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 Grant, Lincoln, and the freedmen; 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 032 776 779 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032776779 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE 
 FREEDMEN 
 
John Eaton. 
 From a photograph taken about 1870. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN 
 AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Reminiscences of the Civil War 
 
 WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO 
 
 THE WORK FOR THE CONTRABANDS AND FREEDMEN 
 OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 
 
 BY 
 JOHN EATON, Ph.D„ LL.D. 
 
 Brigadier-GeneraZ ; General Superintendent of Freedmen, Department of 
 
 the Tennessee; Assistant Commissioner of Freedmen, Freedm^n's 
 
 Bureau; Commissioner of Education of the United States; 
 
 U. S. Superintendent of Schools, Porto Rico 
 
 IN COLLABORATION WITH 
 
 ETHEL OSGOOD MASON 
 
 WITS PORTRAIT AND FACSIMILES 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YOEK 
 
 LONDON, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 
 
 1907 
 
^KT 
 
 27-* l_/,i,l , 
 
 COPYKIGHT, 1907, 
 
 By Longmans, Gheen, & Co. 
 All rights reserved 
 
 f\.x^6\\4 
 
 THE CNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBBIDOE, U.S.A. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IN preparing this volume of reminiscences for publi- 
 cation I have found myself led by two motives more 
 or less related. 
 
 My wish in the first place is to give a faithful picture 
 of the great President and the great General who guided 
 us through the most tragic period of our National life. I 
 do not pretend to write in any general sense of the military 
 career of Grant or the political life of Lincoln, but only of 
 those incidents in connection with which I came into per- 
 sonal contact with these two men, and, above all, of the 
 character and standards of each as I saw them. One of 
 the strongest safeguards to American life is devotion to our 
 heroes and reverence for the ideals to which they pledged 
 themselves. Grant and Lincoln were pre-eminent among 
 those who sacrificed the personal to the National life, and 
 we can never look too closely to the examples which they 
 prepared for us. 
 
 My second wish was to preserve, in a form available to 
 the general reader, a record of the efforts made by the 
 Union army to succor the Negro during the progress of 
 the war and to secure justice to him and to the communities 
 in which he found himself Here, again, no attempt has 
 been made to give a history of this work in any adequate 
 or general sense. Although I have the keenest recognition 
 of the labors of other men who were detailed to special 
 service among the contrabands and freedmen, I have been 
 obliged to refer only sparingly to their efforts. I have con- 
 fined myself to presenting as faithfully as I might a record 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 of the work for the Negro in the Mississippi Valley, where 
 I acted as Superintendent of Feedmen for the Department 
 of the Tennessee and State of Arkansas, under the direct 
 authority of General Grant — and later of the War Depart- 
 ment — and in more or less close personal touch with Presi- 
 dent Lincoln. The superintendency established by the 
 Union over the welfare of the Negro during the height of 
 the conflict was one of the most important efforts made 
 by our Government to meet the threatening race problem 
 which was then presented unequivocally to the Nation, and 
 which is still one of the great issues our countiy has to 
 face. Under that supervision the Negro's status changed 
 from that of slave to freeman, and the record of the trans- 
 formation should at least be available to all who have an 
 interest in the Negro question as it confronts us to-day. 
 Unfortunately no one of the superintendents intrusted with 
 this work before the establishment of the Freedmen's 
 Bureau has given us any history of it save what may be 
 drawn from the somewhat inaccessible official reports. 
 Hence the literature of the subject is inadequate. Yet 
 the Negro can never be understood or our relation to 
 him determined until all the elements in his history are 
 recognized. It is in the hope, then, of preserving data 
 which are in danger of being wholly overlooked that these 
 personal recollections are offered. 
 
 In the preparation of this volume I have had the collab- 
 oration of Miss Ethel Osgood Mason, daughter of my 
 college classmate and life-long friend Dr. Osgood Mason. 
 Such readable quality as the narrative may possess is in no 
 small measure due to her literary instinct joined with a 
 fidelity in research that has assured the accuracy of all 
 documentary and special references. 
 
 JOHN EATON. 
 
39 Highland St., 
 RoxBURY, Mass., September 20, 1904. 
 
 My dear General Eaton : 
 
 I hear with great pleasure that you have joined the ranks of 
 those of us who in our mature lives are willing to print some recol- 
 lections of the two generations which we remember. I have had 
 great personal pleasure in recalling some of mine and putting them 
 upon paper, and I begin to think that every such effort conscien- 
 tiously made forms a particular improvement in the preservation 
 of the history of our time. The truth is that such memoirs give a 
 sort of reality and life to history which the written documents of the 
 day for a thousand reasons cannot give. 
 
 No man now living was in a position more fortunate than you 
 for knowing what was really going on, nor is any man of our time 
 competent to write down some things of the very first importance 
 as you can record them. I have said a hundred times in public 
 that Grant never showed his knowledge of men more distinctly 
 than when he chose you for the important duty which you assumed 
 in the West under his direction. And any one of us who knew 
 anything about your work in the years which followed, and in the 
 enterprise, indeed, which began with you and him, will be glad to 
 know that there is to be a permanent record of them. 
 
 Do not hesitate to put into the book matters which in them- 
 selves may be considered slight or of little importance which all 
 the same may illustrate the character and habit of life of those great 
 men with whom you were in such close personal connection. 
 
 Nothing could have given our dear friend Hoar greater pleasure 
 than to have read your book and in whatever public way to testify 
 his respect for the work which you began. I think you may say 
 to any one that you had his entire sympathy in the difficult periods 
 of your work, and that he was well pleased, indeed, at your 
 success. ''■ 
 
 Always truly yours, dear General Eaton, 
 
 EDWARD E. HALE. 
 
 1 A word of introduction to this book was to have been written by Sen- 
 ator George Frisbie Hoar, but the fatal illness which saddened all his 
 friends prevented Senator Hoar from fulfilling his promise. The indulgent 
 letter from Dr. Hale is substituted in preference to any formal introduction. 
 
JOHN EATON 
 
 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH^ 
 ETHEL OSGOOD MASON 
 
 THE writer of thes€ memoirs expressed in his 
 preface the double aim he pursued in their prep- 
 aration. In accordance with that aim the story 
 of General Eaton's life is almost ignored in his own recital, 
 save where it meets the lives of the two men and the affairs 
 of that race indicated in the title of the volume. This 
 omission in the content of the book explains why it has 
 been found advisable to attach a biographical note to a 
 record autobiographical in form. Furthermore, this record 
 of his career assumes, perhaps, greater fittingness now that 
 the last word of the narrative has been set down. General 
 Eaton lived little more than long enough to complete his 
 book, and on the 9th of February, 1906, his life closed 
 in dignity and peace. 
 
 The exact conditions of General Eaton's early sur- 
 roundings would now be difficult to parallel. While his 
 
 1 Grateful acknowledgment is made of the help given by many friends 
 and associates of General Eaton's in the preparation of this biographical 
 note. Special acknowledgments are due to the Hon. W. T. Harris, ex- 
 Commissioner of Education of the United States, — not only for valuable 
 suggestions, but for helpful revision of portions of the text, — and also to 
 Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the late Dr. A. D. Mayo, and Dr. Victor S. Clark, 
 formerly of Porto Rico. 
 
X JOHN EATON 
 
 development in boyhood was without doubt unconsciously 
 stimulated by the social and educational traditions of New 
 England, it was at the same time thwarted by obstacles 
 which are seldom to be faced to-day, — at least in our 
 older communities. 
 
 John Eaton, born December 5, 1829, was the oldest of 
 a family of nine children, of whom six were boys. One 
 daughter died in infancy. The father, John Eaton, was 
 reckoned a very prosperous man in those parts, and the 
 two thousand acres or more of his farm in the township of 
 Sutton, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, provided for 
 his large family and yielded produce of all sorts to the 
 neighboring market towns. But if the farm supported the 
 Eaton household it exacted full toll of hard labor and un- 
 divided fealty, — a claim which the father of the family 
 sternly enforced. Recreation and merry-making found 
 little place in the scheme of life he expected his children 
 to abide by; nor did education fare much better. John 
 began school when little more than three years old, and 
 for a year or two attended during the spring and early 
 summer months, but in his fifth year he was deemed old 
 enough to ride the horse at the plough, and after that the 
 farm claimed him, save in the brief midwinter season when 
 work was slack. Then it became a duty religiously ob- 
 served by the elder brother to lead the little flock daily 
 to and from the schoolhouse. 
 
 It was through his mother that ambition in the larger 
 sense of the word entered the boy's life. It was she who 
 urged him to walk eight miles for a book on those merciful 
 Sabbaths when labor was taboo. It was from her, too, that 
 he derived the conception of duty to be fulfilled through 
 
JOHN EATON xi 
 
 love which in later years became the motive of his life. 
 The mother died in February, 1846, when John was but 
 just turned seventeen, and he and the sister next him in 
 age seem at once to have been filled with the thought 
 of supplying their mother's place to the younger brothers 
 and sister. But during every spare moment John took to 
 his books, struggling against heavy odds to educate him- 
 self. In his reading he had come across a geography of 
 the heavens, and stirred by the wonder of the sky at night 
 he would creep out of his window, and lying on the roof 
 below, trace out the pattern of the stars. Unluckily his 
 father, brought out of doors one night by some disturb- 
 ance among the cattle in his barns, caught sight of the 
 young star-gazer and promptly put an end to that diver- 
 sion. The elements of Latin and chemistry were mastered 
 at night after John was a-bed and presumably sleeping. 
 On one all but fatal occasion sleep did indeed overtake 
 him, and the lamp upset. Small wonder; it had been 
 standing on his chest the better to light his book. Fortu- 
 nately, however, the flames were extinguished by the 
 culprit before they had damaged anything save the bed- 
 clothes, and all that was left of these the faithful sister, 
 pledged to secrecy, discreetly burned next morning in 
 the kitchen stove. So the nocturnal studies continued 
 unmolested. 
 
 By the time John was sixteen he had equipped himself 
 sufficiently to teach one term in an adjoining district. 
 Some of the scholars there were older than himself. But 
 the struggle he was making had its reward at last. John 
 Eaton, senior, agreed to send his oldest son to Thetford 
 Academy, Vermont, and promised to do the same for all 
 
xii JOHN EATON 
 
 his boys in turn. At Thetford, Dr. Hiram Orcutt encour- 
 aged John to go to college, and by dint of working on the 
 home farm, or shearing sheep for the neighbors in the 
 summer months and teaching in the winter, the four years 
 at Dartmouth were secured. 
 
 Upon his graduation in 1854, Eaton at once became 
 principal of the Ward School in Cleveland, Ohio. Among 
 his pupils there was William Rockefeller, — a barefooted 
 youngster whose future career could scarcely have been 
 prognosticated then. 
 
 In 1856, when only twenty-seven years old, he was called 
 to Toledo, Ohio, where he became superintendent of city 
 schools. In this capacity he strove especially to secure 
 greater thoroughness in scholarship and a more exact 
 classification in the instruction given. He also introduced 
 physical training as a branch of the work at a time when it 
 was practically unknown in the public schools. Already 
 his remarkable executive and organizing ability was becom- 
 ing manifest. Here in his first position of real authority 
 he began to work out the sociological problems of public 
 instruction through the collection and analysis of statistics, 
 and these he made a special effort to have reliable and 
 complete. 
 
 During the Toledo period the young superintendent was 
 preparing himself by private study for the ministry. The 
 terrible curse of depression and religious doubt which 
 seems to fall especially to the lot of the New Englander 
 had fastened upon him just after his mother's death in 
 1846, but he emerged from the experience strong in the 
 traditional faith of his fathers and determined formally to 
 devote himself to the ministry of God. He resigned the 
 
JOHN EATON xiii 
 
 school superintendency and entered Andover Theological 
 Seminary in 1859 as a licentiate. In this connection it 
 should be stated at once that although the responsibilities 
 which General Eaton was later obliged to assume detached 
 him from the active pursuit of his chosen profession, he 
 never lost touch with it, but on the contrary was frequently 
 associated with the affairs of the church. In later years, 
 in the midst of many other duties, he was called to preside 
 as moderator of the Presbytery of Athens and of the Synod 
 of Ohio. The religious element in his make-up was a 
 strong factor in all his work. It has been said of him that 
 he was filled with the true missionary spirit, — in that sense 
 of the word which stands for the devotion of life and prop- 
 erty to the highest good. 
 
 In the summer of 186 1, after ordination, Eaton prepared 
 to take his share in the National conflict then maturing, and 
 became chaplain of the 27th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 
 With this regiment he went through the interesting and 
 exciting episodes of the campaign in Missouri at a time 
 when State and civic complications and the incapacity of 
 our leaders had involved the Union cause in the West in 
 difficulties from which Grant himself was destined later 
 to release it. 
 
 Before the close of 1862 Eaton's devotion and zeal had 
 twice drawn him within the Confederate lines. The 27th 
 Ohio having been ordered to the support of Mulligan at 
 Lexington, the Chaplain — after conducting the sick and 
 wounded to St. Louis — was endeavoring to overtake his 
 regiment, which he supposed had opened the way before 
 him, when about ten miles north of Lexington he fell 
 into the hands of a detachment of Price's " Blackberry 
 
xiv JOHN EATON 
 
 Cavalry." The Union troops, finding themselves too weak 
 to engage the Confederates, had turned off toward Leaven- 
 worth, leaving the rebels in possession of the surrounding 
 country. Eaton was therefore a prisoner in Price's lines 
 when Colonel Mulligan and "his brave little band surren- 
 dered, and until taken in hand by one of General Price's 
 lieutenants, who treated him with every courtesy, he was 
 exposed to the violence of the soldiers whose tempers had 
 been somewhat overtaxed by MuUigan's resistance. Dur- 
 ing the week or more of his detention the Chaplain came 
 unavoidably into possession of much general knowledge 
 of conditions among the Confederates. Mulligan's officers, 
 indeed, reported shortly afterward to Fremont, at his head- 
 quarters near Jefferson City, that although their lips were 
 sealed by their parole, Chaplain Eaton, whose release was 
 unconditional, was free to disclose much valuable infor- 
 mation. Accordingly he had two interviews with General 
 Fremont, and these sadly disillusioned him. The General 
 proved a very genial companion, but it was Mrs. Frdmont 
 who extracted from the Chaplain what he had to tell. 
 
 Chaplain Eaton soon accompanied the command to 
 Springfield, Missouri, where he rejoined his regiment. 
 When the Union troops left the city under command of 
 General Hunter, who had then replaced General Frdmont, 
 Eaton, in spite of his recent experience as a prisoner, vol- 
 unteered to stay behind and care for his friend. Colonel, 
 afterwards General, Fuller of the 27th Ohio, who was down 
 with typhoid fever and too ill to move with his men. 
 Small detachments of Confederate horse entered the town 
 as soon as the Union forces left it, and both the Colonel 
 and his Chaplain were threatened by an irate cavalry 
 
JOHN EATON xv 
 
 officer with arrest and detention. General McCulloch on 
 his arrival put an end to such episodes by stating that he 
 had not entered the service to fight sick men and chaplains. 
 The relation between the Confederate officers and the two 
 Union men became very pleasant, so much so that Chap- 
 lain Eaton enjoyed the somewhat unique experience of 
 preaching to the Confederate soldiers at the request of 
 their commanders. As soon as Colonel Fuller was able 
 to travel, he and the Chaplain made a difficult journey 
 to St. Louis, reporting there to General Halleck; but 
 Halleck's indifference was as disconcerting as Fremont's 
 had been, and his sternness was a poor exchange for the 
 geniality of his predecessor. 
 
 Of neither of these disappointing experiences, however, 
 did Chaplain Eaton speak at the time. He was writing 
 frequent letters for pubHcation in the home papers, and he 
 carefully refrained from any allusion to his personal disap- 
 pointment in the leaders of our Western forces. Instead 
 he took pains to correct some of the unjust criticisms 
 current in regard to Fremont, and referred with much 
 discretion to what had been in reality an unpleasant inter- 
 view with Halleck. He felt too keenly the havoc wrought 
 by " all partisan and fanatical movements in the North " to 
 add an iota to such influences. 
 
 These newspaper letters, by the way, are fair evidence of 
 the peculiar tolerance and sagacity of Chaplain Eaton's 
 mind. He has of course sharp words for the rebels, as 
 any man of strong Union feeling must have had when 
 writing in the heat of the conflict, but his condemnation 
 of political trickery and selfishness included Unionists as 
 well. " A pro-slavery fanatic in Missouri," he writes 
 
xvi JOHN EATON 
 
 (October, 1861), "is twin brother to an antislavery fanatic 
 in Ohio." And commenting early in February of the same 
 year on the difficulty of really ascertaining or understand- 
 ing what was happening at distant points, he says : " The 
 North sees a misrepresented South, and the South a 
 caricature of the North. Neither portion of the country 
 would recognize its portrait as it appears to the other." 
 Few men in those days saw so clearly as he the part that 
 ambitious political intriguers and fanatics were taking in 
 the impending conflict, and in support of his position he 
 quotes from a private letter — written by a friend of Mr. 
 Choate's — a description of the terrible excitement in the 
 Gulf States: "The demagogue politicians whose maxim is 
 ' rule or ruin ' are busy exciting the passions of the people. 
 . . . The loudest ... for the rights of the South, are the 
 vagrant, broken-down politicians who have not and never 
 will have a slave to their names. They go about and alarm 
 the people with the declaration that ' Old Abe ' is certain 
 to come down upon them and liberate all their slaves 
 unless they secede and prepare themselves for defence." 
 At this stage of the National trouble, Eaton was far from 
 allying himself unconditionally with the abolitionists of the 
 North. 
 
 Following the fortunes of the 27th Ohio, the young 
 Chaplain was under fire with Pope at New Madrid, and 
 served at the desperate battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburgh 
 Landing, and afterwards at Corinth. Later, in November 
 1862, while stationed in Tennessee, he became involved 
 through General Grant's orders in the immense respon- 
 sibility of caring for the contrabands who flocked by 
 thousands to the Union lines. Of this work in the South- 
 
JOHN EATON xvii 
 
 west it is unnecessary to speak at length here, since General 
 Eaton himself tells the story in his chapters on freedmen's 
 affairs. 
 
 At the close of the war, after this experience in the 
 Mississippi Valley, General Eaton ^ was called by General 
 Howard, on the recommendation of General Grant, to serve 
 in the Freedmen's Bureau as Assistant Commissioner for 
 the District of Columbia, including Alexandria, Fairfax, 
 and Loudon counties in Virginia, and a general oversight 
 of freedmen's affairs in Maryland. Here on a far more 
 limited scale the work of the Freedmen's Department in 
 the Southwest was repeated. 
 
 In December, 1865, when affairs in his district were duly 
 organized and in shape to be transferred to other hands. 
 General Eaton resigned from the Freedmen's Bureau and 
 returned to Memphis, where as editor of a Union paper, 
 known as the Memphis Post, he took part in the political 
 campaign which resulted in Grant's election. In 1867 he 
 became State superintendent of public instruction, and for 
 two years strove to enforce the new school law which 
 as journalist and educator he had indirectly supported 
 through the State Legislature. In the face of overwhelm- 
 ing difificulties arising inevitably from the disturbed social 
 conditions, the lack of funds, and the specific antagonism 
 of whole communities to any effort to secure free universal 
 education, he was able successfully to organize and main- 
 tain during the term of his administration a free school 
 system for whites and blacks. In 1870 the whole structure 
 
 1 Breveted Brigadier-General of Volunteers, "for valuable services dur- 
 ing the war," on the recommendation of Lieutenant-General Grant, March 
 
 13, 1865. 
 
 b 
 
xviii JOHN EATON 
 
 — known at the time as " Eaton's system " — was swept 
 away, and the law of 1867 under which it had arisen was 
 repealed because the weight of public opinion was against 
 it. The law was undoubtedly too far in advance of public 
 standards to be permanently sustained, but the influence of 
 the experiment endured, and may be traced through later 
 legislation in the complete and final overthrow of the old 
 "pauper system," and the ultimate establishment of the free 
 American school in a State which has been destined to 
 supply from its intellectual centres at Nashville and Knox- 
 ville the chief culture stimulus to the neighboring State 
 communities. This result General Eaton clearly foresaw. 
 Referring in 1869, in his remarkable report to the Governor 
 of Tennessee, to the probable repeal of the school law, he 
 says : " No State in the Union is now satisfied without the 
 efficient system of free public schools. If this one, which 
 has been inaugurated at such cost and with such care, is 
 destroyed in Tennessee, it will necessarily be revived. It 
 must be. Nothing can prevent it in any American State." 
 The two fundamental principles of universality and freedom 
 were indeed finally incorporated for all time in the system 
 which the State of Tennessee is still adapting and develop- 
 ing to meet its own needs and conditions. 
 
 So far in General Eaton's career three factors of prime 
 importance had been disclosed, all bearing directly upon 
 his future work as United States Commissioner of Edu- 
 cation. In the first place, the character of the man himself 
 had been manifested beyond any possibility of error. His 
 large humanity and absolute uprightness, together with 
 great tenacity and power to work, had become recog- 
 
JOHN EATON xix 
 
 nized by his associates as the very fibre of his personality. 
 Moreover, these qualities had been tested in a field of wide 
 responsibility, and it was clear that with them was combined 
 an organizing faculty which proclaimed the real greatness of 
 the man. These two factors were re-enforced by a third, — 
 perhaps the least essential, but in no way the least for- 
 tunate. General Eaton's life to the year 1870 had been 
 to a very unusual degree an uninterrupted process of prep- 
 aration and of special training for the work he was to do. 
 He went out from New England bearing its educational 
 traditions at a time when these had been re-created by the 
 reforming spirit of Horace Mann and the influence of 
 Henry Barnard. He had passed in orderly sequence from 
 district and city teacher to superintendent, first of the 
 schools of a city and then of the schools of a State. Inci- 
 dentally he had organized two school systems for the freed- 
 men of the Nation. He had thus learned at first hand the 
 practical details of school keeping, of school supervision 
 and organization, and to this familiarity with the technic 
 of his subject he brought a mind enlarged and matured by 
 the associations and responsibilities which claimed him 
 during the war. Small wonder that President Grant, with 
 a certain quality of clairvoyance which was his, recognized 
 the man and the place, and brought the two together. 
 
 The Bureau of Education, of which in March, 1870, Gen- 
 eral Eaton became the head, had been organized in re- 
 sponse to a demand for some recognition by the National 
 Government of the vital subject of education, but the story 
 of its inception and early history is not generally known. 
 The item of illiteracy had not been introduced in the United 
 States Census schedules until 1840. Dr. Henry Barnard 
 
XX JOHN EATON 
 
 believed that its introduction at that time was efifected by his 
 suggestion and influence. Another early attempt to secure 
 governmental recognition to educational affairs originated 
 with the officers of the American Institute, who in January, 
 1851, organized a committee "to consider the expediency 
 of petitioning Congress with reference to the establishment 
 of an educational department at Washington." Of this 
 committee, John D. Philbrick was appointed chairman. 
 The brunt of the effort, however, to gain for education its 
 due recognition within the Government was borne by two 
 organized bodies of educators, namely, the National Teach- 
 ers' Association and the National Superintendents' Associ- 
 ation. Dating from about 1858 the subject of a National 
 Bureau of Education was frequently under discussion at 
 the annual meetings of one or both of these organizations, 
 and committees of exceptionally able men were appointed 
 to advance the interests of the measure.^ Among these 
 supporters should be mentioned Daniel Read, the Rev. Dr- 
 Mcjilton of Maryland, Professor S. H. White of Illinois, 
 W. D. Henkle of Ohio, Professor Andrew J. Rickoff, and 
 others. The Ohio educators — led by Mr. E. E. White, 
 superintendent of schools for that State — were especially 
 prominent in this undertaking, and it was Mr. James A 
 Garfield, also a native of Ohio, who, in co-operation with 
 Mr. Patterson of New Hampshire and Mr. Boutwell of Mas- 
 sachusetts, finally secured the passage through Congress of 
 the bill creating a Department of Education. Dr. Henry 
 Barnard was appointed the first Commissioner in March 
 
 1 Proceedings of the National Educational Association, 1901 : Establish- 
 ment of the Office of the Commissioner of Education of the U.S. and Ilenrv 
 Barnard's Relation to it. By W. T. Harris. Appendix, pp. 413-436. 
 
JOHN EATON xxi 
 
 1867, and in that capacity he continued his monumental 
 labor of bringing together and publishing in the American 
 Journal of Education the first great collection of educational 
 literature — both native and foreign — ever undertaken in 
 this country. This work, to which Dr. Barnard devoted 
 himself and to which he sacrificed his personal fortune, is of 
 inestimable value to educators all over the land, but as the 
 chief activity of the National Department of Education it 
 failed to justify itself to Congress and the people at large. 
 By 1870 — three years after its establishment — the office 
 had been subordinated to the rank of a Bureau in the De- 
 partment of the Interior; its appropriation was cut from 
 twenty thousand to six thousand dollars, and its working 
 force, apart from the Commissioner himself, consisted of 
 only two clerks of the lowest grade. The very existence of 
 the Bureau was threatened, while its usefulness was fatally 
 curtailed by the failure of Congress to print its reports. A 
 special report on the condition of the schools in the District 
 of Columbia called for by Congress in March, 1867, was 
 not printed until 1871, and then, partly at least, on the 
 recommendation of the new Commissioner. A second 
 special report on technical instruction, although ordered 
 by the House of Representatives and dated as a Special 
 Report for 1869, was never printed at all save in ^e. Ameri- 
 can journal of Education (Vol. XXI, issued July, 1871). 
 
 Under General Eaton's administration, however, the re- 
 ports of the Bureau, which until then had not caught the 
 serious attention of Congress or the public, began at once 
 to be printed annually. Packed as they were with signifi- 
 cant facts and suggestive comment, they came to be recog- 
 nized throughout the country as authoritative statements 
 
xxii JOHN EATON 
 
 upon which the most valuable comparisons and generali- 
 zations could be based. In referring to the importance of 
 the means devised at this time for the collection of educa- 
 tional data, ex-Commissioner Harris expressed himself as 
 follows: "General Eaton was the true founder of the 
 Bureau of Education, in the sense that he established as 
 the chief work of the Bureau the annual collection of 
 statistics by means of statistical schedules which were sent 
 to all institutions and all general officers to be filled out 
 and returned to the Commissioner from year to year. In 
 this way he trained educators to keep original records of 
 their operations, and made these records available for 
 analysis and comparison." 
 
 Largely through General Eaton's efforts the library of 
 the Bureau, which in 1870 numbered under one hundred 
 volumes, had increased at the end of his service of sixteen 
 years to eighteen thousand volumes and forty-seven thousand 
 pamphlets. Within ten years the number of correspond- 
 ents had twice doubled itself, so that by 1881 direct com- 
 munication was established between the Bureau and eight 
 thousand seven hundred and seventy-four persons in this 
 country and abroad, irrespective of the hundreds of thou- 
 sands among whom the reports and special bulletins of 
 information circulated. The Bureau's appropriation was 
 enlarged,— though it remains to-day smaller than that 
 accorded the United States Fish Commission, ~ and after 
 many vicissitudes a permanent if inadequate home was 
 assigned it. By 1886 the number of its regular assistants 
 had increased to thirty-eight. 
 
 But outward marks of progress such as these were 
 merely the signals of the true growth of the office and of 
 
JOHN EATON xxiii 
 
 the functions which it fulfilled. From the first, General 
 Eaton set himself to make the Bureau an educational 
 exchange which should reach and stimulate the life of the 
 people, and to present through his reports what he him- 
 self designated in his report of 1 87 1 as " a record of the 
 Nation's progress in inteUigence and virtue." 
 
 The constant opposition which the Bureau encountered 
 from its political enemies was in itself enough to absorb 
 the energies of one man, and only General Eaton's keen 
 diplomatic sense, which was ever one of his most remarkable 
 characteristics, sufficed to protect the office against those 
 who strove to harass it. The country at large was dis- 
 posed to look upon the Bureau with indifference. A very 
 large element in the South regarded it as an office especially 
 designed to enforce unwelcome measures, and confronted 
 it with the antagonism which any manifestation, real or 
 supposed, of the "centralization " menace was apt to arouse. 
 But through Commissioner Eaton's intimate knowledge of 
 conditions in the South, through the helpful relationships 
 he had already established with many leading Southern 
 men, — relationships which he took care to foster and 
 extend, — and by constantly testifying in word and deed 
 to the non-partisan and wholly beneficent aims of the 
 Bureau, the prejudice of the South was so completely 
 broken down that it is to-day probably the most loyal of 
 all the Bureau's supporters. The influence of the office in 
 sustaining the Southern element which favored educational 
 reforms was very great, and by the diffusion of facts and 
 figures for comparison the Bureau had unquestionably a 
 direct and beneficial effect upon the State educational sys- 
 tems of the South. With a keen instinct for essentials 
 
xxiv JOHN EATON 
 
 which professional educators frequently lack, Commissioner 
 Eaton realized that the Bureau must first be put in touch 
 with the people and their present interests if it were to 
 serve them either as an agency for registering their prog- 
 ress or as a guide to finer achievement. It was this sense 
 which gave direction and power to that remarkable execu- 
 tive faculty which characterized the Commissioner, and 
 which in turn made of the Bureau a true digestive organism 
 for the educational interests of the country, — an organism 
 receiving promiscuously from countless sources the materials 
 which it re-created into higher, life-sustaining elements. 
 Like Horace Mann, whom as an educational statesman 
 John Eaton resembled in more ways than one, he mar- 
 shalled all the forces at his command to convince the people 
 of the supreme obligation to educate. The fate of the 
 children of the Nation rests ultimately with the public 
 conscience, and to reach and stimulate that became the 
 determining aim of all the Bureau's operations. Out of his 
 wide experience in school affairs. Commissioner Eaton was 
 able to devise schedules for reporting the conditions and 
 progress of rural, city, and State schools, of colleges 
 and universities, technical and professional institutions, and 
 movements for the care of neglected or vicious children. 
 His training in Ohio had put him in touch with the methods 
 of one of the most enlightened groups of educators in this 
 country, and by basing his investigations upon the records 
 which he knew to be maintained by them, he was able to 
 achieve practical results from his inquiries. His efforts 
 also tended to raise and make uniform the standard of the 
 records kept by educators all over the land. 
 
 But no amount of statistical detail ever betrayed General 
 
JOHN EATON xxv 
 
 Eaton from the essentials of his work. The system which 
 he constructed remained an organism by reason of the 
 vitality which animated it, and never degenerated into the 
 pedantic formalism of a mere fact-getting device. It was 
 the educational function of the office to which all its other 
 activities were ultimately tributary. In a very profound 
 sense John Eaton educated the generation of adults whom 
 he reached, and built, in Browning's beautiful phrase, 
 "broad on the roots of things." 
 
 The Commissioner never became a special pleader for 
 any theory of pedagogy or of educational advance, but he 
 was keen to recognize the main tendencies manifested in 
 the growth of the educational ideal, and one may not ven- 
 ture to estimate the hmit of his influence in fostering the 
 great educational movements of his time. He devoted 
 himself with great energy to the cause of National aid to 
 education, for he believed with President Grant and Sena- 
 tor Hoar and the few others equally far-seeing that only 
 an adequate provision for universal education could justify 
 the Fifteenth Amendment, or avert the menace from igno- 
 rance and greed which demoralizes our political and social 
 life to-day. He hoped to find in Senator Blair a champion 
 who could successfully promote this cause in Congress, 
 and accordingly, until his own resignation in 1886, he 
 stood stanchly behind the Senator in that remarkable 
 fight which covered the ten years from 1880 to 1890. A 
 notable series of statistical tables was prepared by the 
 Bureau, and facts and arguments bearing on the issue be- 
 tween education and illiteracy were collected with untiring 
 energy and deep comprehension alike of the aim to be 
 pursued and the method of pursuing it. This material 
 
xxvi JOHN EATON 
 
 was incorporated in Senator Blair's remarkable speeches. 
 Although the bill providing National aid to education 
 failed to become a law, the alignment of facts and deduc- 
 tions therefrom presented in the debate and preserved in 
 the Congressional Records constitute an argument to which 
 the Nation and its law-makers will undoubtedly be forced 
 to give heed. 
 
 It would be impossible within the limits of this sketch 
 to speak at all adequately of the various movements fos- 
 tered by General Eaton during his administration of the 
 Bureau, but it should be said in general terms that no one 
 of the great educational experiments which crowded the 
 years of his commissionership was without the help of 
 his informing and promoting spirit. He was a valued 
 and trusted counsellor of General Armstrong, and indeed 
 of all the little group of devoted educators who have 
 worked for the Indian and the Negro. He sustained in his 
 reports the theory of industrial, commercial, and agricul- 
 tural training at a time when the theory was by no means 
 acceptable to our schoolmen; and he sustained its prac- 
 tice by exerting himself and his influence specifically in 
 support of struggling institutions. 
 
 Owing in part to his army experience General Eaton 
 recognized promptly the importance of the training schools 
 for nurses, and was one of their original promoters in this 
 country. He was especially active in organizing the Wash- 
 ington Training School for Nurses, of which in 1877 he 
 was one of the incorporators. In 1879 the Bureau issued 
 the first circular of information on the subject of nurses' 
 training schools. In this publication General Eaton per-: 
 sonally urged the importance of the work and summarized 
 
JOHN EATON xxvii 
 
 the tentative efforts then making to further it in this country. 
 Only nine training schools were then reported as in exist- 
 ence in the United States. Recently the Bureau of Edu- 
 cation reported five hundred and fifty-two. General Eaton's 
 share in the development of this very important movement 
 can scarcely be overestimated. In addition to the dissem- 
 ination of arguments favorable to it and of information 
 concerning it, he exerted his great personal influence 
 through public addresses and in the countless ways open 
 to a man of his exceptional tact and energy. He was 
 instrumental in bringing the few physicians who at first 
 favored the training of nurses into helpful relations to 
 the work and to each other, and through such co- 
 operation practically secured a general working basis for 
 the movement. 
 
 The Kindergarten was another of the great experimental 
 efforts of the time to which Commissioner Eaton gave his 
 cordial welcome and support. 
 
 In 1876, in connection with the exhibit of educational 
 affairs at the Centennial Exposition, when the organization 
 of the American Library Association was effected under the 
 leadership of C. A. Cutter, Commissioner Eaton presented 
 through his Bureau the first general report ever under- 
 taken of the libraries of the United States, and thereby 
 immensely furthered the transformation of the librarians 
 from detached groups of workers into a professional body 
 with a nucleus for organization and future growth.^ Eaton, 
 by the way, was a pioneer in the now universal custom of 
 utilizing the great national and international expositions 
 as a means of presenting vivid conceptions of educational 
 1 See Appendix (Special Reports). 
 
xxviii JOHN EATON 
 
 progress and of stimulating popular interest in the subject 
 His large acquaintance with school men and legislators, 
 and his grasp of the essential elements of an effective ex- 
 hibit of education, gave to his work in this field a special 
 significance.-' 
 
 The problem of educating the natives of Alaska appealed 
 very strongly to General Eaton. His first annual report 
 as Commissioner of Education, issued in 1870, called special 
 attention to Alaska's desperate need for civil government 
 and educational opportunities, and with the exception of the 
 year 1876 a similar appeal was made annually on behalf 
 of this neglected territory until Congress took action in the 
 matter. In 1878 General Eaton met the Rev. Sheldon 
 Jackson, D.D., who, as superintendent of Presbyterian mis- 
 sions for the Rocky Mountain Territories had organized the 
 first permanent American school in Alaska. Dr. Jackson 
 was undoubtedly the best informed and most devoted 
 friend whom the Alaskan interests could claim, and Com- 
 missioner Eaton promptly recognized in him these qualifi- 
 cations. He established Dr. Jackson in his own office, and 
 planned with him a vigorous campaign for schools and 
 other essentials of civil government. 
 
 In the course of this campaign, which covered many 
 
 1 During General Eaton's administration there were six expositions held 
 in different countries, of which five were international. The Bureau of 
 Education was prominent in each of these, and its services were recognized 
 by the follovping acknowledgments and awards : Universal Exposition at 
 Vienna (1873), Grand Diploma of honor ; International Exposition of Chili 
 (1875), medal °f honor, first and second prize medals, diploma of award; 
 International Exhibition at Philadelphia (1876), certificate of award; Uni- 
 versal Exposition at Paris (1878), three diplomas of gold medals ; Southern 
 Exposition at Louisville (1883 and 1884), bronze medals, certificate of award ; 
 World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition at New Orleans (1885), 
 four certificates of award. 
 
JOHN EATON xxix 
 
 years, every possible educational and political pressure 
 was brought to bear upon Congress and the public at 
 large. Finally, in May, 1884, a bill was passed insuring 
 the rights of civil government to Alaska and appropriating 
 twenty-five thousand dollars for education. An Alaskan 
 division was established in the Bureau of Education ; the 
 Commissioner was intrusted by the Secretary of the Inte- 
 rior with the management of the fund and charged with 
 the duty of organizing and maintaining a system of schools. 
 On General Eaton's recommendation Dr. Jackson was put 
 at the head of the new division. Eaton's enthusiasm and 
 zeal for this cause never flagged during the fourteen years 
 of constant effort which preceded the victory, although 
 during those years he was directing and controlling other 
 movements with equal energy and wisdom. 
 
 But the sphere of the Commissioner's influence was not 
 limited to this country. One by one the South American 
 States, as they put aside the influences of Spanish civiliza- 
 tion, sent commissions to the United States to study our 
 institutions. These commissions consulted with the heads 
 of the different Departments, and invariably, it may be said, 
 received the impress of General Eaton's work and thought. 
 
 The educational system of Japan owes its efficiency 
 largely to John Eaton's influence. The first Japanese 
 commission which visited America numbered among its 
 members the present Prince Tanaka, then Japanese Com- 
 missioner of Education. With his interpreters — among 
 whom his favorite was Joseph Hardy Neesuma — Tanaka 
 visited Commissioner Eaton daily for nearly two weeks, 
 consulting with him upon the establishment of educational 
 institutions in Japan. The Commissioner not only laid 
 
XXX JOHN EATON 
 
 open his store of wisdom and experience on these occa- 
 sions, but with the tenacity characteristic of him he never 
 let go his hold upon the educational interests of the newly 
 developing country, and never perhaps during his official 
 career lost an opportunity to impress upon its authorities 
 the doctrines he had inculcated. 
 
 The recognition of the United States Bureau of Education 
 by foreign governments has steadily progressed from the 
 later years of General Eaton's administration until the 
 present time. At the zenith of his career Eaton was an 
 uncommonly prominent figure before the public, both here 
 and abroad, and many marks of courtesy and appreciation 
 were bestowed upon him by foreign governments and 
 sovereigns; but his determined effort to escape publicity 
 made him avoid honors that many men in his position 
 would have sought. Between the years 1875 and 1885 
 no man in America wielded a greater influence over the 
 men and the problems connected with questions of public 
 instruction in this country, yet no trace of ostentation or 
 aggressiveness was ever developed in him. Dr. Harris, in 
 speaking of General Eaton to the present writer, placed his 
 humility and his loving recognition of the good elements 
 in the work of others foremost among the personal qualities 
 that made his administration what it was. This character- 
 istic humility was nowhere more completely exemplified 
 than in the ex-Commissioner's attitude toward Dr. Henry 
 Barnard, and it is a beautiful symbol of loyalty and justice 
 between men that General Eaton's feeling of ungrudging 
 appreciation for the greatness of his predecessor should be 
 sustained and carried forward by the loyalty of Dr. Harris's 
 attitude toward General Eaton himself. 
 
JOHN EATON xxxi 
 
 In 1886, on account of ill health, General Eaton withdrew 
 from the Bureau. At the request of the Administration 
 he had remained in active service nearly a year after ten- 
 dering his resignation. He was succeeded by Commissioner 
 Dawson. 
 
 After five years of exacting work as President of Marietta 
 College, Ohio, and an intermission during which as his 
 health permitted he devoted himself to various crusades of 
 education and reform, General Eaton was appointed in 
 January, 1899, first American superintendent of schools in 
 Porto Rico, under the military government. He resigned 
 the presidency of Sheldon Jackson College, Salt Lake City, 
 and entered upon the duties of his new office. As resident 
 superintendent he at once reformed the school curriculum, 
 — relieving it of its excessive burden of religious and doc- 
 trinal subjects, — provided for the more adequate education 
 of girls, especially in the rural districts, and by abolishing 
 the fee system, which had operated to exclude the poorer 
 classes, he made the schools free to all residents of Porto 
 Rico between six and eighteen years of age. Indeed all 
 the school reforms that were especially calculated to 
 arouse antagonism because they trenched upon old estab- 
 lished customs and abuses profitable to special groups 
 and individuals but fatal to the public welfare were accom- 
 plished under the military superintendency inaugurated by 
 General Eaton. The substitute system might be mentioned 
 as one case in point. Under the old Spanish regime 
 individuals were in the habit of drawing the salary "of a 
 teacher and devoting themselves at the same time to some 
 other occupation, while the cheapest available substitute 
 was retained to keep school. The regulations devised by 
 
xxxii JOHN EATON 
 
 General Eaton cleared the ground of such encumbrances 
 and prepared the way for the constructive work to which 
 the civil authorities were able to devote themselves.^ 
 
 In May, 1899, General Eaton was obliged to resign on 
 account of serious ill-health. The work was carried forward 
 by his successor and former assistant, Dr. Victor S. Clark, 
 and later by Dr. George G. Groff. The notable achieve- 
 ments of General Eaton and his two followers under the 
 military government should be recognized by the civil 
 officers who succeeded them, as well as by the public 
 generally. 
 
 In the final analysis of John Eaton's career it is the 
 character of the man himself which emerges as the essential 
 factor. The spirit of true humility in which he served is 
 the more remarkable when it is recognized as characteristic 
 of one whose convictions were intense and whose influence 
 had been consciously exercised and felt so widely. From 
 his early maturity he manifested extraordinary power of 
 projecting his own enthusiams and kindling a similar spirit 
 in other men, so that his capacity of working through 
 others was one of the most remarkable factors in his life. 
 This trait, indeed, was closely related to the essence of his 
 greatness, for it proceeded directly from that organizing 
 genius which reaches a distant goal by seizing upon and 
 developing the possibilities that lie close at hand. 
 
 The difficulty of preparing even a brief biographical 
 sketch has been seriously complicated by the lack of 
 
 1 For accounts of the American school system in Porto Rico see War 
 Department Report for 1900, Vol. I, Part 13, pp. 124-128. See also Report 
 for iSgg, and Senate Document 256. 
 
JOHN EATON xxxiii 
 
 personal memoranda, and by General Eaton's own inerad- 
 icable unwillingness to talk about himself. In these cir- 
 cumstances it has been the aim of the present writer to 
 seek and emphasize the qualities that lay behind the 
 achievements rather than to attempt any adequate chronicle 
 of the achievements themselves, and, on the other hand, 
 much has been omitted here which is elsewhere accessible. 
 
 The force of intellect and personality, as well as the 
 beauty of character which were his. General Eaton could 
 not hide ; but he was far more eager to serve than he was 
 ready to record his services, and hence his full contri- 
 bution can have been truly known only to a few of his 
 contemporaries. 
 
 A word may be permissible here as to the value of the 
 record of General Eaton's work as presented in this 
 volume. Apart from the reminiscences of men now 
 famous, and apart from the important data concerning the 
 Negro's history here collected and made available for 
 reference, the book, it would seem, has a deeper and more 
 human significance. The call of our National patriotism, 
 let us hope, is beginning to be uttered in tones, on the one 
 hand, less pharisaical, and on the other less resentful, than 
 was wont to be its quality not many years ago. Especially, 
 perhaps, at the North is there a just revolt against the 
 tinge of moral patronage and of immoral self-complacency 
 which sometimes marred the attitude of Northern patriots 
 toward their fellows of the South. Such a revolt is alto- 
 gether salutary; yet it suggests a special use for the 
 modest record of a good man's work. 
 
 It would be sad if we as a Nation, in our abhorrence of 
 
xxxiv JOHN EATON 
 
 the injustice, cruelty, and greed from which the recon- 
 structing Southern States were made to suffer, were to 
 forget the patient, just, and selfless efforts of individual 
 men who yet, officially, were part of the system that 
 sometimes oppressed. 
 
 General Eaton's book is an enduring record of sincerity, 
 kindliness, and far-sighted justice on the part of one whose 
 work was done amid the scenes of a great and complicated 
 tragedy, — a tragedy cheapened at moments by the baser 
 passions of mankind, and yet a tragedy touched and 
 illumined by a greater hope. To the reconstructive and 
 constructive labors of men like Saxton, Eaton, Armstrong, 
 and others either famous or unknown, are due in great 
 measure the saner retrospect, the growing sense of present 
 fellowship, and the outreaching hope of the reunited 
 Nation, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The camp of the Union Army at Grand Junction, 1862 — "The 
 Army of the Tennessee " and " The Army of the Contra- 
 bands" — Grant issues an order to "Chaplain Eaton" — A 
 difficult task — En route to Grant's headquarters — Gloomy 
 recollections of Fremont and Halleck — Gloomier forebodings 
 of Grant and the work to come 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Arrival at La Grange — First interview with General Grant — 
 A pleasant disillusionment — Grant's plans for the Negroes 
 — I leave my regimental companions 9 
 
 CHAFTER III 
 
 First camp for the " contrabands " — Some early orders — Heavy 
 responsibilities assumed by Grant therein — The loss of Holly 
 Springs, and how Grant bore it — Grant's father talks of 
 his son 18 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Falling back upon Memphis — • Conditions among the contrabands 
 — A comprehensive wedding — A prayer f or " Jeff " Davis — 
 White and colored refugees cared for and sent North — Gossip 
 about Grant — He assumes command of the movement on 
 Vicksburg — His care for his subordinates 30 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The policy of the Nation toward the Negro — Fugitive slaves 
 and military commanders — Arming the Negro — Arrival of 
 Adjutant-General L. Thomas in the Mississippi Valley — The 
 organization there of colored regiments — The beginnings of 
 the lessee system 46 
 
xxxvi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 I report to Grant at Vicksburg before the surrender — An un- 
 published letter from Grant to Lincoln — The Shirley family 
 and Grant's kindness to them — On the way to Washington 
 
 — Stirring news 62 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 First interviews with President Lincoln — His power of gauging 
 men — His anecdotes — His tender-heartedness — The Ameri- 
 can Freedmen Inquiry Commission 87 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Return to the Valley — Meeting with Grant at Cairo — Banquet 
 at Memphis in Grant's honor — Down the river to Vicksburg 
 with Grant and his staff — The General talks of himself 
 
 — Tales of his intemperance 94 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Arrival at Vicksburg — Thirty thousand contrabands to be cared 
 for near that point — Organization, by Grant's advice, of the 
 colored invalid corps, or "Home Guards" — Appointed 
 Colonel of the 63d United States Colored Infantry — Value 
 of these regiments to the Freedmen's Department .... 104 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Up the river with Grant to Cairo — An autograph letter — Grant 
 assumes command at Chattanooga — Trip to Chattanooga 
 after the battle — Grant's attitude toward the officers of the 
 Army of the Cumberland — His influence on the political 
 situation in Tennessee — His unflagging interest in the 
 refugees and freedmen uj 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Fuller statement of the work of the Freedmen's Department 
 based on reports of the General Superintendent and other 
 officers of freedmen for 1864 — Classification of the freed 
 people ,23 
 
CONTENTS xxxvii 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Statement continued — The plantation interests and the lessee 
 system — Treasury control and resulting complications — The 
 Negro's condition when employed by white lessees — The 
 Negro as an independent cultivator 142 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Second visit to Washington, and interviews with President Lincoln 
 
 — New regulations of the Treasury Department are revoked 
 
 — Mr. Lincoln talks of the Negro, and of the criticisms of him- 
 self — Another side to Stanton — A public assembly at the 
 White House — Sent by Mr. Lincoln to Grant's headquarters 
 
 at City Point — A dramatic interview 167 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Education for the Negro in the Mississippi Valley under the 
 auspices of the Freedmen's Department — A centralized 
 school system established September, 1864 — Other educa- 
 tional and philanthropic efforts — The Negro as he appeared 
 to the officers of freedmen — Difficulties confronting the 
 Freedmen's Department : what it accomplished 192 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Third .visit to Washington — Legislation concerning the Freed- 
 men's Bureau — Chaplain Fiske's mission — Mr. Sumner's 
 heroic convictions — "Memoranda concerning Freedmen's 
 Bureau," — a political leaflet — Last interview with President 
 Lincoln — The news of his assassination reaches Memphis . 221 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Appointed by General Howard, Assistant Commissioner of the 
 Freedmen's Bureau for the District of Columbia, etc. — Two 
 early circulars — General Grant's "diffidence" — I assume 
 the editorship of the Memphis Post — Organization of public 
 school system of Tennessee — Grant is nominated for Presi- 
 dent — His disinclination to " make the sacrifice " . . . . 236 
 
xxxviii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 President Grant's interest in education — He visits West Point 
 
 — Report of the Board of Visitors for 1869 — Anecdotes con- 
 nected with the Academy and Grant's standing as a cadet — 
 Grant and the Peabody Fund — He champions the Bureau 
 of Education — I become United States Commissioner of 
 Education in 1870 — The President's earnest support of 
 educational measures — He attends some early " Teachers' 
 Conventions " — Proposes to veto Butler's bill — He " cuts 
 red tape " and interests himself in the subject of English 
 in our colleges — His speech on education at Des Moines 
 
 in 1876 253 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Some political memories — The great questions on which Grant 
 "hammered " — A sketch of what he achieved in our foreign 
 and domestic affairs — His unwillingness to think evil — His 
 promptitude in suppressing it when once admitted — A group 
 of friends and advisers — " Zack " Chandler, his honesty and 
 courage — The Belknap tragedy — An ex-Confederate general 
 and a Negro orator agree politically on Grant 272 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Last interview with Grant at Mount McGregor — A written 
 
 greeting 295 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Personal characteristics of Grant and Lincoln — Grant's kind- 
 ness to friend and foe — His even temper — Sensitiveness 
 to criticism — His modesty — Grant, Lincoln, and Sumner 
 
 — The unassuming quality of great men — The genius of 
 Grant and Lincoln rooted in character — Their attitude toward 
 religion ■ — Conclusion 208 
 
 APPENDIX 
 INDEX . . 
 
 315 
 321 
 
Grant, Lincoln, and the Freedmen 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The camp of the Union Army at Grand Junction, 1862. " The 
 Army of the Tennessee " and " The Army of the Contrabands." 
 Grant issues an order to " Chaplain Eaton." A difficult task. 
 En route to Grant's headquarters. Gloomy recollections of 
 Fremont and Halleck. Gloomier forebodings of Grant and the 
 work to come. 
 
 MY acquaintance with General Grant began in the 
 autumn of 1862, after the battle of Corinth had 
 been fought and Grant had moved his forces 
 somewhat southward and westward preparatory to the 
 great Vicksburg campaign. The base of supplies for the 
 advancing army was at Holly Springs, Mississippi; its 
 headquarters were at La Grange, Tennessee, ■ — a village in 
 the southwestern angle of the State, — while somewhat to 
 the east, at Grand Junction, was a brigade of Ohio and 
 Missouri troops commanded by Colonel J. W. Fuller of 
 the 27th Ohio Infantry, of which I was chaplain. 
 
 Forjhe first time 4n-the_ course of its progress the Army 
 of the Tennessee was entering a region densely.. populated 
 by the Negroes, and was face to face with conditions even 
 more aggravated than any that had confronted Jthe Union 
 forces in the South Atlantic States. With the advance of 
 the forty-five thousand troops or more in Grant's command, 
 
2 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 the cotton plantations were abandoned by their owners, 
 and 'the Negroes, thrown thus upon their own resources, 
 flocked in vast numbers — an army in themselves — to the 
 camps of the Yankees. Such an influx constituted a menace 
 to soldiers which it is difficult to overestimate. Imagine, 
 if you will, a slave population, springing from antecedent 
 barbarism, rising up and leaving its ancient bondage, for- 
 saking its local traditions and all the associations and 
 attractions of the old plantation life, coming garbed in rags 
 or in silks, with feet shod or bleeding, individually or in 
 families and larger groups, — an army of slaves and fugi- 
 tives, pushing its way irresistibly toward an army of fight- 
 ing men, perpetually on the defensive and perpetually ready 
 to attack. The arrival among us of these hordes was like 
 the oncoming of cities. There was no plan in this exodus, 
 no Moses to lead it. Unlettered reason or the mere inar- 
 ticulate decision of instinct brought them to us. Often the 
 slaves met prejudices against their color more bitter thin 
 any they had left„ behind. But their own interests were 
 identical, they felt, with the objects of our armies : a blind 
 terror stung them, an equally blind hope allured them, and 
 to us they came. Their condition was appalling. There 
 were men, women, and children in every stage of disease 
 or decrepitude, often nearly naked, with flesh torn by the 
 terrible experiences of their escapes. Sometimes they 
 were intelligent and eager to help themselves ; often they 
 were bewildered or stupid or possessed by the wildest 
 notions of what liberty might mean, — expecting to ex- 
 change labor, and obedience to the will of another, for 
 idleness and freedom from restraint. Such ignorance 
 and perverted notions produced a veritable moral chaos. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 3 
 
 Cringing deceit, theft, licentiousness — all the vices which 
 slavery inevitably fosters — were the hideous companions 
 of nakedness, famine, and disease. A few had profited by 
 the misfortunes of the master and were jubilant in their 
 unwonted ease and luxury, but these stood in lurid con- 
 trast to the grimmer aspects of the tragedy, — the women 
 in travail, the helplessness of childhood and of old age, 
 the horrors of sickness and of frequent death. Small 
 wonder that men paused in bewilderment and panic, fore- 
 seeing the demoralization and infection of the Union sol- 
 dier and the downfall of the Union cause. 
 
 In my capacity of chaplain, and with others, chaplains 
 and ofiicers, I had done what I could to relieve the most 
 urgent and immediate cases of distress, and to check, in at 
 least a few instances, elements the most dangerous to the 
 welfare of our soldiers. But the individual efforts made 
 by my comrades and myself were futile to cope with the 
 tremendous difficulties of the situation. Some radical step 
 needed to be taken. What that step was to be, and how 
 it was to involve relationships with men then unknown to 
 me who were to exercise the most enduring influence over 
 our National affairs, I had not the remotest intimation, 
 and when that intimation first came to me, it found me 
 wholly unprepared. 
 
 Among the most vivid of my memories is a picture 
 of our camp at Grand Junction on a certain evening of 
 November, 1862. We had just fought the battles of luka 
 and Corinth, and the troops, though gradually being 
 moved toward Vicksburg in small bodies, for the most 
 part were passing the time leisurely in drilling and in 
 the routine duties of the camp. It had been a cool 
 
4 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 autumn day and the soldiers had amused themselves and 
 kept us all warm by building bonfires here and there at 
 
 the heads of the several 
 regiments. The one at 
 the head of the brigade 
 was especially large. 
 Our camp was in the 
 midst of a primeval forest, 
 and the brilliant firelight 
 and long-drawn shadows 
 made visible for a con- 
 
 siderable distance the grotesque figures of those sitting 
 round the blaze. There was great familiarity and freedom 
 among the ofificers, and on this particular evening Colonel 
 Fuller of the 27th Ohio, then in command of the brigade, 
 with members of his staff, had been out calling. As we sat 
 about the fire the Colonel and his associates came riding 
 in. They were in high spirits, and something of their 
 jokes and laughter seemed to be at my expense. The 
 Colonel was a resident of Toledo — where I had been 
 superintendent of schools — and a man of strong religious 
 feeling. We were good friends, and he had invited me 
 to tent with him. In the midst of the merriment I caught 
 phrases now and then which had no meaning for me, and 
 which yet made me vaguely uneasy, for there was an 
 undercurrent of seriousness in what was said, and the 
 words implied that some order had been received involving 
 me. I withdrew from the group and went to the office, 
 where, in charge of the papers, was a lieutenant who never 
 joked. I asked him if he had anything for me, whereupon 
 he turned to a small portable desk of the kind in use in 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 5 
 
 the army, reached his hand to a pigeonhole, and handed 
 me a paper. By the dim light of a tallow dip I read to 
 my dismay the following order : 
 
 Headquarters 13TH Army Corps, 
 
 Department of the Tennessee, 
 Special Orders, La Grange, Tenn., November ii, 1862. 
 
 No. 15. 
 
 Chaplain Eaton, of the Twenty-seventh Ohio Infantry Volun- 
 teers, is hereby appointed to take charge of the contrabands that 
 come into carap in the vicinity of the post, organizing them into 
 suitable companies for working, see that they are properly cared 
 for, and set them to work picking, ginning and baling all cotton 
 now out and ungathered in field. 
 
 Suitable guards will be detailed by commanding officers nearest 
 where the parties are at work, to protect them from molestation. 
 
 For further instructions the officer in charge of these labors will 
 call at these headquarters. 
 
 By order of Maj.-Gen. U. S. Grant. 
 
 (Signed) Jno. A. Rawlins, 
 Lieut.-Col. and A. A.-Gen'l. 
 
 No language can describe the effect of this order upon 
 me. Never in the entire army service, through the whole 
 war, during imprisonment or in the midst of battles with 
 the roar of cannon in my ears, amid the horrors of the 
 hospital or in facing my own exposure to assassination, 
 do I recall such a shock of surprise, amounting to conster- 
 nation, as I experienced when reading this brief summons 
 to undertake what seemed to me an enterprise beyond the 
 possibility of human achievement. I retired to my cot and 
 drew the blankets round me, — not to sleep, but to think 
 it out alone. It was useless to question what it meant or 
 what my future was to be. Here was an imperative com- 
 mand, and I was wholly in the military grip. The night was 
 
6 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 spent in vain conjectures. Of what mettle was the man to 
 whom I was to report? What were the duties to which 
 he was to order me? What I knew of the task itself filled 
 me with despair ; what I had heard of my commanding 
 officer filled me with apprehension. The order required 
 me to report to an incompetent and disagreeable man — 
 so rumor called him — and to fulfil a most arduous and 
 unpleasant duty. Had it called me to discharge a respon- 
 sibility in the commissary or the medical departments, or 
 in that of the quartermaster, had I been called upon to 
 accompany a raid and share in it, I should have known 
 what to do ; but as it was, I was left wholly to the mercy 
 of the wildest conjectures. The brief words of the order 
 filled my mind : " Chaplain Eaton is hereby appointed — " 
 My first name, even, was unknown to General Grant. 
 Why had he fastened upon me for this impossible task? 
 I have never known the explanation of the riddle, unless 
 it was that Grant followed the suggestion of a man who 
 had seen something of my work among the soldiers in 
 Missouri and again at Grand Junction, and who in this 
 crisis had mentioned my name to the General. 
 
 Daylight came to an agitated mind. The questions of 
 my companions had to be answered. Everybody around 
 was stirred up by the order. The members of the mess 
 could talk of nothing else. All sympathized with me in 
 the task to which I had been assigned ; no one saw how it 
 was to be performed. All sorts of questions were put to me. 
 Where would I begin? What would I do? There was 
 nothing to be done but to obey, and the first token of my 
 obedience was to report in person to General Grant, whose 
 headquarters at La Grange, already referred to, were sev- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 7 
 
 eral miles away. When the time came, I mounted my 
 horse and began a solitary ride. 
 
 As I passed through regiments, brigades, and divisions, 
 my mind was harassed with recollections of other occasions 
 when I had been brought into contact with the leaders of 
 our forces. I had been an enthusiastic supporter of 
 Fremont, but from what I saw of him at his headquarters 
 near Jefferson City — following a brief experience as pris- 
 oner of war — I received an impression of incapacity which 
 caused me to suffer a great disillusionment. A similar 
 acquaintance with Halleck had left me still pessimistic as 
 to the advantages to be derived from any intimacy with our 
 commanders. Recollections of this sort taken in connec- 
 tion with the order under which I was acting were scarcely 
 reassuring, but they became insignificant in comparison with 
 the actual difficulties presented by the Negro situation to 
 the man who should attempt to order it. I shrank from 
 the duty assigned to me as from an impossible undertaking 
 doomed to bring only suffering and failure ; and in addi- 
 tion to this I regretted keenly the work which I should 
 have to abandon if Grant's order to me were to be fulfilled. 
 I was the only chaplain of the brigade so far able to be 
 constantly at his post, and my services were called for 
 more or less in each of the four regiments. Sometimes on 
 the Sabbath I was the only chaplain able to hold services ; 
 at such times the regiment would be drawn up around me 
 in a hollow square. The sick must be visited, the sad 
 correspondence with the families of the soldiers who had 
 lost their lives at Corinth and luka must be attended to. 
 This in itself took so much of my time that a young sol- 
 dier was detailed to assist me. I had charge of the little 
 
8 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 regimental library which B. F. Mather, a banker of Cleve- 
 land, and others had given me ; in addition the different 
 companies had raised two hundred dollars and intrusted 
 it to me to be expended in subscriptions to newspapers 
 and periodicals which were forwarded to us by mail where- 
 ever we went. I had been appointed sanitary inspector for 
 the brigade, and found constantly many important ques- 
 tions of health that demanded my attention. Besides all 
 this, close and helpful friendships had sprung up. My life 
 in my chosen profession was already full, and I could not 
 see my way to abandoning these various duties. With my 
 mind centred on the appeal which I intended to make to 
 the General for release from the task assigned me by his 
 order, I rode into Grant's headquarters. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Arrival at La Grange. First interview with General Grant. A pleas- 
 ant disillusionment. Grant's plans for the Negroes. I leave 
 my regimental companions. 
 
 I DISMOUNTED, hitched my horse, and approaching 
 a sentry who paced in front of a large house, I in- 
 quired of him where General Grant was to be found. 
 He directed me to enter the house, and, pointing to the 
 passageway, told me that I should find the General's 
 orderly at his door and that he would direct me. My 
 heart was thumping violently, but I found the orderly, and 
 asked to have him announce that Chaplain Eaton had 
 come to report in accordance with orders. To my sur- 
 prise he said, — pointing to the door before which we 
 were standing, — "Tap on the door and he'll tell you to 
 come in." This seemed very different from my previous 
 experiences at headquarters. I rapped, and a voice said 
 very quietly, " Come in." Upon entering the room the 
 same quiet voice said to me, " Have a seat, and I '11 talk 
 with you in a few moments." Then, as I announced my 
 name, the General added, " Oh, you are the man who has 
 all these darkies on his shoulders." 
 
 I saw at a glance that I had interrupted a council of the 
 various generals in Grant's command, and I felt distinctly 
 out of place. Grant, who was seated at the centre-table, 
 
10 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMAN 
 
 was distinguished from his officers only by the shoulder- 
 straps of a Major-General. My eyes were alert for the 
 signs on his face of the dissipation with which rumor 
 charged him, but I saw at once that no such signs were 
 there. Everything about him betokened moderation and 
 simplicity. His simplicity was no less obvious than the 
 respect which his associate generals manifested for him. 
 I felt my preconceived notions of headquarters and 
 the atmosphere surrounding them undergoing a change. 
 From the concluding words of the conference it was evi- 
 dent that important details in connection with the projected 
 movement on Vicksburg had been under discussion. The 
 officers soon filed out, and as they passed me, one and 
 another threw me a glance of amused comprehension, as 
 if they had some suspicion of what my duties were to be. 
 When the last one had left the room. Grant turned to me, 
 and pointing to the table at which he was seated said, " Sit 
 up, and we '11 talk." I drew my chair to his table, hardly 
 knowing whether I was the same man who had ridden into 
 camp with such unpleasant memories of former experi- 
 ences with our commanders and such dark forebodings of 
 the experience before me. 
 
 An earnest conversation followed, which, though it in- 
 volved me in great responsibilities, relieved my mind once 
 and for all of my anxiety concerning the man to whom I had 
 come to report. At first I exerted myself to the utmost to 
 have the order which had brought me revoked. I de- 
 scribed the situation in the brigade, where, in the absence 
 of so many of the chaplains, I had been able to become 
 active and helpful among a large body of soldiers. I 
 emphasized my inability, lacking as I was in commanding 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 11 
 
 rank, to enforce the orders I should find it necessary to 
 issue. To take the colored people out of the camps would 
 bring me into conflict with all the officers now making 
 personal use of their services ; to set them at work in the 
 cotton fields, the product of which was to be turned over 
 to the Government, would bring me into conflict with all 
 the speculators in the cotton interest. The price of cotton 
 was then mounting, and speculation ran high. I felt so 
 intensely my own inability to meet the situation that I put 
 forward all the energy I could summon to get the order 
 revoked. All that I said had no more effect upon that 
 quiet, attentive face than a similar appeal might have had 
 upon a stone wall. When my arguments were exhausted, 
 the General simply remarked, " Mr. Eaton, I have ordered 
 you to report to me in person, and I will take care of you." 
 And so he did. 
 
 Then followed a long and intensely interesting talk on 
 the Negro problem, with which thus early we had been 
 brought face to face. I had been studying as occasion 
 permitted some phases of the situation, but as yet I had 
 found no one ready to offer a solution. The whole ques- 
 tion of methods of dealing with the Negro had scarcely as 
 yet been faced by the National Government. Congress, 
 it is true, had emancipated the slaves of the District of 
 Columbia, which fell directly under its jurisdiction. General 
 Butler had cut the knot of tangled relationship between the 
 army and the blacks by declaring the slaves of those in 
 rebellion against the Government to be contraband of war, 
 and hence liable to retention within the lines of the Union 
 forces as a means of crippling the Confederates. There 
 were, however, many Union men who were slaveholders, 
 
12 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 especially in the border States, and it was essential to 
 retain their sympathies. The slaves were the property of 
 these men, and could not be molested. But how could the 
 army discriminate? 
 
 Difficult as the question was, Grant had boldly under- 
 taken to solve it within the limits of his own command. 
 Nor had he waited for instructions from Washington before 
 •outlining his plans. The order to me was issued, as we 
 have seen, on November ii. It was not until four days 
 later that he sent the following message, dated from La 
 Grange, to General Halleck: 
 
 " Citizens south of us are leaving their homes and negroes 
 coming in by wagon loads. What will I do with them ? I am 
 now having all the cotton still standing out picked by them." 
 
 On November i6. General Halleck sent the following 
 reply : 
 
 "The Secretary of War directs that you employ the refugee 
 negroes as teamsters, laborers, etc., so far as you have use for them, 
 in the Quartermaster's department, on forts, railroads, etc. : also in 
 picking and removing cotton on account of the Government. So 
 far as possible subsist them and your army on the rebel inhabi- 
 tants of Mississippi." 
 
 In the course of my first conversation with General 
 Grant his mind had already grappled with this problem, 
 and had far outstripped these meagre instructions, which, 
 indeed, he had not as yet received. 
 
 Grant called attention to the fact that the conditions 
 threatening the army would inevitably become still more 
 aggravated as his forces advanced into the heart of the 
 great slave population. He pointed out how little Con- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 13 
 
 gress — representing the political power of the Nation — 
 had done as yet to provide adequate escape from the mili- 
 tary complications arising out of the conditions of slavery 
 in the midst of which our armies were moving. It would 
 not do, he said, for him to pass these problems indiffer- 
 ently ; they must be met and solved, and he had under- 
 taken the responsibility, as his order indicated. He had 
 been compelled, he said, to take this step from two consid- 
 erations: first, that of military necessity, — the obligation 
 of protecting his troops against the diseases and demorali- 
 zation to which contact with this body of disorderly people 
 subjected them; second, the dictates of mere humanity 
 demanded that these helpless people should be themselves 
 protected, so far as possible, and spared all possible suffer- 
 ing. The need for action was especially urgent as winter 
 was coming on and the Negroes were incapable of making 
 any provision for their own safety and comfort. The sur- 
 rounding country possessed ample means of subsisting the 
 fugitives until such time as they could care for themselves, 
 and in view of the condition out of which they sprang, the 
 General believed it to be necessary that for a while, at least, 
 some form of guardianship should be exercised over 
 them.^ 
 
 J I make the following quotation from General Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I, 
 pp. 424-426. As has been pointed out by a recent writer, Paul Skeels 
 Peirce, in his excellent monograph entitled "The Freedmen's Bureau," 
 Grant's opening statement is not wholly fair to the efforts of others who pre- 
 ceded General Grant in point of time. But it should be borne in mind in 
 this connection that the armies of the East and West were so severed that 
 practically nothing was known by us as to what had been done on behalf of 
 the Negroes in the East. General Grant says : 
 
 "It was at this point, probably, where the first idea of a 'Freedman's 
 Bureau' took its origin. Orders of the government prohibited the expul- 
 
14 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 The General next began to outline the most important 
 feature of his plans, — the means by which the army of 
 blacks might be transformed from a menace into a positive 
 assistance to the Union forces. The Negroes, he said, 
 could perform many of the camp duties now in the hands 
 of the soldiers, serving as fatigue men in the departments 
 of the surgeon-general, the quartermaster, and the commis- 
 sary, as well as rendering assistance in various engineering 
 
 sion of the negroes from the protection of the army, when they came in 
 voluntarily. Humanity forbade allowing them to starve. With such an 
 army of them, of all ages and both sexes, as had congregated about Grand 
 Junction, amounting to many thousands, it was impossible to advance. There 
 was no special authority for feeding them unless they were employed as 
 teamsters, cooks, and pioneers with the army ; but only able-bodied young 
 men were suited for such work. This labor would support but a very limi- 
 ted percentage of them. The plantations were all deserted ; the cotton and 
 corn were ripe ; men, women and children above ten years, of age could be 
 employed in saving these crops. To do this work with contrabands, or to 
 have it done, organization under a competent chief was necessary. On in- 
 quiring for such a man, Chaplain Eaton, now and for many years the very 
 able U. S. Commissioner of Education, was suggested. He proved as effi- 
 cient in that field as he has since done in his present one. I gave him all 
 the assistants and guards he called for. We together fixed the prices to be 
 charged for the negro labor, whether rendered to the government or to indi- 
 viduals. The cotton was to be picked from abandoned plantations, the 
 laborers to receive the stipulated price (my recollection is twelve and a half 
 cents per pound for picking and ginning) from the quartermaster, he shipping 
 the cotton north to be sold for the benefit of the government. Citizens re- 
 maining on their plantations were allowed the privilege of having their crops 
 saved by freedmen on the same terms. 
 
 " At once the freedmen became self-sustaining. The money was not paid 
 to them directly, but was expended judiciously for their benefit. They gave 
 me no trouble afterwards. 
 
 " Later the freedmen were engaged in cutting wood used for the supply of 
 government steamers (steamers chartered and which the government had to 
 supply with fuel). Those supplying their own fuel paid a much higher 
 price. In this way a fund was created not only sufiicient to feed and clothe 
 all, old and young, male and female, but to build them comfortable cabins, 
 hospitals for the sick, and to supply them with many comforts they had 
 never known before." 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 15 
 
 operations, such as building bridges, roads, earthworks, and 
 so on. The women could serve in the camp kitchens and 
 as nurses in the hospitals. He then went on to say that 
 when it had been made clear that the Negro, as an inde- 
 pendent laborer — for he was not yet a freedman — could 
 do these things well, it would be very easy to put a musket 
 in his hands and make a soldier of him, and if he fought 
 well, eventually to put the ballot in his hand and make him 
 a citizen. Obviously I was dealing with no incompetent, 
 but a man capable of handhng large issues. Never before 
 in those early and bewildering days had I heard the prob- 
 lem of the future of the Negro attacked so vigorously and 
 with such humanity combined with practical good sense. 
 During that first interview Grant outlined with perfect sim- 
 plicity and deep comprehension the direction along which, 
 with some lamentable exceptions, events have since moved. 
 I was no longer in doubt of the character of the man with 
 whom I was dealing. 
 
 Before I left General Grant I had received from him 
 definite instructions to establish my first camp at Grand 
 Junction, where the situation, as I could see, offered 
 decided advantages. The people of the villages and neigh- 
 borhood generally were mostly Confederates who had 
 fled at the approach of our armies, leaving their houses 
 deserted. It was Grant's plan to use those abandoned 
 houses as shelters for the contrabands. 
 
 Encouraged by the General's support and his confidence 
 in the possibility of working out a solution to all the diffi- 
 cult questions before us, I took my leave, and again 
 mounted my horse and rode at once to the site recom- 
 mended by Grant for our first contraband camp, and after 
 
16 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 looking over the situation I turned back to my brigade 
 quarters for the night. There was no end to the questions 
 of my companions in the brigade. They formed a noble 
 group of men, and not the least of my trials was the sepa- 
 ration from them which my new work would necessitate. 
 In addition to my good friend Colonel J. W. Fuller, with 
 whom I had already shared many experiences, I recall 
 most vividly a little group of individuals whose later devel- 
 opment in public life marked them as the men of unusual 
 promise which they seemed to me in those early days of 
 their careers. There was Colonel, afterwards General, E. F. 
 Noyes, who became Governor of Ohio. He was, like my- 
 self, a Dartmouth graduate. He became an eminent lawyer 
 in Cincinnati, and for a time was our Minister to France. 
 General J. W. Sprague, later Assistant Commissioner of 
 the Freedmen's Bureau for Arkansas and Missouri, was 
 another of the group. He superintended the building of 
 the Western Division of the Northern Pacific Railroad. 
 Lieutenant Samuel Thomas, afterwards Brigadier-General 
 by brevet, -—a man of great business and executive 
 capacity, — stands somewhat apart from the others and in 
 even closer association with my memories of those days. 
 He became, as we shall see, my special assistant in the 
 work upon which I was just entering, and he remained my 
 lifelong friend. Still another of the men I was destined to 
 leave so unexpectedly was Colonel D. G. Swain, who came 
 out of the war Major-General by brevet. He was an emi- 
 nent lawyer of Toledo, and later of New York City, and at 
 the close of the war became Assistant Commissioner of 
 Freedmen for Alabama. 
 
 With such men as the commanders and officers of the 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 17 
 
 brigade I naturally looked forward, so long as the war 
 should spare me, to very useful and happy regimental rela- 
 tions in my chosen profession ; but the order under which 
 I was acting took me into entirely new conditions and 
 required my complete separation from the brigade. Had 
 I remained with it in my old capacity of chaplain, I should, 
 with my companions, have followed Sherman in his march 
 to the sea. The brigade as an organization, and apart 
 from the men who composed it, had a somewhat unusual 
 history, for it kept its identity throughout all the changes 
 of the war. But my duties left me little time for reflection. 
 The morning following my interview with General Grant I 
 said good-by to my comrades, some of whom I scarcely 
 saw again, and rode away to begin my new work. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 First camp for the " contrabands." Some early orders. Heavy- 
 responsibilities assumed by Grant therein. The loss of Holly 
 Springs, and how Grant bore it. Grant's father talks of his son. 
 
 THE spot where I was to establish my first camp 
 was about four or five miles distant from the 
 encampment of the army, and thither to the de- 
 serted houses we conducted as many as we could accom- 
 modate of the ragged and suffering Negroes. Old tents 
 were used to shelter those whom the houses could not 
 receive. One of the first and most important duties was 
 to search out the sick and have them properly provided 
 for. I remember helping with my own hands to move 
 eight smallpox patients whom we discovered among the 
 soldiers and that army of contrabands, and whom we dis- 
 posed temporarily in a deserted house apart from the other 
 sick, who were lodged in a hospital improvised in a railroad 
 station, and in charge of Dr. W. R. Thrall of the 27th 
 Ohio. Reflecting on the difficulties of those days and 
 my own modest equipment for such work, I am inclined 
 to agree with Dr. A. D. Mayo, who has remarked that 
 " The clearing of the camps of the sick and dying, suff'er- 
 ing with contagious diseases, was a task for a national 
 sanitary commission rather than a young chaplain of 
 volunteers." ^ 
 
 1 Common Schools in the South. 1861-1876. In Report for 1900-1901 
 of United States Commissioner of Education, p. 427. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 19 
 
 My Assistant General Superintendent, writing at a later 
 period of the district about Vicksburg, which became his 
 special charge, has so well described the similar situation 
 then facing us at Grand Junction that I quote a passage 
 from one of his reports : 
 
 " I hope I may never be called on again to witness the horrible 
 scenes I saw in those first days of the history of the freedmen 
 in the Mississippi Valley. Assistants were hard to get, especially 
 the kind that would do any good in our camps. A detailed 
 soldier in each camp of a thousand people was the best that 
 could be done. His duties were so onerous that he ended by 
 doing nothing. ... In reviewing the condition of the people at 
 that time, I am not surprised at the marvellous stories told by visi- 
 tors who caught an occasional glimpse of the misery and wretched- 
 ness in these camps. . . .^ Our efforts to do anything for these 
 people, as they herded together in masses, when founded on any 
 expectation that they would help themselves, often failed; they 
 had become so completely broken down in spirit, through suffering, 
 that it was almost impossible to arouse them." 
 
 The want and destitution were appalling, and the pro- 
 vision wherewith to meet the conditions and ameliorate 
 them was far from adequate. The situation confronting 
 those of us who had the ordering of the early camps was 
 really the clashing of the two antagonistic conditions, — 
 liberty and bondage. To the Union man there might be 
 little doubt as to the ultimate issue, but nobody could say 
 in detail just how the readjustment was to come about. 
 How was the slave to be transformed into a freeman? 
 
 1 Even as late as the spring of 1864, misrepresentation of the conditions 
 in the Valley was such that Major George W. Young, my Superintendent for 
 Natchez, reported that the deaths at that point, said by a visitor to have 
 been fifty a day, did not average more than six. Major Young was one of 
 the most intelligent and efficient of my officers. He lost his own life through 
 exposure, and devotion to his work. 
 
20 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 This was the question beifore us ; and meanwhile how was 
 he to be fed and clad and sheltered ? In order to meet the 
 new and difficult questions that were constantly arising, I 
 went day after day to headquarters to consult with General 
 Grant so long as he remained at La Grange. As occasion 
 required, he issued orders increasing my authority, or 
 making more definite statements of his wishes. The fol- 
 lowing order was issued as a supplement to the first one 
 already quoted : 
 
 Headquarters 13TH Army Corps, 
 
 Department of the Tennessee, 
 Special Field Orders, La Grange, Tenn., Nov. 14, 1862. 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 Chaplain J. Eaton, jr., of the 27th Regiment Ohio Infantry 
 Vols., is hereby appointed to take charge of all fugitive slaves that 
 are now or may from time to time come within the military lines of 
 the advancing army in this vicinity, not employed and registered in 
 accordance with General Orders, No. 72, from Headquarters Dis- 
 trict of West Tennessee, and will open a camp for them at Grand 
 Junction, Tenn., where they will be suitably cared for and organ- 
 ized into companies and set to work picking, ginning, and baling 
 all cotton now out standing in fields. 
 
 Commanding officers of troops will send all fugitives that come 
 within the lines, together with teams, cooking utensils, and other 
 baggage as they may bring with them, to Chaplain Eaton, jr., at 
 Grand Junction, Tenn. 
 
 One Regiment of Infantry from Brigadier-General McArthur's 
 Division will be temporarily detailed as guard, in charge of such 
 contrabands, and the Surgeons of said Regiment will be charged 
 with the care of the sick. 
 
 Commissaries of Subsistence will issue on the requisitions of 
 Chaplain J. Eaton, jr., omitting the coffee rations and substituting 
 rye. 
 
 By order of Maj.-Gen. U. S. Grant. 
 
 (Signed) Jno. A. Rawlins, 
 
 Asii Adft-Gen'l. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 21 
 
 The necessity of handling, for the convenience of the 
 colored people, property belonging to the army, made 
 essential some regulation covering supplies other than the 
 food already provided for, and the following order was 
 issued by General Grant. I quote the order in evidence 
 of the thoroughness with which Grant did his best to 
 secure the necessary aid for the contrabands. He was 
 acting in all this, it must be remembered, solely upon his 
 own responsibility; whether or not the Government would 
 sustain him was problematical; that he would encounter 
 great opposition from the army was certain. 
 
 Headquarters 13TH Army Corps, 
 
 Department of the Tennessee, 
 Special Orders, La Grange, Tenn., Nov. 17, 1862. 
 
 No. 21. 
 
 Lieut. -Col. Charles A. Reynolds, Chief Quartermaster of the 
 Department, will furnish Chaplain J. Eaton, jr., in charge of Con- 
 trabands at Grand Junction, Tenn., on his requisition, such tools 
 and other implements as he may require ; also materials for baling 
 cotton, and clothing for contraband men, women, and children. 
 Unsalable soldiers' clothing will also be issued to him. 
 By order of General U. S. Grant. 
 
 (Signed) Jno. A. Rawlins, 
 Assistant Adjutant-General. 
 
 These orders facilitated somewhat a very complicated 
 task. Had the cabal against Grant succeeded, however, 
 he could have been made liable for hundreds of thousands 
 of dollars on account of the supplies — condemned tents, 
 soldiers' clothing, etc., — which he ordered turned over for 
 the benefit of the contrabands. Long after the events of 
 which I write, when the General and I were recalling those 
 days, he said to me, " I wonder if you ever realized how 
 
22 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 easily they could have had our heads ! " I had often 
 enough had cause to wonder if he had ever realized this, 
 but my responsibilities were slight compared with those 
 assumed by him. 
 
 The care of the sick had been especially troubling me, 
 and the specific regulation placing them in charge of the 
 army surgeons was a relief to my mind. The soldiers of 
 our army were a good deal opposed to serving the Negro 
 in any manner, and the duty of guarding the contraband 
 camps and protecting them against possible violence was 
 not performed with any too much willingness. In this 
 antagonism to the Negro in his new relationship of ward 
 of the army, the soldiers too often followed the example 
 set by the attitude of the officers themselves. To under- 
 take any form of work for the contrabands, at that time, 
 was to be forsaken by one's friends and to pass under a 
 cloud. 
 
 The question of obtaining suitable assistants under these 
 circumstances loomed large on the horizon, and my own 
 lack of commanding rank was, as I had foreseen, a distinct 
 obstacle. I recall a rather dramatic incident illustrating 
 this, and also indicative of General Grant's methods of 
 handling complications. 
 
 Groups of Negroes were constantly coming within or 
 near our lines, and it was my duty to see that these people 
 were brought as promptly as possible under the supervi- 
 sion now provided for them. One morning I found such 
 a group, who, with their mules, were wandering aimlessly 
 about, and just as I was directing them to the contraband 
 camp a Colonel rode up to me, and speaking somewhat 
 roughly and abruptly, ordered me to halt. I recognized 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 23 
 
 this officer at once as a brave soldier, well known in the 
 army and a favorite with General Grant. I attempted to 
 tell him that I was acting according to orders, when he 
 notified me that he was provost-marshal of the village and 
 must be obeyed. I found myself practically under arrest, 
 but I replied that there seemed to be a conflict in orders, 
 and asked him if he would lead the way to General Grant 
 and get his solution of the difficulty. This he was nothing 
 loathe to do, and evidently felt a good deal of assurance as 
 to the outcome of the interview. The General received us 
 kindly and listened to the statement of the case from the 
 Colonel's point of view, I meanwhile standing meekly 
 by. At the conclusion of the little narrative the General 
 said quietly, " Chaplain Eaton is carrying out my orders, 
 Colonel, and they must be obeyed." The Colonel and I 
 retired, he to continue in the execution of his provost- 
 marshal duties, I to rejoin my little band of Negroes and 
 conduct them into camp. I remembered the General's 
 promise to take care of me, and realized now more fully 
 than ever before how absolutely it was to be relied upon. 
 
 The time came at last for the forward movement of 
 headquarters. General Grant moved to Oxford, Missis- 
 sippi, the site of the State University, and I was left to 
 get along as best I could without the privilege of daily 
 consultation with my chief. 
 
 The camp at Grand Junction by that time had assumed 
 some order, and gave promise of achieving better things. 
 Squads of colored men and women under the protection 
 of soldiers began to go out into the deserted fields of the 
 Confederate planters and gather the crops of corn and 
 cotton. Whenever feasible, my assistants made definite 
 
24 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEUMEN 
 
 bargains with the Negroes for picking, ginning, and baling 
 the cotton, which was then passed on to the quarter- 
 master's department. This department negotiated the 
 sales, and turned over the funds to the United States 
 Treasury. In addition to overseeing the work on planta- 
 tions abandoned by the rebels, it came somewhat gradu- 
 ally to be the duty of my assistants and myself to adjust 
 equitable relations between Confederate planters and the 
 Negroes. On this phase of the situation I shall have more 
 to say later. The Emancipation Proclamation did not go 
 into effect formally until January i, 1863, but already, in 
 the late fall of the preceding year, the notion that the 
 Negro was a free agent had penetrated with the advance 
 of our armies into the South, and in the territory con- 
 trolled by the Union forces it became our policy to 
 exercise a certain surveillance over the plantations still 
 operated by Confederates, and whenever possible to put 
 the Negro on the basis of a paid laborer. Such surveil- 
 lance as a matter of fact grew naturally out of the situation, 
 for the Negroes who fled from the plantations put them- 
 selves under the protection of our armies, thus forcing the 
 planters either to give up their agricultural operations or 
 secure the labor of the Negroes under conditions devised 
 and as far as possible maintained by the Union forces. A 
 good deal of friction resulted, some of which assumed a 
 somewhat personal character. 
 
 We were in the habit of sending out foraging parties to 
 aid in supplying the contraband camps, and I remember 
 that, on one occasion, the sergeant in charge was mounted 
 upon my own horse. This horse had become well known 
 in the neighborhood, and was conspicuously marked with 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 25 
 
 a white spot on the forehead. On the morning of which 
 I write, while I was safe in quarters, a shot was fired 
 which killed my horse. The sergeant who was riding him 
 escaped unharmed, but the soldiers understood that the 
 man who fired intended to have killed me. 
 
 Very complicated questions arose in my relationship 
 with the people in and about Grand Junction, and it was 
 hardly reasonable to hope for a settlement that should not 
 antagonize some one. In the midst of these difficulties it 
 became essential that I should consult with General Grant. 
 Hence I betook myself to Oxford with a batch of difficul- 
 ties involving questions of discrimination between this and 
 that planter. It was sometimes difficult to know whether 
 these men were Southern or Union sympathizers, but the 
 question was one of great importance, as upon it depended 
 the status of their slaves. Grant, from his greater knowl- 
 edge of the locality and the sympathies of the people, was 
 often able to advise and direct me. While some em- 
 ployers were ready to take the oath of allegiance at once, 
 others were inclined to temporize, or betrayed far greater 
 willingness to take the oath on the other side. 
 
 Grant, meanwhile, had been pushing forward his plans 
 for the Vicksburg campaign. The base of supplies for the 
 army had been moved forward to Holly Springs, and after 
 my arrival at Oxford there were rumors of some disaster 
 on the line. My principal business with the General was 
 finished, and I was sitting beside him in the front door of 
 the house in which his headquarters were located, when 
 an early morning telegram was brought him giving de- 
 tailed confirmation of the Holly Springs disaster of the 
 night before. Much as it meant to him — the reversal 
 
26 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 of all his plans for his movement on Vicksburg — there 
 was on his face no sign of disturbance that I could see, 
 save a slight twitching of his mustache. He told me very 
 quietly and dispassionately — referring to the despatch and 
 Murphy's surrender of Holly Springs — that the night 
 before he had telegraphed Colonel Murphy warning him 
 of Van Dorn's approach and directing him to be on guard 
 at every point. He had since been informed that Murphy 
 was engaged at the time in some form of conviviality and 
 let the warning pass unheeded. The loss of the supplies 
 was then considered a great blow to the army, and neces- 
 sitated an immediate withdrawal and reorganization of all 
 General Grant's plans. In spite of his calmness, he felt it 
 acutely, and remarked to me, " Many people will believe 
 that I was taken unawares and did nothing to protect my 
 supplies, whereas I did all that was possible." 
 
 In the midst of this disturbance he was ready, as always, 
 to listen to what I had still to say concerning the work 
 assigned me, and he had previously found time to relieve 
 my embarrassment at Grand Junction by still further 
 extending my power in the following general order: 
 
 Headquarters 13TH Army Corps, 
 
 Department of the Tennessee, 
 General Orders, Oxford, Miss., 17th Dec, 1862. 
 
 No. 13. 
 Chaplain John Eaton, jr., of the 2 7th Regiment Ohio Volunteers, 
 is hereby appointed General Superintendent of Contrabands for 
 the Department. 
 
 He will designate such Assistant Superintendents as may be 
 necessary for the proper care of these people, who will be detailed 
 for their duty by the Post or District Commander. 
 
 All Assistant Superintendents will be subject to the orders of the 
 Superintendent. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 27 
 
 It will be the duty of the Superintendent of Contrabands to 
 organize them into working parties in saving cotton, as pioneers 
 on railroads and steamboats, and in any way where their service 
 can be made available. 
 
 Where labor is performed for private individuals, they will be 
 charged in accordance with the tariff fixed in previous orders. 
 
 When abandoned crops of cotton are saved for the benefit of 
 Government, the officer selling the same will turn over to the Super- 
 intendent 0f Contrabands the same amount charged individuals. 
 
 The negroes will be clothed, and in every way provided for, out 
 of their earnings so far as practicable, the account being kept of all 
 earnings and expenditures, and subject to the inspection of the 
 Inspector General of the Department when called for. 
 
 Such detail of men as may be necessary for the care and super- 
 intendence of the contrabands will be made by Post or Division 
 Commander on application of the Superintendent ; as far as practi- 
 cable such men as are not fit for active field duty will be detailed. 
 
 The Superintendent will take charge of all contributions of cloth- 
 ing, etc., for the benefit of negroes and distribute the same. 
 
 All applications for the service of contrabands will be made on 
 the General Superintendent, who will furnish such labor from 
 negroes who voluntarily come within the lines of the army. 
 
 In no case will negroes be forced into the service of the Gov- 
 ernment, or be enticed away from their homes except when it 
 becomes a military necessity. 
 
 By order of Major-Gen. U. S. Grant. 
 
 (Signed) Jno. A. Rawlins, 
 A. A.-G. 
 
 It may be inferred from this order that one phase of the 
 complications that had brought me to Oxford bad been 
 the difficulty of procuring the proper assistants in my 
 work. The contempt in which all service on behalf of the 
 blacks was held by the army had made it impossible for 
 me to secure the detail of any but common soldiers, or at 
 the most of sergeants, and I was therefore relieved from 
 
28 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 an unpleasant situation by the terms of the order. It 
 should be stated at once that the chaplains formed an 
 honorable exception to those who were out of sympathy 
 with the Negro work, and many of my most valuable 
 assistants were drawn from their ranks. There were police 
 duties and obligations connected with the handling of 
 property, however, which they were not fitted by training 
 to perform, and for which the services of the line officers 
 were badly needed. 
 
 Owing to the Holly Springs disaster, which was far- 
 reaching in its effects, the military and contraband camps 
 at Grand Junction were ordered to withdraw to Memphis. 
 Accordingly I returned to Grand Junction with the pros- 
 pect before me of moving the army of contrabands west- 
 ward to the city of Memphis, — where, by the way, the 
 anti-Union element was particularly strong. 
 
 General Grant's father and Mrs. Grant, who were with him 
 at Oxford, left with me on the same train. The General's 
 father came with me to Grand Junction and stopped at 
 my headquarters there. He was full of anecdote about 
 his son, and delighted me with the freedom with which 
 he talked of him and showed his pride in the General's 
 achievements. The elder Grant came to the scene of war 
 with the traditions of the Galena leather business still upon 
 him, and the waste of the hides along the route of the 
 army at the slaughter camps filled him with dismay. He 
 confided to me, however, that his son would not permit 
 him to make use of them in any way, declining to have 
 them become a source of profit to any one with whom he 
 was connected. 
 
 The stories of Grant's early life as his father told them 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 29 
 
 to me were especially interesting. He spoke of his son's 
 life in the West, — his service in the Mexican War and in 
 Oregon, and of his fruitless eiiforts to secure even a humble 
 military appointment by writing to General McClellan, 
 General L. Thomas, and other officers of rank at the out- 
 break of the war. He spoke especially of the value of 
 Grant's services in the ofiSce of the Adjutant-General of 
 the State of Illinois, where his familiarity with every mili- 
 tary form soon began to tell in his favor. Papers dealing 
 with the affairs of every department were brought to him, 
 — the quartermaster's, the commissary, and the medical. 
 He was constantly applied to for advice and assistance. 
 When he finally received his commission, there were those 
 in the 2ist Illinois — so his father told me — who, when 
 they first saw the new colonel, did not think he would 
 " do," but these soon had occasion to change their minds. 
 Grant instead of following the almost universal custom of 
 putting his command on board cars for the point to which 
 his order should take him, showed his practical grasp of 
 the situation by at once marching his men across the 
 country, part way to Mexico, Missouri, their ultimate 
 destination, thus giving them the advantage of just so 
 much training under conditions calculated not to overtax 
 their endurance. These details of Grant's life as told me 
 by his father were new to me then, and of so much interest 
 that I was full of regret when the old gentleman left me to 
 return to the North. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Falling back upon Memphis. Conditions among the contrabands. A 
 comprehensive wedding. A prayer for "Jeff." Davis. White and 
 colored refugees cared for and sent North. Gossip about Grant. 
 He assumes command of the movement on Vicksburg. His care 
 for his subordinates. 
 
 THE main avenue for the retreat of the army from 
 Grand Junction to Memphis was over the Mem- 
 phis and Charleston railroad, though wagon 
 transportation was also made available. I at once secured 
 free transportation by rail for the contrabands. The troops 
 were moved as far as possible in company or regimental 
 groups and in accordance with their rank, but in addition 
 to this each train carried crowds of contrabands whom it 
 was impossible either to organize or control. Their terror 
 of being left behind made them swarm over the passen- 
 ger and freight cars, clinging to every available space and 
 even crouching on the roofs. The trains were moved very 
 slowly and with the utmost caution, but even so the 
 exposure of these people — men, women, and children — 
 was indescribable. Upon our arrival in the city as many of 
 the contrabands as we had been able to provide for were 
 taken to homes where shelter and employment were given 
 them. Our first and leading aim in all our efforts on 
 behalf of the Negro was to put every colored person at 
 work where his or her labor was needed and would bring 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 31 
 
 the best results ; but in a condition governed by military 
 necessity, such as ruled us in our retreat to Memphis, it was 
 simply impossible to make provision for this army of desti- 
 tute and unfortunate people. To make matters worse, the 
 night came on cold, there was a light fall of snow, and at 
 every street corner little bonfires had been kindled, around 
 which groups of shivering Negroes were huddled. The 
 city was thus exposed to the danger of conflagration, 
 though fortunately nothing serious resulted. I had fore- 
 seen the necessity of relieving the congestion, and already 
 a camp had been begun just below Memphis to which, as 
 soon as possible, large numbers of contrabands were with- 
 drawn. 
 
 My work was carried on mainly in the still unoccupied 
 regions around Memphis and the points held by our troops 
 on the railroads in the rear of the city. Gradually the 
 army settled down once more. It was distributed in differ- 
 ent directions from Memphis, — especially along the route 
 of the Memphis and Charleston railroad as far as Corinth, 
 where there was a considerable force assembled under Gen- 
 eral Grenville M. Dodge. The contrabands at this point 
 were so numerous that a separate camp had been estab- 
 lished for them a few days after the issuance of the order 
 assigning me to duty at Grand Junction. This camp at 
 Corinth was admirably organized by General Dodge. 
 
 During the early days in Memphis I had ample oppor- 
 tunity for observing that the suffering of the Negroes had 
 already quickened into active service the kind heart of 
 A. S. Fiske, Chaplain of the 4th Minnesota Volunteer 
 Infantry, and I obtained from General Grant the necessary 
 order to have him report to me. He proved invaluable 
 
32 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 as an efficient and sympathetic worker, and as new camps 
 were constantly forming all over the Department demand- 
 ing my presence in various places at short intervals of 
 time, in January, 1863, I assigned Mr. Fiske — now Dr. 
 Fiske — to the important post of Memphis as Superintend- 
 ent of the colored people there. 
 
 Of Camp Fiske — the principal settlement for contra- 
 bands in the Memphis district — Mr. James Yeatman said 
 in his report for 1864 to the Western Sanitary Commis- 
 sion, of which he was president : " The location is a most 
 excellent one, dry and airy and easily drained. The 
 encampment consists of four rows of good log huts, two 
 rows on either side of a parallelogram, with small plots for 
 gardens in front. The streets and alleys were all clean and 
 well swept, having good drainage and excellent police 
 arrangements. The inmates were generally well clothed, 
 and were cheerful and contented." 
 
 The feeling against serving the Negro in any capacity 
 still prevailed among the officers of our troops, and even 
 armed as I was with the order issued by General Grant at 
 Oxford, it was exceedingly difficult to find men adapted to 
 the task. To get a man who could be kind to the Negro 
 and just to the Negro's master was all but impossible. It 
 required a type of firmness that every man did not possess, 
 and I had to look about me with the utmost care to select 
 from the troops men of character whose services would be 
 willingly offered and capably administered. We were mak- 
 ing a difficult experiment in the interests of humanity, and 
 it was essential that we should acquit ourselves creditably 
 in the eyes of those who watched and criticised our 
 efforts. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 33 
 
 While still with my old regiment, I used to have, of 
 course, exceptional opportunities for observing the calibre 
 of the men, and in my capacity as tent-mate and old friend 
 of Colonel Fuller, he and I used to discuss together the 
 question of promotions from among the younger officers. 
 We found ourselves agreeing upon Lieutenant Samuel 
 Thomas, Company H, 27th Ohio, as the most promising 
 young man in that rank, and accordingly he was recom- 
 mended for promotion and appointed. My mind naturally 
 turned to this young man when I found myself in need of 
 officers whose training had fitted them for the care of prop- 
 erty. I believed he would devote himself with willingness 
 to the Negro cause. I therefore asked for his detail, and 
 he was ordered to report to me. He was one of the most 
 devoted of all my officers, and soon became my Assistant 
 General Superintendent. 
 
 The service in which my assistants were engaged was a 
 peculiar one ; the officers were expected to obey all mili- 
 tary regulations, and at the same time to stand as mediators 
 between the townspeople or planters, as the case might be, 
 and also between the contrabands and the army. The 
 usual responsibility of maintaining order — the police duty 
 of the army — was in the hands of the regular officers, — 
 the provost-marshals; but if any special complications 
 arose involving the affairs of the colored people, the matter 
 was at once taken to one of my assistants, and received 
 special consideration and adjudication under military rules. 
 The problems confronting us were full of difficulty and 
 have never been adequately described. Theoretically the 
 task before us seemed impossible of achievement, yet after 
 a fashion, with many drawbacks and much incompleteness, 
 
 3 
 
34 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 it was achieved. To make the Negro a consciously self- 
 supporting unit in the society in which he found himself, 
 and start him on the way to self-respecting citizenship, — 
 that was the beginning and the end of all our efforts. We 
 did all in our power to show him how his industry contrib- 
 uted directly to his own comfort. Formerly he had been 
 responsible to his owner; now as a freedman he was 
 responsible to the Government, whose agents, vested with 
 the military authority which the situation demanded, became 
 the immediate channels through which he received his first 
 conceptions of the privileges and obligations which his 
 new-found freedom conferred. All were vigorously encour- 
 aged to work, and the number of those dependent upon 
 the bounty of the Government was reduced as far as pos- 
 sible. As many as could, retained their places in families 
 and shops and in every form of industry which had pre- 
 viously engaged them. Their welfare under these circum- 
 stances remained the charge of my assistants and myself. 
 The inviolability of contracts was rigorously enforced, and 
 both employer and employed were led to recognize, in so 
 far as this could be made apparent to them, the readjust- 
 ment of their relations. 
 
 Among those who had no other home or shelter than 
 that provided by our efforts, we enforced to the utmost 
 of our ability every condition conducive to good order. 
 There was no promiscuous intermingling. Families were 
 established by themselves. Every man took care of his 
 own wife and children. One of the most touching features 
 of our work was the eagerness with which colored men 
 and women availed themselves of the opportunities offered 
 them to legalize unions already formed, some of which 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 35 
 
 had been in existence for a long time. Chaplain Fiske on 
 one occasion married in about one hour one hundred and 
 nineteen couples at one service, — chiefly those who had 
 lived long together. Later, most of the marriages were 
 new contracts. This comprehensive wedding greatly im- 
 pressed the freedmen, who, after celebrating with a sump- 
 tuous wedding-breakfast, dispersed in couples to their 
 newly prepared cabins. All the more permanent camps 
 reported that the enforcement of strict marriage regula- 
 tions produced excellent results in the morale and general 
 conduct of the people. 
 
 The number of colored preachers and exhorters who 
 were to be found in the community was amazing. How 
 far their services were of value to the Negroes it would be 
 difficult to state, but they figured in some very picturesque 
 and amusing scenes. My assistant, Chaplain Fiske, and I 
 were returning into the city one night after having located 
 the site and provided for the building of some cabins out- 
 side of Memphis, when we came upon a group of Negroes 
 — new arrivals — conducting a burial service. The min- 
 ister was praying fervently for the survivors, and accord- 
 ing to the universal custom in the South, a prayer was 
 offered for Jefferson Davis. Evidently the preacher felt 
 that since his arrival upon Yankee territory a little more 
 license was permissible in the form which the prayer 
 should take. Accordingly this was the prayer which we 
 overheard : " O Lord, shake Jeff. Davis ober de mouf ob 
 Hell, but O Lord, doan' drap him in ! " 
 
 Among the Negroes at Camp Fiske was a minister who, 
 to the disgrace of his profession, and in spite of the danger 
 of corrupting his neighbors, persisted in living with a 
 
36 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 woman not his wife. Chaplain Fiske, who tells the story, 
 labored with him to make him see the error of his ways, 
 but the minister evidently felt that his own standing with 
 the Almighty made any outside intervention superfluous. 
 " No, sah," he would reply to the Chaplain's protests, " No, 
 sah, I 'se pra'd and I 'se pra'd, and de Lord done give me 
 no call for to change." Finding that neither offers to 
 secure transportation for the man's own wife, whose where- 
 abouts were known to Mr. Fiske, nor appeals to the stand- 
 ards of conventional morality had any effect upon the 
 transgressor, the Chaplain finally told him that since he 
 would not live in accordance with the code which was 
 binding upon the rest of the community he must leave the 
 settlement and not imperil others by his example. He 
 and the woman departed most unwillingly, and soon after- 
 wards both fell victims to the smallpox and died. Their 
 fate was looked upon by the Negroes as a direct and swift 
 application of retributive justice, and so salutary was the 
 effect that no other apostles of the doctrine of free love 
 disturbed the settlement's morality. 
 
 Fortunately for the success of our labors among the 
 colored people, the benevolent workers at the North 
 began to respond with great generosity to the needs of 
 the destitute refugees. In addition to the large amounts 
 of money and clothing which were gathered by various 
 societies and individuals in increasing quantities and of 
 which I shall have more to say in due time, one of the 
 most encouraging and helpful elements in our work was 
 the arrival of devoted men and women who now began to 
 come in, offering their services as teachers, or in any form 
 of practical philanthropy which should prove most needed. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 37 
 
 Delicate and educated women of the best families sacri- 
 ficed all the comfort and refinement of their homes, and 
 devoted themselves under the most untoward circumstances 
 to the work of improving the condition of the Negro. 
 Missionary societies, as is well known, were among the 
 first to enter the field. 
 
 The scope of our. work was^^eatly enlarged by the 
 arrival of white Jfifugees,^- a movement which later as- 
 sumed very large proportions. As time went on Cairo 
 became the centre of our activities in this direction. It 
 was the most northerly of any of our camps, and served as 
 the portal through which thousands of poor whites and 
 liegroes were sent into the loyal States as fast as oppor- 
 tunities offered for providing them with homes and em- 
 ployment. Many of these became permanent residents ; 
 some were sent home by Union soldiers to carry on the 
 work in the shop or on the farm which the war had inter- 
 rupted. It became necessary to have a superintendent at 
 Cairo and facilities for organizing the bands of refugees 
 who were sent North by the army. There was an increas- 
 ing demand for work. Many white people had been 
 driven from their homes by the circumstances of the war, 
 and large numbers of them asked for nothing better than 
 the opportunity to work. They needed simply to be 
 guided and forwarded in their purposes; others not dis- 
 posed to work, but rather to live by hook or by crook, 
 were kept under military surveillance and guided author- 
 itatively toward some definite means of self-support. The 
 number thus transferred from the disturbed condition of 
 war to the condition of comparative peace and prosperity 
 in the northern States was very large, and the educational 
 
38 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 influence of the change was noticeable and most impor- 
 tant. Frequently a family or group that had been observed 
 in the transit North, destitute of almost everything in the 
 way of aids to industry, was observed by myself or my 
 assistants returning South, after perhaps a year's absence, 
 to the neighborhood of their former homes, bringing with 
 them household or farming equipments, a cow, or a horse 
 and wagon, or some other means of adding to their pros- 
 perity and the rehabilitation of their lives. Mother wit 
 and an increasing desire to help themselves had begun 
 to count, and the transformation effected unconsciously 
 through living in the midst of the industries of the North 
 was really very great. They had made the discovery that 
 the possession of a vast property and the ownership of 
 slaves — contrary to a prevailing notion which was at 
 least partly responsible for the existence of the poor whites 
 as a class — was not essential either to self-respect or to 
 social standing. This type of white refugee was often 
 without any political bias and took sides with whatever 
 faction could give him the best assurance of material 
 comfort. Thus Mr. Lincoln's anxiety to keep the feeling 
 of the border States favorable to the Union was somewhat 
 sustained by our efforts on behalf of the poor whites, among 
 whom a distinctly better order was in many cases estab- 
 lished. Children began to go to school, and farmers to 
 work the crops on new methods, so that even before the 
 war was over not a few of the returning refugees found 
 themselves in greatly improved conditions and alive to a 
 new political and social situation. 
 
 Edgar Gardner Murphy, one of the keenest and most 
 thoughtful of recent writers on Southern problems — and 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 39 
 
 himself a Southerner — while justly deprecating the ille- 
 gitimate democracy which Federal measures of reconstruc- 
 tion too often " nailed on from outside," has this to say of 
 the true democratization of Southern life : " The political 
 reorganization which was proceeding was all the more 
 difficult because the South was just entering, by pain and 
 sacrifice, into the crucial movement of the century. The 
 historian of institutions must perceive that the real struggle 
 of the South from the date of Lee's surrender — through 
 all the accidents of political and industrial revolution — 
 was simply a struggle toward the creation of democratic 
 conditions. The real thing, in the unfolding of the later 
 South, is the arrival of the common man."^ Many factors 
 entered into the preparation of the people for this " real 
 struggle of the South," and not the least important of these 
 factors were the contact and influences of social and educa- 
 tional standards in a measure alien, and necessarily alien, 
 to the aristocratic ideal of the older Southern order. 
 
 Records of this transformation were kept as fully as 
 possible, but the task of keeping records was usually added 
 to some serious responsibility of another character, and 
 hence was necessarily inadequate in its performance. The 
 number of white and colored refugees sent North by 
 General Steele from Arkansas alone was very large indeed. 
 The former were transported to escape the Southern draft. 
 
 Meanwhile, during the early Memphis period, I was in 
 very close daily contact with General Grant and was given 
 ample opportunity to come to know him thoroughly, — if 
 further opportunity were needed. 
 
 About this time a young man — a dentist by profession 
 ^ Murphy, Problems of the Present South, p. iz. 
 
40 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 — came down from Cincinnati to work with one of the 
 sanitary commissions, and announced his intention of help- 
 ing the Union cause in any way he could. As a means of 
 insuring his safety, it had been recommended that he should 
 share my quarters. Incidentally he interested himself in 
 making a close study of General Grant. There was much 
 surmise at that time as to what manner of man Grant was. 
 Many eyes were upon him, and to not a few of the on- 
 lookers he appeared quite incomprehensible. This par- 
 ticular observer had come from a hotbed of criticism 
 where stories of Grant's intemperance and general incom- 
 petence were numerous. One night, after he had been 
 observing Grant for some time, he said to me, " Until 
 to-day I was pretty well satisfied that he was all right, but 
 to-night I tell you it 's all up with the General. I have seen 
 signs of the very worst." I naturally inquired for his evi- 
 dence. He said he had met the General that morning on 
 the street going to his office, and that his face had looked 
 'mottled, like that of a man who had been drinking the 
 night before. I was in the habit of talking quite freely 
 with this young fellow ; his loyalty was past suspicion, and 
 he was fairly well informed as a rule of my movements. 
 I therefore asked him if he remembered that I had been 
 out unusually late the night before. He said that he did. 
 " Well," said I, " I came directly from Grant's quarters 
 here. I had questions to ask which needed his immediate 
 attention, and I ventured to go to his private quarters. I 
 found him with his head and neck all swathed in hot 
 poultices, which his wife was applying in order to relieve 
 the violent sick headache from which he was suffering and 
 to which he was subject. That was the dissipation in 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 41 
 
 which he was indulging." This information quite changed 
 the young man's opinion, and it meant a great deal to me 
 to be able to correct the impression he had received. 
 Long years afterward, when the General had died, a New 
 York paper printed an interview with General Frederick 
 Grant in which some indirect but corroborative testimony 
 appears. I quote from this interview as follows : 
 
 " My father cared nothin.g for show of any kind, and even pub- 
 lic receptions were distasteful to him. He always tried to avoid 
 them and was happiest in the home circle. Not that he did not 
 appreciate the public indorsement of what he had done, — this 
 always gave him pleasure, and it was only for the sake of this that 
 he was willing to be made an exhibition of so often. Besides, he 
 was liable to become embarrassed. People used to think that he 
 had a florid complexion, but his complexion really was pale, and 
 his skin was delicate as that of a young girl. I never saw a man 
 with a skin so delicate . . . but as soon as he appeared in public 
 or was ushered into the society of strangers his embarrassment 
 caused his face to flush." 
 
 In my judgment many of the stories of Grant's intemper- 
 ance had no better foundation than some such impression 
 as that received by the young dentist, who became, after 
 the episode I have just related, one of the General's 
 greatest admirers. 
 
 During the early part of the Memphis period General 
 Grant established his headquarters in the town, and I had 
 the inestimable advantage of free access to him in all ques- 
 tions of difficulty. He and Mrs. Grant had rooms at the 
 Gayoso House, but the official headquarters were estab- 
 lished in one of the banks, where a suite of offices was 
 secured for General Rawlins and his clerks. After General 
 Grant had expressed his opinion upon any specific case 
 
42 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 which I had brought to his notice, and had directed me 
 what to do, I was able to feel that a policy had been estab- 
 lished for my guidance in other circumstances of which 
 that case was typical. 
 
 The winter of 1862-3 closed one of the most trying 
 periods of the war, and there was a good deal of cause for 
 discouragement. The Holly Springs disaster was a dis- 
 turbing factor in itself, upsetting as it did Grant's early 
 plans for the movement on Vicksburg, and, in addition to 
 that, the Nation was much distressed by the failure of 
 Sherman's expedition at the mouth of the Yazoo River, 
 which was intended to support the same movement on 
 Vicksburg, which the losses at Holly Springs completely 
 prevented. The circumstances of the failure were quite 
 beyond Sherman's control, but it demonstrated very fully 
 what a difficult proposition Vicksburg was certain to be. 
 Another source of anxiety to those of us who had become 
 devoted to Grant's interests and who believed that he was 
 destined to prove our greatest bulwark against the military 
 power of the enemy, was the fact of the open criticism to 
 which he was subjected even in our own ranks. Those 
 who had political affiliations with General McClernand 
 were loud in his praises, and equally outspoken in their 
 disapprobation of Grant. For Grant himself the preceding 
 months had probably proved the most difficult he had yet 
 been called upon to face, and the temperate references 
 which he makes to the period in his " Memoirs" speak vol- 
 umes in favor of his dignity and his freedom from ill-will 
 toward those who had made him suffer. During the farci- 
 cal campaign about Corinth conducted by General Halleck, 
 when Grant was practically without a command, and when 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 43 
 
 all his suggestions were apparently received with con- 
 temptuous disapproval by the Commanding General, he 
 made several applications to be transferred to another 
 field of operations, and mentions this fact himself in his 
 " Memoirs." Adjutant-General Rawlins, who was one of 
 Grant's most devoted friends, afterwards told me that Grant 
 had even gone so far as to write out his resignation, and had 
 directed Rawlins to forward it to Washington, but that he, 
 Rawlins, had " never seen the time when he felt it ought 
 to go," and had managed to hold it over until the situa- 
 tion righted itself. After the departure of General Halleck 
 to Washington to serve as Commander-in-Chief, the ineffi- 
 ciency of General McClernand remained a great source of 
 anxiety, complicated, as I have already pointed out, by 
 the fact that the McClernand faction was not slow in ex- 
 pressing its disapprobation of General Grant. I was in a 
 position to hear so much of this sort of criticism that I 
 brought it to the notice of General Rawlins, who conveyed 
 it to Grant himself. Grant evidently determined upon 
 some decisive action to clear the atmosphere, and having 
 received authority for the move from Washington, he sent 
 all of the Union forces to Young's Point under McCler- 
 nand, — leaving only enough troops behind to protect the 
 country south of Cairo, — and on the thirtieth of January 
 himself took command preparatory to the movement on 
 Vicksburg. Grant states in his "Memoirs " that he wished 
 to put Sherman in command of these forces, but could 
 not do otherwise than take command himself, as McCler- 
 nand was the senior of all the other generals in the 
 Department. 
 
 Some time after Grant's departure I was obliged to fol- 
 
44 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 low him down the river to consult with him and receive 
 his further directions. I found him with his headquarters 
 on a river boat above Vicksburg. He was exerting him- 
 self at the time to devise means of approaching or sur- 
 rounding the city, and among other efforts the attempt was 
 then being made to widen and deepen a canal already cut 
 under General Williams's supervision, from the neighbor- 
 hood of Young's Point to the river below, in order to 
 make this waterway navigable for our transports and gun- 
 boats, the hope being thus to evade the most destructive 
 of the batteries defending Vicksburg against our approach. 
 Grant, as he says in his " Memoirs," never had much faith in 
 the success of the scheme, but he set four thousand men at 
 work upon it — mostly Negroes — -until the enemy estab- 
 lished a new series of batteries which effectually put a stop 
 to this particular enterprise. I refer to it because on my 
 arrival Grant requested me to make a careful observation of 
 the conditions provided for the comfort of the Negroes en- 
 gaged on the work. I found them fairly well supplied with 
 food and blankets, and so reported the matter to General 
 Grant. The incident has always remained with me as one 
 more illustration of the fact that Grant was never too anx- 
 ious, never too preoccupied with the great problems that 
 beset him, to take a sincere and humane interest in the wel- 
 fare of the most subordinate laborer dependent upon him. 
 One cannot properly appreciate an incident of that sort, 
 unless it be borne in mind that comparatively few of those 
 in authority cared for the welfare of their subordinates, — 
 especially if the subordinate happened to be a Negro. 
 I remember on one occasion, for instance, meeting Gov- 
 ernor Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, and filled with 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 45 
 
 enthusiasm as I was for our work among the freedmen, 
 I talked with him quite fully of the important work I sup- 
 posed him to be engaged with preparatory to the future 
 prosperity of the reconstructed State. Johnson, it will be 
 remembered, was fond of referring to himself as the 
 " Tribune of the people," but when I spoke of the oppor- 
 tunity for establishing schools and organizing new indus- 
 tries for farmers and mechanics, he was quite obviously 
 bored, and all that might have been said on the subject 
 had no more inclination to stay by him than has water to 
 stay on a duck's back. After experiences with men of this 
 type there was no room for doubt as to the value and rarity 
 of Grant's sympathy and foresight. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 The policy of the Nation toward the Negro. Fugitive slaves and 
 military commanders. Arming the Negro. Arrival of Adjutant- 
 General L. Thomas in the Mississippi Valley. The organization 
 there of colored regiments. The beginnings of the lessee system. 
 
 IN order to place the work which we carried on in the 
 Department of the Tennessee in its proper relation to 
 the general subject of the Negro and the Government, 
 it seems advisable to turn back at this point and review for 
 a moment the policy of the Union toward the black refu- 
 gees — in so far as the Nation may be said to have had a 
 policy at that time — and to see how the question was 
 treated by the commanders of the Union forces. 
 
 I have already alluded to Butler's use of the term " con- 
 traband " in reference to the slaves of those in rebellion 
 against the Government. It will at once be recalled that 
 during Butler's command of the forces at Fortress Mon- 
 roe, three fugitive slaves were received into the Union 
 lines. Upon learning that they were to have been em- 
 ployed by their masters in building rebel fortifications, 
 Butler exclaimed, " fhese men are contraband^-ef^wat^ 
 set them at work." The words were in a sense a forecast 
 of the policy which later prevailed wherever the Union 
 army exercised any supervision over the Negro. In fact, 
 Butler worked out among the freedmen at Fortress Monroe 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 47 
 
 a system which presented most of the essential features of 
 the subsequent efforts in their behalf; that is to say, he 
 gave them employment on a wage basis, caused army 
 rations to be issued to the destitute, and provided for the 
 needs of the non-laborers out of the earnings of the labor- 
 ers. These efforts were inaugurated in May, 1861, and 
 General Butler's poUcy was an honorable exception to 
 that of many of the commanders. It was ably carried on 
 by General Wood, who succeeded Butler in the Depart- 
 ment of Virginia, and by General Banks, who carried out 
 the work begun by General Butler at New Orleans. 
 
 The efforts of E. L. Pierce, of the Treasury Department 
 at Port Royal in the fall of 1861, and the yet more success- 
 ful work carried on in South Carolina — especially on the 
 Sea Islands, of which he was Military Governor — by Gen- 
 eral Rufus Saxton, Pierce's successor, under definite in- 
 structions from the Secretary of War, were, however, by 
 far the most elaborate and the most productive of good 
 results of any of these first efforts for the relief, employ- 
 ment, and education of the contrabands.^ 
 
 In the West, General Halleck, in his famous Order No. 3, 
 
 ^ For outlines of this experimental period see W. E. Burghart Du Bois, 
 The Souls of Black Folk, Essays and Sketches, pp. 13-40 (this essay 
 also covers the period of the Freedmen's Bureau) ; George W. Williams, 
 A History of Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, pp. 67-So ; The 
 Freedmen's Bureau — A Chapter in the History of Reconstruction, Paul 
 Skeels Peirce, University of Iowa Studies, Vol. Ill, No. I, pp. 1-33. For a 
 special study of General Saxton's Vfork, see also Common Schools in the 
 South from i86i to 1876, by A. D. Mayo (Chapter XI of the Report of 
 the Commissioner of Education, 1900-01), pp. 416-424; Major-General O. 
 O. Howard, Autobiography, Part III, Reconstruction, Chapter XLVI. (The 
 references here and elsewhere to General Howard's forthcoming Autobi- 
 ography are made possible by the courtesy of General Howard and his 
 publishers, the Baker and Taylor Co.) ; E. W. Pearson, Letters from Port 
 Royal. 
 
48 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 issued November, 1861, expressly excluded fugitive slaves 
 from the Union lines within his department. General Dix, 
 on taking possession of Accomac and Northampton in 
 Virginia, followed the same policy of denying the colored 
 refugees the privilege of coming into his lines. Among 
 those commanders who received the fugitives at all, the 
 majority permitted Confederate " slave hunters " to enter 
 the Union lines and carry off their slaves upon identi- 
 fication. General McCook and General Johnson were 
 especially commended by a Confederate newspaper cor- 
 respondent for courtesies extended to a slave hunter 
 within their lines. The Confiscation Act of August, 1^861, 
 v^ich^girovided.jfor the .confiscation of property_u!sedJor_ 
 insurrectionary, purposes, was so little jreg3Lrded_hy_c.oia^ 
 manders in the field,- that at least two officers were 
 deprived of their commands for attempting to act in ac- 
 cordance with it. Colonel H. E. Paine of the 4th Wiscon- 
 sin, Department of the Gulf, protested against orders to 
 turn all fugitive slaves out of the lines, as " a violation of 
 law for the purpose of returning fugitive slaves," and was 
 relieved of his command in consequence. Lieutenant- 
 Colonel D. R. Anthony, commanding the 7th Kansas in 
 Tennessee, suffered the same fate for declaring the slave 
 hunters a nuisance and taking measures to protect himself 
 against them.^ Grant, on the other hand, in an order issued 
 from Fort Donelson, February 26, 1862, while admitting 
 the necessity for obedience to Halleck's Order No. 3, dis- 
 tinctly states that no permits will be granted citizens to 
 pass through the camps in search of fugitive slaves, and 
 provides further that all slaves within the Union lines at 
 1 H. Greeley, American Conflict, Vol. II, pp. 241-246. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 49 
 
 the time of the capture of Donelson who had been " used 
 by the enemy in building fortifications, or in any manner 
 hostile to the Government, will be employed by the quarter- 
 master's department for the benefit of the Government, and 
 will under no circumstances be permitted to return to their 
 masters." 
 
 The Union was committed by the action of Congress 
 and the official utterances of the Administration to a sup- 
 port of the policy of receiving within the Union lines and 
 withholding from the enemy the slaves of those in rebel- 
 lion against the Government. The Government had in- 
 deed committed itself yet further. As pointed out by 
 Mr. T. D. Eliot in a speech on the Freedmen's Bureau, 
 delivered February, 1864, in the House of Representa- 
 tives,-^ the Act of June, 1862, providing for the collection of 
 taxes in insurrectionary districts, empowered the tax com- 
 missioners to lease abandoned lands on terms which should 
 secure proper and reasonable employment and support at 
 wages or on shares to persons and families residing on the 
 lands. This, I believe, was the first notice taken by legis- 
 lation of the freedmen, save such as referred to questions 
 of military expediency, and it practically recognized the 
 destitute Negro as in some sense a ward of the Govern- 
 ment. It also brought the civil arm of the Government 
 into unavoidable conflict with the military supervision of 
 Negro affairs, and so led, as reported by General Saxton, 
 to sad complications in his plans for the Negroes under 
 him.^ This was but another illustration of the fatal error 
 
 1 Cong. Globe, 38th Congress, ist Session, pp. 567-573. 
 
 2 Report of Gen. Rufus Saxton, War of the Rebellion, Official Records. 
 Series iii, Vol. IV, pp. 1022-1031. 
 
 4 
 
50 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 of introducing into the same field two agencies with im- 
 perfectly differentiated functions, — an error from which 
 our work in the Mississippi Valley likewise suffered.^ 
 
 To return from this digression to the question of the 
 reception and detention of slaves within the Union lines. 
 Early in the war, Lincoln, while repudiating and suppress- 
 ing the more unguarded and emotional statements made 
 by Secretary of War Cameron in his Annual Report of 
 December i, 1861, inserted in the same report a brief 
 sentence urging the military necessity of withholding fugi- 
 tive slaves from the enemy, — a course which in his wisdom 
 he realized would have " no tendency to induce the horrors 
 of insurrection even in the Rebel communities." Even so 
 early Cameron — in that portion of the report suppressed 
 by the President — had advocated arming the Negroes for 
 the defence of the Union.^ No vigorous enforcement, 
 however, of the policy of treating, slaves, as, contraband, ol 
 war .was attempted, owing without doubt to the extreme 
 intricacy of the situation, and to the importance — ever 
 present in Mr. Lincoln's mind — of preserving the sym- 
 pathy of the Union slaveholders in the border States. 
 Butler's efforts in behalf of the Negro had been com- 
 mended, but it depended upon the common sense of the 
 individual commanders whether such efforts called forth 
 commendation or rebuke. 
 
 A new Article of War, created by Act of Congress, and 
 approved March 13, 1862, tended materially to protect the 
 slaves against the claims of their pursuers. By the terms 
 of this Article all persons in the military service were pro- 
 
 1 See Chapter XII. 
 
 2 Greeley, American Conflict, Vol. II, p. 242. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 51 
 
 hibited, on pain of dismissal from the service, from em- 
 ploying the forces at their command to aid in returning 
 slaves to those claiming to be their owners. Gradually, 
 as events progressed, there was a change in the attitude of 
 the Government, which is well expressed in an unofficial 
 letter from Halleck to Grant dated March 31, 1863. Re- 
 ferring to the policy of the Government of withdrawing the 
 Negro from the Confederate territory as a means of crip- 
 pling the productive capacity of the enemy, and the further 
 efforts that were to be undertaken to render him actively 
 efficient as a soldier, Halleck wrote : " The character of 
 the war has very much changed within the last year. 
 There is now no possible hope of reconciliation with the 
 rebels. . . . There can be no peace but that which is 
 forced by the sword." Halleck then urged Grant as a 
 " friend " to see to it that his officers exerted themselves 
 in sympathetic co-operation with the efforts of the Govern- 
 ment to use the Negro as a laborer — Halleck's letter was 
 written six months after Grant's order issued to me at 
 Grand Junction — and as a soldier.^ 
 
 This brings us to the consideration of how the policy of 
 arming the Negro originated. Aside from an effort made 
 by the Confederacy to arm the free Negroes of Memphis, 
 which in spite of its success was not followed up, the first 
 Negro regiment to be organized in the Civil War was 
 recruited under orders issued by General David Hunter, 
 commanding the Department of the South at Port Royal, 
 South Carolina, in May, 1862. It was known as the ist 
 South Carolina Volunteer Regiment. In a delightfully 
 
 1 G. W. Williams : A History of Negro Troops in the W^ar of the Re- 
 bellion, pp. 106-108. 
 
52 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 impertinent and ironical letter/ nominally addressed to the 
 Adjutant-General of the army but intended for the enlight- 
 enment of his own fiercest critic, Representative Wick- 
 liffe of Kentucky, Hunter claimed to have acted under 
 instructions empowering him to enlist all " loyal persons " ; 
 but his policy was untimely, the regiment was not sus- 
 tained by the Government, and in default of funds with 
 which to pay the men, it was necessarily disbanded. Early 
 in August of the same year Governor Sprague of Rhode 
 Island issued a call to the free Negroes of the State, — the 
 first call for colored troops to be issued at the North. 
 Later in the month General Butler issued an appeal to the 
 free Negroes of New Orleans, which resulted in the mus- 
 tering of a full regiment on September 27. The first 
 definite executive action to be taken by the United States 
 Government was, however, an order issued by the Sec- 
 retary of War in August, 1862, to General Saxton, who 
 succeeded Hunter at Port Royal in the control of Negro 
 affairs, directing the enlistment of colored troops with the 
 same pay, rations, and equipment allotted white volunteers. 
 Congress had authorized the enlistment of colored troops 
 only a month before. The order of the Secretary of War 
 also directed General Saxton to occupy plantations, har- 
 vest crops, and otherwise administer affairs for the improve- 
 ment of property. General Ullman's important work in 
 the Department of the Gulf was begun under authority of 
 the War Department early in January, 1863. He had pre- 
 viously been active in interesting President Lincoln in the 
 question of recruiting Negro regiments. 
 
 From this very fragmentary outline of the early attempts 
 1 Greeley : American Conflict, Vol. II, p. 515. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 53 
 
 to arm the blacks, it may be seen that the Union — espe- 
 cially after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued 
 — had entered upon the definite and acknowledged policy 
 of making soldiers of the ex-slaves ; but the undertaking 
 was everywhere considered experimental, and was most 
 unpopular in many quarters, especially in the army. In 
 fulfilment of the new policy, the War Department, on the 
 25th of March, 1863, issued an order to Brigadier-General 
 Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General United States Army, 
 directing him to make an inspection of the military situa- 
 tion in the West, with special reference to the condition 
 of the freedmen and the enlistment of Negro troops. I 
 quote from the order as follows: 
 
 " Third. The President desires that you should confer freely 
 with Major-General Grant and the officers with whom you may have 
 communication and explain to them the importance attached by 
 the Government to the use of the colored population emancipated 
 by the President's proclamation, and particularly for the organiza- 
 tion of their labor and military strength. You will cause it to be 
 understood that no officer in the United States service is regarded 
 as in the discharge of his duties under the acts of Congress, the 
 President's proclamation, and the orders of this Department, who 
 fails to employ to the utmost extent the aid and co-operation of 
 the loyal colored population in performing the labors incident to 
 military operations, and also in performing the duties of soldiers 
 under proper organization, and that any obstacle thrown in the 
 way of these ends is regarded by the President as a violation of 
 the acts of Congress and the declared purposes of the Government 
 in using every means to bring the war to an end. 
 
 " Fourth. You will ascertain what military officers are willing 
 to take command of colored troops ; ascertain their qualifications 
 for that purpose, and if troops can be raised and organized you 
 will, so far as can be done without prejudice to the service, relieve 
 officers and privates from the service in which they are engaged, to 
 
54 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 receive commissions such as they may be qualified to exercise in 
 the organization of brigades, regiments, and companies of colored 
 troops. You are authorized in this connection to issue in the 
 name of this Department letters of appointment for field and com- 
 pany officers, and to organize such troops for military service to 
 the utmost extent to which they can be obtained in accordance 
 to the rules and regulations of the service. You will see, more- 
 over, and expressly enjoin upon the various staff departments of 
 the service, that such troops are to be provided with supplies 
 upon the requisition of the proper officers, and in the same manner 
 as other troops in the service." 
 
 Tiie_attitude of the army toward the Negro as_^a soldier 
 was gradually undergoing a change, although intense pre}ii— 
 dice still existed against him. Not a few of the subordinate 
 officers confessed no sympathy with the freedom assured 
 the Negro by the President's proclamation, but even they, 
 for the most part, were attentive that no unnecessary suf- 
 fering should exist. The commanding officers, with few 
 exceptions, did what they could to insure the working out of 
 the Government's policy, even though they may personally 
 have been opposed to it. The Emancipation Proclamation 
 had become more popular, however, with all classes and 
 among all ranks of soldiers, so that the situation was more 
 or less favorable to General Thomas's mission in the Valley. 
 
 In my capacity of Superintendent of Freedmen, it de- 
 volved upon me to see that General Thomas was given 
 every facility for the pursuit of his task. I therefore 
 went with him in person to the principal camps within 
 my jurisdiction, following the route of the Memphis and 
 Charleston railroad as far as Corinth and returning to 
 Memphis by way of Jackson (Tennessee), Grand Junction, 
 and Colliersville. On May i8, after the completion of this 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 55 
 
 tour, General Thomas reported to the War Department 
 his return from Corinth to Memphis, having addressed the 
 troops at twelve different points. About a month before 
 this date he had addressed the troops immediately under 
 General Grant at Grant's headquarters before Vicksburg, 
 at Milliken's Bend. The Adjutant-General of the army 
 manifestly felt the importance of the change in policy 
 which he was announcing, and his mission was fulfilled with 
 no httle ceremony. The command to which he was to 
 address himself would be drawn up before him in single 
 rank or in a hollow square, according to its size, and the 
 order of the War Department would be read to officers 
 and men. Sometimes the General would make a speech. 
 When he had finished, he would ask those who were 
 opposed to the order to move out one step from the ranks. 
 A few would do so, impelled by the strength of their prej- 
 udice, and these General Thomas would promptly order 
 to the guardhouse, there to revise the opinion he had 
 invited them to express. The General's order, as we have 
 seen, made it the urgent duty of every one to further the 
 plans of the Government in arming the Negro ; he was 
 further empowered " to dismiss and to commission officers 
 according as they were for or against the new policy with- 
 out referring their cases to Washington," ^ so that his 
 action in thus taking means to assure himself of the 
 sentiment of the army was sufficiently justified ; but the 
 spectacle of a soldier invited to express his opinion, and 
 forthwith disciplined for having an opinion to express, 
 was not without a certain grim humor. 
 
 1 G. W. Williams, A History of Negro Troops in the War of the 
 Rebellion, p. 109. 
 
56 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 So great a change in policy had not been effected with- 
 out much agitation and effort on the part of those con- 
 vinced of the advisability of arming the blacks. All who 
 had been termed " abolitionists " were by no means agreed 
 upon how much the Negro might be able to accomplish as 
 a soldier; but there was a distinct element, led among 
 others by Governor Andrews of Massachusetts, Wendell 
 Phillips, Major Stearns, and the Shaws, father and son, that 
 stanchly advocated the policy of arming him. That Mr. 
 Lincoln withheld his consent in the face of the powerful 
 advocacy of good men such as these, until he felt assured 
 that the measure would prove a benefit and not a menace 
 to the Union cause, and would not subject the people of 
 the South to the horrors of an insurrection, is a manifes- 
 tation of his poise and wisdom which is sometimes over- 
 looked. With the announcement of the change of policy, 
 efforts to create a sentiment on behalf of the Negro were 
 not remitted. 
 
 In spite of the widespread distrust as to how the Negro 
 would conduct himself in the field much evidence was cir- 
 culated in his favor ; his record in the Revolution was sent 
 broadcast, and gradually the number of those in favor of 
 arming him greatly increased. In this work of creating 
 sentiment in the Negro's favor the Union League Club 
 bore, of course, an active part, pubHshing pamphlets in 
 connection with its efforts to raise Negro regiments, under 
 National authority, in the State of New York. With some 
 exceptions it was curious to see how the feeling against 
 the Negro subsided when it became clear that he might 
 figure as a useful factor in saving the Union. Our soldiers 
 soon ceased to offer any objection to his replacing the 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 57 
 
 white man on the firing line and receiving rebel bullets. 
 Moreover, an officer of a colored regiment risen from the 
 ranks had small cause to find fault with the policy which 
 was responsible for his opportunity for such advancement. 
 As for the Negro himself, he very soon vindicated the 
 action of the Government and won for himself the com- 
 mendation of his officers and the respect of his companions 
 in the service.^ In connection with the willingness of the 
 Negro to serve the Union cause Chaplain Fiske tells the 
 following story : 
 
 Some months before the order was issued providing for 
 the organization of colored troops, arms had been given to 
 a few Negroes at Camp Fiske, near Memphis, and at some 
 of the other camps, where the system of protecting the 
 settlements by colored guards was thus initiated. This 
 practice called upon the men to protect their own wives 
 and children, and no duty was ever more eagerly or faith- 
 fully fulfilled. The family instinct of the Negro, which Mr. 
 Lincoln relied upon so much and hoped to develop, was 
 thus brought into activity at once, and proved a tremen- 
 dous power in maintaining order and regularity in the 
 camps. 
 
 On the occasion of detailing the men to this service. 
 Chaplain Fiske, at that time Superintendent of Freedmen 
 for Memphis, spoke to them seriously of the responsibility 
 intrusted to them, and of the future possibility of their being 
 
 1 For accounts of the bravery and eflSciency of the Negro troops see 
 A History of Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, G. W. Williams; 
 Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, p. 545 ; Samuel Chapman Armstrong : 
 A Biographical Study, Edith Armstrong Talbot ; Army life in a Black 
 Regiment, T. W. Higginson; The Negro in the Regular Army, Oswald 
 Villard, in AUmtk Monthly, June, 1903. 
 
58 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 received into the regular service of the United States army. 
 He painted the terrors and duties of war as black and as 
 stern as his imagination could conjure them, and finished 
 by asking those who were ready to face these dangers 
 to move out one step from the line. The order was no 
 sooner spoken than the whole line swept towards him as 
 one man. 
 
 Probably some seventy thousand colored troops were 
 raised in the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 When the first regiments were organized in the territory 
 under my jurisdiction, a good deal of pressure was brought 
 to bear upon me to induce me to take command of one of 
 the regiments ; but I was devoted to my profession, and 
 although General Grant's orders had detached me from my 
 duties as chaplain, I was able still to devote myself to the 
 alleviation of suffering. 
 
 With the coming of General Thomas into our midst 
 another line of policy was inaugurated in addition to the 
 enlistment of the Negroes. I refer to the various systems 
 of leasing abandoned plantations. The question was taken 
 up somewhat tentatively at first, but later, after experiment 
 and further elaboration, these operations were carried on 
 with great vigor and with at least partial success. Mention 
 has already been made of the special effort of the Freed- 
 men's Department to supply the Negro with work, and the 
 terms of Grant's orders sufficiently indicate that agriculture 
 formed one important element in our plans for the colored 
 population for which we were caring. During the winter 
 the chief enterprise in which the Negroes engaged was 
 that of supplying the wood necessary for our military 
 operations, — especially along the Mississippi. With the ap- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 59 
 
 proach of spring, however, every effort was made to resume 
 work on the abandoned lands adjacent to the camps and 
 reasonably secure from the attacks of guerillas. In spite 
 of delays and difiSculties due to the fact that I was obliged 
 to rely for assistance almost wholly upon the benevolence 
 of the public, the work was begun about the middle of 
 March, and a month later one hundred ploughs arrived, tOT 
 gether with other farming implements and seeds, and the 
 agricultural enterprises for the season were well under 
 way. 
 
 General Thomas proposed to extend these operations by 
 leasing the abandoned lands " to persons of proper charac- 
 ter and qualifications," and appointed a commission, con- 
 sisting of George B. Field, Captain A. E. Shickle, and the 
 Rev. D. S. Livermore, whose duty it should be to superin- 
 tend the leasing of plantations and deal justly with the 
 interests of employer and employed. His plan ^ provided 
 for the collection of a tax — at the rate of two dollars per 
 bale of four hundred pounds of cotton, and five cents per 
 bushel on corn and potatoes — on the product of the plan- 
 tation, and payable to the Government in lieu of rent. 
 The tax was, of course, to be collected by the agents of the 
 Treasury Department Military protection was not guar- 
 anteed the lessees, though every possible effort was to 
 be made to insure the safety of those leasing or working 
 on plantations. The lessee pledged himself to employ all 
 Negroes hired by him and turned over to him by the com- 
 mission, until February i, 1864, and to feed, clothe, and 
 treat them humanely, the clothing to be deducted from 
 
 1 For full text -of order (issued April 5, 1863) see Annual Cyclopedia, 
 1863, pp. 428-429. 
 
60 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 the wages, furnished at cost, and — whenever the desti- 
 tution of the Negro demanded it — in advance of his earn- 
 ings. The schedule of wages was very low, — without 
 doubt unnecessarily so : for able-bodied men over fifteen 
 years of age, seven dollars per month; for women of the 
 same class, five dollars per month; for children between 
 the ages of twelve and fifteen, half rates, no child under 
 twelve to be employed as a field hand. In explanation of 
 this low rate it should be said at once that free Negro 
 labor in the Valley was as yet an unknown quantity; it 
 was still somewhat problematical how much the free Negro 
 could earn, and wholly problematical how much the ex- 
 slaveholder and the Northern speculator could be made 
 to pay him. Indeed, the character of the whole scheme 
 was experimental, so much so that General Thomas — 
 owing largely to the lateness of the season — provided in 
 the fifth paragraph of his order that should it be found 
 impracticable to hire all the Negroes needing employment 
 to responsible lessees, superintendents were to be appointed 
 who should manage the lands for the exclusive benefit of 
 the Government and the freedmen so employed. This 
 provision practically insured the continuance of the 
 independent efforts inaugurated by the officers of the 
 Freedmen's Department, and was designed to prevent 
 unnecessary destitution among the Negroes. General 
 Thomas's plan was afterwards subjected to the severest 
 criticism ; but while it was, as I have said, tentative and 
 without doubt faulty in many particulars, its aim was cer- 
 tainly to benefit the Negroes, and in cases where the lessees 
 proved wise, humane, or even manageable, it fulfilled in 
 practice the hopes of its originators. The main object of 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 61 
 
 the Government in fostering it was to fill the country lately 
 won from the rebels with a loyal population. The policy 
 promised well, and in many ways was justified by the re- 
 sults. We shall see, however, in later chapters with what 
 complications and difficulties it was involved. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 I report to Grant at Vicksburg before the surrender. An unpublished 
 letter from Grant to Lincoln. The Shirley family and Grant's 
 kindness to them. On the way to Washington. Stirring news. 
 
 THE difficult winter of 1862 to 1863 had passed, — 
 a winter of great trials for the army and of hardly- 
 less strain upon the depressed feelings of the 
 country. Our friends had been pleading for stirring news 
 of victories won, and had received only accounts of sickness 
 in marshes and swamps, — the inactive life of the camp 
 enlivened by little better than fruitless expeditions to 
 make or find river channels by which to evade the Vicks- 
 burg batteries or penetrate the country north of the city. 
 Nature herself seemed to be opposing the Union cause : 
 there was neither dry land available on which to gather the 
 troops destined for the attack on Vicksburg, nor navigable 
 channels in the bayous through which to float them into the 
 enemy's country. But spring had come, and with it the 
 marvellous and unparalleled campaign during which Grant, 
 having moved his troops southward through Louisiana, had 
 crossed the Mississippi, cut loose from his base of supplies, 
 and bewildering the enemy by the sheer hardihood of his 
 operations, had marched to the rear of Vicksburg, having 
 fought his five battles and won as many victories, and 
 now, in the days of which I write, was hemming in the 
 beleaguered town. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 63 
 
 It had again become necessary for me to see our Com- 
 manding General. The complications connected with 
 the leasing of lands to which I referred in the preceding 
 chapter had by no means resolved themselves into order- 
 liness. It seemed advisable, therefore, to render a report 
 of what had been accomplished by my assistants and sub- 
 mit it through Adjutant-General Rawlins to Grant himself. 
 My own desire was to tender my resignation and return 
 to my interrupted duties as chaplain of my regiment. Ac- 
 cordingly I started for Vicksburg early in June. My old 
 friend, Colonel Vogleson, formerly the quartermaster of 
 my own regiment, had general charge of the commissary 
 stores on vessels anchored in the mouth of the Yazoo, 
 and to him I went for guidance to Grant's headquarters. 
 Anchored close at hand were other vessels bearing the 
 stores of the Sanitary Commission, with Dr. Warriner in 
 charge. The Doctor told me that I should find General 
 Grant with new wrinkles in his forehead, like crows' feet, 
 and looking like half a dozen men condensed into one. I 
 reached Grant's quarters in the primeval forest in the rear 
 of Vicksburg. The heat of summer was on, and the air 
 was filled with the sputter and rattle of musketry and the 
 roar and thunder of artillery and bursting shells. A few 
 tents were in sight, — but not many, — well disposed for 
 the convenience of the staff. The open spaces had been 
 trodden down into rough roads and bypaths by the feet 
 of horses and men. Here and there seats of rough boards 
 had been attached to the trunks of the huge trees. As I 
 passed on the roadway near Grant's tent, which stood a 
 little apart from the others, the General, who was seated 
 just outside, hailed me and asked what I would have. I 
 
64 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 explained that I had prepared a report of the work done 
 under his orders and was just about to leave it with Gen- 
 etal Rawlins. As I spoke, my eye noted the peculiarly 
 unassuming appearance of the General. Unassuming in- 
 deed he always was, and now his very clothes, as well as 
 the crows' feet on his brow, bore testimony to the strenu- 
 ousness of the hfe he was leading. Later on he told me 
 jocosely that a toothbrush and a comb had been his 
 outfit in the campaign just closing. He was dressed when 
 I first saw him in an old brown linen duster surmounted by 
 an old slouch hat ; his trousers showed holes worn by the 
 boot-straps, where they had rubbed against the saddle. 
 
 " Ah," he said, as I mentioned the report, " come into 
 the tent and read it to me." 
 
 He entered the tent as he spoke, — I following, — and 
 threw down the lapel behind us. But I demurred. 
 
 " General Grant," I said, " it 's too long, you can't 
 afibrd the time." 
 
 " Well," he replied, " sit down and read, and I will tell 
 you to stop if necessary." 
 
 Thereupon we sat down to the report, dated April 29, 
 1863. It comprised some thirty-four pages of foolscap, 
 covered on both sides of the sheet with the careful old- 
 fashioned writing of my clerk, Major W. D. Sargent, — 
 matter tedious enough, it seemed to me, to put before this 
 leader of armies. But he showed not a sign of weariness 
 to the end, and when I had finished he remarked : " That 
 is a very important report. I must send you with it to the 
 President, with a personal letter." 
 
 He then wrote with his usual promptitude the following 
 letter : 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 65 
 
 Near Vicksburg, Miss., 
 Hon. a. Lincoln, June ii, 1863. 
 
 President of the United States, 
 
 Sir, — Enclosed herewith I send report of Chaplain J. Eaton, 
 General Superintendent of Contrabands for this Department, em- 
 bracing a very complete history of what has been done for and with 
 the class of people within my command to the present time. 
 
 Finding that negroes were coming into our lines in great numbers 
 and receiving kind or abusive treatment according to the peculiar 
 views of the troops they first came in contact with, and not being 
 able to give that personal attention to their care and use the matter 
 demanded, I determined to appoint a General Superintendent 
 over the whole subject and give him such Assistants as the duties 
 assigned him might require. Mr. Eaton was selected for this po- 
 sition. I have given him such aid as was in my power, by the 
 publication from time to time of such orders as seemed to be re- 
 quired, and generally at the suggestion of the Superintendent. 
 
 Mr. Eaton's labors in his undertaking have been unremitting 
 and skilful, and I fear in many instances very trying. That he has 
 been of very great service to the blacks in having them provided 
 for when otherwise they would have been neglected, and to the 
 Government in finding employment for the negro, whereby he 
 might earn what he was receiving, the accompanying report will 
 show, and many hundreds of visitors and officers and soldiers near 
 the different corps can bear witness to. 
 
 I commend the report to your favorable notice, and especially 
 that portion of it which would suggest orders regulating the subject 
 of providing for the government of the contraband subject, which a 
 Department Commander is not competent to issue. 
 
 I have the honor to be 
 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) U. S. Grant, 
 Maj.-Gen. Vols. 
 
 In order to characterize for the reader the report to 
 which the General had just listened, I reproduce a few 
 
 5 
 
66 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 passages. From an elaborate series of classified questions 
 to which answers were made by my assistants, I quote the 
 following statements with reference to the intelligence of 
 the Negro. These comments appear in my report in the 
 order quoted, and were made respectively by my repre- 
 sentatives at Corinth, Cairo, Grand Junction, Holly Springs, 
 Memphis, Bolivar, and La Grange : 
 
 " (i) Far more intelligent than I supposed. Some are men of 
 fine intelligence and correct views. 
 
 " (2) Their common intelligence is good, much better than we 
 had supposed. 
 
 ' ' (3) Exhibit intelligence greater than has been attributed to 
 their race, — very shrewd in escaping from their masters and in 
 shirking work, if so disposed. 
 
 " (4) House servants much more intelligent than field hands. 
 All learn rapidly, are intuitive, not reflective, — need line upon line. 
 
 " (S ) Higher than I had expected — keen and bright when they 
 wish to understand ; — stupid and idiotic when they do not. 
 
 " (6) Better than many suppose. Good as any could expect 
 under the circumstances. 
 
 " (7) As good as that of men, women, and children anywhere 
 or of any color who cannot read." 
 
 With reference to the Negro's attitude toward religion 
 I quote the following testimony from the Superintendent 
 at Memphis : " Notions of doctrine better than to be ex- 
 pected — practices not always in accordance with their 
 notions, — as is also true of other races. . . . Their reli- 
 gion one of feeling, not necessarily affecting their living. If 
 one finds himself susceptible to religious excitement or 
 sentiment, he is a rehgious man, though at the same time 
 he may lie, steal, drink, and commit adultery." 
 
 In view of the fact that the Negro was an unknown 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 67 
 
 quantity in those early days, my officers would seem to 
 have achieved a fairly distinct notion of his type and 
 acquirements. 
 
 Of the policy then recently inaugurated of arming the 
 blacks I spoke at some length, urging the importance of 
 drafting the Negro into regiments composed of his own 
 race. Many who failed to trust the Negroes en masse 
 counselled that the ranks of the white regiments and com- 
 panies be replenished by Negro recruits. The very vivid 
 example before me of the friction and disturbance which 
 were engendered at the time by any enforced relationship 
 between the Negro and the Union soldier convinced me 
 of the unwisdom of such a course. My comments, how- 
 ever, with reference to the need of white officers for the 
 Negro regiments were equally positive in tone : 
 
 " All of the weaker qualities of the blacks should be counterbal- 
 anced by the excellencies of the officers. It is not enough that 
 the men to command them merely have sufficient intelligence to 
 do all business, or sufficient military experience or skill, or ade- 
 quate knowledge of sanitary conditions ; they should be solid men, 
 of large and available resources, skilled in the management of 
 human nature, self-poised, patient, yet quick to act, — kindly dis- 
 posed towards the blacks, and specially fitted to manage persons 
 so ignorant, so long slaves. They should be guarded by principles 
 of right so thoroughly wrought into themselves that no temptations 
 could induce them to abuse their power. With the right men as 
 commanders, I am convinced of the success of arming the Negroes, 
 — of their intense loyalty as troops, of their terror to the enemy, of 
 their superior advantages for certain classes of service — particularly 
 for cavalry duty. Try the Negro as a soldier, let his conduct and 
 events give him his commission as they have his place in the 
 ranks. 
 
 " The Negro's tribal origin has much to do with his capacity. 
 
68 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 The service would undoubtedly be rendered more efficient by 
 rejecting the lowest types of the more inferior tribes. . . . Any one 
 looking at the proportion of mixed blood indicated in the above 
 imperfect tables [submitted with the report] will see at once that 
 we are not dealing solely with the question of arming those alto- 
 gether excluded from European blood. Already some regiments 
 of white soldiers have recruited members all their lives slaves, and 
 not to be distinguished by any African characteristic. Van Dorn 
 paroled a servant at Holly Springs, not suspecting his African 
 descent." 
 
 In connection with the expenses of the supervisory work 
 for the Negroes, the report gives some interesting figures : 
 Of the twenty-two thousand contrabands already reported 
 and estimated as having come within the lines of the De- 
 partment, the number rationed in all the camps collec- 
 tively did not exceed sixty-six hundred. Of these about 
 one-third received half rations. On a rigid calculation 
 based on the cost of rationing the contrabands as against 
 the wages paid by Government for labor such as the 
 Negroes performed, I was able to make the following 
 statement : " If the contrabands could be and were ex- 
 cluded from this Department and white laborers employed, 
 the Government would pay out $42,661 per month more 
 than it now pays for the same work and for the support 
 of all idle and feeble contrabands." As a matter of fact, 
 the saving to Government was in excess of this figure. 
 The number receiving full rations was greatly diminished 
 by those who made a whole or partial return in labor 
 or in crops. This factor was discounted in the above 
 statement. In many instances the corn issued to the 
 contrabands was gathered from abandoned Confederate 
 plantations and was ground by the contrabands them- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 69 
 
 selves. The earnings of the women and children in pick- 
 ing cotton were also omitted from the estimate here 
 quoted. At Grand Junction alone this item amounted to 
 some twenty thousand dollars in cotton turned over to 
 Government. 
 
 I took occasion in the course of this report to outline 
 what seemed to me the essentials of any organized attempt 
 to superintend Negro labor and the industrial conditions 
 amid which the Negroes worked. The following extracts 
 are from the summary with which the report closed : 
 
 " I would urge, First : special military provision as necessary alike 
 to the full military effect of the Proclamation upon the armed re- 
 bellion ; to the interests of the people declared free, — equally with 
 respect to, their safe, comfortable, and useful conduct through the 
 transition from slavery to freedom, and their fit preparation for 
 their new privileges; also to the security against servile insurrec- 
 tion, and the speediest restoration of Government authority over 
 rebellious States. . . . The exercise of military authority being 
 entirely under control of the Executive could not only adjust it- 
 self to all grades of intelligence and enterprise among these people, 
 and to current changes, but be withdrawn in part or altogether at 
 any moment desirable. 
 
 " Second : A distinct corps of oflScers especially fit in ability and 
 character, with a chief at Washington, subordinates in the field, — 
 co-operating with the Commanders of Departments, — and in each 
 district an appropriate corps of assistants chosen so far as prac- 
 ticable from among worthy soldiers incapacitated for active field 
 service. " 
 
 The report then provides for industrial operations to be 
 carried on under the supervision of freedmen officers 
 working in co-operation with the officers of the Treasury 
 Department, whose function it should be to regulate the 
 possession and use of lands, collect taxes, and disburse 
 
70 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 funds. Officers of freedmen, however, themselves a mili- 
 tary body, were to control the individual, industrial, social, 
 and educational interests of the Negro, subject to the Presi- 
 dent and the Secretary of War. A number of the features 
 suggested in this outline reappeared in the legislative 
 plans for the organization of the Freedmen's Bureau. 
 
 Nothing is more strongly emphasized in this personal 
 and contemporary record of my early work than the havoc 
 wrought by the base and excessive passions of mankind 
 which war inculcates and fosters. The prejudices and 
 vices of our officers and soldiers, together with the passions 
 of the South, lay heavy on mind and heart, and I could 
 not forbear to comment on conditions which had created 
 such unnecessary suffering and had so aggravated the diffi- 
 culties of my task. The indignities to which my officers 
 were subjected were particularly hard to endure. The 
 following comments indicate in a measure, at least, the 
 causes of my distress: 
 
 " Strange to say and sad to confess, the persons loudest in their 
 charges of worthlessness, and their cry that the whole object of the 
 Government is ' nigger equality,' are not always the freest from 
 illicit intercourse with the colored women." 
 
 And again 
 
 " Let every soldier and officer, every lover of liberty, divest him- 
 self of all passion and prejudice, submit himself to the dictates of 
 common sense and to Divine guidance, and I cannot doubt the 
 way will open plainly before us. I am satisfied the difficulties in- 
 here less in the questions of management than in ourselves." 
 
 It should be remembered that Grant at this time was 
 not only commanding his forces immediately engaged in 
 the siege of Vicksburg, — enough in itself to absorb the 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 71 
 
 energies of one man, — but was holding himself in readi- 
 ness for an attack which might be made by Johnson at any 
 moment upon the forces under Sherman who was guard- 
 ing Grant's rear along the Big Black. His willingness to 
 lend himself and his energies to a work in one sense 
 far removed from the great issues he was facing was noth- 
 ing short of marvellous. A man of less concentration and 
 devotion would not have dared thus to expend himself. 
 
 • Presently, as we talked, the General bade his orderly 
 bring supper, which was soon placed on a small table 
 before us. It was the simplest kind of a meal, attended 
 with the least possible ceremony. As to my resignation, 
 General Grant had told me that it would not be accepted, 
 and that I must continue in my present duties. Our con- 
 versation turned upon many themes. As we talked, I 
 asked the General if in his intercourse with the persons 
 in the neighboring country he had chanced to hear of a 
 man named Shirley. It then transpired that Mr. Shirley 
 had but just left headquarters a few moments before my 
 arrival. " I have become well acquainted with him," pur- 
 sued General Grant, " and he is often here. He is very 
 intelligent, knows all about the country, and as I am well 
 assured of his devotion to the Union, he gives me much 
 needed information." 
 
 I told the General that I had letters for Mr. Shirley from 
 his brother, intrusted to me by my own brother, — who had 
 in fact married a niece of the gentleman in question. Gen- 
 eral Grant thereupon told me the story of the Shirleys, — a 
 story of so much interest that I reproduce it here. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Shirley had lived, the General told me, in 
 a house known to the soldiers during the siege as the 
 
72 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 " White House," which stood directly between the defences 
 of the Confederate and Union forces. Upon visiting it I 
 found it to be a typical Southern homestead, a story and a 
 half high, a wide hall in the centre, with large, high-ceiled 
 rooms on each side and spacious verandas back and front. 
 It stood about three hundred yards in front of the Confed- 
 erate defences. The bullets of the enemy had perforated 
 the house here and there, and the outbuildings and fences 
 were all destroyed. The Engineer Corps under General 
 Hickenlooper had carried on with great activity the con- 
 struction of a sap intended to undermine the Confederate 
 defences, and here preparations were making for the 
 explosion which Grant describes in his " Memoirs." As I 
 rode up and down the sap, which had been made deep 
 enough for the use of horses, bullets flew around my head. 
 The passage began outside of the " White House " grounds 
 and passed in front of the house. On one side of it a brave 
 man from the neighborhood of Louisville — Foster by 
 name — had erected a defence which served him as a point 
 of vantage into which he could climb and be protected at 
 the same time from the bullets of the enemy. This man 
 had taken possession of a coon-skin cap belonging to Mr. 
 Shirley's young son. In spite of the heat he wore that cap 
 with the tails hanging down his back all through the siege, 
 and was known to his comrades as " Coon-skin Foster." On 
 account of the location of the " White House " it was con- 
 stantly used by the Union officers — Grant among others 
 — as a point from which to make observations, and it 
 served at one time as General Logan's headquarters. 
 Standing as it did midway between the two armies, very 
 near the spot where Pemberton and Grant met in confer- 
 
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GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 73 
 
 ence, it assumed so much historic interest that, in 1902, 
 the Secretary of War, carrying out the provisions of Con- 
 gress, restored the house to its original condition. It is now 
 one of the most interesting features in the National Park 
 maintained by the Government on the site of the Vicks- 
 burg campaign, — interesting alike to ex-Confederates and 
 Unionists. Many years after the events of which General 
 Grant told me, Mr. Shirley's daughter wrote the follow- 
 ing vivid description of the peaceful homestead and its 
 inmates before the breaking out of the war : ^ 
 
 " The house stood on an elevation somewhat back from 
 the road. A driveway describing a semi-circle passed the 
 door, and a walk led from the front porch to the road, 
 which was reached from that point by a flight of steps. 
 This walk was bordered with red flowering quince, fragrant 
 white syringas and roses, while close to the edge bloomed 
 violets, jonquils, and hyacinths. On one side of the porch 
 was a beautiful pink crape myrtle, and on the other grew 
 an althea tree. There was a large garden in the rear 
 which was my father's special pride. To old Uncle Will, 
 the oldest slave on the place, tall, bent, black, and 
 wrinkled, was given the care of this garden. When 
 another servant was sent to do the heavier work of it, the 
 old man was greatly pleased to superintend and assume a 
 little authority. We all liked to talk to him and listen to 
 his tales of other days, when he was young. Of these 
 stories he had an unfailing supply. I can see him now 
 stop and rest his chin on his hoe as he talked, then hoe a 
 few rows, then talk again ; when there was no one by to 
 
 1 The Shirley narrative is reprinted from the Fredonia Censor of May 30, 
 1900, by the courtesy of the editor. 
 
74 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 listen, he held conversations with himself. Father always 
 enjoyed his little talks with Uncle Will as he passed 
 through the garden, and they often had discussions on 
 various subjects — crops, slaves, etc., etc., — and once Uncle 
 Will said, ' What right, Massa, has you to own me?' My 
 father could only answer laughingly, 'Because I bought 
 you.' 
 
 " As children, of course, we had no thought of slavery 
 as wrong; we saw only the bright side of the system. 
 The Negroes seemed a part of the family, and I remember 
 that I was as polite to Aunt Sarah, the cook, and to Aunt 
 Cynthia, the housemaid, Uncle Will's wife, as I was to my 
 mother, and they reprimanded me about as often as 
 she did. 
 
 " My father was an old-time Whig, and when secession 
 was broached he was firm in his allegiance to the Union. 
 He had the courage to be true to his convictions, — no 
 easy matter when neighbors and friends all flocked to 
 secession and were loud in their denunciation of Union 
 men, calling them traitors. But the little band of Union 
 men, Judge Houghton of Vicksburg among them, had 
 their secret meetings where they talked in low voices and 
 with bated breath exchanging Northern news and encour- 
 aging each other with hopes that the Federal aimy must 
 win in spite of all said to the contrary by the South. We 
 still sang our patriotic airs out at the country home, 
 although it was not altogether prudent. While there were 
 mutterings of war, my brother Frederick, then a member 
 of a Vicksburg military company, was unwise enough to 
 say that he would rather serve Lincoln twenty years than 
 Jeff Davis two hours. This inflamed the hot-headed 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 75 
 
 young Southerners, and there was loud talk of hanging. 
 It came to the ears of one of our servants, and he hurried 
 out that evening to tell us, and to urge that Master Fred- 
 erick be sent away, as he feared they might do him harm. 
 After a short family conference, we packed his trunk, and 
 in the early morning he left for Indiana, and only once 
 did we hear from him until he returned after the surrender 
 of Vicksburg and after our father's death." 
 
 With the threatened approach of active hostilities around 
 Vicksburg, Mr. Shirley left his wife and youngest son in 
 the "White House" and went to fetch his daughter, in 
 order that the family might at least be together in the 
 coming experiences, — whatever these might prove to be. 
 Miss Shirley was at that time in Clinton — a distance of 
 about forty miles — attending one of the few schools 
 which the struggle had left in operation in the South. 
 This institution, curiously enough, although conducted by 
 a Northerner, Dr. Hillman, a graduate of Brown University, 
 had been protected by special orders issued by Jefferson 
 Davis. 
 
 During Mr. Shirley's absence the situation at the 
 " White House " became most precarious. According to 
 the daughter's narrative, " The Confederates, knowing 
 that they must soon retreat behind their fortifications at 
 Vicksburg, began their preparations by destroying what 
 they could outside. They burned all the houses in front 
 of their works, but my mother's persistent refusal to go 
 out of hers, and her determination to prevent its destruc- 
 tion, delayed its being set on fire until the first company 
 of Federals under Captain McKee — following the Jackson 
 road which led by our house — appeared on the hills to the 
 
76 GEANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 east of us. As the last of the rear guard of the Confeder- 
 ates came up in full retreat toward the defences of Vicks- 
 burg, torches were applied to the barns and outhouses, 
 and these were soon burned to the ground. But the poor 
 fellow who was appointed to fire the house while approach- 
 ing it with his ball of blazing cotton, was struck by a bullet 
 of the pursuing vanguard, and crept away under the shelter 
 of some planks, where he died alone, his body being found 
 next day and buried under the corner of the house. 
 
 " My mother and the old home were greeted by a shower 
 of bullets and shell from the advancing Union army. One 
 shot passed her as she stood in an open doorway. A piece 
 of shell struck the top of a chimney and tore it away, and 
 passing into an upper room shattered a bedstead. My 
 mother thought rapidly ; the thing to be done was to hang 
 out a flag of truce, and quickly she secured a sheet to a 
 broom handle, and sending it by our carriage driver to the 
 upper front porch, where it might be seen from a distance, 
 it was soon waving a truce to the bullets. 
 
 " The first officers rushed into the house half expecting 
 to find Confederates hidden away ready to betray them, 
 and were not easily persuaded that we were Union people. 
 My mother had some talking to do. Now all was confu- 
 sion and excitement. The great host advanced rapidly, 
 and the house, the grounds, and the road, the woods behind, 
 were soon alive with Union soldiers, and that same after- 
 noon the fighting began. Bullets came thick and fast, 
 shells hissed and screamed through the air, cannon roared, 
 the dead and the dying were brought into the old home. 
 War, terrible war, had come to our very hearthstone, and 
 here in the midst of it my mother and brother remained 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 77 
 
 for three days. The two house servants stayed by them. 
 Household treasures were soon destroyed under the ruth- 
 less hand of the soldier, but through the kindness of 
 some officers our trunks and the best of the furniture were 
 saved. 
 
 " My brother was delighted to be permitted to go into 
 the trenches and do a little fighting for his country, but 
 those three days must have been a time of great distress 
 for my mother, and I think she never entirely recovered 
 from the severe strain caused by the war. She has told 
 me that she and the two house servants sat most of the 
 time in the chimney-corner, where the bullets might not 
 strike them. Meanwhile our carriage driver and others of 
 our colored men were digging a cave in the side of a hill 
 in the valley some distance back of the house, for her to 
 move into, as General McPherson had said she must not 
 stay at the house, as it was no place for a woman. At 
 daylight on the fourth day she left, the soldiers making a 
 narrow opening through their ranks for her to pass. 
 
 " Here in this miserable cave, a blanket strung across 
 the opening, with her trunk and her rocking-chair, all her 
 possessions available then, and half sick, she was found by 
 my father a few days later. 
 
 " Meanwhile, before the appearance of the Union forces, 
 my father had arrived at Clinton. It was Monday, and he 
 planned to return with me next day. The war was draw- 
 ing closer and closer around us, and foreseeing that our 
 home might become a fighting centre, he was anxious that 
 we should be together, come what would. I packed my 
 trunk and sent it with my books on the train leaving 
 Tuesday, in charge of the servant who came with father. 
 
78 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Wednesday morning all was excitement. 'The Yankees 
 are coming, the Yankees are coming ! ' The news spread 
 terror to all but a few hearts, who secretly rejoiced; two of 
 the few were father and myself. He was so happy that he 
 forgot to think of ourselves or how we were to get home. 
 The people of the village were hurrying hither and yon, 
 the women hysterical, many hiding their jewels and their 
 money. Father and I sat quietly on the long piazza of my 
 sister's house, where I had been staying while attending 
 school, and awaited the coming of the strangers. Along 
 in the afternoon the first of the bluecoats appeared, and, 
 oddly enough, came straight to our house, and alighting, 
 walked in. Of course they were given a warm welcome 
 by my father. They asked for water and for milk, which 
 we gave them, and then they sat for a long time talking 
 and laughing, and after a while father spoke of music and 
 invited them into the parlor, where there was a piano, and 
 I played Northern and Southern patriotic airs, much to 
 their delight. It had been a long time since they had en- 
 joyed a quiet social time in a home, and evidently it was a 
 pleasurable afternoon for them. Some of them said it had 
 been months since they had spoken to a white woman. 
 
 " I must not forget to mention the other occupants of 
 the parlor, — two sacks of live chickens and two turkeys 
 tied behind the sofa. Knowing the fondness of soldiers for 
 poultry and for horses, and desirous of saving some for 
 themselves, the people of the village had hidden away 
 what they could, putting them in all sorts of hiding-places. 
 In our garret there were chickens; one mule I knew of 
 was in hiding in our Institute gymnasium, a wall of cotton 
 bales being built around, so his voice might not be heard. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 79 
 
 My sister-in-law, as I have said, had a number of her 
 chickens in the parlor. The sound of the piano roused 
 the fowls from their dreams ; the chickens squirmed and 
 peeped, the turkeys flapped their wings and gobbled. 
 The officers smiled and looked at each other, and then we 
 all laughed. 
 
 " During the afternoon the depot was burned, and the 
 railroad tracks torn up, cutting off our chance of returning 
 home by rail. Soldiers began pouring in, regiment after 
 regiment passing through on their way to Vicksburg, which 
 so soon was to be the seat of war. For three days there 
 was a steady tramp, tramp ; brass bands played the stir- 
 ring national airs ; ' Dixie ' was heard no more, the dear old 
 flag floated to the breeze, and the great procession moved 
 on. Far away over the winding hills we saw the blue- 
 coats, their bayonets glittering in the sunshine, their flags 
 floating to the breeze, — marching to long days of suff"er- 
 ing, to death, and to victory. As my father looked at them 
 I saw the light of a great joy in his eyes ; they had come at 
 last, the soldiers of the Union, who carried the old flag so 
 dear to him. He knew their coming meant destruction to 
 his home, to all he owned — for the rear of Vicksburg was 
 their destination — but that was so little compared to the 
 great end. He was willing to lose all, even though he was 
 old, — sixty-nine years of age, when it is not so easy to 
 rebuild one's fortunes. He thought only that the Union 
 must and shall be preserved. 
 
 " The usually quiet little village of Clinton was now all 
 confusion. The soldiers were bent on destruction ; stables 
 were torn down, smoke-houses invaded and emptied of all 
 their bacon and hams ; chicken-houses were depopulated, 
 
80 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 vehicles of all kinds were taken or destroyed, barrels of 
 sugar or molasses were emptied, — the sugar carried off, 
 while the molasses ran in streams in the yard. The bees, 
 not liking to be disturbed, and attracted also by the flow- 
 ing molasses, hovered around in large numbers, and direc- 
 ted much of their attention to the soldiers, thus adding 
 still more to the confusion. Then, too, the soldiers were 
 chasing the hens around the yard trying to catch them, 
 and the frightened fowls squawked and lent their voices to 
 the uproar. The dry-goods stores were broken into ; the 
 beautiful goods given to Negroes or destroyed, crockery 
 broken, — making sad havoc with the merchants' stock, 
 General Sherman's protection papers proving of very little 
 value. As my wardrobe was now so reduced, I bought a 
 calico, for which I paid forty dollars, a handkerchief for 
 seven dollars, and some lace for my neck for twenty-five 
 dollars. The price of the whole would now be perhaps 
 two dollars and fifty cents. Of course I had only Confed- 
 erate money then. 
 
 " At last the soldiers were all gone and Clinton was left 
 to take a long breath, pick up the remains of everything, 
 and go on with life again. They patched up harnesses as 
 best they could, mended old broken wagons, set the few 
 surviving hens on what eggs could be found, and secured 
 the few stray horses and cows. The mule came out from 
 his cotton-bale prison, the chickens came down from the 
 garrets, and life went on somewhat as usual. 
 
 " Now father's thoughts turned to what we ought to do. 
 How to get home was the question, and he was very 
 anxious to get there. My mother and brother Quincy 
 were alone in the old house, and he wanted to be with them. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 81 
 
 There was no way but to walk. We were to start the 
 day after the army had left Clinton, but my sister-in-law 
 could not agree to my going. She said it would be very 
 foolish for me, a young girl, to take such a tramp with 
 only my father at his age as protector against stragglers 
 from the army, and she persuaded him to let me remain 
 with her. So we saw him start out on that long, hot, dusty 
 walk of forty miles, — not a young man, or accustomed to 
 much walking. It was a sad parting, for we thought it 
 might be a last good-bye. My sister, indeed, never did 
 see him again. 
 
 " The Institute took up its work and I went on with my 
 studies, — borrowing books, as mine had all gone to Vicks- 
 burg. Among those books, by the way, was a diary that 
 I had kept for several years, and this, I suppose, was read 
 by many a soldier, — much to my mortification at the time ; 
 but it removed all doubts of our unionism, for I had given 
 there the truth about our sentiments. The book was 
 returned to my mother later by General Smith, who said 
 he had seen it around camp and it was time the owner 
 had it.i 
 
 " At Clinton we heard nothing from home except once 
 from some Confederate soldiers, a rumor that the house 
 had been burned, and we knew the siege had begun. At 
 night I heard the faint boom of the far-away cannon, which 
 
 1 This diary proved to be a prize to the soldiers, and taken in connection 
 with the activity of Mr. Shirley's son, greatly impressed them. They made 
 Grant acquainted with its contents, and soldiers and General alike were 
 united in their judgment that the unsophisticated journal was unmistakable 
 evidence of the loyalty of the family. The writer described the daily events 
 of their lives, telling how they sufifered when news came of the defeat of the 
 Union army, and how they rejoiced when they learned of its victories. It 
 left no possible doubt of their attitude and sentiments. 
 
 6 
 
82 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 gave a slight jar to my bed. We now had Confederate 
 officers for visitors instead of the bluecoats. 
 
 " Some days after the school term had closed and just 
 as I was planning to visit a schoolmate in her country 
 home, something happened which changed all my plans. 
 One night about midnight we heard distant rumblings — 
 ominous sounds they were at that hour. Louder and 
 louder they grew, nearer and nearer they came, and we 
 began to realize that they were the roar of artillery wag- 
 ons, and soon came the rumor that Vicksburg had fallen. 
 The excitement and the sorrow were great. Again all was 
 confusion. The Confederates rushed on, and after them 
 came the Union soldiers. One night the gray coats, the 
 next the blue. The same scenes as before were enacted, 
 only there was not much left to be taken or destroyed. 
 
 " Still no news of my home or family, except vague 
 stories on which I could not rely. About a week later, as 
 the family were sitting on the piazza, two men came up 
 the walk and asked to see Miss Shirley. They were tele- 
 graph operators, and had received word that morning from 
 General Grant to the effect that my father wished me to 
 come into Vicksburg with General McArthur's division, 
 which would move in a few days. The officers were very 
 kind to me ; one colonel asked me to ride at the head of 
 his regiment and brought a horse and side saddle. I was, 
 however, not so foolish as to travel in that unsuitable man- 
 ner, and instead accepted a seat in an ambulance in charge 
 of a Dr. Beach of Ohio. My family parted with me regret- 
 fully. Dressed in my forty-dollar calico, and wearing a 
 huge Shaker sunbonnet, I bade them all a sad good-bye, 
 and took my seat in the ambulance. Two soldiers, too 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 83 
 
 sick to march, lay on the floor ; the Scotch driver and 
 a captain occupied the seat in front, while a lieutenant 
 and I sat on the other. The driver had his little jokes and 
 stories of life in Scotland to enliven the ride, the officers 
 were entertaining, the surgeon riding beside us would 
 occasionally look in to ask if he could do anything for my 
 comfort, — all were trying to make my journey as pleas- 
 ant as possible. It was an odd situation for me, a young 
 girl, travelling alone with an army, and I enjoyed amaz- 
 ingly all its novelty. There were many queer sights by 
 the way. I recall particularly the Negro women following 
 the army, carrying all their possessions on their heads, great 
 feather beds tied up in sheets and holding their few belong- 
 ings. At night, when a halt was called, I was escorted by the 
 Captain to the nearest house, where he requested that I 
 be given a night's lodging, saying that he would pay for 
 it. The inmates generally gave their consent grudgingly, 
 knowing, however, that it was a case of must, — but we 
 always parted friends. . . . Two days I travelled in this 
 way, and then I heard that a Mrs. Baum of Vicksburg — 
 an old acquaintance — and her two children were along 
 somewhere, and I very gladly had her hunted up and put 
 myself in her ambulance, where she was pleased to give me 
 a seat. The last day was an eventful one. In the after- 
 noon there came up a terrific thunder-shower, and while 
 the rain was coming down in torrents, the lightning nearly 
 blinding us, the thunder terrifying, we had to cross the Big 
 Black River on a pontoon bridge, and then ascend one of 
 the steepest hills I ever saw. Such swearing ! Such cries 
 to the poor dumb beasts to urge them upwards and 
 onwards ! Such slipping in the Mississippi mud ! I 
 
84 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 thought some one of those fifty or seventy-five wagons 
 would certainly go to pieces. I shut my eyes. Rain 
 dripped down from the top of the ambulance, and fell on 
 my ' Shaker/ wilting it most decidedly ; my face was dirty 
 from the never-failing dust, and the water running down 
 my cheeks on the dust gave it a mottled and streaked 
 appearance. I did not look like a reigning belle just then. 
 After much tribulation we managed to reach the top of the 
 hill without accident, and proceeded to General McArthur's 
 tent, where we were invited to dinner. I remember feeling 
 just a little uncomfortable as I took my seat at the table 
 surrounded by those gay young officers, and I have no 
 doubt they had some fun at my expense, for I must have 
 presented a woful appearance, with my wilted ' Shaker,' 
 my dirty face, and my wet forty-dollar calico dress. . . . 
 
 " It was not until seven o'clock the next evening that we 
 were again moving on, — this time not in an ambulance, 
 but in a steamcar, and were soon rushing over the remain- 
 ing nine miles into Vicksburg. That night I rejoined my 
 family, whom Mr. Baum helped me to find. 
 
 " My father and mother had stayed in the cave on the 
 hillside until he too was taken ill, when they moved to the 
 house of a planter a few miles farther out. There they re- 
 mained for a few weeks, but the shells began to reach them 
 there, and they were then, by General Grant's personal direc- 
 tion, moved to a plantation three miles farther back. Here 
 they stayed, living forlorn existences until the surrender." 
 
 At the time of my Vicksburg interview with General 
 Grant, Mr. and Mrs. Shirley had just been moved to the 
 plantation by General Grant's orders, but instead of finding 
 shelter in the planter's house as General Grant doubtless 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 86 
 
 expected, the feeling between neighbors, even, was so 
 strong that these Union sympathizers were left to shift as 
 best they could in the squalor of the servants' quarters. 
 It was here that I found them, Grant having lent me a 
 horse that I might ride out and deliver my letters. This 
 of course was before the daughter returned from Clinton. 
 After the surrender of Vicksburg, Grant saw that the family 
 was provided with a temporary home within the city. On 
 my way to visit them at the plantation a shell fell in the 
 road just in front of me and exploded. The cannoneers 
 had located me with considerable definiteness. 
 
 The narrative of the Shirley family has seemed to me of 
 sufficient general interest to be reproduced here as a rather 
 vivid picture of an unusual war-time experience. I am 
 willing to admit, however, that my judgment in the matter 
 may possibly be somewhat biased by the fact that my own 
 interest in the family was something more than general. 
 I afterguards married Miss Shirley. However that may be, 
 the story gives me the opportunity to say that Grant's 
 kindness to this much-distressed household was typical of 
 the unfailing readiness with which he relieved suffering 
 whenever he could possibly do so, — regardless, one might 
 say, of the political faith of the sufferer. Those of us 
 who witnessed that trait in the great General can never 
 testify to the truth of this too often. 
 
 Already he had found time and inclination to make 
 plans for the Negro population in and around Vicksburg, 
 which in the event of the surrender would become our 
 charge. He told me in one of our talks of a fertile stretch 
 of land known as Davis Bend, — a peninsula, called Pal- 
 myra Bend upon the maps, — lying some twenty-five miles 
 
86 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 below Vicksburg and formed by a huge bend of the Mis- 
 sissippi. This land had belonged to Joe Davis, — the 
 brother of Jefferson Davis, — to General Quitman, and other 
 prominent Southerners. Jeff Davis had himself received 
 some thousand acres of land from his brother, and had 
 built him a house on the property. It was General Grant's 
 desire that these plantations should be occupied by the 
 freedmen, and, to quote his own words, " become a Negro 
 paradise." This plan the Freedmen's Department was 
 able later to carry out. 
 
 During my final call at headquarters preparatory to my 
 return to Memphis, General Grant intimated to me the 
 probability of what I might hear — perhaps on the Fourth 
 of July — as I went up the river. 
 
 I left Vicksburg on the second. As I went up the Mis- 
 sissippi toward Helena, word reached me of a successful 
 engagement there. Our troops indeed were just coming 
 in from the fight of July 4. They were full of excite- 
 ment and eager to know all that I could tell them of the 
 great Vicksburg campaign. 
 
 At Memphis I set my affairs in order — turning over 
 my authority to my assistant, Samuel Thomas, who should 
 represent me in my absence — and continued my journey 
 northward. When I reached Cairo, I was met by the 
 news of the terrible engagement at Gettysburg, and later 
 I was overtaken by the long-hoped-for report that Vicks- 
 burg had fallen. That was a wonderful trip. The enthu- 
 siasm of the country was manifested in every city, town, 
 and homestead. It was in the midst of stirring scenes that 
 I pursued my way to Washington, and Lincoln. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 First interviews with President Lincoln. His power of gauging men. 
 His anecdotes. His tender-heartedness. The American Freed- 
 men Inquiry Commission. 
 
 WHEN I reached Washington, I went at once to 
 a relative of mine, a Dr. Jones, who was one 
 of the managers of the National Hotel, then a 
 much frequented hostelry in the vicinity of Pennsylvania 
 Avenue and Sixth Street. The Doctor was well informed 
 in regard to the conduct of affairs at the White House, and 
 although his political convictions were opposed to mine, 
 he expressed the liveliest interest in my mission and gave 
 me all the information he could to assist me. He told me 
 at what hour the President would be most apt to be at 
 liberty. Armed with the letter from General Grant and 
 with my report, I presented myself at the White House. 
 There was no delay, no obstructive formality. The mes- 
 senger took my letter at once to the President and promptly 
 ushered me into Mr. Lincoln's apartment. 
 
 My call was so timed that the multitude of visitors as 
 well as the clerks — " the boys," as Mr. Lincoln called 
 them — were gone for the day, and the President was sit- 
 ting by his office desk alone. His cordial manner put me 
 at once at my ease. There was not the slightest affecta- 
 tion, nor assumption of superiority. We talked with the 
 
88 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 utmost freedom, but I found myself subjected to the keen- 
 est investigation that it has ever been my experience to 
 undergo. Mr. Lincoln immediately began to ask me ques- 
 tions about his " fighting General," as he already called 
 Grant, passing from him to the consideration of other men 
 whom he trusted, — to the personal characters of various 
 subordinate officers, and what they did and said. The 
 searching inquiries never for a moment became trivial; 
 the motive behind each was too formidable for that. 
 During the whole of my acquaintance with the President, 
 he seemed to me to be doing all in his power to measure 
 the personal character of prominent men. He gauged the 
 strength of his armies by their leaders. He seemed con- 
 stantly to be taking these measurements, and when he had 
 taken them, to lay them aside in that wonderful brain of his 
 for future use. He was equally keen in his investigation 
 of the personal traits of certain Negroes, the circumstances 
 of whose lives had brought them into prominence. He 
 questioned me in regard to those who were coming into 
 our lines : What was their object ; how far did they under- 
 stand the changes that were coming to them, and what 
 were they able to do for themselves? At this time, it 
 must be remembered, the Negro character was a subject 
 about which, among Northerners, at least, the wildest con- 
 jectures were current. Mr. Lincoln's amazing powers of 
 observation and his intuitive sense gave him a mastery 
 over the question which very few possessed. His early 
 experiences, though they were but slight, had left him with 
 impressions of such vividness and fidelity to the truth that 
 he was able still to rely upon them. He was eager for 
 details of Vicksburg, and his references to the Mississippi 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 89 
 
 River proved that his memories of it had stayed by him, 
 filling his mind with the significance of the commercial 
 influence of the great waterway, and of its effect not only 
 upon the country at large, but particularly upon the Negro 
 population, which, now that the Mississippi was open from 
 its source to its mouth, would swarm to the river as a 
 channel of escape into the North. 
 
 After the President had been questioning me for some 
 time, he quickly turned the conversation one side, as if he 
 realized the severity of his catechism, and asked me what 
 I had seen since my arrival in the city. I reported a visit 
 to the Capitol, then in process of construction, whereupon 
 Mr. Lincoln asked what the workmen were doing. I told 
 him that they were about to raise the body of the statue 
 of Liberty to the dome, and that on the Senate wing they 
 were preparing the pillars for installation. The President 
 remarked that there were some people who thought the 
 work on the Capitol ought to stop on account of the war, 
 people who begrudged the expenditure, and the detention 
 of the workmen from the army. He went on to say that 
 in his judgment the finishing of the Capitol would be a 
 symbol to the Nation of the preservation of the Union. 
 " If people see the Capitol going on, it is a sign we intend 
 the Union shall go on." He expressed his belief in the 
 final triumph of the Union cause. There would be re- 
 verses and much bloodshed, but finally the Union army, 
 he felt assured, would be victorious. 
 
 At another time he interrupted his inquiries to ask if 
 Grant had told me of the raid made upon him — the 
 President — in Washington. I replied that I had not 
 heard of it. 
 
90 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Lincoln, " you know a raid in Wash- 
 ington is different from what you military men mean by a 
 raid. With you it is an attack by the enemy, — the capture 
 of soldiers and supplies ; with us it is an attack by our 
 friends in Congress seeking to influence a change in policy. 
 A company of Congressmen came to me to protest that 
 Grant ought not to be retained as a commander of Ameri- 
 can citizens. I asked what was the trouble. They said he 
 was not fit to command such men. I asked why, and they 
 said he sometimes drank too much and was unfit for such 
 a position. I then began to ask them if they knew what 
 he drank, what brand of whiskey he used, telling them 
 most seriously that I wished they would find out. They 
 conferred with each other and concluded they could not 
 tell what brand he used. I urged them to ascertain and 
 let me know, for if it made fighting generals like Grant, 
 I should like to get some of it for distribution." 
 
 The President's specific inquiries about my own work 
 were particularly keen. As we talked, he glanced at por- 
 tions of the written report which lay before him, and said 
 he would take it with him to the Soldiers' Home, where he 
 went each night for the quiet and comparative coolness he 
 enjoyed there. Against Mr. Lincoln's wishes, the Secre- 
 tary of War had insisted upon a squad of cavalry accom- 
 panying the President to and from the city as his guard. 
 The officer in charge of this cavalry escort reported at the 
 accustomed time and before my interview was over. I 
 took my leave, however, the President directing me to 
 call at an early hour the following morning. Outside, 
 I saw him as he passed in the carriage, and was much 
 impressed by the extreme awkwardness of his appearance, 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 91 
 
 — so contrary was it to what might be expected of the 
 great ruler of a great people. Mr. Lincoln's dignity and 
 impressiveness were certainly a triumph of the spirit over 
 the flesh. 
 
 I can never tell the full effect upon me of this first inter- 
 view with President Lincoln. We have grown used in this 
 later day to listening to the accounts of his overshadowing 
 determination to save the Union, of his deep conviction of 
 the righteousness of the principles fundamental to liberty, 
 but to those of us who came in contact with the man him- 
 self there was vouchsafed a revelation of personal power 
 transcending any similar experience which we might know. 
 It was not only the commanding greatness of his policy 
 which impressed one: the minuteness and variety of his 
 information, the ease and versatility with which everything 
 was treated, inspired the deepest confidence as to the fitness 
 of the man for the supreme emergency in which he was 
 acting. 
 
 According to my appointment, I returned to the White 
 House the next morning and received the copy of my 
 report. The President left me in no doubt as to the satis- 
 faction with which he had read the information contained 
 therein. He spoke at some length about the efforts that 
 had been made in the East to meet the Negro question, 
 
 — how he had urged deportation and colonization, and of 
 the failure of such efforts to solve the difficulty. His sym- 
 pathy with the suffering caused by some of the mistakes 
 was very evident. He told me, for instance, that the 
 Negroes in the Cow Island settlement on the coast of 
 Hayti were suffering intensely from a pest of "jiggers" 
 from which there seemed to be no escape or protection. 
 
m GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 His distress was as keen as it was sincere, and I have often 
 thought of it as an illustration of his kindness of heart, 
 which found no detail too insignificant upon which to ex- 
 pend itself. The spectacle of the President of the United 
 States, conducting the affairs of the Nation in the midst 
 of civil war, and genuinely affected by the discomfort 
 occasioned a little group of Negroes by an insect no bigger 
 than a pinhead, was a spectacle that has stayed by me all 
 my life. 
 
 Lincoln referred on one occasion, I remember, to the 
 half whimsical satisfaction and the relief felt by the North 
 when Butler — as he thought with great fitness — first 
 called the slaves of the disloyal " contraband of war." 
 The President also informed me during this interview that 
 he desired me to report to a committee, composed of 
 Dr. S. G. Howe of Boston, the well-known philanthropist. 
 Colonel McKaye of New York, and Robert Dale Owen of 
 Indiana, a former member of Congress. Mr. Lincoln had 
 previously told me of this body, which, he said, had been 
 appointed to consider the entire subject of our policy 
 toward the Negro in the present emergency. The Com- 
 mission — ■ known officially as the American Freedmen In- 
 quiry Commission — had recently been in conference in 
 New York, and the President desired me to go there and 
 meet them. 
 
 As soon, therefore, as my duties in Washington were 
 over, I left for New York to report to the Commission 
 then in session. Some general knowledge of the treatment 
 accorded to the Negroes in the Department of the Ten- 
 nessee had already reached the Commissioners. They 
 were preparing to follow their first report with a fuller 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 93 
 
 statement, and were glad to receive further details. I left 
 my report with them at their request, and after carefully 
 considering the facts set forth, and questioning me person- 
 ally, they concluded that our experience in the Valley was 
 a very valuable contribution to solving the problem of how 
 the freedmen should be treated. The Commission had 
 nothing essentially new to suggest, but they felt from the 
 first the necessity of some central point of control which 
 should insure united and uniform effort, and their repre- 
 sentations did much toward preparing the way for the 
 formation of the Freedmen's Bureau. The feeling that 
 men of sound judgment, and training in humanitarian 
 work, should find themselves in sympathy, from the the- 
 oretic standpoint, with the measures I had tried to put in 
 practice, was a great encouragement to me. I returned to 
 my duties much heartened by the approbation of the 
 President and the Commission. 
 
 In thinking over my interview with Mr. Lincoln I came 
 to the conclusion that apart from his shrewd catechism of 
 me with reference to the work I had been doing — which 
 was of course the reason of my approaching him at all — 
 his close questioning in regard to Grant was the most 
 remarkable feature of the interview. From that day to 
 this there has been a growing conviction in my mind that 
 the President meant to find out what his " fighting Gen- 
 eral " thought of his policy. What Lincoln thought of 
 Grant was pretty well determined, but true to his habit he 
 let slip no opportunity by which he might gain a clearer 
 view of the character of the man he was dealing with or of 
 the march of those events which in so great a measure he 
 himself controlled. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Return to the Valley. Meeting with Grant at Cairo. Banquet at 
 Memphis in Grant's honor. Down the river to Vicksburg with 
 Grant and his staff. The General talks of himself. Tales of his 
 intemperance. 
 
 UPON my arrival at Cairo on my way back to my 
 duties in the Valley, I found General Grant with 
 his staff on board his headquarters' boat. He 
 makes no reference to this trip to Cairo in his " Memoirs," 
 and I have never heard any adequate explanation of his 
 presence there ; but there he was, and a vast satisfaction it 
 was to me to see him. The General's boat was just about 
 to go down the river to Memphis, where a reception and 
 banquet were to be held at the Gayoso House, in celebra- 
 tion of his great victory, and it was arranged that I should 
 accompany him. On the way we talked of the two brilliant 
 victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. The staff were 
 eager for news from the East, and I regaled them with all 
 the details that had come to my ears in Washington and en 
 route. I had met many army officers and had had a number 
 of interesting conversations about the recent campaign on 
 the Potomac. Grant was particularly anxious to know 
 what reasons were understood to have influenced General 
 Meade not to pursue General Lee across the Potomac, — 
 or rather what induced him not to prevent Lee from cross- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 95 
 
 ing the Potomac at all. Grant seemed never to be alto- 
 gether persuaded that Meade was justified in not following 
 up his advantage at that point.^ Meade, of course, was 
 harshly criticized at the time, and has been since. General 
 Grant, too, it will be remembered, was subjected to much 
 adverse criticism in regard to his policy of paroling Pem- 
 berton's troops instead of holding them as prisoners of 
 war. He states his reasons with great force and clearness 
 in his " Memoirs," and he stated them in almost the same 
 language at the time. He told me, I remember, that it 
 was his conviction that comparatively few Confederates 
 captured at Vicksburg would be found in future engage- 
 ments. In my own trips up and down the river, I had 
 occasion in a small way to note the temper of the Confed- 
 erate troops who from time to time had surrendered to 
 our forces, and I came to the conclusion that many — 
 especially those involved in the Vicksburg campaign — 
 had had enough of the war. Indeed not a few of them 
 told me so in as many words. These men, even when 
 they boasted, and with reason, of their own prowess, were 
 disposed on the whole to marvel at the seeming ease with 
 
 1 Mr. F. A. Flower, the author of an unpublished biography of Stanton, 
 and the biographer of General Herman Haupt, — at one time Chief of 
 Transportation during the Civil War, and famous for the construction of 
 the Hoosac Tunnel, — says that he once questioned General Lee as to what 
 would have been the result had General Meade pursued him after the battle 
 of Gettysburg. Lee told Mr. Flower that Meade would have taken him at 
 a great disadvantage, and gave Flower the impression that one of the dark- 
 est hours of the Confederacy had been considerably illuminated by Meade's 
 decision not to pursue. General Haupt states in his own volume of rem- 
 iniscences that so great was his anxiety to have our advantage at Gettys- 
 burg followed up that he went himself on his private engine to plead with 
 Meade to pursue Lee at once and prevent him from crossing the Potomac. 
 General Haupt always believed that such a move would have settled the 
 conflict at once. 
 
96 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 which they had been defeated. A group captured at 
 Champion's Hill were plainly bewildered by the tactics 
 Grant had used against them. His blows, as they told me 
 in describing the battle, fell upon them from all sides, until 
 at last, in some unaccountable way, they found themselves 
 completely overpowered. 
 
 The uninterrupted journey down the river gave an un- 
 wonted opportunity for conversation. As we steamed past 
 Belmont and Columbus Grant told me the story of the bat- 
 tle of Belmont. It seemed to me then, as I listened to the 
 narrative from his own lips, and it has seemed to me ever 
 since, that the management of those raw troops at Belmont 
 indicated to a very remarkable degree the characteristics 
 which later put Grant in command of the Union forces. 
 Then, as ever, he showed that he understood himself com- 
 pletely, — by that I mean his aims and the methods by 
 which he meant to fulfil them ; he understood his oppo- 
 nent; whatever in his surroundings he could not be ab- 
 solutely familiar with beforehand, he was on the alert to 
 master at the very first opportunity (and it was the lack 
 of that very quality, by the way, which lost Waterloo to 
 Napoleon) ; and finally, he was careful and considerate of 
 his troops. Rob Grant of all his other characteristics as a 
 leader of armies, and these qualities, manifested so early 
 in his career, would still constitute him the great general 
 he was. 
 
 Grant has reported the battle of Belmont so fully in his 
 book that I shall not attempt to reproduce it here, although 
 its recital was one of the most interesting moments of my 
 intercourse with the General. One fact, however, is worthy 
 of note, because it testifies so plainly to his permanent value 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 97 
 
 as an historian. The language in which he told it then — 
 calm, dispassionate, yet full of appreciation of the dramatic 
 and the humorous features of the narrative — was almost 
 identically the same in which the story reappears in his 
 " Memoirs." ^ Horace Porter, in his " Campaigning with 
 Grant," speaks of the literalness of Grant's mind and the 
 scrupulous regard for truth which obliged him to give to 
 each detail the same conscientious consideration as he be- 
 stowed upon the most essential statement. This quality — 
 redeemed by the sense of proportion which men of his 
 type seldom lack — stood him in good stead when, after 
 long years crowded with new interests, he came to write of 
 the events of the past. 
 
 The staff had many stories to tell me of the skirmishes 
 in which the colored troops organized by Thomas had en- 
 gaged in the neighborhood of Lake Providence, Milliken's 
 Bend, and Young's Point, and in which they had main- 
 tained themselves with so much gallantry. The General 
 himself told me of the situation about Vicksburg, where 
 there were, so he said, some twenty thousand Negroes de- 
 manding my attention, to say nothing of the thousands that 
 must be cared for in and around Natchez. He urged me 
 again to take command of one of the regiments then form- 
 ing, but as yet I could not see that such a step was neces- 
 sary to the performance of my duty, and I was determined 
 to avoid it if possible. 
 
 The banquet at Memphis in honor of General Grant was 
 largely attended by officers and citizens. I remember the 
 two long tables at which the guests were seated, and across 
 one end of these the table reserved for the General and 
 
 * Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Vol. 1, p. 269. 
 7 
 
98 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 his immediate staff. I was given a seat a little down the 
 table on the right, from which point I had the General's 
 place at the head of the table directly under my eye. I 
 had had opportunity enough to assure myself of General 
 Grant's temperate habits, but the rumors that circulated 
 freely in the country made me watchful of all that oc- 
 curred. His wine glasses and those of General Rawlins, 
 his chief of staff, remained inverted throughout the dinner, 
 although there was even more than the usual freedom in 
 the use of wines among the other guests. Personally I 
 never saw wine at Grant's headquarters; Rawlins was a 
 total abstinence man, — so much so that he was thought by 
 his friends to have hastened his death by refusing to take 
 stimulants, — and all whiskey was sent by his order to the 
 hospitals. 
 
 After the banquet I was separated from the other guests 
 for a short time while I attended to getting my baggage on 
 board, for we were to leave for Vicksburg early the next 
 morning. Somewhat late, as I' passed through the cabin 
 to my stateroom, I found General Grant sitting by the table, 
 smoking. He spoke to me, and I lingered a few moments 
 in conversation. As we were chatting together, other 
 officers came in, among them an older man of high rank 
 who proceeded to regale the General — young as he was — 
 with a somewhat unsavory anecdote intended to amuse 
 him. As the character of the story became evident Grant 
 grew plainly uneasy, and before it had reached the con- 
 clusion he blushed to his hair, although in deference to the 
 age and rank of the speaker he did not permit himself to 
 make any comment. The offending officer, however, see- 
 ing the effect of his story, withdrew as quickly as he could. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 99 
 
 It is safe to say he never again tried the experiment in 
 Grant's presence. 
 
 The other men dropped off to bed, but General Grant 
 was in a communicative mood, and I was ready enough to 
 listen to his stories of his early life in the old army. His 
 conversation had a never-failing charm for me, and nothing 
 pleased me better than to hear him talk about himself. He 
 told me, I remember, of his experiences in the Mexican 
 War, and the following years when he was stationed on the 
 Pacific Coast at Vancouver. Here it was that he became 
 familiar through personal experience with all branches of 
 the service. As commanding officer he would sometimes 
 find himself in the somewhat amusing predicament of 
 indorsing papers which he had previously drawn up in the 
 capacity of quartermaster or commissary. His familiarity 
 with the details of all the various departments gave him a 
 tremendous advantage when the necessity arose during the 
 Civil War of training the members of his staff in their 
 separate duties. Nearly all his staff officers were drawn 
 from civilians who had never had a particle of military 
 training, but nearly all became especially proficient. Raw- 
 lins was one of the greatest adjutant-generals in the army, 
 and of Bowers, Grant was wont to say that he never lost a 
 paper. In the course of his reminiscences that evening 
 Grant referred to one man who stood out in his memory of 
 those Western days as a man absolutely to be trusted in 
 the discharge of his duty. The officer who had so im- 
 pressed the General was a certain paymaster named Eaton 
 whom I met at Fremont's headquarters. Grant told me that 
 he invariably balanced his account at the close of each day, 
 and if a few pennies were lacking to make the account 
 
100 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 even, he would supply the deficiency at once from his own 
 pocket. Years afterward, when Grant was President, he 
 told me that he had appointed this man to the post of pay- 
 master in the Department of Oregon. So carefully did 
 Grant — like Lincoln — estimate the men he came in con- 
 tact with, remember them, and place them where their 
 good qualities were particularly needed. On this same 
 occasion Grant referred to the vice of intemperance, which 
 was so common among the officers in the West, and spoke 
 of its deleterious effect upon the army. This, he remarked, 
 had not a little to do with his decision to resign. He was 
 not able to support his family on the pay he was then 
 drawing, and there was little prospect of rapid advancement, 
 so he determined to cut loose from a life which was full of 
 temptation, without many compensating advantages, and 
 return to his family. He spoke very frankly of the strug- 
 gle that ensued to provide for his wife and children, — 
 his efforts to develop the farm his father-in-law had given 
 him, of his attempt to earn money as a surveyor, and his 
 final decision to work in his father's store at Galena, at 
 which place the outbreak of the war had found him. 
 There is evidence enough as to the difficulty of those 
 years preceding the war. The General's father had told 
 me when I saw him at Grand Junction that when " Ulysses " 
 got his commission he did not have the money in hand 
 wherewith to purchase his uniform, and in addition to that 
 testimony I remember meeting, quite by chance, just before 
 the close of hostilities, a man who had known Grant in the 
 St. Louis days when he was eking out a precarious livelihood 
 by selling wood which he hauled into town himself. The 
 man was so impressed with the struggle Grant was making. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 101 
 
 and with his good sense and pluck, that he told Grant when- 
 ever he had a load of wood on his hands for which he 
 wanted to find a customer, to drop it on his premises and he 
 would hold himself responsible for its purchase. 
 
 As the General talked to me that night on the river boat, 
 the earher memories giving place in his narrative to the 
 more recent experiences of the Civil War, and the steps by 
 which he came to assume his present responsibilities and 
 honors, there was not the faintest touch of pride in his 
 references to the changes that had come to him. There 
 was no boasting, no unpleasant reflections upon any one. 
 Although he had had much to suffer that might have been 
 avoided, he referred to the trials and the triumphs of his 
 life as dispassionately as if these had been connected with 
 some one other than himself. 
 
 Throughout the long trip from Memphis to Vicksburg 
 these talks with the General became more and more 
 familiar. He told me on one occasion how the story of 
 his drinking originated at Cairo. His headquarters there 
 were on the second floor of an old building and confined 
 to a single room. Employed in either the commissary or 
 the quartermaster's departments — and my memory does 
 not serve me as to which — was an old army officer who 
 was disposed to be offensively loquacious and convivial. 
 In order to escape the old fellow's importunities, and also 
 because the room at best was overcrowded. Grant had his 
 own desk and chair moved into what was little more than 
 an adjoining hallway. The loquacious officer took Grant's 
 refusals to drink with him as a personal grievance, and 
 promptly circulated the report that Grant had withdrawn 
 into the little room in order to have his own drinks unob- 
 
102 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 served and unmolested. Unfortunately Grant, upon as- 
 suming command at Cairo, had been obliged to offend the 
 newspaper men — chiefly representatives of the New York 
 papers — by restricting the information conveyed to them 
 for publication. This had become necessary because the 
 discipline when Grant first took hold had grown so lax 
 that intercommunication between the Union and Confed- 
 erate armies was carried on to an unwarrantable extent. 
 Finding their war items curtailed, the correspondents took 
 their revenge and filled out the columns of their respective 
 papers by quoting the story circulated by the old officer 
 whose feelings had been wounded by Grant's austerity. 
 It so happened that I had met the same group of news- 
 paper men in St. Louis when they had come up from Fort 
 Donelson, and General Grant's story as he told it to me 
 agreed perfectly with what the correspondents themselves 
 had told me. I saw a good deal of them, — talked with 
 them collectively and one at a time, — and their unanimous 
 testimony was to the effect that Grant himself was irre- 
 proachable, whatever might appear to the contrary in 
 their papers. They had printed " the news " and left 
 it to the public to decide what to accept and what to 
 disbelieve. 
 
 These conversations in which the General told me so 
 freely of his own life were as unexpected to me as they 
 were delightful. I was particularly impressed by the frank- 
 ness with which he referred to the accusation of intemper- 
 ance made against him. It was plain that the army life in 
 Washington Territory and Oregon had been full of tempta- 
 tions, and it is more than probable that he followed the 
 example of the other officers while there. To escape from 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 103 
 
 the environment was certainly one motive for his leaving 
 the army, and I feel impelled to state as plainly as I can 
 that in my judgment Grant's temperance was unimpeach- 
 able after he had re-entered the service and started upon 
 his great career. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Arrival at Vicksburg. Thirty thousand contrabands to be cared for 
 near that point. Organization, by Grant's advice, of the colored 
 invalid corps, or " Home Guards." Appointed Colonel of the 
 63d United States Colored Infantry. Value of these regiments 
 to the Freedmen's Department. 
 
 IT was the 28th of August when our boat brought us 
 to Vicksburg, and at once I found myself confronted 
 with a vast amount of work which must be undertaken 
 on behalf of the Negroes. In my diary for that date, after 
 a brief personal entry, I find this single sentence : " How 
 appalling my labor here ! " Captain Thomas, in whose 
 hands I had left the affairs of the freedmen during my 
 absence in Washington, had been so obviously in ill health 
 that Grant had noticed his condition and had insisted upon 
 his taking time to rest and recuperate. He soon returned 
 to his duties, however, and together we attacked the prob- 
 lem of caring for the destitute and of organizing into effi- 
 cient squads those Negroes who were capable of working. 
 It was one of the busiest and most difficult periods of my 
 life, but we were able gradually to effect a great deal, both 
 for the individual Negro and for the Government. 
 
 About a year after our work in Vicksburg was inaugu- 
 rated, I wrote a letter of a semi-official character, describ- 
 ing among other things the scenes which were constantly 
 before us at the beginning of the Vicksburg period. I 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 105 
 
 quote, with slight verbal change, the following passages 
 from that contemporary record : ^ 
 
 " The scenes were appalling : the refugees were crowded to- 
 gether, sickly, disheartened, dying on the streets, not a family of 
 them all either well sheltered, clad, or fed ; no physicians, no 
 medicines, no hospitals ; many of the persons who had been 
 charged with feeding them either sick or dead. Such scenes, 
 if any, were calculated to make one doubt the policy of eman- 
 cipation. The distress was incident upon stupendous military 
 operations ; the whites suffered as well as the blacks, and all were 
 temporarily fed by the Government. The only industry found among 
 twenty thousand — there were ten thousand more scattered on the 
 opposite bank of the river — was that performed by twelve men 
 with axes. . . . The ideas of the people had not been improved by 
 idleness and association with the army. The great multitude were 
 unprepared to work beyond supplying their immediate necessities. 
 As laborers they came and went regardless of their agreements or 
 the wishes of their employers. Housekeepers often had a new 
 cook for each meal in the day. . . . Their minds were not adjusted 
 to the new situation. Laborers were so abundant. Southern preju- 
 dice against paying blacks was so great, that it required almost 
 superhuman efforts on the part of my officers to secure payment, 
 and trustworthiness in service. . . . The results are, on the whole, 
 very favorable. We introduced no great machinery. Our aim 
 was, by the simplest principles and expedients to bring labor and 
 its rewards into their natural relations to the people. . . . Artisans 
 — those who have been house or body servants — have largely 
 gathered in the cities. They are not so far an exception to the 
 rest of humanity as to be free from vice and crime. . . . They 
 have not that immaculate humanity which never idles, lies, or 
 steals ; they are not free from family quarrels, or murder, or from 
 poverty and distress, but in all our cities they are an interesting 
 industrial class, — manageable, and susceptible of improvement. 
 Many more among them have learned to read and write than 
 among the whites. Any one of a candid and unprejudiced mind 
 1 Letter to Levi Coffin, Vicksburg, Miss., July 5, 1864. 
 
106 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 cannot look over the sanne people now and fail to pronounce 
 emancipation a success. Accomplished in a state of peace, grad- 
 ually and by the action of the master, there would be less suffering. 
 But the slaveocracy, over-riding the better judgment of many in the 
 South, forced events, and common sense and interest, as well as 
 Christian principle, prompt all to make the best of the conse- 
 quences. The great social and civil wound inflicted by the rebel- 
 lion can be healed only by sloughing off the evils of slavery. 
 Government and benevolence must throw in the restorative ele- 
 ments of intelligence, virtue, and industry." 
 
 On our meeting at Cairo, General Grant had told me of 
 the death of Mr. Shirley, who had not long survived the 
 fall of Vicksburg, — a victory to which the old gentleman 
 had looked forward with such ardent patriotism. The long 
 walk back to his wife and son, and the exposure in the 
 cave on the hillside, had proved more than he could 
 endure. I went at once upon my arrival to see Mrs. 
 Shirley, whom Grant had established temporarily in a de- 
 serted house in Vicksburg. She told me that the General 
 had promised to recommend her young s6n Quincy for an 
 appointment to West Point. 
 
 Not long after our return to Vicksburg General Grant 
 went on the ill-starred visit to General Banks, at New 
 Orleans, during which he received the only serious injury 
 which befell him in the whole course of the war. His 
 splendid horsemanship was powerless to save him, for the 
 horse he was riding — a vicious animal and little used, 
 presented to General Banks by his friends in Massachu- 
 setts — became terrified at a locomotive and fell, with his 
 rider under him. The General was laid up for a week or 
 more at New Orleans, and even after his return to Vicksburg 
 on September i6, it was some time before he could leave 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 107 
 
 his bed without assistance. During this time I saw him 
 frequently at his headquarters, and he took occasion again 
 to urge upon me the advisabilty of my assuming command 
 of a regiment of colored troops. This was all the satisfac- 
 tion I could get from him when I once more requested 
 the revocation of the orders under which I was acting, and 
 asked to be returned to my regiment and my profession. 
 I was obliged to admit that I was embarrassed in the per- 
 formance of my duties by the lack of military rank, and 
 that the proposition made by Grant would much facilitate 
 my operations. We talked over the situation very thor- 
 oughly. It was General Grant's intention to have me make 
 the organization under me a sort of Home Guard, — a col- 
 ored military force, within the regular army, which should 
 perform the duties required of troops in protecting the 
 plantations, the wood-cutting operations, and the various 
 enterprises undertaken beneath our superintendence. He 
 pointed out that I need not assemble the regiment, but 
 distribute it in small groups throughout the Valley, 
 wherever the safety and comfort of the inhabitants should 
 indicate the need. After weighing the matter some time, 
 I consented. Accordingly General L. Thomas appointed 
 me Colonel of the 9th Louisiana Colored Infantry, then 
 forming, and issued an order, from which I quote only 
 the following: 
 
 Goodrich Landing, La., 
 Special Orders, October 2, 1863. 
 
 No. 92. 
 
 [Extract.] 
 
 II. The following Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and 
 Privates are announced as Officers of the Ninth Regiment Louis- 
 iana Volunteers of African Descent. They will be detailed from 
 
108 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 their respective Regiments, to raise the troops, and as rapidly as 
 Companies, Battalions and the Regiment are organized they will 
 be mustered into the new Regiment. 
 
 Colonel: John Eaton, Jr., Chaplain 27th Ohio Volunteers. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel: Samuel Thomas, Captain 27th Ohio 
 
 Volunteers. 
 Major: William G. Sargent, Quartermaster Serg't 7th 
 
 Kans. Cav. 
 Adjutant with rank of First Lieutenant : 1st Lieutenant, George 
 
 Young, 27th Ohio Volunteers. 
 Quartermaster^ with rank of First Lieutenant : Private Benjamin 
 
 K. Johnson, Co. "K " 27th Ohio Volunteers. 
 Surgeon: D. O. McCord, M.D. 
 
 [The Order continues with a list of the captains and subordi- 
 nate officers.] 
 
 III. When fully organized the troops will be reported to Major- 
 General U. S. Grant, Commanding Department of the Tennessee. 
 
 By order of the Secretary of War. 
 
 (Signed) L. Thomas, 
 Colonel John Eaton, Jr., Adjutant-General. 
 
 Com'd'g. 9th La. Vol. A. D. 
 
 In view of the proposed character of the regiment, we 
 accepted as soldiers men who, though they were of a lower 
 grade of physique than that which is acceptable in the 
 regular army, were competent to fulfil all the duties of the 
 camp wherever they might be stationed, and to resist attacks 
 from the bands of guerillas that infested the country and 
 threatened the plantations. The regiment was filled very 
 rapidly, and an order for a second regiment of like char- 
 acter was issued. Of this regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Samuel Thomas was appointed Colonel on my recom- 
 mendation. An extract from the order follows : 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 109 
 
 Goodrich Landing, La. 
 Special Orders, November 5, 1863. 
 
 No. 92. 
 
 [Extract.] 
 
 IV. Colonel John Eaton, Jr., 9th Regiment Louisiana Volun- 
 teers of African Descent, is hereby authorized to raise a Second 
 Regiment of Colored Troops in the Department of the Tennessee 
 to be denominated the 7 th Regiment Louisiana Volunteers of 
 African Descent. The Regiment will be composed of such men 
 as may be incapacitated for active service in the field but who 
 are otherwise fitted for ordinary garrison duty. Colonel Eaton is 
 authorized to recruit for this Regiment in any of the camps for col- 
 ored people within this Department, including Arkansas, and all 
 Commanding Officers are directed to facilitate him in his endeavors 
 to fill up this Regiment with as little delay as possible. 
 
 By order of the Secretary of War. 
 
 (Signed) L. Thomas, 
 Colonel John Eaton, Jr., Adjutant-General. 
 
 9th La. Vol. A. D. 
 
 Soon after their organization it was deemed advisable to 
 change the names of these twro regiments — along with 
 others — and accordingly Order No. 7 was issued by Gen- 
 eral Thomas on March 11, 1864. Thereafter the regiments 
 were known respectively as the 63d and 64th United States 
 Colored Infantry. Later, my brother L. B. Eaton, who 
 had served as staff officer at Chattanooga, was appointed 
 Colonel of the 69th United States Colored Infantry. The 
 regiment was partly organized, and the officers of the staff 
 were appointed and had already been assigned to duty as 
 superintendents of the freed labor in the Valley, — so great 
 was the demand for such service, — but before the full regi- 
 mental complement had been secured, Lee surrendered to 
 Grant at Appomattox, the order to cease enlisting was 
 
110 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 issued, and the uncompleted regiment was mustered out of 
 service. 
 
 It will be inferred by the foregoing that at least one end 
 served by the formation of the colored invalid corps, or 
 " Home Guards " as they were informally called, was to 
 secure a group of officers whose particular duty it should 
 be to act as officers of freedmen, but who at the same time, 
 should belong to a definite and united military organi- 
 zation. My assistants — whatever their rank — had previ- 
 ously been detached temporarily from regimental service 
 upon undertaking the work for the freedmen. With the 
 new order of things, however, the superintendents of freed- 
 men were themselves officers in an organization especially 
 intended to serve as a vehicle for the fulfilment of their 
 duties. We found this to be a great advantage in our 
 work, which from that time on became more systematic 
 and efficient in character. It was indeed this military 
 organization, existing in a sense independently of the will 
 of any Department commander, which gave unity, security, 
 and stability to our work for the freedmen in the Valley. 
 Even after Grant's departure from the Mississippi region, 
 the coming of commanders some of whom were sym- 
 pathetic with our efforts, and some of whom were not, 
 affiscted our labors less than it would have done with- 
 out this minor military organization through which to 
 work. 
 
 The organization's efficiency, as well as some of the diffi- 
 culties with which we dealt, will be made more clear by the 
 following extract from an order issued by General L. 
 Thomas from Goodrich Landing, Louisiana, November 5, 
 1863: 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 111 
 
 Special Orders, 
 No. 94. 
 
 Col. John Eaton, Jr., gth Regiment Louisiana Volunteers of 
 African Descent, is continued as General Superintendent of Freed- 
 men for the Department of the Tennessee, including Arkansas. 
 
 He will assign the Field and Staff of the Regiment raised by him 
 for the supervision and protection of these people and their 
 industry, to duty as his General Assistants, and the companies and 
 their commanders to local duty. All Assistant Superintendents will 
 be subject to his order. 
 
 This supervision will embrace the guardianship of the freed 
 people, their registration ; all necessary permits and contracts for 
 labor with private parties, lessees, officers, citizens, or others, the 
 provision of industry for them in camp or on plantations to be 
 worked by the infirm, vagrant or idle, and all others necessarily or 
 temporarily in charge of the Government. 
 
 No freed people will be recruited or ordered out of camp except- 
 ing through the Officers in charge. 
 
 Superintendents will encourage the people to answer calls to 
 industry by voluntary agreement to labor, and enforce the inviola- 
 bility of the agreement. 
 
 To prevent the frequent infringement of the interests of these 
 people, and secure proper uniformity to the action of the Govern- 
 ment, there will be no change of the regulations, forms of contract, 
 permits, etc., excepting through the General Superintendent. 
 
 Whenever the General Superintendent shall assign a commis- 
 sioned officer of his command to a local or district Superin- 
 tendent, as Acting Assistant Quartermaster and Commissary of 
 freedmen, supplies will be turned over in bulk. 
 
 The A. Q. M. and Commissary of freedmen will issue these sup- 
 plies on such returns as may be ordered by the proper Superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 No rations will be issued for the use of the free people except 
 on the approval of the properly authorized Superintendent. 
 
 The conclusion of the order provides for matters which 
 do not concern us here. 
 
112 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 I have dwelt somewhat in detail upon these regiments 
 composing the colored invalid corps because they repre- 
 sent a distinct though humble phase of the service, the 
 usefulness of which deserves to be recorded and fixed in 
 the public mind. By means of this minor organization 
 about twenty-five hundred men were added to the military 
 forces in the Valley before the surrender of General Lee. 
 The bravery of the colored troops who fought in the larger 
 engagements, such as those at Port Hudson or Milliken's 
 Bend, thrilled the country at the time and is in little danger 
 of being forgotten by later generations, but the humbler 
 duty of safeguarding the plantations from assaults which 
 were often vindictive and particularly cruel, the task of pro- 
 tecting the women and children, the aged and infirm, — 
 these were services which devolved upon men debarred by 
 physical incapacity from the more heroic campaigns en- 
 dured by their brothers, but no whit less devoted to the 
 Union, no whit less brave in their loyalty to the cause that 
 had freed them.^ 
 
 1 I am reminded of another service performed by the contrabands which 
 deserves to be better appreciated. It was General Herman Haupt, it will be 
 remembered, who organized the magnificent engineer corps which afterwards 
 accompanied Sherman on his march to the sea. Of the contrabands — one 
 hundred or more in number — who formed the bulk of this corps, General 
 Haupt says in his " Reminiscences " (p. 319) : " If there ever should be rec- 
 ognition of their great services [/. e. services of the members of the corps], 
 the faithful contrabands will be justly entitled to their share ; no other class 
 of men would have exhibited so much patience and endurance under days 
 and nights of continued and sleepless labor." It was to this corps that the 
 Confederates alluded when they were wont to exclaim, " No use tearing up 
 the roads, for old man Sherman will come along and run trains before we are 
 through twisting the rails." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Up the river with Grant to Cairo. An autograph letter. Grant as- 
 sumes command at Chattanooga. Trip to Chattanooga after the 
 battle. Grant's attitude toward the officers of the Army of the 
 Cumberland. His influence on the political situation in Ten- 
 nessee. His unflagging interest in the refugees and freedmen. 
 
 A LITTLE more than one month after General Grant's 
 return from New Orleans the order from the Sec- 
 - retary of War desiring him to report to Cairo was 
 received. On the same day that the order reached him 
 the General took the boat up the river. He was still far 
 from recovered from his injury. No one knew exactly 
 what the order portended, but in view of the threatening 
 situation in the East, we were quite prepared to hear that 
 General Grant was to be sent to conduct the operations 
 around Chattanooga in person. On the strength of this 
 probability I determined to accompany the General as far 
 as Cairo. If it should turn out that he was to be removed 
 from our midst and plunged into a dangerous and engross- 
 ing campaign, every moment in which I could be with him 
 and secure his assistance in mapping out the work for the 
 freedmen seemed to me invaluable. 
 
 In this connection I am tempted to interrupt my narra- 
 tive in order to introduce a letter, in Grant's handwriting, 
 which to the best of my recollection was written by Gen- 
 eral Grant just at this time. Unfortunately the letter is 
 
114 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 unsigned and undated, but it is worth presenting for sev- 
 eral reasons. Apart from its contents, it testifies to a habit 
 very characteristic of Grant, — that of writing down with 
 his own hand whatever he had to say to subordinates and 
 superiors ahke. The following is, I believe, just such a 
 rough draft as he was in the habit of making, to be handed 
 on to his clerks or some member of his staff when it was 
 necessary to have a duplicate or a clean copy made of the 
 communication. The contents of the letter certainly show 
 how genuine was Grant's concern for the welfare of the 
 freedmen, and how generously he gave me all the co- 
 operation and help in his power. If my memory serves 
 me, he addressed this statement to one or more of the 
 military commanders who were scattered throughout the 
 Valley in command of the small detachments of troops left 
 at various points, and who, in the absence of General Sher- 
 man, — Grant's successor in the command of the Depart- 
 ment of the Tennessee, — would in a measure control the 
 fate of the freedmen. Grant was unfailingly loyal to the 
 interests of the people I represented, and tried thus to 
 make the way smooth for me with the generals he left be- 
 hind. It is probable that the indorsement was written on 
 board the river boat on the way to Cairo, but of this I 
 cannot speak with any certainty. I quote the letter 
 verbatim : 
 
 " I have read the within letter of Col. J. Eaton, Jr., Supt. of 
 Freedmen for the Dept. of the Tenn., and respectfully invite spe- 
 cial attention to it. Col. Eaton has worked most faithfully as Supt. 
 of these people for more than one year studying the most practi- 
 cable means of ameliorating the condition of Freedmen and how to 
 relieve the Govt, as far as practicable of the expense of their main- 
 tenance. He is more conversant with this subject than any man 
 
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 3 
 
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GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 115 
 
 I know in the Dept. of the Tenn. and is practical in his ideas. 
 He is perfectly sincere in his labors and has no selfish ends to 
 accomplish and therefore his views are entitled to full weight. 
 The regulations of Freedmen within the, different Departments I 
 propose to leave entirely to Commanders of Departments, so far 
 as the Military are left to control, but the importance of an early 
 settlement of Freedmen for the coming season being imminent, and 
 General Sherman being off where his attention cannot be called to 
 the matter, I make this endorsement. Col. Eaton will also forward 
 within a day or two regulations which he will prepare for the leas- 
 ing of abandoned plantations and for the employment of colored 
 people." 
 
 I am inclined to think that the phrase " so far as the 
 Military are left to control " refers to certain regulations 
 of the Treasury Department which, though well-intentioned, 
 gave us infinite trouble later on, and which were about to 
 be enforced just at the time Grant left for Chattanooga.-^ 
 
 On the loth of October — to resume my story — Grant 
 left Vicksburg, and I accompanied him on the reverse of 
 that trip down the river which we had made together not 
 many weeks before. Young Quincy Shirley went with us, 
 on his way to a school where he could be fitted for West 
 Point. 
 
 General Rawlins, who, as Grant's chief of staff, had 
 charge of our expedition, was constantly urging upon the 
 captain the necessity for haste. The old river boat was 
 rushed along at a speed which seemed as if it might prove 
 fatal at any moment, and the keel would scrape and grind 
 the river bottom in the most disturbing fashion. Six days 
 after our departure we arrived at Cairo. Grant, in pursu- 
 ance of further instructions which reached him next morn- 
 
 1 These complications are explained at some length in the course of 
 Chapter XII. 
 
116 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 ing, started at once for Louisville via Indianapolis, at which 
 point, it will be remembered, his train was stopped by a 
 messenger just as it was drawing out from the city, and he 
 was informed that the Secretary of War, whom he had not 
 yet met in person, was entering the station and desired to 
 see him. Mr. Stanton accompanied Grant to Louisville 
 and gave him the order putting him in command of the 
 newly created Division of the Mississippi, — composed of 
 the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the 
 Tennessee, — and relieving Rosecrans of his command. 
 Thus was Grant fairly launched upon the great under- 
 taking of rescuing from defeat the Union troops at 
 Chattanooga. 
 
 Immediately upon Grant's departure from Cairo I re- 
 turned to Vicksburg, where we labored unremittingly at 
 our appointed task. I was obliged, of course, to make fre- 
 quent trips up and down the Mississippi and the Arkansas 
 rivers, superintending and investigating our operations, but 
 our headquarters were now at Vicksburg, and that city 
 may be said to have been during this period our most ex- 
 acting field of endeavor. So many problems arose which 
 it seemed advisable to submit to the judgment of General 
 Grant that after the passage of some months I again 
 sought him out, leaving Vicksburg on February 9, and 
 going all the way to Chattanooga to see him. I was also 
 able at the same time to confer with General Lorenzo 
 Thomas. 
 
 At Chattanooga I found Grant with his mind full of the 
 scenes through which he and the army had been passing. 
 He told me of his efforts, on his arrival, to get food and 
 medicine for the suffering troops. He described the ma- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 117 
 
 noeuvres by which Hooker's force at Bridgeport crossed 
 the Tennessee River to the southern side, and marched up 
 to Brown's Ferry, while General Palmer, moving down on 
 the north side, held the road in the rear, — Hooker arriv- 
 ing in time to support the troops in command of General 
 Hazen that had floated down the river under cover of the 
 night, and surprised and captured the Confederate pickets 
 at Brown's Ferry. General Smith — whom Grant already 
 referred to as " Baldy " — marched on the north side of 
 the river direct from Chattanooga and had his men ferried 
 over two hours after Hazen's arrival. A detail of Smith's 
 command promptly constructed the pontoon bridge so that 
 the new outpost in the Lookout Valley was connected with 
 the main divisions of the army still centred at Chat- 
 tanooga. By this operation the river was opened to the 
 Union forces from Lookout Valley to Bridgeport, and 
 supplies could be brought up within a few miles of Chat- 
 tanooga by steamer as well as by a wagon road, on the 
 north side of the Tennessee, which had previously been 
 harassed by the enemy and rendered dangerous to our 
 forces. 
 
 Grant went on in his enthusiasm to talk about the great 
 battle which followed this preparatory manoeuvre in about 
 a month's time, — when the troops had regained health 
 and courage. He was unstinted in his praise of the gal- 
 lant conduct of both officers and men. 
 
 I had a brother, L. B. Eaton, to whom I have already 
 referred, on the staff of one of the brigade commanders — 
 Colonel, afterwards General, Harker of the 65th Ohio — in 
 Sheridan's division, serving under George H. Thomas at 
 that time. His account of the charge up Missionary 
 
118 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Ridge, in which he took part, is still vivid in my mind. 
 He told me, I remember, that the officers, on reaching the 
 crest where the enemy had established a battery, flung 
 themselves upon the captured field guns, embracing them 
 in a grotesque passion of triumph. The wave of emotional 
 excitement which had swept them up the hillside under 
 fire of the enemy shattered itself thus fantastically at the 
 summit when the crisis was over. 
 
 The Nation had been tremendously stirred by the vic- 
 tories at Chattanooga, and Grant must have been made to 
 feel that he was the hero of the hour, but he talked of it all 
 as calmly and simply as if he had been a subordinate and 
 an observer merely. From the talks I had with Grant at 
 this time, the strongest impression I received was of the 
 dignity and manliness of his attitude toward the officers 
 who had shared with him the triumphs of the past cam- 
 paign. He had come to Chattanooga to assume command 
 over a group of men who knew him for the most part by 
 reputation only; he had put into triumphant execution 
 plans which had been in part labored over and prepared 
 for by other men ; he had wrested victory out of a situa- 
 tion which had come perilously near destroying the pluck 
 and fortitude of the army, but his fair dealing and gener- 
 ous appreciation of merit wherever it was to be found had 
 completely won for him the confidence of every man in the 
 combined commands, from his generals to the rank and 
 file of the army. His appreciation of the work done by 
 General Thomas and General Smith was particularly keen. 
 Of Thomas I remember he once said that one of the few 
 qualities of a great general in which he was lacking was 
 confidence in himself 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 119 
 
 Another fact which vastly impressed me was the readi- 
 ness which General Grant still manifested to listen and 
 give aid to the cause of the Negroes in the Valley. There 
 were not a few division commanders to whom the subject 
 of the Negro was always an unwelcome topic, but Grant, 
 although he had left the field of my work far behind him 
 and was facing an entirely new and dissimilar situation 
 himself, was none the less willing to take up the thread of 
 his thought once more and discuss with me problems 
 which only his strong sense of humanity and justice could 
 have invested with interest for him at that time. The 
 colored refugee problem in eastern Tennessee did not 
 begin to assume the proportions which he had had to deal 
 with in and around Memphis or Vicksburg, and indeed 
 throughout the territory under my jurisdiction, but the 
 prejudice of the whites against the Negro was even more 
 acute. In the country about Chattanooga and all through 
 eastern Tennessee the refugees were principally of that 
 interesting class in the South — descendants of the sturdy 
 Scotch-Irish emigrants, some of whom had fallen victims 
 to the indentured labor system — to whom slavery had not 
 extended a gracious hand and who had suffered from the 
 aristocratic form of society which the institution had set up. 
 Too poor to profit by its advantages, these people had 
 gradually found themselves cut off from possession of the 
 more productive lands, and practically confined to their 
 mountain homes and " poor lands," — meagre in equip- 
 ment and productivity as these often were. It was one 
 of Mr. Lincoln's wise dreams to put this population into 
 direct communication with Northern enterprise and influ- 
 ences, and to this end he would have had a road built into 
 
120 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 the heart of their region from Cincinnati. The building of 
 this road he would have made one of the duties of the army 
 early in the war. The military commanders, however, dis- 
 couraged the notion, and gave the President to understand 
 that the soldiers had enlisted to fight for the Nation, not 
 to build roads. The great Calhoun, it will be remembered, 
 had cherished a similar scheme for connecting Charleston 
 with the immense enterprises centering about Cincinnati 
 and Chicago. How much such a plan might have accom- 
 plished in obviating the gravitation apart of the two sec- 
 tions of the country can now only be inferred, but any one 
 who has observed the great impetus to Southern develop- 
 ment afforded in later days by the railroad reaching south 
 from Cincinnati will at least be inclined to speculate upon 
 the subject. As it was, in spite of the splendid loyalty of 
 many of the mountaineers, the Confederacy vied with the 
 Union in securing the sympathy of the population of east- 
 ern Tennessee, under circumstances which, even after the 
 downfall of Isham G. Harris's government, favored the 
 South because of the easy communication which the region 
 had with Richmond. After Grant's arrival, however, the 
 people began to accustom themselves to turn to him as to 
 the representative of Government rather than to the author- 
 ities at Richmond, and the military government of Andrew 
 Johnson derived much vitality from Grant's wise and care- 
 ful manipulation. From the time of his arrival on the scene 
 he had carefully been inducing and fostering a Union 
 sentiment by every means in his power. The refugee 
 question was largely in the hands of the Military Governor, 
 but Grant was keenly alive to the fate of the mountain 
 whites who came to his lines for sympathy and protection. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 121 
 
 The Rev. J. M. Walden, corresponding secretary of the 
 Western Freedmen's Aid Commission, commenting on the 
 assistance rendered his society by the Freedmen's Depart- 
 ment in the Mississippi Valley, refers specifically to Grant's 
 efforts in middle Tennessee. " We received but little co- 
 operation from any officers there," reports Mr. Walden, 
 " till General Grant assumed command of the department. 
 A store-room was then immediately secured at Nashville ; 
 an order given for the transportation of all supplies, and 
 another for rations for our teachers." Many individuals 
 out of the comparatively small number of refugee freed- 
 men at this point entered the regiments organized by 
 Major Stearns and Captain, afterwards General, Mussey, — 
 a classmate of mine at Dartmouth, who, by the way, was 
 the first officer of the regular army to volunteer for the 
 service of enlisting Negroes. 
 
 Among those who came from the North to help in pro- 
 viding for the destitute, no one gave more freely of time, 
 money, and personal services than Christopher H. Roberts. 
 Recognizing the desperate need for some sort of educa- 
 tional facilities by which the mountain whites might profit 
 permanently, he bought an immense building, surrounded, 
 it was said, by a mile of veranda, which the Confederates 
 had erected on the top of Lookout Mountain for a hospital, 
 and turned it into a school. This he carried on at his own 
 expense for the benefit of the white refugees, — male and 
 female, — who attended from all over the neighboring 
 country. The institution was in charge of C. P. F. Ban- 
 croft, later principal for many years of Phillips Academy, 
 Andover. C. C. Carpenter, a well-known correspond- 
 ent of the Congregationalist, was its business manager. 
 
122 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMAN 
 
 The school continued to do good work, and fitted many 
 young men and women for useful careers all over the 
 country. It was perhaps the earliest effort to found what 
 was intended as a permanent school for the mountain 
 whites, and as such deserves especial mention, although 
 after Mr. Roberts's death the property was sold by his 
 heirs and the proceeds turned over to Roberts College in 
 Constantinople, which owes its existence to the same 
 generous benefactor. 
 
 My errand accomplished at Chattanooga, I turned south- 
 ward again in about a week's time, and stopping by the way 
 at Cairo and Memphis, I was back in Vicksburg on the 4th 
 of March, encouraged and invigorated as always by my 
 intercourse with General Grant. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 Fuller statement of the work of the Freedmen's Department, based on 
 reports of the General Superintendent and other officers of freed- 
 men for 1864. Classification of the freed people. 
 
 A S the months passed, our efforts in behalf of the 
 /-\ Negroes in the Valley assumed more satisfactory 
 "^ shape, although before the year was done we were 
 to encounter as great difficulties as any that had yet con- 
 fronted or discouraged us. In order to convey to the 
 reader some definite and rehable notion of the magnitude 
 of a task which is all but forgotten by the present gene- 
 ration, but which at the time represented an important 
 phase in the National policy, and one closely associated 
 with the principles of the Union cause, I can do no better 
 than to quote somewhat freely from the report of the year 
 1864, prepared at the time by myself and my assistants and 
 submitted officially to General Thomas. The report opens 
 as follows: 
 
 Office General Superintendent of Freedmen, 
 Department of the Tennessee and State op Arkansas, 
 Memphis, Tennessee, December 31, 1864.^ 
 Brig.-Gen. L. Thomas, 
 
 Adjutant- General, U. S. A. 
 General, — This supervision has extended, during the 
 year, over a territory from Cairo southward, in the Missis- 
 
 1 Owing to the impossibility of presenting the whole of the report, which 
 comprises nearly one hundred printed pages, considerable liberty has neces- 
 
124 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 sippi Valley, populated according to the census of i860, 
 by 770,000 blacks, and including the cities of Memphis, 
 Vicksburg, Natchez, and Little Rock, and the military 
 posts of Columbus, Island 10, Corinth, Helena, Du Vall's 
 Bluff, Pine Bluff, Fort Smith, Goodrich Landing, Milliken's 
 Bend, and Davis Bend. 
 
 The rebellion at the outset began to disturb this popu- 
 lation. The frequent marching and counter-marching of 
 loyal and disloyal armies, consuming or destroying the ma- 
 terial comforts of life, such- as food, shelter, and the 
 implements of industry, the actual shock of arms, or the 
 terror of their motion, left hardly an individual, white or 
 black, unaffected. It was soon evident that the strength 
 of these regions consisted in three distinct elements: 
 masters, slaves, and the so-called poor whites. Of the 
 last named, many were forced into the rebel armies. They 
 were furnished with horses and better food and clothing, 
 their families were supported, and they failed, therefore, 
 to see so soon as some of the Negroes and the Southern 
 Unionists, that the interests of the three distinct elements 
 already noted were not only diverse, but hostile, and that 
 the war was the natural effort of the master to render irrev- 
 ocably supreme the power of his own caste. The Negroes 
 Very soon felt that their interests were identical with the 
 objects of our armies. This identity of interest came 
 
 sarily been taken with the text, though never with the impression which the 
 original report was intended to convey. Many verbal changes have been 
 made, much detail has been omitted, the sequence of topics and sentences 
 has been transposed, some material from other sources — chiefly reports of 
 my officers — has been added, and the whole welded again into an uninter- 
 rupted narrative in which no attempt has been made to mark these changes. 
 The original report is to be found in the Congressional Library : Miscellan- 
 eous Pamphlets 446. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 125 
 
 slowly but surely to be perceived by our officers and 
 soldiers and by the loyal public. The blacks gave informa- 
 tion for the guidance of campaigns ; they became laborers 
 for the various staff departments ; they took upon them- 
 selves all the serving of the army ; they were finally ac- 
 cepted as capable of the soldier's discipline and endurance 
 in all arms of the service, and worthy of a soldier's pay 
 and honor. Out of those who came within our lines, prob- 
 ably not less than 80,000 either died in the United States 
 service or (in 1864) were still in it as laborers or soldiers. 
 
 It is not unworthy of note here, that the army, although 
 engaged in active warfare, though embracing in itself all 
 the instrumentalities for the destruction of its foe, — at 
 whatever cost of comfort, treasure, and life, — though having 
 in it the usual admixture of good and bad, and although 
 looked upon by many benevolent people as only another 
 master for the blacks, accomplished practically all that could 
 be done to free, feed, shelter, and protect the Negro and 
 to give him medical attendance. It formed the only safe 
 channel for the benevolence that came from other sources to 
 his aid. More than all this, the army sought to evolve out 
 of its forms for administering justice an adaptation of those 
 forms, fitted to the peculiar condition of the freed people. 
 
 Such was the work in the hands of my officers and myself 
 To some extent our labor may have affected all of the above 
 770,000 during the year, but direct authority reached them 
 only when they or their employers came within our lines. 
 
 To facilitate our operations, after the organization of 
 the " Home Guards," the territory was divided into the 
 District of West Tennessee, office at Memphis, Captain T. 
 A. Walker, Superintendent; the District of Arkansas, 
 
126 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 office at Little Rock, Major W. G. Sargent, Superintend- 
 ent, with local offices at Helena, in charge of Captain 
 A. L. Thayer; Pine Bluff, Captain Mallory; Du Vall's 
 Bluff, Lieutenant W. Davis ; Fort Smith ; the District of 
 Vicksburg, office at Vicksburg, Colonel Samuel Thomas, Su- 
 perintendent and Provost-Marshal, assisted by Lieutenant- 
 Colonel A. L. Mitchell at Natchez; Captain Norton, at 
 Davis Bend; Lieutenant Thirds, at Vidalia; Lieutenant 
 Mathews, at Goodrich Landing; and Captain Weber, at 
 Vicksburg. 
 
 In addition to this territorial subdivision of labor among 
 my assistants, the importance of three classes of interests, 
 namely, the control of property, the supply of medicines 
 and medical attendance, and the arrangement of educational 
 affairs, rendered it necessary that I should have one officer 
 whom I could hold responsible for each of these services. 
 In respect to education this plan was defeated, during nine 
 months, by circumstances beyond my control.^ 
 
 As to the management of property, both Governmental 
 and private, the regulation of wages, and all general disci- 
 plinary measures, the following statements should be made; 
 One of my officers. Lieutenant B. K. Johnson, was assigned 
 to duty as Acting Assistant Quartermaster and Acting Com- 
 missary of Subsistence of Freedmen. He accomplished 
 much for the economical management of property, — render- 
 ing satisfactory reports to Washington, as usually required 
 of officers of those departments. All officers handling 
 supplies received from the Government adjusted their meth- 
 ods of business, forms of reports, vouchers, etc., to army 
 regulations, which required them to keep careful records 
 
 1 For an account of educational affairs, see Chapter XIV. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 127 
 
 of every transaction.^ Not a cent of money was ever drawn 
 from Government for the freedmen on any account. 
 
 FoLtlie_sjULgpoit of the^sick_and those otherwise depend- 
 ent^jJax„WAS- temporarily-required (by Orders No. 63) on 
 the wages of the able-bodied. It was thought at first that 
 the Negroes would submit with reluctance to the collection 
 of such a tax. But in this we were mistaken. Being a 
 tax on wages, it compelled the employer and the employed 
 to_ap.peari_one_^ or bqthi. before the officer charged with its 
 cojlectioji, and_ this officer allp\yed no wages to go unpaid. 
 The Negro soon saw in the measure his first recognition 
 by Government, and although the recognition appeared in 
 the form of a burden, he responded to it with alacrity, — 
 finding in it the first assurance of any power protecting 
 his right to make a bargain and hold the white man to its 
 fulfilment. This comprehension of the affair argued a 
 good sense of economic justice in a people entirely unused 
 to such responsibilities. It was most interesting to watch 
 the moral effect of taxing the ex-slaves. They freely ac- 
 knowledged that they ought to assist in bearing the burden 
 of the poor. They felt ennobled when they found that the 
 Government was calling upon them as men to assist in the 
 
 1 I remember in this connection, that after the war, while I was in Wash- 
 ingon, a claim agent came to me endeavoring to collect for his client a rather 
 large sum of money said to be due on account of wood cut on private prop- 
 erty, receipted for by my officers, but for which payment had not been 
 made. I directed the agent to apply to Captain T. A. Walker, Superintend- 
 ent at Memphis, within whose district the transaction had taken place, 
 telling the agent that I believed the duplicate papers would be found in 
 Walker's possession. I was not mistaken. Captain Walker produced the 
 papers promptly, and these showed that the wood had been paid for and 
 receipts given by the present claimant for the money. I mention the fact to 
 show that in spite of inadequate clerical assistance, our records were kept 
 with all possible accuracy. 
 
128 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 process by which their natural rights were to be secured. 
 Thousands thus saw for the first time any money reward 
 for their labor. The places where the tax was least rigidly 
 collected were farthest behind in paying the colored man 
 for his services. This tax, together with the funds accru- 
 ing from the profits of labor in the Department, met all 
 the incidental expenses of our widespread operations ; paid 
 $5,000 for hospitals; the salaries of all hospital stewards 
 and medical assistants (as per Orders No. 94), and en- 
 abled us to supply implements of industry to the people, 
 — in addition to abandoned property. The same funds 
 secured to the benefit of the Negroes, clothing, household 
 utensils, and other articles essential to their comfort, to the 
 amount of $103,000. The Negroes could not themselves 
 have secured these commodities for less than $350,000.^ 
 The managementof these funds and supplies was regulated 
 by the exigencies of the people's condition, and was 
 adapted as far as necessary to army methods, requiring a 
 rigid system of accounts, monthly reports covered by cer- 
 
 1 In order to supply these goods to the Negroes at reasonable prices 
 and to prevent them from being cheated by outside traders, — not only in 
 charging exorbitant prices, but also in measure and quality, and even in 
 making change, — my brother, Frederick Eaton, was induced to undertake 
 the task of providing for their wants. H. B. Claflin and Company agreed 
 to furnish him the goods at cost price, and these were sold to the freedmen 
 at less than ten per cent advance on New York prices, — a figure which barely 
 covered risk and transportation charges. Freedmen's stores were thus 
 established which, besides saving the freedman large sums of money, taught 
 him valuable lessons in fair dealing and self-support. At the out-lying posts 
 particularly, these stores were of the greatest value. At Pine Bluff, Arkan- 
 sas, for instance, domestics of the same width and quality which sold in 
 town at $1.25 per yard could be obtained at the Freedmen's store for sixty 
 cents. As a matter of fact, the goods were sold under this management at 
 five per cent less than was provided in the plans devised by the officers of 
 the Treasury Department. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 129 
 
 tificates and vouchers, followed by careful inspections, not 
 only from my office, but from the generals commanding. 
 
 According to Orders No. 9 issued by General L. Thomas, 
 certain officers known as provost-marshals were selected 
 from the men in the Freedmen's Department to discharge 
 toward the Negroes scattered on plantations the duties of 
 superintendents of freedmen. These officers were appointed 
 by the commanding generals, and themselves appointed as- 
 sistant provost-marshals, who patrolled the districts assigned 
 to them, correcting abuses on plantations and acting as the 
 representatives of the law as upheld by the military power. 
 There was some difficulty in maintaining the incorruptibility 
 of these officers, and the territory which had to be covered 
 by each individual was too extended, but the system, never- 
 theless, worked extremely well. 
 
 In addition to the superintendents, department chiefs, 
 and provost-marshals, a group of assistants assigned to 
 special duties but known as general assistants was an 
 efficient aid to our undertaking. Of these general assist- 
 ants, H. B. Spelman, president of the Cleveland's Freed- 
 men's Aid Commission, performed a particularly valuable 
 service as agent for the sale of freedmen's crops. The trade 
 regulations would not allow the freedmen to sell their cotton 
 on the spot, and as they were without means of shipping it 
 North they had to appoint attorneys to transact the business 
 for them, and did not always succeed in getting honest men. 
 Mr. Spelman, with the permission of the proper Treasury 
 official, arranged that the small lots of cotton produced at 
 various points within our lines by different owners should 
 all be shipped under one set of permit papers taken out 
 by Mr. Spelman himself, — thereby saving to the freedmen 
 
 9 
 
130 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 the expense of the permit, which could only be secured 
 on the payment of four dollars, no matter how small the 
 amount to be shipped. He also procured through the 
 Treasury Department the remission of the tax — four cents 
 per pound — on the cotton cultivated by freedmen. The 
 tax, if paid, would have reduced the profit of these Negro 
 cultivators considerably over ^sooo.-' Through Mr. Spel- 
 man's agency eighty-one bales of cotton produced by 
 freedmen on Home Farms, and one hundred and seventy- 
 two bales produced by independent Negro cultivators, 
 were sold for ^73,792. Mr. Spelman, by the way, was 
 the father-in-law of John D. Rockefeller. 
 
 To meet the medical necessities of our work for the 
 Negroes, Dr. D. O. McCord, Surgeon 63d U. S. C. I., was 
 designated Surgeon-in-Chief of Freedmen. His powers by 
 this assignment proved inadequate, and he was made Med- 
 ical Director of Freedmen for the Department of Tennessee 
 and State of Arkansas, with power to employ surgeons and 
 control medicines (December i, 1863). Dr. McCord im- 
 mediately began a tour of inspection, and set himself to 
 improve the conditions wherever these were unsatisfactory. 
 The sanitary commissions were appealed to for help in 
 meeting the immediate needs of the sick-camps and hos- 
 pitals. The Western Sanitary Commission supplied anti- 
 scorbutic articles of diet through its depot in Vicksburg ; 
 the North Western Freedmen Aid Commission also sent 
 vegetables. The latter organization sent us ten physi- 
 cians, who, however, received their pay from the Govern- 
 
 1 W. p. Mellen, Special Agent of the Treasury Department, to whom 
 Mr. Spelmen first applied for the remission of this tax, refused to grant the 
 request, and recourse was had to a direct appeal to the Secretary of the 
 Treasury. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 131 
 
 ment. Dr. McCord next undertook to procure better 
 hospital buildings, and with this end in view he made a 
 trip to the Northern States, interviewing the various aid 
 commissions and appealing to Northern benevolence. At 
 his suggestion I had placed ^5000 of the Freedmen Fund 
 at his disposal for this purpose, and it was hoped a like 
 amount could be raised. Apart from jSiooo given by the 
 National Freedmen Aid Society, and a donation of some 
 ^400 from a member of the firm which contracted to fur- 
 nish the buildings, the eight hospitals ordered by Dr. 
 McCord were paid for by the funds dispensed by the 
 Freedmen's Department. I mention this fact because the 
 reports of the said commissions give the impression — 
 unintentionally no doubt — that nothing was done for the 
 sanitary condition of the Negroes by our Department.' The 
 above facts are quoted from Dr. McCord's report dated 
 June 28, 1864. In conclusion he says: " On ^he first day 
 of December there were eight surgeons employed with 
 these people in the Department of the Tennessee and 
 State of Arkansas. Most of them were incompetent, and 
 were relieved from duty for that reason. Now we have 
 thirty-two, all educated men, who take an interest in the 
 work. Then we had but one hospital worthy of the name ; 
 now we have one in every camp, or within reach of it. 
 Wherever the Government has colored laborers, we send 
 surgeons, hospital and medical stores." 
 
 This favorable advance in the medical affairs of the freed 
 people was hardly secured before the Surgeon-General 
 found the medical appropriations of Congress falling short 
 of the necessities of the army in its active operations. The 
 Secretary of War accordingly ordered — " No issue will be 
 
132 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 made, or bills paid, by the Medical Department, on account 
 of Freedmen not in the United States service." Fortunately, 
 having hospitals and moderate supplies under our own con- 
 trol, my officers, aided by the purchase of medicines by the 
 Freedmen Fund, and the assistance of the aid societies, 
 were able to limit the extent of this disaster. Arrange- 
 ments were later made with the Surgeon-General and the 
 Secretary of the Treasury to secure the freedmen against 
 such emergencies. 
 
 These facts, quoted with all but verbal accuracy from my 
 report of 1864 and reports of my officers, show briefly and 
 somewhat inadequately the vehicle of organization by 
 which we accomplished our work. The following para- 
 graphs, extracted chiefly from the former source, should 
 give with more fulness and accuracy than I have hitherto 
 stated them the conditions with which we had to deal : 
 
 A rough classification of the freed people will serve to 
 clarify the reader's appreciation of the various groups in 
 whose interests we labored : 
 
 First, all new arrivals ; with whom were grouped those 
 employed as laborers in military service, as hospital attend- 
 ants, officers' servants, employees in the commissary and 
 quartermaster's departments, etc' 
 
 Second, those resident in cities. Freedmen supplied by 
 far the larger share of industrial pursuits with laborers: 
 They worked as barbers, hackmen, draymen, porters, car- 
 penters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, tailors, seamstresses, 
 nurses, laundresses, waiters in hotels and private families, 
 
 1 New arrivals were usually given their first opportunity to work in con- 
 nection with regimental service. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 133 
 
 cooks, etc. Not a few of this second class were well-to-do ; 
 many conducted enterprises of their own, either mechanical 
 or commercial. Some were teachers. Properly connected, 
 too, with those resident in cities, were the employees and 
 waiters on steamboats, and stevedores. 
 
 A third and large class found employment as wood- 
 choppers, on islands and at points of security along the 
 river, rendering a service absolutely essential to our com- 
 mercial and military operations. 
 
 Fourth, those who labored on plantations. These were 
 subdivided as follows : First, those who were employed by 
 the owners of the lands, or the whites or blacks who leased 
 of the Government; Second, those who were independent 
 planters or gardeners, — either cultivating on shares, or 
 leasing of the owners or of the Government. 
 
 Fifth, the sick and those otherwise incapacitated who 
 were distributed among the hospitals or on the " Home 
 Farms " where they contributed what labor they could 
 toward their own support. With these should be classed 
 the hundreds of orphaned or abandoned children for 
 whom, with the help of private benevolence, orphanages 
 were established as soon as practicable. 
 
 Writing at length, on July 5, 1864, to Mr. Levi Coffin,^ 
 who was then on a mission to England, which resulted in 
 the formation of the London Freedmen's Aid Society, and 
 who desired me to report to him any data which he could 
 use in his work there, I was able to make the following state- 
 
 1 This good Quaker, Levi Coffin, one of the stanchest friends the Negro 
 had, was especially interested in our work in the Valley. He was president 
 of one of the aid associations, and states iuhis "Reminiscences " — p. 671 — 
 that he had sheltered under his own roof over 3000 fugitive slaves, — for 
 the most part before the war began. 
 
134 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 ments concerning the 113,650 freedmen whom my officers 
 had cared for during the past year : 
 
 "These freedmen are now disposed of as follows: In 
 mihtary service as soldiers, laundresses, cooks, officers' 
 servants, and laborers in the various staff departments, 
 41,150; in cities, on plantations, and in freedmen's villages 
 and cared for, 72,500. Of these, 62,300 are entirely self- 
 supporting, — the same as any industrial class anywhere 
 else, — as planters, mechanics, barbers, hackmen, draymen, 
 etc., conducting enterprises on their own responsibility or 
 working as hired laborers. The remaining 10,200 receive 
 subsistence from the Government. 3000 of them are mem- 
 bers of families whose heads are carrying on plantations, 
 and have under cultivation 4000 acres of cotton ; they are 
 to pay the Government for their subsistence from the first 
 income of the crop. The other 7200 include the paupers, 
 — that is to say, all Negroes over and under the self- 
 supporting age, the crippled, and sick in hospital, — of 
 the 113,650 and those engaged in their care. Instead of 
 being unproductive this class has now under cultivation 
 500 acres of corn, 790 acres of vegetables, and 1500 acres 
 of cotton, — besides working at wood-chopping and other 
 industries. There are reported in the aggregate over 
 100,000 acres of cotton under cultivation. Of these, about 
 7000 acres are leased and cultivated by blacks. Some 
 Negroes are managing as high as 300 or 400 acres." 
 
 To resume the summary of my report: 
 
 All of these various classes and individuals on first com- 
 ing into our lines needed direction or protection; and 
 most of them needed shelter and immediate supplies of 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 135 
 
 food and clothing. Often they came on mules or horses, 
 or in carts with more or less of their "truck." Generally, 
 on reaching our lines, the picket officers relieved them of 
 all stock, and in this way the Government was supplied 
 with many thousand mules and horses. My officers were 
 instructed to secure to the Negroes the advantage of their 
 stock, unless pressingly demanded for military purposes. 
 Colonel Samuel Thomas reported the property saved to 
 those arriving in a single instance,: sold and turned over 
 in cash to the respective owners, as amounting to $2408. 
 Sometimes great multitudes of Negroes would arrive 
 together. The Colonel reported 5000 in his district 
 (Vicksburg) from General Sherman's raid further into 
 Mississippi and Alabama, and 2500 from the Red River 
 expedition. Few can appreciate the labors that devolved 
 upon my officers by these arrivals. Speculation, vice, and 
 crime swarmed around old and young alike, stealing their 
 little gold and silver, or decoying them away to abuse 
 their ignorance or to obtain their services for nothing. 
 Only a military guard and the army facilities for furnishing 
 supplies were at all adequate to cope with the difficulties. 
 The new arrivals, together with those in military service, 
 constituted a large proportion of the people. Having 
 frequently observed the readiness with which the able- 
 bodied enlisted before their minds had been corrupted 
 or made restless by life in private service, or in cities, 
 or among the regimental camps, my officers promptly 
 directed the Negro's attention to the duty of enlisting, and 
 thus contributed more or less to the organization of all the 
 numerous regiments within the limits of this supervision 
 as well as to the supply of fatigue labor. 
 
136 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 In regard to the second class, those who worked in cities, 
 our labors were complicated by unavoidable entangle- 
 ments with unsympathetic municipal auth.Pxities. Some 
 cities, notwithstanding the acknowledged disloyalty of a 
 decided majority, were allowed to keep up the form of 
 electing municipal officers, who did no more to conform 
 to the spirit of the Government than was enforced by mili- 
 tary discipline. This was especially true in all dealings 
 with the Negro. Citizens would pay those Negroes freed 
 under the old State laws ; but the man freed by Congress, 
 or by the Proclamation, or the exigencies of war, was in 
 their eye no more than an escaped " chattel." Return him 
 to his master they could not, but long after the occupation 
 by our armies, municipal justice was dealt out to him by 
 personal abuse, — in the application of the lash at the old 
 whipping posts, or in doubling for him the fines imposed 
 upon whites for the same offences. At first every attempt 
 of my officers to protect the interests of the freedmen, 
 either in the payment of proper wages, or a fair adminis- 
 tration of justice, or considerate personal treatment, was 
 met on the part of the civil authorities by the not unnat- 
 ural force and violence of old prejudices, and by the desire 
 to profit from the fees attaching to municipal offices; 
 while the complaint was often made on the part of the 
 provost-marshals or military commanders of our army 
 that the officer of freedmen was meddling in that which 
 was none of his business. Meantime the law, to the Negro, 
 took any form of caprice. Any officer who wanted the 
 services of colored men sent out his guard and pressed 
 them, and the superintendent was allowed to carry out his 
 purposes without hindrance either from officials or citizens 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 137 
 
 only with respect to Negroes who were sick or outcasts, 
 out of whom nothing could be made in the way of services 
 or money. Finally, however, all the affairs of the freedmen 
 came more definitely under the control of the superin- 
 tendents of freedmen, and little by little we aided the Negro 
 to escape and rise above the general wreck of old slavo- 
 cratic municipal statutes, ordinances, and customs social and 
 civil. One of the simplest and most efficient means of 
 bringing the city population into its proper relation with 
 the Government was the pass system. The blacks were 
 assured of their freedom before the law the same as whites. 
 But all whites within military lines must have passes : so 
 must the blacks. The Superintendent of Freedmen knew 
 the Negroes best, and could best determine to whom to 
 issue passes, permits, etc. ; hence all permits to remain 
 in town or to pass the lines of the army must receive 
 his signature. As fast as the individual Negro's trust- 
 worthiness became established by experience, his privi- 
 leges were extended until he was on an equal footing with 
 the white man. The extent to which the pass system was 
 a check upon contraband trade and information, and prac- 
 tices subversive of social order and military discipline, 
 daily became more manifest. By thus bringing under 
 view the whole city population, the superintendents aided 
 materially in overcoming idleness and vagrancy, and the 
 vices and petty crimes connected therewith. 
 
 Of tfie, thjicUelass, — thos£,£mplQyed„in wood-yards, — 
 it may be said that while it was subject to constant varia- 
 tions in numbers, it was. always one of the largest with 
 whielL.we had to deal. The work of the wood-choppers 
 was essential to the keeping open of the Mississippi River, 
 
138 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 but one of the greatest drawbacks we experienced was in 
 finding the right kind of men to run the yards, — men who 
 were capable of carrying on the business, and who yet were 
 humane and kind, as well as industrious and energetic. 
 Our experiments were various and often discouraging. Few 
 men could stand up to the labor required of them. They 
 would have under their charge a camp of one thousand or 
 more people, and have to attend to the distribution of the 
 rations, to the work done, and to the general improvement 
 of the camp. It was not strange that men broke down 
 under the responsibility and refused to perform the task. 
 In illustration of the importance of the wood-cutting enter- 
 prise, I quote, with omissions and verbal changes, from 
 Colonel Thomas's report of his district (Vicksburg) : 
 
 "The first start made with furnishing the people in Freedmen's 
 Camps with labor was in the way of wood-cutting. The wood 
 was necessary in supplying fuel to steamers engaged in the trans- 
 portation of the material of war for the use of our armies. The 
 difficulties surrounding this enterprise were great, but by diligent 
 exertions yards were started at Young's Point, Paw Paw Island, 
 Omega Landing, and Island 102. Many private parties also started 
 wood-yards at other places in a small way. The wood-yards under 
 this supervision seemed to point out the way in which money 
 could be made, and a grand rush followed on the part of all who 
 could gather together the material necessary for such an enter- 
 prise. 1 
 
 1 The necessity for supplying wood compelled us to encourage wood- 
 yards where, for the lack of sufficient force at our control, we were unable 
 fully to protect the rights of the people. In addition to yards conducted 
 by our officers, many wood-cutting enterprises were established by irre- 
 sponsible persons at places which favored the landing of boats at unau- 
 thorized points, and the communication of contraband information and 
 supplies to the enemy. This state of affairs resulted chiefly from the divi- 
 sion of authority caused by the appearance of civil officers — agents of the 
 Treasury — in a territory under military rule. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 139 
 
 "In September, 1864, [at which time the wood-yards — by an 
 error in the interpretation of an order for which the Freedmen's 
 Department was not responsible — were turned over to a different 
 and less successful supervision] there had been cut in this District, 
 and delivered to steamboats, over 60,000 cords of wood, bringing 
 to the freedmen over 1125,000, and saving to the Government an 
 expense of about ^90,000 more by selling at ^1.50 per cord less 
 than the Government could have got the wood from private parties. 
 This wood was cut at very little expense to the quartermaster's 
 department. Teams, wagons, and gearing brought in by the 
 Negroes from their plantation homes were put into the yards by 
 their owners, who felt willing to have them used for the convenience 
 of the wood-yards, while these were for their own support. All the 
 teams were taken up on the papers of the quartermaster of freed- 
 men, so that forage could be drawn for their support, and the 
 property in hke manner secured to the people from seizure. The 
 people themselves were contented with this arrangement, and were 
 encouraged by the good faith of the officers in charge. It should 
 be added here that several thousand cords of wood were taken by 
 the Government, and no vouchers given by the authorities taking 
 it, — being a clean gift from the Negroes to the Government. 
 
 " At the different Government wood-yards in this District it is 
 safe to say that over one thousand people have been employed ; 
 in private enterprises of like nature, fully five hundred more ; mak- 
 ing a working force of 1500, and a dependency of at least as many 
 more, so that the aggregate is 3000. The wood-yards under my 
 care were located in the vicinity of our camps, in places where it 
 was safe for the working people and their friends, and also safe for 
 steamers, to land. The superintendents in charge exerted them- 
 selves to the utmost to have all the people in the camps perform 
 some kind of labor, — the men chopping, hauling, etc., the women 
 loading, unloading, and cording the wood on its arrival in the yard. 
 Efforts were made to combine all sorts of labor whether profitable 
 or not, as the Government was responsible for the support of the 
 people, and they should, in return, do as much as they could. 
 The wood was sold to Government and to private parties, the 
 people paid, and the balance turned over to the Freedmen Fund 
 
140 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 and used by our officers for the purchase of clothing and other 
 articles furnished to them which the Government did not supply. 
 With the produce of lands which the camps were working, and 
 with the increase of their means otherwise, the people were draw- 
 ing fewer rations every month, and there was good reason for hop- 
 ing that they would soon be independent and self-supporting. 
 Rations were issued to all alike, and there was no attempt made 
 to force the chopper to pay for what he received, as he was help- 
 ing to support and care for the dependent portion of the camp, 
 and should himself be fed on that account. 
 
 "These wood-yards, situated on richly wooded and fertile 
 islands, were, in my view, among the most hopeful and encourag- 
 ing industries in my district ; the enterprise found a ready market 
 for all its produce ; it aiforded not only a support to the people at 
 the yards, but an opening for thousands more wlio infested our 
 military posts or languished on distant plantations ; and it gradu- 
 ally educated the people and helped to make them independent 
 and self-reliant." 
 
 As already indicated, the laborers on plantations were 
 practically a class by themselves, and to the consideration 
 of their affairs I shall devote the following chapter. 
 
 Of the fifth group it should be said that all Negroes pro- 
 nounced by the medical examiners as incapable of full ser- 
 vice in either military or industrial pursuits were sent to 
 the Home Farms, together with the new arrivals who had 
 not yet secured employment. Colonel L. B. Eaton, 69th 
 U. S. C. I., and special inspector of freedmen for the State 
 of Arkansas, reports upon the Home Farms of that State 
 as follows : 
 
 " At the Home Farms are gathered those out of employment, 
 new comers, and vagrants, and those rendered helpless through 
 age or misfortune. These are rationed by the Government, and 
 are supposed by many to be a burden and an expense. But not- 
 withstanding all these Homes were put in operation this year 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 141 
 
 (1864), with all implements, draught animals, and seeds to be ob- 
 tained, and notwithstanding the nearly total failure of the cotton 
 crop which was their chief reliance, those in Arkansas have earned 
 sufficient to pay the Government for its outlays, and fair wages to 
 the hands. [Of the 11,363 Freedmen reported in the working 
 season, only 985 were drawing rations, and even these were doing 
 work more than sufficient for their own support. Had not the 
 ravages of the army worm taken place, a very large profit would 
 have been derived from their labor.] The benefits of this system 
 are to be measured, however, not by the success of these farms 
 alone, but by the products of all freedmen labor which accrues 
 directly or indirectly to our advantage, heightened by the amount 
 lost to the enemy. It may not be improper to suggest to those 
 who declaim against the Government being burdened with Negro 
 paupers, that while, in this State, the number of colored people 
 within our lines is fully equal to that of the whites, twice as many 
 of the latter draw rations without making any return whatever. 
 Many of these whites are glad to live and work in partnership with 
 the more thrifty of the Negroes." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 statement continued. The plantation interests and the lessee sys- 
 tem. Treasury control and resulting complications. The 
 Negro's condition when employed by white lessees. The Negro 
 as an independent cultivator. 
 
 PASSING for the present from the text of my 
 report, it will be necessary to refer to certain 
 questions of National policy before the reader can 
 in any true sense reahze the condition of that class of 
 freedmen we are now considering, namely the laborers on 
 plantations. 
 
 It will be remembered by all who have had occasion to 
 look into the matter, that the power of the Treasury over 
 trade and economic conditions generally, was gradually 
 augmented by successive acts of Congress until that Depart- 
 ment was at one time in practical control of many impor- 
 tant functions of government in those States which were 
 nominally under martial law. In accordance with the acts 
 of Congress dated July 13, 186 1 and May 20, 1862, the 
 Secretary of the Treasury issued a set of regulations for 
 the guidance of his aids in their new duties. These regu- 
 lations applied solely to " commercial property," and inci- 
 dentally to persons handling such property, and to vehicles 
 used in its transportation. It was unquestionably right 
 that the Treasury Department should control in a measure 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 143 
 
 at least all trade relations, and although some difficulty- 
 was experienced from the first, upon the whole no severe 
 complications appeared to result. There had been un- 
 doubtedly much mishandling of property by army officers, 
 who were tempted to make the misfortunes of the Confed- 
 erates and the opportunities for engaging in contraband 
 trade contribute directly to their own aggrandizement. 
 Such corruption, of course, was most extensive and most 
 notorious in connection with the cotton industry. In order 
 to check these abuses, and to have constantly upon the 
 spot officers authorized to control trade and care for prop- 
 erty forsaken by its rightful owners, Congress, on March 
 12, 1863, passed an act to provide for the collection of 
 abandoned property and for the prevention of frauds in 
 insurrectionary districts. Under this act, agents of the 
 Treasury were designated to receive and collect all aban- 
 doned or captured property in any section of the country 
 in insurrection against the United States, except such 
 property — arms, ordinance, etc., etc. — as should fall 
 directly under the control of the military forces. Both the 
 War and the Navy departments pledged themselves to 
 support the Treasury officials in fulfilling the regulations 
 issued by the Treasury Department and based on this, act 
 of Congress. 
 
 A circular was issued by the Treasury on September 
 II, 1863, regulating the conduct of affairs by the officials 
 of that Department. In addition to the legislative action, 
 noted above, the Secretary of War issued, on October 
 9, General Orders No. 331, by the terms of which all 
 houses, tenements, lands, and plantations, abandoned or 
 deserted by the insurgents within our lines — save such as 
 
144 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE PREEDMEN 
 
 might be required for military purposes — were to be 
 turned over to the supervision and control of the super- 
 vising agents of the Treasury Department, and all officers 
 of the United States army were enjoined to render to the 
 agents appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury all such 
 aid as might be necessary to enable them to obtain pos- 
 session of such property and to maintain their authority 
 over the same. Theseacts^f _Cs.agress*aad_D.epar,trasnt_ 
 orders involving the control of property, and especially of 
 lands and tenements, brought the agents of the Treas,uxy 
 into direct relations with the officers of the Freedmen'-s 
 Department. It was perhaps unavoidable that complica- 
 tions should arise. 
 
 In the meanwhile^another elenient had come into promi- 
 nence. The suffering and destitution of the Negroes had 
 been in part alleviated by the many.^jd_socig|igs, to whose 
 helpfulness I have already referred and whose work can 
 never be overestimated or adequately acknowledged. One 
 of the most efficient of these was the Western Sanitary 
 Commission. This society had been particularly active 
 and helpful at Helena in the winter of 1862-3, where 
 better hospital facilities had been established under its 
 patronage, and in October of the latter year its efforts 
 were directed to other points along the Mississippi River. 
 James E. Yeatman, president of the Commission, made a 
 personal tour of inspection of most of the cities and camps 
 under my jurisdiction, and embodied his observations in a 
 report to his society dated December 17, 1863.1 
 
 1 See " Report on the Condition of the Freedmen of the Mississippi," 
 presented to the Western Sanitary Commission, Dec. ly, 1863, by James 
 E. Yeatman. In the course of his report, under a paragraph headed 
 " Vicksburg and Vicinity," Mr. Yeatman remarks : " I called to see Chap- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 145 
 
 This report was in the main a very frank statement of 
 the sufferings and abuses among the freedmen. None was 
 more conscious of these conditions, and none more eager 
 to alleviate them, than were my officers and myself. This 
 fact I believe Mr. Yeatman appreciated, but his reflections 
 upon the conduct of affairs were nevertheless severe. 
 
 Abuses connected with the leasing system and the gen- 
 eral provisions for the employment of the Negroes were 
 the most difficult and important of the questions confront- 
 ing us, and on the strength of Yeatman's report and the 
 representations made to the Government by the Western 
 Sanitary Commission, Mr. Yeatman was invited to co-ope- 
 rate with the Supervising Special Agent of the Treasury 
 Department, Mr. William P. Mellen, in the formation of 
 the new regulations under which the Treasury purposed to 
 assume control of the plantation interests. These regula- 
 tions were devised with a view to obviating the worst of 
 the abuses under which we were suffering, and many of 
 the provisions were extremely well considered. 
 
 For instance, in order to check if possible the employ- 
 ment of overseers, who were responsible for many of the 
 freedmen's difficulties, no lessee was to be permitted to 
 lease more than one plantation, — two planters had pre- 
 viously been in possession of four plantations each, 
 
 lain, now Colonel, Eaton, and found him hard at work. He devotes his 
 every thought and all his energies to the great work which has devolved 
 upon him. I took as much of his time as I felt it right to ask. I 
 should have liked one entire day without interruption, but an hour was the 
 most that could be reasonably requested or spared, in which he gave me 
 only the outlines of his general plan of operations. I found that his views 
 corresponded with my own, and with a plan which I had formed in my own 
 mind for aiding and benefiting the freedmen, and securing to them the 
 rewards of their labor and the enjoyment of their rights." 
 
146 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 another of five, — and preference was given to those wish- 
 ing small tracts of land. This was a very wise provision 
 which would have tended to increase the number of small 
 homesteads owned by whites and blacks, — a phase of 
 social evolution which the Freedmen's Department always 
 tried to foster. Unfortunately the money-making fever 
 which afflicted the lessees led them to take on large prop- 
 erties, which in the disturbed conditions of the country it 
 was often impossible to operate. A new minimum rate of 
 wages was introduced, — for men of the first grade twenty- 
 five dollars per month ; of the second grade, twenty dollars 
 per month. For women of the first and second grades, 
 eighteen and fourteen dollars respectively. Persons be- 
 tween twelve and fourteen and over fifty years of age were 
 to constitute a third grade, of which the men and boys were 
 to receive fifteen dollars a month, and the women and girls 
 ten. The wages were to constitute a first lien upon the 
 crops. A definite contract was to be entered into between 
 the lessee and the employee, for the fulfilment of which 
 the superintendents of the Home Farms were practically 
 made responsible. All laborers were obtained through 
 them, and complaints settled by their intervention. The 
 lessee was to provide good and sufficient quarters and 
 one acre of ground to each family of four or more per- 
 sons, and to smaller families, or to individuals, less in pro- 
 portion. He was to have on hand suitable clothing and 
 good food to be sold at cost to the laborers at fifteen per 
 cent advance on wholesale prices. 
 
 A special effort was made to secure to the Negro the 
 full amount of wages due him, except in cases of sickness 
 or neglect to work. The freedmen had been wofully 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 147 
 
 discouraged by the facility with which the planter con- 
 trived to evade paying them full wages in cases where he 
 had himself failed to furnish them a full month's work. 
 Cases were reported by Mr. Yeatman in which the laborer 
 — through no fault of his own — received, for instance, 
 but two dollars and seventy cents for his month's labor. 
 Lessees, however, were only required to pay half the 
 monthly wages, either in money, provisions, or clothing, 
 until the crops should be sold. On all plantations, whether 
 owned or leased, where freedmen were employed a tax of 
 one cent per pound on cotton, and a proportional amount 
 on all other products, was to be collected as a contribution 
 in support of the helpless among the freed people. A sim- 
 ilar tax — varying with the value of the property — was 
 levied by the Government upon all leased plantations in 
 lieu of rent. 
 
 Theoretically the Yeatman-Mellen plan was better than 
 the system previously inaugurated by Adjutant-General 
 Thomas, Jjut in practice it must be confessed the new sys- 
 tem was subject to quite as many complications. 
 
 In the first place, the question of giving the plantations 
 protection from physical violence was full of difficulty, 
 and this in turn reacted on the industrial conditions. 
 While the use of the land was under military control, little 
 attempt had been made to cultivate in sections where a 
 reasonable defence against guerillas could not be secured. 
 The lessees, however, under the far more extensive system ' 
 of agricultural operations encouraged by the Treasury,, 
 forsook all prudence in their eagerness to acquire wealth, 
 and rented lands in districts where extreme exposure was 
 inevitable. As a result of this, impossible demands were 
 
148 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 made upon the military forces, whose operations the plan- 
 ters came to feel should be especially directed to forward- 
 ing the personal interests of the individual planter. Mr. 
 Mellen himself foresaw this difficulty and the threatened 
 downfall of his whole system, and in his report to Secre- 
 tary Chase, dated February ii, 1864, — about one month 
 after the promulgation of the new orders, — urgently 
 demanded that " adequate military protection to this plant- 
 ing interest ... be afforded at once, or the hundreds of 
 persons now there \i. e., on plantations] and of others 
 going there will abandon their contemplated work." But 
 such protection as Mr. Mellen received did not suffice. 
 
 The introduction into the Valley of a distinct class whose 
 interests were primarily commercial and involved patrio- 
 tism or humanity only as secondary and incidental consid- 
 erations, had already complicated matters in the limited 
 plantation activities with which we had been experiment- 
 ing. That class was now alarmingly increased. The high 
 price at which cotton was selling tempted many North- 
 erners into the enterprise. Besides the out and out specu- 
 lators there was a large number of men whose energies 
 were not directly absorbed by the war, but who, feeling 
 its disturbing influence, and drawn thereby away from 
 their ordinary occupations, were ready for any venture 
 that might improve their fortunes. These men availed 
 themselves recklessly of the opportunity thus offered them. 
 They came on the ground to make money, whether the 
 Union cause — not to mention the Negro — suffered by 
 their operations or not. Money and information, together 
 with vast quantities of contraband articles, went into the 
 Confederate lines ; and incidentally the cotton within the 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 149 
 
 Confederate lines came out. The ^^rmywas^ powerless to^ 
 assert its authority oyeLaffaJxs^contrpjy^efLby the-Treasury; 
 .the Treasury ^had^_no^vehick_^at jts^^5Q,mmand 
 eaJfoiCA its own authority in .a,j4istrict_where marticil law 
 was - the onIy-,iaw,..andJth.e,JSSi!lt..Yms.ilxat in too many 
 cases Jig. authority was exercised at all. No sweeping 
 accusation of the Treasury Department or of the planters 
 is to be inferred from this. The Treasury Department 
 was trying to insure the benefits of trade to a territory 
 barely delivered of the curse of war ; but the small army 
 of agents which it sent out failed, on the whole, even more 
 lamentably than individuals in the military service, to with- 
 stand the peculiar temptations which the situation offered. 
 As for the planters, with all their cupidity and selfishness, 
 they were — like every one else in those days — largely in 
 the grip of circumstances that proved too much for them, 
 and moreover there were among them, as among the offi- 
 cers of the Treasury, men of high standards who remained 
 incorruptible throughout. Indeed, so numerous were the 
 planters whose records were creditable, that Colonel 
 Thomas was able at one time to report that he believed 
 the lessees in the neighborhood of Vicksburg — his dis- 
 trict — would compare favorably with any body of business 
 men. 
 
 The correspondence between various officers of our 
 army sufficiently indicates the_increased--diffi'Ciirlty~of -e-en- 
 trolling the general militaryjituation after the rule nf. the 
 Treasury Department had been inaugurated.-^ It is the 
 
 1 See letters from Admiral Daniel Porter to Gen. W. T. Sherman, Oct. 
 2g, 1863; from Gen. Grant to Sec. Chase, July 21, 1863; from Gen. S. A. 
 Hurlburt to Lieut.-Col. C. T. Christensen, March i, 1865, etc., etc. War of 
 the Rebellion, Official Records. 
 
150 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 relation of the Treasury to freedmen's affairs, however, 
 which concerns us now. 
 
 Major-General N. P. Banks, Department of the Gulf, 
 whose work among the freedmen was of great value, 
 expressed the situation with especial force and clearness 
 in a letter addressed to Washington from New Orleans as 
 early as October 15, 1863, at which time the Treasury 
 officials were acting under the circular issued September 
 II, and before Mr. Mellen's plans had been cast into the 
 definite regulations noticed above. I quote a portion of 
 General Banks's letter : 
 
 Major-General H. W. Halleck, 
 General-in-Chief, U. S. Army, 
 Washington, D. C, 
 General, — Thus far in my administration I have not troubled the 
 Government about the negroes. When I arrived at New Orleans, 
 I found many thousand negroes in idleness. I set them all to 
 work, for wages, wherever they pleased to go. What with the sys- 
 tem of compensated labor by the Government and by individuals 
 universally adopted, and the enlistment as soldiers, they were all 
 employed, and all supported by their labor. . . . The condition is 
 now changed. I have, in obedience to orders from Government, 
 turned over to agents of the Treasury Department all plantations 
 and plantation property. . . . Those who have leased them [the 
 plantations] prefer, in working them, the able-bodied men and 
 women to the disabled and infirm. They are daily sifting them 
 out ; placing the helpless on plantations, as I am informed, that are 
 and have been uncultivated. I am officially notified that they are 
 there. It is expected that the military authorities are to support 
 them. ^.„ . . The Government finds itself in this position : the les- 
 sees of Government, and the enemy, turned over to us all their 
 helpless men, women, and children. We turn over very gladly all 
 plantation property to the agents of the Treasury Department. 
 Does the support of the infirm and poor negroes go with the prop- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 151 
 
 erty to which they naturally belong ; or is it charged upon the 
 army as military expenses and fastened upon the War Department 
 and paid out of the war estimate and appropriations ? If the latter, 
 I desire an order to that effect, and means defraying the cost. It 
 is a pressing and important matter here, and increasing in magni- 
 tude daily. I beg instructions as to my course. The process 
 pursued will bring us tens of thousands before the winter is over. 
 . . . The coming winter will, I fear, be one of terrible suffering 
 here. The people are becoming poorer every hour. . . . Hitherto 
 the expenses have been paid out of rents, contributions levied 
 upon rebel property, etc. This property is now turned over to 
 the Treasury officials. I do not complain of this. The adminis- 
 tration of their charities, and providing for the increase, have 
 been a labor of far greater intensity than the creation of an army 
 and the conduct of campaigns. My inquiry is, ought not these 
 charities to go with the only property out of which they can be 
 properly paid? 
 
 A further comment might be made in addition to the 
 facts so well presented in this letter. The Treasury Depart- 
 ment was about to concern itself primarily with the control 
 of abandoned lands. It will be seen by a reference to the 
 classification of laborers noted in the preceding chapter 
 that a comparatively small number of even self-supporting 
 freedmen had any real connection with the abandoned 
 properties. Yet many who in those days claimed to be 
 the special friends of the Negro looked upon him as 
 a mere appendage to the land, and in urging that the 
 plantation agents should be charged with the care of the 
 freedmen these would-be benefactors placed unconsidered 
 thousands in danger of oppression and in actual and 
 present want. 
 
 In this emergency, Adjutant-General Thomas addressed 
 the War Department as follows : 
 
152 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Chattanooga, Tenn., 
 Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, February 20, 1864. 
 
 Secretary of War : 
 
 Colonel Eaton, Ninth Louisiana Colored Regiment, superintend- 
 ent of freedmen on the Mississippi, has deemed it expedient to 
 join me in East Tennessee, to report the condition of affairs in 
 that section of the country. Since Mr. Mellen has taken charge 
 of the abandoned plantations, instead of reorganizing what had 
 already been done under my instructions for the present year, he 
 required all permits to be revoked, and introduced a system the 
 workings of which the men on the river assert to be impracticable. 
 The consequence is that a large number of persons who had 
 selected plantations have become dissatisfied and are rapidly leav- 
 ing the country, returning the freedmen on our hands for support. 
 May not too great and impracticable changes break the good faith 
 of the Government and create a most injurious distrust? The 
 system adopted by Colonel Eaton has now the result of experience 
 and works well. My system of taking the abandoned plantations 
 for the purpose of giving employment to the blacks, under all the 
 disadvantages, which have been many, has also worked well. 
 Under these plans, with such modifications as experience has 
 taught us, the Treasury agents and the military authorities would 
 have worked in harmony. Then the blacks had been made self- 
 supporting. Now as the season is rapidly advancing and the 
 plantations are being given up by the lessees, I fear we shall have 
 many thousand blacks to feed and clothe. It is said Mr. Mellen 
 has gone to Washington to ask for a large appropriation of money, 
 for which I can see no necessity, as under my system many thou- 
 sand dollars have been placed in the Treasury with little expense 
 to the Government. 
 
 I shall immediately proceed down the river. ... I do not wish 
 to have anything to do with the abandoned plantations, but if the 
 Government will send a commission, or appoint Mr. Field to take 
 charge, I will operate with them cordially and furnish all the labor 
 required. I consider the negroes under my control — furnishing 
 of course labor under the calls of the Treasury agents ; but Mr. 
 Mellen assumes that they are entirely under him, and he desires 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 153 
 
 to issue orders accordingly. The military authorities must have 
 command of the negroes or there will be endless confusion. I will 
 keep this control unless ordered to the contrary. 
 
 L. Thomas, 
 Brigadier and Adjutant General. 
 
 And again: 
 
 Louisville, Ky., February 27, 1864. 
 Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, 
 Secretary of War : 
 I arrived here this morning. ... I will await your instructions 
 here. It is very important that I should proceed down the Mis- 
 sissippi as soon as possible. I hope still to be able to provide for 
 the vast amount of work to be returned on our hands. If the 
 Treasury agent should insist upon carrying out his regulations for 
 leasing abandoned plantations and furnishing hands, none of the 
 blacks can be provided for. If, however, the scale of wages and 
 the regulations adopted by Superintendent Eaton, approved by 
 Major-General Grant and myself, be adopted, and the control be 
 continued by the military authorities, there is yet time to lease 
 plantations by the Treasury agent and provide for a vast amount 
 of labor. May I request an early reply ? 
 
 Very respectfully your obedient servant, 
 L. Thomas, 
 Adjutant-General, U. S. Army. 
 
 The day after this communication was sent, Thomas 
 received a despatch from President Lincoln requesting 
 him to " take hold and be master in the contraband and 
 leasing business." 
 
 A series of interviews with-Mr.^Mellen.. followed, .aad,,a§ 
 aj^esujt of.these, Prders„N-o. §.ffiere.Jssued at Vicksburg on- 
 March 11, 1864. The orders were little more than a du- 
 plicate of the rules adopted by General Banks, and the 
 regulations of Mr. Mellen remained unchanged save for 
 those dealing with the classification and employment of 
 
154 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 laborers, and with police matters. The minimum wage for 
 able-bodied men over fourteen years of age was reduced to 
 ten dollars per month, and for women of the same class, 
 seven dollars. To children, invalids, and the aged, half 
 rates were to be paid. No commutation of supplies was 
 to be allowed except in clothing, which might be commuted 
 at the rate of three dollars per month. This provision 
 was afterwards abolished, though not all planters took 
 advantage of the change, but while in force it practically 
 fixed the minimum rate of wages at thirteen and ten dollars 
 per month. 
 
 Formal classifications of laborers based on age and 
 strength alone were far more equitable on paper than in 
 actual application. Such being the case, the scale of wages 
 enforced in the Yeatman-Mellen regulations as a minimum 
 rate was higher than the industrial situation could sustain. 
 The rate might have applied admirably if the operations 
 had been confined to unexposed territory, for profits were 
 high, and the successful planter was fully able to compen- 
 sate his workmen on the basis of the Yeatman-Mellen 
 scale. Unfortunately not all planters by any means were 
 successful planters; moreover, the industrial conditions 
 were in constant upheaval, owing to the loss of lives, the suf- 
 fering, and financial losses entailed by the attacks of the 
 Confederate raiders. No system, therefore, which involved 
 great risks could hope to prosper. General Thomas's 
 revised police regulations and the prospect of a better 
 understanding between civil and military authorities prom- 
 ised some improvement over the plan proposed by Mr. 
 Mellen. The vital element of danger, however, in Jhj.t 
 plan was the extensiveness of the agricultural operations 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 155 
 
 which it encouraged, and of that danger the revision \vhich 
 the plan received jFrom Genera.]. ThQ.naa.s had tipi freed it. 
 The Freedmen's Department still faced grave responsibili- 
 ties, which were augmented by the constantly increasing 
 number of laborers who were driven from the raided plan- 
 tations, and returned on our hands for protection and sup- 
 port at a time when our organization had been rendered 
 comparatively ineffective by the dangers and difficulties of 
 a divided authority. The plan which I had personally 
 aimed to put into operation and which involved no rigid 
 classification of laborers is thus outlined in the text of my 
 official report: 
 
 I proposed, first, that commanders should indicate the 
 limits within which security could be assured. Second, 
 that within these Hmits all Negroes able to conduct inde- 
 pendent enterprises, as lessees, should take out leases for 
 small farms from the Treasury Department. Third, that 
 those capable of carrying on such enterprises, but without 
 means to prosecute them, should receive the needed assist- 
 ance from benevolent individuals or societies; or else sub- 
 sistence and other incidental aid from Government, — the 
 amount to be deducted from the first income of the crop. 
 Fourth, that houses, sufficient land, etc., should be reserved 
 for shelter and for the industries of all those necessarily 
 dependent. I had invited benevolent societies to come 
 forward and furnish funds, agents, and other necessities, 
 thus providing for as many refugees as possible. I pro- 
 posed that those remaining should be similarly provided 
 for by Government. Fifth, that loyal owners, if there were 
 any such, still in possession of their lands, or those parties 
 leasing of the Treasury abandoned lands, — within these 
 
156 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 limits of security — should hire freedmen, a minimum rate 
 being fixed below which none should go, to guard against 
 fraud upon the more ignorant, and above which prices 
 might rise ad libitum for all services of special value, as 
 prompted by competition, — each engagement to be a 
 bona fide voluntary agreement between the parties, wit- 
 nessed by the proper superintendent, and the inviolability 
 of which should be strictly enforced by Government. 
 
 Such jwas in Jact_the j)olicy iQwarjJ_wliiGli-alLthe_iaxie- 
 pendent efforts of the Freedmen's Depattment-had- tended 
 from the first. 
 
 With this brief outline of a complicated episode, the 
 story of which has never, to my knowledge, been plainly 
 told, the reader is better prepared to understand the state- 
 ments of my officers in regard to the condition of the 
 freedmen on plantations. I therefore quote again with 
 more consecutiveness from my report of 1864. 
 
 So many questions of serious military bearing confronted 
 our commanders ; so many questions of profit and specu- 
 lation concerned the capitalists ; and such important issues, 
 involving life and civilizing influences, were to be faced by 
 the freedmen, and by the philanthropists and statesmen, 
 that I took the utmost pains to bring forward in my re- 
 port all statistical and trustworthy information possible. 
 Answers to carefully prepared questions were received 
 from six distinct classes of persons ; from the planters, the 
 freedmen, the superintendents and provost-marshals, the 
 agents of benevolent societies, and from commanding ofii- 
 cers. These contemporary judgments, which may be found 
 in the report, make up an interesting body of opinion well 
 worth noting. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 157 
 
 There was a large number of plantations where it was 
 known to be especially hazardous for my assistants to go ; 
 moreover, to take the testimony of the Negroes in any 
 form available for use was a task of peculiar difficulty. 
 The Rev. A. S. Fiske, a man of known courage, unyield- 
 ing integrity, and large experience among the freed people, 
 was selected to investigate the condition of freedmen on 
 plantations. Being familiar with all the discriminations 
 necessary to be made in noting the evidence, he success- 
 fully accomplished a difficult task. The following excerpts 
 are taken, with slight verbal change and the necessary 
 omission of much interesting matter, from Chaplain Fiske's 
 report, incorporated in the general report from which I 
 have already quoted : 
 
 " This inspection has covered ninety-five places leased by whites, 
 and fifty-six plats of land worked by the blacks for themselves, in 
 the districts of Natchez, Vicksburg, and Helena. In these districts 
 I have left but few places without examination. . . . The ninety- 
 five plantations examined embrace 45,745 acres of land, said to 
 be cultivated. They have produced about 4800 bales of cotton 
 and perhaps 18,000 bushels of corn. They have given labor and 
 support to 8588 people — about ninety people to a plantation. 
 About twenty plantations I did not see. From some of them I 
 hear good reports. Supposing them to average with those exam- 
 ined, we shall have (in the districts above noted) : 
 
 Total number of acres on which crops are made, 54,105 
 
 " " " bales cotton 5)9 1° 
 
 « " " people supported 10,388 
 
 " These one hundred and fifteen plantations, together with fifty- 
 six plats of land cultivated by blacks, are what I find remaining of 
 the four hundred and fifty leases, more or less, which have been 
 taken for the year. From the ninety-five safest of these planta- 
 tions, on which cultivation has been carried on during the season, 
 
158 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 there have been taken by the rebels, 2314 head of serviceable 
 stock, and 966 blacks. The blacks have been taken back into the 
 interior of the States and resold into bondage.^ The mules have 
 gone directly to the rebel service. Beside this plunder, the Con- 
 federates have carried off with them, how much of supplies, both 
 in dry-goods and in food, it is impossible to do more than conjec- 
 ture. Nor have I any means of ascertaining the amount of stock or 
 the number of hands taken from that greatly larger outlying region, 
 where all the planters have been utterly broken up. Nor is it my 
 sphere to recite the horrible details of atrocious murders perpe- 
 trated upon both black and white. Nor is it possible to know what 
 sums of money or what amount of goods have sufficed to keep the 
 marauders from certain thoroughly exposed but marvellously secure 
 places. It is a matter of common report that not a few planters 
 have taken measures of one sort or another to get the good will of 
 those who else could have ruined them. Some have stated the 
 fact to me plainly, and of others it has been freely said by their 
 neighbors. The planters have not as a general thing made their 
 expenses ; and the whole system of plantations is broken up by 
 late military movements, except in the districts of Helena and 
 Natchez, and the people are, before this, gathered in camps to be 
 cared for by the Government. 
 
 " The compensation of labor is of capital importance in any 
 view of the plantation system. My opinions with reference to 
 Negroes purchasing their own supplies have been completely 
 changed by the observations made in these places. The employ- 
 ers should be required to furnish all needed supplies at cost, 
 on plantation, letting their only profit from the laborer be his 
 labor. ^ 
 
 1 " It is the testimony of nearly all the planters, whether .Southern or 
 Northern, that they could not have expected any set of laborers to work 
 better than theirs. They have in some cases returned to their work after 
 being repeatedly driven away by guerillas, and when no white dared to go 
 near." From the report of L. B. Eaton, Supt. of Freedmen for Arkansas. 
 
 ^ Elsewhere in the report for 1864 Colonel S. Thomas advises a similar 
 system. "Classify," he says, "according to capacity and willingness to 
 labor; fix a minimum price for each class; pay full wages, and supply the 
 freedmen, at cost, with everything they need." 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 159' 
 
 " In February, authority in freedmen's affairs passed from the 
 Treasury Department into military hands, but not into the control 
 of the Freedmen's Department.^ 
 
 "The plantation system had gone too far to be withdrawn. 
 Most of the hands were hired on the promise of twenty-five dollars 
 for men and eighteen dollars for women, — finding their own 
 rations. On no consultation with them or consent of theirs, that 
 promise was broken by authority above that of the Freedmen's 
 Department. Now, they were to get ten dollars for men and 
 seven dollars for women, with three dollars a month commutation 
 of clothing, making thirteen dollars and ten dollars. Six planters 
 only held to the former agreement. So, per force, they went on at 
 work for a time under the new arrangement, when, lo, comes 
 another breach of one side of the contract, and the three dollars 
 commutation for clothing is gone, leaving them to clothe them- 
 selves and families out of ten dollars per month. Some ten planters 
 refused to take advantage of the last reduction on wages and have 
 paid the promised amount." 
 
 Mr. Fiske goes on to show that deducting the average 
 loss in time from the seventy dollars a woman could earn 
 for ten months' labor, together with the necessary outlay 
 
 1 Mr. Fiske refers here to the revision by General L. Thomas of Mr. 
 Mellen's orders. The authority of the Treasury Department was not by any 
 means relinquished, but an attempt was made, as we have seen, to make 
 the civil and military powers act together. The officers of the Freedmen's 
 Department, looking with a single eye to the interests of the freedmen and 
 their employers, — represented either by private individuals or the Govern- 
 ment, — were not always able to find themselves in sympathy either with the 
 plans of General Thomas or the policy of the Treasury Department. With- 
 out detracting in the least from the real value of General Thomas's services, 
 it must nevertheless be said that he was not by temperament well fitted to 
 his task. He was essentially a vain man; volatile in spite of his capac- 
 ity for devoting himself laboriously to his duties, and, with judgment some- 
 what too easily influenced by personal considerations, his rulings were at 
 times both unwise and unjust. His faults, perhaps unfortunately for his 
 work, were of the kind that were obvious to all men, and their reaction upon 
 himself was responsible for most of the occasions in which his enterprises 
 were only partially successful. 
 
160 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 for supplies, she would have a balance due her at the end 
 of the year of just nine dollars, — provided she had no one 
 dependent upon her, and were ordinarily well. 
 
 " But suppose she has a child, — and black women do have chil- 
 dren, — what then? Suppose the rebels took off the first suit of 
 clothing she bought, suppose fraud to have been practised toward 
 her, or in sickness her ration charged her, or that she was com- 
 pelled to pay for the rations her children ate, — what then ? It 
 is sincerely to be hoped that, hereafter, labor may compete in 
 the open market ; that demand and supply shall regulate prices ; 
 and that liberality and justice, wherever practised this year, may 
 have the advantage of their good repute among the laborers. 
 
 "The proper care of the sick, and charge of sanitary affairs, 
 requires that each provost-marshal district should have a medical 
 officer, who should be in control of all sanitary affairs on plantations. 
 This year it has been impossible for those on plantations to reach 
 medical assistance ; and the planters have had no authority to 
 keep the quarters or the persons of their laborers in good sanitary 
 condition. As a consequence, great numbers have died. I have 
 been on plantations where nearly half the people have died. The 
 smallpox has prevailed very extensively. 
 
 " In reference to educational interests, the plantations are not 
 favorable. I cannot find that any general effort has been made 
 for the enlightenment of the people in any direction. In matters 
 of prudence and economy, they often have not known the cost of 
 the articles they bought. No wise, kind oversight has been had 
 of their household affairs or modes of life. Not even the plain and 
 fundamental provisions which, in all camps and towns, have been 
 made for lawful marriage, have been regarded upon the farms.^ Of 
 course there are exceptions to these sweeping negations ; but no 
 class of men engaged in pushing their fortunes in hazardous ven- 
 tures of this sort will stop for educational' or moral effort among 
 the people. 
 
 1 The freedmen in camps and towns were under more complete supervision 
 by officers of the Freedmen's Bepartment. The drawbacks of a divided 
 authority were felt most severely in the plantation enterprises. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN (l6l) 
 
 " No one thing is made clearer by the observation of many 
 groups of laborers than this : that the more constant oversight of 
 a real authority is needful, both for the protection of the planter 
 and that of the black. During the year now closing the provost- 
 marshals have been too few. Had half the places leased been 
 under cultivation, it would have been even more impossible for the 
 officers charged with the protection and government of the labor- 
 ers to reach them effectually." 
 
 These quotations suffice to show w^hat a difficult propo- 
 sition the leasing system proved to be, under whatever 
 management it was prosecuted. In no other section of 
 the country did the superintendents of freedmen come into 
 such direct relations with the ex-slave owner as did we 
 in the Valley, and that fact should have been taken into 
 consideration when the bungling and indefinite division of 
 authority was made which so greatly crippled the ability 
 of the Freedmen's Department to exercise a proper over- 
 sight upon plantation affairs.^ 
 
 As already indicated, this division of authority was espe- 
 cially disastrous in regard to the care of the destitute. 
 
 Orders No. 9 did not specify how those who remained 
 dependent upon the Government were to be provided for, 
 but we hoped the Treasury plantation agents would rneet 
 their necessities, and allow the superintendents to restrict 
 their efforts to the execution of justice among freedmen in~ 
 
 1 Colonel James McKaye of the Freedmen Inquiry Commission, in a spe- 
 cial report on the conditions in the lower Mississippi Valley {i864), refers 
 very forcibly to this complication: "In the judgment of the Commission 
 the most serious error in connection with the present arrangements for the 
 care and protection of these people arises out of the assignment to a differ- 
 ent agency of the care and disposal of the abandoned plantations. ... It is 
 the source of the greatest confusion and a perpetual collision between the 
 different local authorities, in which not only the emancipated population 
 but the Government itself suffers the most serious injuries and losses." 
 
 II 
 
162 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 cities, and the provost-marshals among those on the plan- 
 tations. After the transfer of authority, my officers 
 remained at their posts with instructions to use every 
 opportunity to prompt the people to accept work as it 
 offered. They dispensed the supplies that remained to the 
 dependent, and awaited the coming of the agents; but 
 these did not appear. The only attempt made by the rep- 
 resentatives of the Treasury to provide for the dependent 
 was at Natchez, where the Home Farm organized by them 
 was so badly managed that its sanitary condition was con- 
 demned by the Medical Director of Freedmen. Finding, 
 that all their supplies must come from the army, and rea- 
 lizing that they had neither forms of business to meet the 
 situation nor men to attend to it, the plantation agents saw 
 the inexpediency of managing freedmen affairs by any 
 other than military instrumentalities, and they began early 
 to ask my officers to assume charge again. These officers, 
 however, found public interests at Natchez so entangled 
 with private interests that they declined the responsibility 
 until peremptorily ordered by General Brayman to assume 
 it. It took a long time and a great deal of effort on our 
 part to bring the condition of the freedmen to as good a 
 standard as had been attained before this alteration of pol- 
 icy took place. During the period of confusion and dis- 
 trust, while my officers were under the authority of the 
 proposed scheme. Northern benevolence to a great extent 
 had given up co-operating with us, and we were left with- 
 out that source of relief for the suffering freedmen. Even 
 more unfortunate than this was the fact that the plantation 
 agents, from Lake Providence to Vicksburg — embracing 
 a river line of something over fifty miles — had leased 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 163 
 
 every plantation and house, leaving neither an acre of soil 
 nor a cabin for the dependent of the entire laboring popu- 
 lation. We gradually recovered from the effects of this 
 disturbance, but there were days of extreme anxiety to be 
 bridged before we did so. I remember how in our desper- 
 ation, for it amounted to that, my assistant, Colonel Sam- 
 uel Thomas, and I walked the streets of Memphis far into 
 the night, — both of us unable to sleep, both striving to 
 find some way of meeting the difficulties which confronted 
 us at every turn. The. Negroes were .rejourning panic- 
 stricken from the plantations whence they had been, 
 driven by the attacks of guerillas ; they wr.ere thrown upon 
 our hands without means of support, and_our_jxso«-r-ees 
 for caring-forthem—amljeading them_toward^ condition 
 o£.sdtsup.pj3rt Jiad_b£eiti_practi£ally_ cutjoff. The winter 
 and spring of 1863 to the summer of 1864 were largely 
 taken up in the effort to readjust ourselves to this change 
 in the National policy, and the legitimate results of 
 our previous work were therefore very much delayed. 
 Before the situation could be righted I was obliged 
 personally to represent these difficulties to the authori- 
 ties at Washington. 
 
 To sum up the conditions of the Negro as represented 
 by my officers, it should be said that of all the elements 
 represented in the Valley, the independent Negro cultiva- 
 tor..^was without doubt the most successful.^^ The Negroes 
 were far more cautious than the white lessees in leasing 
 land subject to unreasonable exposure to the enemy, and 
 they were forced by their circumstances to lease in smaller 
 tracts. The holdings on Davis Bend, for instance, ranged 
 from five acres to one hundred. In addition to this the 
 
164 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Negroes naturally submitted their affairs with greater will- 
 ingness to the oversight of the Freedmen's Department. 
 
 Near Helena the amount and safety of the abandoned 
 lands were such as to lead me to direct the local super- 
 intendent to secure a large interest to the Negroes as in- 
 dependent planters. Some forty thousand dollars were 
 reported as the aggregate income of the colored lessees. 
 In this connection Colonel Thomas observes : " Many 
 Negroes leased small pieces of land from the Treasury 
 Department in the spring, and have worked through the 
 year with good success. They had to gather up their 
 stock, material, etc., from abandoned plantations near 
 them, and depend upon various sources for food for them- 
 selves and their hands. . . . Many have made arrangements 
 with parties in Vicksburg for such aid, binding themselves 
 to deliver a portion of their crop at the end of the year to 
 settle the debt. As a general thing this has not been 
 advantageous to the Negro ; but where injustice was glar- 
 ing, I have interfered and made arrangements to pay with 
 the crop the actual fair value of the debt incurred. 
 
 " Some of the Negroes had money at the end of last 
 year, and have been able to pay for their supplies as they 
 went along. These of course have done well. They make 
 more money than the white lessees when they are placed 
 on the same footing. Their wants are simple and easily 
 supplied ; they have no expensive vices ; they do full work 
 themselves, and being of the same race with those they 
 hire, they succeed in getting good and steady work out of 
 them. 
 
 " Those lessees who have drawn their supplies from the 
 Government will succeed best, as they have received food 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 165 
 
 at low rates, and have been credited. Thus they have 
 avoided sacrificing their crops in advance to pay for their 
 subsistence." 
 
 Late in the season — in November and December, 1864, 
 — the Freedmen's Department was restored to full control 
 over the camps and plantations on President's Island and 
 Palmyra or Davis Bend. Both these points had been 
 originally occupied at the suggestion of General Grant, and 
 were among the most successful of our enterprises for the 
 Negroes. Wjth.the expansiori of the lessee system, private 
 interests were allowed to displace the interests of the 
 Negroes. whom we had established thereunder the pro- 
 tection of the Government, but orders issued by General 
 N. J. T. Dana, upon whose sympathetic and intelligent 
 co-operation my officers could always rely, restored to 
 us the full control of these lands. The efforts of the freed- 
 men on Davis Bend were particularly encouraging, and 
 this property, under Colonel Thomas's able direction, 
 became in reality the "Negro Paradise" that General 
 Grant had urged us to make of it. Early in 1865 a system 
 was adopted for their government in which the freed men 
 took a considerable part. The Bend was divided into 
 districts, each having a sheriff and judge appointed from 
 among the more reliable and intelligent colored men. 
 A general oversight of the proceedings was maintained 
 by our officer in charge, who confirmed or modified the 
 findings of the court. The shrewdness of the colored 
 judges was very remarkable, though it was sometimes 
 necessary to decrease the severity of the punishments 
 they proposed. Fines and penal service on the Home 
 Farm were the usual sentences imposed. Petty theft. 
 
166 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 and idleness, were the most frequent causes of trouble, but 
 my officers were able to report that exposed property was 
 as safe on Davis Bend as it would be anywhere. The com- 
 munity distinctly demonstrated the capacity of the Negro 
 to take care of himself and exercise under honest and com- 
 petent direction the functions of self-government. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Second visit to Washington, and interviews witli President Lincoln. 
 New regulations of the Treasury Department are revoked. Mr. 
 Lincoln talks of the Negro, and of the criticisms of himself. 
 Another side to Stanton. A public assembly at the White House. 
 Sent by Mr. Lincoln to Grant's headquarters at City Point. A 
 dramatic interview. 
 
 OWING to the complications with representatives 
 of the Treasury Department, and with civilians 
 and speculators in the Valley, I determined upon 
 a second visit to Washington and the President. The 
 danger and injustice to which the freedmen were exposed 
 were too great to be viewed with equanimity, and it 
 was felt that some effort must be made to better their 
 condition. Grant was far away before Richmond ; I was 
 acting under the orders of the Secretary of War, and 
 in the present circumstances an appeal to the authorities 
 at Washington seemed to be the only course open to us. 
 Early in June of 1864 — on the second of the month, to 
 be quite accurate — Congress had passed a law making 
 the entire question of freedmen, refugees, and abandoned 
 lands tributary to the Treasury Department, and on July 
 29, a new set of regulations was indorsed by the Secretary 
 of the Treasury, Mr. Fessenden, — who had then suc- 
 ceeded Mr. Chase, — according to the terms of which the 
 
168 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 officers of freedmen reported directly to the agents of the 
 Treasury, which Department was to assume absolute con- 
 trol of the situation. By the end of July I had started on 
 my journey to the Capitol, stopping over a night or two 
 with my brother in Toledo. While there I heard an 
 address by Fred Douglass, and had a very interesting talk 
 with him. 
 
 On reaching Washington on August lO, I went directly to 
 the White House. Mr. Lincoln was alert to know the facts 
 I had come to present, and his reception of me was cor- 
 diality itself. Although he felt the force of the argument 
 in favor of making the most out of the crops, and of intro- 
 ducing into that disaffected section of the country a popu- 
 lation which might be presumed to be loyal and devoted 
 to the interests of the Union, he was at the same time , 
 fully prepared to consider the question from every point 
 of view. When I told him of the danger and suffering of 
 the Negroes occasioned by raids upon plantations, of the 
 difficulty of exercising adequate authority and restraint 
 over operations so extended and remote from the military 
 posts, when I related the freedom with which the lessees 
 interpreted and applied the orders issued by the Treasury, 
 Mr. Lincoln's keen face sharpened with indignation. " I 
 have signed no regulations authorizing that ! " he exclaimed 
 more than once in the course of my narrative. This indeed 
 was literally true. 
 
 The President's grasp of the situation was astonishing, 
 especially in view of the many and serious problems that 
 lay upon his mind. When he heard my tale to the end, 
 he sent me promptly to the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 Mr. Fessenden himself was out of the city at the time, but 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 169 
 
 in his absence I was referred to the Assistant Secretary, Mr. 
 George Harrington. To him I repeated the substance of 
 my story, dwelling on the fact that the dependent, whom 
 we had been led to believe would be provided for by the 
 plantation agents, had, after all, been thrown upon military 
 support; that there were no competent instrumentalities 
 other than military for their care ; and that my assistants 
 had been compelled to extend Government aid to numer- 
 ous freedmen endeavoring to help themselves, and conse- 
 quently had open contracts which could not be settled till 
 the close of the season. In addition to these complications 
 I referred to the difficulty of controlling the policy and 
 acts of the planters, many of whom proved themselves dis- 
 loyal to the Union in feeling as well as reckless of what might 
 result to it indirectly from their own selfish operations. 
 Had_a lL the l essees^been loyal and disinterested ,Ujai£^n 
 men, the plans of the Treasury might have succeeded 
 admirably, but among men some of whom were union one 
 day and rebel the next, according as their private interests 
 might incline them, and in a territory owned principally by 
 strong Southern sympathizers who laughed bitterly at the 
 presumption of the United States Treasury in leasing lands 
 to which they themselves laid violent claim, it was not to be 
 expected that an extended system of peaceful agricultural 
 operations could be conducted. Mr. Harrington took a 
 common-sense view of the harm and confusion sure to 
 result from a transfer so untimely and so unprovided 
 for, and as a result of this statement of the plain facts 
 of the case, the following order was communicated to Mr. 
 Mellen, Special Supervising Agent of the First Special 
 Agency : 
 
 f 
 
170 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Treasury Department, 
 August II, 1864. 
 W. P. Mellen, Esq., Gen'lAg't Treasury Deft, 
 Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 Sir, — Until further instructions all action under the regulations 
 of July 29 (ult), concerning Freedmen, will be suspended. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Geo. Harrington, 
 Acting Secretary of Treasury. 
 
 It must not be supposed that so important a measure — 
 practically rendering inoperative an act of Congress and 
 Department orders — was taken solely on my representa- 
 tions. The general situation had been made known to the 
 President in his personal interviews with Senator E. B. 
 Washburne and General Wadsworth, both of whom had 
 made a semi-official inspection of the condition of freed- 
 men in the districts under my care, so that Mr. Lincoln 
 and the members of his Cabinet with whom I came in 
 touch were in a measure prepared for the fuller revelation 
 I was able to make. The purpose of the Administration 
 was not by any means to revoke the rights and privileges 
 already accorded to lessees, but rather to see to it that 
 all present contracts should be fulfilled with every possible 
 regard to the rights of the people, — of whatever race or 
 color, — and to issue no new contracts except under more 
 favorable conditions. 
 
 Before leaving Washington, and after the return of Mr. 
 Fessenden, I received the following communication : 
 
 Treasury Department, 
 Col. John Eaton, Jr. August 23, 1864. 
 
 Sir, — The suspension of the Regulations, whereby this Depart- 
 ment contemplated taking immediate control of the Freedmen, 
 has been approved by the Secretary. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 171 
 
 In directing such suspension, it was the expectation and desire 
 of the Department that the system and arrangements heretofore 
 inaugurated and now being prosecuted under you should be con- 
 tinued without interruption until the crops now in are gathered, 
 and the present season closed, and until this Department is pre- 
 pared in all respects to assume such control under the law. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Geo. Harrington, 
 Assistant Secretary of Treasury. 
 
 This order was a distinct advantage to our Department. 
 It had long been evident to us who were working on the 
 ground, that no one thing had been made clearer by our 
 experience than the separate functions of Government 
 which the War and the Treasury Departments were quali- 
 fied to exercise, and to which they were by right assigned ; 
 the Treasury, that is, to the collection of revenue and the 
 disbursement of funds ; the War Office, to the prosecution 
 of military operations and the execution of justice, whilst 
 civil authority should be in abeyance. The facts in our 
 experience showed that any confounding of the functions 
 of the Departments must create confusion and fail of good 
 results. In respect to the freedmen as a whole, it had 
 become plain that the Treasury should control the funds 
 and revenues, as it did for other operations, while the War 
 Department, possessing the only efficient organization for 
 such service, should be given facilities to provide for the 
 dependent, and left free to administer their industrial and 
 educational aff'airs, and to execute justice toward the freed- 
 men as to all others in the regions under control of the 
 army. It was a vast encouragement to me to find the 
 Administration in sympathy with this view of the case. 
 It may as well be stated at once in this connection that 
 
172 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 the contemplated action of the Treasury Department under 
 the act of Congress, and the regulations of July 29, never 
 went into effect in the Mississippi Valley. There were 
 some spasmodic efforts made by individuals to exercise 
 more extended authority, but on the whole my officers 
 encountered little further difficulty in dealing with the 
 agents of the Treasury. The position of the Freedmen's 
 Department in its relation to the Treasury, and to the 
 Government generally, remained unchanged until the or- 
 ganization of the Freedmen's Bureau was effected. 
 
 During my stay in Washington, which, partly at Mr. 
 Lincoln's expressed desire, extended over a week or so, I 
 had the privilege of many talks with the President. As on 
 the occasion of my former visit, he would tell me to come 
 in after the routine of the day was over, and, as at that 
 time, he would manifest in his talk with me the deep- 
 est interest in all the elements of the Negro character 
 which had been revealed to our officers in the course 
 of our association with the freedmen. These talks dis- 
 closed still further the profundity of Mr. Lincoln's nature, 
 and the correct understanding he possessed of the Negro 
 and the situation in the South. A series of questions 
 would bring out the information that had come to me con- 
 cerning the more remarkable colored men and women who 
 had escaped from slavery and come within our jurisdiction, 
 and Lincoln would then point out with keenest interest 
 what such men and women might do if they could return 
 to their homes and spread the information of what they 
 had seen, — of what freedom meant to those who had 
 attained it : honorable service in our armies for the men, 
 compensated labor for those of their mothers, sisters, and 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 173 
 
 wives who were able to work, protection to those who 
 were not, and, for their children, schools. 
 
 In connection with this subject he once alluded to John 
 Brown's raid, deprecating alike its method and its untime- 
 liness, and lamenting the bloodshed which it caused. Now, 
 however, that the war was upon us and there could be no 
 withdrawal from any of the questions at issue, that wonder- 
 fully fertile brain of his was considering every possible 
 means by which the Negro could be secured in his free- 
 dom, and at the same time prove a source of strength to 
 the Union. The President's heart yearned for peace ; his 
 mind sought out every means of stopping the bloodshed. 
 He referred to the really astonishing extent to which the 
 colored people were informed in regard to the progress of 
 the war, and remarked that he wished the " grapevine tele- 
 graph " could be utilized to calf upon the Negroes of the 
 interior peacefully to leave the plantations and seek the 
 protection of our armies. This as a war-time measure he 
 considered legitimate. Apart from the numbers it would 
 add to our military forces, he explained the effect such an 
 exodus would have upon the industry of the South. The 
 Confederate soldiers were sustained by provisions raised 
 by Negro labor ; withdraw that labor, and the young men 
 in the Southern army would soon be obliged to go home 
 to " raise hog and hominy," and thus promote the collapse 
 of the Confederacy. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln spoke with the utmost frankness of the criti- 
 cism to which he and his policy had been subjected, and 
 in the course of one such conversation I referred to the 
 address by Frederick Douglass which I had recently heard. 
 I described those points in Mr. Lincoln's course which 
 
174 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 were approved by Douglass, and those on which he dif- 
 fered from the President. In the terribly rough passages 
 through which the colored race was emerging into freedom 
 it was not strange that Mr. Douglass, as the leading repre- 
 sentative of that race, should find much to criticise. The 
 Confederates had threatened not to treat as prisoners of 
 war any captured colored soldiers or their officers. I was 
 one of those officers. My heart was heavy with the mis- 
 treatment and suffering of the Negroes in the conquered 
 territory over which my supervision extended. Douglass 
 and I had found much to talk about, and I was able to 
 give Mr. Lincoln a fairly clear notion of his point of view. 
 The Negro orator felt keenly that our measures of retalia- 
 tion against cruelty to Negro soldiers were not sharp 
 enough. When I had finished, the President asked if Mr. 
 Douglass knew what he had written Governor Hahn about 
 Negro suffrage. Hahn had but recently been appointed 
 Governor of Louisiana and was trying to reorganize the 
 State. Mr. Lincoln rose as he spoke, and drawing from 
 his private desk near at hand a copy of his letter of March 
 13 to Hahn, he read to me the famous passage in regard 
 to the elective franchise : " I congratulate you on hav- 
 ing fixed your name in history as the first Free State 
 Governor of Louisiana. Now you are about to have a 
 convention, which, among other things, will probably 
 define the elective franchise, I barely suggest for your 
 private consideration whether some of the colored people 
 may not be let in, as, for instance, the very intelligent, and 
 especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. 
 
 " They would probably help, in some future time to 
 come, to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 175 
 
 But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you 
 alone." 
 
 When he had finished reading, the President of the 
 United States and the greatest man of his time asked me, 
 with that curious modesty characteristic of him, if I 
 thought Mr. Douglass could be induced to come to see 
 him. I replied that I rather thought he could. It was 
 soon arranged that Douglass should visit Washington 
 and see the President. Some of my readers may have 
 heard Mr. Douglass's own account of this visit. Ostensi- 
 bly he was in Washington to deliver an address. He saw 
 Mr. Lincoln. I knew when the interview was to occur, 
 and also where Mr. Douglass was stopping, — at the home 
 of Mr. Lee, a wealthy colored man in the city. Immedi- 
 ately after the interview I called upon Douglass, and found 
 him pacing the long, old-fashioned parlors in a state of 
 extreme agitation. He did not know that I was in Wash- 
 ington, and greeted me in surprise ; but nothing could dis- 
 tract his mind for long from that interview. " I have just 
 come from President Lincoln," he said, making no attempt 
 to suppress his excitement. " He treated me as a man ; 
 he did not let me feel for a moment that there was any 
 difference in the color of our skins ! The President is a 
 most remarkable man. I am satisfied now that he is doing 
 all that circumstances will permit him to do. He asked 
 me a number of questions, which I am preparing to answer 
 in writing," and he pointed to the writing materials on a 
 table near him. There was never any doubt afterwards of 
 Mr. Douglass's enthusiastic regard for the President. He 
 had seen the situation for the first time as it appeared to 
 Mr. Lincoln's eyes ; he had discovered Mr. Lincoln's mas- 
 
176 GRANT, IJNCOLN, AND THE PREEDMEN 
 
 terly power in dealing with it, — and, parenthetically it 
 might be remarked, with him, — and ever after, as is evi- 
 denced by informal testimony as well as by the orations 
 which he delivered over the country, he told the story of 
 Mr. Lincoln's greatness and excellence. Mr. Lincoln, on 
 his part, had previously assured me that considering the 
 conditions from which Douglass rose, and the position to 
 which he had attained, he was, in his judgment, one of the 
 most meritorious men in America. 
 
 This little story, insignificant perhaps in itself, illustrates 
 the President's skill in handling the men who were inclined 
 to find fault with his policy. Something of the same trait 
 was exhibited in his treatment of Horace Greeley, whose 
 spirit of fault-finding was sometimes exceptionally ill- 
 advised and disturbing. He told me of his motive in 
 sending Mr. Greeley to deal with Mr. Thompson, ex- 
 Secretary of the Interior, and at that time agent of the 
 Confederacy in Canada. Nothing resulted from Mr. 
 Greeley's mission, — nor had Mr. Lincoln expected that 
 anything would result, — but it gave Mr. Greeley certain 
 definite and vivid ideas of the difficulties of practical 
 politics. 
 
 Yet another illustration occurs to me of the complica- 
 tions with which Mr. Lincoln had to deal, — not infrequently 
 among members of his own Cabinet. He was sitting one 
 day in his easy-chair with a large quantity of commissions 
 spread out before him awaiting his signature. As we 
 talked, he signed the papers, occasionally referring by 
 name to the recipient of the commission. One man whom 
 he mentioned I knew to be hostile to the President's in- 
 terests, and called his attention to the fact. " I suppose," 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 177 
 
 said Mr. Lincoln, imperturbably signing the paper, " that I 
 am constantly giving appointments to men in that attitude." 
 So great was the opposition to Mr. Lincoln's re-election at 
 this time, that I not unnaturally felt that a good deal of 
 care ought to be exercised in guarding from his enemies 
 positions of any degree of influence. In this case the man 
 receiving the appointment was an ardent supporter of Mr. 
 Chase, who, as is well known, was somewhat antagonistic 
 to Lincoln and not without ambitions for the Presidency. 
 It was very soon after Mr. Chase had resigned from the 
 Treasury. There had been serious differences between the 
 Secretary of the Treasury and the President, but Mr. Lin- 
 coln listened with pleasure to all I could say in Mr. Chase's 
 favor. From my college days he had been for me some- 
 thing of an ideal. He was a native of the same State, 
 graduated from the same college, and as Governor of Ohio 
 had won the admiration of .every one by his masterly con- 
 duct in bringing that State out of bankruptcy. As a 
 resident of Toledo and superintendent of schools there, I 
 had become much interested in his career, and had em- 
 ployed a niece of his, I remember, in one of the schools 
 under my superintendence. Mr. Lincoln was very earnest 
 in commending what he had done, but at the same time 
 he was compelled reluctantly to admit that his idiosyncra- 
 cies as a cabinet officer would have tended to defeat the 
 main aims of the Administration. This I was quite pre- 
 pared to realize, having experienced complications in my 
 own work which were in part derived from Mr. Chase's 
 Negro policy. In my enthusiasm for another member of 
 Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet, I exclaimed, " Mr. President, you 
 meet with no such difficulties from your Premier ! " I had 
 
 12 
 
178 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FEEEDMEN 
 
 originally looked upon the failure to nominate Mr. Seward 
 for the Presidency as a great defeat of Republican princi- 
 ples, and had expected everything of him as the head of 
 Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet. My amazement, therefore, could 
 hardly be expressed when the President, who was leaning 
 back in his arm-chair, his great length stretched out at 
 ease, his head thrown back, suddenly raised himself and 
 swung the large effective head forward until his chin rested 
 on his bosom, exclaiming, " Seward knows that I am his 
 master ! " He then went on to tell me how he had pushed 
 the prompt surrender of Mason and Slidell as an act of 
 justice toward England, realizing that in the light of in- 
 ternational law the Trent affair might justly have given 
 ground for reprisal. Seward would have temporized, and 
 so risked a most unwelcome complication with England. 
 
 I must not omit to record that while I was in Washington 
 
 on this occasion, Mr. Lincoln sent me to the office of the 
 
 ^ /i>/U /U Secretary of War, in or- 
 
 «^ . of/j)l^ ^''^'^ der that I might acquaint 
 
 p£t-P^,^ ^^^ ]f .fuLo^ ^»«>-S him with my view of 
 
 feig^SvO ^^f^^^ntv ^-e^/^y*^"'^ affairs in the Valley and 
 
 /-^!i^^^ ^f>^ <2r ^^ ^^'^ receive any suggestions 
 
 he might offer. I had 
 seen Mr. Stanton on my 
 former visit, and well remembered the dignity and impres- 
 siveness of his audiences. There was an air of statesman- 
 ship about him which lent itself to all his procedures, and 
 the atmosphere of his offices led one to feel that idlers and 
 triflers were not welcome. The Secretary, of course, had 
 his stated hours for receiving, and at those times officers of 
 all ranks gathered in the room adjoining his private office 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 179 
 
 on the second floor of the old War Department building. 
 The head of the War Office would issue from his sanctum 
 accompanied by one of the officers of the staff, who was 
 expected to facilitate matters for the Secretary and his 
 guests. Mr. Stanton's conversation with each was very 
 brisk, not to say brusk, and the interviews were almost 
 invariably short; but they were also pleasant, unless, as 
 sometimes happened, the officer whom Mr. Stanton was 
 addressing had failed in what Mr. Stanton considered his 
 duty. Then it was apt to go hard with that officer. But 
 there was another side to the Secretary which has not often 
 enough been recorded. No one with whom I had talked 
 while in Washington showed a keener interest in the Negro 
 problem than did he, and to him I spoke with the utmost 
 freedom of our experiences. On one occasion, I remem- 
 bef, he took me with him to his inner office, to which he 
 withdrew at the close of his public audiences, accompanied 
 sometimes by those with whom he desired further or more 
 confidential talk. We were speaking of the suffering 
 among the Negroes in the Valley, and I had told him 
 a peculiarly pathetic story. When I had finished, Mr. 
 Stanton's face — perhaps the most immovable and alto- 
 gether inscrutable face I have ever seen — was working, 
 and his eyes were full of tears. 
 
 Another matter, by the way, which greatly disturbed the 
 President at this time, was the demand to have Stanton 
 removed. However these two men differed in many im- 
 portant details, they stood firmly by each other in the 
 great issues, and Lincoln was most unwilling to displace 
 the Secretary. 
 
 Stories of Mr. Lincoln's tenderness are so numerous 
 
180 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 that it seems scarcely worth while to add to them, but the 
 following illustration of the personal distress which the 
 sufferings of others brought to him I cannot forbear to 
 tell. One afternoon, in the midst of our conversation, we 
 heard the discharge of musketry. The wind, blowing from 
 the Virginia side, wafted the sound from across the river. 
 Mr. Lincoln arose, and, stepping past his chair, looked out 
 of the open window toward the Virginia shore. When he 
 turned again, the tears were running down his cheeks. 
 " This is the day," said he, " when they shoot deserters. 
 I am wondering whether I have used the pardoning power 
 as much as I ought. I know some of our officers feel that 
 I have used it with so much freedom as to demoralize the 
 army and destroy the discipline." The President felt espe- 
 cially lenient toward those who had slept at their posts 
 when on picket duty. " I feel," he went on, more to him- 
 self, I thought, than to me, " that the picket who sleeps at his 
 post is imperilling, it may be, the entire army, and I know 
 how serious that is. But the officers only see the force of 
 military discipline; perhaps it is right, but I see other 
 things. I feel how the man may have been exposed to long 
 watches with no opportunity for proper rest, and so sleep 
 steals upon him unawares. I would not relax the discipline 
 of the army, but I do want to be considerate of every case." 
 As he talked, his great, good heart seemed to open itself 
 and allow one to observe its workings. For a man so 
 relentless with himself in the performance of his own duty, 
 Lincoln's charity toward others was little short of phenom- 
 enal. There is much testimony to show how he suffered, 
 and how he strove to exercise the pardoning power when- 
 ever possible. In the case of signing warrants for twenty- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN; AND THE FREEDMEN 181 
 
 four deserters, he said : " There are already too many 
 weeping widows in the United States. For God's sake 
 don't ask me to add to the number." And on a different 
 occasion, "Well, I think the boy can do us more good 
 above the ground than under." 
 
 At the time of one of my visits to Washington — and 
 I think it was during this same summer of 1864 — Bishop 
 Simpson was advertised to deliver an address, widely 
 known at the time, on "The Providence of God as seen 
 in Our War." He spoke in the Methodist Church at the 
 corner of Four-and-a-half and F streets. I made it a 
 point to attend, and betook myself early to the church 
 in anticipation of a crowd. I was shown by the usher to 
 a vacant pew near the centre. Presently, as the church 
 filled up, the Secretary of War came in and was shown 
 to a seat immediately in front of me, and a little later 
 Mr. Lincoln entered the pew in front of him. When the 
 sermon was over and I was preparing to find my way 
 out, the Bishop was escorted to the President's pew, and 
 the soldiers, as was always the case whenever Mr. Lincoln 
 appeared, began to flock about him, completely blocking 
 the pews and making egress impossible. I thus heard the 
 President express to Bishop Simpson his satisfaction with 
 the way in which the Bishop had traced the course of 
 events bearing on the progress of the country. With his 
 customary gleam of humor, the President added, " But, 
 Bishop, you did not ' strike 'ile.' " This was widely re- 
 ported in the press at the time, for the discovery of the 
 great oil fields was new then. It certainly illustrated 
 Lincoln's shrewd appreciation of current events. 
 
 Arriving one day at the White House somewhat earlier 
 
182 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 than I had intended, I found myself in the midst of the 
 crowd to whom Mr. Lincoln was giving audience. The 
 scene will never be effaced from my memory. Although 
 it was near the hour when the public reception was sup- 
 posed to be over, the room was still thronged with the 
 multitude that sought his attention. The President was 
 seated near the corner of his long office table, around 
 which he was accustomed to gather with his Cabinet, and 
 near him stood the trusted guardian, who, though osten- 
 sibly there to aid the callers in preferring to Mr. Lincoln 
 their requests, was in reality guarding against any attack 
 upon his life. It was a large room, and filled with ap- 
 plicants, save for the space directly in front of the table, 
 which served as the approach to the President and was 
 kept free. The crowd was as miscellaneous in character 
 as it was large. Men, women, and even children, waited 
 their turn to grasp the President's hand, and in most 
 cases to ask some favor. There were privates and offi- 
 cers of the Union army, and civilians of every degree of 
 loyalty, as well as some avowedly disloyal. Above them 
 all on this particular occasion, I recollect the towering, 
 manly form of Mr. Lincoln's pastor, the Reverend Dr. 
 Gurley. I found my way around the table at which the 
 President was seated, and stood somewhat behind him 
 and to his right, in such a position that I saw the Presi- 
 dent's face as he greeted each new comer, and heard 
 much of what was said. He had a thoroughly charac- 
 teristic word for each one who accosted him, — no small 
 test of personality in itself, — and in dealing with men 
 who offered excuses for not serving in the army there 
 was no lack of witty repartee. It was difficult to impose 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 183 
 
 on Mr. Lincoln in spite of his kind heart. He made 
 short work of frauds of any description, and kept his 
 rectitude of judgment and freedom from sentimentality 
 in the face of all appeals to the sentiment of which he 
 had so much. I well remember a lady who came to ask 
 her husband's release from prison. Mr. Lincoln's quick, 
 penetrating question soon brought to light the fact that 
 the husband had taken up arms against the Union, and 
 being captured by our forces had been sent to one of 
 the military prisons. The President's manner lost no 
 particle of its kindliness, but it was full of decision, and 
 calculated to appeal to every sense of womanhood and 
 dignity the applicant possessed. Had not her husband 
 gone out to destroy the Union? Had it not been neces- 
 sary for the Government to defend itself against such as 
 he, by calling the husbands all over the land from their 
 homes? While he was in prison he was powerless to 
 harm the Union, and his cause was so much weakened. 
 The woman soon realized the unfitness of her request, 
 and ceased to importune him. Lincoln's reception of 
 the soldiers who were among the crowd could not have 
 been more impressive. Small wonder the army adored 
 him. The stream of visitors passed by. In the front 
 line of those who surrounded the open space before the 
 President, waiting their turn, was a little lad who evidently 
 hesitated to approach him, but the kindly motion of Mr. 
 Lincoln's hand brought the child at once to the good 
 man's side. The President bent his great height, and the 
 little boy confided to him his request. I did not hear 
 what was said, — so confidential was the interview be- 
 tween the small boy and the President, — but there was 
 
184 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 no doubt he had got what he wanted, for he ran off 
 presently with no attempt to disguise his delight. 
 
 When the crowd was gone at last and I had taken the 
 proffered seat at Mr. Lincoln's side, I made an allusion 
 to the scene I had just witnessed, remarking its impres- 
 siveness, and the tax I feared it must be upon himself. 
 A wave of sadness passed over the President; he con- 
 fessed the strain these diverse demands made upon him, 
 and said how greatly he desired that no case of merit 
 should come to him and fail to receive the attention it 
 deserved, and that, on the other hand, no unjust demand 
 should mislead him into making a mistake. 
 
 It was during an absorbingly interesting conversation 
 with Mr. Lincoln, very soon after my arrival in Washing- 
 ton, that the President spoke to me of his renomination. 
 The freedom with which he discussed public affairs with 
 me often filled me with amazement, and many other men 
 have testified to his openness when once his confidence 
 was gained. He spoke quite fully of the opposition he 
 encountered, and expressed some surprise that there 
 should be so much antagonism to his policy in the ranks 
 of the great abolitionists. I think the criticism of such 
 men as Greeley and Wendell Phillips was a great grief 
 and trial to him. Of a well-known abolitionist and orator 
 he once exclaimed in one of his rare moments of impa- 
 tience, " He 's a thistle ! I don't see why God lets him 
 live ! " And of a certain Senator for whose principles 
 and methods he was without mercy he once said, " He 's 
 too crooked to lie still ! " The vision invoked of the 
 uneasy politician was irresistibly vivid. 
 
 Upon the whole, the summer of 1864 was the most dis- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 185 
 
 couraging period of the war. Battle had followed upon 
 battle; our soldiers were laying down their lives in un- 
 numbered thousands, and still resistance was strong. 
 Vigorous leaders in the South were resolute, and their 
 people responded to them with remarkable vigor and 
 determination. Disaffection had grown in the North. 
 Confederate agencies were at work on Canadian soil; 
 Lincoln's own friends had begun to criticise him, — some- 
 times for being too slow, sometimes for being too fast. 
 The disaffection began to organize. True, he had been 
 renominated, but there was an effort making in some 
 quarters to find some one else to run, simply, as it was 
 declared, to save the Union. Of all this the President 
 spoke freely. There was no note of aggressiveness nor 
 of false modesty in all he said. If he knew himself, said 
 he, he had little ambition to be re-elected, though it 
 would gratify him to receive such mark of approval from 
 the American people. Over and above everything else 
 he desired that the Union should be saved, and if any 
 one else could save it better than he, he was ready to step 
 aside. Yet it seemed that what he had passed through 
 prepared him to serve with increasing efficiency to the 
 end of the war. To me, as to others who have recorded 
 the phrase, he remarked that he "thought it might be 
 risky, — swapping horses in midstream." Mr. Lincoln 
 questioned me keenly as to what I had seen or heard of 
 the opposition, inquiring the attitude of the army in so far 
 as I knew it, and analyzing the relations of the several 
 leaders to the political campaign. By his manner, I was 
 impressed with the idea that he had some special problem 
 on his mind. Presently it transpired what this was. 
 
186 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 " Do you know," queried the President, " what General 
 Grant thinks of the effort now making to nominate him 
 [Grant] for the presidency? Has he spoken of it to 
 you?"i 
 
 I answered that I knew nothing; that I had been so far 
 away from Grant since the opening of the campaign that 
 I had not heard what he thought. 
 
 " Well," said Lincoln, " the disaffected are trying to get 
 him to run, but I don't think they can do it. If he is the 
 great General we think he is, he must have some conscious- 
 ness of it, and know that he cannot be satisfied with himself 
 and secure the credit due for his great generalship if he 
 does not finish his job. I do not believe," he repeated, 
 " that they can get him to run." 
 
 The President then asked me if I would go to Grant's 
 headquarters at City Point and learn what he had to say 
 about the campaign. He seemed to feel that Grant trusted 
 me and would be likely to talk to me. I had no idea what 
 the result of such a mission might be, and said so, but 
 declared myself ready to go if Mr. Lincoln desired it. 
 
 It was distinctly not the personal rivalry with Grant 
 which Mr. Lincoln dreaded, but rather the loss which our 
 cause would suffer if Grant could be induced to go into 
 politics before the military situation was secure. This the 
 President made unmistakably plain to me. His confidence 
 in Grant was one of the finest things I have ever witnessed. 
 The generals, he said, had failed him, one after another, 
 until Grant had come to the front. 
 
 "Before Grant took command of the Eastern forces," 
 
 1 For an account of this incident, of which the sequel follows on pp. igo-. 
 191, see also Tarbell's " Life of Lincoln," Vol. II, pp. 199-zoo. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 187 
 
 said the President, "we did not sleep at night here in 
 Washington. We began to fear the rebels would take the 
 Capitol, and once in possession of that, we feared that 
 foreign countries might acknowledge the Confederacy. 
 Nobody could foresee the evil that might come from the 
 destruction of records and of property. But since Grant 
 has assumed command on the Potomac, I have made up 
 my mind that whatever it is possible to have done, Grant 
 will do, and whatever he does n't do, I don't believe is to 
 be done. And now," he added with emphasis, " we sleep 
 at night." ^ 
 
 Before I left him, the President took one of the blank 
 cards on which he so often wrote his instructions, and 
 handed me the order here a ^ /? /! 
 
 reproduced : kAv^ t^ /e6^«^^, ^c^ 
 
 I started at once for &aX?>^ ^^<*^ ^ jsi*-^ 
 City Point by way of An- '*J>»«^ '^^' ^^''^^'^^'^ '^•^ 
 napolis. I was informed '^-^- ^^J^^ /^^, 
 by some authorities that ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ 
 my transportation was ^ 
 
 " not regular," nevertheless I was passed along to my 
 destination. I left the boat, I remember, at Fortress 
 Monroe, intending to have a few moments' conversation 
 with the superintendent then in charge of the Negroes 
 there, but the boat went off without me and I was obliged 
 to stay where I was until the following day. I was very 
 
 1 The President's confidence in Grant's ability to defend the Capitol had 
 not wavered, although scarcely a month had passed since Early's troops had 
 threatened Washington. It will be remembered, however, that even on 
 that occasion Grant had hurried reinforcements to the city before Early, who 
 had been bravely detained by Gen. Lew. Wallace, had made up his mind to 
 attack. 
 
188 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 glad of the opportunity of seeing the Government's settle- 
 ments for freedmen at this place, where such careful plans 
 had been matured for their welfare. The freedmen were 
 in an excellent state, and the conditions far more easily 
 dealt with than in the Mississippi Valley. The next 
 morning I reached City Point, and learned that Grant with 
 his body guard were out on the lines at the front. After a 
 pleasant talk with Major Bowers, whom I found at head- 
 quarters, and who put me in touch with mu-ch of the gossip 
 of the army, the tramp of horses was heard, and Major 
 Bowers, saying that Grant was returning, despatched a 
 messenger to the General to report my arrival. The 
 messenger returned with instructions for me to join Grant 
 at once in his office tent, where he gave me a hearty wel- 
 come. We talked until supper was called for the staff. 
 Grant messed with his officers, joining with them on terms 
 of familiarity at a common table. I was given a seat next 
 the General, and we had a most enjoyable meal. Osten- 
 tation did not develop with him along with his fame. 
 After supper we returned to the tent and talked until past 
 midnight. The President had charged me with several 
 messages to his " fighting General," and these I communi- 
 cated promptly, — fulfilling all save the main object of 
 my mission. Grant opened his mail as we talked, referring 
 sometimes to the contents of his letters. Some of them 
 he answered on the spot, writing out his replies with his 
 own hand, and turning them over to be copied. Our 
 conversation was most informal and familiar. As I listened 
 to the story of his difficulties and disappointments, which 
 seemed to me almost more than a man could bear, I held 
 my peace in regard to my own trials in the Mississippi 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 189 
 
 Valley, although it was a sore temptation to talk them 
 over with one whom I knew of old for his sympathetic 
 understanding and sagacity. The disaster of the mine at 
 Petersburg and the difficulty of throwing the troops across 
 the James weighed on Grant's mind particularly. He 
 said he had given special orders to push ahead and not 
 delay in the crater. In regard to crossing the James, it 
 had been a grave disappointment to him that General 
 Smith should have failed to bear out the brilliant record 
 he had made for himself at Chattanooga. That disap- 
 pointment was one of a series to which many of his officers 
 had subjected him during the preceding months. The 
 scheme to replace Stanton with General Butler also troubled 
 him, as it did Lincoln. Mr. Stanton had not always co- 
 operated fearlessly with Grant, but the General was far 
 from wishing to have him removed. He said, I remember, 
 that if any change must be made, he would recommend 
 his chief-of-staff. General Rawlins, as Stanton's successor. 
 Added to all Grant's other difficulties was a demand made 
 by the Governors of the Northern States upon the authori- 
 ties at Washington for the return of some fifty thousand 
 able-bodied men to their respective States to maintain 
 order during the approaching elections, and also to put 
 down the organized resistance to the draft which was 
 developing in some quarters in the North. It will be re- 
 membered that secret organizations of disloyal character, 
 such as " The Knights of the Golden Circle," and others, 
 had been doing much mischief among the disaffected. A 
 meeting of the Governors of the loyal States had resulted 
 in this demand for troops which General Halleck had 
 summarized and forwarded to Grant at City Point. The 
 
190 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 General had replied that he would send the troops if re- 
 quired to do so, but that it would involve the changing of 
 the plan of campaign and the prolongation of the war by 
 necessitating the withdrawal of the army from the front of 
 Richmond. 
 
 All that Grant had to tell me interested me intensely, 
 but I saw myself no nearer to the accomplishment of my 
 mission, for the General kept firmly to the military phases 
 of the questions we discussed. Finally a conversation I 
 had had with several men on the train, when on my way 
 to Washington, occurred to me as a possible means of 
 bringing about the discussion I wanted. These men having 
 previously seen me with General Grant during the earlier 
 days in the Valley, and probably thinking that I might 
 know something of Grant's political bias, asked me if I 
 thought the General could be induced to run as a citizen's 
 candidate for the Presidency. I repeated this conversa- 
 tion now to the General. " The question is," said I, " not 
 whether you wish to run, but whether you could be com- 
 pelled to run in answer to the demand of the people for a 
 candidate who should save the Union." We had been 
 talking very quietly, but Grant's reply came in an instant 
 and with a violence for which I was not prepared. He 
 brought his clenched fists down hard on the strap arms of 
 his camp-chair. "They can't do it! They can't compel 
 me to do it!" 
 
 Emphatic gesture was not a strong point with Grant, 
 and what I had just witnessed showed me that he had been 
 stirred profoundly. 
 
 " Have you said this to the President? " I asked. 
 
 " No," said Grant, " I have not thought it worth while 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 191 
 
 to assure the President of my opinion. I consider it as 
 important for the cause that he should be elected as that 
 the army should be successful in the field.'' 
 
 Early the next morning we parted, and he sent me to 
 Norfolk on the headquarters boat. From thence I went 
 as quickly as possible to Washington. When I again 
 entered Mr. Lincoln's room, he greeted me with an eager 
 question : 
 
 "Well," said he, "what did you find ?" 
 
 " You were right," I said, and repeated the emphatic 
 answer Grant had made to the proposition. 
 
 The President fairly glowed with satisfaction. " I told 
 you," said he, " they could not get him to run until he had 
 closed out the rebellion." 
 
 In the course of the conversation which followed, the 
 President wanted to know what Grant had said of the 
 despatch he had sent to City Point in response to Grant's 
 letter about the fifty thousand troops. I had left City 
 Point before the despatch had been received, and upon 
 hearing this, Mr. Lincoln repeated to me his famous 
 message of August 17: 
 
 "I have seen your despatch expressing your unwillingness to 
 break your hold where you are. Neither am I willing. Hold on 
 with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible." 
 
 So closed one of the most interesting incidents that 
 befell me during my visit to Washington in 1864. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Education for the Negro in the Mississippi Valley under the auspices 
 of the Freedmen's Department. A centralized school system 
 established September, 1864. Other educational and philan- 
 thropic efEorts. The Negro as he appeared to the officers of 
 freedmen. Difficulties confronting the Freedmen's Department: 
 what it accomplished. 
 
 UPON the whole the most important and probably 
 the most permanent result of the military effort 
 to secure justice and well-being to the Negro was 
 the establishment of a rudimentary but well articulated 
 school system. Under the institution of slavery, which 
 had been maintained with special vigor in parts of the dis- 
 trict within my jurisdiction, any organized effort to educate 
 the Negro was of course discountenanced. In Memphis, 
 for instance, colored schools were prohibited by municipal 
 law,-' and such statutes, as is well known, were but too 
 frequent throughout the South. Even after the city passed 
 under Federal control in June, 1862, the opposition to 
 Negro education of even the most elementary character 
 
 1 Sec. 4. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennes- 
 see, that no one shall be admitted as a pupil (in the city schools) but 
 white persons, residing within the city limits, between the ages of six and 
 twenty years. (An act amendatory to the Memphis City Charter, passed 
 Feb. 25, 1851. — i860 Edition, Art. IV, Title i, Page 157, Memphis City 
 Charter.) 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 193 
 
 was so intense that nothing beyond some desultory private 
 instruction under military auspices could be attempted. 
 
 The officers of the Freedmen's Department, however, 
 would have discharged their trust very imperfectly had 
 they not felt that the mental and moral enlightenment of 
 the people committed to their charge was a great object to 
 be secured. Employment and protection were necessities 
 preceding instruction in order only, — not in importance. 
 Accordingly from the very first, efforts were made to secure 
 the assistance of army chaplains, and such other men as 
 were likely to feel the importance of this matter ; the aid, 
 also, of benevolent persons was welcomed and encouraged, 
 whether offered by independent workers or societies. 
 Almost as soon as the desperate condition of the Negroes 
 became known in the loyal states, representatives of vari- 
 ous organizations found their way to the settlements and 
 cities, aiding in the educational as well as the relief work 
 among the suffering refugees. Some of the societies were 
 old and long-established, like the American Missionary 
 Association, — to which belongs the honor of opening, in 
 September, 1861, at Fortress Monroe, the first school for 
 the contrabands. Other organizations had been newly 
 created in response to the sudden need of the country. 
 The American Missionary Association, the Western Freed- 
 men's Aid Commission, and the Society of Friends were 
 the first in the field. After the surrender of Vicksburg 
 and the occupation of Natchez, when the control of the 
 Union armies over the territory bordering the Mississippi 
 became more assured, and our field of operations more 
 extended, a large number of these voluntary laborers came 
 to aid in the educational work. 
 
 13 
 
194 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Supplementing what had been General Grant's policy 
 from the first, the Government formally ordered ^ that all 
 persons, duly accredited, who should come into the field 
 for this purpose should be furnished with transportation, 
 quarters, rations, and places in which to teach, so far as 
 this should prove possible. The Freedmen's Department 
 was thus put into direct relations with the agents of the aid 
 associations, yet the connection of the Department with 
 such teachers was, after all, somewhat informal. I could 
 do little more than advise with regard to the distribution 
 of teachers and the location of schools. I had no author- 
 ity either to superintend their schools, enforce the needed 
 discipline, secure uniformity of school-books, or regulate 
 in any manner the conduct of teachers and agents. Under 
 these circumstances the work of the Department could 
 be efficient only in part. We had no funds to provide 
 schoolhouses where these were lacking, and many of 
 the teachers and missionaries had to live and teach in 
 places entirely inconvenient and inadequate. Sometimes, 
 indeed, the mere shade of a tree was the only shelter 
 afforded to a school. Later we applied a part of the 
 Freedmen Fund to educational purposes. The schools 
 
 I Special orders, No. 63, Vicksburg, Miss., Sept. 29, 1863 [Extract] VI — 
 Transportation will be furnished for persons and goods, for the benefit of 
 these people [Negroes] on Government Transports and Military Railroads 
 within the Department on the order of the General Superintendent. 
 
 VII — Citizens voluntarily laboring for the benefit of these people, sav- 
 ing as they do to the Government, cost of labor in providing for their care, 
 will, when properly accredited by the General Superintendent, be entitled to 
 rations, quarters, and transportation on Government Transports and Military 
 Railroads within the Department. 
 
 By order of the Secretary of War. 
 
 L. Thomas, 
 Adjutant-General. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 195 
 
 were almost uniformly without desks or proper seats, while 
 the diversity among the few and old text-books was such 
 that not even a small class could be provided with uni- 
 form readers or school-books of any sort. In the freedmen 
 camps the situation was.- ev£n more ui}satisfa£tory;_dian- iii 
 the cities. Quarters and accommodations were worse, and 
 in some cases it was found all but impossible to maintain 
 the schools with any degree of regularity. It was intended 
 that on the leased plantations schools and teachers should 
 be located and maintained, but here experience soon taught 
 us that men who entered upon cotton cultivation with the 
 intention of making a great fortune in a single year were 
 not to be expected voluntarily to meet our expectations 
 in this respect. With few exceptions the planters made 
 no effort to secure instruction for the people whom they 
 employed; indeed in most of the places it was entirely 
 impracticable for teachers to reside, because they were 
 unsafe for any one. 
 
 Added to these difificulties were the unavoidable compli- 
 cations, friction and jealousies bound to come when so 
 many independent agencies are working side by side to 
 accomplish identical results. The temptation among the 
 teachers to secure the easiest places and those in which 
 success should be most obvious, together with the not un- 
 natural loyalty of each agent to' what he conceived to be 
 the interest of his particular organization, led occasionally 
 to forms of self-seeking strangely at variance with the 
 heroic self-sacrifices which the same individuals were con- 
 stantly making. Even when these elements of discontent 
 and failure were not present, the lack of systematic co-opera- 
 tion was such that it became evident that some central 
 
196 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 authority should be established if the interests of education 
 among the Negroes were not to be sacrificed. Accord- 
 ingly the following order was issued to me by General 
 Thomas, placing the schools under the control of the 
 Freedmen's Department: 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 26, 1864. 
 Orders, No. 26, [Extract] 
 
 Until the Treasury Department takes possession of the Freed- 
 men under the law : . . . . 
 
 II. ... To prevent confusion and embarrassment, the General 
 Superintendent of Freedmen will designate officers, subject to his 
 orders, as Superintendents of Colored Schools, through whom he 
 will arrange the location of all schools, teachers, and the occupa- 
 tion of houses, and other details pertaining to the education of 
 Freedmen. All officers commanding, and others, will render the 
 necessary aid. 
 
 By order of the Secretary of War, 
 
 L. Thomas, Adjutant-General. 
 
 In carrying out this order, Rev. L. H. Cobb, a college 
 classmate of mine, and a very capable man, was appointed 
 Superintendent of Colored Schools in the District of 
 Memphis ; Rev. James A. Hawley and Rev. Mr. Buckley 
 — both chaplains of colored regiments — served in the 
 District of Vicksburg; Mr. C. S. Crossman, formerly a 
 teacher in the Toledo public schools, occupied the same 
 office in Natchez ; Rev. Joel Grant, also an army chaplain, 
 in the District of Arkansas ; Mr. W. F. Allen at Helena ; 
 and Mr. J. L. Roberts at Columbus, Kentucky. Later, — 
 on February 24, 1865, — in addition to the efficient force 
 thus formed, Rev. Joseph Warren, D.D., a very scholarly 
 and capable man, was made General Superintendent of 
 Colored Schools throughout the Department. I trans- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 197 
 
 ferred my headquarters at once from Vicksburg to Mem- 
 phis, and there met in conference a number of the newly 
 appointed school superintendents, the present and former 
 post Superintendents of Freedmen at Memphis, — Captain 
 Walker and Chaplain Fiske, — and as many representa- 
 tives of the aid associations as could be brought together. 
 After careful discussion we published a circular under the 
 terms of which each school superintendent was to report 
 directly to the local or resident superintendent of freed- 
 men, who was charged with the duty of procuring and 
 controlling all school property. Cities and towns were 
 divided into school wards, and each pupil was required to 
 attend the school in his or her district. The location of 
 the teachers from the different societies was to be deter- 
 mined by consultation between the school superintendent 
 and the society's agent, but the school hours, the ques- 
 tions of classification, the text-books, and matters of school 
 organization and discipline were put entirely in the hands 
 of the superintendents appointed by me. The most im- 
 portant regulation concerned the payment of tuition fees. 
 Exorbitant charges had been made in too many instances 
 by irresponsible persons, — in one or two cases by unquali- 
 fied Negro teachers, — and it was of the utmost importance 
 that this abuse should be authoritatively checked. In the 
 State of Louisiana, which had already undergone partial 
 reconstruction. General Banks had issued orders establish- 
 ing a free school system for the freedmen, and one vital 
 feature of this system was the school tax levied on all land 
 owners who employed Negroes in the field.-^ No system 
 
 ' See Report of the United States Commissioner of Education, 1900- igoi, 
 Chapter XI. Common Schools in the South, 1861 to 1876, by A.D. Mayo,p. 437. 
 
198 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 of taxation of property could possibly have been applied 
 over the whole territory covered by my officers, who were 
 the representatives of a military organization. With the 
 exception of Tennessee, no one of the States whose freed- 
 men were controlled by me had as yet been found ready 
 for reconstructive measures, but in default of the possi- 
 bility of applying a tax upon property we collected from 
 the parents a tuition fee, which did much toward rendering 
 the schools self-supporting, and also toward developing a 
 sense of dignity and responsibility in the Negro. The 
 tendency of the fee system is in opposition to the prin- 
 ciples of the American public school; it is open to the 
 abuses of the so-called " pauper system," prevalent in the 
 old days in the South, and it could never under any 
 circumstances be advocated as a permanent or admi- 
 rable type for a school the standing of which was estab- 
 blished and assured by municipal or State government. 
 Our freedmen schools, however, were conducted inde- 
 pendently of civil agencies, — sometimes, indeed, against 
 the vigorous opposition of such civil agencies as then 
 were active in rebel communities. They were necessarily 
 organized from motley elements, both administrative and 
 pedagogic. But the fee system, as we applied it, what- 
 ever objections might be raised against it in theory, 
 worked admirably in practice under the conditions amid 
 which our work was done. As a matter of fact, its moral 
 influence upon the Negro was far more salutary than the 
 immediate and unconditional application of the free school 
 privilege could have been. The tuition fee varied from 
 one dollar and twenty-five cents — later reduced to one 
 dollar — to twenty-five cents a month for each scholar, 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 199 
 
 according to the ability of the parents to meet the ex- 
 pense. In some cases a fee of ten cents was received 
 from those able to pay so much and no more, while in 
 cases of absolute inability to pay, the child, of course, 
 received tuition free. Tickets of attendance were issued 
 to all pupils, and these served as a means of identification 
 and as a receipt to those paying the fee. There was at 
 first some little difficulty in applying this regulation, and 
 during the first month or more of its enforcement the 
 attendance was somewhat reduced, but very soon there 
 was a steady increase in attendance, which practically 
 continued until the Department was turned over to the 
 Freedmen's Bureau. Dr. Cobb, in his report on the 
 Memphis Schools for January, 1865, speaks of some 
 families " who will have nothing but a full-priced ticket." 
 He intimates that the habit of paying promptly their tui- 
 tion fees will " bring the clear ring of prompt, manly 
 honesty out of these young minds and hearts, and lay the 
 foundation for business in the future men and women we 
 are teaching. It teaches them the honorable law of self- 
 support." He also carefully explains that no demand is 
 made of those who are unable to pay. " I do, neverthe- 
 less, insist that a vested interest is better every way for all 
 who can pay even a dime. ... I think it could be shown 
 that, as a rule, full-pay scholars are the most constant, punc- 
 tual, and studious. They wish to get the worth of their 
 money. There are honorable exceptions to this among 
 the free scholars, but they are such as make a sacrifice 
 to come even on a free ticket. They must have food and 
 clothing; and it is more for some to get these than for 
 others to pay for everything." This testimony is repre- 
 
200 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 sentative of the evidence offered by all but one of our 
 superintendents. In Arkansas Mr. Grant reported at one 
 time that the Negroes who could not pay shrank from 
 attending schools " as paupers," and as a consequence the 
 attendance was somewhat reduced.-' As the Negroes of 
 that State, however, were especially thrifty and self- 
 respecting, the loss in attendance was not serious. The 
 higher prices paid for slaves in Arkansas had carried 
 many of the most valuable Negroes to that market. As 
 a community they exhibited some remarkable qualities, 
 even during the war, and at the present day Arkansas is 
 noteworthy for the many Negroes of wealth and influence 
 residing there. An interesting illustration of the self- 
 respecting and capable qualities of the freedmen in that 
 State occurred in connection with the war-time schools. 
 Until General Steele's occupation in 1863 the laws against 
 a Negro's acquiring money had been particularly strict. 
 Nevertheless, my officers reported that the Negroes of 
 Little Rock formed a Freedmen's School Society in 
 March, 1865, and by their own exertions made the city 
 schools free for the rest of the year. To the best of my 
 belief, these were the first free schools in Arkansas — 
 whether for whites or blacks — to subscribe and pay in 
 full the compensation of the teachers. 
 
 Industrial schools formed another element in our edu- 
 cational plan. The cast-off soldiers' clothing, as well as 
 the second-hand clothing and new goods collected in the 
 North, had to be adapted and made up to meet the neces- 
 
 1 Extracts from Reports of Superintendents of Freedmen, compiled by 
 Rev. Joseph Warren, D.D., from documents in the office of the General 
 Superintendent, 1864-1865. From this contemporary record are drawn many 
 of the facts presented in this chapter. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 201 
 
 sities of the freedmen, and in connection with this work 
 considerable industrial training was given in the sewing 
 schools for women. Night schools were also provided in 
 the cities for those who could not attend during the day. 
 
 Connected in a measure with the educational work for 
 the freedmen were the orphan asylums, which soon became 
 an urgent necessity. The mortality attendant upon the 
 flight of thousands from slavery, the hardships and expo- 
 sure to which the colored people were at one time subject, 
 and the death of soldiers in the army, had caused many 
 orphans to be left in the camps for the dependent, and in 
 the cities. It became evident that special provision must 
 be made for their care. The Freedmen's Department 
 prepared a full plan for a large and well-equipped asylum 
 adequate for the demands made upon us, but no single aid 
 society felt itself able to undertake the support of a large 
 institution, and combinations of different societies for this 
 purpose proved equally impracticable. We had to con- 
 tent ourselves, therefore, with several small and insufficient 
 asylums in the various cities. No one group of workers 
 labored more faithfully and devotedly than the good men 
 and women who undertook the management, and in a 
 measure, the support, of these institutions. One of the 
 earliest attempts to provide for the orphans in an asylum 
 was made by Miss EHza Mitchell. She was a woman 
 whose long life was devoted to good works, and she was 
 one of the first to hasten to the aid of the freedmen. In 
 1863 I sent her to President's Island, near Memphis, to 
 teach and assist in the Freedmen's Camp at that point. 
 On finding many homeless and orphan children, she se- 
 cured a tent and established the children therein under 
 
202 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 the immediate care of "Aunt Maria," a colored woman 
 who devotedly looked after her charges for about two 
 years. Later the superintendent on the Island gave the 
 asylum the best house for the purpose within his con- 
 trol. The boys worked in the garden surrounding the 
 house, raising abundant vegetables for the children, and 
 the girls were trained in the work of the household and in 
 sewing. Miss Mitchell retained the supervision over the 
 fifty or more orphans which the institution could accom- 
 modate. She was one of the finest of the many fine women 
 who worked among us. 
 
 Similar efforts were successfully carried out at Helena, 
 where the work was inaugurated by the assistant superin- 
 tendent, and continued with the help of General and Mrs. 
 Buford and the Society of Friends, among whose repre- 
 sentatives Elkanah Beard and his wife were especially brave 
 and devoted in their labor for the freedmen. At Natchez 
 an asylum was supported by the Northwestern Freedmen's 
 Aid Commission, while still another institution was organ- 
 ized at Vicksburg. In Memphis a particularly large and 
 well-managed asylum was carried on by Mrs. S. A. Martha 
 Canfield, where about one hundred children were cared for. 
 Mrs. Canfield had come among us just after the battle of 
 Shiloh, intending to see her husband, who was a lieutenant- 
 colonel in one of the Ohio regiments. She left the river 
 boat just in time to meet her husband's body as it was 
 carried from that tragic field. Her courage and fortitude 
 — characteristic of many brave women in that terrible 
 struggle — were very wonderful. She returned to her two 
 little boys, and having placed them at school and attended 
 to her business affairs, she came again to the Valley and 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 203 
 
 devoted herself with the best of judgment and energy to 
 relief work among the soldiers and freedmen. Secretary 
 Stanton, a personal friend of hers, having heard of her 
 husband's death, had sent her, unsolicited, a pass to the 
 front as a nurse, and this, she always said, came to her as a 
 godsend, inspiring her to supplement her husband's ser- 
 vice to his country by her own. The education of the 
 children in the orphan asylums was frequently carried on 
 by resident teachers ,' sometimes the children were enrolled 
 in the nearest " public schools." 
 
 In our efforts to provide educational facilities for those 
 so long in want of them, the white refugees were kept in 
 mind as far as circumstances would permit. At Natchez, 
 Vicksburg, and Memphis, schools were established by mis- 
 sionaries, chaplains, or aid societies, and were visited and 
 aided by our officers. The General Superintendent of 
 Refugee and Colored Schools, Chaplain Joseph Warren, 
 says in this connection: "This unfortunate class of people 
 is so unsettled that any permanent plan for the instruction 
 of the children of it is impracticable. They generally, of 
 course, hope to be able to return to their homes before a 
 long time passes. . . . The best we can do now for the 
 children is to seize such fleeting opportunities as may be 
 found to awaken a desire for education, and to continue 
 the process of instruction." 
 
 Owing to the fact that not all teachers co-operated with 
 complete friendliness in the supervision of the Freedmen's 
 Department over their work — though all claimed the ben- 
 efits of its protection, and, in a measure, of its support — 
 it was difficult to get statistics that were absolutely reliable. 
 It may be said, however, with perfect assurance, that with 
 
204, GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 the close of the year 1864 thousands had become able to 
 read the simpler school-books, while hundreds were able 
 to read well. Many learned to write, and began the study 
 of arithmetic and geography. In a letter, already referred 
 to, written to Mr. Levi Coffin on July 5, 1864, I was able 
 to report that during the preceding year no less than 13,320 
 Negroes had been under instruction. Of these about 4000 
 had learned to read quite fairly, and about 2000 to write. 
 A year later these figures were greatly increased. The 
 report from the colored schools under my jurisdiction for 
 the quarter ending March 31, 1865, shows that in the 
 following cities, towns, and camps, — that is, Memphis, 
 Vicksburg, Natchez, Helena, Vidalia, Little Rock, Pine 
 Bluff, President's Island, Davis Bend, and camps around 
 Vicksburg, there was a total of 5 1 schools, 105 teachers, 
 an enrolment of 7360 pupils, and an average attendance 
 of 4667. This excludes the city of Columbus, from which 
 place the report was evidently delayed, and a number of 
 smaller points. Irregular, cramped, partial, and necessarily 
 rudimentary as was the best education we could give them, 
 it unfitted these men, women, and children whom the Nation 
 had freed for being chattels. They were no longer crea- 
 tures whom it would be safe to re-enslave. No one realized 
 this fact better than some of the ex-slaves' former masters, 
 and no one was more bitter in denunciation against the 
 measures we inaugurated, — unless, indeed, it was the 
 poorest and most illiterate among the whites, who for years 
 had hampered the progress of the South by their ignorance 
 and fanaticism. There were honorable exceptions, how- 
 ever, among Southern men of judgment and humanity who 
 foresaw, not without relief, the passing of the old system. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 205 
 
 and who felt, in their best moments, that no price was too 
 great to have paid for redemption from that. To encour- 
 age these men in their efforts at readjustment was not the 
 least important or valuable work of the Freedmen's De- 
 partment or of its successor, the Freedmen's Bureau. The 
 systems of education and industry devised for the Negro 
 were of the utmost value here, for nothing so completely 
 demonstrated the ideal of free labor and of ultimately equal 
 rights and opportunities for all. I can do no better than 
 quote at this point the statements made by Dr. Mayo in 
 that report of the Bureau of Education already referred to. 
 Dr. Mayo says: 
 
 " This campaign of education for the most needy and neglected 
 6,000,000 of the American people, from 186 1 during succeeding 
 years, closed by the incorporation in the revised constitution of 
 every reconstructed Southern State of a provision for the establish- 
 ment of the American school, under the protection of the military 
 power of the General Government which was an imperative neces- 
 sity. It is doubtful if this purpose could have been achieved 
 otherwise, and without the establishment and the vigorous support 
 of the common school for all classes and both races, the union 
 between the reconstructed States and the Republic would have 
 been far more a matter of after-dinner oratory and a periodical 
 interchange of ' distinguished consideration ' than that living and 
 working together of all States and sections under the inspiration of 
 common ideas and patriotic aspirations which is the only assurance 
 of permanent republican nationality. . . . 
 
 "The war period, from 1861 to 1867-1869, can be regarded as 
 a sort of rehearsal for the grand experiment of offering to the 
 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 freedmen in the South the complete system 
 of elementary education as then developed in the United States, to 
 the extent to which the people of these States were competent to 
 accept, and anybody was able and willing to support it. Indeed, 
 the great experiment from Washington to New Orleans practically 
 
206 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 included every variety of schooling then in vogue in the country. 
 First came the movement by private charity. Following this came 
 the churches and philanthropic associations for the schooling of 
 contrabands in camps and barracks ; even on the field of battle 
 during an engagement the colored soldiers clutched the spelling- 
 book in one hand while they grasped the musket with the other. 
 On this was laid the extended system of church denominational 
 and private schools, not only for the elementary but the secondary 
 and higher normal and industrial education that has become so 
 prominent a factor in all the Southern States, and without which 
 the common schools, the churches, and society of the colored race 
 in general, would have been deprived for an entire generation of its 
 most valuable leadership in all departments of its new life. With 
 this has come up a great and beneficent movement for the reforma- 
 tion of the church, school, and society among the negroes, in the 
 general improvement of their condition, and the development of 
 the professional class of teachers, clergymen, physicians, and 
 leaders in their new industrial life. 
 
 " But far more important and vital than this, indeed, the move- 
 ment to which all that has been done by the North and the Nation 
 has been tributary, was the founding, first in an indirect, and finally 
 in a direct way, of a complete system of schools under the protec- 
 tion and by the support of the military arm of the Government of 
 the United States. Through Gen. Rufus Saxton, in the Depart- 
 ment of the South, Gen. John Eaton, jr., in the Valley of the 
 Mississippi, and by Gen. N. P. Banks, in Louisiana, this original 
 effort was developed into a veritable public school system of the 
 national type, before the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau. 
 That amid the tumults of war, and its terrible excitements, and an 
 almost incredible experimenting with the emancipated class, and 
 with so little money available for the support of the movement, so 
 much could have been accomplished is one of the many wonders 
 of our American history. Nevertheless, it was done, and so well 
 done, that within ten years from the beginning of the free elemen- 
 tary schooling the experiment had evolved into the establishment 
 of the complete American common school system, including the 
 children of the schools of twenty years before." 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 207 
 
 Before turning from the subject of the Freedmen's De- 
 partment, it may be worth while to present a brief sum- 
 mary of the characteristics of the Negro as they were 
 revealed to my officers, and to mention at the same time 
 certain general conditions of our work to which no refer- 
 ence has as yet been made. 
 
 Qjie fact, in connection with the Negro must. ever „be 
 
 borne in mind. The testimony alike of my officers and of 
 
 the visitors to the Valley is all but unanimously to the 
 
 effect that in spite of the suffering to which the freedmen 
 
 were subjected in their desperate passage from slavery to 
 
 freedom, — suffering which in many cases must have far 
 
 exceeded that which they had experienced in bondage, — 
 
 scarcely a single instance could be quoted in which a Negro 
 
 voluntarily returned as a slave to his master.^ Discouraged, 
 
 panic-stricken, suspicious they were.;- but-ready-±Q_exchang:e . 
 
 their hard-won and_unhap.pyL freedom jbxjthe_sometimes 
 
 easierjconditioijis_o.t.slavery,.±hey:_wjere_-not. It was their 
 
 terror of finding themselves tricked into some form of 
 
 bondage that constituted one of our greatest difficulties in 
 
 persuading the refugees to return to their old masters, or 
 
 to the representatives of the master class, and labor for 
 
 them on a wage basis. This factor came out very strongly 
 
 in the early application of the lessee system. It is right 
 
 that it should be plainly stated after the passage of many 
 
 years, when prejudice and ill-feehng have in part died out, 
 
 because in so far as the black man suffered from the degra- 
 
 i Among others, Samuel R. Shipley of Philadelphia, bears witness spe- 
 cifically to the truth of this statement. As president of the executive board 
 of the Friends' Association of Philadelphia, he made a tour of freedmen's 
 camps along the Mississippi and returned to his society a very fair-minded 
 and interesting report (1864). 
 
208 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 dation of his lot as slave, — apart from the weariness and 
 pain of body he may have endured, — in so far as he 
 yearned for freedom, in just so far did he personally justify 
 the struggle which freed him ; and in just so far is he 
 entitled to his manhood. 
 
 That the Negro was stirred with an immediate impulse 
 to profit by his new opportunities is amply proved by the 
 passion for education which was exhibited by old and 
 young. It is true that, to the Negro, one form of book- 
 learning was as good as another. Any one devoted to his 
 books was on the road to freedom; any one ignorant of 
 books was on his way back to slavery. But even this 
 crude notion brought thousands of Negroes into line with 
 those who have turned their backs forever on dumb igno- 
 rance and who face the opportunities and responsibilities 
 of literate men and women. Dr. Warren, in a report to 
 my office dated April lo, 1865, remarks upon this as 
 follows : 
 
 "One of the most gratifying facts developed by the recent 
 change in their condition is, that they very generally desire instruc- 
 tion, and many seize every opportunity in intervals of labor to 
 obtain it. I saw a small detachment of infantry soldiers, who had 
 previously been unable to secure any attention from a teacher, 
 placed within reach of a mission family. The soldiers had not 
 been there an hour when those not on sentry duty had, of their 
 own motion, procured spelling-books, and begged one of the ladies 
 to aid them occasionally ; they soon were busily at work on the 
 alphabet. Similar things occur everywhere, proving the general 
 desire, of which I have spoken. . . . They who are regularly at 
 work, or engaged in business, in many cases study desultorily. 
 They get a little aid now and then from others. I find that in 
 colored regiments the men often find assistance from their com- 
 rades. A chaplain of one of these regiments, who has done very 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 209 
 
 much for his charge, tells me that they have done more for one 
 another. . . . When we remember the circumstances of the colored 
 people, we find the progress they are making to be gratifying and 
 astonishing. Their unsettled condition, want of clothing, lack of 
 parental discipline, ignorance of the locality of schools and the 
 mode of obtaining admission, the temptations of new-found free- 
 dom, and the contemptuous opposition of all lovers of the old 
 regime, are difficulties that would be seriously in the way of educat- 
 ing any class of people. Only an enthusiastic desire for improve- 
 ment could lead any people to put forth the efforts which the 
 freed people are making to procure instruction." 
 
 Such words as those from an honest, competent ob- 
 server, reinforced as they are with much more evidence of 
 the same sort, should prove strong enough to withstand 
 the myth-making tendency which fastens all too readily 
 upon facts like these, transforming them imperceptibly 
 into legends and vagaries. 
 
 The adaptability of the Negro was a quality which stood 
 him in good stead during the difficult time of which I 
 write, and probably helped him more than any other single 
 trait to enter the arena of business competition. Chaplain 
 Fiske, in speaking of the black lessees, — Report of the 
 General Superintendent of Freedmen, 1864,- — says: 
 
 " Of the whole fifty-six of these small agriculturists there is not 
 one, whom I have seen, who has not made enough to keep him 
 comfortably alive through the winter; while most of them have 
 gotten together teams and agricultural implements, and such sums 
 of money as will start them upon the next year's work at great 
 advantage. The most successful of all, this year, has been Robert 
 Miner, opposite Milliken's Bend. He cultivated eighty acres in 
 cotton, making forty bales of that valuable fibre, one-half bale to 
 the acre, — the best crop I have seen in my whole tour. He also 
 made forty acres of good com." 
 
 14 
 
210 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Other Negro planters sold their crops, standing, for sums 
 ranging from four to eight thousand dollars. 
 
 "Of the rest [continues Mr. Fiske], most sold their crops 
 in the seed at from twenty-eight to thirty-three cents per pound, 
 and have made, on ten acres, not far from an average of five 
 hundred dollars, besides their support, and about the same pro- 
 portionally on larger tracts. Many of them had funds from the 
 industry of last year ; some borrowed small sums, which, in every 
 instance but one, so far as I could find, have been punctually 
 repaid. I cannot see that in any particular these colored men 
 have been less successful than the white planters alongside them." 
 
 Dr. Warren, — Report of April lo, 1865, — says in the 
 same connection: 
 
 " And many of them, of all shades of color, show capacity for 
 business, and conduct it successfully on principles of honor that 
 would do credit to any men. If we take into view all their circum- 
 stances, and learn what proportion of them are really able to take 
 respectable places in the business world, we shall cease to speak of 
 the incapacity of the race, and express surprise that so many are 
 found able to ' take care of themselves ' without guardianship or 
 tutelage. There are many at Memphis, Vicksburg, and Natchez, 
 who carry on business as mechanics with success. We are ac- 
 quainted with persons who purchased themselves and gained prop- 
 erty before the rebellion ; and, though obliged to have nominal 
 owners in order to avoid expatriation, lived in credit and comfort. 
 One family of such persons, not having children of their own, have 
 brought up decently five orphan children, and helped them to start 
 in the world. Two men whom I know carry on important black- 
 smith shops ; others shoe shops, and the hke, too numerous to 
 mention. . . . There is no doubt but that, as their wants as com- 
 munities arise, the men necessary to conduct their affairs will be 
 found. It is the occasion that develops the man." 
 
 Of the Memphis region, where there were comparatively 
 few plantation interests. Captain Walker, the efficient post 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 211 
 
 Superintendent, reported — April 30, 1865 — that a large 
 number of colored people owning their own teams were 
 making a very respectable living bringing in wood and 
 garden produce. 
 
 These instances are noteworthy only because of the im- 
 mensely difficult situation in which the Negroes were then 
 involved, and also because we are apt to think of the ex- 
 slave immediately after his emancipation as an utterly 
 helpless being whose efforts in his own behalf were practi- 
 cally nil. There was, of course, another side to the pic- 
 ture, easily imagined from the description of wretchedness 
 and suffering already given. Apart from the difficulty of 
 inculcating habits of cleanliness, and obedience to the laws 
 of hygiene, there were other and more serious evils to be 
 overcome. The vice of licentiousness had taken deep root 
 in the Negro character, and however much it may have 
 been an original race characteristic, it had been nurtured in 
 a terribly efficient school. The occasional efforts of hu- 
 mane and thoughtful slave owners to prevent and alleviate 
 this vice could have availed but little against the accepted 
 standards — or even the accidents — of the system itself 
 From the first the Freedmen's Department exerted itself 
 to enforce and maintain the mart-iage relation by every 
 means in its power, and in March, 1864, a special order 
 was issued by General Thomas, according to the terms of 
 which any ordained minister of the gospel accredited by 
 the General Superintendent was authorized to perform the 
 marriage ceremony among the freedmen. From that time 
 on more systematic records were kept and filed with the 
 post superintendents. The returns at the Vicksburg post 
 were particularly full, and taking that as an example, we 
 
212 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 found that among the fifteen hundred marriages solemnized 
 in that district up to November 30, 1864, — eight months 
 after the order was circulated, — one-sixth of the contracting 
 parties — or to put it more clearly, five hundred and sixty- 
 seven out of the three thousand persons — had previously 
 been forcibly and hopelessly separated from husband or 
 wife by the direct operation of the system of slavery ; — 
 some for the personal convenience of master or overseer ; 
 some because the master would have all his people 
 " mated " on his own plantation, or not at all; but most of 
 them by sale or removal. The testimony in our hands con- 
 cerning the corruption which was then countenanced and 
 sometimes enforced was overwhelming.^ It was to teach 
 and reform a people inured to these practices that the in- 
 stitution of lawful marriage was directed, and great and en- 
 couraging progress certainly was made. Chaplain Warren 
 was able to report that among the Negroes so married the 
 connection was not treated lightly, and that in only a few 
 cases was the relation broken up by fickleness and incon- 
 stancy. Against the few cases of faithlessness it was then 
 possible to marshal " hundreds of cases of innocent and 
 happy conjugal life." It is unfortunately true that there 
 has been a reaction among the Negroes against this first 
 realization of whatever aspirations they had possessed 
 
 1 As illustrative of this subject, it may be stated that Major Sargent, in 
 an appendix to a report on his District in Arkansas, gives extracts from the 
 order book of a Mr. C, a planter in that State. The book contains instruc- 
 tions to his overseer, and was found in his house, which he had aban- 
 doned on the approach of our forces. One extract is as follows ; " The 
 plantation is to produce 400 bales of cotton, 40,000 lbs. of pork, 50 stacks of 
 oats, 75 stacks fodder, 8 stacks millet, ten Negro Children." He then ar- 
 ranges for producing the children by ordering the pairing of " Henry and 
 Susan, Cambridge and Matilda, Sandy and Yellow Kitty," etc. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 213 
 
 toward chastity and dignity in the family relation, but there 
 is to-day so strong a tendency to notice and condemn 
 those who fail, and to overlook those who are worthy, that 
 it is but just to submit the testimony of my officers and 
 myself for what it is worth. The Negro can never really 
 be estimated or understood until all the elements of his 
 history are taken into consideration.^ 
 
 I think the statement may safely be made that no single 
 group of men ever observed the Negro under more dis- 
 couraging circumstances than did my assistants in the 
 Mississippi Valley. To them was revealed the Nation's 
 freedman in all his ignorance, destitution, bewilderment, 
 immorality, and emotional extravagance. The men who 
 thus observed him had been chosen for their ability to 
 comprehend large issues and enforce adequate means 
 of achieving large results. It is not claimed that they 
 
 1 In this connection Edgar Gardner Murphy remarks ; " The only ade- 
 quate measure of social efficiency and the only ultimate test of essential race 
 progress lies in the capacity to create the home ; and it is in the successful 
 achievement of the idea of the institution of th§ family . . . that we are to 
 seek the real criterion of negro progress. 
 
 " For the very reason that the test is so severe — and yet so instinctively 
 American — the weaknesses of the race will seem conspicuous and formi- 
 dable. . . . The heritage of the negro — his heritage from slavery and from 
 the darker age which preceded slavery — has given him but small equipment 
 for the achievement of this task. And yet the negro home exists. That its 
 existence is, in many cases, but a naive pretence ... is evident enough. 
 And yet those who would observe broadly and closely will find a patiently 
 and persistently increasing number of true families and real homes, a num- 
 ber far in excess of the popular estimate. . . . Scores of such homes, in 
 some cases hundreds, exist in numbers of our American communities. . . . 
 But one of the tragic elements of our situation lies in the fact that of this 
 most honorable and most hopeful aspect of negro life the white community, 
 North or South, knows practically nothing ... of the constructive factors 
 of negro progress — the negro school, the saner negro church, the negro 
 home — the white community is in ignorance." The Present South, pp. 
 166-167. 
 
214 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 were always successful — no human agency could have 
 met and mastered the situation that confronted us — but 
 they were devoted workers, intelligent, moderate in judg- 
 ment, and courageous in the execution of what they 
 deemed right. The testimony of these men should be 
 considered in all estimates of the Negro's character and 
 achievement. With full recognition of his shiftlessness, 
 and the unsatisfactory condition of his industrial and 
 family relations, the faith of the men who labored among 
 the freedmen never wavered in its insistence upon the 
 capacity of these people to develop themselves, as a 
 race, into the self-supporting, self-respecting, and moral 
 type of human being. This faith was based upon the 
 large number of men and women who had already at- 
 tained such a standard, and also upon the evidences of 
 improvement in the general mass. A careful study of 
 my reports for 1864 and 1865 would make it clear that 
 the hopeful attitude of the officers of the Freedmen's De- 
 partment was grounded not upon ignorance or sentimental 
 theories, but upon an open-eyed and courageous acknowl- 
 edgment of the facts as they were. A statement made 
 by Dr. Warren with especial reference to the freedman in 
 his business relations, if understood to apply to the future 
 of the Negro generally, gives a fair impression of the 
 feeling of the superintendents toward the people under 
 their charge. I quote again from Dr. Warren's Report 
 of April 10, 1865 : 
 
 "I hardly know how to convey a proper notion of the effect 
 produced in them by their coming to something like the re- 
 sponsibilities of manhood. They feel them; and yet they have 
 been so long cared for that they are astonished at their own 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 215 
 
 capacity. They become ambitious in speech ; and their high- 
 sounding phrases are in strange contrast with their rustic and 
 imperfect dialect. Their courtliness and gravity of manner are 
 oddly mixed up with childishness. The spectacle they present 
 excites fear and hope, laughter and tears in succession. On 
 the whole, hope predominates. They will make mistakes; and 
 they will learn caution and shrewdness by them. They who were 
 cheated and abused last year will hardly be so this year. They 
 who make contracts desire to learn to read them. They who have 
 once been cheated in changing money desire to be able to cal- 
 culate. We can see the wants, desires, and hopes of civilized life 
 struggling within them. In some these feelings are well formed ; 
 in others dim and uncertain. " 
 
 Viewed broadly, the history of the Negro from that 
 day to this has been to a somewhat remarkable extent 
 what my officers, from the data before them, felt it must 
 be. There have been legislative errors which have been 
 productive of untold evil in both races. There has been 
 displayed by the Negro himself a spirit of trifling with 
 great opportunities; while those who have opposed or 
 supported him have not done so without betraying both 
 prejudice and sentimentality. But notwithstanding this, 
 and the fearful difficulties which the colored race has had 
 to surmount, it has continued to produce more and 
 more remarkable instances of honest achievement among 
 noteworthy individuals, together with a general uplift of 
 the race itself. On the basis of that record we can 
 afford to be hopeful and even confident. 
 
 Turning now from the freedmen of the Mississippi 
 region to certain aspects of the work of the Department 
 which cared for them, there is a group of facts which 
 must be considered in any effort to test the value of 
 that work. 
 
216 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 In the first place, the number of Negroes under our 
 supervision was appalling. General Banks reported 
 150,000 within his jurisdiction in the Department of the 
 Gulf^ General Saxton was confronted with some 82,000 
 after the arrival of the hordes that had followed Sherman 
 in his march to the sea. Previous to that it was probable 
 that he had not dealt with many more than one-fourth 
 that number.^ In the year 1 863 to 1 864 our Department 
 had cared specifically fo^ no Jess_than__LI^^£i— N-egroes 
 whose records appeared upon our books, — exclusive of 
 the white refugees who came within our jurisdiction. The 
 territory over which our supervision extended was popu- 
 lated, it will be remembered, according to the census 
 of i860, by 770,000 blacks, and while many of these 
 had been dislodged by the breaking out of hostilities, 
 an immense population was left with which our Depart- 
 ment was called upon to deal more or less directly. 
 The extent of territory, too, which our operations covered, 
 and which included western Kentucky and Tennessee, 
 together with Mississippi, Arkansas, and part of Louisiana, 
 was very large, and this fact in itself was one of the 
 most difficult with which we had to deal. The hordes 
 that swept down upon our armies in the Mississippi 
 Valley were to all intents and purposes barbarians, and 
 while the same was probably true of the Negroes on the 
 coast of South Carolina, the multitude cared for by General 
 Saxton was at first composed of men and women who, 
 being left behind in the flight of their masters, remained 
 among the scenes and on the lands to which they were 
 
 1 A Chapter in Reconstruction, P. S. Peirce, p. 17. 
 
 2 Mayo : in Report of Bureau o£ Education igoo-igoi, pp. 418-424. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 217 
 
 accustomed, while very many of those who in their 
 bewilderment came to us for protection were from distant 
 plantations, from which, in many cases, they had but 
 just escaped. In .both^he JDepartment ^Jhe_jGulL and 
 the Department of the Tennessee_Jhe_aituatinn„was-_in- 
 describably complicated by the presence oL the slaves' 
 iprmer masters.^ 
 
 Finally, it should be remembered — especially in con- 
 nection with all the industrial operations — that after the 
 Negroes began to be enlisted into the United States ser- 
 vice, the communities upon which we had to depend for 
 our laboring force were composed largely of men deemed 
 unfit for regular service, together with the women, the 
 children, and those positively disabled. Even with this 
 crippled body of workers, free labor could be compared 
 not unfavorably with slave labor. 
 
 In view of the immense difficulty of the task which con- 
 fronted my assistants and the all but unlimited number of 
 instances in which their efforts ameliorated suffering and 
 injustice or prevented these outright, it seems scarcely 
 worth while to enter upon a defence of our procedures. 
 Yet it is largely the spirit of criticism which has survived 
 in men's minds, and which, with some notable exceptions, 
 has incorporated itself permanently in the literature of the 
 subject, — bare and unsatisfactory as that literature is. 
 It seems to me, as I review the question, that the most 
 important criticism aimed against our principles and meth- 
 ods was that which attacked the economic bases of our 
 operations. That men and women should suffer from 
 injustice, destitution and disease in more appalling num- 
 1 McKaye, Emancipated Slave Face to Face with his old Master. 
 
218 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 bers and intensity than should prevail in any society 
 righteously organized and at peace within itself, was un- 
 avoidable in a population undisciplined, shifting, and 
 caught in the maelstrom of war; but, that the measures 
 formulated for its relief should be fundamentally erro- 
 neous in principle and oppressive in application, — that 
 is an indictment which must be inferred from some of the 
 semi-official reports made at the time upon our work, and 
 one which may not be passed in silence. 
 
 Aside from the immediate calls upon our humanity 
 made by all the various forms of suffering, disease, and 
 death, the problem which we were called upon to meet 
 brought us face to face with an industrial world in chaos, 
 and its elements in conflict with each other, — a small 
 world, relatively, but large enough to tax all our energies 
 and drain our resources. To evoke from this chaos con- 
 ditions in which the whole mass might promptly live and 
 labor with some assurance of justice and security, de- 
 manded, certainly, a definite system regulating industrial 
 relations, and a vehicle of organization by which that 
 system could be enforced. This in itself involved a type 
 of paternalism hateful alike to the radical emancipation- 
 ists of the North and to the ex-slaveholder of the Mis- 
 sissippi Valley. The Government was obviously the only 
 employer upon whom the freedman could rely, and even 
 the Government, in the early days of my superintendency, 
 had given no intimation of its willingness to feed and 
 clothe the destitute beyond employing those for whom it 
 had need in connection with the military operations and 
 the cotton industry. Grant himself had no authority be- 
 yond this for the issue of rations and clothing to relieve 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 219 
 
 immediate distress, and in issuing such supplies he took 
 enormous financial and official risks upon himself at a 
 time when his own position was by no means secure. 
 Government employment insured the contraband — later 
 the freedman — no more than a bare livelihood for himself 
 and his family. Undoubtedly there were men and women 
 whose labor adequately rewarded in the open market 
 might easily have won for them many times the wages 
 offered by the Government. But the problem before us 
 at first, let me repeat, wa^to afford not the best wages to 
 the individual which free competition in an open market 
 might assure him, but a livelihood for the entire popula- 
 tiQn_jJinder_ji_candition, of military and industrial disor- 
 der jvhich temporarily necessitated some form of definite 
 regulation and precluded unrestricted competition. That 
 the freedmen suffered^ in matiy ways under the_ regula- 
 tions imposed was inevitable; thatthey suffered mare 
 than they would had they been left to^-inake their own 
 contracts v«th their former masters or„witlt the- Northern 
 speculator^ seems incredible. indeed. Moreover, no order 
 regulating wages was ever issued except to regulate the 
 minimum rate of payment. The laborer was free to 
 make better terms if he could, and when competent, he 
 was in every way encouraged so to do. Evidence might 
 be quoted from my report to prove that the normal con- 
 ditions of competitive labor did indeed exist save where 
 the catastrophes of war or the collision of authority dis- 
 turbed the elements with which we had to deal. In a 
 report to my office, on freedmen in Arkansas, for instance 
 (1864), occurs the following statement: "During the 
 cotton-picking season nearly all were paid by the pound, 
 
220 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 and earned from one to seven dollars per day. Many have 
 been allowed a third or one half of the crops, and have re- 
 alized, though the season was poor, handsome profits. 
 Among them are not a few of remarkable judgment and 
 force of character who have been engaged at their own 
 prices as foremen. The earnings of those in cities have 
 largely exceeded those on plantations." The report goes 
 on to say that the usual wage has been the minimum in 
 order (as regulated by Orders No. 9 issued by Adjutant- 
 General Thomas), — a rate which proved unnecessarily 
 low in communities of comparative prosperity. Indus- 
 trial and social conditions throughout our territory im- 
 proved steadily and normally, so that visitors to the 
 Valley in 1865 reported a far better state of affairs among 
 the freedmen. In Arkansas, for instance, Superintendent 
 Sargent reported, — March 31, 1865, — that "more than 
 two thousand are at work on plantations, where the mini- 
 mum rate of wages is twenty-five dollars per month for the 
 able-bodied male hands, including healthy rations, quarters, 
 and medical attendance." 
 
 Upon the whole, the experiment on behalf of the freed- 
 men in the Mississippi Valley, in spite of the many fail- 
 ures to attain the ends we had before us, cannot be lightly 
 overlooked in any summary which history may attempt 
 of the relations between the Nation and the Negro. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 Third visit to Wasiiington. Legislation concerning tiie Freedmen's 
 Bureau. Chaplain Fiske's mission. Mr. Sumner's heroic con- 
 victions. " Memoranda concerning Freedmen's Bureau," — a 
 political leaflet. Last interview with President Lincoln. The 
 news of his assassination reaches Memphis. 
 
 IT is my purpose to recount briefly in this chapter the 
 share taken by the Freedmen's Department in that 
 popular and legislative discussion of the relation of the 
 country to the Negro which resulted in the establishment of 
 the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. 
 It was the far-sighted abolitionists of the Boston clique, 
 the philanthropists who had banded themselves into the 
 various aid associations all over the country, — prominent 
 among whom were the Quakers, — the members of the 
 Commission appointed by Mr. Lincoln for the considera- 
 tion of the subject, together with those of us in the army 
 having practical experience in dealing with Negro affairs, 
 who first realized the necessity of some central agency 
 devoted to the interests of the freed people, — or, to speak 
 more justly, devoted to maintaining an equable relation 
 between the interests of the freed people and the interests 
 of the communities in which they found themselves. As 
 early as January, 1863, the agitation in these various circles 
 had so far made itself felt in Congress that Mr. Wilson of 
 Massachusetts presented to the Senate a petition of the 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Emancipation League for the formation of a Bureau of 
 Emancipation, and during the same month a bill for the 
 establishment, within the War Department, of a Bureau for 
 the control of freedmen's affairs, was presented for the first 
 time to the House by Mr. T. D. Eliot.^ A hard fight 
 resulted, and on March i, 1864, the bill passed the House 
 with a majority of only two votes. On being referred in 
 the Senate to the Committee on Slavery and Freedom, Mr. 
 Sumner, the chairman of that committee, took the matter 
 in hand. Under his leadership the bill was so altered as 
 to remove the affairs of freedmen from under the juris- 
 diction of the War Department and place them wholly in 
 charge of the Treasury. Mr. Sumner had become sincerely 
 convinced of the righteousness of this change, and having 
 once taken his stand in the matter he defended it with all 
 his accustomed vigor. There were others, however, both 
 in and out of Congress who saw the question from a differ- 
 ent point of view, and Mr. Sumner's measure met with a 
 great deal of opposition. In order to make sure that con- 
 ditions in the Mississippi Valley should be fairly represented 
 to Congress and to the country at large, we despatched 
 Chaplain Asa S. Fiske, to whom reference has already been 
 made in previous chapters, to interview Mr. Sumner and 
 conduct as it were a propaganda in the interests of freed- 
 men's affairs.^ He went directly to Senator Sumner and 
 
 1 For a careful statement of the debates in connection with this early 
 effort to legislate on the subject, see The Freedmen's Bureau, A Chapter in 
 Reconstruction by Paul Skeels Peirce, Chapter II; O. O. Howard, Auto- 
 biography, Part III, Reconstruction, Chap. XLVII. See also Congressional 
 Globe, 38th Congress, ist and 2d Sessions. 
 
 2 Chaplain Fiske had already proved himself one of our most devoted and 
 capable assistants in the Valley. In August, 1863, he had been detailed by 
 General Grant to the special service of representing the needs of the suffer- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 223 
 
 presented to him the complications that had already re- 
 sulted from Treasury control of affairs in the Valley, and 
 the practical difficulties which that Department, in the 
 nature of things, must encounter. Dr. Fiske's report of 
 that meeting throws an amusing side-light upon what we 
 already know of the great Senator's really magnificent 
 confidence in the sufficiency of the point of view he had 
 made his own. He listened impassively to Dr. Fiske's 
 story, and at its conclusion swept a majestic circle with his 
 
 ing refugees to the philanthropists of the North, and had fulfilled this 
 mission with wonderful success. Dr. Fiske tells a story which illustrates the 
 splendid response which was made by Northern benevolence to our needs. 
 " In October," says Dr. Fiske, " I reached Philadelphia, — having previously 
 visited St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Columbus, and Cincinnati, — and 
 there the Secretary and Treasurer of the American Missionary Association, 
 Dr. Strieby, entered into co-operation with me. He introduced me first to a 
 venerable Quaker merchant, who heard my story and gravely remarked at 
 its conclusion, ' Friend Asa, thee has a good cause, and friend Grant is a 
 good man. I will help thee,' and turning in his swivel chair to his desk, he 
 wrote a check for five thousand dollars. This he handed to me, saying, 
 ' Thy mission, friend, requires haste ; I will introduce thee to my neighbor.' 
 Whereupon he took me to a co-religionist, saying, ' Our friend hath a good 
 cause. I have helped him a little. Hear him.' The neighbor heard, and 
 presently turned in his swivel chair to his desk and wrote a check for two 
 thousand five hundred dollars. The first twenty minutes of effort in the City 
 of Brotherly Love had netted $7,500. We next arranged for a mass meeting 
 in the most popular hall in the city. Reverend Phillips Brooks spoke after 
 I had presented the situation, and as a result of that meeting, $75,000 worth 
 of clothing, for which the materials had been bought and made up by the 
 efforts of citizens, was on its way to the destitute of the Valley. Similar 
 meetings were held with like success at Cooper Union, in New York City, 
 in Brooklyn, New Haven, Springfield, Worcester, Boston, Providence, and 
 I think Portland. On my return — always with the assistance of the Secre- 
 tary and Treasurer of the A. M. A. — I met the people of Troy, Albany, 
 Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Auburn, Rochester, Lockport, and Buffalo, 
 where I became satisfied that ample relief had been assured, and, closing my 
 mission, returned to the South. As a matter of fact there went down the 
 river as the fruits of that campaign not less than three quarters of a million 
 dollars' worth of new clothing for distribution by Superintendent Eaton 
 among those who were perishing for the lack." 
 
224 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 hand. " You gentlemen," said he, " are away off there on 
 a little sectioB of the perimeter of the wheel. I am here 
 at the centre, sir, and sweep the whole circumference." 
 Later, in 1865, when the discussion between the two houses 
 was at its height, Mr. Sumner signified that he would be 
 glad to talk with me on the subject of the bill that was 
 pending. Chaplain Fiske at once telegraphed me to come 
 to Washington, and on my arrival escorted me to the Sen- 
 ator. I presented the matter as best I could, but evidently 
 he was not impressed by my story either, for he greeted 
 it with almost identical disdain. So urgent did the matter 
 become that Dr. Fiske devoted himself to a serious propa- 
 ganda, besieging the great dailies of the Northern cities 
 with statements calculated to arouse an appreciation of the 
 true state of affairs. The press was very liberal in making 
 room for these communications, and so much were they 
 instrumental in forming public opinion that Mr. Sumner 
 himself took occasion to call Dr. Fiske to account for his 
 labors. 
 
 When the bill as shaped by the Committee on Slavery 
 and Freedom again reached the House, that body declined 
 to accept it in the form in which it was returned to them, 
 and a committee of conference was agreed upon, Sumner 
 acting as manager for the Senate. As a result of the con- 
 ference a Bureau of Freedmen and Abandoned Lands was 
 recommended which should practically constitute a sepa- 
 rate Department of Government, controlling the lands and 
 property interests which had been under the Treasury, and 
 reporting neither to the Treasury nor to the War Depart- 
 ment, but directly to the President, from whose appoint- 
 ment the Commissioner of the Bureau should derive his 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 225 
 
 power. The bill, however, did not pass the Senate, and a 
 second committee of conference was requested. Mr. Wilson 
 of Massachusetts, who from the first had been in favor of 
 making the Bureau an adjunct of the War Department, 
 now became, as chairman of the Military Committee, the 
 chief promoter of the new bill on behalf of the Senate, — 
 thus replacing Mr. Sumner. This measure was hurried 
 through both Houses near the close of the session, and 
 received the signature of the President March 3, 1865. 
 The question had been buffeted back and forth between 
 the House and the Senate for over two years, and its final 
 settlement was a relief, probably, even to those who had 
 opposed the measure. It cannot be maintained that the 
 bill in the form in which it finally became a law was a bril- 
 liant legislative achievement. It was at best but a make- 
 shift. As such it put an end to the controversy as to 
 which branch of the Government should control the affairs 
 of freedmen, and, shorn as it was of all detail, it was prob- 
 ably the only measure upon which Congress could have 
 been induced to agree. The arguments in favor of making 
 the Bureau fall within the jurisdiction of the War Depart- 
 ment in preference to either the Treasury or the De- 
 partment of the Interior are fairly well presented in the 
 following document, which we prepared and circulated 
 freely among Congressmen and others : 
 
 Memoranda concerning Freedmen's Bureau 
 
 The wisdom of organizing a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs seems 
 generally conceded. The question is whether it shall be a Military 
 Bureau in the War Office, or some civil organization. Will gen- 
 tlemen interested in this important matter consider the following 
 proposition : 
 
 IS 
 
226 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 I St. The War Department has power, in districts wrested from 
 the insurrection, power for protection, direction, control of the 
 persons and interests of the Freedmen. A system of civil agencies 
 has none, in the very nature of the case. » 
 
 2d. The War Department has instrumentalities, viz: recog- 
 nized laws, courts, systems of supply — in all of which essential 
 points any other agency is entirely wanting. 
 
 3d. The War Department alone can root out utterly the old 
 codes and statutes of injustice against the black, which are likely 
 to revive, and compel such codes of practice at least as will assure 
 him justice and the protection of his rights. Such civil processes 
 as now exist are the remnants of the slave code and cannot be 
 trusted. 
 
 4th. When reconstruction is thorough and complete, on a loyal 
 and free basis, and the black man is assured his rights as free, then 
 we want no further special oversight for him. Just then the War 
 Department will naturally withdraw its power, leaving the freedman 
 a free man, with no invidious distinction between him and the 
 white. Just then, when it has ceased to be needed, the efficiency 
 of the civil agency would begin. All that is needed is to provide 
 for such supervision as he requires during the war. More than 
 that would be a curse. 
 
 Sth. The War Department is separated from trade, speculation, 
 property, and plantation interests, and disloyal traffic — the chief 
 instruments of corruption — by most stringent laws and most severe 
 penalties, every sentiment of patriotism, and every instinct of mili- 
 tary honor, and by the full recognition of the military disgraces and 
 disasters these interests have brought upon us ; while these matters 
 are legitimately in the hands — nay, are even a chief concern of 
 either of the civil agencies proposed. 
 
 6th. To legislate Freedmen's affairs into the War Department is 
 to do all legislation can to place the nation's Freedman where his 
 interest, separated from every other, can be represented. To leg- 
 islate him into other hands for the reason that the plantations are 
 there * — which is the reason urged — is simply to legislate the 
 plantation into supremacy over the race, which is crime. 
 
 1 This was the basis of Mr. Sumner's advocacy of Treasury control. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 227 
 
 7th. Defendants of the proposition of civil supervision of their 
 affairs argue that two controls of the two interests — plantation 
 and men — will render conflict probable. This apprehension must 
 arise from the conviction that interests of the plantation and those 
 of the man may be opposite, as they plainly may be. This appre- 
 hension, then, is peremptory reason for placing the interests of the 
 Freedmen in hands entirely clear of the property concern, and not 
 reason for avoiding conflict, by legislating the man underneath the 
 plantation. 
 
 8th. Civil agents have a nominal control in these afiairs, yet are 
 powerless, and are compelled, for efficiency, to appeal at every step 
 to independent military authorities; such a policy will assure fatal 
 and continual collisions, bitterness, and failure. 
 
 9th. In so far as plantations have influenced the policy pursued 
 toward the black hitherto, that influence has been disaster to him 
 and disgrace to the nation. The plantation scheme, however, is 
 even now being resumed by the civil agents who control affairs 
 under the unfortunate legislation of last session, — legislation 
 which by an obscure clause in a bill regulating trade and aban- 
 doned property settled into the hands of trade and property agents 
 control of the destinies of the nation's Freedmen ! 
 
 loth. These civil agents are even now making common cause 
 with every corrupt, speculative, disloyal influence against incor- 
 ruptible commanders and every purely military measure in most 
 important sections of our military operations. By every one of 
 these influences the civil control of Freedmen is pressed, as even 
 a prime point, in their contest with the military authority. 
 
 nth. The War Department has, without legislative sanction, on 
 its own responsibility, organized and done all that has been done 
 in the way of governmental care and control of the affairs of these 
 people. Large classes of officers, against obloquy and opposition, 
 have undertaken and suffered for them. As a whole, the army and 
 its officers were the first to recognize and applaud the right and 
 policy of emancipation. Cruel exceptions have indeed existed. 
 Military officers, under the pressure of military duties, have not 
 always been able to give attention to the organization of measures 
 for the relief and employment of the blacks. Yet the most nu- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDxMEN 
 
 merous, worthy, and notable examples of effort on their behalf are 
 found among military men. There is no shadow of foundation for 
 the supposition that military officers, appointed and commissioned 
 in a military Bureau for fitness, and held responsible to its head for 
 the discharge of their duties, will be either heartless, cruel, or in- 
 competent, while they will have power for the exercise of their 
 functions. 
 
 Mr. Sumner, although he arrayed himself, in my judg- 
 ment, on the side least likely to effect legislation beneficial 
 to the blacks, was as courageous as ever in maintaining his 
 stand for what he believed to be right. The presence of 
 two separate agencies in the field filled him with appre- 
 hension and disturbed as well his academic sense of fitness. 
 In spite of that, however, he proved that his desire for the 
 welfare of the freedmen far outweighed any theories he 
 may have formed as to the means to be pursued. When 
 his bill placing the Freedmen's Bureau under the Treasury 
 Department was defeated, he threw himself with equal 
 vigor into the support of a measure creating practically an 
 independent Department; when Congress deemed that 
 measure impracticable, and Mr. Wilson had succeeded 
 him in the management of a new bill, he allied himself 
 with Mr. Wilson in the effort to bring to a vote a meas- 
 ure which was diametrically opposed to the principle for 
 which he had fought. Few laws fathered by Mr. Sum- 
 ner stand to-day upon our statute books, — though no man 
 was more indefatigable than he in presenting measures, — 
 but his influence among our legislators and upon, the 
 country generally was very great. Whatever his faults, the 
 power of his uprightness and idealism in shaping events 
 and raising the standards of men's conceptions and conduct 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 229 
 
 is not to be measured save by instruments of greater 
 subtlety than laws and statutes. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was a legislator of quite a different type. 
 He had a wonderful faculty for sensing the feeling of the 
 Nation and expressing it in measures which the Nation's 
 law-makers approved. 
 
 Still another vigorous champion of freedmen's affairs, 
 who was in complete sympathy with our efforts to keep 
 the proposed Bureau in the War Department, was Senator 
 Collamore of Vermont, at one time our Postmaster-General, 
 and a very able man. I remember saying to him one 
 day, " Mr. Senator, when in Toledo I used to tell a story 
 about you to the children in the schools there, and I 
 should like to know whether or not I told the facts cor- 
 rectly." The Senator good-naturedly agreed to listen to 
 the story, and I repeated it to him as follows : " Your fam- 
 ily, I am told, lived not far from the college where you 
 entered as a student. You had a comfortable home, but 
 various little economies had to be practised, and with those 
 in view you began coming barefoot to college exercises. 
 It was not long before one of the professors privately 
 remonstrated with you, saying that it was hardly becoming 
 in a college student to come to the institution barefooted, 
 and asking you if you could not procure shoes. After 
 that you always appeared at college with your feet well 
 shod. But it was observed that you carried the shoes 
 under your arm from your home to the border of the cam- 
 pus, also that you carried your shoes under your arm from 
 the border of the campus to your home ! " At this Mr. 
 Collamore smiled broadly and remarked, " You can safely 
 tell that story just as you have it, Colonel Eaton," 
 
230 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 My time in Washington had been occupied chiefly in 
 calling upon Senators and Congressmen, but I had had 
 
 several interviews with 
 
 KA^ifUf £ir^^ SaM^o Mr. Lincoln, through 
 /^ / J~ /^y /P -T- whose kindness I had 
 
 ^^ / J^ ^ iJ also been enabled to see 
 
 ^>2s^-»t^o<!!!*\>«-*-^!^ ^m/s::*^ General Grant. So great 
 
 /^ ^ was the President's con- 
 
 /9^*&»v /^'/Sfef w^*^'*''^*'''^"'^ scientiousness that he 
 
 would not at that time 
 express any positive opinion as to which Department the 
 Freedmen's Bureau should be made responsible, lest his 
 judgment should unduly influence the debate then in 
 progress. Before the legislation regarding the Bureau 
 had reached a satisfactory conclusion, I felt that I could 
 no longer stay away from my work in the Mississippi 
 Valley. I therefore called on Mr. Lincoln to bid him 
 good-by, — in how final a sense I had indeed no pre- 
 monition. He was thinner than ever, and his face was 
 drawn and sad, bearing the marks of suffering and deep 
 thought. He referred to his re-election, expressing a 
 sense of gratitude, but with great solemnity and sadness. 
 The iron of the terrible experience of the war had entered 
 his heart more and more deeply. He felt evident assur- 
 ance of early peace, but perplexity in regard to its details. 
 His heart was bearing the anxieties of the entire people, 
 — North and South, — and under the pressure of the 
 National sorrow his dignity and compassion were greater 
 even than ever before. I had never seen him when his 
 manner was marked with such great tenderness. He was 
 like a man seeing visions, and even the " little stories " of 
 
p 
 
 H 
 I? 
 
 2 
 
 Vi 
 
 B 
 a 
 a 
 a 
 O 
 
 ^ 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 231 
 
 which he was always reminded, and the jokes in which he 
 took such quaint enjoyment and consolation, had assumed 
 a melancholy tone. 
 
 Because of the uncertainty as to what Congress would 
 do and the impossibility of outlining any definite program 
 for the conduct of affairs in the Valley, I asked Mr. Lin- 
 coln if he would give me a word over his own signature 
 to strengthen me against the difficulties I felt might still 
 be encountered. To this he agreed very heartily, and 
 asked me to write out an order which I deemed would be 
 most useful for my purposes. I wrote the following infor- 
 mal order, summarizing the verbal instructions he had 
 already given me, and this he promptly signed: 
 
 Col. Eaton, — You will continue your supervision of the Freed- 
 men over the same territory and on the same principles as in the 
 past, making such improvements as experience may suggest, until 
 legislation shall require some further change. 
 
 A. Lincoln. 
 
 Feb. lo, 1865. 
 
 Then I bade Mr. Lincoln good-by, little knowing what 
 was so soon to follow, but grateful indeed to him for the 
 indorsement he had given my work. 
 
 My headquarters at this time were in Memphis, and to 
 that point I returned after my visit to Washington. The 
 city was full of rebel sympathizers, and the situation of 
 those officers whose duties conflicted with the inclinations 
 of the citizens was not by any means either safe or envia- 
 ble. In one sense, Memphis was restored to comparative 
 prosperity after the war on account of the many Confeder- 
 ates who had stayed there during the conflict and who 
 still remained, making money out of the opportunities 
 
232 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 which the war offered in that region. But for the same 
 reason the post, to a Union officer, was one of real danger 
 and difficulty. My own duties — and indeed those of all 
 of my officers — were particularly obnoxious to a large 
 number of people, and my friends felt a good deal of 
 anxiety on my account. On the whole, considering the 
 circumstances, we were fortunate in rousing but few per- 
 sonal enmities ; there were some, however, whose hatred of 
 us and of our work was implacable. My wife and I roomed 
 with a Union family in a large house which also sheltered 
 most of the members of my local staff. I used to go each 
 day to my office, some distance away, and it was my custom, 
 naturally, to keep somewhat regular hours. On returning 
 home one night just at dusk, I reached a part of the street 
 where there were few or no houses, and was approaching 
 my lodgings when I stumbled over a man lying prone on 
 the pavement. Examination showed that he had been 
 wounded in the head by a bullet, and to my horror I soon 
 realized that the shot had killed him. We were never able 
 to discover any trace of the murderer. The man had been 
 many times mistaken for me, and because of this un- 
 doubted likeness and in default of any reasonable theory 
 to account for his death, it was supposed that he had been 
 shot by some one who intended to have made away with 
 me. Those were rough times when a man might meet a 
 violent death and few would concern themselves about it. 
 
 I had not been long in Memphis when Congress ad- 
 journed, having passed, as already noted, the bill enact- 
 ing the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned 
 Lands. The following month came the news of Lee's 
 surrender, and the North was filled with acclamations of 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 233 
 
 joy, in which at least the soldiers of the lost cause were 
 able in a measure to join. Even the tragedy of a present 
 and certain failure, together with the terror of an uncertain 
 future, could not wholly repress a kind of relief felt by the 
 South in the termination of the struggle. Now perhaps 
 more than ever before would the peculiar qualities of Mr. 
 Lincoln's greatness have been felt. He would have been 
 for the whole country — North and South alike — an incar- 
 nation of its own love, wisdom, and strength ; while lacking 
 the visible symbol of those qualities, all the baser passions in 
 the Nation might be expected to assert themselves. The 
 joy of the country in the restoration of peace was of short 
 duration. Early one morning — it was Sunday, I remember 
 — an officer of the revenue, a Mr. Cooper, who had a room 
 next to mine, and who was an early riser, rapped vigorously 
 on my door, shouting, " The President is dead ! " He had no 
 evidence of the fact save that he had heard it in the air, and I 
 was so unbelieving that he hurried down to the wharf for 
 news. He soon returned with a printed slip brought down 
 by the last boat announcing the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. 
 The mingled feeling of horror, surprise, and grief that 
 spread over the country no one can attempt to describe. 
 In disloyal cities occupied by our soldiers the condition 
 was intensified by a vague unreasoning belief, entertained 
 by many, that the Confederacy was" in some way respon- 
 sible. Added to that — at least in the territory all about 
 me — was the despairing grief of the Negroes and their 
 pitiable uncertainty as to what was to become of them. 
 While the shock was at its height, it took a strong hand to 
 keep individual soldiers under control ; here and there one 
 would declare his readiness to avenge the President's 
 
234 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 death, and if a Confederate sympathizer expressed any 
 other feeling than one of sadness and regret, he did so at 
 his peril. The day had advanced but little when word 
 came from the Commanding General that he was in receipt 
 of messages from many families who were in terror lest 
 the Negroes should rise up and assassinate those who had 
 been known to sympathize with the South. It was Sunday, 
 as I have said, and I had not made my usual rounds, but I 
 replied that I was sure nothing of the kind would occur. 
 Again he sent me a similar message, and again I made a 
 similar reply. Soon after came a third message stating 
 that the people were terrorized, and if any massacre should 
 occur, I would be held responsible. I mounted my horse 
 and made my way as quietly as possible to a Negro church 
 where the colored people were allowed to assemble freely. 
 Dismounting and entering, what a sight met me as I halted 
 on the threshold ! The congregation — easily stirred at all 
 times — had concentrated itself into little groups of men, 
 women, and children, each group the centre of a whirlwind 
 of emotion. So absorbed were they in their grief that I 
 passed up one aisle and down another before any one rec- 
 ognized me. But there was mingled with their shouts, 
 ejaculations, prayers for protection, and inarticulate cries 
 of woe, not one word of vengeance toward those who had 
 held them in bondage. I passed out of the church and 
 went to the streets most exclusively inhabited by the col- 
 ored people, hoping to again observe them before they 
 should recognize me, but I had barely entered the quarter 
 before they swarmed from their houses, detaining me with 
 innumerable questions and laments prompted by fear, sad- 
 ness, and uncertainty. They were in despair over what 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 235 
 
 might become of them now that their best friend was gone, 
 but here again there was no whisper against those who had 
 sympathized with all that he opposed. There was no more 
 pathetic symbol of the loss the Nation suffered in that 
 dark time than the distracted grief and bewilderment of 
 these unhappy people. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Appointed by General Howard, Assistant Commissioner of the Freed- 
 men's Bureau for the District of Columbia, etc. Two early circu- 
 lars. General Grant's "diffidence.'' I assume the editorship 
 of the Memphis Post. Organization of public school system of 
 Tennessee. Grant is nominated for President. His disinclina- 
 tion to "make the sacrifice." 
 
 LATE in the month of May, 1865, a despatch was 
 sent to me from Washington ordering me to 
 report at once to General Howard, who had 
 been appointed by Andrew Johnson head of the Bureau 
 of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. I was 
 away from Memphis at the time, making a most interest- 
 ing tour of inspection along the Memphis and Charles- 
 ton Railroad, and striving to establish better relations 
 between the emancipated slave and the ex-slave owner, 
 now largely represented by the returning Confederate 
 soldiers in that region. The message, therefore, failed 
 to reach me, but a second despatch, sent out on the 
 heels of the first one, found me, and I lost no time in 
 starting for Washington. Arrived at the Capitol, after a 
 brief chat with General Grant, General Rawlins, and the 
 other officers of Grant's staff, I reported myself for duty 
 at General Howard's headquarters. The General told 
 me that I was to assume charge of the District of Colum- 
 bia, including Alexandria, Fairfax, and Loudon counties 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 237 
 
 in Virginia, and also a general supervision of freedmen's 
 affairs in Maryland. He desired me to join with the 
 other assistant commissioners, many of whom were already 
 assembled, and assist in preparing the regulations for 
 the conduct of the Bureau under the law of Congress. 
 In further conversation with General Howard he told me 
 of the appointments already made, among others that of 
 Colonel Osborn to the State of Mississippi. Knowing 
 the ground as I necessarily did, and feeling that the 
 chief of the Bureau would welcome any honest expres- 
 sion of opinion, I suggested to him that it was, in my 
 judgment, a mistake not to retain in Mississippi my As- 
 sistant General Superintendent, Colonel Samuel Thomas, 
 — a man who already knew the routine of his duties and 
 who, as his record indicated, was so eminently fitted to 
 deal with all the complicated conditions of that State. 
 The suggestion commended itself so fully to General 
 Howard that he transferred Colonel Osborn to Florida, 
 where he did excellent work, — later, in the rehabilitation 
 of that State, serving it as United States Senator, — and 
 appointed Colonel, then General, Thomas, Assistant Com- 
 missioner to the State of Mississippi. 
 
 The assistant commissioners assembled in Washington 
 met day after day, and agreed upon the division of the 
 functions of the Bureau. Special officers were to be placed 
 in charge of a division for recording official acts relating 
 to labor, schools, and the quartermaster's and commis- 
 sary supplies, a land division, a financial division, and 
 one controlling the medical and hospital service.^ After 
 
 1 Peirce, A Chapter in Reconstruction, p. 48. See particularly, O. O. 
 Howard's Autobiography, Part III, Reconstruction. Chapter XLVIII. 
 
238 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 considerable discussion of other features of the task be- 
 fore us, we submitted our notes to General Howard, who 
 then asked me to take this material and work it over as 
 best I could. This I did, striving to keep before me 
 that ideal of the service with which General Grant had 
 imbued me, and to incorporate this, in so far as I might, 
 into the working regulations of the new Bureau. The 
 statement was based of course upon what the assistant 
 commissioners had already determined upon. I gave it 
 over again to General Howard in the handwriting, I re- 
 member, of my clerk, Major Clarke, who had followed 
 me from the Freedmen's Department in the Valley. It 
 passed in regular course through the hands of General 
 Grant, Secretary Stanton, and President Johnson, and 
 was returned to General Howard with the approval of 
 the President, having been altered only in a single phrase. 
 It was printed as follows, as Circular No. 5, and General 
 Howard, referring to that circular, generously stated that 
 it was the product of his assistant commissioners, and 
 remarked that upon it the "transactions of the Bureau 
 have thus far been founded " : ^ 
 
 Circular No. 5 
 
 War Department, 
 Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 
 
 Washington, May 30, 1865. 
 
 Rules and Regulations for Assistant Commissioners. 
 
 I. The headquarters for the Assistant Commissioners will, for 
 the present, be established as follows, viz. : For Virginia, at Rich- 
 mond, Va. ; for North Carolina, at Raleigh N. C. ; for South 
 Carolina and Georgia, at Beaufort, S. C. ; for Alabama, at Mont- 
 
 1 Speech at Kennebunk, Me., N. Y. Tribune, Aug. 22, 1865. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 239 
 
 gomery, Alabama ; for Kentucky and Tennessee, at Nashville, 
 Tenn. ; for Missouri and Arkansas, at St. Louis, Mo. ; for Missis- 
 sippi, at Vicksburg, Miss. ; for Louisiana, at New Orleans, La. ; 
 for Florida, at Jacksonville, Fla. 
 
 II. Assistant Commissioners not already at their posts will 
 make all haste to establish their headquarters, acquaint themselves 
 with their fields, and do all in their power to quicken and direct 
 the industry of refugees and freedmen, that they and their com- 
 munities may do all that can be done for the season, already 
 so far advanced, to prevent starvation and suffering and pro- 
 mote good order and prosperity. Their attention is directed to 
 Circular No. 2, from this bureau, indicative of the objects to be 
 attained. 
 
 III. Relief establishments will be discontinued as speedily as 
 the cessation of hostilities and the return of industrial pursuits will 
 permit. Great discrimination will be observed in administering 
 relief, so as to include none that are not absolutely necessitous 
 and destitute. 
 
 IV. Every effort will be made to render the people self-support- 
 ing. Government supplies will only be temporarily issued to 
 enable destitute persons speedily to support themselves, and exact 
 accounts must be kept with each individual or community, and 
 held as a Hen upon their crops. The ration for the destitute will be 
 that already provided in General Orders No. 30, War Department, 
 series 1864. The commissioners are especially to remember that 
 their duties are to enforce, with reference to these classes, the 
 laws of the United States. 
 
 V. Loyal refugees, who have been driven from their homes, 
 will, on their return, be protected from abuse, and the calamities 
 of their situation relieved as far as possible. If destitute, they 
 will be aided with transportation, and food when deemed expe- 
 dient, while in transitu, returning to their former homes. 
 
 VI. Simple good faith, for which we hope on all hands from 
 those concerned in the passing away of slavery, will especially 
 relieve the Assistant Commissioners in the discharge of their 
 duties toward the freedmen, as well as promote the general wel- 
 fare. The Assistant Commissioners will everywhere declare and 
 
240 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 protect their freedom, as set forth in the proclamations of the Presi- 
 dent and the laws of Congress. 
 
 VII. In all places where there is an interruption to civil law, or 
 in which local courts, by reason of old codes, in violation of the 
 freedom guaranteed by the proclamation of the President and laws 
 of Congress, disregard the negro's right to justice before the laws in 
 not allowing him to give testimony, the control of all subjects relat- 
 ing to refugees and freedmen being committed to this bureau, the 
 Assistant Commissioners will adjudicate, either themselves or 
 through officers of their appointment, all difficulties arising between 
 negroes themselves, or between negroes and whites or Indians, ex- 
 cept those in military service, so far as recognizable by military 
 authority, and not taken cognizance of by other tribunals, civil or 
 military, of the United States. 
 
 VIII. Negroes must be free to choose their own employers, 
 and be paid for their labor. Agreements should be free, bona fide 
 acts, approved by proper officers, and their inviolability enforced 
 on both parties. The old system of overseers, tending to com- 
 pulsory unpaid labor and acts of cruelty and oppression, is prohi- 
 bited. The unity of families and all the rights of the family relation 
 will be carefully guarded. In places where the local statutes make 
 no provision for the marriage of persons of color, the Assistant Com- 
 missioners are authorized to designate an officer who shall keep a 
 record of marriages, which may be solemnized by any ordained 
 minister of the gospel, who shall make a return of the same, with 
 such items as may be required for registration at places designated 
 by the Assistant Commissioner. Registrations already made by 
 United States officers will be carefully preserved. 
 
 IX. Assistant Commissioners will instruct their receiving and 
 disbursing officers to make requisition upon all officers, civil or 
 military, in charge of funds, abandoned lands, etc., within their 
 respective territories, to turn over the same in accordance with the 
 orders of the President. They will direct their medical officers to 
 ascertain the facts and necessities connected with the medical and 
 sanitary condition of refugees and freedmen. They will instruct 
 their teachers to collect the facts in reference to the progress of 
 the work of education, and aid it with as few changes as possible 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 241 
 
 to the close of the present season. During the school vacation of 
 the hot months, special attention will be given to the provision for 
 the next year. 
 
 X. Assistant Commissioners will aid refugees and freedmen in 
 securing titles to land according to law. This may be done for them 
 as individuals or by encouraging joint stock companies. 
 
 XI. This bureau being under the War Department, all rules and 
 regulations governing officers under accountability for property 
 apply as set forth in the revised regulations of the army. All other 
 persons in the service of the bureau are also subject to military 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 XII. Assistant Commissioners will require regular and complete 
 reports from their subordinates, and will themselves report quarterly 
 as directed by law, and correspond frequently with this bureau, 
 directing to the Commissioner in person. 
 
 O. O. Howard, 
 
 Major-General, Commissioner Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, etc. 
 Approved June 2, 1865. 
 
 Andrew Johnson, 
 President of the United States. 
 
 It is not my purpose to enter with any detail into the 
 history of the labors or difficulties of the Freedmen's Bu- 
 reau, but it seems worth while to add my testimony to the 
 mass already accumulated in witness of the great work 
 which the Bureau accomplished. The achievements of an 
 organization led by good and gifted men such as Howard, 
 Armstrong, and Saxton — together with others like them 
 — cannot be dismissed with a sneer; the time will come 
 when the work of the Freedmen's Bureau as an organiza- 
 tion will be more justly estimated than it is now, and we 
 shall discriminate between the immense service it performed 
 and the individual elements of corruption which without 
 doubt existed. What I have already said with reference 
 
 to the work of my officers in the Valley may be repeated 
 
 16 
 
242 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 in connection with the work of the Bureau.^ No human 
 agency could have come through the trial without incur- 
 ring and deserving criticism, but the amount of positive 
 good accomplished by both agencies will certainly be 
 found to offset the points wherein they failed. In partial 
 refutation of the sweeping accusation of sentimentality 
 which is so often made against the officers of the Bureau, 
 I cannot forbear from quoting a circular issued by the As- 
 sistant Commissioner for Mississippi which I find among my 
 papers, and which is characteristic of Colonel Thomas's 
 attitude toward his charge. Evidently there were officers 
 of freedmen who based their conduct on a sense of justice 
 and uprightness, and who showed no tendency to coddle 
 the ex-slave.^ 
 
 Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 
 Office Assistant Commissioner for State of Mississippi, 
 
 ViCKSBURG, Miss., Jan. 2, 1866. 
 Circular No. 2. 
 
 To THE Colored People of Mississippi : 
 
 Having been charged with the affairs of the Freedraen's Bureau 
 in Mississippi, I am your lawful protector and advisor ; and, to 
 some extent, am held responsible for your conduct. If yon suffer, 
 or become idle or vicious, blame is attached to me or my officers, 
 even when the fault is not ours. 
 
 1 An admirable characterization of Edgar Gardner Murphy's should be 
 quoted here: "It was the period of reconstruction, — a period of much 
 administrative sordidness, but also of memorable heroism among numbers of 
 the men and women who undertook the freedmen's initiation into the experi- 
 ence of the citizen. Its successes, however, were hidden deep, not easily ob- 
 servable ; its blunders were observable and conspicuous." The Present 
 South, p. 261. 
 
 '^ See also Documents Relating to Reconstruction, pp. 30-31, W. L. Flem- 
 ing, editor. Circular of instruction addressed by Joseph Warren, State 
 Superintendent of Education for the State of Mississippi, to other officers 
 of the Freedmen's Bureau of that State. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 243 
 
 With the end of 1865, your contracts expired. My officers 
 approved the contracts, and did all they could to compel both 
 you and your employers to live up to them. In many places 
 these contracts did not secure you more than food and clothes, 
 because you contracted so late that it was impossible to raise 
 a crop. 
 
 Many complaints are made that you did not regard a contract 
 as sacred ; that you failed to work as you had agreed ; acted as 
 you pleased ; and visited at a distance when you knew that your 
 employer would lose all by your failure to keep your contract. 
 On the other hand, it is said by you that the planters have failed to 
 pay and treat you as agreed upon. 
 
 This is all wrong. Your contracts were explained to you, and 
 their sacredness impressed upon you again and again. You know 
 that when you make a contract you are bound to give all the labor 
 for which your employer agrees to pay. Efforts have been made 
 by my officers to compel you to perform labor according to agree- 
 ments, that employers might have no excuse for failing to do their 
 part. 
 
 The time has arrived for you to contract for another year's labor. 
 I wish to impress upon you the importance of doing this at once. 
 You know that if a crop of cotton is raised, the work must be 
 begun soon, and the hands employed for the year. If you do not 
 contract with the men who wish to employ you, what do you pro- 
 pose to do? You cannot live without work of some kind. Your 
 houses and lands belong to the white people ; and you cannot 
 expect that they will allow you to live on them in idleness. It 
 would be wrong for them to do so ; and no officer of the Gov- 
 ernment will protect you in it. If you stay on the plantations 
 where you are, you must agree to work for the owners of them. 
 If not, move out of the way, and give place to more faithful 
 laborers. 
 
 I hope you are all convinced that you are not to receive prop- 
 erty of any kind from the Government, and that you must labor 
 for what you get like other people. I often hear that you are 
 crowding into towns, refuse to hire out, and are waiting to see 
 what Government will do for you. As the representative of 
 
244 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 the Government, I tell you that is very foolish ; and your refusal 
 to work is used by your enemies to your injury. I know you 
 can get good wages with considerate employers, who will treat you 
 well, and pay for all you do. Everything possible shall be done 
 to secure you good treatment. Make contracts for the year and 
 go to work, and you will secure homes. The Government hopes 
 you will do your duty ; and in return will secure you the rights of 
 freedmen. The season in which planters will think it worth while 
 to employ you will soon be passed ; and if then you are found 
 idle, you may be taken up and set to work where you will not like 
 it. The State cannot and ought not to let any man lie about idle, 
 without property, doing mischief. A vagrant law is right in prin- 
 ciple. I cannot ask the civil officers to leave you idle, to beg or 
 steal. If they find any of you without business and means of 
 living, they will do right if they treat you as bad persons, and take 
 away your misused liberty. 
 
 Some of you have the absurd notion that if you put your hands 
 to a contract, you will somehow be made slaves. This is all non- 
 sense, made up by some foolish or wicked person. There is no 
 danger of this kind to fear ; nor will you be branded when you get 
 on a plantation. Any white man treating you so would be punished. 
 Your danger lies exactly in the other direction. If you do not 
 have some occupation, you will be treated as vagrants, and made 
 to labor on public works. 
 
 Do not believe all the bad stories you hear. Malicious 
 persons take pleasure in making you afraid. Do not listen to 
 them. All their croaking certainly does you no good. Do they 
 tell you how to get food and clothes without work? 
 
 You must be obedient to the law. I do not think the people of 
 Mississippi have made all laws that relate to you as they ought to 
 have done. But, even if there be some things denied to you as 
 yet, which you wish to gain, you cannot get them by disobedience 
 and idleness. You cannot make people treat you well by showing 
 them that you do not deserve it. If you wish for rights, do 
 right yourselves. If you desire privileges, show that they may be 
 safely intrusted to you. Such a course, with patience, will make 
 you happy and prosperous. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 245 
 
 I hope that a sense of justice, benevolence^ and enlightened 
 self-interest will lead the white people to set you a good example 
 of faithfulness and honor in observing contracts. 
 
 Samuel Thomas, 
 Assistant Commissioner, State of Mississippi. 
 
 Headquarters Department of Mississippi, 
 
 ViCKSBURG, Miss., Jan. 2, 1866. 
 
 I cordially approve this excellent Circular. 
 
 Th. H. Wood, Maj.-Gen'l Vols., 
 
 Commanding. 
 
 When General Samuel Thomas left the Department of 
 Mississippi in April, 1866, for other important service in the 
 Bureau, General Wood again expressed in wrarmest terms 
 his approval of Thomas's course there, which had won for 
 him not only the esteem and approbation of the army, 
 " but of the vast mass of the population of the State, both 
 white and black." Mr. Carl Schurz, too, in his report 
 to President Johnson on the affairs of the freed people, 
 gives space to a long and valuable letter from General 
 Thomas, whom he evidently regarded as one of the most 
 efficient of the commissioners. It was Thomas's opinion, 
 however, — stated by himself, — ^that the freedmen per- 
 haps had never suffered so much as they did at that 
 time under the partially re-established civil laws of the 
 State. 
 
 General Howard, when I entered upon my labors as 
 Assistant Commissioner, assigned to me an office in the 
 same building where his headquarters were established,^ 
 
 1 Under the paragraph headed " District of Columbia," in his first Re- 
 port to the President on the Bureau, General Howard says : " As soon as 
 the Bureau was organized I called to Washington Colonel John Eaton, Jr., 
 from the Mississippi Valley, where he had been acting for two or three 
 
246 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 and from thence I carried on my work upon the same 
 general principles that had governed me in the Valley. 
 
 During this time I was able to see a good deal of 
 General Grant, — a privilege I had greatly missed during 
 the previous year or more. The army was being mustered 
 out of service, and his duties kept him much at his head- 
 quarters in Washington. I recall in particular one visit 
 to his headquarters which has always amused me. Two 
 English Congregational ministers, the Rev. Dr. Vaughn, 
 editor of the British Quarterly Review, and the Rev. Dr. 
 Raleigh, pastor of a prominent Congregational church 
 in England, the name of which I have forgotten, had 
 come to America as representatives from Great Britain 
 to the Congregational Conference held in Boston in the 
 summer of 1865. Before leaving this country, these 
 gentlemen made a somewhat extended tour, and in due 
 time came to Washington. They called upon me with 
 a letter of introduction, and were very anxious to see 
 something of the work of the Freedmen's Bureau. Dr. 
 Vaughn was not inclined to look too favorably upon the 
 Union cause, but he was deeply and sincerely impressed 
 by what he saw of the rehef and educational work among 
 the Negroes, and before he left America his views had 
 undergone a considerable change. Dr. Raleigh's sym- 
 pathies were fully with the North, and much good-natured 
 chaffing between us resulted. I took a carriage and 
 devoted the better part of a day to showing them about, 
 
 years as superintendent of freedmen, and where he acquired the full confi- 
 dence of the War Department, and gave him charge of the district above 
 described. He has aided me materially also by his practical views upon 
 matters connected with the general field." A report of the conditions in the 
 district alluded to then follows. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 247 
 
 thinking the time not ill-spent, and late in the after- 
 noon I brought them to General Grant's headquarters. 
 Having ascertained that the General would receive us, I 
 ushered them into Grant's office, which Dr, Vaughn after- 
 wards described as " much the sort of room in which a 
 London attorney might be imagined giving audience to 
 his clients." Certainly there was nothing in Grant's 
 surroundings or in the externals of his appearance to 
 indicate that he was one of the greatest men of his age. 
 He was dressed in a plain business suit of some light 
 material, and the only object suggestive of his military 
 rank was an old army hat with a cord and tassel in 
 which a single strand of gold thread was twisted. The 
 hat was lying on the table before him. I could see that 
 the visitors were a good deal bewildered, and as Grant 
 himself was a man of few words, conversation seemed des- 
 tined to languish. Presently, however, the General ex- 
 pressed his mind somewhat freely on the attitude of the 
 English press during the war, and Dr. Vaughn bestirred 
 himself to prove that not all the newspapers had un- 
 derrated the Northern cause. After some further dis- 
 cussion, in which Grant spoke with enthusiasm of the 
 difficulties of the war out of which the North had come 
 victorious, we took leave of him and returned to the 
 carriage. The gentlemen were evidently pondering upon 
 what they had seen. "Well," said I, with a view to 
 probing them a little, " why were you so silent? " " Why 
 was General Grant so silent?" they questioned in return. 
 " We were somewhat abashed." I laughed, remembering 
 the General's usual modesty and his aversion to being 
 lionized. " General Grant was abashed too ! " I replied. 
 
248 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Dr. Vaughn afterward wrote a very entertaining de- 
 scription of his American tour, which may be found in 
 volume forty-two of the British Quarterly Review. He 
 recounts the interview with General Grant, but strangely 
 enough depicts the General as something of a braggart, 
 — an odd misrepresentation, which must, I think, have 
 resulted from the efforts of the good doctor to reproduce 
 the peculiar plainness and colloquial quality of Grant's 
 speech. The article, even at this day, is well worth 
 reading. 
 
 In December, 1865, I resigned my oflSce in the Freed- 
 men's Bureau and accepted an offer to go to Tennessee 
 and establish a newspaper in Memphis to be called the 
 Memphis Post. A paper of strong Union principles 
 was badly needed in that district, and the Post was for 
 a long time the only sheet of that character published 
 between St. Louis and the Gulf, save an unimportant 
 little paper printed half in French and half in English 
 published at New Orleans. The Post was a weekly, 
 tri-weekly, and daily. It supported the policy of the 
 Government as represented by Congress and by General 
 Grant as head of the military power, but it was opposed 
 to the methods of Andrew Johnson. The task of editing 
 it at that time and in that place was no sinecure. 
 
 Meanwhile the interest in the educational affairs of 
 the State was reviving somewhat, and in 1867 a legislative 
 effort was made to meet the question of common schools 
 for all the children of the State, including the Negro. 
 I was appointed superintendent of the State system of 
 public schools provided by the act of 1867, and for 
 about three years labored to build up a proper school 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 249 
 
 system under a law which was faulty and among a people 
 many of whom were openly rebellious against the or- 
 ganization of any school system at all. I was also 
 in correspondence with the newly appointed school su- 
 perintendents of Florida, North Carolina, and Arkansas. 
 The Tennessee law, poor as it was, was in advance of 
 public sentiment, and the legislation of 1870 practically 
 abolished the entire system and relinquished the re- 
 sponsibility of the maintenance of schools to the separate 
 counties. There were, I believe, one hundred and eighty- 
 five, children in attendance when the schools were closed. 
 The result of this change was that few counties levied 
 
 ERRATUM 
 
 Page 249, lines lo and 11. 
 
 one hundred and eighty-five children 
 should read 
 
 one hundred and eig-hty-five thousand children 
 
 course our political affairs were taking, Grant had little 
 or nothing to say, but Rawlins did not hesitate to declare 
 it to be his opinion that the General must decide whether 
 or not to accept the nomination; he believed it to be 
 coming. I suppose the American youth is ordinarily 
 not averse to dreaming that he may be President some 
 day, and the American man in his maturity has not 
 
 1 See Biographical Sketch, p. xvii. See also, Bureau of Education, 
 Circular of Information, No. 5, 1893. Chapter XII (by T. P. Thomas) The 
 Public School System of Tennessee, p. 283. 
 
250 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 often demonstrated any unwillingness to accept the 
 highest gift in the Nation's power, but Grant was sincerely- 
 disturbed by the possibility of his nomination. On one 
 of the few occasions when he could be induced to talk 
 about it, he remarked that should he be selected it would 
 be the first time the country would have called upon 
 him to make a personal sacrifice. He considered that 
 the Nation had rewarded him amply for what he had 
 done, and he was inclined to look forward, as head of 
 the army, to a life of comparative ease and freedom from 
 responsibility. His pay was sufficient to support his 
 family, and this release from financial worry was an 
 immense boon to one who had struggled through periods 
 of positive want. More than this, he felt that every 
 man was his friend. The tokens of loving admiration 
 which poured in upon him from all sides were very 
 precious to him; he spoke of them with the greatest 
 appreciation, and said should he be forced into politics 
 he would exchange the sympathy and confidence of 
 the Nation for the assaults of political parties. Popu- 
 larity such as Grant enjoyed would have cajoled many 
 a man into the belief that his position was impregnable. 
 Not so this man, whose insight was so keen as to make 
 his speech at times prophetic. It will be remembered 
 with what simplicity he received the nomination when 
 it was tendered to him, and how unpretentiously he 
 wrote out his letter of acceptance in the course of a 
 few moments and in the presence of a group of influential 
 men, who called upon him, concluding the letter with that 
 invocation so characteristic of his directness and quiet 
 dignity, — " Let us have peace." He made scarcely any 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 251 
 
 political speeches, leaving all that to Rawlins and the 
 orators of his party. The publicity was hateful to him; 
 and those of us who knew Grant best never for a moment 
 doubted that his acceptance of the Presidency was, as 
 he had said, the single sacrifice which he felt his country- 
 had demanded of him. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 President Grant's interest in education. He visits West Point. Re- 
 port of the Board of Visitors for 1869. Anecdotes connected 
 witii the Academy and Grant's standing as a cadet. Grant and 
 the Peabody Fund. He champions the Bureau of Education. 
 I become U. S. Commissioner of Education in 1870. The 
 President's earnest support of educational measures. He at- 
 tends some early " Teachers' Conventions." Proposes to veto 
 Butler's bill. He " cuts red tape " and interests himself in the 
 subject of English in our colleges. His speech on education at 
 Des Moines in 1876. 
 
 IN looking back over my own life it is curious to me 
 to mark how my interest and energies centred in the 
 subject of education, — even when I believed myself 
 to be busy about other things. After my graduation from 
 Dartmouth in 1854, I had plunged at once into educa- 
 tional work, becoming principal of Ward School in Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, and two years later I accepted the position of 
 superintendent of schools in Toledo, studying privately 
 meanwhile for the ministry. At the conclusion of three 
 years' work in the Toledo schools I resigned in order to 
 study theology at Andover, and by 1861 I had entered 
 the army as a chaplain. The work among the freedmen 
 soon brought me in direct touch again with educational 
 problems, and in spite of circumstances which might 
 easily have forced me permanently into journalism or 
 politics, I found myself, as already mentioned, superin- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 253 
 
 tendent of the school system in Tennessee. So much in 
 explanation of the fact that in 1869 — while I was still 
 State superintendent — General Grant appointed me one 
 of the Board of Visitors to West Point. The personnel 
 of the Board is not without interest, as it was the first of 
 its kind appointed by President Grant. Military men are 
 rather conspicuous in the list by their absence. Judge 
 C. H. Warren, of Boston, was president of the Board. 
 The members were General David Hunter, United States 
 Army; M. B. Anderson, LL.D., President of Rochester 
 University; Hon. Walter Q. Gresham, Judge of the 
 United States Court of Indiana, and later Mr. Cleveland's 
 Secretary of State; Hon. Benjamin F. Loan, for some 
 time member of Congress from Missouri; R. L. Stanton, 
 D.D., President of Miami University, Ohio. I was chosen 
 secretary of the Board. The report we tendered was of 
 interest because we recommended strongly that some 
 provision be made for the subdivision of the graduates, 
 and that facilities be offered for advanced post-graduate 
 work. This plan for special and longer courses of study 
 has since been carried out in somewhat different form 
 through the establishment under Secretary Root's influ- 
 ence, and by the War Department, of the Army School at 
 Washington. Our advocacy of a similar plan in 1869 was 
 practically the result of our talks and intercourse with 
 President Grant while at West Point. 
 
 Grant had turned from his official duties for the mo- 
 ment, and had come to West Point with his wife and 
 daughter to attend the graduation of his son Frederick. 
 The President was greatly plagued by the sight-seers, 
 who followed him about with the untiring persistency of 
 
254 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 a crowd bent on satisfying its curiosity at all hazards. 
 Men, women, and children swarmed into the dining-room, 
 and possessed themselves of every point of vantage when- 
 ever he appeared in public. At dress parade they were 
 with difficulty restrained from fairly interrupting the ma- 
 noeuvres. The crowd in the large dining hall was partic- 
 ularly disturbing to Grant, and our Board finally took pity 
 on him and invited him to join us at our table in a private 
 dining-room which had been put at our disposal. This 
 suggestion he accepted with evident relief, but even here 
 stray sight-seers would pester him by peering in at the 
 windows of the room, which was on the ground floor and 
 easily accessible from the street. Grant was still the same 
 modest, unassuming man that he had always been, and 
 always would be, and such demonstrations disturbed and 
 bewildered him very much. He cared very little for the 
 details of his dress, and beyond the immaculateness of his 
 linen evidently bestowed little thought upon his appear- 
 ance. I recollect that Mr. Thayer, a prominent Boston 
 man who was visiting West Point at the time, asked me if 
 I thought it would be indiscreet to present the President 
 with a new silk hat to replace an old one which Grant was 
 then wearing. The President was wholly oblivious of the 
 dismay his head-gear had occasioned at least one of his 
 admirers, but he received the silk hat graciously, and soon 
 appeared in it, much to Mr. Thayer's relief. 
 
 Dr. Anderson and I were much together during these 
 days at the Academy; we occupied adjoining rooms, and 
 discussed pedagogical problems so far into the night and 
 with so much enthusiasm that our next-door neighbor — a 
 fellow-member of our Board — remonstrated with us for 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 255 
 
 disturbing the peace. We were also eager to learn all we 
 could of Grant's record as a cadet at West Point, and we 
 looked with interest at the cut made by Grant's saber on 
 the rafters of the old riding academy when " Uncle Sam," 
 as his classmates called him, made the record jump on a 
 horse that could be ridden only by Grant and one other 
 cadet in the Academy. Much has since been written of 
 Grant's standing while at West Point, — some of it marked 
 more by sensationalism than by truth — but the careful ac- 
 counts given by General Horace Porter, Hamlin Garland, 
 and other writers, have familiarized every one now with 
 the main outline of that story. The documents of the 
 Academy were thrown open to Dr. Anderson and myself 
 at the time of which I write, and we took the keenest 
 interest in every detail connected with Grant's record. It 
 was characteristic of him that he should have stood high- 
 est in mathematics and philosophy, while in the courses 
 that most men found easy he ranked below the average. 
 It was always the toughest nut that Grant cracked most 
 readily. He made a failure of the ordinary business 
 routine in which your average man succeeds best, but he 
 conducted some of the most remarkable campaigns in the 
 history of the world. Many years later Grant himself 
 spoke to me of the ease with which mathematics came to 
 him. It was the morning following my return to Wash- 
 ington, I remember, after an official visit to the Vienna 
 Exhibition and a study of education in Europe. I was 
 walking rapidly along a street, too early for the street 
 cars, on my way to call our family physician for a sick 
 child, when near the White House I met President Grant, 
 who asked if I were taking a morning walk. At my reply, 
 
256 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 giving the purpose of the walk, he turned, saying, " I be- 
 lieve I will walk with you," and immediately began to 
 ask me questions about what I had seen of education 
 abroad. After alluding to several points which had in- 
 terested me, I remarked that one special difference between 
 the best methods over there and our own was the extent 
 to which Europeans used illustrations, — an appeal to the 
 sense of sight. The teacher would point out the applica- 
 tion of the illustration when assigning the lesson, and thus 
 prepare the student's mind for a new subject. Grant asked 
 me to be more specific, and I said, " You will remember 
 at West Point there was a set of illustrations of mathemat- 
 ical principles by Olivier, the noted Frenchman, in which 
 the sense of sight was successfully brought to aid the 
 mind in the solution of abstruse problems." " No," said 
 he, " I do not remember them ; I don't think I ever saw 
 them." And in the same famihar strain he added, " I had 
 no occasion for any aids in mathematics. The subject was 
 so easy to me as to come almost by intuition." 
 
 On the other hand, there were subjects which Grant 
 found distinctly uncongenial and to which he gave scant 
 attention. One day, during our West Point experience in 
 1869, as Dr. Anderson and I approached the hotel about 
 noon, Grant, who was seated on the piazza, looked up and 
 inquired what we had heard that morning. We told him 
 we had been listening to the examination in French. The 
 President then asked us how " Fred " stood in that subject, 
 and when we replied that " Fred " did not excel in French, 
 Grant promptly remarked, " That is the way it was with 
 his father ! " 
 
 Speaking of the West Point examinations reminds me 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 257 
 
 that General Myer, the inventor of the Signal Service 
 Code, came to me and requested me if possible to make 
 sure that Grant be present at the examination of the cadets 
 in signalling, and promised to give the President every op- 
 portunity to apply any tests to the class that Grant himself 
 should select. At that time the subject had been recently 
 introduced at West Point, and its fate was undecided. 
 General Myer, it will be recalled, had been the chief of 
 the Signal Service Bureau, but had fallen under Stanton's 
 displeasure, and the War Department had but lately restored 
 him to his place. He was anxious that President Grant 
 should examine the case for himself. It so happened that 
 the exercises were especially attractive and interesting to 
 the President, who later, after careful examination of the 
 matter, warmly advocated General Myer's cause. 
 
 If there is one question upon which my personal expe- 
 rience with Grant justifies me in speaking with assurance it 
 is in regard to a subject with which few people realize he 
 was concerned at all. I mean his interest in education. 
 Every one recalls, of course, his association with the work 
 of the Peabody Fund as one of the original trustees, but 
 even there the extent of his influence is not generally 
 understood. Dr. Barnas Sears, the gifted agent of the 
 Fund, who first met and solved the question of its practical 
 application, told me that during some of the early meet- 
 ings of the trustees there had been a movement to limit the 
 benefits of Mr. Peabody's gift to the children of those men 
 belonging to the wealthy class who had been ruined by the 
 war. There was undoubtedly much need for some such 
 aid, but it would have been a fatal mistake to appropriate 
 for this purpose a fund which, rightly administered, served 
 
 17 
 
258 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 to put the system of universal education in the South firmly 
 upon its feet by stimulating the inauguration of State and 
 city systems of education and by preparing teachers to 
 serve in the public schools thus established. Dr. Sears 
 informed me that in his judgment it was Grant's advocacy 
 of the principle of universal education for which he cast 
 his vote that settled the ultimate disposition of the Fund. 
 The problem of equipping the country for the task of 
 educating the millions of ignorant freedmen with whom 
 our destiny as a Nation was now joined, appeared to Grant 
 one of the gravest of our difficulties. The Bureau of Edu- 
 cation, which had been organized in 1867 and in operation 
 for three years under Dr. Henry Barnard, — one of the 
 most distinguished educators in the country, — had failed 
 to commend itself to Congress. Far from giving the 
 Bureau its co-operation. Congress had refused to publish 
 its reports, had cut down the salary of the Commissioner 
 one thousand dollars, reduced the Bureau's clerks to two 
 in number, and made it subordinate to the Department of 
 the Interior. It seemed probable, moreover, that the 
 appropriation would not be renewed at all.^ It was at 
 this point that President Grant took hold. " With millions 
 of ex-slaves upon our hands to be educated," said he, " this 
 is not the time to suppress an office for facilitating educa- 
 tion. The Bureau shall have another trial." A little later, 
 word was brought me through Senator Patterson of New 
 
 1 Senator Hoar, on the Committee of Education and Labor, helped mate- 
 rially to save the Bureau from annihilation at this time. In his Autobiogra- 
 phy (Vol. I, p. 264) appears the following reference : " The result of the 
 strife was that the Bureau was put on a firmer footing with a more liberal 
 provision, and it has since been, under General Eaton and Dr. Harris, the 
 accomplished and devoted Commissioners, of very great value and service 
 to the country." 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 259 
 
 Hampshire — my native State — and General Swayne of 
 Ohio, that President Grant desired me to become United 
 States Commissioner of Education. The difficulties beset- 
 ting the office were manifestly very great. It was looked 
 upon as a fifth wheel of the Government, and the chances 
 of my being able to make its position more enviable by 
 demonstrating its usefulness to the country seemed to me 
 discouragingly slender. I did not feel at all sure that I was 
 the man for the place. However, after some little time I 
 accepted the office, saying to President Grant that I had 
 been through one crucial struggle under his orders, that I 
 knew he would stand by me if I behaved myself, and that 
 I would undertake the task. I entered upon the duties of 
 my office March i6, 1870. During the entire time that 
 Grant remained in the Presidency, he was my kindly coun- 
 sellor and my general support. Indeed without him the 
 Bureau could hardly have become — what it has been said 
 to be — the most influential office of education in the 
 world. Grant's messages^ at this time often contained 
 some allusion to the subject of education, and his interest 
 in the matter, and his wisdom, came out in innumerable 
 ways. 
 
 Whenever the President's duties permitted, he gave un- 
 hesitating personal proof of his interest in the Bureau's 
 
 1 The Annual Message for 1872 contains the following paragraph: 
 " The rapidly increasing interest in education is a most encouraging factor 
 in the current history of the country, and it is no doubt true that this 
 is due in great measure to the efforts of the Bureau of Education. The office 
 is continually receiving evidences, which abundantly prove its efficiency, 
 from the various institutions of learning and education of all kinds through- 
 out the country. 
 
 " The report of the Commissioner contains a vast amount of educational 
 details of great interest." 
 
260 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 work. I remember that Grant chanced to be in Cleveland 
 on one occasion when the National Educational Associa- 
 tion met in that city. I had recently been appointed 
 Commissioner, and I made my first official speech before 
 that body of educators. Grant came in with his friends 
 and listened to part of the speech. At the time of which 
 I write our school system was not so well established as it 
 is now, and the fact that the President countenanced the 
 schoolmen and their plans was a distinct advantage. At 
 the meetings of the school superintendents which took place 
 in Washington for several years in succession, it was no 
 unusual occurrence to see Grant slip quietly into a seat and 
 listen attentively to the papers and discussions for as long 
 a time as he could spare from his executive duties. He 
 took no part in the exercises, — I cannot remember that he 
 ever spoke to these audiences, — but every one there felt 
 the influence of his presence, and the fact of his attendance 
 had its effect upon the Congressmen, many of whom were 
 indifferent enough to the cause of education. The systems 
 that were struggling for recognition in different parts of 
 the country were thus greatly benefited by Grant's quiet 
 method of manifesting his approval of educational work in 
 general, and also of the efforts of the Bureau. He never 
 involved himself with any of the questions concerning 
 technical details of education, but he was keenly alive to 
 the remoter causes and influences which should determine 
 its growth and character. He used sometimes to allude 
 to the educational influence of the postal service, — a 
 factor of the very greatest importance, especially in the 
 development of the unsettled portions of our country, 
 but one to which most of us have grown so accustomed 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 261 
 
 that we take it quite for granted, forgetting how varied its 
 functions really are. 
 
 Two or three special instances occur to me wherein 
 Grant came to the rescue of the best interests of educa- 
 tion. One case refers particularly to the District of Co- 
 lumbia. It will be recalled that at one time the District 
 schools bore the entire expense of their maintenance and 
 equipment just as such expenses are ordinarily borne by 
 the schools of the separate States. In view of the fact 
 that the National Government owned the streets and the 
 public buildings, it seemed only fair that it should bear 
 half the expenses of the District, and should do its share 
 toward providing schools for the children of the army 
 of employees in its service. In any other similar com- 
 munity — as, for instance, at a fort or military post — there 
 would be no question of the obligation of the National 
 Government to provide educational facilities for the sol- 
 diers' children. Mr. Wilson, at that time the school 
 superintendent for the District of Columbia, and a very 
 able man, supported the movement to divide the school 
 appropriation equally between the District and the cen- 
 tral Government. He secured the signatures of the 
 superintendents from all over the country who were meet- 
 ing in Washington year after year, and that, together with 
 the fact that President Grant was known to be a strong 
 advocate of the measure, eventually led Congress to decide 
 upon it favorably. 
 
 During those disturbing years, when the interests of the 
 partly reconstructed South were so much spoil in the 
 hands of the aspirants for political favors, the schools of 
 the South had a hard struggle for existence. Between 
 
262 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 local prejudice and political trickery nothing but the de- 
 votion of educators and philanthropists saved the public 
 school system from utter ruin. Of the former class, by 
 the way, not the least devoted, as Dr. Mayo has pointed 
 out, were those Southern women who threw themselves 
 heart and soul into the cause of education. The fruit of 
 these labors was about to be destroyed by a clause in 
 the Civil Rights Bill, then under discussion in the House 
 of Representatives, which if enacted would compel all the 
 school children throughout the country to attend the same 
 district schools regardless of race or color. While the 
 discussion was at its height I received a telegram from 
 Dr. Sears, the agent of the Peabody Fund, requesting 
 an interview, and stating, if I remember rightly, that the 
 sender was " out of politics." I replied at once, feeling 
 very much concerned that Dr. Sears should have felt 
 impelled to telegraph at all, for we were such good friends 
 and had been so closely associated in many educational 
 matters that he might have been sure of his welcome at 
 any time. The telegram I afterwards found was merely 
 to avoid all semblance of political intrigue. Dr. Sears 
 was deeply stirred by the bill under discussion in the 
 House. He had just returned from a somewhat extended 
 trip through the South, where he had been trying to find 
 out from the leading men there what was the local sen- 
 timent on the subject. The result of his investigation 
 was that he felt convinced that the common schools of 
 seven States would be abolished should the bill become 
 a law. This conviction tallied with the impressions I had 
 been gathering from an extended correspondence into 
 which I had entered officially with the Southern educa- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 263 
 
 tors and others interested. Among my informants was 
 good Levi Coffin, the stanch abolitionist of Cincinnati to 
 whom I have already referred, who wrote me in his quaint 
 phrases, " Thee knows John, that all our schoolhouses 
 would be burned should such a course be followed." Dr. 
 Sears and I concluded that we had better bestir ourselves, 
 and together we went about among the members of the 
 House and Senate, placing before them our information 
 on the subject. I had never known Dr. Sears more elo- 
 quent. He was especially impressive in talking with 
 General Butler, who had the bill in hand. The General 
 listened like a judge on the bench to Dr. Sears's earnest 
 and logical statement of the case, and when Sears with 
 great force and power had finished his argument. General 
 Butler exclaimed, " This has settled one of the most seri- 
 ous problems of my life ! " 
 
 After we had interviewed a number of the most promi- 
 nent men in the House and Senate, Dr. Sears and I 
 agreed that it would be a relief to know what Grant's 
 position was in the matter. Accordingly we called upon 
 him and told him what we had been trying to do. When 
 we had finished our statement. Grant said to us in his 
 usual quiet way, " I have read the bill to which you 
 refer, and have made up my mind that if it comes to 
 me I shall veto it." 
 
 We concluded that the subject was safe, and that we 
 might have spared ourselves some unnecessary labor 
 and anxiety. The question had been complicated by 
 the advocacy of some good men, who saw in the separa- 
 tion of the white and black races in the schools of the 
 Nation a dangerous tendency toward the creation of class 
 
264 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 distinctions in our American life. It was the expression 
 of a theory of equality right in itself, but which it would 
 have been fatal at that moment to enforce. 
 
 In the execution of my duties as Commissioner of Edu- 
 cation, I travelled a good deal from one State to another, 
 and came to know many localities quite thoroughly. One. 
 quality among our people amused me very much, and that 
 was the local State pride which seems to be characteristic 
 of American communities. I grew to expect the residents 
 of each State to boast of its own people as the most intelli- 
 gent in the Union. I had been spending a short time in 
 Texas, I remember, and on my way East again I boarded 
 the steamer at Galveston which made connections with the 
 railroad at New Orleans. As I sat on the deck of the boat, 
 thinking over the lessons of my trip, I reflected that I had not 
 heard any one claim for Texas intellectual superiority over 
 the rest of the Nation. I soon fell into conversation with a 
 man of striking appearance who turned out to have been 
 the captain of that noted Confederate ship, the " Wanderer," 
 which had made itself so feared during the war. Our con- 
 versation became more and more absorbing, and reached 
 for me the summit of its interest when my companion in- 
 formed me that during my visit in Texas I must surely 
 have observed that I was becoming acquainted with the 
 most intelligent people of any State in the Union. I held 
 my peace, but determined to seek for some common stand- 
 ard of comparison by which the standing of the States 
 might be measured. My mind turned to our two National 
 institutions at West Point and Annapolis, and it occurred 
 to me that as the requirements were the same at these 
 schools for all parts of the country, the records of their 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 265 
 
 entrance examinations might throw some light on the 
 subject, and give a reasonable measure of comparison, — 
 allowance being made, of course, for the differences in the 
 populations of the several States. In order to get the 
 facts, red tape required that I should address my inquiry 
 to the Secretary of my Department, who would convey it 
 to each of the other Departments concerned — the War 
 and the Navy — whose respective Secretaries would in 
 turn forward the request to the authorities at Annapolis 
 and West Point. This suggested the Office of Circumlo- 
 cution and did not seem likely to encourage enterprise. I 
 recollected General Grant's readiness of old to cut red 
 tape when expedient, and having prepared blanks for two 
 tables, one for West Point and one for Annapolis, I took 
 them to the President in his executive office, intending to 
 explain to him my object and show him the forms. When 
 I entered the room, I found him in the midst of a semi- 
 official conference with a number of prominent men. He 
 motioned me to him, however, and I laid before him the 
 blanks I had prepared. There was no chance, of course, 
 for the detailed explanation I had expected to make, — 
 nor was such an explanation necessary. Grant grasped 
 at once the purpose the blanks were to serve, and promptly 
 signed my papers without further formality. His quick- 
 ness in seeing his way through an intricate lot of papers 
 was phenomenal ; he could fasten at once upon the essen- 
 tial element and supply the machinery necessary to set 
 his ideas in action before the average man could fully 
 have prepared himself to listen to his subordinate's report. 
 I do not remember ever to have seen this quality com- 
 mented upon as it deserves to be. We are apt to think 
 
266 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 of Grant as belonging to the type of the slow and sure, 
 and so in a sense he did, but his mental processes were 
 magnificently direct and to the point. On the occasion of 
 which I write, the President said to me in his quiet way, 
 as he affixed his signature, " I wish you could obtain this 
 sort of information from all the colleges in the country." 
 " Well," said I, " if you will stand by me, I will try it." 
 The result of this suggestion was the preparation by the 
 Bureau of Education of a table calling for the result of the 
 entrance examinations to our colleges. The blanks for 
 Annapolis and West Point which Grant had approved 
 were concerned only with the requirements in English. 
 English, therefore, became conspicuous in the new inves- 
 tigation. At that time Harvard was practically the only 
 American college that had begun to require examinations 
 in English for admission to the college course. A refer- 
 ence to the returns made to the inquiries of the Bureau 
 shows clearly how deficient the preparation was in this 
 subject at that time. But the attention of the entire 
 country was called to it by this somewhat formal investi- 
 gation of the matter by the National agency, and the 
 result of the effort which this investigation really inaugu- 
 rated may be seen in the remarkable development of 
 courses in English which is now manifested in the pre- 
 paratory or secondary schools throughout the land. 
 
 It is an interesting fact, and one of which we should be 
 proud, that both the great military leaders in the Civil 
 War gave their personal efforts to the cause of education. 
 It was one of the finest of General Lee's many fine quali- 
 ties that he should have had it in him to turn aside from 
 all the inducements for gaining wealth which were thrown 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 267 
 
 open to him and devote himself so earnestly and wisely to 
 the education of the South. In addition to his own labors 
 as President of the Washington-Lee University, he, like 
 Grant, threw the weight of his influence into the labors of 
 other men. His moral support of W. H. Ruffner, State 
 superintendent of schools in Virginia, who has fitly been 
 called the Horace Mann of the South, made Mr. Rufifner's ad- 
 ministration far more efficient than it could otherwise have 
 become. General Lee believed that all classes should be 
 given the privileges of education in a free community, and 
 he exerted himself bravely to that end. In the early years 
 of my work as Commissioner of Education the course of 
 political action had so far delayed the reorganization of 
 Virginia that the schools were still under the partial control 
 of military authority. The officers wishing to encourage 
 Southern men and women to volunteer in the cause of 
 education had advertised for Southern teachers to fill the 
 various positions in the local schools. When I made an 
 official visit to Petersburg, Virginia, the Board of Educa- 
 tion of that city took me, I remember, to a certain school 
 which had been supplied thus with a teacher, — a young 
 man named Cook, who told me that he had been on General 
 Lee's staff and that the General had strongly advised him 
 to respond to the call for volunteer teachers. The school 
 was one of those established for colored children, and was 
 known, for purposes of convenience merely, as the " High 
 School." Most of the little pupils did not know their 
 letters. The ardor of the young teacher, however, was 
 irreproachable. He told me that he felt convinced the 
 Negro youth had a special aptitude for the study of 
 languages, and presently with modest pride in his own 
 
268 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 handiwork he called upon a troupe of small black boys 
 and girls to recite in French. The " French class " had a 
 somewhat hazy notion of what it was expected to do, 
 but the intention and enthusiasm of pupils and teacher 
 could not have been improved upon anywhere. 
 
 One more illustration of the interest which President 
 Grant took in educational affairs and I shall have done 
 with this series of stories. Fortunately we can turn to his 
 own words for evidence of that interest, and such noble 
 words they are that I shall quote them here, and so close 
 my chapter. They were spoken on the occasion of a visit 
 Grant made to Des Moines, Iowa, in September, 1876, 
 and so far as I know they have been preserved in their 
 entirety only in the newspapers of the day. There was 
 some ill-natured scepticism at the time as to whether the 
 brief speech was written by Grant himself or prepared for 
 him by Judge C. C. Cole, with whom he was staying. Such 
 ridiculous and debasing speculations never had any foun- 
 dation to rest upon, and were finally dismissed by the 
 emphatic statement of Judge Cole himself, when some ten 
 years later he was interviewed by the reporter of a news- 
 paper the name of which I have neglected to preserve, 
 but which in 1884 reprinted the address quoted below. 
 The circumstances under which it was delivered were 
 these. Judge Cole tells the story: "Among those who 
 presented themselves at the door [Grant, as the guest of 
 Judge Cole, was protected by him against the multitudes 
 who would have interviewed the President] was Professor 
 Thompson, who was then superintendent of city schools. 
 He wanted to ask that some opportunity be given the chil- 
 dren to see the President. That at once struck me as a 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 269 
 
 proper request to grant, and I said, yes, it shall be done ; 
 the children shall see him at 2 P. M. to-morrow at Moore's 
 Opera House. . . . Well, on the next afternoon, you 
 remember, the Opera House was packed with children 
 from parquet to gallery. There must have been twenty- 
 five hundred children in the building. When I told 
 General Grant I was going to take him to the Opera 
 House so that the children could see him, he said at once, 
 ' I cannot say anything to them.' I told him he need not, 
 but I wanted to give the children an opportunity of seeing 
 him. We went down at the hour named . . . and when 
 . . . the children were all in and ready to receive the 
 President, I took him by the arm and we marched on the 
 platform, and the President was received by the children 
 with enthusiasm. He said nothing, — we stood, simply 
 being looked at. I suppose the General stood the ordeal 
 well enough and could have remained in the position any 
 length of time, but I could not. It made me nervous, 
 and I could not stand it any longer, so I spoke a few 
 words to the children, introducing the President. I told 
 them he was a man of deeds not words, and so continued 
 to speak for a few minutes. I then said that General 
 Grant would say a few words, so that they might have it 
 to say that they had heard him speak as well as seen 
 him. 
 
 " From this meeting we went at once and entered our 
 carriage and were driven over the city. The conversation 
 during the ride very naturally drifted to the question of 
 schools and children, and I suppose it was at this time that 
 he conceived the thoughts which he uttered in his great 
 speech in the evening. . . . After riding for some time 
 
270 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 . . . the General said he would have something to say in 
 the evening at the meeting which had been planned, [a 
 Grand Army Convention] and asked that he might be 
 driven back to the house so as to have an opportunity to 
 jot down what he might say. We returned at once, and he 
 immediately went to his room. 
 
 " In just forty minutes from the time General Grant en- 
 tered the house supper was announced, and during that 
 time he prepared the famous speech which he delivered 
 that night." 
 
 In speaking of it, Grant told me afterwards that the notes 
 were made on the backs of envelopes and the stray scraps 
 of paper at hand in his room. I quote the address in full. 
 It was one of the very few the President ever made : 
 
 " Comrades, — It always affords me much gratification to meet 
 my old comrades in arms ten to fourteen years ago and to live over 
 again in memory the trials and hardships of those days, hardships 
 imposed for the preservation and perpetuation of our free institu- 
 tions. We believed then, and believe now, that we had a govern- 
 ment worth fighting for, and if need be dying for. How many of 
 our comrades of those days paid the latter price for our preserved 
 Union ! Let their heroism and sacrifices be ever green in our 
 memory. Let not the results of their sacrifice be destroyed. The 
 Union and free institutions for which they fell should be held more 
 dear for their sacrifice. We will not deny to any who fought against 
 us any privileges under the government which we claim for our- 
 selves ; on the contrary, we welcome all such who come forward 
 in good faith to build up the waste places and to perpetuate our 
 institutions as against all enemies, as brothers in full interest with 
 us in a common heritage. But we are not prepared to apologize 
 for the part we took in the war. It is to be hoped that like trials 
 will never again befall our country. In this sentiment no class of 
 people can more heartily join than the soldier who submitted to the 
 dangers, trials, and hardships of the camp and battlefield on which- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 271 
 
 ever side he fought. No class of people are more interested in 
 guarding against a recurrence of those days. Let us then begin by 
 guarding against every enemy threatening the perpetuity of free 
 Republican institutions. 
 
 " I do not bring into this assemblage politics, certainly not par- 
 tisan politics, but it is a fair subject for soldiers in their deliberation 
 to consider what may be necessary to secure the prize for which we 
 battled. In a RepubHc like ourSj where the citizen is the sovereign, 
 and [the] official [is] the servant, where no power is exercised ex- 
 cept by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign — 
 the people — should possess intelligence. The free school is the 
 promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us as a free nation. 
 
 "If we are to have another contest in the near future of our 
 national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be 
 Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism and intelligence on 
 the one side, and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the 
 other. Now this is the Centennial year of our national existence ; 
 I believe it is a good time to begin the work of strengthening the 
 foundation of the house commenced by our patriotic forefathers 
 one hundred years ago at Concord and Lexington. Let us all 
 labor to add all needful guarantees for the more perfect security of 
 Free Thought, Free Speech, and Free Press, pure morals, unfet- 
 tered religious sentiment, and of equal rights and privileges to all 
 men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion. 
 
 " Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar appro- 
 priated to their support, no matter how raised, shall be appropriated 
 to any sectarian school. Resolve that neither State nor Nation 
 nor both combined shall support institutions of learning other than 
 those sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land the 
 opportunity of good common school education unmixed with sec- 
 tarian, pagan, or atheistical tenets. Leave the matter of religion to 
 the family altar, the church, and the private school supported en- 
 tirely by private contribution. Keep the Church and State forever 
 separate. With these safeguards I believe that the batties which 
 created ' the Army of the Tennessee ' will not have been fought 
 in vain." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Some political memories. The great questions on which Grant 
 " hammered." A sketch of what he achieved in our foreign 
 and domestic affairs. His unwillingness to think evil. His 
 promptitude in suppressing it when once admitted. A group 
 of friends and advisers. " Zack " Chandler, — his honesty and 
 courage. The Belknap tragedy. An ex-Confederate general 
 and a Negro orator agree politically on Grant. 
 
 DURING the eight years of Grant's administration 
 I came necessarily in touch with the men and 
 events by which that administration is known, 
 and although I make no claim to speak authoritatively of 
 issues which are perhaps as puzzling to the historian as 
 any with which he has to deal, I feel inclined, because of 
 my personal relations with the President, to offer my im- 
 pressions and testimony for whatever these may be worth. 
 In my judgment Grant's service to the Nation immediately 
 after the war and during the terms of his Presidency has 
 never fully been recognized. No adequate attempt has 
 yet been made to focus Grant's Presidential record in the 
 light of his character as manifested throughout his career. 
 Nor is this to be wondered at in view of the fierceness of 
 those old encounters between men and parties, and the 
 comparatively short time which has elapsed since the 
 period of Grant's activity closed. Among the few his- 
 torians whose work treats of the events of our own time it 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 273 
 
 is the fashion to refer somewhat grudgingly to the positive 
 results of Grant's Presidential administration while com- 
 menting at length and with assurance on the failures which 
 marred it.^ My purpose in referring to Grant's political 
 career is not by any means controversial, nor shall I at- 
 tempt a critical analysis. I wish merely to indicate briefly 
 a group of facts of general interest which may serve as a 
 background to a few personal observations and anecdotes. 
 
 There was a series of questions dealing with our do- 
 mestic prosperity and with our foreign relations to which 
 Grant specially addressed himself. To several of these 
 he referred eloquently in his first inaugural, prepared, as 
 Badeau tells us, quite independently of the counsel which 
 might have been offered him. It was prepared, indeed, 
 at a time when the most serious charge which could be 
 brought against Grant was his neglect to take counsel 
 with men of experience in public affairs. 
 
 Of Grant's interest in educational matters I have already 
 spoken at some length. Senator Hoar tells us that the 
 President was among those who fully recognized the 
 dangers of the Fifteenth Amendment unless offset by. 
 ample provision for education, — if need be at National 
 expense. On March 30, 1870, in a special communication 
 to Congress on the occasion of the ratification of the 
 Fifteenth Amendment, Grant said : " The framers of our 
 Constitution firmly believed that a republican government 
 could not endure without intelligence generally diffused 
 
 ' A notable exception to this is the Autobiography of Senator Hoar, who, 
 though he finds much to condemn, presents the issues with his accustomed 
 insight and fairmindedness. The most adequate treatment of the period is 
 to be found, of course, in Volume VII of Rhodes's History. 
 
 18 
 
274 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 among the people. The Father of his Country, in his 
 Farewell Address, uses this language : ' Promote, then, 
 as an object of primary importance, institutions for the 
 diffusion of general knowledge. In proportion as the 
 structure of a government gives force to public opinion, 
 it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.' 
 By such means only can the benefits contemplated by 
 this amendment be secured." The quotation from Wash- 
 ington's address was suggested to Grant by Senator Hoar, 
 who ascribed whatever elements of failure exist in the 
 reconstruction measures to the defeat of the policy pro- 
 viding adequate educational opportunities.^ 
 
 Somewhat allied to the question of education — since 
 this was so closely concerned with the fate of the freedman 
 — was Grant's attitude toward the Indian. During my 
 association with General Grant at the time of the war, he 
 had spoken to me of the fraud and abuses among Indian 
 agents which had come to his notice while on the Pacific 
 Coast, and I was not surprised to find in his inaugural his 
 pledge to " favor any course toward them [the " original 
 occupants of this land," as Grant himself called them] 
 which tends to their civilization and ultimate citizenship." 
 To effect this, Grant experimented with the appointment 
 of a native Indian Commissioner, hoping thereby to 
 secure more unanimity between the interests of the tribes 
 and the measures of the Government, but this proved 
 impracticable. Very soon after his inauguration, he 
 placed several of the Indian reservations in the hands of 
 the Quakers, who, as he remarks in his first Message to 
 
 1 Autobiography of Seventy Years, George F. Hoar, Vol. I, p. 255. See 
 also p. 204. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 275 
 
 Congress, are " known for their opposition to all strife, 
 violence, and war, and are generally noted for their strict 
 integrity and fair dealings." So well did this policy 
 justify itself that in 1870, when Congress prohibited the 
 employment of army officers in any civil capacity, thus 
 necessitating the resignation of many Indian agents, the 
 religious societies of every denomination, at President 
 Grant's request, were invited to enter the field and 
 combine the duties of Indian agent with the task of 
 teaching and Christianizing the Indian tribes. Whatever 
 criticism may be made against this movement the reports 
 of the Indian Office declare that a far more devoted class 
 of men were thus secured to serve in the capacity of 
 agents. Largely through the President's influence upon 
 public opinion, Congress in April, 1869 authorized the 
 appointment of a Board of Indian Commissioners to 
 inquire into the abuses of the service. Grant designated 
 a group of remarkably competent and upright men, who 
 served without recompense, and who were fully authorized 
 to observe the workings of the Indian Office, report upon 
 it, and advise any changes which they might see fit to 
 suggest. This was one of the earliest and most effectual 
 efforts made to reform the Indian service, and to Grant 
 belongs the credit for initiating it. The Commission is 
 still an active force in Indian affairs. The members of the 
 Commission appointed by President Grant were able to 
 check at once some of the worst frauds practised on the 
 Indians. The head of the Bureau in 1877 — Commis- 
 sioner Hayt — says in his annual report for that year: 
 "Since the year 1870 the influence exerted by the Board 
 of Indian Commissioners has made itself felt in the puri- 
 
276 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 fication of the Indian service. Prior to that time it was 
 the custom to receive bids for annuity goods and supplies 
 in classes. . . . Under this system the contract went year 
 after year to one house, and was looked upon by the 
 public as a practical monopoly, so much so that competi- 
 tion fell off, one house seeming always to have inside 
 information from some one connected with the Bureau. 
 The original Board of Indian Commissioners aimed its 
 first blow at this faulty system, and secured a reform in 
 this particular by requiring bids to be made for each 
 article separately. . . . From this date a decided improve- 
 ment in the manner of purchasing took place." The 
 original Board resigned early in 1874, and at once a change 
 for the worse became apparent. In July and August, 
 however, their system was re-established with even better 
 results than before. Mr. Welsh of Philadelphia, who 
 served on the first Commission, I knew very well indeed, 
 and with Mr. Felix R. Brunot of Pittsburg I had also a 
 pleasant acquaintance. Mr. Welsh would often come to 
 Washington for consultation with President Grant, and 
 after meeting him would frequently spend a part of the 
 evening with me, going over the details of his conference 
 with the President. In this way I became very familiar 
 with the Indian question ; in fact a strong movement was 
 on foot, participated in by some of the members of Con- 
 gress, to turn the entire control of Indian education over 
 to the Bureau of Education. This proposition I resisted, 
 however, with all my might. The Bureau then had all it 
 could do to hold its own and justify itself to the Nation 
 and to Congress, and I felt the only course was to concen- 
 trate every energy upon the functions which it was already 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 277 
 
 called to perform. General Grant sustained the reserva- 
 tion policy in regard to the Indians. He recognized that 
 unless the Indians were gathered together and protected, a 
 slow, cruel war of extermination must be the alternative. 
 At this time it should be remembered the Indians were 
 capable of carrying on a warfare against the soldiers and 
 settlers which would be impossible in their present dimin- 
 ished numbers, and they were constantly making de- 
 termined efforts to avenge their wrongs and protect 
 themselves against the white man. In advocating the 
 plan of placing them on large reservations, Grant invari- 
 ably asserted that eventually they were to become citizens 
 of the United States. In his first Message to Congress he 
 distinctly stated that they were to be induced as soon as 
 possible to " take their lands in severalty and to set up 
 Territorial governments for their own protection." This 
 part of the original policy has often been inadequately or 
 unreasonably enforced, and many grave abuses and much 
 suffering have resulted in consequence. 
 
 In connection with Indian affairs I recall Grant's attitude 
 on the question as to whether or not the Indian should be 
 given a place in the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. 
 The Indian disturbances in the West were fresh in the 
 public mind, and the red man could not be said to be 
 popular with the average American who associated him 
 with blood-curdling massacres. On the other hand there 
 were those who looked upon him as a constant reproach to 
 our civilization, — a victim of our cupidity and faithless- 
 ness. Neither group advocated his public appearance at 
 our National festival. But Grant stoutly maintained the 
 right of the native American to represent himself, his 
 
278 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 interests, and his racial culture at a celebration intended to 
 be typical of American life and progress. An Indian 
 encampment was to have formed the basis for the Indian 
 exhibit, but this proved impracticable, and the display 
 consisted of articles of Indian manufacture, showing the 
 native dress, customs, occupations, and so forth. 
 
 Grant's attitude toward the payment of our National 
 debt and the return to a basis of honest money is perhaps 
 too well known to need much emphasis. In private con- 
 versation he used to manifest a remarkable grasp of the 
 situation, and on no subject did he express himself more 
 eloquently. He speaks with splendid conviction upon 
 both these matters in his first inaugural address and in his 
 first Message to Congress. In the course of the latter he 
 says: 
 
 "Among the evils growing out of the rebellion and not yet referred 
 to, is that of an irredeemable paper currency. It is an evil which 
 I hope will receive your most earnest attention. It is a duty, and 
 one of the highest duties, of Government to secure to the citizen a 
 medium of exchange of fixed, unwavering value. This implies a 
 return to a specie basis, and no substitute for it can be devised. . . . 
 I see but one way, and that is to authorize the Treasury to redeem 
 its own paper at a fixed price whenever presented, and to withhold 
 from circulation all currency so redeemed until sold again for 
 gold." 
 
 Senator Hoar refers to the veto of the Inflation Bill as 
 " regarded by most persons as the turning of the corner 
 by the American people, and setting the face of the 
 Government toward specie payment and honest money." 
 Grant was under immense pressure, intended to make him 
 sign the bill, and brought to bear upon him by those who 
 sustained the measure. Badeau tells us he sat down to 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 279 
 
 write out the reasons thus presented to him, purposing to 
 adopt the arguments and sign the bill. He found the 
 reasoning in favor of inflation so weak, however, that he 
 abandoned the attempt to coerce his own judgment into 
 accord with some of his advisers, and instead vetoed the 
 measure. The story, which is told by General Badeau in 
 his volume entitled " Grant in Peace," and which is re- 
 ferred to by Senator Hoar, and vouched for by Secretary 
 Boutwell of the Treasury,^ illustrates a quality which in 
 my judgment was one of Grant's most characteristic traits. 
 He was wonderfully eager to view both sides of a question, 
 and, like Lincoln, willing to change his opinion in accord- 
 ance with what he saw ; but once let him be convinced 
 that he had done justice to his opponent's point of view, 
 and he stood squarely by his own conviction of what he 
 felt to be right. In 1874, with the panic of the preceding 
 year still in mind, he said in his Message to Congress : 
 
 ' ' I believe it is in the power of Congress at this session to de- 
 vise such legislation as will renew confidence, revive the industries, 
 start us on a career of prosperity to last many years and to save 
 the credit of the Nation and of the people." 
 
 At this question he hammered unceasingly until, on 
 January 14, 1875, he was able to sign the bill for the re- 
 sumption of specie payment, when he sent a special mes- 
 sage of congratulation to the Senate, — the "House in 
 which the measure originated." 
 
 One of the most serious questions which the country 
 had to face at the conclusion of the war was the loss of 
 the carrying trade and the general decline of foreign com- 
 
 1 See also, J. F. Rhodes, History of the United States, Vol. VII, 
 pp. 62-64. 
 
280 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 merce. As early as 1870 Grant was recommending meas- 
 ures to " secure American shipping on the high seas and 
 American ship-building at home." " The cost," he says, "of 
 building iron vessels, the only ones that can compete with 
 foreign ships in the carrying trade, is so much greater in the 
 United States than in foreign countries that without assist- 
 ance from the Government they cannot be successfully 
 built over here." In later messages he returns to this 
 theme and urges its importance upon Congress. 
 
 On no subject has Grant been more criticised — and in 
 my judgment misunderstood — than in his relation to civil- 
 service reform. He promptly began to impress upon 
 Congress the necessity for abandoning the system of 
 appointments then in force. In his annual Message for 
 1870 he remarks that "There is no duty which so much 
 embarrasses the Executive and heads of Departments, 
 nor is there any such arduous and thankless labor imposed 
 on Senators and Representatives as that of finding places 
 for their constituents. The present system does not secure 
 the best men, and often not even fit men, for public place." 
 The following year Congress gave authority to the Execu- 
 tive to appoint a Civil Service Commission. Grant at once 
 convened the first Civil Service Board, and in due time 
 promulgated the rules and regulations which it presented 
 to him. The pressure which was brought to bear upon 
 him by the leaders of his own party — in some instances 
 by sincere though mistaken friends of good government — 
 made his course inconceivably difficult. Year after year 
 the men who profited by the spoils system blocked the 
 President's efforts to secure from Congress an adequate 
 appropriation for the support of the Commission, or defin- 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 281 
 
 ite legislation to insure the permanency of the Commis- 
 sion's work. His references to the subject in 1871, 1872, 
 and 1873 are earnest appeals in behalf of these measures. 
 Grant is usually charged with having abandoned the fight 
 for civil-service reform under the pressure of the party 
 managers, and in view of the effect which his further advo- 
 cacy might have upon the approaching National election. 
 If that be so, no good work was ever sacrificed to a mean 
 motive with such complete frankness and dignity. In 1874, 
 in his message to Congress he makes a final plea for just 
 and proper legislation on the subject, and in the event of 
 such legislation again being refused, he says : 
 
 " I wiU regard such action as a disapproval of the system, and 
 will abandon it, except so far as to require examination for certain 
 appointees to determine fitness. Competitive examinations will be 
 abandoned. 
 
 " The Gentlemen who have given their services, without com- 
 pensation, as members of the board to devise rules and regulations 
 for the government of the civil service of the country have shown 
 much zeal and earnestness in their work, and to them, as well as 
 to myself, it will be a source of mortification if it is to be thrown 
 away. But I repeat that it is impossible to carry this system to a 
 successful issue without general approval and assistance and posi- 
 tive law to support it." 
 
 Owing largely to Mr. Conkling's opposition to the 
 measure, Congress failed either to make an appropriation 
 or to legislate on the question, and on March 9, 1875, t^^ 
 civil service rules were abolished. Fugitive efforts were 
 made during President Hayes's administration to reorgan- 
 ize the work of reform, and good results were obtained 
 through the support of Mr. Pendleton, a Democratic Sen- 
 ator, but it needed the passage of several years, the assas- 
 
282 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 sination of President Garfield by a man in some sense a 
 product of the " spoils system," and the election of the 
 Democratic candidate for President to induce Congress to 
 give up the fight and re-establish the United States Civil 
 Service Commission, with the long sought for appropria- 
 tion of twenty-five thousand dollars for its support. This 
 occurred during President Arthur's administration. 
 
 In any attempt, however imperfect, to sum up Grant's 
 contribution to the prosperity and stability of our domestic 
 condition during the terms of his Presidency, it would be 
 unfair not to refer to what Senator Hoar has well named 
 " the healing influence of Grant " as exerted in various 
 crises between the North and the South. In spite of the 
 instances when it became the duty of the Executive to 
 enforce measures for the suppression of disorder and vio- 
 lence, — as in the Ku-Klux-Klan disturbances, for instance, 
 — Grant's personal feeling was. always in favor of generous 
 and pacific measures toward the South. His attitude 
 toward individual Southerners, and the affectionate esteem 
 of many of his old enemies for himself, are symbols and 
 evidence of the fair-dealing which marked their relations. 
 He steered a firm course, too, during the Tilden-Hayes 
 excitement, and whatever may be the judgment of history 
 upon that manifestation of party strife. Grant's calmness, 
 together with his courageous and decisive action, went far 
 toward averting the horror and bloodshed which further 
 dispute could so easily have occasioned. I was represent- 
 ing at the time the Department of the Interior on that 
 Board, composed of representatives from all the Executive 
 Departments, the Department of Agriculture, and the 
 Smithsonian Institute, which had been convened to take 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 283 
 
 charge of the Government exhibits at the Centennial Ex- 
 position of 1876. I had left Philadelphia in order to learn 
 more of the political situation in Washington and took 
 occasion to call at the White House to see President 
 Grant. The result of the election was not then definitely 
 known, but on November 8, the morning of the election, 
 Tilden was reported to have secured 184 electoral votes — 
 it took 185 to elect — and the returns from South Carolina, 
 Florida, and Louisiana were not yet positively determined. 
 General Sherman was also with Grant, I remember, to- 
 gether with other prominent men. Sherman, with his 
 usual impetuosity, was pacing the room, lamenting with 
 some profanity the fate of the Nation — and especially of the 
 army — should the Democrats — otherwise the "rebels" 
 — assume control, but Grant was perfectly calm and 
 apparently serene. On the following morning we took a 
 special train for Philadelphia, and in the evening Grant 
 attended the last public banquet of the Commissioners of 
 the Philadelphia Exposition. During the banquet the 
 chairman arose, and knocking with his gavel to bring the 
 assemblage to order, he announced that the President had 
 received a telegram which necessitated his withdrawal. 
 Grant and his Cabinet left the dining-room, and Grant 
 then read a telegram from old Zack Chandler, Chairman 
 of the Republican Committee, stating that there was immi- 
 nent danger of violence and the destruction of the returns 
 from counties and precincts under dispute, and urging the 
 President to enforce order by the presence of troops. 
 Grant at once authorized the sending of troops to Florida, 
 where the danger was greatest. Zack Chandler afterward 
 told me that he had discovered the Democrats were taking 
 
284 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 his messages off the wires, and he only succeeded in get- 
 ting word of the emergency safely to Grant by using Jay 
 Gould's private line. 
 
 There can be no doubt that Grant acted in this crisis 
 with great sagacity and perfect good faith. His immedi- 
 ate decision to protect the honor of the Nation, if necessary 
 with the presence of troops, always seemed to me an ad- 
 mirable example of his ability to come quickly and sanely 
 to important conclusions, and nothing could be further 
 from the truth, as it was impressed upon me at the time, 
 than to represent Grant as a half-deluded pawn in the 
 hands of greedy politicians and a scheming Secretary of 
 War.^ Such an interpretation is hardly necessary to the 
 understanding of the following straightforward and digni- 
 fied telegram sent by Grant to Sherman as an amplification, 
 it would seem, of his policy inaugurated the night before 
 at Philadelphia : 
 
 "Instruct General Augur in Louisiana and General Ruger in 
 Florida to be vigilant with the force at their command, to preserve 
 peace and good order, and to see that the proper and legal boards 
 of canvassers are unmolested in the performance of their duties. 
 Should there be any grounds of suspicion of a fraudulent count on 
 either side, it should be reported and denounced at once. No man 
 worthy of the ofiSce of President should be willing to hold it if 
 counted in or placed there by fraud. Either party can afford to 
 be disappointed in the result. The country cannot afford to have 
 the result tainted by the suspicion of illegal or false returns." 
 
 Some of the proudest achievements of our foreign policy 
 took place during Grant's administration, — in many cases 
 as a direct result of his advocacy. The great talent and 
 
 1 See John Bigelow's Life of Tilden, Vol. II, pp. 17-18. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 285 
 
 enterprise of his Secretary of State were splendidly re- 
 inforced by the courage and sagacity which specially 
 characterized Grant in all emergencies involving the pos- 
 sibilities of war. Nowhere did he manifest these qualities 
 with more striking effect than in the contribution which 
 he made to the settlement of our serious difficulties with 
 England which culminated in the affair of the Alabama 
 Claims. The spirit with which Grant faced this issue and 
 forced the attention of Great Britain to our claim in this 
 matter should be reverenced by every student of our 
 history and estimated at its worth. In Grant's second 
 annual message of December 5, 1 870, appeared the following 
 paragraph : 
 
 " The cabinet of London, so far as its views have been expressed, 
 does not appear to be willing to concede that Her Majesty's 
 Government was guilty of any negligence, or did or permitted any 
 act during the war, by which the United" States has just cause for 
 complaint. Oyr firm and unalterable convictions are directly the 
 reverse. I therefore recommend Congress to authorize the ap- 
 pointment of a commission to take proof of the amount of the 
 ownership of these several claims, on notices to the Representative 
 of Her Majesty at Washington, and that authority be given for the 
 settlement of these claims by the United States, so that the Gov- 
 ernment shall have the ownership of the private claims, as well as 
 the responsible control of all demands against Great Britain. It 
 cannot be necessary to add that whenever Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment shall entertain a desire for a full and friendly adjustment of 
 these claims the United States will enter upon their consideration 
 with an earnest desire for a conclusion consistent with the honour 
 and dignity of both Nations." 
 
 The effect upon England of this firmness and dignified 
 statesmanship can scarcely be overestimated. Early in 
 the following month Secretary Fish was informally ap- 
 
286 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 preached upon the various questions demanding settlement 
 by Sir John Rose, who was " unofficially " deputed to 
 open negotiations, and by the 26th of that same month of 
 January the members of the joint high commission set 
 sail, — without their commissions, which were signed by 
 the Queen early in February and despatched to them by 
 special messenger. On February 9, 1871, Grant was able 
 to send a special message to Congress, from which I quote 
 the following: 
 
 "The British Minister accredited to the Government recently, 
 in compliance with instructions from his Government, submitted 
 the proposal for the appointment of a 'joint high commission' to 
 be composed of members to be named by each Government to 
 hold its sessions at Washington, and to treat and discuss the mode 
 of settling the different questions which have risen out of the 
 fisheries, as well as those which affect the relations of the United 
 States toward the British possessions in North America. 
 
 " I did not deem it expedient to agree to the proposal unless 
 the consideration of the questions growing out of' the acts com- 
 mitted by the vessels which have given rise to the claims known as 
 the ' Alabama Claims ' were to be within the subject of discussion 
 and settlement by the commission. The British Government 
 having assented to this, the commission is expected shortly to 
 meet." 
 
 The nomination of the commissioners then follows. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that when General Grant left the 
 Presidency, the United States was absolutely free from 
 any foreign entanglements. By 1872 we were, in Grant's 
 own words, " for the first time in the history of the United 
 States as a nation, without a question of disputed boundary 
 between our territory and the possessions of Great Britain 
 on this continent." 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 287 
 
 Senator Hoar^ reminds us that it was under Grant's 
 administration that nearly all the " great powers of the 
 world " renounced by treaty the " doctrine of perpetual 
 allegiance," thus for the first time ensuring an unblemished 
 citizenship to our citizens of foreign birth. In addition to 
 these two significant and positive results of a policy which 
 was characteristic of Grant's firmness and large sense of 
 justice, the toleration of his attitude toward Spain in the 
 "Virginius" trouble, and his absolute refusal to permit 
 the country to be drawn into any complication with Spain 
 in Cuba — at a time when popular feeling in favor of inter- 
 vention was very strong — ^ attest equally and only less posi- 
 tively the wisdom of his foreign policy. 
 
 Upon all the important issues of which the foregoing is 
 but a hasty and imperfect summary, Grant hammered with 
 a persistency and assurance parallel to the unflinching 
 determination which carried him through the war. He 
 made perhaps fewer public utterances than any other of 
 our Presidents who have been concerned with great Na- 
 tional questions, but in the few official records he has left 
 us, he let slip no opportunity to state clearly and emphati- 
 cally what he believed the policy of his country should be 
 on the problems which confronted us at that time. The 
 reach and intricacy of those problems we are sometimes 
 prone to forget. Secretary Boutwell in his essay on Grant 
 declares the difficulties which confronted him to have been 
 the greatest which had threatened any administration since 
 1789, save only those which had called Lincoln to the 
 rescue of the Union. ^ 
 
 1 Autobiography, Vol. I, p. 251. 
 
 " The Lawyer, the Statesman and the Soldier, George S. Boutwell, p. 160. 
 
288 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Against these and other services, unnoted here, per- 
 formed by President Grant for the Nation, may be offset 
 a series of criticisms which may all be comprised in the 
 statement that Grant failed to root out the corruption 
 which debased our public character, and that he some- 
 times failed to punish the offenders. It has been pointed 
 out by nearly all — critics and apologists alike — who have 
 written of Grant's two administrations that the corruption 
 in high and low places had long been developing and was 
 the all but inevitable result of the war and of the long 
 continued ascendancy of one political party. I do not 
 propose to enter into this controversy, the details of 
 which can readily be found elsewhere, nor do I wish to be 
 understood to say that Grant during the terms of his Presi- 
 dency encountered no problems which his genius failed to 
 master. He encountered many with which by tempera- 
 ment and experience he was unfitted to cope; nor is it 
 underestimating the value of leadership to declare that 
 in all probability no one man could have overthrown in 
 eight years the combined forces of greed, hatred, and 
 power which were rendering our National life inconceivably 
 corrupt. But I do wish to be understood to say earnestly 
 and unequivocally that General Grant in the capacity of 
 President of the United States was the same wise, incor- 
 ruptible, and fearless man who had led the armies of the 
 Union to the victories that culminated at Appomattox. 
 The worst charges that can be brought against him with 
 any shadow of truth are that he was loyal to his friends 
 when other men looked upon them with disfavor, and that 
 he was unsuspicious and generous to a fault. We may 
 not always be able to explain his friendships or his re- 
 
Grant, Lincoln, and the freedmen ssd 
 
 serves, but once we understand the essential quality of the 
 man himself, we shall feel that the only unthinkable ex- 
 planation is one that bids us find Grant wanting in either 
 sagacity or rectitude. 
 
 In illustration of the independence, not to say stubborn- 
 ness, with which Grant held to his friends in the teeth of 
 criticism I recall at random a conversation I once had 
 with the President in regard to Governor Shepard of the 
 District of Columbia. We were speaking of the important 
 work that was being carried on under Shepard's direction 
 in the city of Washington, and which was the initial step 
 in beautifying the capital city. General Grant said that 
 he had watched this work with the greatest interest from 
 the first, and had approved the Governor's plans, feeling 
 that the improvements were based on fundamental prin- 
 ciples and would result in great benefit to the city. He 
 said he was not at all unwilling to have it known that he 
 approved of Shepard's plans, and furthermore he told me 
 that although he did not have leisure to pay many visits 
 he made it a point to call on Governor Shepard. He 
 added humorously that if the maid were slow in opening 
 the door he was not ashamed to be seen standing on the 
 Governor's doorstep. This was at a time when Governor 
 Shepard was perhaps the worst assailed man in Washington. 
 The President was ready to stand for the good qualities he 
 knew him to possess, and share with him in the opprobrium. 
 
 On the other hand I had personal and very positive 
 proof of Grant's readiness to act swiftly and unequivocally 
 in any case where he was sure of his ground. I remember 
 on one occasion a man, whom I knew to be of undoubted 
 probity, called to see me at my office in the Bureau of 
 
 19 
 
290 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 Education, and told me that an appointee of President 
 Grant's — I think the postmaster in the Western town 
 from which my informant came — was proving himself 
 incompetent and dishonest. This appointee was not only- 
 related to President Grant but was also a connection of the 
 Dents, and my informant had little hope that his removal 
 could be effected. He was considerably surprised when I 
 volunteered to bring the matter at once to the President's 
 attention. The result was just what I had anticipated. 
 Grant acted immediately on my assurance that the man 
 who had reported the facts to me was trustworthy, and 
 Grant's relative lost his place. I have always cherished 
 the memory of that incident because in a way it explains 
 the basis of my relationship with the President. Apart 
 from the little group of men whose reputations were estab- 
 lished beyond cavil, and who never faltered in their friend- 
 ship for the President, there were none too many among 
 the office-seekers and office-holders who surrounded Grant 
 who were uninfluenced by the gossip that circulated about 
 him, and who believed absolutely that he would do the 
 right thing, when convinced of its righteousness, at any 
 cost to himself. But it took a great deal of evidence to 
 convince him of corruption in other men. He knew by 
 bitter personal experieice just how easily a man's reputa- 
 tion could be torn to ribbands, and he was careful how he 
 inflicted upon others what he endured himself. Senator 
 Hoar speaks of this in his Autobiography, and it is an ele- 
 ment in Grant's make-up which should never be lost sight 
 of. He was always a great man for facts, and the circum- 
 stances of his own life made him more than ever cautious 
 how far he permitted himself to act without them. In 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 291 
 
 order to keep the President informed upon matters not 
 likely to come to his ears in other ways, a group of Grant's 
 friends was in the habit of meeting occasionally for the 
 definite purpose of talking over political affairs and report- 
 ing to Grant when expedient. It was an informal arrange- 
 ment among ourselves, and the men who formed the group 
 drifted together naturally or were chosen because of their 
 ability to serve the end we had in mind. Judge Carter of 
 Ohio, who nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency, 
 represented the law. He was at the time Chief Justice for 
 the District of Columbia. The Post Office was represented 
 by the local postmaster, J. M. Edmunds of Michigan, Zack 
 Chandler's special friend. He was quite as familiar with 
 the affairs of the central office as was the Postmaster-Gen- 
 eral himself. He was a man of parts in many ways. Carter 
 once said to me, I remember, — it was on the way to Judge 
 Edmunds's funeral, — that scarcely a man outside the Cabinet 
 had exercised such an influence during the war as Edmunds. 
 The Treasury was represented by a very able man and bril- 
 liant mathematician, who held the office of Actuary of the 
 Treasury, — an office since abolished. I represented the 
 Department of the Interior. We used to assemble at Judge 
 Edmunds's office, sometimes once a week, sometimes once 
 a month, according as circumstances indicated, and there 
 we were met by some member of Grant's official family — 
 usually Babcock — who conveyed our information to the 
 President. Men seldom like to bring unpleasant reports 
 to the Chief Executive, and there were times when even 
 the Cabinet officers were reputed to hesitate in speaking 
 upon the affairs of their own Departments. We kept 
 Grant in touch with many things that might otherwise have 
 
292 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 escaped him, and helped to clear up a few of the misrepre- 
 sentations that were constantly being made. The President 
 undoubtedly trusted us, and was glad of the service we 
 rendered him. 
 
 Zack Chandler was another friend on whom Grant could 
 always rely. On one occasion, I remember, it seemed ad- 
 visable to present to the President a matter of some gravity, 
 and Chandler, who had returned to his Michigan home after 
 the season's law-making, was sent for. He came to Wash- 
 ington, and called on Grant in company with Senator Cam- 
 eron. Chandler succeeded in presenting the affair to the 
 President in a light that won his favor, and was about to 
 withdraw, well pleased with the result of his mission, when 
 Cameron, who, as every one knows, was a great man to 
 seek favors for his constituents, felt that he must improve 
 the opportunity. Thrusting his hand into his pocket, he 
 produced a package of letters, and was about to importune 
 the President in regard to " a little matter of which a con- 
 stituent had written," when Zack Chandler, — from whom I 
 had the story, — seizing him with scant ceremony by the 
 arm, exclaimed, " Hold on, Cameron, we 've done enough 
 for one day," and marched him out of the room. That was 
 characteristic of Michigan's bluff and honest Senator. If 
 there were a hard duty to perform and men lacked the 
 courage to do it, old " Zack " stood in the breach. It was 
 he who, at Belknap's request, went with Secretary Belknap 
 to that sad interview with President Grant after the com- 
 mittee charged with the investigation had confronted Bel- 
 knap with the scandal connected with the Indian trading 
 post. Grant himself said to me in speaking of the inter- 
 view that Belknap had told him he was absolutely ignorant 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 293 
 
 that a bribe had been accepted until the committee pre- 
 sented the proof they had gathered. Belknap repeated to 
 the President, however, what he was understood to have 
 said to the committee, that he was ready to assume all the 
 responsibility. History seems to be inclined to take him 
 at his word, — to accept Belknap's brave sacrifice of his 
 good name, and to record his guilt in books that will endure 
 after the memory of the true circumstances shall have 
 passed away ; but no one who really knew of the affair at 
 the time considered Secretary Belknap otherwise than as a 
 man who had made a great sacrifice to protect Mrs. Bel- 
 knap, the real offender, for whose action he felt himself 
 technically if not morally responsible. That fact once 
 accepted, the motive for his strange plea that, having 
 resigned from office he could not be prosecuted, becomes 
 doubly clear. Certainly no other interpretation of the 
 facts explains why his judges failed to convict him in the 
 face of adequate evidence of guilt. The Belknap affair, 
 as may be imagined, had a very disturbing effect upon the 
 President, I remember his asking me in connection with 
 it, if I had any knowledge or suspicion of corruption in 
 any of the other Departments, but I knew of nothing at 
 the time except the current rumors which were known to 
 the President as well as to the rest of us. In a somewhat 
 long association with President Grant I never knew of a 
 case wherein he failed to administer justice if justice lay 
 within his power and if he felt he could trust those who 
 brought him information. 
 
 As an illustration of the confidence which men of widely 
 differing opinions and prejudices placed in him, I recall a 
 little incident connected with the campaign for Grant's 
 
294 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 second election. The campaign managers told me they 
 wanted a document on Grant's work for the Negro, and at 
 the same time showed me the outline of an argument in 
 his support which had been furnished them by General 
 Mosby, the famous Confederate raider. Mosby was one 
 of the prominent Southern men who at the close of the 
 war tried sincerely to reconcile themselves to the new 
 order of things. He had become acquainted with Presi- 
 dent Grant and was much impressed with him, — so much 
 so that he had prepared the outline of this argument in- 
 tended to win Southern men to Grant's support. The 
 paper referred, I remember, to Grant's terms to Lee, when 
 he sent the Confederate soldiers home with their horses 
 and accoutrements. My younger brother Charles, then a 
 newspaper correspondent, took the matter of the campaign 
 documents in hand, and furnished the managers with both 
 papers in shape ready for use. The one on the Negro 
 policy was signed by Frederick Douglass ; the argument 
 from a Southern standpoint was signed by Mosby. Here 
 then were an ex-Confederate who had fought for the slave 
 issue, and a Negro of the race freed by the Proclamation, 
 signing documents supporting the same man and the same 
 policy, within ten years after the close of the war. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Last interview with Grant at Mount McGregor. A written greeting. 
 
 IT would be impossible for me now to follow with any 
 consecutiveness the course of my relations with Gen- 
 eral Grant, and so I turn in sadness and regret to the 
 last days of his life and to the recital of my own final inter- 
 view with him, setting this brief story apart and by itself as 
 it stands in my own memory, and reserving for the following 
 and concluding chapter a few of the many anecdotes and 
 impressions personal to Grant, and to Lincoln, which crowd 
 into my mind. 
 
 In the summer of 1885 I was attending an educational 
 conference at Saratoga, only a few miles from Mount Mc- 
 Gregor, where Grant was already installed in the cottage 
 which friends had put at the disposal of the dying General. 
 On Sunday morning Bishop Newman was to preach at 
 Mount McGregor, and I joined a large company going 
 there. I had a double purpose, — to hear my friend's ser- 
 mon and to see the place where Grant was spending his 
 last days. Arrived at the hotel on the mountain, I made 
 inquiries and got what information I could of the General's 
 condition. I felt some hesitation at calling in person at 
 the cottage, but I could not reconcile myself to be so near 
 my old commander and send him no greeting, so I wrote 
 a word of sympathy on my card and despatched it to him 
 by a messenger. It so happened, however, that the Gen- 
 
296 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 eral's son, General, then Colonel, Frederick Grant, met me 
 in the street and urged me warmly to call at the cottage, 
 telling me that his wife, his mother, and his sister were all 
 on the piazza and would be glad to see me. I protested 
 my unwillingness to intrude, but the Colonel took my arm 
 and pressed me forward. I had a very interesting though 
 sad talk with the ladies, in which Mrs. Grant took the lead, 
 repeating to me many of the touching incidents of the 
 General's illness. While we were all chatting together, 
 Mrs. Grant withdrew for a moment into the house. After 
 she had quietly joined us again, I saw a door open which 
 led indoors from a corner of the veranda, and through it 
 came the General's valet with a pillow in his arm. Behind 
 him came the General himself. His face was very pale, — 
 what could be seen of it, for the lower part was carefully 
 covered. As soon as he was seated, I bowed and was about 
 to retire, thinking I ought not to stay, but with a significant 
 motion of his hand he detained me. That characteristic 
 gesture, — the beckoning with all the fingers of his hand 
 as it hung loosely at his side, — so familiar to all of us who 
 had served under Grant in the old days, seen again in the 
 now voiceless General, was full of infinite dignity and 
 pathos. I went up to him at once, and tried to tell him 
 how deeply his friends and the whole public felt the suffer- 
 ing he was undergoing. Presently he began to write on 
 the tablet which his valet had placed before him. I have 
 that sad pencilled message to this day, and reproduce it 
 here. I did not read it until after I had said good-by and 
 left the cottage. This is what Grant had written : 
 
 " I am very glad to see you, and wish I could have some con- 
 versation with you. I should like to have you say something about 
 
^ ^^^^^ y^-(^^ y(--^ ^ -^^^ >^- .^"^^^-x^^ 
 
 ^^-v-vx^- ^Jy^y^ /f^nyty^' 'O^ ^^ ^ ^'Ti.^--^^ -^^^ 
 
 FACSijnLE OF Message Written by General U. S. Grant 
 
 AT Mount McGregor, a Few Days 
 
 Before His Death. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 297 
 
 our use of, and utilizing the negroes down about Grand Junction, 
 Tennessee. In writing on that subject for my book I had to rely 
 on memory. No doubt there will be some mistakes, though they 
 would not be so bad as errors in the military part — I intended 
 submitting that part to you, but I was so ill while writing it, and so 
 anxious to get through, that I did not have time. The first volume 
 is now in print." 
 
 Only a few days after that was written the great General 
 was dead. 
 
 I was especially afifected by that message. It was the 
 first intimation I had had of any reference being made 
 in Grant's " Memoirs " to the work for the freedmen. He 
 had been engaged in writing a history of one of the great- 
 est struggles in the story of mankind, — he was assigning 
 to himself and his subordinate officers the places which 
 each will undoubtedly hold in permanent history, yet he 
 turned aside from that great record to tell briefly the inci- 
 dental story of the work for and with the Negro in the 
 Valley. It touched me deeply, too, that he should have 
 turned to me as the representative of the work. When I 
 came to read his book, I found that he had remembered 
 the essentials of our enterprise and reported them with 
 surprising accuracy and completeness. 
 
 Thus closed for me one of the most inspiring and fruit- 
 ful associations of my life. The last greeting I had from 
 him showed him the same brave, painstaking, generous, and 
 unassuming man into whose presence I first came with such 
 foreboding on that November day in 1862. Between those 
 two meetings stretched the record of his life, — a mighty 
 rebellion crushed, a mighty Nation re-established in pros- 
 perity and peace. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 Personal characteristics of Grant and Lincoln. Grant's kindness to 
 friend and foe. His even temper. Sensitiveness to criticism. 
 His modesty. Grant, Lincoln, and Sumner. The unassuming 
 quality of great men. The genius of Grant and Lincoln rooted 
 in character. Their attitude toward religion. Conclusion. 
 
 THE little stories of Grant and Lincoln which I 
 gather together in this chapter are valuable 
 chiefly, if at all, because they illustrate qualities 
 which are characteristic of the two great men. The traits 
 they illustrate are perhaps in every case only those which 
 we are accustomed to associate with the names of Lincoln 
 and of Grant, but I do not know that we can ever have put 
 before us too many examples of benevolence, loyalty, and 
 true religious feeling, even in heroes already familiar to us. 
 It is of Grant's well-known loyalty to his friends that I 
 would speak first. Yet that does not express fully what I 
 mean. It is rather his habit of treasuring loyally the mem- 
 ory of an association, and especially of recalling — at the 
 moment, too, when he was able to reward it — some ser- 
 vice rendered either to him or to the cause for which he 
 stood. Grant was often accused of favoritism, but when 
 the cases are looked into it is found that he gave the offices 
 at his disposal to those whom he had tested previously in 
 some capacity, believing that a man or woman capable of 
 doing good service on one occasion might reasonably be 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 299 
 
 expected to succeed again. His promotions in the army 
 were governed by a careful application of this rule, and he 
 can hardly be blamed for following it in civil life. 
 
 I have referred in the chapter dealing with the education 
 of the freedmen in the Mississippi Valley to the work of 
 Mrs. Canfield, whose high character and efficiency won for 
 her the recognition and esteem of all the officers who knew 
 her, both as a wise and indefatigable nurse, and also as 
 head of the Colored Orphan Asylum in Memphis. While 
 I was in charge of the Bureau of Education at Washing- 
 ton, I received a letter from Mrs. Canfield, telling me that 
 President Grant had hunted her up — she was matron of 
 some educational institution in the West — and had written 
 to her, offering to appoint one of her sons to the Naval 
 Academy. She was anxious to talk with the President 
 personally, and asked me to facilitate her in reaching him. 
 When she arrived in Washington, I took her to Grant's 
 office. I saw at once that she desired to speak to him 
 privately, and held aloof that she might have the oppor- 
 tunity to do so She asked him, I believe, to give her the 
 post of librarian at Annapolis in order that she might be 
 near her boy. This, of course, the President did not feel 
 justified in doing, but he at once asked me if there were 
 not some opening for her in the Bureau of Education, to 
 which he felt she was specially adapted. On reflection I 
 was able to put Mrs. Canfield in charge of the subject of 
 industrial educational work in reformatories for girls. She 
 became one of my most efficient workers, travelling widely 
 in order to collect data which proved of great value. She 
 did much for the industrial education of young women, 
 and was able to furnish the necessary information for the 
 
300 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 establishment of various philanthropic enterprises on safe 
 and expedient lines. I owed her assistance indirectly to 
 Grant's kind thought for her son, and directly to his quick 
 recognition of the work in which she would be sure to 
 prove most useful. 
 
 Another illustration of Grant's faithfulness to old associ- 
 ates occurs to me. In his " Memoirs " ^ the General relates 
 how near he once came to being captured by the enemy. 
 His position at Corinth — practically without a command 
 — had become unbearable, and he had received permission 
 to remove his headquarters to Memphis. On the way 
 there, about twenty miles out from the city and in the heat 
 of the day, the General and his small escort of cavalry 
 passed a house at which Grant stopped and asked for a 
 glass of water, having been attracted by the prospect of 
 shelter from the sun, and by the sight of a " comfortable 
 looking white-haired gentleman " who turned out to 
 be a strong Union sympathizer. Grant tarried with this 
 gentleman — Mr. De Loche by name — so long that 
 the dinner-hour approached, and Mrs. De Loche asked 
 him to remain to dinner. His host, however, was so 
 far from urgent that the General made his excuses ard 
 rode on. A day or two later, Mr. De Loche came to 
 Memphis and called on General Grant to explain his dis- 
 courtesy. Knowing that General Jackson was in the neigh- 
 borhood, he had been in the greatest concern for Grant's 
 safety, — especially as he felt sure a neighbor of vigorous 
 Southern feeling to whom he had been obliged to present 
 General Grant would lose no time in reporting to Jackson 
 the whereabouts of the Union General. Jackson in fact 
 1 Vol. II, pp. 3S7-390. 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 301 
 
 appeared at the De Loche house shortly after Grant's 
 departure. His horses were jaded, and he did not pursue, 
 but had he done so, he would have found the General not 
 far distant, resting with his party under a tree and without 
 even their side arms easily available for defence. The 
 details of the story are charmingly told by Grant himself, 
 and are probably familiar to my readers; of one detail, 
 however, he says nothing. Grant remembered Mr. De 
 Loche's faithfulness for many years, and during his Presi- 
 dency appointed him postmaster of the town in which his 
 home was situated, the name of which, however, I do not 
 recall. 
 
 Nor were Grant's favors confined wholly to the men and 
 women who had sympathized with the Union cause. A 
 few years after the war, while I was Commissioner of Edu- 
 cation, General George Maney, formerly prominent in the 
 Confederate army, came to see me at my office in the 
 Bureau. He had a son whom he was very anxious to have 
 enter West Point, and he wanted to know if there were any 
 probability that Grant would consent to include him among 
 the Presidential appointees. He requested me to introduce 
 him to the President. I had come to know General Maney 
 as a man who had seen the mistake of secession, and whose 
 loyalty to the Union was not to be doubted. He had been 
 an eminent lawyer in the South before the war, had had all 
 the educational advantages of a Southern gentleman, and 
 was in every respect a man whose sympathies the country 
 might be proud to claim. I was very glad to go with him 
 to the President's office. After General Maney had stated 
 his case fully. Grant turned to me and remarked that he 
 thought it was high time to begin to make appointments 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 to the old Academy from among the sons of ex-Confede- 
 rates whose loyalty had become assured. I referred to my 
 acquaintance with General Maney in Tennessee — he was 
 a resident of Nashville — and to his devotion and zeal for 
 the Government after the surrender. The President was 
 always alert to discover and encourage the evidences of 
 returning loyalty, and he agreed with much cordiality to 
 make the recommendation. Afterwards, General Maney 
 became distinguished in our diplomatic service. 
 
 It was told of General Grant that at Vicksburg an inter- 
 view was arranged for the purpose of bringing to his notice a 
 destitute Confederate woman who with her two children was 
 anxious to secure a pass on one of the boats and return to 
 her home. The friend who was acting for her brought her 
 to Grant's headquarters, where they found the General sur- 
 rounded by a number of army men and other distinguished 
 persons. " Gentlemen," said Grant, promptly, " excuse me, 
 I have an appointment." The woman was introduced and 
 told her story. General Grant called an officer at its con- 
 clusion and directed that transportation be furnished her 
 to her home, then turning to the friend, he asked if she 
 were provided with money. " Not a penny," was the reply. 
 The General took from his pocket a fifty-dollar bill and 
 said, " Give her this with my compliments and best wishes." 
 
 Numerous anecdotes might be told to show how much 
 Grant and Lincoln were alike in their kindness to those 
 who were suffering. Lincoln was vastly more expansive 
 in his expression of sympathy, but Grant, with perhaps no 
 expression of feeling at all, would do the same kind act. 
 
 Like all very great men, both Lincoln and Grant had 
 themselves so well in hand that any indication of anger 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 was of the rarest occurrence. I never saw Lincoln angry. 
 Grant's calmness and self-control during battle and at all 
 times of excitement was a constant source of amazement 
 to his associates. Rawlins and I used often to comment 
 upon it. Rawlins told me, on one occasion after the war, 
 when we were chatting together in his house in George- 
 town, a story of the General's reprimanding one of his 
 soldiers who was guilty of insulting a woman, and remarked 
 that it was the only instance in which he had seen Grant 
 lose his temper. General Porter relates the same story in 
 his delightful book, " Campaigning with Grant," and adds 
 the well-known incident witnessed by himself, of the Gen- 
 eral's indignation with a teamster in the army whom he 
 discovered brutally beating his mules. For my own part, 
 I saw Grant angry but once, and that was at Vicksburg. 
 I went on board a boat with him which had just returned 
 from a trip up the Mississippi, having conveyed a number 
 of sick soldiers to the Northern States. We had passed 
 together from the gang-plank to the bow of the vessel 
 when the Captain came up to report Grant asked a few 
 questions in regard to the distribution of ice to the wounded 
 men, and elicited the information that the- Captain had 
 permitted the ice to be sold instead of distributing it freely 
 to the sufferers. The General said very little, but his face 
 was somewhat terrible ; the Captain quailed under his 
 anger, and turned away. The General was much dis- 
 turbed; he told me that he had taken special pains to 
 have the boat stocked with an extra supply of ice that 
 there might be no unnecessary suffering. I believe there 
 is but one story on record in which the anger which Grant 
 so rarely showed was excited by any personal grievance, 
 
304 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 and that is the incident of the President's display of feeling 
 toward Senator Sumner which Senator Hoar relates with 
 so much reverence for both these great men who so sadly 
 and inevitably misunderstood each other. 
 
 Badeau in his volume, " Grant in Peace," tells us in con- 
 nection with Grant's attitude toward Andrew Johnson that 
 the General talked with Frelinghuysen and other senators 
 about the impeachment, and counselled Johnson's convic- 
 tion. Grant was disappointed at the outcome of the trial, 
 writes Badeau, although later his feeling changed. Cer- 
 tainly a little personal antagonism toward Johnson would 
 have been excusable on Grant's part, and in addition to 
 this, he must have felt the President to have been an un- 
 safe man to control the Nation's destiny. During the 
 impeachment I was constantly in Washington, and went 
 daily to Grant's headquarters, expressly to report the prog- 
 ress of the trial. I confess, well as I knew the equitable- 
 ness of Grant's nature, I looked on with amazement at the 
 even sense of justice that pervaded his mind at this time. 
 General Rawlins made no attempt to control or disguise 
 the honest indignation which stirred in him, but Grant was 
 never misled into any expression of passionate or even 
 partisan feeling. 
 
 That Grant was intensely sensitive to criticism cannot 
 be doubted for a moment, and his suffering caused by the 
 base and often malignant stories about himself was very 
 acute. He felt especially, I think, the stories of his intem- 
 perance, — perhaps because of the early days of his life 
 when such tales were not without foundation. I have 
 already stated it to be my emphatic belief that after Grant's 
 return to the army all the reports of his drunkenness were 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 305 
 
 wholly unjustified by the facts. Once he had found his 
 work, I believe the vagaries of that strange period of prep- 
 aration and probation never mastered him again. There 
 was a time during his Presidency, however, when certain 
 papers were full of gossip about his intemperance. One 
 early evening, at the time when this excitement was at its 
 height, I met the President in his private carriage on his 
 way to Georgetown. The street was narrow, and I had a 
 full view of his face, which looked somewhat discolored. 
 He afterwards spoke to me of the attacks which were 
 being made at the time upon his habits, and I saw how 
 deeply the criticism and slander to which he was subjected 
 wounded him. He referred to the day I had seen him on 
 his way to Georgetown as a case in point. His enemies 
 had interpreted his appearance to his discredit, while as a 
 matter of fact he had been spending several nights at the 
 bedside of a sick child, and was on his way to repeat the 
 same experience. The loss of sleep was quite explanation 
 enough for the slightly unnatural appearance of his face. 
 There was no end to the foolish tales that were told of 
 him. He was charged with neglecting his old comrade 
 Rawlins when the latter was dying of consumption. I 
 knew personally of his constant and devoted attentions to 
 his friend, but many people chose to believe the sensational 
 and libellous reports. 
 
 It used to be thought that Grant had no sense of humor, 
 but as people came to know him better, this impression 
 passed away. Certainly no one could fail to credit him 
 with humor who has read his book, for though he had not 
 the riotous, fun-loving quality of Lincoln's humor, his ap- 
 preciation of an amusing incident was very keen. Years 
 
 20 
 
306 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 after the war was over, Grant entertained me one day with 
 an account of a young newspaper correspondent who with 
 others of his craft appeared on the scene of action at 
 Pittsburg Landing, and there proceeded to give Grant 
 minute instructions as to how the battle should be con- 
 ducted. The young man represented at the time a Cin- 
 cinnati paper which was incHned to treat the General rather 
 roughly, but the President assured me, with a twinkle in 
 his eye, that he had listened to the journalist's plan with 
 the utmost consideration, though the battle was fought in 
 accordance with his own ideas. At the time the story 
 was told to me, the journalist in question, besides being 
 very prominent in his own profession, had become eminent 
 in the field of international diplomacy; this story of his 
 youth, however, was not in the least incredible. 
 
 In the face of the overwhelming hero worship accorded 
 to Grant after the war and from the end of his Presidency 
 until his death, no man, I suppose, ever appraised himself 
 more modestly than he. One striking instance of his 
 genuine humility occured soon after the close of the war 
 period. I was still in the Freedmen's Bureau, but had 
 secured a leave of absence for a limited time to visit my 
 New Hampshire home and take a much-needed rest. 
 Before the term of my vacation had expired, however. 
 General Howard summoned me back to Washington. 
 When I reached Boston, I met Grant at the old Revere 
 House. He had been spending some time in Maine, and 
 on every hand had been met with tremendous enthusiasm. 
 But instead of interpreting the excitement which his pres- 
 ence caused as a purely personal tribute to himself, he 
 accepted it chiefly as a pledge of the devotion of the 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 307 
 
 people to the Union, and only incidentally as a personal 
 triumph. 
 
 When our preparations were making for the Exhibition 
 of 1876, I plead with Grant to permit a portrait or bust of 
 himself to be placed on exhibition, with those of the mem- 
 bers of his Cabinet already there. We were in the White 
 House library at the time, and Mrs. Grant, who was with 
 us, seconded my efforts. When I had exhausted my power 
 of persuasion without achieving the least result, she tapped 
 his shoulder with characteristic heartiness and good nature, 
 saying, " You know, Ulyss', you and Lincoln and Washing- 
 ton stand together, — you ought to let them have some- 
 thing ! " But Grant was adamant to even that appeal. 
 Mrs. Grant's devotion to her husband and children was a 
 very noticeable quality. It was told of her that on one 
 occasion, when she was importuned to take the lead in some 
 question of fashion, she put an end to the matter by re- 
 marking, " No, for that you must go to Mrs. , I am 
 
 a wife and mother ! " Whereby Mrs. Grant merely intended 
 to define her own position without in the least reflecting 
 upon the position of the brilliant wife of the Cabinet officer 
 to whom she referred. 
 
 By speaking of General Grant's modesty, I do not mean 
 to infer that he was without a just sense of proportion in 
 the recognition of himself, but he was temperate and self- 
 controlled in this as in all things. I tried to question him 
 once as to what he considered the secret of his success in 
 his assaults upon the enemy. " Well," said he, in his usual 
 quiet way, " I can hardly put it in words, but I suppose it 
 might be said that I did my best to get the enemy at a 
 disadvantage, and then to strike as hard a blow as I could." 
 
308 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 To my question as to where he was when he felt convinced 
 that the tide had turned against the Confederates, he replied 
 that it was at the battle of Champion's Hill. 
 
 I have referred to General Grant's willingness to cut red 
 tape when occasion required, but he was extremely careful 
 how far he permitted himself this privilege. I remember 
 once a group of Southern men came to me with a propo- 
 sition which they desired to bring to the ear of the Presi- 
 dent with a view to finding out informally how he would be 
 impressed by it. It was well understood that I was out of 
 politics, and for that reason, indeed, they had come to me, 
 but the circumstances in this case were such that I could 
 scarcely refuse to lay the matter before Grant, with the 
 result that I was reproved by the President for the indis- 
 cretion, and informed that such matters should be presented 
 to him in due course, and through the agency of my chief, 
 the Secretary of the Interior. Grant was not lacking in 
 tact, though the quality was not developed in him to the 
 remarkable extent to which Lincoln possessed it. A case 
 in point was the attitude of the two men toward Mr. 
 Sumner. 
 
 On one of my visits to President Lincoln during the war, 
 we were talking together in the most informal fashion. 
 The President was sitting, I remember, with one leg over 
 the arm of his reclining chair, and his long, lean body 
 twisted into a grotesque position of comfort and relaxation. 
 A few pubUc men were allowed to approach Mr. Lincoln 
 at all times and without ceremony. Senator Sumner was 
 one of these. It may perhaps be remembered that the 
 great Senator was in the habit of carrying a walking-stick 
 with a handle at right angles to the stick itself. He had a 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN S09 
 
 peculiar way of walking, throwing this cane vigorously 
 forward with every step. As the President and I were 
 chatting together, the door was suddenly opened by a 
 messenger, and the rising end of a walking-stick appeared 
 on the threshold. There was not the faintest doubt as to 
 who was behind that stick. As quick as thought Mr. Lin- 
 coln had untangled himself and was upon his feet, returning 
 with the utmost dignity the courteous bow with which 
 Mr. Sumner greeted him. The usual salutations were 
 exchanged. Mr. Lincoln reported the latest news from 
 the armies, referring as he talked to the maps which were 
 within reach on his table and on which the engineers 
 marked the movements of special divisions of the armies 
 as such movements occurred. Presently Mr. Sumner said, 
 " I have thought over the matter of that consulship, and 
 
 have come to say that I think [giving the name] is 
 
 the man for the place." Mr. Lincoln thanked him heartily 
 for his attention, and they separated with most considerate 
 good-bys. 
 
 On the appearance of Mr. Sumner, I had discreetly 
 retired to the other end of the room, and took a seat near 
 the door which led into the room of the President's secre- 
 tary. When the Senator had gone, Mr. Lincoln relaxed 
 once more and returned to his chair. " Come up, Eaton," 
 he said in his peculiar voice — which was loud — " When 
 with the Romans, we must do as the Romans do * " 
 
 Impressed with what had occurred, I had curiosity 
 enough to watch the papers for the notice of the appoint- 
 ment to that particular consulship. The man appointed 
 was not the man Senator Sumner had suggested. For 
 some good reason, no doubt, the President had seen fit to 
 
310 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 make another appointment, yet he retained by his tact and 
 cordiality the good-will and admiration of the Senator. 
 Grant had not this finesse. Many years later, when Grant 
 was President, and the trouble between him and Senator 
 Sumner over the policy of acquiring Santo Domingo had 
 become a sharp conflict, I took the liberty of repeating to 
 President Grant this story of the relations of Sumner and 
 Lincoln, suggesting that similar treatment of Mr. Sumner 
 on his part might have been followed by an equally friendly 
 and fortunate relationship. But what with Mr. Lincoln was 
 pure tact and consideration of others, would have become 
 double-dealing had it found place at all in Grant's far less 
 subtle nature. 
 
 The tactfulness of Lincoln certainly sprang from no lack 
 of courage, moral or physical, though we are apt to forget 
 Lincoln's physical bravery in our reverence for the splen- 
 did daring of heart and brain which so largely made him 
 what he was. Among the stories of him, however, which 
 were current at the time of the war, and which I do not 
 remember to have seen in print, is one which tells of his 
 eagerness in exposing himself on the defences of the Capi- 
 tol when the rebels appeared about the hills of Washing- 
 ton. The President's enthusiasm then was such that he 
 had to be ordered to a place of safety in the rear. 
 
 Grant and Lincoln were alike in the unassuming quali- 
 ties of their greatness, — a trait which seems to be charac- 
 teristic of most really great men. In America it sometimes 
 takes the guise of perhaps too little respect for the for- 
 malities attaching to a high office, but on the whole it 
 springs from an unconscious recognition of essentials which 
 we shall do well to cherish. A story occurs to me which, 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 311 
 
 as an illustration of the foregoing remark, should not be 
 taken too seriously. 
 
 I once had occasion to escort a French painter of some 
 celebrity through the War Department in Washington. 
 He had been commissioned by Napoleon to find a subject 
 for an American historical painting to be placed, I believe, 
 in the Opera House in Paris. Incidentally he was exam- 
 ining the methods of teaching drawing in the American 
 schools. The subject had scarcely been introduced at all 
 in our schools at that time, and was only taught with any 
 efficiency at Annapolis and West Point. To West Point 
 the French artist — whose name I think was Delamarque — 
 was especially anxious to go, and I had taken him to the 
 War Department in order to facilitate matters for him. I 
 had presented him to the Secretary of War and secured 
 letters for him to the authorities at West Point, when, just 
 as we were about to leave the building, we discovered that 
 it was raining so hard that we drew back to wait for the 
 shower to pass. It occurred to me that General Sherman's 
 office was just at our right, and without forewarning my 
 guest, I threw open the swinging door and we went in. It 
 was a cruelly hot day, and General Sherman was seated at 
 his desk in his shirt-sleeves as hard at work as any of his 
 clerks. He recognized me over his shoulder and called 
 out in his hearty way, " How are you, Eaton ? " I re- 
 sponded, and at once presented M. Delamarque. The 
 Frenchman's amazement on hearing Sherman's name got 
 the better of his breeding, for he threw up both hands and 
 exclaimed quite frankly — and in English — " Oh, my 
 God ! " When the rain abated we went on our way, the 
 Frenchman discoursing volubly on the astounding simplic- 
 
312 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 ity and lack of ceremony which he had found in our great 
 men, — among whom President Grant and General Sherman 
 had especially impressed him, for even the shirt-sleeves had 
 not disguised from him Sherman's native forcefulness and 
 grace. 
 
 In my association with Lincoln and with Grant, I think 
 what impressed me most was the fact that their greatness 
 rested in both cases upon the simple and fundamental ele- 
 ments of character. Both were essentially sane in morals 
 and in intellect. Both were normal men first and great 
 men afterwards. They met as adequately the demands 
 of their private, personal relationships as they did the 
 exactions of the great National issues with which the 
 genius of each contended. They were the same mag- 
 nanimous, self-sacrificing, noble, and tender-hearted men 
 wherever and by whomsoever they were met. One of the 
 most remarkable traits which they had in common was 
 their open-mindedness. Grant occasionally manifested the 
 stubbornness which was part of his equipment as a soldier 
 in ways which were criticised at the time, but my own per- 
 sonal experience with him and with Mr. Lincoln led me to 
 feel that they had unusually "willing" minds, — willing in 
 the sense of their readiness to revise their point of view, to 
 accept new evidence, to turn back and undo, if necessary, 
 so the truth should better be served. This quality involved 
 in both an almost absolute freedom from personal pique. 
 
 What might be called the spiritual inheritance of both 
 men came to them undoubtedly from their mothers. To 
 the best of my knowledge both men had very sincere and 
 devout religious feeling, which was inculcated and developed 
 by their mothers' training and example. To any one who 
 
GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 313 
 
 saw much of Lincoln there could be no doubt of this. 
 Whatever may have been his religious experiences in early- 
 manhood, his faith in later years, when once re-established, 
 was more the faith of an Old Testament prophet than an 
 American of the nineteenth century. Of this, the earnest- 
 ness and solemnity of his own utterances leave us under 
 no possible misapprehension. In the conversations I had 
 with Mr. Lincoln I was deeply impressed by the profundity 
 of his religious feeling, his belief in the efficacy of prayer, 
 and his desire to be in accord with the Providential plan. 
 
 With Grant, I believe the feeling was no less profound, 
 though his manifestation of it was characteristically re- 
 served. Nor do I think his religious convictions implanted 
 in childhood by his mother were ever seriously interrupted 
 by such a period of doubt and uncertainty as Mr. Coffin de- 
 scribes in connection with Lincoln in his " Life of Abraham 
 Lincoln." If they were, Grant took no man into his confi- 
 dence and left no record to speak for him. In conversation 
 with him once not long after the war, when we were talking 
 somewhat freely of religious questions, I repeated to Grant 
 the speculations I had chanced to hear in regard to his 
 attitude toward religion. Grant remarked that the pursuit 
 of war was not favorable to an observance of religious prac- 
 tices, but that as President of the United States — it was 
 soon after his election — he certainly expected to establish 
 a church relationship. There was no impulsiveness such 
 as characterised Lincoln in Grant's confession of faith, but 
 there was nevertheless a deep and abiding religious feeling 
 in the man which sometimes expressed itself in a calm and 
 reasonable statement characteristic of himself. 
 
 The loyalty which in both men was such a marked trait, 
 
314 GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 
 
 was nowhere better exemplified than in their relationship 
 toward one another. Their confidence in each other was, 
 I think, unlimited. At a time when appalling ignorance 
 and misapprehension prevailed in regard to the facts which 
 underlay the great questions of the period, these two 
 men saw eye to eye, and recognized the essential elements 
 in the issues that were presented. Neither the South 
 understood the North, nor the North the South ; no one 
 certainly, in those early days, understood the Negro, but 
 so far as it was given to any one to foresee and compre- 
 hend the mighty events and emotions which wracked our 
 National life and threatened its very existence, such fore- 
 sight and comprehension were bestowed on Lincoln and 
 on Grant. 
 
 In the face of the new perils which beset us, and bearing in 
 mind the principles for which Grant struggled and Lincoln 
 sacrificed his life, I can find no better appeal to the gener- 
 ations to whom our National character must be intrusted 
 than that noble plea which closes Grant's first inaugural 
 address. With it I shall end this record. It is as timely 
 now as it was then, for it is an enduring ideal of good 
 citizenship voiced by a man who unconsciously to himself 
 had met the demands of his own standard : 
 
 " In conclusion I ask patient forbearance one toward 
 another throughout the land, and a determined effort on 
 the part of every citizen to do his share toward cementing 
 a happy union; and I ask the prayers of the nation to 
 Almighty God in behalf of this consummation." 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 The following publications were issued between 1870 and 1886 
 by the Bureau of Education under the administration of General 
 John Eaton. 
 
 I. — Annual Reports 
 
 Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1870. Wash: 
 Same for 1871 
 
 1872 . 
 
 1873 • 
 
 1874 • 
 187s • 
 
 1876 . 
 
 1877 • 
 
 1878 . , 
 
 1879 . 
 
 1880 . 
 
 1881 . , 
 1882-83 
 1883-84 
 1884-85 
 
 Eaton-Dawson 
 
 ngton, 1870* 
 1872I 
 1873 1 
 1874^ 
 18751 
 18761 
 1878! 
 
 1879' 
 1880I 
 1881 1 
 1882 1 
 1883I 
 1884I 
 1885 1 
 1 8861 
 
 II. — Special Reports 
 
 Contributions to the annals of medical progress and medical edu- 
 cation in the United States before and during the War of Inde- 
 pendence. By Joseph M. Toner. Washington, 1874. 
 
 Historical sketch of Mount Holyoke Seminary. By Mary O. Nutting. 
 Edited by F. B. Hough. Washington, 1876. 
 
 Historical sketch of Union College. By F. B. Hough. Washington, 
 1876. 
 
 1 Out of print. 
 
316 APPENDIX 
 
 Public Libraries in the United States of America : their history, con- 
 dition, and management. Edited by S. R. Warren and S. N. 
 Clark. Part II. Rules for a printed dictionary catalogue. By 
 C. A. Cutter. Washington, 1876. 
 
 Contributions to the history of medical education and medical insti- 
 tutions in the United States of America, 1 776-1 876. By N. S. 
 Davis. Washington, 1877. 
 
 Sketch of the Philadelphia Normal School for Girls. Washington, 
 1882. 
 
 Historical sketches of the universities and colleges of the United 
 States. Edited by F. B. Hough. ^ (History of the University of 
 Missouri.) Washington, 1883. 
 
 Industrial Education in the United States. Washington, 1883. 
 
 Art and Industry. Industrial and high art education in the United 
 States. By I. Edwardes Clarke. Part I. Drawing in the public 
 schools. Washington, 1885. 
 
 Outlines for a museum of anatomy. By R. W. Shufeldt. Washing- 
 ton, 1885. 
 
 Educational exhibits and conventions at the World's Industrial and 
 Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, 1884-85. Washing- 
 ton, 1886. 
 Contents. — Part I. Catalogue of Exhibits. 
 
 Part II. Proceedings of the International Congress 
 
 of Educators. 
 Part III. Proceedings of the Department of Super- 
 intendence of the National Educational 
 Association, and Addresses delivered on 
 Education Days. N. O. 1885. 
 
 Indian Education and civilization. Prepared in answer to Senate 
 resolution of February, 1885, by Alice C. Fletcher, under the 
 direction of the Commissioner of Education. (Senate Ex. Doc. 
 No. 95, Forty-eighth Congress, zd Session.) 
 
 III. — Circulars of Information 
 
 Illiteracy, derived from census tables of i860; Educational statistics, 
 translation of article by Dr. A. Ficker ; Virchow on schoolroom 
 diseases; Education of French and Prussian conscripts ; School 
 organization, etc., August, 1870.^ 
 
 1 This series of proposed sketches was not completed. 
 '^ Out of print. 
 
APPENDIX 317 
 
 Public instruction in Sweden and Norway; Tiie "folkehoiskoler" of 
 
 Denmark. By C. C. Andrews. July, 1871.^ 
 Methods of school discipline. By Hiram Orcutt. November, 
 
 1871.1 
 Compulsory education. By L. Van Bokkelen. December, 1871.* 
 German and other foreign universities. By Herman Jacobson. Janu- 
 ary, 1872. 
 Public instruction in Greece, the Argentine Republic, Chili, and 
 
 Equador; Statistics respecting Portugal and Japan; Technical 
 
 education in Italy. By John M. Francis, George John Ryan, 
 
 F. M. Tanaka. February, 1872.1 
 Vital statistics of college graduates ; Distribution of college students 
 
 in 1870-71 ; Vital statistics in the United States with diagrams. 
 
 By Charles Warren. March, 1872.1 
 Relation of education to labor. By R. J. Hinton. April, 1872.1 
 Education in the British West Indies. By Thomas H. Pearne. June, 
 
 1872.1 
 The Kindergarten. By Baroness Marenholtz-BUlow, tr. by Elizabeth 
 
 P. Peabody. July, 1872.1 
 American Education at the Vienna Exposition of 1873. November, 
 
 1872.1 
 Historical summary and reports on the systems of public instruction 
 
 in Spain, Bolivia, Uraguay, and Portugal, (i) 1873.1 
 Schools in British India. By Joseph Warren. (2) 1873. 
 College commencements for the summer of 1873 ii Maine, New 
 
 Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
 
 New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. (3) 1873.1 
 List of publications by members of certain college faculties and learned 
 
 societies in the United States, 1867-1872. (4) 1873.1 
 College commencements during 1873 in the Western and Southern 
 
 States, (s) 1873. 
 Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 
 Educational Association, Washington, D. C, 1874. (l) 1874.1 
 Drawing in public schools ; present relation of art to education in the 
 
 United States. By Isaac Edwardes Clarke. (2) 1874.1 
 History of secondary instruction in Germany. By Herman Jacobson. 
 
 (3) 1874' 
 Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 
 Educational Association. Washington, D. C, 1875. (i) 1875.1 
 Education in Japan. By William E. GrifRs. (2) 1875.1 
 1 Out of print. 
 
318 APPENDIX 
 
 Public instruction in Belgium, Russia, Turkey, Servia, and Egypt. 
 
 By Emile de Laveleye, M. de Salve, V. E. Dor. (3) 1875.1 
 Waste of labor in the work of education. By Paul A. Chadburne. 
 
 (4) I87S-' 
 
 Educational Exhibit at the International Centennial Exhibition, 1876. 
 
 (5) 1875- 
 
 Reformatory, charitable, and industrial schools for the young. By 
 
 Julia A. Holmes and S. A. Martha Canfield. (6) 1875.' 
 Constitutional provisions in regard to education in the several States. 
 
 By Frankhn Hough. (7) 1875.^ 
 Schedule for the preparation of students' work for the Centennial 
 
 Exhibition. By A. J. Rickoff, J. L. Pickard, James H. Smart 
 
 (committee). (8) 1875. 
 Education in China. By W. A. P. Martin, (i) 1877.1 
 Public instruction in Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Wiirtem- 
 
 burg, and Portugal ; the University of Leipzig. By Felix Heikel, 
 
 C. H. Plugg^, and J. L. Corning. (2) 1877.1 
 Training of teachers in Germany, (i) 1878.1 
 Elementary education in London, with address by Sir Charles Reed. 
 
 (2) 1878. 
 Training schools for nurses. By S. A. Martha Canfield. (i) 1879.1 
 Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 
 Educators' Association, 1877 and 1879, Washington, D. C. ; Pro- 
 ceedings of the conference of college presidents and delegates, 
 
 Columbus, Ohio, December, 1877. (2) 1879.1 
 Value of common school education to common labor. (Reprinted 
 
 from Annual Report of 1872.) (3) 1879.1 
 Training schools for cookery. By S. A. Martha Canfield. (4) 1879.1 
 American education as described by the French commission to the 
 
 International Centennial Exhibition of 1876. By Ferdinand Buis- 
 
 son and others. (5) 1879.1 
 College libraries as aids to instruction. By Justin Winsor and Otis 
 
 H. Robinson, (i) 1880.1 
 Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 
 Educational Association, Washington, D. C, 1880. (2) 1880. 
 Legal rights of children. By S. M. Wilcox. (3) 1880.1 
 Rural school architecture. By T. M. Clark. (4) 1880.1 
 English rural schools. By Henry W. Hulbert. (5) 1880.1 
 Instruction in chemistry and physics in the United States. By F. W. 
 
 Clark. (6) 1880.1 
 
 1 Out of print. 
 
APPENDIX 319 
 
 The spelling reform. By Francis A. March. (7) 1880.^ 
 
 Construction of library buildings. By Wm. F. Poole, (i) 1881. 
 
 Relation of education to industry and technical training in American 
 schools. By E. E. White. (2)1881.1 
 
 Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 Educational Association, New York, i88t. (3) 1881. 
 
 Education in France. (4) i88i. 
 
 Causes of deafness among school children, and the instruction of chil- 
 dren with impaired hearing. By Samuel Sexton. (5) 1881.1 
 
 EfEects of student life on the eyesight. By A. W. Calhoun. (6) 
 1881.1 
 
 Inception, organization, and management of training schools for 
 nurses. By S. A. Martha Canfield. (i) 1881.1 
 
 Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 Educational Association, Washington, 1882. (2) 1882.1 
 
 University of Bonn. By Edmond Dreyfus-Brisac. (3)1882.1 
 
 Industrial art in schools. By Charles G. Leland. (4) 1882.1 
 
 Maternal Schools in France. (5) 1882.1 
 
 Legal provisions respecting the examination and licensing of teachers. 
 
 (1) 1883.1 
 
 Coeducation of the sexes in the public schools of the United States. 
 
 (2) 1883. 
 
 Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 
 Educational Association, Washington, D. C. 1883. (3) 1883.1 
 Recent School-law decisions. By Lyndon A. Smith. (4) 1883.1 
 Meeting of the International Prison Congress at Rome, (i) 1884.1 
 The teaching, practice, and literature of shorthand. By Julius E. 
 
 Rockwell. (2) 1884.1 
 Illiteracy in the United States. With appendix on national aid to 
 
 education. By Charles Warren and J. L. M. Curry. (3) 1884.1 
 Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 
 Educational Association, Washington, D. C, 1884. (4) 1884.1 
 Suggestions respecting the educational exhibit at the New Orleans 
 
 Exposition, 1884-1885. (5) 1884.1 
 Rural schools. Progress in the past ; means of improvement in the 
 
 future. By Annie Tolman Smith. (6) 1884.1 
 Aims and methods of the teacher of physics. By Charles K. Wead. 
 
 (7) 1884. 
 City school systems of the United States. By John D. Philbrick. 
 
 (i) 1885.1 
 
 1 Out of print. 
 
320 APPENDIX 
 
 Teachers' Institutes. By James H. Smart. (2) 1885.1 
 
 Review of the reports of the British royal commissioner on technical 
 
 instruction, with notes. By Charles O. Thompson. (3) 1885. 
 Education in Japan. (4) 1885.^ 
 Physical training in American colleges and universities. By Edward 
 
 Mussey Hartwell. (5) 1885.1 
 Study of music in public schools. By Charles Warren, (i) 1886.1 
 Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National 
 
 Educational Association, Washington, D. C, 1886. (2) 1886.1 
 
 1 Out of print. 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Alabama Claims, 
 Grant's attitude on, 284-286. 
 
 Alaska, xxviii-xxix. 
 
 Allen, W. F., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 196. 
 
 American Freedmen Inquiry Com- 
 mission, 92-93, 161, 221. 
 
 American Missionary Association, 
 
 193- 
 Anderson, M. B., 253, 254-255, 256. 
 Arkansas, 
 Negro conditions in, 39, 124, 125- 
 126, 128, 135, 140-141, 144, 157, 
 158, 200, 202, 204, 212, 219-220. 
 Armstrong, S. C, xxxiv, 241. 
 Army School, 
 
 Grant's advocacy of, 253. 
 
 B 
 
 Badeau, Gen. Adam, 273, 278, 279, 
 
 304- 
 Bancroft, C. P. F., 121. 
 Banks, Gen. N. P., 47, 106, 150-151, 
 
 197, 206, 216, 217. 
 Barnard, Dr. Henry, xix-xxi, xxx, 
 
 258. 
 Beard, Elkanah, 
 
 Services to freedmen, 202. 
 Belknap, W. W., 292-293. 
 Belmont, 
 
 Battle of 96-97 
 Blair, Senator H. W., xxv-xxvi. 
 Boutwell, George S., xx, 279, 287. 
 Bowers, Major T. S., 99, 188. 
 British Quarterly Review, 246, 248. 
 Erunot, Felix R., 276. 
 Buckley, Rev. Mr., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 196. 
 Buford, Gen. and Mrs. N. B., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 202. 
 Butler, Gen. B. F., 11, 46-47> V, 52. 
 
 92, 189. 
 
 Calhoun, J. C, 120. 
 Cameron, Senator, 292. 
 Cameron, Simon Report, 1861, 50. 
 Canfield, Mrs. S. A. M., 202-203, 
 
 299-300. 
 Capitol, 
 
 Building the, 89. 
 Carpenter, C. C., 121. 
 Carter, Judge, 291. 
 Centennial Exposition, 277-278, 282- 
 
 284, 307. 
 Champion's Hill, 
 
 Battle of, 96, 307-308. 
 Chandler, Zachary, 283-284, 291, 
 
 292. 
 Chase, S. P., 167, 177. 
 Chattanooga, 
 
 Campaign, 113, 116-118. 
 
 Social and political conditions in, 
 1 1 9-1 22. 
 
 White and Negro refugees at, 119, 
 120-122. 
 City Point, 
 
 Grant at, 187-191. 
 Civil Rights Bill, 262-264. 
 Civil Service Reform, 
 
 Grant and, 280-282. 
 Claflin, H. B. & Co., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 128. 
 Clark, Dr. Victor S., ix, xxxii. 
 Cleveland's Freedmen's Aid Com- 
 mission, 129. 
 Cobb, Rev. L. H., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 196, 199. 
 Coffin, Levi, 105-106, 133, 204, 
 
 263. 
 Cole, Judge C. C, 268-270. 
 Collamore, Senator Jacob, 229. 
 Colleges, 
 
 English requirements in, 264- 
 266. 
 Columbia, District of. 
 
 Schools in, 261. 
 
324 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Confederates and slave holders, 
 Negroes, Relations with, 11-12, 
 24, 25. 33. 34, 48-49, 50-51. 60, 
 70, IDS, 124, 127, 136-137, 154. 
 173, 204-205, 207-208, 211-212, 
 218, 234-235, 242-245. 
 Conkling, Roscoe, 281. 
 Contrabands. 
 See also Negro (As refugee). 
 Origin of term, 46, 92. 
 Cotton. 
 See also Plantation enterprises. 
 Planters. 
 Cotton speculators, 11, 143, 146, 147- 
 149, 154, 156. 158, 168, 169, 19s, 
 219, 226, 227. 
 Grossman, C. S., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 196. 
 Currency, 
 
 Grant's attitude on the, 278-279. 
 Cutter, C. A., xxvii. 
 
 D 
 
 Dana, Gen. N. J. T., 165. 
 Davis, Jefferson, 35, 75, 86. 
 Davis, Lieut. W., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 126. 
 " Davis Bend," 
 
 Negro settlement at, 85-86, 124, 
 126, 163-164, 165-166, 204. 
 De Loche, Mr., 300-301. 
 Des Moines, 
 
 Grant's speech at, 268-271. 
 Dodge, Gen. G. M., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 31. 
 Douglass, Frederick, 168, 173-176, 
 
 294. 
 
 Eaton, Charles, 294. 
 Eaton, Frederick, 
 
 Services to freedmen, 128. 
 Eaton, John, 
 As Assistant Commissioner Freed- 
 
 men's Bureau, xvii, 236, 238, 
 
 245-246, 306. 
 As chaplain, xiii-xvii, i, 3, 6, 7-S, 
 
 10, 17, 63, 252. 
 As educator. See also As U. S. 
 
 Commissioner of Education, and 
 
 Freedmen's Dep't. ; Education. 
 As educator (in Tenn.), xvii-xviii, 
 
 248-249, 252-253. 
 As educator (Porto Rico), xxxi- 
 
 xxxii. 
 
 Eaton, John, 
 
 As educator (prior to 1861), xi, 
 xii, 252. 
 
 As journalist, xv-xvi,xvii, 248, 252. 
 
 As Secretary West Point Board 
 of Visitors, 253, 254-255, 256- 
 257. 
 
 As Superintendent of Freedmen, 
 See Freedmen's Department. 
 
 As U. S. Commissioner of Educa- 
 tion, xviii-xix, xxi-xxxi, xxxii, 
 14, 255-256, 258-260, 261-268, 
 276-277, 289-290, 299-300, 301- 
 302, 308, 311. 
 
 Attempts to assassinate, 24-25, 
 231-232. 
 
 Boyhood, ix-xii. 
 
 Centennial Exposition, Connec- 
 tion with, 282-283. 
 
 College Presidencies, xxxi. 
 
 College years, xii. 
 
 Estimates of, vii, xii, xiii, xv, xviii- 
 xix, xxii, xxiii-xxvi, xxx, xxxii, 
 xxxiii-xxxiv, 14, 65, 114-1x5, 
 144-145, 178, 206, 245-246, 258, 
 
 259- 
 Grant, U. S., Relations with, v, vi, 
 vii, xvi, xvii, xix, i, 6, 9-1 1, 20, 
 21-23, 25-26, 39-42, 63-65, 94- 
 103, 107, 113-115, 116, 119, 122, 
 186, 188-191, 230, 236, 238, 246- 
 248, 249, 253, 255-256, 257, 260, 
 265-266, 270, 272, 274, 283, 289- 
 300, 301-302, 303, 304-308, 310, 
 
 313- 
 
 Letters addressed to or concern- 
 ing, 65, 114-115, 152-153- 
 
 Lincoln, President, Relations with, 
 v, vi, 87-93, 168, 170, 172-175. 
 176-178, 180, 181-187, 188, 191, 
 230-231, 308-310, 312-313. 
 
 Ministry, xii-xiii. 
 
 Orders addressed to or concerning, 
 5, 20, 21, 26-27, 107-108, 109, 
 III, 170-171, 178, 187, 230, 231, 
 296-297. 
 
 Political interests, xv-xvi, xvii, 
 xxiii, 168-171, 173-179, 184-186, 
 189-191, 225-229, 24&-251, 261- 
 264, 272-294, 304, 308-310. 
 
 South, Relations with the, xvi, 
 xvii-xviii, xxiii, xxxiii-xxxiv, 24- 
 25. 37-38, 39, 136-137, 206, 231, 
 248-249, 262-264, 301-302. 
 
 Stanton, Secretary, Relations with, 
 178-179. 
 
INDEX 
 
 325 
 
 Eaton, L. B., 109, 117-118, 140-141, 
 
 158. 
 Eaton, Paymaster, 99-100. 
 Edmunds, J. M., 291. 
 Education, 
 Grant's interest in, xxv, 253, 255- 
 
 256, 257-266, 268-271, 273-274. 
 
 In Porto Rico, xxxl-xxxii. 
 
 In the South, xvil-xviii, 248-249, 
 
 261-264, 267-268. See also 
 
 Freedmen's Dep't : Education. 
 
 Influence of postal service on, 260- 
 
 261. 
 National aid to, xxv-xxvi, 271, 
 274. 
 Education, U. S. Bureau of, xix- 
 xxix, xxx-xxxi, 258-259, 260, 266, 
 276-277, 299-300. 
 Eliot, T. D., 49, 222. 
 Exhibitions, 
 As educational factors, xxvii- 
 xxviii. 
 
 Fessenden, W. P., 167, 170. 
 Field, G. B., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 59, 152. 
 Fish, Stuyvesant, 284-286. 
 Fiske, Dr. A. S., 
 
 Services to Freedmen, 31-32, 35- 
 36. S7-S8. 157-161, 197, 222- 
 224. 
 Freedmen, 
 
 See Negro. 
 Freedmen Fund, 14, 128, 131, 132, 
 
 139-140, 194. 
 Freedmen's Bureau, 
 
 Circulars, 238-241, 242-245. 
 
 Forerunners, 13-14, 46-47, 49-50, 
 52, 70, 93. 
 
 Legislation, 49, 70, 221-228, 229, 
 230. 
 
 Work of, 236-246. 
 Freedmen's Department, 
 
 Administration of, 13-15, 20-21, 
 22, 24, 25, 26-28, 30-35, 37-39, 
 S4-SS, 57, 68-69, 86, 104, no, 
 125-132, I34-I4i> 155-157. 161- 
 164, 165-166, 167-172, 193-205, 
 
 2II-2I2, 213-214, 216-220, 222- 
 224, 225-228, 231. 
 
 Agricultural operations. See Plan- 
 tations. 
 
 Education, 38, 39, 126, 160, 192- 
 201, 203-206, 208-209. 
 
 Freedmen's Department, 
 Finances, 27, 68-69, 127-129. 
 Home Farms, 130, 133, 140-141, 
 
 146, 162. 
 Labor conditions, 14-15, 20, 21, 
 23-24, 27, 30-31, 34, 44, 58-61, 
 66, 68-70, 105-106, 107, 108, III, 
 112, 115, 125, 127, 129-130, 132- 
 
 134. 136-141, 144-149, 151-156, 
 
 157-165, 167-172, 200-201, 202, 
 
 205, 209-211, 216-220, 226-227. 
 Medical affairs, 18, ig, 20, 22, 126, 
 
 130-132, 133, 134, 160, 162. 
 Military affairs, 54-55, 57-58, 107- 
 
 112, 125, 132, 134, 135. 
 Orphanages, 133, 201-203. 
 Paupers, Care of. See Refugees. 
 Police duties, 22-23, 28, 30, 32-33, 
 
 34. 37, 129, 135, 136-137, 161. 
 Policy of, 19-20, 30-31, 34-35, 37- 
 
 39, 58-59, 69-70, 135, 137, 145, 
 .146, 147, 155-156, 167, 171-172, 
 
 193, 197-199, 200-201, 203, 211- 
 
 212, 217-220, 221, 222-224, 225- 
 
 228. 
 Property, Control of, 21-22, 28, 
 
 126-127, 135. 
 Refugees (white), Work among, 
 
 37-39, 203. 
 Refugees (negro). Work among, 
 
 14-15, 18-25, 26-28, 30-37, 68- 
 
 69, 104-106, 123-125, 127-128, 
 
 132, 133-135, 136-137, 138-141, 
 161-163, 201-203, 206, 207-209, 
 211-215, 216-219, 222-223. 
 Report, April, 1863, 63, 64-70; 
 December, 1864, 123-141, 156- 
 
 166, 209, 2 10-2 1 1 ; 1864-1865, 
 200, 208-209, 210, 211, 214-215. 
 
 Territory covered by, 123-124, 
 216. 
 
 Treasury Dep't, Relations with, 
 50,59,69, "5- 129-130, 132, 138, 
 144, 145-150, 1 51-156, 159, 160, 
 161-163, 165, 167-172, 177. 
 
 Woodyards, 14, 58, 127, 134, 138- 
 140. 
 
 Work of (Nov., 1862-July, 1863), 
 5-6, 13-15, 18-28,30-39,41-42, 
 44, 46, 54, 57-61, 63, 64-70, 85- 
 86, 92-93. 
 
 Work of (July, 1863-May, 1865), 
 85-86, 92-93, 97, 104-106, 107, 
 108, 109, 110-112, 114-115, 116, 
 123-141, 144, 145, 146, 152-166, 
 
 167, 169-172, 192-220, 222-223. 
 
326 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fremont, Gen. J. C, xiv, xv, 7, 
 
 99- 
 Fuller, Col. J. W., xiv, i, 4, 16, 
 
 33- 
 
 G 
 
 Garfield, President James A., xx, 282. 
 Gettysburg, 
 
 Battle of, 86, 94-95- 
 Grand Junction, 
 
 Camp at, i, 3-5, 6, 14, 15, 18-25, 
 26, 28, 30, 31, 54, 69. 
 Grant, Gen. Frederick, 41, 253, 256, 
 
 296. 
 Grant, Rev. Joel, 
 
 Services to freedmen, 196, 200. 
 Grant, Mrs. U. S., 28, 40, 41, 296, 307. 
 Grant, U. S., 
 
 And Civil Service Reform, 280- 
 282. 
 
 Appoints Eaton Commissioner of 
 Education, 258-259. 
 
 At City Point, 187-191. 
 
 At Mount McGregor, 295-297. 
 
 Autograph letters, 65, 114-115, 
 296-297. 
 
 Benevolence, 13, 21-22, 44-45, 84- 
 85, 298-299, 301-303. 
 
 Chattanooga Campaign, 113, 115- 
 118. 
 
 Chattanooga, Political influence in, 
 120. 
 
 Civil War period to Presidency, 
 Stories of, 9-ti, 21-22, 23, 25- 
 26, 28, 40-41, 42-44, 89-90, 94- 
 97, 98-99, 101-102, 106, 188-191, 
 247-248, 250-251, 300-301, 302- 
 303. 3°4. 305-3°6, 307-308. 
 
 Currency policy, 278-279. 
 
 Current opinions about, 6, 10, 21- 
 22, 40-41, 63, 95-96, 101-102, 
 118, 248, 250, 254, 255, 257-258, 
 261, 265-266, 268, 273, 278-279, 
 280, 281, 282, 287, 2S8, 290, 298, 
 302, 304-305. 
 
 Des Moines, Speech at, 268-271. 
 
 Early life, Stories of, 28-29, 99-103. 
 
 Education, Interest in, xxv, 253, 
 255-256, 257-266, 268-271, 273- 
 274. 
 
 Foreign policy, 284-287. 
 
 Humor, 97, 305-306. 
 
 Indians, Interest in, 274-278. 
 
 Informal advisers to, 290-292. 
 
 Intemperance, Stories of, 10, 40- 
 41, 90, 98, 101-103, 304-305. 
 
 Grant, U. S., 
 Johnson, Andrew, Relations with, 
 
 3°4- 
 Lincoln, Comparison with, 302- 
 
 303, 310, 312-314. 
 Lincoln, Pres., Relations with, 88, 
 
 89-90,93, 186-187, 188, 190-191, 
 
 313-314. 
 Loyalty to friends, 1 1, 23, 118, 288- 
 
 289, 298-302, 313-314- 
 Memphis banquet to, 94, 97- 
 
 98. 
 Messages, public speeches, etc., 
 
 250, 259, 270-271, 273-275, 277, 
 
 278, 279, 280, 281, 284, 285, 286, 
 
 314- 
 
 Military episodes, 9-1 1, 25-26, 29, 
 42-44, 62, 95-97, 99, 106, 113, 
 115-118, 186-187, 188-190, 191, 
 300-301, 305-306, 307-308. 
 
 Moderation and simplicity, 9-10, 
 25-26, 42-43. 64, 97, loi, 190- 
 191, 302-303, 304. 
 
 Modesty, 41, 247, 250, 254, 269, 
 306-308. 
 
 Negro, Orders and plans concern- 
 ing, 5, 11-15, 20-22, 26-28,44- 
 45, 48-49, 65, 70-71, 85-86, 97, 
 107, 114-115, 119, 121, 194, 2l8- 
 219, 238, 258. 
 
 Newspaper Correspondents, Re- 
 lations with, 102, 247-248, 305- 
 306. 
 
 Nomination of, 249-251. 
 
 Nomination proposed (1864) 186, 
 I 90-1 91. 
 
 Personal impressions of, 9-15, 22- 
 23, 25-26, 41, 42-45, 62-64, 70- 
 71,85, 96-103, 1 1 3-1 14, 118-119, 
 188-191, 248, 249-251, 254-255, 
 257, 265-266, 272-273, 274, 275, 
 277-278, 279, 280-281, 282-285, 
 287-294, 296-297, 298-300, 301- 
 3??, 310, 312-314. 
 
 Political record, 272-277, 278-289, 
 
 293-294. 300- 
 Presidency, Stories of, 253-254, 
 
 255-257, 260-266, 268-271, 289, 
 
 298-299, 301-302, 304-305, 307. 
 Presidency, Stories of (Political) 
 
 100, 261-263, 283-284, 289-290, 
 
 292-294, 508. 
 Religious views, 312, 313. 
 River trips with, 94, 96-97, 98-104, 
 
 113-116- 
 Shipping, Efforts to promote, 280. 
 
INDEX 
 
 327 
 
 Grant, U. S., 
 
 Shirley family, Relations with, 71, 
 
 81, 82, 84, 85, 106, 115. 
 Signal Service Code, Interest in, 
 
 256-257. 
 South, Relations with, 14-15, 25, 
 48-49, 85, 95-96, 120-121, 257- 
 258, 263, 282-284, 293-294, 301- 
 302, 307-308, 314. 
 Stanton, Relations with, 113, 116, 
 
 189. 
 Sumner, Relations with, 304, 310. 
 Tilden-Hayes Election, Course in, 
 
 282-284. 
 Vicksburg Campaign, 62-65, 70-72. 
 West Point anecdotes, 253-257. 
 White refugees. Interest in, 120- 
 121. 
 Great Britain, 
 America, Relations with, 178, 247, 
 285-286. 
 Greeley, Horace, 47, 50, 52, 176, 184. 
 Gresham, W. Q., 253. 
 Groff, G. G., xxxii. 
 
 H 
 
 Hahn, Governor, 
 
 Lincoln's message to, 174-175. 
 Hale, Dr. E. E., vii. 
 Halleck, Gen. H. W., 
 
 Correspondence, 51, 150-151. 
 
 Eaton's relations with, xv, 7. 
 
 Grant, Relations with, 42-43, 51, 
 189-190. 
 
 Orders, 12, 47-48. 
 Harker, Gen. C. G., 117. 
 Harrington, George, 169-171. 
 Harris, Dr. W. T., ix, xx, xxii, xxx, 
 
 258. 
 Haupt, Gen. Herman, 95, 112. 
 Hawley, Rev. J. A., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 196. 
 Hayes, President, 281, 282-283. 
 Hayt, Commissioner, 275-276. 
 Hazen, Gen. W. B., IJ7. 
 Henkle, W. D., xx. 
 Hickenlooper, Gen. Andrew, 72. 
 Hoar, Sen. G. F., vii, xxv, 258, 273- 
 
 274, 278, 279, 282, 290, 304. 
 Holly Springs, I, 25-26, 28, 42, 68. 
 Hooker, Gen. Joseph, 117. 
 Howard, Gen. O. O., 47, 236, 237, 
 
 238, 241, 245-246, 306. 
 Howe, S. G., 92. 
 Hunter, Gen. David, xiv, 51-52, 253. 
 
 Indian Commissioners, 
 
 Board of, 275-276. 
 Indians, 
 
 At Centennial Exposition, 277- 
 278. 
 
 Grant's interest in, 274-278. 
 Inflation Bill, 
 
 Vetoing of, 278-279. 
 
 I 
 
 Jackson, Gen. J. S., 300-301. 
 Jackson, Dr. Sheldon, ix, xxviii- 
 
 xxix. 
 Japan, 
 
 Education in, xxix-xxx. 
 Johnson, Andrew, 44-45, 120, 236, 
 
 245, 248, 304. 
 Johnson, Lieut. B. K., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 108, 126. 
 
 Lee, Gen. Robert E., 266-267. 
 Libraries, 
 
 First report upon, xxvii. 
 Lincoln, President, 
 
 Assassination of, 233-235. 
 Autograph orders, 178, 187, 230, 
 
 231. 
 Benevolence, 91-92, 179-181, 183- 
 
 184, 302. 
 Border States, Policy in, 38, 50, 
 
 I 19-120. 
 Chase, S. P., Relations with, 177. 
 Grant, Comparison with, 302-303, 
 
 310, 312-314. 
 Grant, U. S., Relations with, 88, 
 
 89-90, 93, 186-187, 188, 190-191, 
 
 313-314. 
 Greeley, Horace, Relations with, 
 
 176, 184. 
 Hahn, Message to Gov., 174-175. 
 Humor, 89-90, 181, 184, 185, 231, 
 
 SOS- 
 Negroes, Interest in, 56, 88, 91- 
 
 93. 168, 170, 171, 172-176, 221, 
 
 230, 231. 
 Opposition to, 184-186, 190-191. 
 Personal impressions of, 87-93, 
 
 168, 172-173, 175, 176-178, 180- 
 
 187, 191, 230-231. 233. 305, 308- 
 310, 312-314. 
 Phillips, Wendell, Relations with, 
 56, 184. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Lincoln, President, 
 Plantation interests. Connection 
 
 with, 167, 168, 170. 
 Policy of, 173-174, 176, 178, 184- 
 
 185, 191. 
 Religious views, 312-313. 
 Seward, W. H., Relations with, 
 
 177. 
 Soldiers, Relations with, 180, 181, 
 
 183. 
 Stanton, E. M., Relations with, 90, 
 
 179. 
 Sumner, Relations with, 308-310. 
 White House reception, 181-184. 
 Livermore, Rev. D. S., 59. 
 Loan, B. F., 253. 
 Logan, Gen. J. A., 72. 
 
 M 
 
 McArthur, Gen. John, 82, 84. 
 McClernand, Gen. J. A., 43. 
 McCord, Dr. D. O., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 108, 130- 
 132, 162. 
 McCulloch, Gen. Ben., xv. 
 Mcjilton, Rev. Dr., xx. 
 McKaye, Col. J. A., 92, 161, 217. 
 McKee, Captain G. C, 75-76. 
 McPherson, Gen. J. B., 77. 
 Mallory, Captain, 
 
 Services to freedmen, 126. 
 Maney, Gen. George, 301-302, 
 Mann, Horace, xix, xxiv. 
 Mather, B. F., 7. 
 Mathews, Lieut., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 126. 
 Mayo, Dr. A. D., ix, 18, 47, 205-206, 
 
 262. 
 Meade, Gen. G. G., 
 
 Gettysburg tactics, 94-95. 
 Mellen, Wm. P., 130, 145, 147, 148, 
 
 150, 152-153, 154, 159, 169-170. 
 Memphis, 
 
 Confederate feeling in, 28, 192- 
 193, 231-232, 233, 234. 
 
 Lincoln's assassination, News 
 reaches, 233-235. 
 Memphis and environs, 
 
 Negro conditions in, 28, 30-32, 35- 
 36, 54-55. 57-58. 66, 119, 124, 
 125, 127, 192-193, 197, 199, 201, 
 202, 203, 204, 210-21 1, 232. 
 Memphis, Post, 248. 
 Mitchell, Col. A. L., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 126. 
 
 Mitchell, Miss Eliza, 
 
 Services to freedmen, 201-202. 
 Monroe, Fortress, 47-48, 187-18S, 
 
 193- 
 Mosby, Gen. J. S., 294. 
 Mountain whites (Chattanooga), 
 
 Social and political condition of, 
 I 19-122. 
 Mulligan, Col. J. A., xiii-xiv. 
 Murphy, Dr. E. G., 38-39, 213, 242. 
 Mussey, Gen., 121. 
 Myer, Gen. A. J., 
 
 And Signal Service, 256-257. 
 
 N 
 
 Natchez, 
 
 Negro conditions in, 97, 126, 157- 
 161, 162, 193, 202, 203, 204. 
 National Educational Association, 
 
 260. 
 National Freedmen Aid Society, 
 
 I3I- 
 National Superintendents' Ass'n, xx. 
 National Teachers' Ass'n, xx. 
 Negro education. 
 
 See Freedmen's Dep't : Education. 
 Negro " Home Guards," 
 
 Organization and efficiency of, 107- 
 112. 
 Negro, The. 
 See also 
 Freedmen's Bureau. 
 Freedmen's Department. 
 Treasury Department. 
 War Department. 
 Army's attitude toward, 2, ii, 21- 
 24, 32-33. 46-49. 50-57. 65, 70, 
 
 121, 124-125, 132, 136. 
 
 As a business man, 133, 134, 209- 
 
 211. 
 As a laborer, 34, 58, 68-69, 105, 
 
 125, T27, 134, 137-141, 218-220, 
 
 240, 242-245. 
 As a laborer (in cities) 66, 105, 
 
 132-133. 136-137. 220. 
 As a laborer (on plantations) 14, 
 
 20, 23-24, 27, 49, 58-61, 66, 68- 
 
 69, 129-130, 133, 134, 145-147, 
 
 150-154, 157-161, 163-165, 168, 
 
 209-210, 219-220. 
 As a laborer (with the army), 14- 
 
 15. 44. 46-47. "2, 125, 132, 134. 
 As a planter, 129-130, 133, 134, 
 
 141, 157-158, 163-165, 168, 169, 
 
 Z09-210. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Negro, The, 
 As a refugee, 1-3, n-13, 18-20, 
 30-31. 34-36, 46-49. 5°. 68-69, 
 83, 105-106, 119, 124-125, 133, 
 
 134, 140-141, 150-151. 152. 155. 
 162-163, 222-223. 
 As a soldier, 15, 51-58, 67-68, 97, 
 107-112, 121, 125, 132, 134, 
 
 . '35- ^ 
 
 As a student, 199, 200, 204, 206, 
 208-209, 267-268. 
 
 Comments and estimates, 66-68, 
 105-106, 127-128, 134-137, 140- 
 141, 151, 165-166, 207-215, 242- 
 245. 
 
 Confederates and slave-holders, 
 Relations with, 11-12, 24, 25, 33, 
 34. 48-49. 50-51. 60, 70, 105, 124, 
 127, 136-137, 154, 173, 204-205, 
 207-208, 211-212, 21S, 234-235, 
 242-245. 
 
 Family and social relations, 34-36, 
 57, 66, 165-166, 211-215. 
 
 Grant's orders and plans concern- 
 ing, 5, 11-15, 20-22, 26-28, 44- 
 45. 48-49, 65, 70-71, 85-86, 97, 
 107, 114-115, 119, 121, 194, 218- 
 219, 222, 238, 258. 
 
 Lincoln's assassination, and, 233- 
 
 235- 
 
 Lincoln's interest in, 56, 88, 91- 
 93, 168, 170, 171, 172-176, 221, 
 230, 231. 
 
 Orders and legislation concerning, 
 5, II, 12, 13-14, 20, 21, 26-27, 
 46-51, 52-55, 59-61, 107-108, 
 109, III, 127, 128, 129, 143-144, 
 153-154, 161-162, 167-168, 170- 
 
 171, 192, 194, 196, 200, 211, 221- 
 228, 231, 236-245, 248. 
 
 Taxation of, 127-128, 130, 197-198. 
 
 New Orleans, 
 Negro conditions in, 150-151, 153, 
 197. 
 
 Northwestern Freedmen's Aid Com- 
 mission, 130. 
 
 Norton, Capt., 
 Services to freedmen, 126. 
 
 Noyes, E. F., 16. 
 
 Nurses, Training Schools for, xxvi- 
 xxvii. 
 
 Osbom, Senator T. W., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 237. 
 Owen, Robert Dale, 92. 
 
 Palmer, Gen., 117. 
 
 Patterson, Senator J.W.,xx,258-259. 
 
 Peabody Fund, 
 
 Grant's influence upon, 257-258. 
 Pemberton, Gen. J. C, 72. 
 Philanthropic Societies, etc.. 
 
 Services of, 36-37, 121, 129, 130- 
 131. 132, 133, 144-147, 15s, 162, 
 193. 194, 195. 196. 203, 206, 207. 
 Philbrick, John D., xx. 
 Phillips, Wendell, 56, 184, 
 Pierce, E. L., 47. 
 Plantation enterprises, 5, 11, 12, 14, 
 
 20, 23-24, 25, 27, 58-61, 63, 68-70, 
 
 108, 112, 115, 129-130, 133, 134, 
 
 143-156, 157-165, 167-172, 195. 
 Planters (negro). 
 
 Conditions among, 129-130, 133, 
 134, 141, 157-158, 163-165, 168, 
 169, 209-210. 
 Planters (white). 
 
 Conditions among, 23, 24, 25, 27, 
 
 33. S9-6o, 145-149. 153-154. 157- 
 158, 159, 160, 161, 195. 
 Porter, Gen. Horace, 97, 303. 
 Porto Rico, 
 Education in, xxxi-xxziL 
 
 Quakers, 
 Freedmen, Services to, 193, 102, 
 
 207, 221, 223. 
 Indians, Relations with, 274-275. 
 
 R 
 
 Raleigh, Rev. Dr., 246-247. 
 Rawlins, Adj.-Gen. J. A., 43, 63, 
 64, 98, 99, "5. 189, 236, 249, 251, 
 303, 304, 305- 
 Read, Daniel, xx. 
 Reconstruction, 
 Phases of, xvii-xviii, xxiii, xxxiii- 
 xxxiv, 37-39, 45. 6o-6i, 105-106, 
 120, 136-137, 149, 168, 174-175. 
 192-193, 204-207, 231-232, 233, 
 241-245, 261-264, 282, 301-302, 
 
 3'4- 
 Reconstruction. 
 See also 
 
 Confederates. 
 Freedmen's Bureau. 
 Freedmen's Department. 
 Negro. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Refugees (white). 
 
 Conditions among, 37-39, 1 19-122, 
 124, 203. 
 
 See also Negro : As refugee. 
 Rickoff, A. J., XX. 
 Roberts, Chris. H., 121-122. 
 Roberts, J. L., 
 
 Services to freedmen, ig6. 
 Ruffner, W. H., 267. 
 
 Sargent, Major W. G., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 64, 108, 125- 
 126, 212, 220. 
 Saxton, Gen. Rufus, 
 
 Services to freedmen, xxxiv, 47, 
 49, 52, 216-217, 241. 
 Schools, 
 
 See Education. 
 Schurz, Carl, 245. 
 Sears, Dr. Barnas, 257-258, 262- 
 
 263. 
 Seward, W. H., 177-178. 
 Shepard, Gov., 289. 
 Sherman, Gen. W. T., 17, 42, 43, 71, 
 
 80, 112, 114, 115, 135, 216, 283, 
 
 284, 311-312. 
 Shickle, Capt. A. E., 59. 
 Shipley, S. R., 207. 
 Shipping, American, 
 
 Grant's efforts to promote, 279-280. 
 Shirley family, and homestead, 71- 
 
 85, 106, 115. 
 Simpson, Bishop Matthew, 181. 
 Slave owners. 
 
 See Confederates and 
 Smith, Gen. W. F., 117, 118. 
 South, The, 
 
 Communication with. Schemes for, 
 120. 
 
 Education in, xvii-xviii, 248-249, 
 261-264, 267-268. 
 
 See also Freedmen's Department: 
 Education. 
 Spelman, H. B., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 129-130. 
 Sprague, J. W., 16. 
 Stanton, Edwin M., 90, 113, 116, 152, 
 
 153. 178-179. 189, 238. 
 Stanton, R. L., 253. 
 Stearns, Major, 56, 121. 
 Steele, Gen. Frederick, 39, 200. 
 Sumner, Charles, 
 
 Anecdotes of, 222-224, 228-229, 
 304, 308-310. 
 
 Sumner, Charles, 
 Freedmen's Bureau legislation, 
 222-225, 228. 
 Swain, D. G., 16. 
 
 Tennessee, 
 Education in, xvii-xviii, 1 21-122, 
 
 192-193, 197. 199, 2°3- 
 Tennessee (eastern). 
 
 Social and political conditions, 
 119-122. 
 Texas, 
 
 State pride in, 264. 
 Thayer, Capt. A. L., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 1 26. 
 Thomas, Gen. G. H., 117, 118. 
 Thomas, Adj.-Gen. Lorenzo, 
 Freedmen's affairs, connection 
 with, 116, 123, 129, 194, 196, 211, 
 220. 
 Negro troops organized by, 53-55, 
 
 97, 107-111. 
 Plantation enterprise. Share in, 
 58-61, 147, 151-155. '59- 
 Thomas, Samuel, 
 
 Services to freedmen, 16, 19, 33, 86, 
 104, 108-109, 126, 135, 138-140, 
 158, 163, 164, 165, 237, 242-245. 
 Thrall, Dr. W. R., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 18. 
 Tilden-Hayes election, 
 
 Grant's course in, 282-284. 
 Treasury Department, 
 
 Negroes, Relations with, 47, 115, 
 128, 129-130, 132, 138, 143-144. 
 145-147. 148, 150-155. 159. 161- 
 163, 165, 167-172, 177, 222-223, 
 224, 225-228. 
 Plantations, connection with, 47, 
 
 59. "5. 129-130. 142-144.145- 
 155, 159, 160, 161-163, 165, 167- 
 172. 
 
 V 
 
 Vaughn, Rev. Dr., 246-248. 
 Vicksburg and environs, 
 Negro conditions in, 44, 85-86, 97, 
 104-106, 116, 119, 124, 126, 135, 
 138-139, 157-161, 162-166, 193, 
 203', 204, 209, 210, 211-212. 
 Vicksburg campaign, 3, 10, 25, 26, 
 42, 43-44, 62-64, 70-73. 75-86, 
 94-96. 
 Vicksburg " White House," 
 See Shirley family and homestead. 
 
INDEX 
 
 W 
 
 Wadsworth, Gen. J. S., 170. 
 Walden, Rev. J. M., 121. 
 Walker, Capt. T. A., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 125, 127, 
 
 197, 2I0-2H. 
 
 War Department, 
 Negroes, Relations with, 12, 47, 
 SO, 52-54, 55, 58-61, 107-111, 
 
 I3i^i32i 143. iS°-iS3i 171. 222, 
 224-228, 238-241. 
 See also Thomas, Gen. L. 
 Warren, C. H., 253. 
 Warren, Dr. Joseph, 
 Services to freedmen, 196, 200, 
 208, 210, 212, 214, 242. 
 Warriner, Dr., 63. 
 Washburne, E. B., 170. 
 Weber, Capt., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 126. 
 Welsh, Commissioner, 276. 
 
 West Point, 264-265. 
 Board of Visitors for 1869, 253, 
 
 254-255. 256-257- 
 Western Freedmeivs Aid Commis- 
 sion, 121, 193. 
 Western Sanitary Commission, 130, 
 
 144, 145- 
 White, E. E., xx. 
 White, S. H., xx. 
 Wilson, Senator Henry, 221-222, 
 
 225, 228, 229. 
 Wilson, Sup't, 
 
 District of Columbia Schools, 261. 
 
 Yeatman, James, 
 
 Services to freedmen, 32, 144-145, 
 147, 154. 
 Young, Major G. W., 
 
 Services to freedmen, 19, 108. 
 
 The University Press, Cambridge, U. S. A.