William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, July 10, 1860

ALEXANDRIA, July 10, 1860.

. . . I feel little interest in politics and certainly am glad to see it realized that politicians can't govern the country. They may agitate, but cannot control. Let who may be elected, the same old game will be played, and he will go out of office like Pierce and Buchanan with their former honors sunk and lost. I only wonder that honorable men should seek the office.

I do not concieve that any of the parties would materially interfere with the slavery in the states, and in the territories it is a mere abstraction. There is plenty of room in the present slave states for all the negroes, but the time has come when the free states may annoy the slave states by laws of a general declaration, but that they will change the relation of master and slave I don't believe.

All the congresses on earth can't make the negro anything else than what he is; he must be subject to the white man, or he must amalgamate or be destroyed. Two such races cannot live in harmony save as master and slave. Mexico shows the result of general equality and amalgamation, and the Indians give a fair illustration of the fate of negroes if they are released from the control of the whites. Of course no one can guess what the wild unbridled passions of men may do, but I don't believe that the present excitement in politics is anything more than the signs of the passage of power from the southern politicians to northern and western politicians.

The negro is made the hobby, but I know that northern men don't care any more about the rights and humanities of the negroes than the southerners. At present negroes work under control of white men and the consequence is the annual yield of $200,000,000 of cotton, sugar, and other produce that would not be without such labor; and so long as that is the case, I don't fear a change in this respect. . .

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 241-2

Major-General William T. Sherman to H. W. Hill, September 7, 1863

HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPS,                       

Camp on Big Black, September 7, 1863.

H. W. HILL, Esq.,

Chairman of Meeting of Citizens, Warren Co., Miss.:

SIR: The communication addressed to General Grant, myself, and other officers, in the nature of a petition* is received. I think it proper and right that the property-holding classes of Warren County, and indeed of the whole State of Mississippi, should meet in their capacity as citizens to talk over matters, so that they may take any steps they deem to their interest, and if such meetings be open and with the knowledge of the nearest military commander, I will protect them whilst so engaged.

Your preamble, however, starts out with a mistake. I do not think any nation ever undertook to feed, supply, and provide for the future of the inhabitants of an insurgent district. We have done so here and in other instances in this war, but my reading has discovered no parallel cases. If you know of any, I will thank you for a copy of the history which records them. I know it is the purpose of the controlling generals of this war to conduct it on the most humane principles of either ancient or modern times and according to them. I contend that after the firing on our steam-boats navigating our own rivers after the long and desperate resistance to our armies at Vicksburg, on the Yazoo, and in Mississippi generally, we are justified in treating all the inhabitants as combatants and would be perfectly justifiable in transporting you all beyond the seas if the United States deemed it to her interest; but our purpose is not to change the population of this country, but to compel all the inhabitants to acknowledge and submit to the common laws of the land. When all or a part of the inhabitants acknowledge the just rights of the United States, the war as to them ceases. But I will reply to your questions in the order you put them.

First. The duty of the Government to protect and the inhabitants to assist is reciprocal. The people of Warren County have not assisted the United States much as yet, and are therefore not entitled to much protection. What future protection they receive will depend on their own conduct.

Second. The negroes, former slaves by inheritance or purchase, that now fill the country have been turned loose upon the world by their former owners, who by rebelling against the only earthly power that insured them the rightful possession of such property have practically freed them. They are a poor, ignorant class of human beings, that appeal to all for a full measure of forbearance. The task of providing for them at present devolves on the United States because, ex necessitate, the United States succeeds by act of war to the former lost title of the master. This task is a most difficult one, and needs time for development and execution. The white inhabitants of the country must needs be patient, and allow time for the work. In due season the negroes at Roach's and Blake's will be hired, employed by the Government, or removed to camps where they can be conveniently fed; but in the mean time no one must molest them, or interfere with the agents of the United States intrusted with this difficult and delicate task. If any of them are armed it is for self-defense, and if they mistake their just relation to the Government or the people, we will soon impress on them the truth.

Third. Your third inquiry is embraced in the above. I don t know that any fixed and determined plan is matured, but some just and proper provisions will be made for the negro population of this State.

Fourth. Congress alone can appropriate public money. We cannot hire servants for the people who have lost their slaves, nor can we detail negroes for such purposes. You must do as we do, hire your servants and pay them. If they don't earn their hire, discharge them and employ others. Many have already done this and are satisfied with the results.

Fifth. I advise all citizens to stay at home, gradually put their houses and contiguous grounds in order, and cast about for some employment or make preparations on a moderate scale to resume their former business and employment. I cannot advise any one to think of planting on a large scale, for it is manifest no one can see far enough in the future to say who will reap what you sow. You must first make a government before you can have property. There  is no such thing as property without government. Of course, we think that our Government (which is still yours) is the best and easiest put in full operation here. You are still citizens of the United States and of the State of Mississippi. You have only to begin and form one precinct, then another; soon your country will have such organization that the military authorities would respect it. The example of one county would infect another, and that another, in a compound ratio, and it would not be long till the whole State would have such strength by association that, with the assistance of the United States, you could defy any insurgent force. The moment the State can hold an open, fair election, and send Senators and Members to Congress, I doubt not they would be received, and then Mississippi would again be as much a part of our Government as Indiana and Kentucky now are, equal to them in all respects, and could soon have courts, laws, and all the machinery of civil government. Until that is done, it is idle to talk, about little annoyances, such as you refer to at Deer Creek and Roach's. As long as war lasts these troubles will exist, and, in truth, the longer the war is protracted, the more bitter will be the feeling, and the poor people will have to bear it, for they cannot help themselves.

General Grant can give you now no permanent assurance or guaranties, nor can I, nor can anybody. Of necessity, in war the commander on the spot is the judge, and may take your house, your fields, your everything, and, turn you all out, helpless, to starve. It may be wrong, but that don't alter the case. In war you can't help yourselves, and the only possible remedy is to stop war. I know this is no easy task, but it is well for you to look the fact square in the face and let your thoughts and acts tend to the great solution. Those who led the people into war promised all manner of good things to you, and where are their promises? A child may fire a city, but it takes a host of strong men to extinguish it. So a demagogue may fire the minds of a whole people, but it will take a host like ourselves to subdue the flames of anger thus begotten. The task is a mammoth one, but still you will in after years be held recreant if you do not lend your humble assistance. I know that hundreds and thousands of good Southern men now admit their error in appealing to war, and are engaged in the worthy effort to stop it before all is lost. Look around you and see the wreck. Let your minds contemplate the whole South in like chaos and disorder, and what a picture! Those who die by the bullet are lucky compared to those poor fathers and wives and children who see their all taken and themselves left to perish, or linger out their few years in ruined poverty. Our duty is not to build up; it is rather to destroy both the rebel army and whatever of wealth or property it rounded its boasted strength upon. Therefore don't look to any army to help you; act for yourselves. Study your real duties to yourselves and families, and if you remain inert, or passively friendly to the power that threatens our national existence, you must reap the full consequences, but if, like true men, you come out boldly, and plainly assert that the Government of the United States is the only power on earth which can insure to the inhabitants of America that protection to life, property, and fame which alone can make life tolerable, you will have some reason to ask of us protection and assistance, otherwise not.

General Grant is absent. I doubt if he will have time to notice your petition as he deals with a larger sphere, and I have only reduced these points to writing that your people may have something to think about, and divert your minds from the questions of cotton, niggers, and petty depredations, in which the enemies of all order and all government have buried up the real issues of this war.

I am, &c.,

W. T. SHERMAN,                

Major-General, Commanding.

_______________

* See Grant to Halleck, September 19, p. 732.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 30, Part 3 (Serial No. 52), p. 401-4

Major-General William T. Sherman to “an Old Resident of St. Louis, Missouri,” September 8, 1864

IN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GA., Sept. 8, 1864

DEAR SIR:—Yr kind note of Aug. 24 from Rochester, N. Y. reached me here and I am really thankful for the warm terms in which you write, and I know you will not feel the less kindly when you know we are inside Atlanta.  I don’t see why we cant have some sense about negroes as well as about horses, mules, iron, copper, etc.—but say nigger in the U. S. and from Sumner to Atty Kelly to the whole country goes crazy.  I never thought my nigger letter would get into the papers but since it has I lay low—I like niggers well enough, as niggers, but when fools & idiots try & make niggers better than ourselves I have an opinion.  We are also ruining our country in this bounty & substitute business.  It only amounts to spending money, it don’t make a single soldier.

Fools think they can buy off, and will spend their money on some worthless substitute who shirks and as is of no use & after spending all his money will have to serve besides.

Well this thing will work out its natural solution.

W. T. SHERMAN,

Maj. Gen.

SOURCES: “Negroes in Their Places,” The Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, Alabama, Tuesday, December 17, 1889, p. 4; “General Sherman on ‘Niggers,’” The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Thursday, December 26, 1899, p. 1.

Major-General William T. Sherman to William M. McPherson, Esq., March 24, 1865

HEADQUARTERS, MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISISIPPI, IN THE FIELD                  

GOLDSBORO, N. C., March 24, 1865

DEAR SIR:—On reaching Goldsboro yesterday I find many letters and among them yours of January 27—one of later date I think reached me at Fayetteville a fortnight since.  I thank you kindly for your kindly expressions.  As my opinions of the various questions which arise in the progress of events are formed for my own use, and not designed to please the people, or self-constituted representatives of the people I am utterly indifferent whether they please or displease.  I am a better judge of what is right and proper touching the negro with who I deal hourly, than Ben Butler, Sumner, Giddings, or any mere theorist dealing with the hypothetical negro, of their own creation.  If I risk my life & health in the vindication of a cause; I claim to prove my sincerity by a more honest test than all the mouthings of the noisiest preacher or demagogue.  I believe the honest working People of the United States agree with me, to fight to maintain the government according to form bequeathed to us, and not to carry out any specialty.  When the just powers of the President[,] Congress & Supreme Court are recognized by all the people of our country, reason  argument may use their sway, and settle the thousand little questions that always have and always  will agitate human councils—but of what use is congress?  or laws  when the Marshal & Sheriff cant go & enforce his writs?—Then the sword steps in and commands the Peace.  When peace is restored, the men find it is to their interest to submit to Law, whether right or wrong, then the machinery resumes its motion, and generally all interests are reconciled.

I have always thought we mixed up too many little side issues in this War.  We should make a single plain issue & fight it out.  The extreme Radicals, North & South, have long since dodged, shirked the dangers of this War & left the Moderates to blow each others brains out.  I again repeat I make up my opinions for facts & reasoning, and not to suit anybody but myself.  If people dont like my opinions, it makes little difference as I dont solicit their opinions or votes.  But a man who preached and thunders offensive opinions, and when the storm raises, sneaks out and lets others in to catch the blows is a villain ten thousand times worse than a murderer, and I know many such who are coiled away in fancied security, but the day will come when they will be dragged out and made to taste the cup they have drugged—We have no time for this now—The Constitution & Laws must be obeyed implicitly from the Lakes to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

I see my name occasionally alluded to in connection with some popular office.  You may tell all that I would rather serve four years in the Sing Sing penitentiary than in Washington, & I believe I could come out a better man.  If that aint emphatic enough use stronger expressions, and I will endorse them.  Let those who love niggers better than white folks follow me, and we will see who loves his country best—A nigger as such is a most excellent fellow, but he is not fit to marry, to associate or vote with me or mine.

Your friend,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCES: “The Negro Question,” The Wichita Weekly Beacon, Wichita, Kansas, Firday January 31, 1890, p. 1; “Sherman on the Hypothetical Negro,” Iron County Register, Ironton, Missouri, Thursday, January 30, 1890, p. 4;  Brooks D Simpson & Jean V. Berlin, Editors, Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman 1860-1865, p. 832-3.

Major-General William T. Sherman to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, January 12, 1865

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,                       

In the Field, Savannah, January 12, 1865.

Major-General HALLECK:

MY DEAR FRIEND: I received yours of January 1* about the “negro.” Since Mr. Stanton got here we have talked over all matters freely, and I deeply regret that I am threatened with that curse to all peace and comfort—popularity; but I trust to bad luck enough in the future to cure that, for I know enough of “the people” to feel that a single mistake made by some of my subordinates will tumble down my fame into infamy.

But the nigger? Why, in God's name, can't sensible men let him alone? When the people of the South tried to rule us through the negro, and became insolent, we cast them down, and on that question we are strong and unanimous. Neither cotton, the negro, nor any single interest or class should govern us.

But I fear, if you be right that that power behind the throne is growing, somebody must meet it or we are again involved in war with another class of fanatics. Mr. Lincoln has boldly and well met the one attack, now let him meet the other.

If it be insisted that I shall so conduct my operations that the negro alone is consulted, of course I will be defeated, and then where will be Sambo?

Don't military success imply the safety of Sambo and vice versa? Of course that cock-and-bull story of my turning back negroes that Wheeler might kill them is all humbug. I turned nobody back. Jeff. C. Davis did at Ebenezer Creek forbid certain plantation slaves—old men, women, and children—to follow his column; but they would come along and he took up his pontoon bridge, not because he wanted to leave them, but because he wanted his bridge.

He and Slocum both tell me that they don't believe Wheeler killed one of them. Slocum's column (30,000) reports 17,000 negroes. Now, with 1,200 wagons and the necessary impedimenta of an army, overloaded with two-thirds negroes, five-sixths of whom are helpless, and a large proportion of them babies and small children, had I encountered an enemy of respectable strength defeat would have been certain.

Tell the President that in such an event defeat would have cost him ten thousand times the effort to overcome that it now will to meet this new and growing pressure.

I know the fact that all natural emotions swing as the pendulum. These southrons pulled Sambo's pendulum so far over that the danger is it will on its return jump off its pivot. There are certain people who will find fault, and they can always get the pretext; but, thank God, I am not running for an office, and am not concerned because the rising generation will believe that I burned 500 niggers at one pop in Atlanta, or any such nonsense. I profess to be the best kind of a friend to Sambo, and think that on such a question Sambo should be consulted.

They gather round me in crowds, and I can't find out whether I am Moses or Aaron, or which of the prophets; but surely I am rated as one of the congregation, and it is hard to tell in what sense I am most appreciated by Sambo—in saving him from his master, or the new master that threatens him with a new species of slavery. I mean State recruiting agents. Poor negro—Lo, the poor Indian! Of course, sensible men understand such humbug, but some power must be invested in our Government to check these wild oscillations of public opinion.

The South deserves all she has got for her injustice to the negro, but that is no reason why we should go to the other extreme.

I do and will do the best I can for negroes, and feel sure that the problem is solving itself slowly and naturally. It needs nothing more than our fostering care. I thank you for the kind hint and will heed it so far as mere appearances go, but, not being dependent on votes, I can afford to act, as far as my influence goes, as a fly wheel instead of a mainspring.

With respect, &c., yours,

 W. T. SHERMAN.

_______________

* General Halleck’s copy is dated December 30, 1864; see Vol. XLIV, p. 836

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 47, Part 2 (Serial No. 99), p. 36-7

Major-General Henry W. Halleck to Major-General William T. Sherman, December 30, 1864

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.]

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,                     

Washington, D.C., December 30, 1864.*

Maj. Gen. W. T. SHERMAN,

Savannah:

MY DEAR GENERAL: I take the liberty of calling your attention, in this private and friendly way, to a matter which may possibly hereafter be of more importance to you than either of us may now anticipate. While almost every one is praising your great march through Georgia and the capture of Savannah, there is a certain class, having now great influence with the President, and very probably anticipating still more on a change of Cabinet, who are decidedly disposed to make a point against you—I mean in regard to “Inevitable Sambo.” They say that you have manifested an almost criminal dislike to the negro, and that you are not willing to carry out the wishes of the Government in regard to him, but repulse him with contempt. They say you might have brought with you to Savannah more than 50,000, thus stripping Georgia of that number of laborers and opening a road by which as many more could have escaped from their masters; but that instead of this you drove them from your ranks, prevented then, from following you by cutting the bridges in your rear, and thus caused the massacre of large numbers by Wheeler's cavalry.

To those who know you as I do such accusations will pass as the idle winds, for we presume that you discouraged the negroes from following you simply because you had not the means of supporting them and feared they might seriously embarrass your march. But there are others, and among them some in high authority, who think, or pretend to think, otherwise, and they are decidedly disposed to make a point against you.

I do not write this to induce you to conciliate this class of men by doing anything which you do not think right and proper and for the interest of the Government and the country, but simply to call your attention to certain things which are viewed here somewhat differently than from your standpoint. I will explain as briefly as possible: Some here think that, in view of the scarcity of labor in the South, and the probability that a part, at least, of the able-bodied slaves will be called into the military service of the rebels, it is of the greatest importance to open outlets by which the slaves can escape into our lines, and, they say, that the route you have passed over should be made the route of escape and Savannah the great place of refuge. These I know are the views of some of the lending men in the administration, and they now express dissatisfaction that you did not carry them out in your great raid.

Now that you are in possession of Savannah, and there can be no further fears about supplies, would it not be possible for you to reopen these avenues of escape for the negroes without interfering with your military operations? Could not such escaped slaves find, at least, a partial supply of food in the rice fields about Savannah, and occupation in the rice and cotton plantations on the coast?

I merely throw out these suggestions; I know that such a course would be approved by the Government, and I believe that a manifestation on your part of a desire to bring the slaves within our lines will do much to silence your opponents.

You will appreciate my motives in writing this private letter.

Yours, truly,

H. W. HALLECK.

_______________

* General Sherman’s reply of January 12, 1865, refers to this letter as dated January 1st, but General Halleck’s copy is dated as here given.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 44 (Serial No. 92), p. 836-7

Major-General William T. Sherman to Salmon P. Chase, January 11, 1865

HEADQUARTERS, MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,                

In the Field, Savannah Jan 11 1865

Hon S. P. Chase.

Washington D. C.

My Dear Sir,

I feel very much flattered by the notice you take of me, and none the less because you overhaul me on the negro question.  I meant no unkindness to the negro in the mere words of my hasty dispatch announcing my arrival on the Coast.  The only real failures in a military sense, I have sustained in my military administration to have been the expeditions of Wm. Sooy Smith and Sturgis, both resulting from their encumbering their columns with refugees. (negroes)  If you understand the nature of a military column in an enemys country, with its long train of wagons you will see at once that a crowd of negroes, men women and children, old & young, are a dangerous impediment.

On approaching Savannah I had at least 20000 negroes, clogging my roads, and eating up our substance.  Instead of finding abundance here I found nothing and had to depend on my wagons till I opened a way for vessels and even to this day my men have been on short rations and my horses are failing.  The same number of white refugees would have been a military weakness. Now you know that military success is what the nation wants, and it is risked by the crowds of helpless negroes that flock after our armies.  Me negro constituents of Georgia would resent the idea of my being inimical to them, they regard me as a second Moses or Aaron.  I treat them as free, and have as much trouble to protect them against the avaricious recruiting agents of the New England States as against their former masters.  You can hardly realize this, but it is true.  I have conducted to freedom & asylum hundreds of thousands and have aided them to obtain employment and homes.  Every negro who is fit for a soldier and is willing I invariably allow to join a negro Regiment, but I do oppose and rightfully too, the forcing of negroes as soldiers.  You cannot know the arts and devices to which base white men resort to secure negro soldiers, not to aid us to fight, but to get bounties for their own pockets, and to diminish their quotas at home.  Mr Secretary Stanton is now here and will bear testimony to the truth of what I say.  Our Quarter master and Commissary can give employment to every negro (able bodied) whom we obtain, and he protests against my parting with them for other purposes, as it forces him to use my veteran white troops to unload vessels, and do work for which he prefers the negro.  If the President prefers to minister to the one idea of negro equality, rather than military success; which as a major [involves] the minor, he should remove me, for I am so constituted that I cannot honestly sacrifice the security and success of my army to any minor cause.

Of course I have nothing to do with the status of the negro after the war.  That is for the law making power, but if my opinion were consulted I would say that the negro should be a free man, but not put on an equality with the whites.  My knowledge of them is practical, and the effect of equality is illustrated in the character of the mixed race in Mexico and South America.  Indeed it appears to me that the right of suffrage in our Country should be rather abridged than enlarged.

But these are matters subordinate to the issues of this war, which can alone be determined by war, and it depends on good armies, of the best possible material and best disciplined, and these points engross my entire thoughts.

With sincere respect & esteem

W. T. Sherman                 

Maj. Genl.

SOURCE: John Niven, Editor, The Salmon P. Chase Papers, Volume 5: Correspondence, 1865-1873, p 6-7

Minutes of an interview between the colored ministers and church officers at Savannah with the Secretary of War and Major-General Sherman, January 12, 1865 – 8 p.m.

HEADQUARTERS OF MAJOR-GENERAL SHERMAN,                                   

In the City of Savannah, Ga., Thursday evening,                   

January 12, 1865—8 p.m.

On the evening of Thursday, the 12th day of January, 1865, the following persons of African descent met, by appointment, to hold an interview with Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, and Major-General Sherman, to have a conference upon matters relating to the freedmen of the State of Georgia, to wit:

1. William J. Campbell, aged fifty-one years, born in Savannah; slave until 1849, and then liberated by will of his mistress, Mrs. Mary Maxwell; for ten years pastor of the First Baptist Church of Savannah, numbering about 1,800 members; average congregation, 1,900; the church property, belonging to the congregation (trustees white), worth $18,000.

2. John Cox, aged fifty-eight years, born in Savannah; slave until 1849, when he bought his freedom for $1,100; pastor of the Second African Baptist Church; in the ministry fifteen years; congregation, 1,222 persons; church property, worth $10,000, belonging to the congregation.

3. Ulysses L. Houston, aged forty-one years, born in Grahamville, S.C.; slave "until the Union army entered Savannah;" owned by Moses Henderson, Savannah, and pastor of Third African Baptist Church, congregation numbering 400; church property, worth $5,000, belongs to congregation; in the ministry about eight years.

4. William Bentley, aged seventy-two years, born in Savannah; slave until twenty-five years of age, when his master, John Waters, emancipated him by will; pastor of Andrew's Chapel, Methodist Episcopal Church (only one of that denomination in Savannah), congregation numbering 360 members; church property worth about $20,000, and is owned by the congregation; been in the ministry about twenty years; a member of Georgia conference.

5. Charles Bradwell, aged forty years, born in Liberty County, Ga.; slave until 1851; emancipated by will of his master, J. L. Bradwell; local preacher, in charge of the Methodist Episcopal congregation (Andrew's Chapel) in the absence of the minister; in the ministry ten years.

6. William Gaines, aged forty-one years, born in Wills County, Ga.; slave “until the Union forces freed me;” owned by Robert Toombs, formerly U.S. Senator, and his brother, Gabriel Toombs; local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Andrew's Chapel); in the ministry sixteen years.

7. James Hill, aged fifty-two years, born in Bryan County, Ga.; slave “up to the time the Union army come in;” owned by H. F. Willings, of Savannah; in the ministry sixteen years.

8. Glasgow Taylor, aged seventy-two years, born in Wilkes County, Ga.; slave "until the Union army come;" owned by A. P. Wetter; is a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Andrew's Chapel); in the ministry thirty-five years.

9. Garrison Frazier, aged sixty-seven years, born in Granville County, N. C.; slave until eight years ago, when he bought himself and wife, paying $1,000 in gold and silver; is an ordained minister in the Baptist Church, but, his health failing, has now charge of no congregation; has been in the ministry thirty-five years.

10. James Mills, aged fifty-six years, born in Savannah; freeborn, and is a licensed preacher of the First Baptist Church; has been eight years in the ministry.

11. Abraham Burke, aged forty-eight years, born in Bryan County, Ga.; slave until twenty years ago, when he bought himself for $800; has been in the ministry about ten years.

12. Arthur Wardell, aged forty-four years, born in Liberty County, Ga.; slave until "freed by the Union army;" owned by A. A. Solomons, Savannah, and is a licensed minister in the Baptist Church; has been in the ministry six years.

13. Alexander Harris, aged forty-seven years, born in Savannah; freeborn; licensed minister of Third African Baptist Church; licensed about one month ago.

14. Andrew Neal, aged sixty-one years, born in Savannah; slave "until the Union army liberated me;" owned by Mr. William Gibbons, and has been deacon in the Third Baptist Church for ten years.

15. James Porter, aged thirty-nine years, born in Charleston, S.C.; freeborn, his mother having purchased her freedom; is lay reader and president of the board of wardens and vestry of Saint Stephen's Protestant Episcopal Colored Church in Savannah; has been in communion nine years; the congregation numbers about 200 persons; the church property is worth about $10,000, and is owned by the congregation.

16. Adolphus Delmotte, aged twenty-eight years, born in Savannah; freeborn; is a licensed minister of the Missionary Baptist Church of Milledgeville, congregation numbering about 300 or 400 persons; has been in the ministry about two years.

17. Jacob Godfrey, aged fifty-seven years, born in Marion, S.C.; slave "until the Union army freed me;" owned by James E. Godfrey, Methodist preacher, now in the rebel army; is a class leader and steward of Andrew's Chapel since 1836.

18. John Johnson, aged fifty-one years, born in Bryan County, Ga.; slave "up to the time the Union army came here;" owned by W. W. Lincoln, of Savannah; is class leader and treasurer of Andrew's Chapel for sixteen years.

19. Robert N. Taylor, aged fifty-one years, born in Wilkes County, Ga.; slave "to the time the Union army come;" was owned by Augustus P. Wetter, Savannah, and is class leader in Andrew's Chapel for nine years.

20. James Lynch, aged twenty-six years, born in Baltimore, Md.; freeborn; is presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and missionary to the Department of the South; has been seven years in the ministry and two years in the South.

Garrison Frazier, being chosen by the persons present to express their common sentiments upon the matters of inquiry, makes answers to inquiries as follows:

First. State what your understanding is in regard to the acts of Congress and President Lincoln's proclamation touching the condition of the colored people in the rebel States.

Answer. So far as I understand President Lincoln's proclamation to the rebellious States, it is, that if they would lay down their arms and submit to the laws of the United States before the 1st of January, 1863, all should be well, but if they did not, then all the slaves in the rebel States should be free, henceforth and forever. That is what I understood.

Second. State what you understand by slavery, and the freedom that was to be given by the President's proclamation.

Answer. Slavery is receiving by irresistible power the work of another man, and not by his consent. The freedom, as I understand it, promised by the proclamation is taking us from under the yoke of bondage and placing us where we could reap the fruit of our own labor and take care of ourselves and assist the Government in maintaining our freedom.

Third. State in what manner you think you can take care of yourselves, and how can you best assist the Government in maintaining your freedom.

Answer. The way we can best take care of ourselves is to have land, and turn in and till it by our labor—that is, by the labor of the women, and children, and old men—and we can soon maintain ourselves and have something to spare; and to assist the Government the young men should enlist in the service of the Government, and serve in such manner as they may be wanted. (The rebels told us that they piled them up and made batteries of them, and sold them to Cuba, but we don't believe that.) We want to be placed on land until we are able to buy it and make it our own.

Fourth. State in what manner you would rather live, whether scattered among the whites or in colonies by yourselves?

Answer. I would prefer to live by ourselves, for there is a prejudice against us in the South that will take years to get over, but I do not know that I can answer for my brethren.

(Mr. Lynch says he thinks they should not be separated, but live together. All the other persons present being questioned, one by one, answer that they agree with "Brother Frazier.")

Fifth. Do you think that there is intelligence enough among the slaves of the South to maintain themselves under the Government of the United States, and the equal protection of its laws, and maintain good and peaceable relations among yourselves and with your neighbors?

Answer. I think there is sufficient intelligence among us to do so.

Sixth. State what is the feeling of the black population of the South toward the Government of the United States; what is the understanding in respect to the present war, its causes and object, and their disposition to aid either side. State fully your views.

Answer. I think you will find there is thousands that are willing to make any sacrifice to assist the Government of the United States, while there is also many that are not willing to take up arms. I do not suppose there is a dozen men that is opposed to the Government. I understand as to the war that the South is the aggressor. President Lincoln was elected President by a majority of the United States, which guaranteed him the right of holding the office and exercising that right over the whole United States. The South, without knowing what he would do, rebelled. The war was commenced by the rebels before he came into the office. The object of the war was not, at first, to give the slaves their freedom, but the sole object of the war was, at first, to bring the rebellious States back into the Union and their loyalty to the laws of the United States. Afterward, knowing the value that was set on the slaves by the rebels, the President thought that his proclamation would stimulate them to lay down their arms, reduce them to obedience, and help to bring back the rebel States, and their not doing so has now made the freedom of the slaves a part of the war. It is my opinion that there is not a man in this city that could be started to help, the rebels one inch, for that would be suicide. There was two black men left with the rebels, because they had taken an active part for the rebels, and thought something might befall them if they staid behind, but there is not another man. If the prayers that have gone up for the Union army could be read out you would not get through them these two weeks.

Seventh. State whether the sentiments you now express are those only of the colored people in the city, or do they extend to the colored population through the country, and what are your means of knowing the sentiments of those living in the country.

Answer. I think the sentiments are the same among the colored people of the State. My opinion is formed by personal communication in the course of my ministry, and also from the thousands that followed the Union army, leaving their homes and undergoing suffering. I did not think there would be so many; the number surpassed my expectation.

Eighth. If the rebel leaders were to arm the slaves what would be its effect!

Answer. I think they would fight as long as they were before the bayonet, and just as soon as they could get away they would desert, in my opinion.

Ninth. What, in your opinion, is the feeling of the colored people about enlisting and serving as soldiers of the United States, and what kind of military service do they prefer?

Answer. A large number have gone as soldiers to Port Royal to be drilled and put in the service, and I think there is thousands of the young men that will enlist; there is something about them that, perhaps, is wrong; they have suffered so long from the rebels that they want to meet and have a chance with them in the field. Some of them want to shoulder the musket, others want to go into the quartermaster or the commissary's service.

Tenth. Do you understand the mode of enlistment of colored persons in the rebel States, by State agents, under the act of Congress! If yea, state what your understanding is.

Answer. My understanding is that colored persons enlisted by State agents are enlisted as substitutes, and give credit to the States, and do not swell the army, because every black man enlisted by a State agent leaves a white man at home; and also, that larger bounties are given or promised by the State agents than are given by the States. The great object should be to push through this rebellion the shortest way, and there seems to be something wanting in the enlistment by State agents, for it don't strengthen the army, but takes one away for every colored man enlisted.

Eleventh. State what, in your opinion, is the best way to enlist colored men for soldiers.

Answer. I think, sir, that all compulsory operations should be put a stop to. The ministers would talk to them, and the young men would enlist. It is my opinion that it would be far better for the State agents to stay at home, and the enlistments to be made for the United States under the direction of General Sherman.

In the absence of General Sherman the following question was asked: Twelfth. State what is the feeling of the colored people in regard to General Sherman, and how far do they regard his sentiments and actions as friendly to their rights and interests, or otherwise.

Answer. We looked upon General Sherman, prior to his arrival, as a man, in the providence of God, specially set apart to accomplish this work, and we unanimously felt inexpressible gratitude to him, looking upon him as a man that should be honored for the faithful performance of his duty. Some of us called upon him immediately upon his arrival, and it is probable he did not meet the Secretary with more courtesy than he met us. His conduct and deportment toward us characterized him as a friend and a gentleman. We have confidence in General Sherman, and think that what concerns us could not be under better hands. This is is our opinion now from the short acquaintance and intercourse we have had.

(Mr. Lynch states that, with his limited acquaintance with General Sherman, he is unwilling to express an opinion. All others present declare their agreement with Mr. Frazier about General Sherman.)

Some conversation upon general subjects relating to General Sherman's march then ensued, of which no note was taken.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 47, Part 2 (Serial No. 99), p. 37-41