a handicap that some of the matter presented could not be verified. Yet when we consider the fact that the editors had access to the files of newspapers, church histories, and other church encyclopedias, we must conclude that they have here compiled information of incalculable value. The reader must be impressed too by the scientific disposition of the editors in that they show no inclination to criticize or eulogize, but endeavor to present facts.

The second part of the book, differing somewhat from the first, is equally as valuable. It contains an account of the Church in general, its location, laws, doctrines, statistics and almost every sort of information bearing on the life of those connected with this Church. Among these facts, too, the reader finds not only a religious history but an excellent account of the development of education among these people. In this respect, therefore, the editors have rendered the cause of education a service hardly less valuable than that to the Church.

The volume as a whole shows much progress. It is the best Negro Church encyclopedia hitherto produced. One may obtain here in succinct form an excellent ready reference work. The book is modestly given to the public as a beginning, but it has accomplished much for the race not only in the information which it contains but in demonstrating what a store of knowledge may be obtained through an effective organization. Just as the African Methodist Episcopal Church has gone to the expense of bringing out this valuable volume to publish to posterity the deeds of its fathers, so should every Negro organization address itself to the task of preserving a record of all of their connection, who have done something for the development of the country and the progress of their people.

NOTES

FATHER UNCLES OF BALTIMORE

The following from the _Brooklyn Tablet_, January 13, 1917, will interest students of the Negro Church:

"Rev. Charles Randolph Uncles, of Baltimore, Maryland, received
congratulatory messages from all parts of the country last month,
the occasion being the twenty-fifth anniversary of his
ordination. Father Uncles was the first colored man of the United
States to be raised to the priesthood, and he has had a brilliant
career during the quarter century that has elapsed since Cardinal
Gibbons ordained him in the Baltimore Cathedral on December 19,
1891.

"Father Uncles has done much missionary work and is at present
engaged in teaching Latin and French in Epiphany College,
Walbrook, Maryland, the preparatory school for St. Joseph's
Seminary, where young men are trained to carry on work among the
negroes of the United States.

"Father Uncles was the first negro in this country to be
ordained. He reached his goal after years of preliminary study
which led to his taking a course in St. Joseph's and St. Mary's
Seminaries. He was graduated with honors and went to Epiphany
College as teacher as soon as he left St. Mary's. He has done
much to put the negro missions on a thorough working basis, and
he has the admiration of Cardinal Gibbons. Father Uncles was born
in Baltimore November 6, 1859, and his parents and grandparents
were free negroes. His father was a machinist and worked for
years with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. His mother is still
living.

"He was baptized at St. Francis Xavier's Church, Calvert and
Pleasant streets, Baltimore, and there he recently said his
jubilee Mass. He studied at St. Francis's parish school and in
the public schools. He worked as printer and journalist from 1874
to 1879 and then as printer. In 1880 he began as teacher in the
Baltimore county schools, and in 1883 entered St. Hyacinth's
College, Quebec, to study. He returned to St. Joseph's Seminary
in 1888."

The same paper said on this date in its editorial columns:

"Congratulations to Father Uncles, of Baltimore, a priest, a
gentleman, a scholar--and a negro. He has just celebrated the
twenty-fifth anniversary of his entrance into the Order of Abel,
Abraham and Melchizedek.

"Father Uncles was the first of his race in this country to be
raised to the dignity of the priesthood. His was a unique
position. The eyes of the American world were upon him. Though
one of God's anointed, he was a "colored man," and thus more was
demanded of him than of any of his white brothers. At the end of
twenty-five years, he can, with his gentle good nature, laugh at
the world's scrutiny.

"For Father Uncles is gentle--a gentleman. In conversation with
him, in association with him, one never thought of the color of
his body. The beautiful whiteness of his soul shone so in the
kindly lightning of his eyes, the courtesy of his speech, the
correctness of his manner.

"He was, and is, a scholar--not merely book-learned, for he was
one of the first three in a class of sixty in Saint Mary's
Seminary, but the man of parts that bespeak the student.

"Yet he is a negro--of that long-suffering race that we first
damned into slavery and then freed into servitude. But a man's a
man for a' that, and from time to time the negro is proving that.
Father Uncles was a pioneer in that line. For emancipation's sake
he will not object to this projection of himself upon America's
mental screen."

In connection with the sketch given above the following account of the work of the Catholics at Van de Vyver College, Richmond, Virginia, from 1885 to the present time should also be interesting.

Among the many signs of the progress of the colored people in the city of Richmond is the Van de Vyver College on North First street, which is equipped with all modern improvements, and has accommodations for five hundred pupils.

This elegant plant was erected at the sole expense of the Catholics who, abreast of the times, met at every turn the requirements of an aspiring class of colored boys and girls.

It was not erected with the idea of drawing the attention or of eliciting the applause of the people of Richmond; it is an institution which, by its growth and development, has marked time with the demands of the younger generation of the colored people, whose endeavor is to follow the higher ideals as they are set before them.

This grand building, with its large auditorium, now covers the site, together with additional area, of a former two-roomed schoolhouse, which thirty years back first gave the Catholic Sisters from Mill Hill, England, a place and opportunity to show their zeal for, and their interest in, the future welfare of the colored youth of the principal city of the Old Dominion.

These Sisters are known as the Sisters of St. Francis of Baltimore. They have the privilege of being the first of all the white sisterhoods in this country to take up the work of teaching colored children exclusively. Today there are many colored citizens who are not backward in their praise of the successful and unselfish efforts of these same good sisters, whose energetic endeavors have led many a colored boy and girl to a happy and prosperous career.

On the college grounds is an excellently equipped kindergarten, in which many pupils, who later on were graduated from the commercial and academic courses, made their first start.

Special classes in music, fancy needlework, Latin and French are also taught to those desiring to pursue such lines.

For the working boys and young men, there is a night session, wherein is given a theoretical and practical knowledge of the automobile. Many a young man has gone forth from this class qualified as an expert mechanician and chauffeur.

The church adjoining the college, attendance at which is of course optional, affords all the opportunity of gaining a knowledge of the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Affiliated with this church are four flourishing societies, one for the men called the Holy Name Society; one for the women called The Sodality of the Mother of Jesus; one for men and women called The League of the Sacred Thirst--a Temperance Society; and one for the boys and girls called the Knights and Ladies of the Cross. The members of these societies are very faithful in the duties required of them, and hence give great edification to the people of both races.

This whole plant, it is needless to say, is an inspiring spectacle to the very many colored men and women, who pass up and down North First street. They have reason to point to it with pride. They appreciate all that it represents to them. It matters not of what denomination the people may be, Catholic or Non-Catholic, words of the highest commendation are freely and generously given by all alike.

FATHER TOBIN

MORE ABOUT NEGRO SOLDIERS

The following account of the services of Negroes during the American Revolution appeared in the _Washington Post_, January 16, 1917:

"The employment of colored men became a subject of much
importance at an early stage of the American war of independence.
The British naturally regarded slavery as an element of weakness
in the condition of the colonies, in which the slaves were
numerous, and laid their plans to gain the colored men and induce
them to take up arms against their masters by promising them
liberty on this condition.

"The situation was looked upon by the public men of the colonies
as alarming, and several of them urged the Congress to adopt the
policy of emancipation. But while the general question of
emancipation was defeated, the exigencies of the contest again
and again brought up the practical one of employment for colored
men, whether bond or free.

"ONLY FREEMEN WANTED IN ARMY

"In May, 1775, Hancock and Warren's committee of safety
introduced the following formal resolution: 'Resolved, That it is
the opinion of this committee, as the contest now between Great
Britain and the colonies respects the liberties and privileges of
the latter, which the colonies are determined to maintain, that
the admission of any person as a soldier into the army now
raising, but only such as are freemen, will be inconsistent with
the principles that are to be supported and reflect dishonor on
these colonies, and that no slaves be admitted into this army
upon any consideration whatever.'

"Washington took command of the army around Boston on July 3,
1775. The instructions for the recruiting officers from his
headquarters at Cambridge prohibited the enlistment of any
'negro.' It may also be noticed that they were forbidden to
enlist 'any person who is not an American born, unless such
person has a wife and family and is a settled person in this
country.'

"MANY COLORED MEN ENROLLED

"Notwithstanding all this, the fact remains, according to
Bancroft, that 'the roll of the army at Cambridge had, from its
first formation, borne the names of men of color.' Free colored
men stood in the ranks by the side of white men. In the beginning
of the war they had entered the provincial army, and the colored
men, like others, were retained in the service after the troops
were adopted by the continent.

"A committee on conference, consisting of Dr. Franklin, Benjamin
Harrison and Thomas Lynch, met at Cambridge, October 18, 1775,
with the deputy governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island and the
committee of the council of Massachusetts Bay, to confer with
Gen. Washington, and advise a method for renovating the army. On
the 23d of October the negro question was presented and disposed
of as follows: 'Ought not negroes to be excluded from the new
enlistment, especially such as are slaves?' All were thought
improper by the council of officers. It was agreed that they be
rejected altogether.

"In general orders, issued November 12, 1775, Washington says:
'Neither negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to
endure the fatigues of the campaign are to be enlisted.'

"PERMITTED THEIR ENLISTMENT

"Washington, however, in the last days of the year, under
representations to him that the free colored men who had served
in his army were very much dissatisfied at being discarded, and
fearing that they might seek employment in the British army, took
the responsibility to depart from the resolution respecting them
and gave license for their being enlisted.

"Washington promised that if there was any objection on the part
of Congress he would discontinue the enlisting of colored men,
but, on January 15, 1776, Congress determined 'that the free
negroes who had served faithfully in the army at Cambridge may be
reenlisted therein, but no others.'

"The entire aspect of the affairs changed when, in 1779, the
South began to be invaded. South Carolina, especially, was unable
to make any effectual efforts with militia, by reason of the
great proportion of citizens necessary to remain at home to
prevent insurrections among the colored men and their desertions
to the enemy, who were assiduous in their endeavors to excite
both revolt and desertion.

"The result was that in all the Southern States the legislatures
passed resolutions to enlist the colored men, and the colored
patriots of the Revolution are as much entitled as their white
brethren for the ardor with which they fought the common enemy,
whether they were bondmen or freemen. It has never been possible
to give an exact statement as to the number of colored men who
served in the Revolution, for the reason that they were generally
mixed in regiments and not calculated separately."

The following was taken from the columns of the _Boston Journal_, June, 1897, by Mr. Frederic S. Monroe.

A GALLANT NEGRO

_How Salem Poor Fought at the
Battle of Bunker Hill_

There is an interesting record in the Massachusetts Archives
(clxxx, 241) which Dr. Samuel A. Green ran across during his
historical researches, and which the _Journal_ prints below. It
relates to a colored man at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The Subscribers begg leave to Report to your Honble. House (Which
Wee do in justice to the Caracter of so Brave a Man) that under
Our Own observation, Wee declare that A Negro Man Called Salem
Poor of Col Fryes Regiment. Capt. Ames. Company in the late
Battle at Charleston, behaved like an Experienced Officer, as
Well as an Excellent Soldier, to Set forth Particulars of his
Conduct Would be Tedious, Wee Would Only begg leave to say in the
Person of this sd. Negro Centers a Brave & gallant Soldier. The
Reward due to so great and Distinguisht a Caracter, Wee submit to
the Congress----

Cambridge Decr. 5th 1775

JONA. BREWER. _Col_
THOMAS NIXON _Lt. Col_
WM PRESCOTT _Colo._
EPHM. COREY _Lieut._
JOSEPH BAKER _Lieut_
JOSHUA REED _Lieut_

To the Honorable General Court of the Massachusetts Bay.

JONAS RICHARDSON _Capt._
ELIPHELET BODWELL _Segt_
JOSIAH FOSTER _Leutn._
EBENR VARNUM _2d Lut._
WM HUDSON BALLARD _Cpt_
WILLIAM SMITH _Capn_
JOHN MARTEN _Surgt: of a Brec_:
LIEUT. RICHARD WELSH
In Council Decr. 21st. 1775
Read & Sent down
PEREZ MORTON
_Dpy Secry_

This paper is indorsed

Recommendation of
Salem Poor a free Negro
for his Bravery at ye Battle
of Charlestown
leave to withdraw it

Although histories have been written of the members and actions of Col. Frye's regiment and Capt. Ames's company, of which Salem Poor was a member, the account given of him shows that the story of his life was not known. It is, however, noted in Miss Bailey's "History of Andover" that he was a slave, owned by John Poor. At the Battle of Bunker Hill, when Lieut. Col. Abercrombie, of the British forces, sprang upon the redoubt, while the Americans were running in retreat, and exclaimed, "The day is ours," Salem Poor turned, aimed his gun and felled with a bullet the English leader. The deed was considered by the officers of the regiment to be one of great bravery, as their petition to the General Court of Massachusetts shows.

Other colored men serving at the Battle of Bunker Hill were Titus Coburn, Alexander Ames, Barzillai Lew, all of Andover; Cato Howe of Plymouth, and Peter Salem.

Among those who gave valued services in the Continental Army was Deborah Gannett. She assumed the dress of a man, and under the name of Robert Shurtliff, enlisted in the fourth Massachusetts Regiment, Captain Webb, serving in the ranks without once revealing her sex from May 20, 1782, to October 23, 1783, a period of seventeen months. By an act of the legislature, Jan. 20, 1792, she was paid £34 by the State for her services.

The extract below is from a discussion of the questions of pension and bounty for Negro soldiers by James Croggon. It appeared in the _Washington Star_.

"January 21 Gen. Jackson read an address to each of the commands
which had taken part in the battles, reviewing the campaign, and
saying of the engagement of January 8 that the loss of the enemy
was more than 3,000 while the American loss was but thirteen--"a
wonderful interposition of heaven! An unexampled event in the
history of war!" Gen. Jackson characterizes the event.

"In his general orders of January 21, prior to breaking camp,
Gen. Jackson complimented the various regiments and commands,
saying of the two bodies of colored volunteers: 'They have not
disappointed the hopes that were formed of their courage and
perseverence in the performance of their duty. Majs. Lacoste and
Daquin, who commanded them, have deserved well of their country.'

"REWARDS HELD UP

"Yet, although these colored troops were commended for their
coolness and bravery under fire, especially in the memorable
engagement of December 23 when they were attached to Coffee's
brigade, which opened the series of battles, recognition for
their services, by way of pension and bounty, was withheld for
several years after their discharge from the service and then was
granted only after an opinion had been given by William Wirt,
Attorney General of the United States at that time, that they
might legally be so recompensed.

"When the colored troops enlisted the act of Congress of December
24, 1811, provided a bounty of $16, with three months' pay, and a
grant of 160 acres of land to those who had served five years,
the same amount of land to the heirs of those killed in battle,
and the same amount of land to the heirs of those who had died in
the service after having served five years. The act of January
11, 1812, carried like provisions, and the act of December 10,
1814, again carried the provisions, except that the amount of
land granted was doubled.

"After the colored troops were mustered out, application was made
in their behalf for recognition under these acts, especially for
the bounty of 320 acres of land, but it was not until 1823 that
their claims were recognized.

"JACKSON PRAISED TROOPS

"This apathy and long delay ensued notwithstanding the fact that
under date of December 27, 1814, Gen. Jackson had reviewed the
first engagement in a report in which he spoke highly of the men
of color attached to Coffee's brigade. He said in this engagement
a number of prisoners were taken, and the British loss was about
100. On the night of the 23d of December, in the engagement below
New Orleans, the British left 100 killed, and 230 wounded, their
loss in prisoners taken making their total loss that night about
400.

"Again, reporting on the battle of January 8, Gen. Jackson said
that the enemy advanced in two strong columns, and that 'they
were received with a firmness which defeated all their hopes.
For upward of an hour the firing was incessant, but the enemy at
length fled in confusion from the field, their losses including
Gen. Sir Edward Pakenham.' Under date of January 19 Gen. Jackson
informed the War Department that the enemy had decamped, leaving
eighty of their wounded and fourteen pieces of heavy artillery,
and that he believed Louisiana was then 'clear.'

"ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OPINION

"It was to J. C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, that William
Wirt, then Attorney General, wrote, under date of March 27, 1823,
declaring that it was not, in his opinion, in the power of the
government to deny the colored troops and their heirs the
emoluments of their service in the army. Mr. Wirt's letter is as
follows:

"'Sir: Had I been called on a priori to give a construction to
the several acts of Congress, which are the subject of Mr.
Cutting's letters of the 21st of May, 1821, and 30th of January,
1823, of Maj. Charles J. Nourse's of the 20th of January, 1823,
and Mr. J. W. Murray's of the 22d of December, 1822, I should
have had no hesitation in expressing the opinion that it was not
the intention of Congress to incorporate negroes and people of
color with the army, any more than with the militia of the United
States. But the acts of Congress, under which this body of people
of color are understood to have been raised during the late war,
uses no other terms of description as to the recruits than that
they shall be 'effective, able-bodied men' (act 24th December,
1811), 'for completing the existing military establishment,' and
act 11th January, 1812, 'to raise an additional military force,'
of 'free, effective, able-bodied men' (act December 10, 1814),
'making further provision for filling the ranks of the army of
the United States.'

"ALL REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED

"As either of these descriptions was satisfied by the persons of
color in question; as the recruiting officers, who were quoad hoc
the agents of the United States, recruited these persons on a
contract for the pay and bounty stipulated by law, as the
officers of government recognize them as a part of the army, by
their regular returns of this corps, who received, till the close
of the war, the same pay and rations with other troops, were
subject to the same military law and performed the same military
services, it seems to me that a practical construction has been
given to the law in this particular, from which it is not in the
power of the government justly to depart.

"I think, therefore, that they ought to receive the promised land
bounty. But, without some further and more explicit declaration
of the purpose of Congress, I would not recommend a repetition of
such contracts on any future occasion on laws worded like those
under consideration; by which I mean, not merely the three laws
which I have cited, but the whole military system of the United
States, militia included."

* * * * *

Mrs. R. L. Pendleton has published the new edition of the _Life and Works of Phillis Wheatley_ by G. Herbert Renfro. This volume contains a sketch of G. Herbert Renfro and a much more detailed sketch of the life of Phillis Wheatley by this writer. It contains the correspondence of the poetess and a larger number of her poems than we find in some of the other editions of her works. The book is well printed and nicely bound and may be purchased for the small sum of $1.50 from R. L. Pendleton, 1216 You St., Washington, D. C.

* * * * *

Longmans and Company have published A. J. McDonald's _Trade, Politics and Christianity in Africa and the East_. It is a valuable contribution to the British colonial policy.

H. O. Newland's _Sierra Leone; its People, Products and Secret Societies_ has come from the press of Bale, Sons and Donnelson. The author is a student of sociology and knows much about West Africa. To this is appended 44 pages of information on Sierra Leone by H. Hamel Smith.

_In the Hands of Senoussi_ has been published by Mrs. Gwatkin Williams. This book is a collection of facts compiled from the diary of Captain R. Gwatkin Williams, giving an account of nineteen weeks of captivity of the survivors of H. M. S. _Tara_ in the Libyan Desert.

The tales of General Botha's desert march in Southwest Africa have been published as _Sun, Sand and Sin_ by Hodder and Stoughton.

Articles of interest on Africa recently published are _Islam on the Congo_ by W. J. W. Roome in the Moslem World, _L'Islam en Mauritanie et au Senegale_ in the Revue du Monde Musulman and _Observations on the Northern Section of the Tanganyika-Nile Rift Valley_ by Captain C. H. Stigand in the Geographical Journal.

_The Early History of Cuba_, 1492-1586, by I. A. Wright, has been published by MacMillan Company. The book shows evidence of extensive research and scholarly treatment.

The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History is making extensive preparation to bring together during the last week in August all persons who are now seriously interested in the study of Negro history. It is hoped that a large number of members may be able to attend and that interest in the work may extend throughout the country. Some of the leading historians of the United States will be invited to address this body.

THE JOURNAL

OF

NEGRO HISTORY

VOL. II--JULY, 1917--NO. 3

THE FORMATION OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY

What to do with the Negro population has almost always been a question before the American people. Since the early date of 1714 its removal to some territory beyond the limits of the United States or to an unsettled area of our public lands has been advocated. During the century which followed the earliest mention of deportation, its advocates published their plans as individual propaganda, sought the approbation of religious and humanitarian organizations, and in one or two instances tried to secure favorable State or national action on them. But throughout this long period of one hundred years no concerted action was taken: the period is characterized by sporadic origins and isolated efforts; and these early projectors of plans to remove the Negro were the trailmakers in a pioneering movement which culminated in a national organization.[234]

Obviously private enterprise alone could make little headway in the actual colonization of the Negroes in a territory sufficiently distant to be beyond the pale of the white population. The one item of expense was too serious a handicap for individual initiative to overcome. Besides the case of Captain Izard Bacon of Virginia, who temporarily removed his fifty-two freedmen to Pennsylvania to await a favorable time for sending them over sea,[235] and of Mary Matthews of King George's County, Virginia, who by will emancipated her slaves and provided for their removal to a place where they could enjoy their liberty,[236] there is but one significant example of actual colonization under individual auspices. This occurred in 1815 when Paul Cuffe took thirty-eight Negroes to the western coast of Africa.[237] This dramatic event in Negro deportation, owing to the wide publicity given to it, stimulated activity anew in colonization ventures.

We shall now review these new schemes and show how representatives of the transportation movement assembled in Washington city, and having enlisted in their cause men most distinguished in the councils of the nation, formed the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States, an organization still in existence but now known as the American Colonization Society and having as a monument to its checkered career, the free Negro republic, Liberia, on the western coast of Africa.

To begin with, it is well to point out that Thomas Jefferson, whose advocacy of Negro colonization dates from 1773, replied in 1811, to a request for his opinion on Ann Mifflin's proposition to make a settlement of colored people on the west coast of Africa under the auspices of the different States, that he considered it "the most desirable measure which could be adopted for gradually drawing off" the black population; and he added: "nothing is more to be wished than that the United States should themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of Africa."[238] It requires little effort to appreciate the weight of this Ex-President's opinion, and colonizationists later gave wide publicity to it in order to strengthen their cause.[239]

Additional deportation sentiment is found in the recommendations of the Union Humane Society, an anti-slavery organization founded in 1815, in Ohio, by Benjamin Lundy. Two planks in the program of the Society are noteworthy: first, it emphasized the necessity of common action by all forces interested in the amelioration of the Negro race; and, second, it recommended as a basis for common action the removal of the Negroes beyond the pale of the white man.[240]

While the Union Humane Society was silent on national aid, the Kentucky Colonization Society came out in strong terms for it. Taking advantage of the close of the War of 1812 and of the existence of vast tracts of unappropriated lands in the United States, and realizing that the number of free blacks daily increased, and that the territory open to them for residence was greatly restricted owing to the prohibitory legislation existing in many States, this Society, at its annual meeting, held in Frankfort, October 18 and 19, 1815, petitioned Congress that a suitable territory "be laid off as an asylum for all those negroes and mulattoes who have been, and those who may hereafter be, emancipated within the United States; and that such donations, allowances, encouragements, and assistance be afforded them as may be necessary for carrying them thither and settling them therein; and that they be under such regulations and government in all respects as your wisdom shall direct."[241]

Another manifestation of sentiment for removing the Negroes to a distant territory is found in a series of resolutions passed by the Virginia Assembly on December 21, 1816. These resolutions were introduced and sponsored by Charles Fenton Mercer, a slaveholder. In the spring of 1816, he accidentally discovered the secret action of the Assembly, taken in 1800, just after the Negro insurrection of that year, the upshot of which was two resolutions directing the Governor to correspond with the President of the United States for the purpose of securing somewhere a suitable territory for the colonization of emancipated slaves and free Negroes[242]. It was too near the end of the session when Mercer found these resolutions for him to present a program to the Assembly. In the interim, however, Mercer broke the bar of secrecy, interviewed Francis S. Key, of Georgetown, and Elias B. Caldwell, of Washington city, and with their advice drew up some resolutions to introduce in the Assembly at its next session. Moreover, while in the North that summer for the purpose of the recuperation of his health, having made known his plan, he received "promises of pecuniary aid, and of active cooperation."[243] At the next session of the Virginia Assembly, Mercer introduced his resolutions, the purport of which asked the national government to find a territory on the North Pacific on which to settle free blacks and those afterwards emancipated in Virginia. These resolutions having been amended by the Senate to read on the North Pacific or the African Coast were passed by the Assembly on December 21, 1816, the very day on which the first public meeting of deportationists was held in Washington and out of which grew the American Colonization Society.

A year later, speaking before this organization, Mercer stated his reasons for supporting deportation. "Many thousand individuals in our native State, you well know Mr. President, are restrained from manumitting their slaves, as you and I are, by the melancholy conviction that they cannot yield to the suggestions of humanity without manifest injury to their country." He held that the rapidly increasing free black population endangered the peace of the State and impaired in a large section the value of slave property. What banditti, consisting of the degraded, idle, and vicious free blacks, "sally forth from their coverts, beneath the obscurity of night, and plunder the rich proprietors of the valleys. They infest the suburbs of the towns and cities, where they become the depositories of stolen goods, and, schooled by necessity, elude the vigilance of our defective police."[245] Thus a Virginia slaveholder saw in Negro colonization a means to relieve the State of a dangerous population, to increase the value of slave property and to make possible manumission by that class of slaveholders in which he put himself.

A concurrent expression on Negro deportation, but apparently an independent one, is connected with the name of Robert Finley, of Basking Ridge, New Jersey. A graduate of Princeton, a teacher, a Presbyterian pastor, Finley was in 1816 made president of the University of Georgia, at Athens, where he died the following year at the age of forty-five. As early as 1814 he wrote "a very particular friend in Philadelphia" his ideas on Negro colonization.[246] On February 15, 1815, he wrote a letter to John O. Mumford, of New York City, in which he argued for the removal of the free blacks. He said in part: "Everything connected with their condition, including their color, is against them; nor is there much prospect that their state can ever be greatly ameliorated, while they shall continue among us. Could not the rich and benevolent devise means to form a colony on some part of the Coast of Africa, similar to the one at Sierra Leone, which might gradually induce many free blacks to go there and settle, devising for them the means of getting there, and of protection and support till they were established? Ought not Congress to be petitioned to grant them a district in a good climate, say on the shores of the Pacific Ocean? Our fathers brought them here, and we are bound if possible to repair the injuries inflicted by our fathers. Could they be sent to Africa, a three-fold benefit would arise. We should be cleared of them; we should send to Africa a population partially civilized and christianized for its benefits; our blacks themselves would be put in better condition. Think much on this subject, then please write me again when you have leisure."[247]

Reverend Mr. Finley participated in a colonization meeting held in Princeton, New Jersey, November 6, 1816, which drew up a memorial urging the legislature to use its influence in securing the adoption of some deportation scheme by Congress. The memorialists recognized that many slaves had been emancipated; that the same principles that prompted past manumissions would gradually effect the freedom of all others; that freedmen should be able "to rise to that condition to which they are entitled by the laws of God and nature"; therefore, they should be separated from the whites and placed in a favorable situation, possibly Africa.[248]