This morning we move
early, heading as usual for North Alabama or West Tennessee; travel hard all
day; pass through Rodgersville and go into camp for the night. The sky is
cloudy; threatening rain.
SOURCE: Daniel Leib
Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
p. 227
This morning
everything is wet, for it rained hard all night. A fine introduction to the new
recruits, though all seem cheerful. We soon move from camp; marching on the
military road leading to Florence, Alabama. We arrive at Florence in the
afternoon, capture one rebel, and one seeking to make his escape gets killed.
We go into camp close to Florence to await for transports that are expected up
the Tennessee.
We are still in camp
at Florence; no steamers have yet come up; don't look for any now; the river is
low. Our rations have run out, and we are compelled to forage from the
citizens, who are almost destitute themselves. Our pickets at the river keep up
a continual firing with the rebel pickets on the opposite shore.
SOURCE: Daniel Leib
Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
p. 227
This evening we leave Florence; travel nearly all night; go into camp early in the morning, tired and sleepy.
SOURCE: Daniel Leib
Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
p. 228
This morning we
proceed on our way to Pulaski; arrive in camp in the evening, very much worn by
hard riding.
SOURCE: Daniel Leib
Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
p. 228
My Dear Friend: In
the hope that you are permitted to receive letters from those who have known
and esteemed you in other years, I desire to send you a few lines to assure you
that I hold your name in pleasant remembrance among the associations of early
life. I know you have not forgotten the winter of 1816-17, when yourself and
your brother Salmon and Orson M. Oviatt, all then from Hudson, Ohio, were
pupils in Morris Academy, Litchfield South Farms, under the care of Rev.
William R. Weeks, I also being assistant teacher in the same institution; how
you boarded at General Woodruff's, since deceased; and how we had meetings for
religious conference and prayers, in which your own voice was often heard. Why,
I remember all these things as though they were the times and scenes of
yesterday. I remember, also, meeting you about ten years ago in Springfield,
Massachusetts, and how we then had a long talk regarding the events and mutual
experiences of the by-gone years; also an interchange of opinions relating to
the truth as it is in Jesus. Excuse me for adverting to these times, so unlike
those through which you have since passed. I am an old man of sixty-five, have
myself gone through a pilgrimage of some light and many shades; and now, I
somehow love to thankfully dwell on the light and bright spots of the past. And
of my Present — what? An invalid unable to labor, except a very little, and
here in my native town awaiting my Master's call into the Future and Unseen.
You too, — a Torringtonborn boy, nephew of Deacon John of New Hartford, (they
say;) he was my friend, — now in heaven, and awaiting your translation thither.
He was as sound a piece of theological "heading timber" as ever grew
on earth, and a consistent and practical Christian too. Be assured, my dear
afflicted brother, that good people, here, in Goshen and Torrington and
Winchester, and all about, do most cordially sympathize with you in all your
sorrows, and remember you most devoutly in their supplications unto God. Yes,
truly; whatever be their views as to the wisdom or otherwise of your plans and
proceedings, their hearts go up to the High and Holy Throne in your behalf. You
do not expect a release from prison, such as Peter had while sleeping between
two soldiers bound with two chains," but the prayer "made without
ceasing of the Church unto God" for you; and your own faith and trust in
Him may avail for a better and more glorious deliverance by the gate of death
and through the gate of life into the city of our Lord on high. Rhoda may not
be there to hearken, (see Acts xi. 13,) but angels will. God grant you, through
the merits of his Son, an abundant entrance into his everlasting kingdom. If
all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
Called according to His purpose," as you and I know they do, how comes it
that some of His dear children die by a violent death? For the same divine
reason and by the same divine appointment, that other Christians die in their
beds. Our Heavenly Father has a great many ways by which He calls His children
home, and whether by consumption or fever, or the flood or the flame, or by any
other mode. His love to them is still the same.
Be of good cheer,
then, my brother; and, living or dying, all will be well. I have written more,
it may be, than I ought; but hope there is nothing here which you may not
safely see; nothing which will do injury to yourself or any one. If I might be
permitted a line from you before you leave, I would esteem it as a special
favor; but, in any case, "the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and
give thee peace;" and so, till we meet in the world to come, Farewell.
Yours most
affectionately and truly,
* See John Brown's
reply, "Public Life," pp. 354 and 355,
NEW YORK, Nov. 14.
My Very Dear Friend:
Your letter to Mrs. Maria Child has attracted my attention and induced on my
part the action indicated in the enclosed slip
from the N. Y. Tribune. You will see that I need your autograph. Please
address me immediately. Give yourself no further anxiety as to the needy ones
left behind. Warm and loving hearts by thousands at this moment are ready to
aid them. You little knew, my friend, when you gave me your likeness, to what
good account it would be turned; and I, alas! how little could I then dream of
your impending fate, or in that hour guess the motives that prompted you to
enjoin upon me the strictest caution as to exposing the photograph to be seen.
Did your young friend perish? God be with you, my brave heart! For one animated
by such faith as yours pity were reproach. Instead of pity I therefore tender
you, O my friend, sympathy and a like faith with your own.
God and his eternal
heavens are above us! Eternity is ours! So that, in His sight who shall judge
us at the last we stand approved. Life matters not, and death matters not; and
whether the hours of this day, or the morrow, be shortened, is of little
account; for the shorter life is, the longer eternity is; and which is best for
us depends wholly upon God; and in which we can best serve Him it is for God
alone to say.
Your courage, my
brother, challenges the admiration of men; your faith, the admiration of
angels. Be steadfast to the end! Be patient! farewell! I am yours in Christ
"for the life that now is, and for that which is to come." Farewell!
In his letter to
Mrs. L. Maria Child, John Brown says:
I
have at home a wife and three young daughters, the youngest but little over
five years old, the oldest nearly sixteen. I have also two daughters-in-law,
whose husbands have both fallen near me here. There is also another widow, Mrs.
Thompson, whose husband fell here. Whether she is a mother or not, I cannot
say. All these, my wife included, live at North Elba, Essex County, New York. I
have a middle-aged son, who has been, in some degree, a cripple from his
childhood, who would have as much as he could do to earn a living. He was a
most dreadful sufferer in Kansas, and lost all he had laid up. He has not
enough to clothe himself for the winter comfortably. I have no living son, or
son-in-law, who did not suffer terribly in Kansas.
Now,
dear friend, would you not as soon contribute fifty cents now, and a like sum
yearly, for the relief of those very poor and deeply-afflicted persons? To
enable them to supply themselves and their children with bread and very plain
clothing, and to enable the children to receive a common English education?
Will you also devote your own energies to induce others to join you in giving a
like amount, or any other amount, to constitute a little fund for the purpose
named?
Friends of Freedom at the North, to these simple and touching words nothing more effective and affecting can be added. The story is here in its simplest and saddest form. Widows and fatherless children! all for liberty! Slain for a principle! The heads of the entire family slain! All the male members cut off! And this in the Nineteenth Century, and this amid a free people!
If there be any
braver man in the country than John Brown, let him criticise John Brown at
Harper's Ferry. If not, let another generation pass upon the fact and its
author. Our duties now are with and for the living. God and history will have a
care for the dead. Friends at the North, what will you do for John Brown's
family? I have a photograph of the old man, presented to me by his own hands,
an admirable likeness. Let all who sympathize in the purpose send each a
dollar, and I will forward for each such sum an exact copy of the original, and
with it, if possible, John Brown's autograph. The proceeds from ten thousand
such copies will produce a fund of eight thousand dollars for the benefit of
the helpless and afflicted ones, whom the Kansas hero so touchingly commends to
our sympathies and care. Suitable acknowledgment of funds received and applied,
will be made from time to time through the columns of the N. Y. Tribune. The
photographs can be sent by mail, as music is sent, at the expense of a stamp,
which may be enclosed with the order. Address me at New York.
Dear Brother: My father was a slaveholder, and when at school I commenced searching the Bible for sanction of the divine institution, but have not found it. I am Old School Presbyterian, and believe with our friends, the Quakers, Christ's kingdom will be peace; but now Christ told his disciples, He that hath a sword, let him take it. Therefore, I cannot say I think you exceeded your commission, and I rejoice that a man has been found worthy to suffer for Christ. Yes, dear brother, God Himself will send His angel, December 2, '59, to release you from your prison of clay, and conduct you to your Redeemer and mine, where you will join the souls under the altar, crying. How long before your blood be avenged on the earth? Truly, your ignominious death has a glory equal to that of the Apostles, in the eye of thousands who are praying for you that all your sins may be blotted out, and Christ's Cause, for which you suffer, may be speedily supplied with other witnesses for Right. Enclosed [is] one dollar for your use, because I want to do something to aid you, hoping others will do much. Kind regards to your family. One of the Seven Thousand the Lord knows; to every one known by man, who hate slavery because the Lord does.
[No signature nor date.]
SOURCE: James
Redpath, Editor, Echoes of Harper’s Ferry,
p. 391
Chicago, November
17.
Dear Friend: We
certainly have great reasons, as well as intense desires, to assure you that we
deeply sympathize with you and your beloved family. Not only do we sympathize
in tears and prayers with you and them, but we will do so in a more tangible
form, by contributing material aid to help those of your family of whom you
have spoken to our mutual friend, Mrs. L. Maria Child. How could we be so
ungrateful as to do less for one who has suffered, bled, and now ready to die
for the cause? "Greater love can no man have, than to lay down his life
for the poor, despised, and lowly."
Cleveland, November
19.
Dear Sir: Though
personally an entire stranger, yet as a friend to the righteous cause for which
you have shown yourself willing to suffer all things the cause of Human Freedom
— I write to request that should you have time to forward, as soon as may be, a
written statement of the time and place of your birth, the name of your
parents, your church relations, time of marriage and to whom, different places
of residence, time of removal to and from Kansas, incidents of trial and triumph,
personal and domestic, while there, and any thing you may think would be of
interest for the object now about to be named. Then the object of my request is
the following: It is my purpose, should it please God that you should be
offered up, the Sabbath following the event, to improve from my pulpit the
occasion of your execution; that is to say, to preach your funeral sermon.
Joining with thousands in the daily earnest prayer that the abundant grace of
God may support you, and fellow-sufferers, in this your time of great need, and
through his rich mercy in Christ Jesus administer an abundant entrance into His
everlasting kingdom, I subscribe myself
WOONSOCKET, R. I.,
Nov. 20.
To Captain John
Brown, now under sentence of death at Charlestown, Virginia, for endeavoring to
liberate the Bondmen.
Much Respected
Friend: It is now nearly eighteen hundred and sixty years since our Blessed
Redeemer gave His life for poor, wicked, and fallen humanity. Since that time
the progress has been slow, as appears to us; but steady towards those exalted
and godlike principles which he enunciated. It is difficult to understand how
any community calling themselves Christians can, by what they call Christian
laws, try, condemn, and execute a man for endeavoring to do the very same acts
which our Saviour came to do, viz., "to heal the broken-hearted, to bring
deliverance to the captive, and set at liberty them that are bound."
I recollect your
visit at our place many years since, when you were in the wool trade; but did
not dream of your immortalizing your name with the host of martyrs which have
gone before you, who chose to obey God rather than men.
All I can say is
this: Hold on; trust in God to the last, and Christ will redeem you to Himself.
Die like a Christian and like a man, if needs be, is the sincere desire of your
friend,
E. H.
[Enclosed was a
check for one hundred dollars.]
New York, November
21.
My Dear Sir:
Although I am not personally acquainted with you, yet your history, as given
through the public press, your letters, your stern integrity and unconquerable
zeal for what you deem to be truth and righteousness, enlist my sympathies for
you in your present trying situation; and also in the Spirit World into which
you soon expect to be ushered.
So far as I
understand your principles in regard to freedom and physical slavery, I think
you are right; but, at the same time, my present view of the case is, you was
wrong in the method by which you proposed to incarnate your principles in those
who enslave and those who are held subject to bondage. But whether I agree or
disagree with your method, it is of no consequence now. My chief object in
writing is, first, to inform you that I have abundant evidence that hanging
does not kill a man, or prevent his influence in urging forward the worthy
humanitary purposes of his affection in the earth; and I write now to solicit
from you this favor, namely, if you go into the Spirit Realm before I do, that
you will from your new and elevated position, and with the aid of a broader
comprehension of man's nature and relations, and of the consequences of this
life on the Future One, review this whole subject of physical and mental
slavery, and communicate the result, and your final conclusion of the whole
matter, through some medium of your own choice, with directions for them to
forward the same to my paper, The Spiritual Telegraph, or to The Tribune, or
some other widely-circulated paper for publication.
I suggest for your
consideration as a medium for such communication, Mrs. J— S—, No. —, S— D—
Street, Buffalo, New York; or the medium at the circle where I attend every
Thursday evening, at the corner of —— Avenue and M— S—, in the city of New
York.
I am not aware that
you have any knowledge that spirits communicate with men, or that you have any
sympathy with Spiritualism now, but I know you will have when you go hence; and
then, if not now, please take these suggestions kindly into consideration for
the edification and elevation of humanity, and the incarnation of the Divine Order
among men on the earth.
You are at liberty
to make me instrumental in forwarding any communication you please to make from
the Spirit Land to your loving family, or friends on earth.
Now, sir, I bid you
an affectionate good-by, until I hear from you in time or from the Spirit
World, or meet you there and perchance make your personal acquaintance.
May you, now and
ever, have the consolations which flow from a true religious life and
humanitary motives and efforts, which lift men above the errors in judgment,
methods, and temporal consequences, into the comprehension of the Divine
Beatitudes which overrule all things to the glory of God and human progress.
Charles Partridge.
I mail to your
address a few copies of The Spiritual Telegraph, for your perusal.
Collinsville,
[Connecticut,] November 23.
My Very Dear Sir:
Little did I think, when I was so much enjoying your society at my home a few
months ago, it would ever be my lot to address you under such painful
circumstances; nor can I here find words to express to you the depth of my
sympathy. We mourn for you as for a father, yet not without hope; and much do
we rejoice to know that you still find comfort and consolation in communion
with that God whom, we doubt not, it has ever been your aim to love and serve.
And, although he may permit Virginia's sons and daughters to dye their hands in
your blood, we know that act will do much to advance the cause we love. True,
'tis a bitter cup, and would to God it might pass from you. Yet I think I hear
you say "Thy will, O God, be done."
Let us thank God
that the Power (called Law) which will lead you forth to martyrdom can reach no
farther. There is a resting-place where a Higher Law is known and recognized,
and where the oppressed go free. May God grant that we may meet there when he
shall have done with us here.
You will be pleased
to learn that your wife is being remembered in such a way as will relieve her
from pecuniary want. We feel it a privilege to contribute something for her
comfort, who has sacrificed so much for the cause.
You will never know
with how much interest your friends have watched each daily paper to catch each
item of news in your case, and each word you have been permitted to utter; for
we doubt not God has directed what you should say. Those words of truth you
have spoken have rung from East to West, carrying with them a deep feeling of
sympathy for the honest and noble Capt. John Brown. Many are the prayers which
have been offered that you may be sustained in the hour of trial. Surely, He
who has thus kept you will not forsake you. Thus feebly do I offer you my
heartfelt sympathy. May God ever be present to bless and keep you.
New Alexandria,
Penn., November 23.
Dear Sir: Permit a
stranger to address you. I am the pastor of a congregation of people known as
Scotch Covenanters — a people who refuse to incorporate with this Government by
holding its offices or using its elective franchise on the ground that it
refuses to perform the duty of Government either to God or man. It neither
acknowledges the authority of God, nor protects the persons of its subjects;
therefore we do not acknowledge it to be the moral ordinance of God for good to
be obeyed for conscience' sake.
I do not address you
from the expectation that you need any promptings to that fortitude which you
have so nobly displayed, and which I doubt not is begotten in your soul by the
Spirit of God, through a good conscience and a good cause. I have no fear but
that your own familiarity with the word of God and the way to the Throne, will
fortify your heart against the foul aspersions cast upon your character and
motives by the purchased presses and parrot pulpits. He that fears God need
fear no other. Still I know that the bravest heart may be cheered in the midst
of sore trials by a kindly word from even a stranger. And, while the bulls of
Bashan are roaring around you, it may be some consolation to you to know that
there are some earnest Christians who regard you as a martyr to human liberty,
and pray for a large outpouring of the martyr spirit upon you, and feel that in
such a cause 'tis glorious to die. Whatever prudence may whisper as to the best
course, God requires us to "remember them in bonds as bound with
them," (Heb. xiii. 3,) and declares that "we know that we have passed
from death to life, because we love the brethren," (1 John iii. 14 ;
"that we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren," (1 John iii. 16;)
"and if any have this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and
shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in
him?" (1 John iii. 17.) If these are the proper tests of Christianity, I
think, at least, you have no reason to fear a comparison of character in that
respect with your clerical traducers.
But, my dear
brother, you will allow me to urge upon you a rigid inquiry into your motives
to know whether you have taken up the cross for Christ's sake, as well as for
the sake of His oppressed people? If you have made all this sacrifice for
Christ and His cross, you have the promise of a hundred fold now in this life,
and in the world to come eternal life, (Mark x. 29, 30.) Your character will be
a hundred fold more than redeemed, and a hundred fold better legacy will accrue
to your family than you could otherwise have left them.
I know that your
mind is deeply exercised in behalf of the slave; but I would suggest to you
another feature of "the irrepressible conflict," to which you may not
have bestowed as much thought: God's controversy with this nation for dishonor
done to His Majesty. This nation, in its Constitution, makes no submission to
the King of kings; pays no respect to His Higher Law; never mentions His name,
even in the inauguration oath of its Chief Magistrate. God has said, He
"will turn the wicked into hell, and all the nations that forget
God," (Ps. ix. 17.) To His Son He says, "The nation and kingdom that
will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly
wasted," (Isa. lx. 12.)
If you must die a
witness for the "inalienable rights" of man, I desire that you would
also set the seal of your blood to a noble testimony for the supreme authority
and outraged majesty of God, and with your expiring breath call upon this
guilty nation, not only to "let God's people go," but also to serve
God with fear and kiss His Son lest He be angry."
You have been called
before judges and governors, and "it has been given you what to say and
how to speak," and I pray that when you are called to witness a good
confession before many witnesses, that there will be given you living words
that will scathe and burn in the heart of this great and guilty nation, until
their oppression of men and treason against God shall be clean purged out.
Noble man! you are
highly honored of God! You are raised up to a high, commanding eminence, where
every word you utter reaches the furthest corner of this great country; yes, of
the civilized world. What matter if it be from a scaffold, Samson-like you will
slay more Philistines in your death, than you ever did or could by a long life;
and I pray God that in your dying agony, you may have the gratification of
feeling the pillars of Dagon's Temple crumbling in your grasp. O, feel that you
are a great actor on a world-wide stage; that you have a most important part to
play, and that while you are suffering for Christ, he will take care of you. He
sends none a warfare on their own charges, and, "as the tribulations of
Christ abound, the consolations that are by Christ will much more abound."
Fear not to die; look on the scaffold not as a curse but an honor, since it has
been sanctified by Christ. It is no longer, "Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree;" that curse was borne by Jesus; — but now it is
"Blessed is he that suffers for righteousness' sake; for his is the
kingdom of Heaven."
I still entertain
the lingering hope that this nation will not add to its already full cup of
crime the blood of your judicial murder, and I daily pray God "to hear the
groaning of the prisoner, and loose those that are appointed to death,"
(Ps. cii. 20.)
I wish to be
understood as addressing your companions along with you. Should this reach you,
will you gratify me by letting me know. I greatly desire to know more of one in
whom I feel so deep an interest.
I commend you to God
and to the word of His Grace, that is able to keep you from falling, and
present you faultless before Him with exceeding great joy.
By Chris DeRose
The shots heard round the country were fired by Congressman Daniel E. Sickles February 27, 1859, in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House. Who was his target? Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key (the author of the Star Spangled Banner), and his wife’s lover. Key and Teresa Sickles had been having a year-long love affair in a rented house just a few blocks from the Sickles’ home. Dan Sickles killed Barton Key, and was soon after taken to jail and put on trial for the murder. It was the trial of the century, and thanks to the telegraph wires spanning the country the scandalous news of the trial was sent around the country and across the Atlantic Ocean in nearly real time. Sickles became a household name overnight.
Chris DeRose, author of “Star Spangled Scandal: Sex, Murder and the Trial that Changed America,” explores the murder, the trial and the verdict in spectacular detail in a narrative that moves back and forth through time during the first half of the book, and then day by day through the through jury selection to the verdict. The book is packed with first hand accounts of the events that led up to the death of Key, and its author frequently gives word for word testimony from the trial transcript.
People who make their appearance in “Star Spangled Scandal” make up a who is who list of antebellum Washington, D.C. society, from President James Buchanan, Secretary of State Jeremiah Black, socialite Virginia Clay, wife of Senator Clement C. Clay (who would later become a Confederate States Senator from Alabama), Senator Jefferson Davis (soon to be President of the Confederate States), Senator Stephen A. Douglas, socialite Rose O’Neal Greenhow (who would be a Confederate Spy and who certainly played a role in the Confederate victory in the 1st Battle of Bull Run), Congressman John Haskin, and Robert Ould who succeeded Barton Key as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and go on to serve as the Confederate agent of exchange for prisoners of war under the Dix–Hill Cartel.
James T. Brady and his partner John Graham headed up the Sickles defense and soon convinced Edwin M. Stanton, future Attorney General during the closing days of the Buchanan Administration and Abraham Lincoln’s 2nd Secretary of War, to join the team. Together they argued and for and won a verdict in favor of Sickles: not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. It was the first ever successful temporary insanity plea in American history.
In the last chapter of his book DeRose covers the legacy of “the unwritten law,” citing case by case examples of the use of the temporary insanity defense to justify the murders of those accused of killing the lovers of their spouses. Truly an eye opening chapter of American legal history.
Oddly, Sickles is more remembered more for what he did during the Civil War, specifically moving his troops out into The Wheatfield and getting his leg shot off on the 2nd day of the Battle of Gettysburg, rather than the murderer of Philip Barton Key. An interesting side note, the fence that encircled Lafayette Square on that fateful day of 1859 now forms part of the fencing in Gettysburg National Cemetery.
“Star Spangled Scandal” is a very well researched and well written in a very easily read narrative. I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in Daniel Sickles, true crime stories, or the American Civil War in general.
ISBN 978-1621578055, Regnery History, © 2019, Hardcover, 320 pages, End Notes, & Index. $29.99. To purchase this book click HERE.
March 21.
Last night was dark and rainy with just wind enough to make sounds everywhere. At midnight, cannonading began at one of the forts, and then followed shells from the gunboats. Our pickets were fired upon and there was a general impression outside that all secesh was down upon us. But the enemy has not since been heard from. Today Major Strong went with skirmishers far beyond the accustomed line, without opposition. Cannonading in the night is hard for weak nerves and I dreaded the effect upon my sick. One of the convalescents was suddenly attacked with pleurisy in the night, and when I asked him about the time when the pain began, he replied, "Just after de gun done gone shoot." Another who had a bullet through his leg, said he had "enjoyed a mighty bad rest."
SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 377-8
March 22.
Tomorrow the Boston will take northward some important prisoners whom we have arrested here. Some of them were complaining of Capt. Randolph's tardiness in having them examined, that when he arrested them he promised they should have an early trial. The Capt. replied that he would like to have them prove that he had promised them anything but "the day of Judgment and long periods of Damnation."
I wish I had time to tell you some of the curious incidents of the last ten days. I dare say the Colonel has them all in his everlasting note book, so you will get them sometime.
Our regiment and the sixth Conn. met harmoniously at church this morning. The prejudice of the white soldiers is very strong, yet I trust there will be no serious collision. Our boys have seen hardships enough to unfit them for receiving taunts very graciously. The question begins to be asked "When shall we make an advance?"
SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 378
March 23.
The 8th Maine arrived today and I am sorry that Colonel
[John D.] Rust1 ranks our Colonel.
1 He, however, although a senior officer, courteously waived command and remained on board his own ship. — T. W. H.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 378
March 24.
Tonight the Paul Jones has returned from Palatka, bringing a single contraband, and the intelligence that all the slaves have been run back into the interior. The fact is, if we are ever to get black soldiers, we must make a big hole through the rebel lines so that the blacks can run back to us. Every day of waiting here is a day of strength to our fortifications, but a day of weakness to our purpose. We need nothing so much as black recruits and it seems to me that if the proclamation of emancipation is ever to be anything more than a dead letter, it must be made so before many weeks. Were the North an anti-slavery unit I should not feel at all impatient, but I believe we have more to dread from traitors at home than from their friends who fight against us here. Possibly public opinion may not continue on its anti-slavery decline at home, but if today we had fifty thousand black troops, I should feel more certain of its returning to health. I am perfectly satisfied that there is nothing in this world so dreadful to the rebels as the enlistment of their slaves in the federal service. They will resort to every possible means to prevent our getting recruits.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 378
