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Cornell University 
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 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
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LETTEES 
 FROM PORT ROYAL 
 
 WRITTEN AT THE TIME 
 OF THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 EDITED BY 
 ELIZABETH WARE PEARSON 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 W. B. CLARKE COMPANY 
 
 1906 
 
COPYRIGHT 1905 BY ELIZABETH WARE PEARSON 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 lNTEODTTCa?IO]sr .... 
 
 1862 J 
 
 1863 128 
 
 1«64 243 
 
 18^^ 291 
 
 1866, 1867, 1868 325 
 
 Conclusion ggg 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 With Commodore Dupont's capture, on November 7, 
 
 1861, of two earth forts which the rebels had recently 
 thrown up at Hilton Head and Bay Point, South Caro- 
 lina, the Sea Island region became Union territory. 
 The planters and their families having fled precipi- 
 tately, the United States Government found itself in 
 possession of almost everything that had been theirs, 
 the two chief items being the largest cotton crop ever 
 yet raised there, nearly ready for exporting, and several 
 hundred demoraKzed, destitute slaves, the number of 
 whom was daily being increased by refugees and 
 returned fugitives. The negroes were plainly a burden- 
 some problem, the cotton a valuable piece of property. 
 The first thing to do was obvious, and fortunately 
 the same "cotton-agents" who were despatched by the 
 authorities at Washington to collect and ship the pro- 
 perty were able, by employing negroes for the purpose, 
 to make a beginning towards solving the problem. 
 
 In another month the next step was taken; the 
 Secretary of the Treasury sent down Edward L. Pierce, 
 of Milton, Massachusetts, as a special agent charged 
 with the duty of getting under way some method of 
 managing the negroes and starting a cotton crop for 
 
 1862. Mr. Pierce, who the summer before had had 
 charge of the contrabands at Fortress Monroe, did his 
 work quickly and well, and his suggestions for organi- 
 zation were promptly adopted and put into practice by 
 the Government. Meanwhile he had written to "bene- 
 
INTRODUCTION vii 
 
 or of the people with whom they were to deal. They 
 had, in fact, no other guides to action than enthusiasm 
 and good sense, and of the latter, in particular, they 
 carried widely diBEering amounts. Some, who went 
 supplied with too Uttle of either, were back in their 
 Northern homes before summer was under way; the 
 majority, making what they could of the means, or 
 lack of means, at their disposal, had within the same 
 period of time got about thirty-eight hundred laborers 
 at steady work on fifteen thousand acres of com, pota- 
 toes, and cotton. For the first time in our history edu- 
 cated Northern men had taken charge of the Southern 
 negro, had learned to know his nature, his status, his 
 history, first-hand, in the cabin and the field. And 
 though subsequently other Southern territory was put 
 into the hands of Northern men and women to manage 
 in much the same fashion, it was not in the nature of 
 things that these conditions should ever be exactly 
 reproduced. The question whether or not the freedman 
 would work without the incentive of the lash was set- 
 tled once for all by the "Port Royal Experiment." 
 
 Of the many thousand letters that must have been 
 written by these people to their Northern homes, those 
 of one small group only are represented by the extracts 
 here printed. The writers were New Englanders and 
 ardent anti-slavery people; W. C. G. and C. P. W. were 
 Harvard men just out of college, H. W. was a sister 
 of the latter. A few of the later letters were written by 
 two other Massachusetts men, T. E. B,., a Yale gradu- 
 ate of 1859, and F. H., who remained on the islands 
 longer than the three just mentioned. All five are still 
 living. Richard Soule, Jr., now dead for many years 
 
viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 was an older man, a teacher, a person of great loveKness 
 of character and justice of mind. The principal figure 
 in the letters, Edward S. Philbrick of Brookline, who 
 died in 1889, was in one sense the principal figure in 
 the Sea Island situation. He began by contributing a 
 thousand dollars to the work and volunteering his ser- 
 vices on the ground, where he was given charge by Mr. 
 Pierce of three plantations, including the largest on the 
 islands; being a person of some means, with an estab- 
 lished reputation as an engineer and a very considerable 
 business experience, he was from the first prominent 
 among the volunteers. When, in the following year, he 
 became personally and financially responsible for a 
 dozen plantations, this prominence was increased a 
 hundredfold. Thus he found himself the victim of the 
 vituperation hurled by many Northern friends of the 
 blacks at the "professed philanthropists" who went to 
 Port Royal to "make their fortunes" out of the labor 
 of the "poor negro." The integrity of Mr. Philbrick's 
 motives stands out in his letters beyond the possibiKty 
 of misinterpretation. This record is a witness of what 
 sort of thing he and his kind were ready to do to redress 
 the wrongs of slavery. 
 
 The extracts have been arranged in chronological 
 order, except in a few cases where chronology has 
 seemed less important than subject-matter. They tell 
 a complete story, the greater part of which falls within 
 the period of the Civil War. They give a vivid notion of 
 the hfe from the midst of which they were Written; 
 of the flat, marsh-riddled country, in which few North- 
 erners saw any lasting charm; of the untidy, down-at- 
 the-heels plantations; of the "people," wards of the 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 nation, childish, irritating, endlessly amusing; of the 
 daily toil of Northern men in managing farms and of 
 Northern women in managing households under 
 Southern and war-time conditions; of the universal 
 preoccupation with negro needs; of the friendly inter- 
 change of primitive hospitaUty; of the underlying sense 
 in the writers' minds of romantic contrast between their 
 own to-day and the yesterday of the planters, — or a 
 possible to-morrow of the planters. It is not with mat- 
 ters military or political that these letters deal. They 
 record the day to day experiences of the housekeeper, 
 the teacher, the superintendent of labor, and the land- 
 owner. For this reason they form a new contribution to 
 the history of the Port Royal Experiment. 
 
KEY TO IMAP OF THE SEA ISLANDS OF 
 SOUTH CAROLINA 
 Plaktations. 
 
 Cherry HiU (T. A. Coffin) 16 
 
 Coffin's Point (T. A. Coffin) 12 
 
 Comer (J. B. Pripp) 5 
 
 Eiistis 2 
 
 Alvirah Pripp (Hope Place) 18 
 
 Edgar Pripp 20 
 
 Hamilton Pripp 10 
 
 J. B. Pripp (Comer) 5 
 
 Capt. John Pripp (Homestead) . . 8 
 
 Capt. Oliver Pripp 22 
 
 Thomas B. Pripp 9 
 
 Pripp Point 11 
 
 Progmore (T. A. Coffin) 19 
 
 Rev. Robert PuUer ("R.'s") 4 
 
 Hope Place (Alvirah Pripp) 18 
 
 Dr. Jenkins 21 
 
 Mary Jenkias 28 
 
 Martha E. McTm'eous 14 
 
 James McTureous 15 
 
 Mulberry Hill (John Pripp) .... 17 
 
 The Oaks (Pope) 3 
 
 Oakland 6 
 
 Pine Grove (Pripp) 13 
 
 Pope (The Oaks) 3 
 
 "R.'s" (Puller) 4 
 
 Smith 1 
 
 Dr. White 27 
 
 Brick CHtmcH (Baptist) .... 24 
 
 White Chukoh (Episcopal) 23 
 
 St. Helena Village 7 
 
 PoBT Walker 26 
 
 Port Beatibegahd .25 
 
 Camp of the Pibst Sotjth Carolina Volunteehs (Colonel 
 Higginson) 1 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS m 
 
OUTH CAROLINA 
 
LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 
 
 1862 
 
 Arrival of the "missionaries" at Port Royal. — T?ie household at Pine 
 Grove. — First impressions of the blacks. — General Hunter's attempt 
 to recruit a negro regiment. — The Planter episode. — The labor 
 situation. — Establishment at Coffin's Point. — Hunter's proclama- 
 tion of freedom. — Details of plantation work. — Idrwoln's prelimi- 
 nary prodamation of emancipation. — UnmUingness of the negroes 
 even to driU. — General Saxton's efforts to raise a negro regiment. — 
 The cotton crop of 1862. — Mr. PhUbrick's plans for buying planta- 
 tions. 
 
 FBOM E. S. PHILBEICK 
 
 Boston, February 19, 1862. Dear : I think you 
 
 will not be greatly astonished when I tell you that I 
 am off for Port Royal next week. I go under the aus- 
 pices of the Educational Commission to make myself 
 generally useful in whatever way I can, in reducing 
 some amount of order and industry from the mass of 
 eight or ten thousand contrabands now within our Hnes 
 there. Boston is wide awake on the subject, and I am 
 determined to see if something can't be done to prove 
 that the blacks will work for other motives than the 
 lash. 
 
 The Treasury Department offer subsistence, protec- 
 tion, transportation, and the War Department offer 
 their heaily cooperation to the work undertaken here by 
 private citizens, but can't take any more active part 
 at present for reasons obvious. They ridicule the idea 
 
2 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 that these blacks can ever again be claimed by their 
 runaway masters, which is a satisfactory foundation for 
 our exertions in overseeing their labor and general 
 deportment. 
 
 You don't know what a satisfaction it is to feel at 
 last that there is a chance for me to do something in this 
 great work that is going on. 
 
 The next letter describes the sailing of the first party 
 of superintendents and teachers. 
 
 E. S. p. TO MBS. PHILBBICK 
 
 New York City, Sunday, March 2. We have a rather 
 motley-looking set. A good many look like broken- 
 down schoolmasters or ministers who have excellent 
 dispositions but not much talent. As the kind of talent 
 required where we are going is rather peculiar, the 
 men may be useful, but I don't beheve there wiU be 
 a great deal of cotton raised under their superintend- 
 ence. 
 
 Str. Atlantic, March 5. We all repaired to the Col- 
 lector's * house Sunday evening, and were sworn in 
 squads of half a dozen with our hands on the Bible, 
 after which our passports were made out and signed 
 by Mr. Barney in his hbrary with the whole thirty- 
 three of us standing about. 
 
 [The next morning] I found Collector Barney on the 
 pier with his Bible and papers, swearing in the rest of 
 the New York delegation. The last of the cargo was 
 slung aboard about eleven, and we started off at quarter 
 past, in a drizzling rain, freezing fast to everything it 
 touched. Our Boston party consisted of twenty-nine 
 ^ Collector Barney of the Port of New York. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 3 
 
 men and four women; the New York one of twenty- 
 three men and eight women, including those from 
 Washington, making sixty-four in all. At dinner (2 
 p. M.) we found some one hundred and twenty cabin 
 passengers, besides a lot of recruits, perhaps one hun- 
 dred in all, who Uve forward. The larger part of the 
 Atlantic's staterooms have been taken out to make 
 room for stowing troops or cargo, leaving enough for 
 only about half our numbei*. These rooms were assigned 
 by the Steward and Mr. Pierce' to the ladies and the old- 
 est of us gentlemen; so I got one with Uncle Bichard,^ 
 for most of our party are quite youthful. Half a dozen 
 ladies sat on the bare deck (no other seats provided), 
 during most of the evening, singing Methodist hymns 
 and glory hallelujah till after nine o'clock. I have talked 
 with several of our party, and got slightly acquainted, 
 chiefly with Messrs. Hooper,' G — ,* and Mack; also with 
 Mr. Forbes.^ There is a general medley of cabin pas- 
 sengers, recruits, sutlers' and quartermasters' agents, and 
 crew, the latter not being dressed in uniform, but in 
 nondescript old garments such as can be found at any 
 old Isaac's shop. Those passengers who are outside 
 our party are coarse-looking and disagreeable, — Mr. 
 Forbes and Mr. Augustus Hurd of Boston being ahnost 
 the only exceptions. I had some talk with Mr. Pierce 
 yesterday about your coming on, and he said as soon as 
 
 ' Edward L. Pierce (see Introductioii). 
 ' Richard Soule, Jr. 
 
 ' Edward W. Hooper, afterwards for many years Treasurer of Har- 
 vard College. 
 
 * G. is W. C. G. of these letters. 
 
 * John M. Forbes, who had hired a house at Beaufort for a few 
 months. 
 
4 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 I found it advisable he would send you a pass, but I am 
 very glad you are not here now, for I don't believe these 
 ladies wUl find anything but bare boards to sleep on. 
 
 Thursday evening, March 6. We had a sort of lec- 
 ture from Mr. Pierce before dinner, consisting of some 
 very appropriate and sensible advice and suggestions, 
 expressed simply and with a good deal of feeling. Mr. 
 French * foUowed in his vein of honest, earnest Meth- 
 odism. He is the head of the New York delegation, and 
 a worthy man, though not so practical as Mr. Pierce. 
 
 Our Boston party improves upon acquaintance, 
 and the longer I think of the matter the more wonder- 
 ful does it seem that such a number of disinterested, 
 earnest men should be got together at so short a no- 
 tice to exile themselves from all social ties and devote 
 themselves, as they certainly do, with a will, to this 
 holy work. It must and with God's help it shall suc- 
 ceed ! The more I see of our fellow-passengers and co- 
 workers, the more do the party from Boston stand emi- 
 nent in talent and earnestness, as compared with those 
 from New York, and I can't help thinking that the for- 
 mer were more carefully selected. The Boston Com- 
 mission acted with more deliberation than that of New 
 York, and I think the result will be shown in the end. 
 But it 's early to form any such opinions, and out of 
 place to draw any comparisons in disparagement of any 
 of our colleagues. We are all yoked together and must 
 pull together. The work is no trifle. It is Herculean 
 in all its aspects — in its reactive effects upon our coun- 
 try and its future destiny, as weU as in its difficulties. 
 
 ' Rev. Mansfield French had abeady spent some weeks at Port 
 Royal. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 5 
 
 Yet never did men stand in a position to do more last- 
 ing good than we, if we act with a single eye to the 
 object in view and pray God to guide us aright. 
 
 Friday, March 7. We waked this morning still adrift 
 off Port Royal Bar, where we had been tossing all night, 
 near the lightship. The wind was blowing cold and clear 
 from the northwest just as it does at home in March, 
 almost cold enough for a frost. We continued to drift 
 tiU the tide was near the flood, about noon, when a 
 pilot came out and took us in to Hilton Head. Here 
 in this magnificent harbour, larger than any other on our 
 coast, lay some fifty transports and steamers at anchor, 
 and here we dropped our anchor, almost directly be- 
 tween the two forts ^ taken by Dupont last November. 
 These forts, by the way, are so inconspicuous as to be 
 hardly perceptible to a passer-by, and would certainly fail 
 to attract the attention of a person not on the lookout 
 for them. The shore is as flat as flat can be, sand-banks 
 and beaches being the only variety, backed by long dark 
 green masses of foliage of the pitch-pine, reminding 
 me forcibly of the coast of Egypt, with its sand and 
 palm forests. Yet even Egypt was suflBciently enter- 
 prising to hne its coast with windmills, while this state 
 has not yet arrived at a stage of civiUzation sufficiently 
 advanced to provide them. So, there being no water- 
 power and no steam, every negro grinds his peck of 
 com in a handmill as in the year one. We came to 
 anchor about one p. M. and have been waiting for the 
 necessary passes from the quartermaster to enable us to 
 proceed up to Beaufort, the only town in possession of 
 our forces. Here we lie in tibe stiU harbour under the 
 
 * Thrown up by the island planters after the outbreak of the war. 
 
6 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 splendid moon, surrounded by the regiments encamped 
 on the neighboring islands, with the prospect of another 
 day afloat, before we can begin to be distributed over 
 our field of labor. 
 
 8 p. M. The acting Provost Marshal has just come 
 aboard with our passports viseed, enabling us to land 
 here, but I don't care to do that to-night, there being 
 nothing but sand-banks to sleep on, while we have 
 tolerable berths aboard. To-morrow I may go, if there 
 is time before going upstream to Beaufort, though I 
 imagine there is little to see but sand and tents, which 
 look quite as well at a distance. 
 
 March 8. We spent the greater part of the day 
 transferring freight and baggage to the Cosmopolitan, 
 a white river-steamer. We got started at last about 
 three p. m. The distance to Beaufort can't be more 
 than fifteen miles, and we had already made half of it 
 at a tolerable rate of speed when we ran aground in the 
 mud, about two hours before ebb tide. We were in the 
 middle of a creek called Beaufort River, between Cat 
 Island and Port Royal Island, whose flat shores did not 
 look very inviting. I fell to reading about cotton-culture 
 in my book, but some of our companions got a boat and 
 went ashore on St. Helena Island, bringing back their 
 hands fuU of beautiful flowers from some private garden, 
 peach-blossoms, orange-blossoms, hyacinths, fleur-de- 
 lis, etc. We succeeded in getting afloat about 9.30 p. m. 
 and arrived at Beaufort about midnight, after poking 
 slowly along the crooked channel under the glorious 
 moonlight. On getting up in the morning, which we 
 did betimes, we found the deck shppery with hoar- 
 frost, and are told that it is the coldest night of this 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 7 
 
 winter. Somebody has told me that Beaufort was on 
 a bluff, and that its environments were not so flat as 
 the rest of the islands. 
 
 Beaufort, Sunday, March 9. But I can't find any 
 place over ten feet above tide-water, and no hiU over 
 sis feet high. So things are judged of by comparison. 
 We all went ashore soon after sunrise and walked about 
 the town, which is laid out in rectangular streets, lined 
 with pleasant but weedy orange-gardens and often 
 shaded by live-oak and sycamore trees, i. e., when the 
 latter leave out, as they wDl soon. The soil is a fine 
 sand, very like ashes, and the streets are ankle-deep 
 with it already, wherever the grass does n't grow. 
 Dilapidated fences, tumble-down outbuildings, un- 
 trimmed trees with lots of dead branches, weedy walks 
 and gardens and a general appearance of wnthrift at- 
 tendant upon the best of slaveholding towns, was ag- 
 gravated here by the desolated houses, surrounded by 
 heaps of broken furniture and broken wine and beer 
 bottles which the army had left about after their pil- 
 lage. Quantities of negro children lay basking in the 
 morning sun, grinning at us as we passed. We saw a 
 chain-pump in a yard and walked in to wash our faces, 
 there having been no chance on the steamer, and were 
 waited upon by an old negro, who brought us bowls, 
 soap, and towels. Mr. Pierce succeeded in getting us 
 some bread and coffee from one of the regiments, hav- 
 ing no time to go to headquarters. They were carried 
 to an old negro cabin in the remotest corner of the 
 town, where the coffee was made and served up in the 
 poultry-yard in our tin mugs. 
 
 Our quarters are in a very fine house in the east end 
 
8 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 of the town, bordering on the river, against which is 
 a garden wall, built of oyster-shells and mortar, there 
 being no stone to be had here. 
 
 We are to wait here till our positions are assigned 
 to us by Mr. Pierce, which will be done in a few days. 
 He told me he wanted me to take the most important 
 one, which I suppose means Coffin's.^ I am to have 
 
 W G for my clerk and assistant. He is a very 
 
 agreeable, quiet fellow, and works like a beaver, but 
 like several others, is too young to take charge of the 
 organization of the labor to good advantage. 
 
 There is something very sad about these fine deserted 
 houses. Ours has Egyptian marble mantels, gilt cor- 
 nice and centre-piece in parlor, and bath-room, with 
 several wash-bowls set in different rooms. The force- 
 pump is broken and all the bowls and their marble 
 slabs smashed to get out the plated cocks, which the 
 negroes thought pure silver. Bureaus, comomodes, and 
 wardrobes are smashed in, as well as door-panels, to 
 get out the contents of the drawers and lockers, which 
 I suppose contained some wine and ale, judging by 
 the broken bottles lying about. The officers saved a 
 good many pianos and other furniture and stored it in 
 the jail, for safe-keeping. But we kindle our fires with 
 chips of polished mahogany, and I am vmting on my 
 knees with a piece of a flower-stand across them for 
 a table, sitting on my camp bedstead. 
 
 I am anxious to get to work, as I hope to in a few 
 days. Mr. Eustis ^ has gone to his plantation, a few 
 
 '■ Thomas A. Coffin's large plantation at the eastern end of St. 
 Helena Island. 
 
 ' P. A. Eustis of Milton, who was part owner of the plantation in 
 question. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 9 
 
 miles distant on Ladies Island, and Mr. Hooper is 
 spending a few days with him. The latter is to be 
 Mr. Pierce's private secretary at present. 
 
 Beaufort, March 10. I can't tell until I get settled at 
 my, post what to say about your coming on here. If 
 my post should be exposed to any of the rebels' scout- 
 ing-parties you had better stay at home. I must say 
 it seems rather near to live within rifle-shot of their out- 
 posts, as some of the plantations are. 
 
 March 11. We had a -dsit from the Provost Marshal 
 last evening. He has had a good deal to do with the 
 contrabands and came to give us some advice about 
 them. He thinks that rebel spies may come among us,. 
 but don't apprehend any trouble, says we can govern 
 the negroes easily enough by firm and judicious treat- 
 ment, and says the officers in charge are very glad to 
 have them taken off their hands. 
 
 Hilton Head,^ March 13. This is a most desolate- 
 looking place, flat and sandy, and covered with camps 
 and storehouses for a mile along the river. A line of 
 intrenchments encloses the whole, some seven miles 
 long, resting on the river at each end. There is a long 
 wharf just built out to deep water, at the end of which 
 the Atlantic is discharging. This is the general depot 
 for stores for the whole army on the Atlantic coast and 
 the blockading fleet. 
 
 March 14. A fortnight has passed since I left Brook- 
 line, without my being able to get at my work. This 
 loafing about and waiting upon the movements of Gov- 
 ernment officials is the hardest work I ever tried to do. 
 
 ' Mr. Fhilbrick had gone down to Hilton Head again to see about 
 his luggage. 
 
10 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 If you can't come early in April you had better not 
 come at all, for it will be too hot for even me to hve 
 on the plantations later than June 1. They say the 
 planters never lived on the plantations in summer 
 months, though they were acclimated, for fear of fevers. 
 Beaufort is the healthiest place on these islands and their 
 
 resort when leaving their plantations. Yet, if H 
 
 W will come with you, and not without, and you 
 
 think it will pay, come as soon as you can. I shall 
 probably be on Coffin's plantation then, about fifteen 
 miles east of Beaufort, on St. Helena Island, coast of 
 St. Helena Sound. This plantation is one of the most 
 secure from any interference from the rebels, so I don't 
 feel the slightest uneasiness on that score, for the whole 
 circumference of the island is picketed, and our forces 
 also occupy the opposite or northeasterly coast of the 
 sound. 
 
 Now as to outfit. Not over $5 each in money, silver, 
 for you are supphed with transportation and food by 
 Government and there 's nothing here to buy. Bed-sacks 
 and pillow ditto. Three mnbreUas with light covers, 
 fly-paper, tin cups, bowls, and tea-pot, set of wooden 
 boxes for rice, sugar, and other stores furnished by army 
 rations. Spring-balance that will weigh about twenty 
 pounds, knife, fork, and spoons for each of you, plated, 
 thermometer, three pounds of tea in one of the boxes. 
 We now have plenty of rice, sugar, molasses, vinegar, 
 hominy, potatoes, coffee, and beans, from army stores, 
 and on plantations can get fresh lamb, mutton, chickens, 
 eggs, milk; so we shall fare better than I thought. 
 
 Beaufort, March 17. I don't think they would let 
 you take a servant; it 's difficult enough to get you here 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 11 
 
 alone, and there are plenty of servants here which you 
 are supposed to teach not only to read but — what is 
 more immediately important — to be clean and in- ~/ 
 dustrious. If you feel any hesitation about coming in 
 contact with them you should n't come, for they are 
 sharp enough to detect apathy or lurldng repugnance, 
 which would render any amount of theoretical sym- 
 pathy about worthless. Tell your father their nature 
 and disposition is nothing new to me. I was with them 
 in Egypt long enough to get pretty well acquainted, 
 and though these sons of Western Africa are not exactly 
 of the same stock as the Nubians, they are certainly 
 no more degraded or lazy. In fact, from what I have 
 already seen here I am agreeably disappointed. Think of 
 their having reorganized and gone deliberately to work 
 here some weeks ago, without a white man near them, 
 preparing hundreds of acres for the new crop! The 
 Irish would n't have done as much in the same position. 
 
 This comparison of the negroes with the Irish is made 
 by the letter-writers, as will be seen, more than once, 
 — almost always to the disadvantage of the Irish. 
 Forty years ago the Irish were still merely immigrants, 
 and, further, they were practically the only people in 
 this country who suggested comparison with negroes. 
 
 The next letter is the first from W. C. G., whom Mr. 
 Philbrick has already mentioned as destined to be his 
 assistant. 
 
 March 24. Coffin's Point. It is the largest planta- 
 tion on the Islands, niunbering in its fuU days over 250 
 hands, or head, as the negroes call themselves. 
 
 A large amount of cotton is still in store here, for 
 which the boat I hope will call this week; meanwhile 
 
12 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 the cotton-agent * and a guard occupy the house with 
 us. The foimer has been on the place three or four 
 months in charge of a large district with several planta- 
 tions; he is a smart young fellow, very dashing and 
 jockey-like. We were received by the guard with 
 shouldered arms and by this agent, who did their best 
 to induce or rather bluff us into leaving the premises 
 and taking possession of another house; for we have 
 two plantations besides this, — estates belonging to 
 William Fripp's sons.^ We stayed, however, and are 
 now occupying two rooms, with plenty of furniture of 
 different kinds stored by the agent, probably for re- 
 moval. The whole business of our Commission and all 
 its agents are much disliked by the cotton-agents, partly 
 because they don't sympathize with our purposes, — partly 
 because we seem about to usurp their authority, to 
 which of course we do succeed. 
 
 The cotton-agents have started the corn-planting 
 on most of the estates, — and almost everywhere the 
 whole condition of people and land is much better than 
 I expected to find it. The present state of a plantation 
 depends on the previous character and age of the peo- 
 ple, the influence of the drivers,^ and the circumstances 
 to which they have been exposed since the soldiers 
 came. If the people are on the whole old and steady, 
 if the drivers are intelligent and strong-minded, if their 
 masters have been humane and fatherly, and if they 
 have seen few soldiers, — then the work has usually 
 
 ' See page v. 
 
 ^ Pine Grove and Fripp Point. 
 
 ' The drivers, negroes holding a position next bdow the white over- 
 seers, were found by the Northerners still keeping the keys and try- 
 ing to exert their authority. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 13 
 
 been kept up pretty well and the negroes are stiU at 
 home and willing to go a-field, — and their condition 
 varies as those items vary. On the larger number, as 
 I have said, things are much better than I expected to 
 see them. As is proper, more attention has as yet been 
 paid to the com lands, and very Kttle to the cotton. 
 Two precious months have been lost for that crop. On 
 "most of the plantations com enough remains to last 
 through the next crop, — so there is little danger of 
 much suffering for want of food. But everything ex- 
 cept com, and their own eggs and poultry, is wanting, 
 — no molasses, no sugar, no salt, no tobacco, — and 
 no clothing. 
 
 On two of our three plantations things are doing 
 well, but this big Cofl^ place is in a very miserable, 
 demoralized condition. It used to be very successful 
 in cotton — and of late, especially, the hands have 
 been worked very hard. There are many young peo- 
 ple — so all the more likely to leave. They are within 
 a few miles of Bay Point opposite Hilton Head, so the 
 temptation to leave is very pressing, for smart fellows 
 can get money there, -7- one York with whom I was 
 talking yesterday got over $30 a month by cooking 
 for two or three messes; he is sick now and thinks he 
 had better come hom^ for the good of his soul. And 
 perhaps as evil an influence as any was the early pre- 
 sence of the guards from the 19th N. Y .V., a regiment 
 rather notorious for wild ways, I believe, — certainly 
 one which greatly injured these people by their talk 
 about freedom and no need of work, etc., and their 
 rampant deeds. We are therefore in a hard place here, — 
 and shall take pretty energetic measures and do the 
 
14 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 best we can. Mr. Philbrick has charge of the farmuig» 
 etc., — I of the teaching. We were not all sent out 
 two by two; small plantations had single men. Some 
 men are expected to overlook several estates lying near 
 each other. 
 
 March 29. The women work much better than the 
 men, but very few are faithful. Nor can we hope for 
 any regularity and real improvement till we are de- 
 Hvered from our cotton-agent and the influences which 
 emanate from him and his interests. 
 
 The people are very discontented here, and as they 
 have logic and need on their side, it is hard to meet 
 their complaints. In fact, they can't be met, — very 
 few do full work, many half or none. They need cloth- 
 ing very badly. They need salt and tobacco, — this 
 summer they need a httle molasses and some bacon. 
 These things ' they have been accustomed to receive 
 in stated quantities at stated times, — at Christmas, 
 and in April or May, If we could supply them sim- 
 ply as they have been supplied by their masters, the 
 majority I think would be contented and would work 
 well. The promises to pay to which they have been 
 treated by the agents of the Government for the last 
 three months have n't kept them warm. The agent 
 here will probably soon give them some cloth in part 
 payment. Money they don't know the value of — and 
 especially now can't spend it to advantage; besides, 
 as I said, I think few desire it. 
 
 The following fragment of a letter, from which the 
 
 ' For dothing their masters had been in the habit of giving them 
 material for two suits a year; a pair of blankets every few years made 
 up the sum of gratuities. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 15 
 
 date and the beginning are missing, was written from 
 Pine Gi-ove at about this time; its subject is, of course, 
 the negroes. 
 
 FBOM E. S. P. 
 
 They have not yet got any diseased appetite for alco- 
 holic stimulants, and are happy in their comparative 
 ignorance of such things. 
 
 They are a simple, childhke people, almost ignorant 
 of malice, patient and easily influenced by an appeal 
 to their feelings. There is far less family feeling and 
 attachment to each other than among the ignorant 
 Irish, apparently, though I don't know how much allow- 
 ance to make for their being so much less demonstra- 
 tive in their emotions, and more inured to suffering. 
 They are most eminently a reUgious people, accord- 
 ing to their Ught, and always refer their sufferings to 
 Divine Providence, though without the stoical or fatal- 
 ist ideas of their Mohammedan brethren, whom I got 
 to know pretty well in Nubia and Egypt. 
 
 We find it very difficult to reach any motive that 
 will promote cleanliness as a habit. It requires more 
 authority than our position gives us as employers to 
 make any police regulations very effectual in their 
 quarters. This plantation is the neatest one I have 
 seen anywhere in respect to their houses and yards, 
 but there is room for great improvement here. They 
 have the same dread of fresh air in sickness which is 
 common to poor people at home, but there is very httle 
 sickness among them. Only one death has occurred 
 since we came here, among a population of 420, and 
 that was an infant. They place great trust in our doc- 
 tors and keep them pretty busy jogging about. 
 
16 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 The next letter, the first from H. W., records her 
 arrival with Mrs. Philbrick. 
 
 ■Beaufort, April 15. The' sail up was very beautiful, 
 the green beyond description briUiant, and now and 
 then the deeper shade of palmetto or hve-oak. Some 
 of the plantations were very picturesque. Roses and 
 azaleas were plainly visible. An hour and a half, very 
 quickly passed, brought us to the wharf, where Mr. 
 Pierce and Mr. Hooper met us with the information 
 that we were to go to Mr. Forbes's, whither we walked 
 a long haK-mile, a sentry at the street-comers, darkies 
 bowing in every direction, birds and the scent of 
 flowers filling the air, everything like a June day after 
 a shower. Mr. Philbrick hopes to be ready for us on 
 Saturday. A cotton-agent in his house prevents us from 
 going just yet to the Coffin house, but we shall be es- 
 tabUshed for the present on one of the smaller planta- 
 tions adjoining. 
 
 The letter that follows, written at Pine Grove sev- 
 eral days later, narrates the events of these days, be- 
 ginning with April 16, in Beaufort. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Pine Grove, St. Helena, April 21. H.' and Miss 
 Towne '' carried the letters to the post-office, Caro- 
 line, Mr. Forbes's chamber-girl, following to show them 
 the way there, take them to the schools and into some 
 negro quarters. They were derided by the soldiers, 
 
 ' Mrs. Philbrick. 
 
 ' Miss Laura E. Towne of Philadelphia. She never returned to 
 live in the North. The school she started in 1862 is still in existence, 
 under the name of the Penn Normal, Industrial, and Agricultural 
 School. ; 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 17 
 
 they said, who called after them, "See the Southern 
 Aristocracy with their nigger behind them!" which 
 amused Caroline very much. 
 
 Mr.x Forbes took me in his open wagon, a tumble- 
 down affair he has from a negro to avoid the annoyance 
 of always having to make a requisition upon Govern- 
 ment, the only owner in these regions of anything, and 
 drove me down the river to a plantation ^ we had no- 
 ticed as we came up on the boat, and where there was a 
 cotton-gin Mr. Forbes wanted me to see. The greater 
 part of the way our road was shaded by woods on the 
 water-side, live-oaks with their ornamental moss, gum- 
 trees and pines with quantities of cat-biier and trumpet 
 honeysuckle in full bloom. The cotton-fields were un- 
 shaded, of course, and very large, containing from one 
 to three hundred acres. We passed some freshly planted, 
 but most of them were covered with the old bushes, 
 dry and dead, at which I was much surprised until I 
 found that it was the habit to leave the fields as they 
 are after the cotton is picked, for a year, planting on 
 the same land only every other year. It makes dreary, 
 desolate-looking fields, for though a few weeds spring 
 up, no grass grows in this region, and they are brown 
 instead of green all summer. The Smith Plantation 
 is about five miles from town, the house in the centre 
 of a live-oak grove, beautiful and beyond description, 
 open underneath, and so hanging with moss that you 
 can scarcely see any leaves as you look up. A little 
 chapel on the place I got out to look at, made very 
 roughly of boards whitewashed, inside an earth floor 
 covered with straw, rough wooden benches, the pulpit 
 ' Known as the Smith Plantation. 
 
18 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 and altar made in the same way, but covered entirely 
 with, the grey moss, as we trim for Christmas. The 
 house looked rough and ordinary to us, as they all do, 
 except a few in the town; we did not go lq. I beUeve 
 there are cotton-agents there attending to the ginning, 
 which process we saw in a little house by itself, where 
 a steam gin worked four stands tended by one hand 
 each. The funny thing was to see them pack the bales. 
 There was a round hole in the second-story floor and 
 a bag was fastened to the edges, into which a man 
 gets and stamps the cotton down. I saw it swinging 
 downstairs, but did not know what it was till, on going 
 up, I found a black head just above the floor, which 
 grinned from ear to ear with pleasure at the sight of 
 a white lady, and ducked and bobbed in most con- 
 vulsive fashion. 
 
 We drove through the negro quarters, or " nigger- 
 house," as they themselves call the whole settlement, 
 and they flocked to the doors to look at us, bowing 
 and smiling as we went by. There were eight or ten 
 separate houses just raised from the ground so that the 
 air could pass underneath, and, as we looked in at the 
 doors, apparently with very little furniture, though in 
 some we saw chairs which were evidently Massa's. 
 Dirty and ragged they all were, but certainly no more 
 so than poor Irish, and it seemed to me not so 
 dirty. 
 
 I saw pahnetto-trees for the first time on this drive 
 near enough to know what they really looked like. 
 They stand alone in the cotton-fields like our elms in 
 a meadow, though there are fewer of them, and they 
 are stiff and straight. The Spanish dagger, looking 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 19 
 
 like a miniature palmetto, was planted for hedges 
 round the garden and fish-pond. Mistletoe I saw for 
 the first time. 
 
 Mr. Hooper came over in the morning [of the next 
 day] and told us he should come for us at 12.30, but it 
 was five before we got into the boat.' The negroes 
 sang to us in their wild way as they rowed us across 
 — I cannot give you the least idea of it. Indeed, I can't 
 give you the least idea of anything, and you must not 
 expect it. The town looked very pretty from the boat, 
 some of the houses are large and quite imposing in 
 appearance. We found Mr. Pierce and his carriage 
 waiting for us, having been there without any dinner 
 since one o'clock. (This is the land of waiting, we have 
 discovered — patience is a virtue our Northern peo- 
 ple wiU have to learn here.) We drove at once to Pope's 
 plantation, passing Mr. Eustis on the way at his over- 
 seer's house, bedaubed from head to foot with molas- 
 ses, which he had been selling all day to the negroes, 
 a pint to a hand. Here Mr. Philbrick was waiting with 
 his sulky (a two-wheeled jockey-cart), an ox-team for 
 the baggage, and a dump-cart in which he and H. 
 were to drive, while I drove the sulky alone in my glory. 
 But it was too late for us to think of driving ten miles 
 farther, so we laid our beds down and prepared for 
 another halt. The next morning Mr. Pierce sent us 
 home in his carriage. 
 
 We reached here not long before two, and went to 
 work to try and muster up some dinner. I had a cup 
 and saucer, tumbler and three knives and forks, and 
 
 ' The ferry to Ladies Island, across which ran the road to St. Helena 
 Island and Mr. Philbrick's plantations. 
 
20 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 the rennet, which soon supplied one dish; the negroes 
 brought china in limited quantities; we opened a box 
 of sardines, and coffee, and, with the anny bread we 
 brought from Beaufort, fried eggs, and hominy, made a 
 most excellent meal; a tablecloth, napkins, and silver 
 spoons forming some of the appointments. Joe, the car- 
 penter, young and handy, made a very good waiter, but 
 when he went out and cut a bough of sycamore and 
 began to brush the flies as we ate, it was almost more 
 than I could stand. Then we went to work to put 
 what things we had to rights, H. got her servant, and 
 moreover we had to receive and shake hands with any 
 number of negroes, who came flocking round us at 
 once, foUowiag the carriage as we drove up in true 
 Southern style, and coming into the house to satisfy 
 their curiosity. 
 
 W. G was here and aided us with a will, and 
 
 about five o'clock I went with him to the praise-house,' 
 where he has his school. The children were all assem- 
 bled by Cuffy, and he was teaching them when we 
 
 went in. Mr. G read in the Bible, substituting 
 
 words tbat they could understand, made a very sim- 
 ple prayer, all kneehng, and then heard them their 
 letters and words for an hour, with a great deal of tact 
 and abiUty — strange words, you may think, to use 
 
 in such a connection, but you have Uttle idea how 
 
 » 
 ' The plantation "praise-house,"' as the negroes' church was called, 
 was often merely "a rather larger and nicer negro hut than the others. 
 Here the master was an exemplary old Baptist Christian, who has 
 left his house full of reUgious magazines and papers, and built 
 his people quite a nice little house, — the best on this part of the 
 Island." 
 
 (Letter of W. C. G., April 22, 1862.) 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 21 
 
 much it needs of both. We are not used to these people 
 — it is even very difficult to understand what they 
 say. They have been bom and brought up just 
 here, in the most isolated way, for generations, with 
 no chance of improvement, and there is not a single 
 mulatto * on the place — they are black as the blackest, 
 and perfect children — docile, and with "faith enough 
 
 to hve by," W G says. I find I have no 
 
 shrinking from them, and hope I shall be able to do 
 my part. I take this school off his hands — he has two 
 other plantations to teach on and has been working 
 like a beaver. I made my first attempt this afternoon 
 and got along comfortably. Flora, the house-servant 
 (that is, ours, — she is a field hand), took me on my 
 way to see the old mammas, and I went into several 
 of the cabins and came home with a present of nine 
 eggs! 
 
 These houses are all built of hard pine, which is hand- 
 some on the floors, but the rest of the woodwork is 
 painted, in this house an ugly green, which is not pretty 
 or cheerful. The walls are always left white. Clap- 
 boards are unknown, but hard-pine boards, a foot or 
 more broad, are put on in the same way, and every- 
 thing outside is whitewashed. The place is very at- 
 tractive-looking, grapevines and honeysuckles and pine 
 woods near. 
 
 April 25. The house is raised high from the ground, 
 as aU are here, and boarded in loosely underneath. 
 There is a circle of orange-trees round the house, and 
 roses in abundance, but no grass, which is dreary. 
 
 ' Pine Grove was in this respect an exception among the Sea Island 
 plantations. 
 
22 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 The quarters are a quarter of a mile off, and the praise- 
 house is near them, where I have school twice a day. 
 It is very interesting, and I enjoy it much, though of 
 course there is nothing to teach but the alphabet and 
 Uttle words. They sing their letters very nicely now. 
 They are much better-mannered than the Irish, and 
 I have had no trouble as yet. 
 
 Perhaps when I get to understanding things better 
 I shall be able to tell you some things they say. They 
 were uneasy till they discovered our first names, and 
 were pleased that mine was that of the " old Missus." 
 They have brought me presents of eggs two or three 
 times. 
 
 FROM w. c. G. 
 
 Pine Grove Plantation, April 22. You see that we 
 have changed our home. The ladies have arrived. 
 The house is in better condition than that at Coffin's, 
 the people better disposed, and the locaHty is more 
 retired and does not boast of a cotton-agent. In a month 
 or two we shall probably move to our old quarters, if 
 
 it doesn't take longer to clean it. Miss W will 
 
 be a grand helper. It will be a pretty rough life for them, 
 and New England comforts and neatness and intelU- 
 gence will be sadly missed, but we certainly have 
 been well, — our table is the most refined thing on the 
 Island, I fancy. 
 
 PROM H. w. 
 
 Pine Grove, April 29. Our days pass pretty much 
 after this fashion. Mr. Philbrick gets up about six, calls 
 me, and I obey, having stipulated for a full hour in 
 
2] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 23 
 
 ich to dress. After we get downstairs it takes the 
 ted efforts of most of the family to get the brealdast 
 the table, and we are fortunate if we get up from 
 t meal by half -past eight. It generally consists of 
 niny, very delicious eaten with either milk, butter, or 
 lasses, corn-cake, or waffles of corn-flour — the best 
 their kind — concentrated coffee, chocolate, or tea, 
 ay bread — when we can get it — crackers, when 
 can't, and boQed eggs or fried fish, as the case may 
 The important operations of dish-washing and 
 anging the rooms upstairs take longer than you can 
 igine, and things are not always done when I go 
 school at ten, which with our simple style of living 
 rather a nuisance. H. begins to pity the Southern 
 isekeepers. This morning, after making the starch 
 our Uttle kitchen in the house, she waited about for 
 ) hours, before she could get hold of one of the three 
 vants. They were all off at the kitchen, smoking and 
 king and taking things easy. Joe was nominally 
 aning knives. Flora had gone to empty a pail of water, 
 1 Sukey had no thought about her starched clothes ! 
 iVell, I walk off to school, under the white umbrella 
 he sun shines, dressed as warmly as I can if it does 
 ;. My way Kes between a row of large "Hesha- 
 Ty" trees, as the negroes call them; a corruption, 
 uppose, of Asia Beny, as it is the "Pride of Asia," 
 full blossom now, with scent something like our 
 c, but more deHcate. On each side of these trees 
 ; the corn-houses, stables, cotton-houses, and near 
 : house a few cabins for house-servants, and the 
 U. They stretch an eighth of a mile, when a gate 
 ft open) shuts off the nigger-house and field. An- 
 
24 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1861 
 
 other eighth brings me to the cabins, which have tree 
 scattered among them, figs and others. The childre: 
 begin to gather round me before I get there, wit] 
 their bow and curtsey and "goo' momin, Marm," an( 
 as I go through the quarters I send them in to was] 
 their hands and faces. The praise-house reached, on 
 of the children rings the bell out of the door to summo) 
 all, and they gather quickly, some to be sent off t 
 wash their faces — alas, they cannot change thei 
 clothes, which are of the raggedest. But now enougl 
 clothes have come to begin to sell, I hope to have 
 better dressed set before long. I keep them in for abou 
 two hours ■■ — there are about thirty of the little one 
 who come in the morning, ten and under; all olde 
 are in the field, and come in the afternoon, as they finis] 
 work by noon always. 
 
 I go back to lunch at half-past twelve, a cold on 
 generally, sometimes a few waffles or some homin 
 for variety, but crackers, sardines, and blackberrie 
 which we have in abundance now, make a refreshin 
 meal, with tea or coffee when we please. Shop ' ha 
 to be tended in the afternoon principally, and I some 
 times take a turn at it till I go off at half -past three t 
 school again. We use for shop the little room betwee: 
 IMr. G.'s and the entry, selKng out of the window ove 
 a box for a counter, to the groups on the porch. It i 
 a funny sight and funny work for us, albeit interesting 
 for they have had no clothes for a year, and buy eagerlj 
 Mr. Philbrick has not been able to let them have an 
 clothing before, as there has only been enough to gi-« 
 a garment to one in ten, and they have been so used 1 
 ' See p. 33. 
 
862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 25 
 
 leing treated alike that their jealousy is very easily 
 ■oused, and it is a difficult matter to deal with them. 
 For the same reason the clothes have to be sold, the 
 noney going back to the Commission, to be used again 
 'or their benefit. It would be very much better if only 
 lie goods were sent, for they prefer to make their own 
 dothes and all know how to sew. 
 
 These people show their subserviency in the way 
 iiey put Marm or Sir into their sentences every other 
 vord and emphasize it as the one important word, and 
 n always agreeing to everything you say. In school it 
 s rather annoying to have them say, "Yes Marm, 
 zackly Marm," before it is possible for an idea to have 
 reached their brains. 
 
 Flora, our housemaid, who is a character, has a 
 ^at deal of dignity and influence among the other 
 legroes, and takes the greatest care of us. She is most 
 jealous for what she considers our interests, and more- 
 jver is quite an interpreter, though it is hard enough 
 to understand her sometimes. "Learning'' with these 
 people I find means a knowledge of medicine, and a 
 person is valued accordingly. Flora wanted to know 
 low much " learning " Miss Helen * had had, and it was 
 I lone; time before I could make out what she meant. 
 
 H. says she never saw me look so well, so you see 
 [ thrive in spite of fleas, which have almost flayed me 
 iKve. I understand what it means by eels' getting used 
 to being skinned. 
 
 May 1. Took a ride through the quarters. We stopped 
 to see Doll and her week-old baby. H. had quite 
 1 talk with Mily, the nurse, who told her it did them 
 » Mrs. Philbrick 
 
26 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 f 
 
 good to see white ladies about, and hoped we were go- 
 ing to stay. She seemed very much disappointed when 
 H. told her we should be here [at Pine Grove] only 
 a short time longer. I think it does them good just to 
 have me walk through the quarters four times a day 
 — they always curtsey and say a word. 
 
 In the afternoon, as I came out of school, Cuffy said, 
 "You promise to jine praise with we some night dis 
 week. Missus," so I told him I would go up in the even- 
 ing if Mr. G. would go with me. When we went up 
 after eight they were just Ughting the two candles. I 
 sat down on the women's side next a window, and one 
 of the men soon struck up a hymn in which the others 
 joined and which seemed to answer the purpose of 
 a bell, for the congregation immediately began to as- 
 semble, and after one or two hymns. Old Peter offered 
 a prayer, using very good language, ending every sen- 
 tence with " For Jesus' sake." He prayed for us, Massa 
 and Missus, that we might be "boun' up in de belly- 
 band of faith." Then Mr. G. read to them and made 
 a few remarks to which they listened very attentively; 
 then some hymn-singing, Cuffy deaconing out the lines 
 two at a time. Then some one suddenly started up and 
 pronounced a sort of benediction, in which he used the 
 expression "when we done chawing aU de hard bones 
 and swallow all de bitter pills." They then shook hands 
 all round, when one of the young girls struck up one 
 of their wild songs, and we waited listening to them 
 for twenty minutes more. It was not a regular " shout," ^ 
 
 '■ "The true 'shout' takes place on Sundays or on 'praise '-nights 
 through the week, and either in the praise-house or some cabin in 
 which a regular rehgious meeting has been held. Very likely more 
 
562] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 27 
 
 ut some of them clapped their hands, and they stamped 
 I time. It was very difficult to understand the words, 
 lough there was so much repetition that I generally 
 lanaged to make out a good deal, but could not re- 
 lember it much, still less the music, which is inde- 
 ;ribable, and no one person could imitate it at all. As 
 e walked home we asked Cuffy if they considered 
 le "shout" as part of their religious worship; he 
 lid yes, that "it exercise the frame." Mr. G. told 
 im that some of the old people had told him they did 
 ot like the shouts, or think them religious, but he said 
 Id Binah did not object to them in the praise-house, 
 ut she did not like the shout "out in de world," i. e. be- 
 )re they joined the Church or came to " strive behind 
 
 lan half the population of the plantation is gathered together. Let 
 be the eTening, and a light-wood fire bums red before the door to 
 le house and on the hearth. . . . The benches are pushed back to 
 le wall when the formal meeting is over, and old and young, men 
 id women, sprucely-dressed young men, grotesquely half -clad field- 
 mds — the women generally with gay handkerchiefs twisted about 
 leir heads and with short skirts — boys with tattered shirts and 
 len's trousers, young girls barefooted, all stand up in the middle 
 : the floor, and when the 'sperichil ' is struck up, begin first walking 
 ad by-and-by shuffling round, one after the other, in a ring. The 
 lot is hardly taken from the floor, and the progression is mainly due 
 • a jerking, hitching motion, which agitates the entire shouter, and 
 )on brings out streams of perspiration. Sometimes they dancesilently, 
 >metimes as they shuffle they sing the chorus of the spiritual, and 
 >metimes the song itself is also sung by the dancers. But more fre- 
 iiently a band, composed of some of the best singers and of tired 
 louters, stand at the side of the room to 'base' the others, singing 
 le body of the song and clapping their hands together or on the knees, 
 ang and dance are alike extremely energetic, and often, when the 
 lout lasts into the middle of the night, the monotonous thud, thud 
 : the feet prevents sleep within haK a mile of the praise-house." 
 <i&^ York Natian, May 30, 1867.) 
 
28 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 the Elders." He makes his own hymns, "praying to 
 de Lord Jesus to teach him as he in de woods — jine one 
 word 'ginst toder." They were ahnost unintelligible 
 as he deaconed them out, but I daresay they were his 
 own, unconsciously caught, perhaps, in part from what 
 he had heard in the white people's church. The only 
 song I could remember ran somewhat after this fashion : 
 
 Oh, Jacob's ladder. 
 Climb high, climb higher ! 
 Oh sodier of de jubilee. 
 When you git dere 'member me. 
 Oh! sodier of de cross I 
 
 In the introduction to "Slave Songs of the United 
 States," a collection made chiefly at Port Royal and 
 published in 1867, this particular song is set down as 
 spurious, that is, as being sung to a well-known "white 
 folks' " tune. But most of the negro music is described 
 as "civilized in its character, partly composed under 
 the influence of association with the whites, partly 
 actually imitated from their music. In the main it 
 appears to be original in the best sense of the word." 
 
 The same writer goes on : 
 
 " On the other hand there are very few which are of 
 an intrinsically barbaric character, and where this 
 character does appear, it is chiefly in short passages, 
 intermingled with others of a different character. . . . 
 It is very likely that if we had found it possible to get 
 at more of their secular music, we should have come 
 to another conclusion as to the proportion of the bar- 
 baric element. . . . Mr. E. S. Philbrick was struck 
 with the resemblance of some of the rowing tunes at 
 Port Royal to the boatmen's songs he had heard upon 
 the Nile. ... 
 
 " The words are, of course, in a large measure taken 
 from Scripture, and from the hymns heard at church; 
 and for this reason these religious songs do not by any 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 29 
 
 means illustrate the full extent of the debasement of 
 the dialect." Of words fimnily distorted through failure 
 to understand their meaning there are, however, many 
 examples. "Paul and Silas, bound in jail," was often 
 sung "Bounden Cyrus bom in jail;" "Ring Jerusa- 
 lem " appeared as " Ring Rosy Land," etc. etc. " I never 
 fairly heard a secular song among the Port Royal freed- 
 men, and never saw a musical instrument among them. 
 The last violin, owned by a 'worldly man,' disappeared 
 from Coffin's Point 'de year gun shoot at Bay Pint.'" 
 
 The negroes' manner of singing is pretty well sug- 
 gested by the following: 
 
 "The voices of the colored people have a peculiar 
 quaUty that nothing can imitate; and the intonations 
 and dehcate variations of even one singer cannot be 
 reproduced on paper. And I despair of conveying any 
 notion of the effect of a number singing together, 
 especially in a complicated shout. . . . There is no 
 singing in farts, as we understand it, and yet no two 
 appear to be singing the same thing — the leading 
 singer starts the words of each verse, often improvising, 
 and the others, who ' base ' him, as it is called, strike 
 in with the refrain, or even join in the solo, when the 
 words are familiar. When the ' base ' begins, the leader 
 often stops, leaving the rest of his words to be guessed 
 at, or it may be they are taken up by one of the other 
 singers. And the 'basers' themselves seem to follow 
 their own whims, beginning when they please and 
 leaving off when they please, striking an octave above 
 or below (in case they have pitched the tune too low or 
 too high), or hitting some other note that chords, so as 
 to produce the effect of a marvellous complication and 
 variety, and yet with the most perfect time, and rarely 
 with any discord. And what makes it all the harder to 
 unravel a thread of melody out of this strange network 
 is that, like birds, they seem not infrequently to strike 
 sounds that cannot be precisely represented by the 
 gamut, and abound in ' slides from one note to another, 
 and turns and cadences not in articulated notes.' " 
 
30 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 How the same songs could be sung equally well at all 
 sorts of work is explained by another writer/ as fol- 
 lows : " Of course the tempo is not always alike. On 
 the water, the oars dip 'Poor Rosy 'to an even andante, 
 a stout boy and girl at the hominy-mill will make the 
 same 'Poor Rosy' fly, to keep up with the whirling 
 stone; and in the evening, after the day's work is done, 
 ' Heab'n shall-a be my home' [a line from ' Poor Rosy '] 
 peals up slowly and mournfully from the distant quar- 
 ters. One woman — a respectable house-servant, who 
 had lost all but one of her twenty-two children — said 
 to me: 'Pshaw! don't har to dese yer chil'en, misse. 
 Dey just rattles it off, — dey don't know how for sing 
 it. I Ukes " Poor Rosy " better dan all de songs, but it 
 can't be sung widout a full heart and a troubled sper- 
 rit!'" 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Saturday, May S. Directly after breakfast I mounted 
 the pony, followed by Tom to open the gates. In this 
 way we proceeded to Fripp Point, the plantation which 
 belongs to this one. Just before we reached the Point, 
 Tom started my horse, and before I knew it I was on 
 the ground from the saddle's having turned unijer me. 
 The horse behaved perfectly well, and I mounted and 
 rode on towards the quarters (there is no white peo- 
 ple's house here), where I could see St. Helena Village 
 across the creek — a Deserted Village of a dozen or 
 more mansions with their house-servants' cabins be- 
 hind them, and two churches in a large pine wood, free 
 from underbrush, where there are only one mulatto 
 woman and her two children, belonging to this place, 
 
 ' Miss Lucy McKim, in a letter to the Boston Journal of Music, 
 November 8, 1862. 
 
1862] LETTEBS FROM PORT ROYAL 31 
 
 the sole occupants.^ The village is directly on the creek 
 on a blufif like that on which Beaufort is situated, about 
 eight feet high, and is the place where the white peo- 
 ple used to spend the summers for health and society 
 — those who did not go North to travel, or to Beaufort. 
 This Fripp family had a house in each place, besides 
 this one at Pine Grove. As he [Tom] walked along- 
 side the horse, I questioned him about the old family, 
 and found that it consisted of William Fripp and his 
 wife Harriet, their four sons and a daughter. The old 
 man they aU speak of with respect as a "good mam." 
 Mass' Washington they represent as not liking the 
 war,^ and papers have been found which prove this 
 true. Mass' Clan's was a doctor and very kind, and 
 lived at the village — "bes' young massa we hab." 
 Mass' Eden hved alone on this place, and was from all 
 accounts a very bad man. With only one meal a day, 
 he lived on whiskey, and, beyond his own control most 
 of the time, he used to "lick wus 'an fire." The tree 
 in the yard to which they were tied, their feet a foot 
 or more from the ground, while he used the raw cow- 
 hide himself, has the nails in it now which prevented 
 the rope from sUpping — Flora showed it to me from 
 my window. They do not talk much unless we question 
 them, when they tell freely. As I opened shop this 
 afternoon, old Alick, head-carpenter and a most re- 
 spectable man, opened the cupboard door in the entry, 
 
 ' This old woman Mr. Philbrick had found "keeping guard over 
 her late master's household goods — i. e., seUing them." 
 
 ' A few weeks earlier than this, one of the drivers told Mr. Phil- 
 brick that Washington Fripp had just been shot near Charleston 
 for refusing to enlist. 
 
32 LETTERS FEOM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 but when he saw our dishes shut it with an apology, 
 saying that it was an old acquaintance and he wanted 
 to see what it was used for now. " I get sixty lash 
 for makin' dat two year Christmas, and hab to work 
 all Christmas day beside." WeU, Alick, those days 
 are over for you now. "Tank de Lord, missus, tank 
 de Lord." 
 
 By afternoon my hip was swollen and painful. I did 
 not go downstairs again that night; but hearing them 
 laugh at the dinner-table over some experience of Mr. 
 G.'s, found it was this. He had been telling them [his 
 pupils] that it was necessary that they should be punc- 
 tual, study hard, and behave well in order to have a 
 good school, and talking to them Saturday night about 
 the fresh week that was coming, in which they must 
 try hard, asked what three things were necessary for 
 a good school. A question which was received in pro- 
 found silence, for it is almost impossible to make them 
 put that and that together, till one boy about nineteen 
 rose and said very solemnly, "Father, Son and Holy 
 Ghost!" 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 Pine Grove, May 3. Sunday, besides its other vir- 
 tues, in this place brings us bread, and an opportunity 
 to send and receive letters. Mr. Eustis takes a large 
 bag of loaves in his carriage, which are shared out to 
 hungry superintendents after service. Eustis's house 
 and his plantation serve as general caravanserai to our 
 whole establishment. His overseer house — a mile 
 from his own — is the depot for supplies for these out- 
 side islands. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 33 
 
 Our cotton-agent has at last paid off our plantations 
 and will probably say farewell this coming week. We 
 also have made a small payment to the hands of 
 $1.00 per acre for all the cotton they had planted up 
 to a certain date. The slight sum has had a very good 
 effect. Other things have aided it. The cotton-agent 
 paid them partly in goods. As soon as they had re- 
 ceived the money from him and ourselves, we opened 
 store, putting our goods at cheap prices. The stock 
 consisted of the clothes I brought with me, those which 
 K. sent me, and some pieces Mrs. Philbrick brought 
 with her, with some furnished by the Commission; 
 also a barrel of molasses, some tobacco, and shoes. 
 The "sweetening" and the clothing were at cheaper 
 prices than anything they have been accustomed to, 
 so they were greatly pleased and we have sold out 
 rapidly. The good effect is already quite noticeable, 
 — but they are by no means all clothed. The men and 
 boys, especially, stick to their rags. [The money] ob- 
 tained from our private boxes will be expended in buy- 
 ing other articles for the negroes, to be sold again, or 
 distributed to them, as may seem best. A vast deal of 
 dissatisfaction among the people has been saved by 
 this method of distributing the clothing. The faithful 
 workers have all had money. AH understand and like 
 the arrangement. 
 
 I have made a rather elaborate explanation of all 
 this, because to some perhaps it will seem to be a strange 
 and suspicious operation. 
 
 The natural impulse to treat the negroes as objects 
 of charity was thus early found to be a mistaken one; 
 by the end of November the Government, too, had 
 
34 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 ceased to give tjiem anything, the system of rations 
 having done, as is remarked in one of the letters, "too 
 much harm already." The time never came, however, 
 when there was not heard from the North abundant 
 criticism of the kind which H. W., in her letter of April 
 29, and W. C. G. here are trying to disarm, and the 
 superintendents had to outgrow their fear of being 
 blamed for "strange and suspicious operations." 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Sunday, May 4. They had had a "Shout," which 
 I had heard distinctly at three o'clock in the morning 
 when I happened to wake up. They come from all the 
 plantations about, when these meetings take place for 
 the examination of new members, "prodigals and raw 
 souls," as 'Siah said, he being an elder and one of the 
 deacons. They do not begin till about ten o'clock 
 Saturday night, when the examinations commence 
 and the other services, after which they keep up the 
 shout till near daylight, when they can see to go home. 
 They admitted two this time, and, as Uncle Sam re- 
 marked, " they say there is joy in Heaven over one sin- 
 ner that repenteth, so we rejoice over these souls that 
 have come in." 
 
 A good many of the girls came up. They lay round 
 the floor or squatted about as I read and sung hymns 
 to them; they were very much surprised that I was not 
 afraid to sleep alone in such a big room — said Miss 
 Juliana and Miss Lynch, Mass' Sam and Mass' Willie and 
 their Mamma used to sleep there. These people do not 
 use any feminine adjective, and their "hims" are very 
 confusing sometimes. Harriet walked down to the house 
 behind me from school the other day for some sugar 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 35 
 
 for a sick baby, and I asked her the name of a bird 
 that flew across our path. "Him de Bed bird." I 
 thought the Red bird was all red, I said. "Him de 
 'oman bird, marm, de mam bird all red, him de 'oman 
 bird, marm." The girls hung round till the faithful 
 Flora appeared to "wash me down" with the tide. 
 Everything here depends on the tide; Susan will not 
 make butter when the tide is going out — it would take 
 it all day to come; and Flora would bathe the swelling 
 when the tide was going out, that it might carry it 
 with it. 
 
 No letters when they came from church — four 
 weeks from home, and never a word. 
 
 In the aftemooji I walked out in the yard a few steps, 
 and it was pleasant and touching to see how eagerly 
 they watched me and passed the word, " Miss Hayiot's 
 comin'," with bow and curtsey, asking, " How you find 
 yourself to-day. Missus?" "Glad to see you on you 
 feet, marm." 
 
 May 5. I had the school come up to me on the piazza, 
 a plan I shall adopt for the future; it is cool and plea- 
 sant, saves me a walk which will be warm by and by, 
 and also from the fleas of the praise-house. Louisa 
 came up to give me two eggs, carefully wrapped in 
 her apron. This makes over a dozen I have had brought 
 to me by my grateful pupils. 
 
 May 6. In the afternoon Flora brought me a letter 
 to read to her, which proved to be from her husband, 
 who is cook to some officers at Bay Point. I am quite 
 curious to see him — she is so fine and the children 
 are among the brightest here. Some soldier had written 
 it for him, and she was too pleased for anything at her 
 
36 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 first letter. It was signed "York polite," which she 
 told me was his title. I can't make out whether they 
 give each other surnames, and this is his, or whether 
 it is really a title, as she says, like " Philip the Fair." * 
 She told me what to say, and I wrote an answer for 
 her. 
 
 May 8. A Baptist minister, who came out with us 
 and has been appointed the pastor of the island, came 
 to lunch, went to the other plantations with Mr. Phil- 
 brick, and has come back to spend the night. He had 
 been up to the praise -meeting by Uncle Peter's invi- 
 tation. He is very much puzzled what to do about the 
 religious feeling of these people and their habits and 
 customs. I hope he will let them alone. 
 
 May 9. Went up to the praise-house for school in 
 the morning; it is so hard to get the Kttle things together 
 and then, like as not, they have half of them to be sent 
 back to wash their faces and hands. Asked the little 
 children questions, such as "What are your eyes 
 for?" "For see 'long." "Teeth?" " For chaw 'long, "etc. 
 
 Sunday, May 11. In the morning a number of the 
 women had come up to the house to see us. It seems 
 they have always been in the habit of coining into the 
 yard on Sundays. Tira, Sim's wife, brought me three 
 little fish fried. The women said that all the people 
 here were bom on the place, and no new hands had 
 ever been bought, only one sold, and his master allowed 
 him that privilege because his wife belonged in Charles- 
 ton and he wanted to belong to the same man. 
 
 Flora said at lunch, as she brushed off the flies, that 
 her husband York was at work on the " main " (land), 
 ' A "title " was a negro surname of whatever derivation. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 37 
 
 she did not know where, on a house, with five of their 
 carpenters, when the war broke out, or rather, before 
 the Fort here was " taken away," as they say, and that 
 then the white people had not food enough to feed the 
 blacks, and she is quite sure all her brothers and sisters 
 who were carried off were dead before this — starved. 
 York was five weeks getting back here, and arrived 
 about Christmas. 
 
 LLmus came for a reading-lesson, a man about fifty, 
 driver on one of Mr. Soule's plantations next this, who 
 comes over almost every day for me to teach him. He 
 has a wife here and grown children, and another on 
 the other plantation, the rascal. He is very smart and 
 learns well.* 
 
 Mr. Philbrick had business with Mr. Pierce, and 
 did not come home to dinner. But he got into more 
 business than he expected before he came back, and 
 
 ' The following description of Limus and his subsequent doings 
 is copied from a letter of W. C. G.'s (June 12, 1863), which was printed 
 by the Educational Oimimssion in one of a series of leaflets contain- 
 ing extracts from Port Royal letters: 
 
 "He is a black Yankee. Without a drop of white blood in him, he 
 has the energy and 'euteness and big eye for his own advantage of a 
 bom New Englander. He is not very moral or scrupulous, and the 
 church-members will tell you 'not yet,' with a smile, if you ask whether 
 he belongs to them. But he leads them all in enterprise, and his am- 
 bition and consequent prosperity make his example a very useful 
 one on the plantation. Half the men on the island fenced in gardens 
 last autumn, behind their houses, in which they now raise vegetables 
 for themselves and the Hilton Head markets. Limus in his half-acre 
 has quite a Uttle farmyard besides. With poultry-houses, pig-pens, 
 and corn-houses, the array is very imposing. He has even a stable, 
 for he made out some title to a horse, which was allowed; and then 
 he begged a pair of wheels and makes a cart for his work; and not 
 to leave the luxuries behind, he next ipigs up a kind of sulky and bows 
 
38 LETTEES FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 I never saw a poor man show suflFering more than he 
 did when he came in after ten o'clock and told us what 
 he had received orders to do the next day. While he 
 was at Mr. Pierce's, writing, young Hazard Stevens 
 came over with despatches from Gieneral Hunter ' or- 
 dering all the agents to send him in the morning all 
 the able-bodied black men between the ages of 18 and 
 45, capable of bearing arms, on the plantations. There 
 was no explanation whatsoever of the reasons for the 
 demand, no hint of what was to be done with them, and 
 
 to the white men from his carriage. As he keeps his table in corre- 
 sponding style, — for he buys more sugar . . . than any other two 
 families, — of course the establishment is rather expensive. So, to 
 provide the means, he has three permanent irons in the fire — his 
 cotton, his Hilton Head express, and his seine. Before the fishing 
 season commenced, a pack of dogs for deer-hunting took the place 
 of the net. While other famiUes ' carry ' from three to six or seven acres 
 of cotton, Limus says he must have fourteen. To help his wife and 
 daughters keep this in good order, he went over to the rendezvous 
 for refugees, and imported a family to the plantation, the men of 
 which he hired at $8 a month. . . . With a large boat which he owns, 
 he usually makes weekly trips to Hilton Head, twenty miles distant, 
 carrying passengers, produce and fish. These last he takes in an im- 
 mense seine, — an abandoned chattel, — for the use of which he pays 
 Government by furnishing General Hunter and staff with the finer 
 specimens, and then has ten to twenty bushels for sale. Apparently 
 he is either dissatisfied with this arrangement or means to extend his 
 operations, for he asks me to bring bim another seine for which I am 
 to pay $70. I presume his savings since ' the guns fired at Bay Point ' — 
 which is the native record of the capture of the island — amount to 
 four or five hundred dollars. He is all ready to buy land, and I ex- 
 pect to see him in ten years a tolerably rich man. Limus has, it is 
 true, but few equals on the islands, and yet there are many who fol- 
 low not far behind him." 
 
 ' Major-General David Hunter, who on March 31 had taken com- 
 mand of the newly created Department of the South, consisting of 
 the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 39 
 
 nothing but our confidence in General Hunter's friend- 
 liness to the race gave us a shadow of comfort. But 
 that would avail little to the negroes, who would lose 
 the confidence they are beginning to feel in white 
 men. Yet there was but one thing for us to do, and it 
 was with heavy, aching hearts that at midnight we 
 separated. Companies of soldiers were to be sent from 
 Beaufort in the night and distributed to the different 
 plantations to prevent the negroes from taking to the 
 woods, so that we were not surprised at being roused 
 about two hours after by thundering knocks at the 
 front door, echoing through all these empty rooms with 
 a ghostly sound. This proved to be Captain Stevens again, 
 alone, who had stopped to enquire the way to some 
 of the other plantations he had to notify, and say that 
 the soldiers would be here in about an hour. We had 
 scarcely got to sleep again before we all were roused 
 by their arrival, and eight men, a Captain and Sergeant 
 of the New York 79th Highlanders, tramped through the 
 house. Mr. Plulbrick gave them a pail of water and 
 some hardtack, for they had had a long walk, and then 
 they stretched themselves on the floor of one of our 
 empty parlors as quietly as could be, considering them- 
 selves in luxury. We slept as best we could the rest of 
 the night, and were up early to get the soldiers their 
 breakfast and get ready for the heart-sickening work. 
 You never saw a more wretched set of people than sat 
 down to our breakfast-table. I could not eat, for about 
 the first time in my life. Nothing had been said to any 
 one. Joe saw the soldiers on the floor when he opened 
 the house door in the morning, and wore a sober face 
 when we came down, but no one asked any questions. 
 
40 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 and we moved about, seeing to the breakfast, trying to 
 look as usual (and failing), getting out tobacco and 
 crackers to give the men on all these plantations when 
 they went off. It had been airanged that Mr. G. should 
 see to these two plantations after Mr. Philbrick had 
 taken part of the soldiers to CoiEn's Point. When he had 
 gone, Mr. G. began on Joe before he went to the field 
 for the other hands — telling him that General Hunter 
 had work at Hilton Head for a great many black men, 
 that he did not know what for, but had received orders 
 in the night, and they must be obeyed and he must 
 march; he had to go at once to his house for his cap, 
 say good-bye to his wife and come to us to leave his will, 
 for he said he never expected to come back. We made 
 as light of the whole thing as we could, but did not dare 
 to say anything (as we knew nothing) which might make 
 them feel afterwards as if we had deceived them, for the 
 thing they dread is being made to fight, and we knew 
 that there had been men about trying to recruit for Hun- 
 ter's pet idea, a regiment of blacks. One man had been 
 obtained on this island! We told Joe that Mr. Philbrick 
 knew nothing about it and was going with them himself, 
 and gave him a letter Mr. Philbrick had written asking 
 for him to be returned as a personal favor, as he was a 
 house-servant. He did the same thing with each of the 
 drivers, for the good of the plantation crops. The men 
 were easily collected, ten here, and went off after aU with 
 much less emotion than we expected; the soldiers be- 
 haved admirably, delighted with the treatment they had 
 received, and cheering the negroes with tales of money 
 and clothes, treating them most kindly. Mr. Philbrick 
 called all the hands together at Coffin's and told them 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 41 
 
 the simple fact, all that he himself knew, and named 
 the men who were to go, and the whole thing was ac- 
 comphshed with much less apparent suffering than we 
 had supposed possible. Many of the men were not averse 
 to trying their hands at life in the world, for many of 
 their number have been and still are at work for officers, 
 etc., at Hilton Head and Bay Point, etc., with most 
 desirable pecuniary results, but they are afraid of being 
 made to fight. Flora, our heroine, said the women and 
 boys could take care of all the cotton and com if the 
 men did have to go — that they did not trust many 
 white people, but they did trust Mr. Philbrick. 
 
 The day passed in perfect quiet: the women finished 
 their work in the field, I kept school, Mr. G. came back 
 from the Point and after lunch took the driver's place, 
 sharing out the week's allowance of com to the people, 
 while H. and I sat under the shade of the trees, watqhing 
 or talking to the women. Wil'by, Joe's wife, was the only 
 one who seemed really sad and heart-sick — all the rest 
 were as usual. Dr. Wakefield ' came and recounted 
 his miseries while I set the tea-table, when, just as every- 
 thing was cleared away, Mr. G. came in, with his face 
 all aglow, to tell us that the drivers, Joe, and one or two 
 others had been sent back, and in a moment Joe ap- 
 peared, radiant with happiness. Mr. G. found he had 
 not seen his wife, so went to her cabin and told her the 
 ladies wanted her, and it was pretty enough to see her 
 simple dehght as she caught sight of Joe in the door- 
 way. They both laughed nervously, then shook hands 
 shyly, and she curtseyed, then hid her face against the 
 wall, saying, "I so thankful I can't say a word," and 
 
 ' Dr. Wakefield was physician for that end of St. Helena Island. 
 
42 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 pretty soon, " Oh Joe, I could n't eat the hominy for 
 dinner; " and Joe, " I could n't eat the biscuits, either, 
 that Mr. Philbrick gave me, had to gi' um away — and 
 then I was so glad, I did n't feel hungry till I got home." 
 We sent them off to eat hominy and be happy, and sat 
 down to write with lighter hearts ourselves. 
 
 Mr. Philbrick soon appeared. He found Mr. Pierce 
 had been down to Hilton Head and found what he had 
 in part suspected to be the fact. General Hunter found 
 that the negroes misapprehended his wishes and ideas, 
 and he could not raise as many as he wanted, so had 
 resorted to these measures, meaning to give the men 
 an idea of the life and drill, and after a few weeks not 
 retain any who wished to return to their homes. All 
 the superintendents were indignant at the way the thing 
 was done, but it will not turn out so badly as we feared, 
 I trust. The people are used to being made to do things, 
 and are not in the least rebellious, as any white man 
 would have been. If we can have blacks to garrison the 
 forts and save our soldiers through the hot weather, 
 every one will be thankful. But I don't believe you could 
 make soldiers of these men at all — they are afraid, and 
 they know it. 
 
 The cotton-agent left Coffin's Point to-day, so that 
 we can go there now whenever we can get the house 
 ready. Then we shall have horses and vehicles more at 
 our disposal; you may hear of our carriage and span 
 yet, but I shall hate to leave here. This moon is lovely, 
 and to-night the flats are covered with water by the full 
 moon tide, and the sea looks as if it came to our doors, 
 
 The opinion just expressed concerning the impossi- 
 bility of making soldiers from Sea Island negroes was. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 43 
 
 very naturally, the view that prevailed at this time among 
 the superintendents and teachers; in the extract that 
 follows it is stated with even more decision. As the 
 letters progress, the reader will see the development of 
 a complete change of mind on this point. 
 
 TROM w. c. G. 
 
 May 27. Negroes — plantation negroes, at least — will 
 never make soldiers in one generation. Five white men 
 could put a regiment to flight; but they may be very 
 useful in preventing sickness and death among our 
 troops by relieving them of part of their work, and they 
 may acquire a certain self-respect and independence 
 which more than anything else they need to feel, if they 
 are soon to stand by their own strength. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 May 13. Old Peggy, the " leader " from Fripp Point, 
 came over, and Flora brought her to see the school. She 
 sat on the doorstep, very much interested and uttering 
 frequent ejaculations of " Oh Lord!" H. had her sew- 
 ing-school, and then I my regular session, with dimin- 
 ished numbers. Hope the men took their books. Saw 
 Wil'by to-day and asked if she did not feel pretty well, 
 when Susan answered, " She feel pretty well. Missus, 
 but I don't; can't feel right with five boys all gone, not 
 so much as that (pointing off the end of her finger) left 
 of one of them; two carried off by Secesh, one with a 
 Captain of ours at Fort Pulaski,^ not heard from since 
 Christmas, and now two gone yesterday." But she 
 seemed to feel, spite of her regrets, that if they could 
 help she was glad they should. Flora said old Peggy 
 ' On Cockspur Island, Georgia. 
 
44 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 and Binah were the two whom all that came into the 
 Church had to come through, and the Church supports 
 them, and she contributed thirty-five cents to get her 
 some flannel for garments, which she had always been 
 used to tiU now. Of course we gave them to her. 
 
 May 14. Our new equipage with its two horses drew 
 up, and I got in, while H., shocked at the rags, cut out 
 the lining of the top of the buggy, showering me with 
 sand thereby. The buggy and horses were legacies from 
 Mr. S., the cotton-agent, who departed yesterday. 
 
 There have been seven babies bom on the three plan- 
 tations since we came, and thirteen since Mr. Philbrick 
 came, for which we have been able to supply but Httle 
 and that only on this place. The Master always pro- 
 vided for the new babies two of each garment and half 
 a dozen diapers. 
 
 I found that they had a most heart-rending time [at 
 Mr. Eustis' plantation] on Monday. The two compa- 
 nies of soldiers coming over Sunday night had frightened 
 them, and they kept watch aU along the creek through 
 the night of their own accord, for fear of Secesh. The 
 thing was not judiciously done the next morning, and 
 seems to have made a great deal of suffering which was 
 avoided here. 
 
 May 15. After lunch I walked down to the quarters 
 and stopped at all the cabins. Found two of the men 
 had already come back from Hilton Head and had eased 
 the minds of all the mothers and wives by the reports 
 which they brought back of comfortable quarters, good 
 food and clothing, confirming all our statements. I think 
 here a greater degree of confidence than ever will be 
 estabUshed by this painful episode. Mr. Philbrick says 
 
LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 45 
 
 they have not behaved so well at Coffin's Point as to-day 
 since he came. We walked down to the field to see them 
 hoeing corn in their own "nigger field" — what is 
 raised for the plantation, not their own private patches, 
 but that out of which their weekly peck comes, and 
 which therefore they will work on out of hours. Their 
 task ^ is done, often, by eleven o'clock. 
 
 Went to see Binah. She is always very glad to see us, 
 and to-day reached to a little shelf at the foot of the bed, 
 off tyhich she took a small tin paU and gave us three eggs 
 — her last. I remonstrated, but she said, " You gib me 
 ting, I say tank 'ee," so I picked them up and thanked her. 
 
 Mr. Philbrick sent for the people to make the final 
 payment for cotton-planting, which is now finished, and 
 we stood at the window to watch them as they came up, 
 and help give out the money. One woman, who had 
 not done so much work, was disturbed at not getting as 
 much money as the others, and Mr. Philbrick could 
 not make her understand. Flora came to H. afterwards 
 and said, " You must excuse we niggers, we no sense, 
 and Mr. Philbrick so patient; all Secesh on these islands 
 could n't make so much as he has with we." 
 
 May 16. Dr. Wakefield arrived with the news of the 
 rebel Flag-steamer's having escaped from Charleston 
 through the inside passages, passed Beaufort and gone 
 
 ' As the quarter-acre "task," which was all that the planters had re- 
 quired of their slaves each day, had occupied about four or five hotirs 
 only, it will be seen that the slaves on the Sea Islands had not been 
 overworked, though they had been underfed. Like the "task," the 
 "private patches" were also an institution retained, at E. L. Pierce's 
 suggestion, from slavery times, with the difference that their size was 
 very much increased — often from a fraction of an acre to ten times 
 that amount. 
 
46 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [18C 
 
 to Hilton Head. It was manned by blacks, who cam 
 off at two o'clock night before last with their wives an 
 children, the officers having all gone ashore. It mounte 
 two guns, and had four others on board which were t 
 be taken ' somewhere, passed Sumter with the rigl 
 signals, and Beaufort with a Federal flag, and was sei 
 back there again from Hilton Head. I should like \ 
 have been in Beaufort. It is magnificent. 
 
 The sales have been quite large, as Mr. Philbrick 
 denims ^ have amved, and the negroes had yesterda 
 their second payment. The cloth is sold at the whoL 
 sale price, as it was bought. I am afraid they will nevi 
 get it as cheap again. Now we can give away the mac 
 clothes with more freedom. 
 
 Got old Peter to make me a piggin for fresh water i 
 my chamber; as they always carry everything on the 
 heads, a pail is no advantage. It is of a red color, an 
 very nicely made. When I gave it to Flora to fill, si 
 said, " him name Harriet " — whether intended as 
 compliment to me or to the piggin I could not unde 
 stand. When we told Joe about the steamer, he e: 
 claimed, "Gracious! 'zackly, that done beautiful," ar 
 kept exploding through the rest of dinner, " my glory, 
 "gracious," "smartest ting done yet." 
 
 May 17. H. called me out of school this morning 1 
 see one of the crew of the Planter, the steamer th 
 ran off from Charleston. He proved to be a man f roi 
 McKee's plantation who had a wife and children i 
 Coffin's Point and had come round in a boat with a ere 
 
 ' By the rebels. 
 
 ' He had ab-eady had sent down from the North a quantity 
 articles to sell to the negroes. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 47 
 
 and pass from General Stevens ' to take them to Beau- 
 fort. Almost all the men came from about here; David 
 had two brothers with wives at Coffin's Point who were 
 afraid to run the risk, and, though they belonged to the 
 crew, went ashore. The pilot first proposed the plan, 
 and they arranged a day or two beforehand with the 
 wives they had there, took them on board in boats I 
 think at two o'clock, passed Fort Sumter with the signal, 
 two long whistles and a short, and came round inside 
 the islands so that they did not encounter any of our 
 blockading fleet till they came off Otter Island, where 
 there is a vessel lying within sight of Coffin's Point. 
 Then they raised the Federal flag which was on board, 
 were boarded by our men and cheered as they passed 
 on their way. Beaufort was amazed at a steamer with 
 the Federal flag coming from that direction. The guns 
 were to be mounted between Sumter and Charleston 
 at the new Fort Ripley. David said they had made up 
 their minds to blow up the vessel rather than be taken 
 — they knew they should have no mercy. I hope the 
 men who stayed were not hung for not informing. He 
 said Charleston was "very interrupted," not a white 
 woman left in the town, as they were expecting an 
 attack from the Federals. He reports coffee at $1.50 a 
 pound, sugar 50 cents there, but I don't know how much 
 he is to be reUed on; he was very quiet and modest — the 
 fireman ; said he used to work in the field here, but would 
 " go f urder " before he ever would do it again. 
 
 To-day a quantity of bacon, which was sent from Phil- 
 adelphia, was given out to the hands on both the Fripp 
 
 ' Brigadier-Greneral Isaac 1. Stevens, then at Beaufort, command- 
 ing the Second Division. 
 
48 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 plantations. There has been a good deal of trouble about 
 their working Saturday, and the bacon was only given 
 to those who went into the field to-day, I hope with good 
 effect. They have not done a third the usual work this 
 year, and it is hard to bring anything to bear upon them. 
 I hope Captain Saxton, who we hear is coming out as 
 head of the whole concern, will have sufficient authority 
 to settle some points which have been left to the indi- 
 vidual superintendents and with regard to which they 
 have not pursued the same course, malting it very hard 
 for some. 
 
 Rufus Saxton, Captain in the United States Army, 
 had been a quartermaster at Hilton Head ever since 
 its capture. On April 29, 1862, he was assigned, as 
 Brigadier-Greneral of Volunteers, " to take possession of 
 all the plantations heretofore occupied by the rebels" 
 in the Department of the South, "and take charge of 
 the inhabitants remaining thereon within the depart- 
 ment, or which the fortunes of the war may hereafter 
 bring into it, with authority to take such measures, make 
 such rules and regulations for the cultivation of the land 
 and for protection, employment, and government of the 
 inhabitants as circumstances may seem to require." 
 He was to act under the orders of the Secretary of War, 
 and, so far as the persons and purposes specified were 
 concerned, his action was to be "independent of that 
 of other military authorities of the department," and 
 in all other cases " subordinate only to the Major-Gen- 
 eral commanding." Many of Saxton's orders are signed 
 "Brigadier-General and Military Governor," but of 
 course he was never a military governor in the sense in 
 which that term was used of Lincoln's military governors 
 of states. Doubtless Saxton was recommended for his 
 position by General Hunter, both being ardent anti- 
 slavery men. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 49 
 
 FEOM H. W. 
 
 Sunday, May 18. Started [for church] directly after 
 breakfast in the buggy. It is the first time I have been 
 up, and I am glad to have seen the sight. The church ' 
 is of brick, in a grove of very beautiful Kve-oak trees 
 wreathed with grapevines and hanging moss, under 
 which were tied every conceivable description of horse 
 and vehicle, from Mr. Pierce's six-seated carriage and 
 pair of fine Northern horses to the one-seated sulkies, 
 and mules saddled with cotton-bags. Just as we arrived 
 the people were all pouring out of church after Sunday 
 School, for a short intermission before the service. I 
 was very sorry to lose that part of the performances. 
 Mr. Hooper is superintendent, and they say has an 
 admirable faculty at interesting the children, who are 
 taught besides by the white people present in classes. 
 We had a pleasant chat with Miss W. and Miss Towne 
 and the gentlemen, most of whom do not meet at all 
 except once a week at church, and then the people were 
 collected again, and when they were seated, Mr. Pierce 
 summoned us, the four ladies, to an empty pew with 
 himself. The church is painted white inside, very plain, 
 with galleries, and filled full of black people, — doors, 
 windows and aisles. Dr. French had come over from 
 "BiflPert," as they call it, and conducted the services. 
 He read a hymn through, " Am I a soldier of the Cross ? " 
 etc., and then deaconed out two lines at a time, while 
 
 ' The " Brick Church " was a Baptist Church which had always 
 been used by both blacks and whites. Less than a mile away stood 
 the " White Church," Episcopalian, — closed since the flight of the 
 planters. 
 
60 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 the negroes sang it in their peculiar, nasal manner, 
 one always leading. He preached them an admirable 
 sermon, familiar in its style. He told them of his visit 
 to the men who had been carried to Hilton Head, which 
 interested them very much and comforted them too, 
 I guess. Compared them to the Israelites coming out 
 of Egypt, as in a transition state in which everything 
 depended upon themselves — they must not behave so 
 ill that God would mdke them wander forty years in 
 the wilderness instead of reaching Canaan in eighteen 
 months. It was pleasant to see their interest — the 
 " elders " all sat under the pulpit and in the front seats, 
 and many would nod their heads from time to time in ap- 
 probation, equivalent to the " 'zackly " and " jus' so " of 
 their every-day speech. They were all well dressed — a 
 few in gaudy toggery, hoopskirts, and shabby bonnets, 
 but mostly in their simple " head hankerchers " [which] 
 I hope they will never give up. Many of the men on the 
 road had their shoes in their hands to put on when they 
 got to church. Most of them wear none. The women, 
 many of them, came up to shake hands with us after 
 church and said they must come and see us. There 
 are no white ladies on the islands beside us and those 
 at Pope's (Mr. Pierce's). 
 
 Mr. Hooper told us of General Hunter's proclama- 
 tion declaring all slaves free in South Carolina, Georgia, 
 and Florida.' We got no letters or news from the North 
 of any sort, and are waiting anxiously to know how this 
 news is received there and what has happened since we 
 heard last. He promises free papers to all who enlist, 
 and gives each a chance to come home to his family if 
 
 ' Issued May 9, and on May 19, nullified by President Lincoln. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 61 
 
 he concludes to do so. Expresses great regret that the 
 thing should have been done as it was, but I don't know 
 what he could expect, and it will be some time before 
 the impression wiU die out, particularly among the wo- 
 men. The men are well contented there, and most of 
 them wiU stay, I daresay; there are over five hundred. 
 May 19. This evening Dr. Wakefield arrived with the 
 Doctor of the Roundhead Pennsylvania Regiment. Said 
 the pilot of the Planter, as he passed Fort Sumter 
 at daybreak, broke into the Captain's room, put on his 
 regimentals, and walked up and down the deck mim- 
 icking the Captain's gait, so that if they should use 
 their glasses at Fort Sumter no suspicion should be 
 excited! 
 
 May 20. We are fortunate in being on a plantation 
 so far from town, the soldiers, and the influence of the 
 cotton-agents. At Coffin's Point the people have shown 
 the effects of having soldiers quartered there so long, 
 though they were a less simple and quiet sort than these 
 in Secesh times. The quarters here are the cleanest and 
 prettiest I have seen, though there is room for improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The day has been a very busy one. A large box of 
 Philadelphia clothing I overhauled, made a list of every- 
 thing in it, and with H.'s help rolled up half and packed 
 again to go to Coffin's Point. It is the last box of cloth- 
 ing we shall have, I hope. We thought we should enjoy 
 the giving more things, now that the goods have come 
 by the piece which they prefer to buy, but they are so 
 jealous, and it is so hard to keep the run of so many 
 famiUes so as to distribute the garments equally, that 
 it is hard work, and proves the wisdom of those who 
 
52 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 decided it was best to sell in the first place. The old 
 people and babies of course we give to entirely, *'. e., as 
 far as we have the means. I should like a box fuU of 
 baby-clothes and flannel for the old rheumaticky women, 
 whose garments are all worn out. 
 
 Heard Joe tell Flora, "Don't call me 'Joe' again; 
 my name Mr. Jenkins." I find they aU have surnames, 
 of one sort and another, a wife taking her husband's. 
 
 May 22. When they go into the field to work, the 
 women tie a bit of string or some vine round their skirts 
 just below the hips, to shorten them, often raising them 
 nearly to the knees ; then they walk off with their heavy 
 hoes on their shoulders, as free, strong, and graceful as 
 possible. The prettiest sight is the corn-shelling on Mon- 
 days, when the week's allowance, a peck a hand, is 
 given out at the corn-house by the driver. They aU as- 
 semble with their baskets, which are shallow and with- 
 out handles, made by themselves of the palmetto and 
 holding from half a peck to a bushel. The com is given 
 out in the ear, and they sit about or kneel on the ground, 
 shelling it with cleared corn-cobs. Here there are four 
 enormous logs hollowed at one end, which serve as mor- 
 tars, at which two can stand with their rude pestles, 
 which they strike up and down alternately. It is very 
 hard work, but quicker than the hand process. After it 
 is all shelled, the driver puts a large hide on the ground 
 and measures each one's portion into his basket, and 
 men, women, girls, and boys go off with the weight on 
 their heads. The corn-house is in a very pretty place, 
 with trees about it, and it is always a picturesque sight — 
 especially when the sand-flies are about, and the cliil- 
 dren light corn-cob fires to keep them off. The corn is 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 53 
 
 ground by hand by each negro in turn for themselves; 
 it is hard work and there are only three hand-mills on 
 the place, but it makes very sweet meal and grits. The 
 negroes do not hke the taste of that which is ground by 
 steam-miU at Beaufort; I suppose the heat of the stones 
 hurts it. The blacks at Hilton Head, who have had our 
 Indian-meal given them as rations, cannot eat the " red 
 flour." * They separate the coarse and fine parts after 
 it is ground by shaking the grits in their baskets; the 
 finest they call corn-flour and make hoe-cake of, but 
 their usual food is the giits, the large portion, boiled as 
 hominy and eaten with clabber. 
 
 E. S. P. TO EDWARD ATKINSON 
 
 Pine Grove, May 25. We received the Philadelphia 
 bacon and salt herring about a week ago and divided 
 it among the cotton-workers. I have also distributed 
 a part of the salt you sent. This allowance of bacon 
 was given once a fortnight and weekly at this season 
 by the different masters, and the quart of salt monthly. 
 Several plantations near Beaufort which had been 
 stripped of their com by the army have been referred 
 to me for supplies. I have loaded three flat-boats from 
 the corn-barns here and at Coffin's, where there was 
 a surplus, sending off 285 bushels sheUed com in all. 
 The removal of this com from my bams gave occa- 
 sion for some loud and boisterous talking on the part 
 of some of the women, and made the driver of this 
 plantation feel very sober, but I pacified them by tell- 
 ing them the Government showed its determination 
 to provide for them by this very act, for here were sev- 
 ' South Carolina com is white flint corn. 
 
54 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 eral plantations on Ladies Island, destitute of corn, 
 which might have been fed with much less trouble 
 from the pile of bacon and herring recently received, 
 but that the Government did not consider that a just 
 division of good things, so they sent me a part of the 
 bacon and fish, and took my corn to feed the destitute. 
 Thereby, said I, you are all gainers, for you have com 
 enough left to last tiU potatoes come, and you get the 
 bacon besides, for which you ought to be thankful. 
 The noisy ones stopped their clamor and the sen- 
 sible ones thanked me and hoped I would stay and 
 take care of them, saying they had about given up 
 hopes of seeing any more meat in their lives, and were 
 very thankful for even this bit to grease their hominy 
 with. 
 
 The people are taking hold of the cotton-fields with 
 much more heart than I had feared, after the levy of 
 recruits two weeks ago. The cotton has been mostly 
 hoed once and is growing well under the favorable 
 weather. Some of the corn is five feet high and it is all 
 hoed and ploughed except the latest portion, which 
 was planted this month. A small portion of the corn- 
 fields has been neglected, being the portions assigned to 
 some of the men who are absent. There were ten young 
 men belonging at Coffin's Point who escaped notice 
 on the day of the levy, but who, on learning that I had 
 called for them, came and delivered themselves up next 
 morning. I sent them on towards Beaufort and they 
 met Mr. Pierce on the road. He told them that General 
 Hunter did not want their service against their will, 
 and as they preferred to return home they did so. I 
 had just organized the whole gang anew after this. 
 
!62] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 65 
 
 hen Mr. S.,* who I thought was gone for good, turned 
 p with an order to collect cotton on the mainland, 
 ad requested me to let him have a boat's crew to ex- 
 lore for two days. I told him the men were all organ- 
 ed andatwork, each on his own acre, but if he could n't 
 Jt men elsewhere I should not refuse for such a short 
 me. The men came back on the third day without 
 It. S. and notified me that he had hired them (and 
 vo more joined them, making twelve in all) to collect 
 stton for a month or two on the neighboring territory 
 eyond our previous pickets, under protection of scout- 
 ig-parties detached for the purpose. The men were 
 fifered fifty cents per day, and as I had no authority to of- 
 !r anything definitely, except a house to live in and their 
 Uowance of com, I told them they were free to go 
 'here they pleased, but advised them to stay. Of course 
 ley aU went off, but have been back twice since to 
 pend a night and have gone again this morning. They 
 re nearly all active young men and are pleased with 
 lis roving sort of life, but you may imagine how fatal 
 nch a state of things is to my efforts at organization, 
 nd how demoralizing upon the general industry of 
 iose remaining at home these visits of the rovers are, 
 ) say nothing of the breaking up of old gangs and 
 bandoning allotments of land. Some of these men 
 rho were about to go with Mr. S. told me their wives 
 rould carry on their tasks while they were gone, and 
 told them that if they would do so I would let them 
 vail themselves of the proceeds of their labor, but if 
 lese patches should be neglected, I should assign them 
 ) other men, and their planting labor would be for- 
 ' The cotton-agent who had been at Coffin's Point. 
 
56 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 feited. Thus far I find but one neglected patch, and 
 unless this is soon hoed by some of the friends of the 
 sick woman to whom it belongs, I shall have to assign 
 it to some one else. It is a common practice among 
 them to hire each other to hoe their tasks, when sick- 
 ness or other causes prevent them from doing it them- 
 selves, so that most of the tasks of the lying-in women 
 are taken care of by sisters or other friends in the 
 absence of their husbands. 
 
 The more I see of these people the more surprised 
 I am that they should have done so much as they have 
 this year without any definite promise of payment on 
 our part, and with so little acquaintance with us. The 
 course we have been obliged to pursue * would not have 
 got an acre planted by Irish laborers. I do not think it 
 the best course, but under the existing confusion it was 
 only one. If we were authorized to say that we could 
 pay a definite sum per one hundred pounds for cotton 
 raised, or a definite sum per month for certain services 
 performed, we might have accomplished much more, but 
 under the present arrangement I doubt if we can do the 
 usual work for next year's crop, i. e., in preparing manure. 
 The only men left upon these plantations are the old 
 ones and they are not fit to cut the marsh-grass com- 
 monly used for cotton manure. The only way I can 
 get the cornfields ploughed is by asking the drivers to 
 take the ploughs in their own hands, which they do 
 very cheerfully and with good effect, each one plough- 
 
 ' The Government not only had made no definite promise of pay- 
 ment, but it was of course unable to bring to bear on the negroes any 
 compulsion of any sort. They worked or not, as they liked, and when 
 they liked. 
 
1862J LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 57 
 
 ing three or four acres per day. I do not ^ink the 
 hands can be expected to work on all summer without 
 further payments of money or some equivalent. I wait 
 rather anxiously for the development of Captain or 
 rather General Saxton's instructions. He has not ar- 
 rived yet, but is daUy expected. 
 
 The two thousand five hundred yards of cloth you 
 sent me is all sold with the exception of about three 
 pieces, and paid for in cash; a few have said they 
 had no money and ask me to set it down in the book 
 for them to pay when they get money from the cotton. 
 I always trust them in this way when they desire it, 
 and find them very reluctant to run up a long score. 
 My willingness to trust them gives them confidence 
 that they will be paid for their cotton labor, and though 
 the "white folks" at Hilton Head are telling them 
 that the cotton crop is a mere speculation on our part, 
 I don't think they listen much to them. One man told 
 me to-day that nobody could cross the sill of my door 
 to harm me or my ladies while he could prevent it. 
 This same man was sent by his master, the day that 
 Hilton Head was taken, with a fleet of flat-boats, to 
 bring the secession soldiers away from their forts. 
 
 W. C. G. says of the situation at this time : 
 
 May 27. Between the gradual settling of affairs, the 
 people's growing confidence in us and in the Govern- 
 ment as paymasters, and the absence of the unruly 
 men, the plantations are getting on quite nicely. The 
 land, both com and cotton, has been divided and al- 
 
58 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 lotted to the hands, — so a new system of labor * is — 
 on our places — already inaugurated. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Monday, May 26. Had quite a talk with Flora over 
 the bed-making; she asked me to hem her a muslin 
 head-hankercher which York had sent her from Hil- 
 ton Head, and re-string some beads which had come 
 too and been broken. I promised to do it, telling her 
 she would have things enough to remember me by — 
 to which she responded, " Neber forget you, long as I 
 hab breath for draw." I find they are all beginning 
 to feel badly at our leaving,^ now they know we shall 
 reaUy go so soon. 
 
 This is 'lowance day, and school is always late Mon- 
 day p. M., but to-day, as they were all together, after 
 they got through their com, Ranty distributed some 
 salt and mackerel Mr. Philbrick had for them, which 
 kept them till six, our dinner-time, and they lost school 
 altogether, greatly to their regret. We went to the porch 
 to watch the groups, and as they passed us with their 
 baskets on their heads and fish wrapped in green leaves 
 in their hands, they all looked up and curtseyed, with 
 a "tank 'ee, Massa." 
 
 When Flora came in with the tea just after, she was 
 muttering, " Neber see a mam so payshun as Mr. Phil- 
 bri'," and then, turning to H. as if she was afraid she 
 did not appreciate his virtue, — " Miss Helen, not two 
 
 ' The old system of labor — the system in force in slavery times 
 — had been the "gang system," the laborers worldng all together, 
 so that no one had continuous responsibility for any one piece 
 of land. 
 
 2 For Coffin's Point. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 59 
 
 body in de worl' so payshun as him." I don't know 
 what had excited her admiration just then, but she 
 probably never saw a white man before who did not 
 swear, at least. For even her favorite Mass' Clan's she 
 does not consider as immaculate, though he would 
 "nebber drive nigger." 
 
 May 28. To the [Pine Grove] quarters to say good- 
 bye all round, stopping at each house. They seemed 
 quite sorry to have us go, expressing their regret by 
 presents of eggs. I filled my pockets and H. her hands; 
 then Mily held her apron and walked home with us; she 
 counted over three dozen in all. My children came in 
 the evening, and we went to bed early; and so passed 
 the last day at WiUiam Fripp's Pine Grove Plantation. 
 
 Coffin's Point, May 29. Before ten the two carts 
 were ready, and Flora and Joe mounted one to help 
 us get to rights. Then H. and Mr. Philbrick went off 
 in the buggy with the span. I was to have gone in the 
 sulky, but harness fell short, and I had to wait till Tom 
 could come back with the mule-cart. So I collected 
 the children and had a last school for them, and when 
 Tom came, locked the door, mounted the sulky (with 
 the white umbrella) onto which the saddles had been 
 tied, and, followed to the gate by the whole tribe sing- 
 ing " A, B, C," took my departure, the children shout- 
 ing as I bid them good-bye, "We come for see you!" 
 
 As I drove up to the house [at Coffin's] the yard 
 really looked attractive, as it has some grass in it, though 
 I had not thought the house so. But a day's work has 
 made a vast change, and to-night it looks quite habit- 
 able. It was built in good style originally, but it is very 
 old, and has been so abused by the negroes in the first 
 
60 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 place, and then from having had soldiers living in it 
 for so many months, it is very shabby. It must have 
 been handsomely furnished, to judge from the relics, 
 for they are nothing more — rosewood tables, side- 
 boards and washstands with marble tops, drawers and 
 doors broken in and half gone, sofas that must have 
 been of the best, nothing left but the frame; no one can 
 conceive of the destruction who has not seen it. The 
 rooms are twelve feet high, and the lower story is more 
 than that from the ground. The air is delicious, and 
 we shall find the blinds which are on the second story 
 a luxury. I have my own little bed, bureau, marble- 
 top washstand, three chairs and a large wardrobe, to 
 say nothing of a piano, in my chamber, which is I 
 should think eighteen feet square. 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 May 30. Schools are getting on pretty well, I sup- 
 pose, — slowly, of course. A few are really bright, — 
 a few really dull; the larger part — like the same pro- 
 portion of white children — could creep, walk, or trot, 
 according to the regularity with which they are driven, 
 and the time devoted to their books. While we have 
 been living at Pine Grove, there have been five schools 
 daily, teaching about one hundred and forty scholars. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 May 30. We have moved just in time, I guess, for 
 the weather will grow warmer now. Between eight and 
 eleven is the warmest part of the day; after that the sea- 
 breeze is sure to come up. 
 
 May 31. There is a line cut through the trees all 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 61 
 
 across the islands so that they can see the hght-house 
 from Beaufort. I asked Tom who cut it, as I rode over 
 the other day, and he said, "Yankee cut it." "Since 
 the Fort was taken?" "Long time ago." "The old 
 Masters cut it, then ? " " No, Secesh neber cut down 
 trees, make nigger do it; poor white men cut 'em." 
 I finally came to the conclusion that it must have been 
 done by the Coast Survey. I daresay they think we 
 are aU " poor white." Mary, a mulatto here, told Mr. 
 G. his clothes would be fifty cents per dozen for wash- 
 ing; that she used to have seventy-five cents in Charles- 
 on, "for real gentle folks!" 
 
 Sunday, June 1. H. called in Betty, Joe, and Uncle 
 Sam while she read, and after Mr. Philbrick had re- 
 peated the Lord's Prayer, Uncle Sam of his own accord 
 offered a very simple, touching prayer. He is an Elder, 
 and as honest and true as " Uncle Tom " himself — a 
 genuine specimen of that class among the negroes, 
 which exists in reaUty as well as in story. The younger 
 ones do not seem to be quite so religious a class, though 
 perhaps they are too young to tell, for young married 
 men like Joe and Cuffy seem to have genuine princi- 
 ple, and belong to the church. H. told Joe, when he 
 had been sulky for the first time, that she hoped he felt 
 better; she did not like to see him so. "Yes, Marm, 
 feel better now, Marm; you know de ole mam will rise 
 sometimes." And he told Mr. G. once that he should 
 not cry if his baby died, "'cause de Lord take him to 
 a better place — not punish him, 'cause he have no 
 sin;" but he said he should cry hard if Wil'by died, 
 because he knew she would be punished. (His wife is 
 not a " professor.") 
 
62 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 June 2. An officer from the gunboat off here came 
 ashore to see if he could hire some men, but Mr. Phil- 
 brick told him that General Hunter had taken off more 
 than he could spare. The officer seemed to think that 
 Hunter would be recalled and the regiment disbanded ' 
 — in which case Mr. Philbrick told him he did not 
 want the men and he might take what he needed. We 
 hear they are made sick by the change of diet; army 
 rations can't be very good for men who have lived on 
 hominy all their lives. He told us, moreover, a most 
 interesting piece of news; that the firing we heard the 
 other day was from the blockading fleet off Charles- 
 ton, which captured six and sunk three of a fleet of 
 English steamers, ten in number, laden with arms and 
 munitions of war, which were making an attempt to 
 run in to Charleston — thus letting only one escape. 
 I don't know whether it got in or off. 
 
 A semiweekly Advertiser and Tribune of May 14th, 
 with full accounts of the taking of New Orleans and 
 the battle of Williamsburg, which we have not heard 
 about, and the splendid doings have roused me all up 
 to full war pitch again. We have been so peaceful I 
 could not reaUze all that was going on. 
 
 E. S. P. TO EDWAKD ATKINSON 
 
 Coffm's Point, June 3. I suppose we shall lose Gen- 
 eral Hunter, for even if not recalled I don't see how he 
 could stay after Lincoln's proclamation. I must say 
 I think his. Hunter's action, premature and uncalled 
 for. It seemed to me very like the tadpole resolution 
 
 • As a result of Lincoln's proclamation of May 19 (see p. 50 n.}, 
 the regiment, all but one company, was disbanded in August. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 63 
 
 in " Festina lente." In this case, too, the tadpoles were 
 quite out of our reach except the small number in these 
 islands, who had virtually shed their tails in course of 
 nature already. I have great faith in Lincoln and am 
 ready to leave the question with him. I think the efifect 
 of Hunter's proclamation upon the slaves of these 
 states would be inconsiderable. They don't hear of 
 it, to begin with, and if they did they would n't care 
 for it. I am surprised to find how little most of these 
 people appreciate their present prospects. Once in a 
 while you find an intelligent man who does so, but the 
 mass plod along in the beaten track with little thought 
 about the future and no sort of feeling of responsibility. 
 They feel a sense of relief that no one stands to force 
 them to labor, and they fall back with a feeling of in- 
 difference as to whether they exert themselves beyond 
 what is necessary to supply the demands of necessity. 
 No better result can be hoped for tiU the time comes 
 for each to see the reward for his labor. At present they 
 are working upon faith, without even a definite pro- 
 mise as to what that payment shall be. Himter's course 
 is of far greater importance in its effect upon the po- 
 litical world in the North than in its immediate influ- 
 ence upon the status of the negroes in the districts to 
 which it applies. The secret of such exploits as the 
 crew of the Planter have lately performed lies in the 
 fact that the men were forcibly taken from this region 
 last November and wanted to get back home again. 
 If their old home had been in Charleston, they would 
 not have left it at the risk they incurred. In short, I 
 don't regard the blacks as of any account in a nulitary 
 light, for they are not a military race, and have not suf- 
 
64 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 ficent intelligence to act in concert in any way where 
 firmness of purpose is required. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 June 5. Mr. Philbrick brought one unwelcome let- 
 ter — an appointment from Mr. Pierce to Mr. G. to 
 some plantation at the other end of the island. He is 
 too valuable to be here. He is going to a hard place, 
 ten or twelve plantations, though with fewer negroes in 
 all than on these three. 
 
 The mule-cart came up and was loaded with all Mr. 
 G.'s things, and by nine o'clock he took his departure 
 on horseback, in his red flannel shirt and palm-leaf 
 hat looking quite Southern and picturesque. 
 
 [Later.] Here came my mopiing school, for the 
 first time, under Bacchus' conduct. I heard Ihem sing- 
 ing and went to the window to watch and see how he 
 was bringing them from the quarters. He is a cripple 
 in his hands, which turn backwards, and he has but 
 little control of his arms, but is much looked up to by 
 the other children. Of course he cannot do any work, 
 and Mr. G. has made him a sort of schoolmaster, and 
 he has always kept school when Mr. G. was away. He 
 manages them nicely, after his fashion — leaving them 
 in the midst if he happens to want to eat some hominy ! 
 They never have regular meals, but each one eats hominy 
 when he happens to want it. Well, soldiers have been 
 stationed on the place, and Bacchus had got some no- 
 tion of drill, so he marched up the thirty-five children, 
 six or seven in a row, holding hands to keep them 
 straight, and with two of the oldest boys for captains 
 on each side to administer raps with their sticks if they 
 
i 
 1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 65 
 
 did not keep in line, walking backwards himself to 
 oversee the whole company, with a soldier's cap on his 
 head, and shouting out his orders for them to sing 
 their different tunes all the way, — the funniest spec- 
 tacle himself imaginable. 
 
 Monday, June 9. Found that Bacchy^' brother Lester 
 had been taken sick Sunday morning and died at night, 
 so he did not bring up the school. Just after dinner we 
 saw the people assembling at their burying-place,^ and 
 H. and I went down to witness the services. Uncle Sam 
 followed us, book in hand and spectacles on nose, read- 
 ing as he walked. As we drew near to the grave we 
 heard aU the children singing their A, B, C, through 
 and through again, as they stood waiting round the 
 grave for the rest to assemble and for Uncle Sam to 
 begin. Each child had his school-book or picture-book 
 Mr. G. had given him in his hand, — another proof 
 that they consider their lessons as in some sort relig- 
 ious exercise. We were joined at once by Mr. Phil- 
 brick, and stood uncovered with the rest about the 
 grave, at the mouth of which rested the coffin, a rough 
 board one, but well shaped and closed. Uncle Sam 
 took off his hat, tied a red handkerchief round his head 
 and, adjusting his glasses, read the hymn through, and 
 then deaconed out two lines at a time for the people 
 to sing. He repeated the process with a second hymn, 
 when Abel made a prayer ; then Uncle Sam read from 
 
 ' This burying-place was "an imfenced quarter of an acre of per- 
 fectly wild, tangled woodland in the midst of the cotton-field, half- 
 way between here [the "white house"] and the quarters. Nothiag 
 ever marks the graves, but the place is entirely devoted to them." 
 [Prom a letter of H. W.'s, June 5, '62.] 
 
66 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 the Burial Service and began his exordium, apologiz- 
 ing for his inability to speak much on account of a sore 
 throat, but holding forth for about half an hour upon 
 the necessity for all to prepare for "dis bed," filling 
 his discourse with Scripture illustrations and quota- 
 tions aptly and with force, using the story of "Anto- 
 ninus and Suffirus " as a proof that God would not have 
 any " half religions " — that if anybody had " hid his 
 Lord's money in de eart' he must grabble for it before 
 'twas too late." He read from the service again, one 
 of the men throwing on earth at the usual place. When 
 they came to cover up the grave, the men constantly 
 changed hoes with those who had not handled them 
 before, that each might aid, women and .old men stoop- 
 ing to throw in a handful. Abel made another prayer, 
 they sang again and dispersed. 
 
 It was of this scene that W. C. G. wrote the follow- 
 ing lines : 
 
 THE NEGRO BURYING-GROUND. 
 
 'Mid the sunny flat of the cotton-field 
 
 Lies an acre of forest-tangle still; 
 A doister dim, where the grey moss waves 
 
 And the live-oaks lock their arms at will. 
 
 Here in the shadows the slaves would hide 
 As they dropped the hoe at death's release. 
 
 And leave no sign but a sinking mound 
 To show where they passed on their way to peace. 
 
 This was the Gate — there was none but this — 
 To a Happy Land where men were men; 
 
 And the dusky fugitives, one by one. 
 Stole in from the bruise of the prison-pen. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 67 
 
 When, lo! in the distance boomed the guns. 
 The bruise was over, and "Massa" had fled! 
 
 But Death is the "Massa" that never flees. 
 And still to the oaks they bore the dead. 
 
 'T was at set of sun; a tattered troop 
 
 Of children circled a Uttle grave. 
 Chanting an anthem rich in its peace 
 
 As ever pealed in cathedral-nave, — 
 
 The A, B, C, that the Hps below 
 Had learnt with them in the school to shout. 
 
 Over and over they sung it slow. 
 Crooning a mystic meaning out. 
 
 A, B, C, D, E, F. G,— 
 
 Down solemn alphabets they swept : 
 The oaks leaned dose, the moss swung low, — 
 
 What strange new sound among them crept ? 
 
 The holiest hymn that the children knew! 
 
 'T was dreams come real, and heaven come near; 
 'T was light, and liberty, and joy, 
 
 And "white-folks' sense," — and Gfod right here! 
 
 Over and over; they dimly felt 
 
 This was the charm could make black white. 
 
 This was the secret of "Massa's"' pride, 
 And this, unknown, made the negro's night. 
 
 What could they sing of braver cheer 
 To speed on his unseen way the friend ? 
 
 The children were facing the mystery Death 
 
 With the deepest prayer that their hearts could send. 
 
 Children, too, and the mysteries last! 
 
 We are but comrades with them there, — 
 Stammering over a meaning vast. 
 
 Crooning our guesses of how and where. 
 
68 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 But the children were right with their A, B, C; 
 
 In our stammering guess so much we say! 
 The singers were happy, and so are we: 
 
 Deep as our wants are the prayers we pray. 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 Captain Oliver Fripp's Plantation, June 9. I came 
 here, in consequence of a letter received from Mr. 
 Pierce, asking me to take charge over some planta- 
 tions here. There is a Mr. Sumner here, — lately ar- 
 rived, — who is teaching. The place is quite at the other 
 end of the island from Coffin's Point. At present I am 
 by no means settled; it seems like jumping from the 
 19th century into the Middle Ages to return from the 
 civilization and refinement which the ladies instituted 
 at Coffin's to the ruggedness of bachelor existence. 
 
 June 22. In regard to danger of sickness, I hear 
 much about it, — but I think it is exaggerated. The 
 white overseer stayed on Edgar Fripp's Plantation — 
 close by — aU summer. The planters generally went 
 to Beaufort or the Village, but I think very much as 
 we go out of town in summer. The summer was the 
 fashionable and social time here, when the rich people 
 lived together, gave parties, etc. 
 
 July 6. The people do not work very willingly, — 
 things are not so steady as they have become at Coffin's. 
 The district is even more exposed to the influence of 
 visits to and from the camps. 
 
 We had quite a celebration for the people on the 
 Fourth. A stage was erected near the old Episcopal 
 church in a cool grove of live-oaks, all grey with long 
 trails of Southern moss. A large flag was obtained and 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 69 
 
 suspended between trees across the road — it was good 
 to see the old flag again. The people had been noti- 
 fied the previous Sunday, and I should think about a 
 thousand were present, in gala dress and mood, from 
 all parts of the island. When the ladies, the invited 
 superintendents from Port Eoyal, and the General 
 (Saxton) ' had taken their seats, the people marched 
 up in two processions from each direction, carrying 
 green branches and singing. Under the flag they gave 
 three rousing cheers, then grouped around the stage. 
 The children from three or four of the schools marched 
 in separately. After a prayer and some native songs, 
 Mr. Philbrick, the General, and the Times reporter 
 addressed them, and then one of the old darkies got 
 on the stage and in an ecstasy of obedience and grati- 
 tude exhorted them to share his feehngs, I beheve. 
 
 For an hour and a half there was a general press for 
 the hard bread, herring, and molasses and water. When 
 everything was devoured, the superintendents rode up 
 to "the Oaks," — Pierce's headquarters,^ — and had a 
 collation. So much for Fourth of July. It was strange 
 and moving down here on South Carolina ground, 
 with the old flag waving above us, to tell a thousand 
 slaves that they were freemen,' that that flag was 
 theirs, that our country now meant their country, and 
 
 ' Saxton's first general order, announcing his arrival, is dated 
 
 June 28. 
 
 ' E. L. Pierce had changed his headquarters from " Pope's." 
 
 " From the first the anti-slavery Northerners at Port Royal had 
 
 had no hesitation in telling their employees that they were freemen. 
 
 Indeed, they had no choice but to do so, the tadpoles on these islands, 
 
 as Mr. Philbrick said, having "virtually shed their tails in course of 
 
 nature already." 
 
70 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 to tell them how Northerners read the Declaration — 
 "All men are bom free and equal." The people had 
 a grand time, they say, and seem really grateful for it. 
 It was a new thing for them, a Fourth of July for the 
 negro. In old times they worked, if with any diflFerence, 
 harder than usual, while their masters met and feasted 
 and drank. 
 
 The rest of this extract is an expression — which 
 will be followed later by many Uke it — of the sense 
 that people in the North were getting too complacent 
 a notion of what had been done and what could be 
 done for the Sea Island negroes. 
 
 Pierce's report ' has too much sugar in it. His state- 
 ments are facts, but facts with, the silver Kning out. 
 The starving, naked condition of the blacks was much 
 exaggerated when we started to come down here. 
 
 Jvly 25. On the whole, affairs conduct themselves 
 pretty quietly and regularly. The cases of discipline 
 are the most vexing and amusing. It is a peculiar 
 experience tp be detective, policeman, judge, jury, and 
 jailer, — all at once, — sometimes in cases of assault 
 and battery, and general plantation squows, — then 
 in a divorce case, — last Sunday in a whiskey-selling 
 affair; a calf -murder is still on the docket. 
 
 The next letter is the first from C. P. W., who went 
 to Port Royal early in July, on the same steamer with 
 Charles F. Folsom of Harvard. '62, who is often men- 
 tioned in the letters that follow, and with several other 
 young Massachusetts men who had volunteered as 
 superintendents. 
 
 '■ Pierce's second report to Secretary Chase on the Sea Islands, 
 dated June 2, 1862. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 71 
 
 FROM C. P. W. 
 
 Beaufort, July 7. We got our luggage into the May- 
 flower and started for this place [from Hilton Head] 
 about six o'clock. It was droll enough to find a party of 
 Boston men taking a sail in the old Hingham boat up 
 Beaufort River under United States passes, to super- 
 intend South Carolina plantations. 
 
 J%dy 15. Coffin's Point. The nearest of my five plan- 
 tations is three miles distant, along the shore road, and 
 the four on that road extend about two miles; my fifth 
 is on the upper road, to Beaufort, about four and a half 
 miles from the Point. The roads are mere tracks worn 
 in the fields, sometimes through woods, like our wood 
 roads, only more sandy. In front of my plantations 
 there are bushes on the right-hand side, for some dis- 
 tance, the field being bounded on the other side by woods. 
 Fields usually very long, sometimes three quarters of 
 a mile, divided across the road by fences, gates occur- 
 ring at every passage from one to another; the plan- 
 tation houses and quarters at an average of one third 
 of a mile from the road, paths through cotton-fields 
 leading to them. Imagine a perfectly flat country, re- 
 lieved by belts of trees, and intersected by rows of brush, 
 single trees standing here and there in the bare, hot 
 fields. Very little fresh water either in brooks or pools. 
 Salt-water creeks are to be crossed on the shore roads; 
 the richest lands in the adjoining meadows. A cotton- 
 field looks not unlike a potato-field, the rows higher and 
 more distinct, the plants further apart, usually two feet; 
 the rows five feet. Com planted on rows like cotton. You 
 would be surprised to see the soil in which these flourish; 
 
72 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 beach sand, in many places, is the principal ingredient. 
 The fields are very much the colour of the sea-beach. 
 We hve on the fat of the land. We are allowed $5.24 
 per month for rations, but I do not use even that. Rice, 
 sugar, and molasses are our principal draughts from 
 the Commissary. 
 
 The colonists referred to at the beginning of the next 
 letter were a thousand blacks from the island of Edisto, 
 which the United States Government, after taking, 
 had evacuated, as too troublesome to hold. The place 
 where they were quartered, as described in the first 
 sentence, was St. Helena Village. 
 
 FROM c. p. w. 
 
 July 20. The Secesh houses there are insufficient 
 to accommodate them all, and they stow themselves 
 in sheds, tents, and even in the open air, as best they 
 can. Many of them are to be distributed on planta- 
 tions where there are quarters; they will probably be 
 set to planting slip-potatoes and cow-pease. 
 
 Everything needs personal supervision here; every 
 barrel or parcel must be kept under your eye from the 
 time it leaves the storehouse in Beaufort till it is put 
 in your mule-cart, on Ladies Island. Then you must 
 be at home when the team arrives and see everything 
 brought into the storeroom. There is a good deal of 
 red tape, too, at Beaufort, the untying and retying 
 of which is a tedious and vexatious operation.^ They 
 are becoming more strict here in Beaufort in several 
 respects; passes are needed by every one. There is 
 
 ' " We have to spend more than half our time," writes Mr. Phil- 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 73 
 
 a great deal of running to Hilton Head and Bay Point, 
 which is to be stopped as far as possible. 
 
 July 30. I ride right through the morning, from 
 nine till four, without suffering from the heat so much 
 as in one trip to town and back one of our warm, still 
 days at home. I have my white umbrella, there is usu- 
 ally some breeze, often a very cool one; the motion of 
 the sulky puts me to sleep, but the heat of the sun has 
 not been oppressive more than once or twice on this 
 island. If I had attempted to follow aU the directions 
 I received before leaving, concerning my health, I 
 should have been by this time a lunatic. 
 
 Rust is such a common thing here that we get used 
 to it. Mrs. Philbrick's needles rust in her work-bag; 
 our guns, even after cleaning and oiling, are soon cov- 
 ered with a thin coating. Food moulds here very rapidly, 
 crackers soften and dried beef spoils. Hominy, of 
 course, is the chief article of food. I think it tastes best 
 hot in the negro cabins, without accompaniment of 
 molasses, sugar, or salt. 
 
 Our life here is, necessarily, very monotonous: the 
 hired people come and go, or we go and come to and 
 from them, and the mosquitoes and flies do very much 
 as we do. Mosquitoes are really a great annoyance at 
 times. They introduce themselves under the netting 
 at night in a very mysterious way, and wake us up early 
 with their singing and stinging. My theory is that those 
 that can lick the others get themselves boosted through 
 the apertures; the animal is smaller than ours at the 
 North. I think that they are unaccustomed to human 
 treatment; they will not be brushed away, and slapping, 
 if not fatal, only excites their curiosity. There is also 
 
74 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 a small fly which appears on warm days after a rain 
 in great numbers. Driving on my beat the other day, 
 and holding my umbrella in one hand and newspaper 
 scrap in the other, I was driven nearly wild by their con- 
 tinuous attentions. It is very easy to read driving here; 
 the roads are so sandy that the horse has to walk a great 
 part of the way and one is glad to be able' to employ 
 the weary hours with literature. 
 
 This is the greatest country for false rumors that I 
 ever was in. Communication is very uncertain, nothing 
 but special messengers to bring us news from the out- 
 side world. An occasional visit to Mr. Soule ^ or to 
 Beaufort enlivens the long weeks, and we welcome the 
 gathering at church on Sunday, with the gossip and 
 the mail and the queer collection of black beings in 
 gay toggery, as the great event of our lives. If it were 
 not for the newspapers, I might forget the time of year. 
 It is very amusing to be appealed to by a negro to know 
 how soon the 1st of August is; to tell them it is the 20th 
 of July gives them very Httle idea. 
 
 1 should like to look in upon you and bring you some 
 of the delicacies of the tropical clime, watermelions, 
 as the "inhabitants" call them, rich and red; huge, 
 mellow figs, seedy but succulent; plump quails, sweet 
 curlew, delicate squirrels, fat rabbits, tender chickens. 
 We fare well here. If the wretched country only had 
 more rocks and less sand, better horses, more tolerable 
 staff oflBcers,^ and just a little more frequent communi- 
 
 ' Richard Soule, Jr., was General Superintendent of St. Helena 
 and Ladies Islands, and was living at Edgar Fripp's plantation. 
 
 2 The first of many references to the frequent lack of sympathy 
 shown by army oflScers. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 75 
 
 cation with New England, I should perhaps be con- 
 tent to make quite a long stay, if I were wanted. 
 
 I will only remark at present that I find the nigs 
 rather more agreeable, on the whole, than I expected; 
 that they are much to be preferred to the Irish; that 
 their blackness is soon forgotten, and as it disappears 
 their expression grows upon one, so that, after a week 
 or so of intercourse with a plantation, the people are 
 as easily distinguished and as individual as white peo- 
 ple; I have even noticed resemblances in some of them 
 to white people I have seen. They are about as offen- 
 sively servile as I expected. The continual "sur," 
 "maussa," with which their remarks are besprinkled 
 is trying, but soon ceases to be noticed. "Bauss" is 
 the most singular appellation, used by a few only. 
 
 "M's Hayyet's brudder" passed through the Pine 
 Grove "nigger-house" one day and retired, after a dis- 
 tinguished ovation, incubating, like a hen, upon a sulky- 
 box full of eggs. Promises to show Miss Harriet's pic- 
 ture, not yet fulfilled, were received with the greatest 
 satisfaction. 
 
 We have been making out our pay-rolls for May 
 and June; the blanks, delayed in the printing, have 
 just arrived. Red Tape. The money has been ready 
 a long time. We ought to pay for July at the same time. 
 This, understand, is only a partial payment, on account; 
 the full payment is to be made when the crop comes in. 
 Aug. 7. Last Friday Mr. Philbrick and I got our 
 money. The people generally took the payment in ex- 
 cellent spirit. A few seemed surprised, not knowing 
 what to do with so much money; a few, of course, 
 grumbled at the amount, though a clear explanation 
 
76 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 was always understood and received with reasonable 
 satisfaction. I thought that one or two were disposed 
 to take advantage of the fact that I had not taken the 
 account of acres,* and so tried to make a difficulty by 
 telling strange tales. But there was a great deal of 
 manliness and fairness shown, with a degree of pa- 
 tience and foresight that was very gratifying. 
 
 Aug. 16. Perhaps the best way to give you a satis- 
 factory notion of "what my work is, how I like it," 
 etc., is to give an account of a day's work on my planta- 
 tions. 
 
 Thursday, Aug. 14. I allow Mr. Philbrick to have 
 his horse saddled first, — this was poHte, — and as 
 soon as he is out of the gate — " Robert! " — " Surr ! " 
 " Put my smallest horse into the sulky." I retire within, 
 and collect the necessary equipment for a day "out," 
 viz.: white umbrella, whip (riding, long enough for 
 sulky use), plantation-book, spring-balance (some ra- 
 tions to be deUvered), much stout twine, for mending 
 harness if need be, paper of turnip-seeds, two thirds of 
 a pound of powder, and one novel, "An Only Son," for 
 occupation during the first weary hour, consumed in a 
 three miles walk over a sandy road. The young horse, 
 caught at last, — our stud of four graze on the turfy acre 
 fenced in about the house, — is a little restive at first in 
 the unwonted restraint of the harness, but soon gets 
 broken in to steady work by the heavy roads. Some- 
 what o ver an h our's slow progress brings me to the rude 
 portal I I which spans the entrance of the McTure- 
 ous estate. The houses of all the plantations on the Sea 
 Side road are to be found on the eastern, or left-hand 
 ' That is, the account had been taken before he came South. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 77 
 
 as one rides towards Hilton Head. The character of 
 the fields and quarters between the road and the water 
 is very much the same on all the places. The "water" 
 is a creek, separating the island proper from salt-water 
 marshes and the higher islands outside, against which 
 latter the ocean itself beats. The distance from the road 
 to the creek averages half a mile. The quarters, univer- 
 sally called "niggei>houses," are strung along the bank 
 of the creek, at about 100 feet from the water, on a ridge 
 between the water and the corn. The " big house " is 
 a two-story affair, old, dirty, rickety, poorly put to- 
 gether and shabbily kept. Here lived old Mrs. Martha 
 E. McTureous, with a large household. The James 
 McTureous place — the other half of this one — is 
 all in one and the same field. On both these places the 
 houses are terribly out of repair, with wooden chim- 
 neys and mud floors, the people dirty and suffering 
 from the effects of much confusion and discourage- 
 ment in the spring. Limus,' their old driver, did much 
 mischief by striving to keep up the old system, and at 
 the same time neglected the place to go and earn 
 money for himself. Then they suffered severely from 
 the black draft, their four best men being taken, from 
 a population furnishing only "eight men working cot- 
 ton," and thirteen full hands in all. Arriving as I did 
 after all the mischief was done, I have had rather a 
 discouraging time with them. 
 
 Entering the plantation, I am aware of old Nat. He 
 
 is hoeing pease. As I approach, he shouts, and comes 
 
 to the road, and lays before me a case of menace, ill 
 
 usage, and threatened assault. I inspected convales- 
 
 ' See page 37. 
 
78 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 cent boy, ascertained what work had been done, — 
 in a general way, that is, learning that corn-blades had 
 been, and were being, stripped, that all the able-bodied 
 men were cutting marsh-grass for manure, that Tirah 
 had planted a task of cow-pease for the Government, 
 but had allowed them to go to grass, — whereupon, 
 after personal inspection of said task, with an injunc- 
 tion to strip som.e com which was getting dry, I drove 
 over to the James McTureous place. Having received 
 from Mr. Soule two packages of Swedish turnip-seed, 
 I enquired concerning the manner of planting, how 
 much seed was required for a task, etc. Dismounting 
 from the suLky, and leaving it in charge of a returned 
 volunteer (I like the sarcastic phrase), who was unwell 
 and therefore lounging under the trees in front of one 
 of the nigger-houses, I went forth to the field to count 
 the acres of Government corn with the driver. On the 
 way, I counted up the tasks of pease, slip, etc., to see 
 if they coincided with the account given me by the peo- 
 ple. Found one and a half of corn worthless, except 
 for fodder. Conversed concerning marsh-grass, found 
 another hook for cutting would be acceptable, glad- 
 dened their hearts vsdth promise of turnip-seed, and 
 drove off. 
 
 Not the least curious part of the curious state of 
 things described in the next paragraph is the matter-of- 
 course view of it taken by the youthful superintendent. 
 
 By the way, Jim, driver on the James McTureous 
 place, used to be slave of Mr. Pritchard, residing in 
 Hunting Island,* which runs along just outside of St. 
 
 1 The term "Hunting Island" was applied to several of the out- 
 side islands collectively. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 79 
 
 Helena. He was a very cruel man, — there are stories 
 of his burning negroes, — so when the " guns fired at 
 Bay Point," as he could n't run from his negroes, as 
 the other masters did, for lack of transportation, his 
 negroes ran from him, and settled among their friends 
 on St. Helena. When matters were established at Hil- 
 ton Head, Pritchard went and took the oath and got 
 a pass, and has since lived at home, supporting him- 
 self by fishing and raising hogs. He often visits Jim 
 and others of his old slaves, getting them to go fishing 
 with him. Now one day last year, Jim and Mr. Prit- 
 chard found a four-oared boat — I give Jim's story 
 — on the beach. Pritchard promised Jim half the 
 value of the boat, but has since refused to fulfill his 
 promise. Jim referred the matter to me. I told him 
 to send Pritchard up to me. I think there will be no 
 trouble, if Jini's story is straight. 
 
 Cherry Hill, one of T. A. Coffin's * places, comes 
 next to McTureous'. Cherry Hill is one of the most 
 encouraging places I have. The people are of a more 
 sensible caste, old people, almost entirely, who see the 
 sense and propriety of right measures, and display a 
 most comforting wilUngness to work and be content, 
 though with less energy, of course, than younger men. 
 The place owes much of its success this year to Tony, 
 the driver, a person of great discretion, energy, and 
 influence. The ingenious method by which he induced 
 the people to plant more cotton than they wanted to is 
 entertaining, though a little troublesome to us in mak- 
 ing out the pay-roll. Mr. Palmer, Mr. Soule's assist- 
 tant, counted sixteen acres of cotton on the place. But 
 ' Thomas Astor CofBn, of CoflSn's Point. 
 
80 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 the several accounts of the people on the place added 
 up only fourteen and a half acres. In this perplexity, 
 Tony was appealed to, who explained the difficulty 
 thus. The land was laid off in rows, twenty-one to the 
 task, each row being one hundred and five feet long. 
 Tony staked off the tasks anew, throwing twenty-four 
 instead of twenty-one rows into the task, thus adding 
 twelve rows to every acre, which the people blindly 
 tiUed, never suspecting but that they were having their 
 own way about their cotton. 
 
 Mulberry Hill, owned by Captain John Fripp, is a 
 little place, with not many more hands than Cherry 
 Hill, but they are younger. The driver here is an ex- 
 tremely nice person, hardly energetic enough, I should 
 think, for the old system, but a very quiet, gentlemanly 
 man, perfectly frank and open in his manner, and a 
 little superior in his conversation to those by whom he 
 is surrounded. He is much respected in the dark com- 
 munity. It is to his bounty that I owe several huge 
 watermelons which I have brought home for our table, 
 besides several partial favors of the same kind, en- 
 joyed under his own roof. 
 
 To these people I was to deliver one month's rations 
 of hard bread. It comes in fifty-pound boxes ; and as 
 a day's ration is three quarters of a pound, and there 
 are thirty-one days in August, it requires but a simple 
 calculation to determine that each person entitled to a 
 full ration should receive twenty-three and one quarter 
 pounds, and that, one child being reckoned one sixth 
 of a grown person (monstrous, you will say, when eat- 
 ing is concerned, — but such is law), one box must 
 be delivered to every two grown-persons-and-one-child. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 81 
 
 Having the people together, I took the opportunity to 
 enquire of them the number of tasks of cow-pease, slip- 
 potatoes, etc., they had. planted, likewise the amount 
 of cotton they had hoed, "since Mr. Palmer took the 
 last account." It will be a great job making up the next 
 pay-roll. I hope the people won't lie worse than usual. 
 If they do, if the drivers should fail me, especially, — 
 if, as will probably happen, their own accounts, added 
 up, do not tally within several tasks with my count of 
 the whole, and if at the same time I shall be required 
 to make out the whole roll in two days, and both my 
 horses should have sore backs at once — you can im- 
 agine what a comfortable, easy time I shall have of it. 
 From Mulberry Hill, after looking at some doubtful 
 cotton in the field with the driver, Paris, and finally 
 setting it down as not properly hoed, I proceeded to 
 the next plantation, Alvirah Fripp's, commonly called 
 the Hope Place. It is the largest, the most distant, and, . 
 in many respects, the toughest plantation I have. There 
 are a great many men of twenty-five to forty, "tough- 
 nuts" many of them, and all looking so much alike 
 that it is impossible to remember the name that be- 
 longs to any one face, though all their names and all 
 their faces are familiar enough. I can see that it is a 
 great drawback to my obtaining their confidence to have 
 to ask one and another, as I ask, " how many tasks of slip 
 have you planted for the Government, and how many 
 for your own use ? " to have to ask also, in variously 
 modified phrase, " What 's your name ? " Recognize a ne- 
 gro, remember anything in which he has any interest, 
 and you have his confidence at once. I not only sur- 
 prised but made my fast friend a fellow on one of my 
 
82 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 places by calling him by his name the second time 
 I saw him. 
 
 The men on the Hope Place are not all of a poor 
 stamp, of course. The driver, Isaac, is my very ideal of 
 a nigger-driver on a large place, made alive. Strong of 
 body and up to all the dodges of the plantation life, 
 he shows the effect — not apparent, in such a disagree- 
 able manner at least, in Tony and Paris — of having 
 a good many rough fellows to manage. I do not think 
 he is liked on the place; I doubt his frankness; I think 
 he is somewhat disposed to kick against the new author- 
 ities, disputing, e. g., their right to take away "his" 
 horse, the little one Mr. Palmer and I foraged from 
 him the first day I came. 
 
 Charles, the carpenter, is a man after my own heart. 
 He attracted me first by his dignified and respectful 
 demeanor, and by his superior culture. He has a Uttle 
 touch of self-consideration. He, more than any other 
 negro I know, seems to me Uke a white person. I for- 
 get his color entirely while talking with him, and am 
 often surprised, on approaching a black man, to recog- 
 nize Charles' features. I think he is a pretty able fel- 
 low, — I should like to give him some regular employ- 
 ment in his trade. It seems an imposition to expect 
 such a man to work cotton and corn. 
 
 Beaufort is neither Bofort nor Boofort nor Biufort, 
 but Biift, the ii pronounced like the umlauted ii in Ger- 
 man. Sometimes one hears Biffut. Hooper, extremist in 
 ridicule, says Biffit. A letter of Mrs. Philbrick's went, 
 " missent," to Beaufort, N. C, which is, I believe, Bofort. 
 Had the pronunciation been written on the envelope, as 
 one hears it among the " black inhabitants," it would 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 83 
 
 have gone to the Dead Letter Office, unless, by good 
 luck, the S. C. had brought it as far as Hilton Head. 
 
 We get, first or last, a pretty good notion of one 
 another (you understand I am speaking of the white 
 population only), though we see very little of each other, 
 except when we are on adjoining plantations. The 
 Oaks is a rendezvous where we see each other at times; 
 we meet occasionally in Biffut; but church is the prin- 
 cipal meeting-house on the island, of course, and all 
 the gossip of the week is fully aired on Sunday. 
 
 There is very little to tell about General Saxton, ex- 
 cept that it is a great pity that he does not come onto 
 the plantations himself and learn something, personally, 
 of their state and their wants. He was extremely sur- 
 prised the other day when Mr. Philbrick represented to 
 him the necessity of making the last payment promptly; 
 it was then twenty days behind time. A good deal 
 of ignorance is shown in various ways in the orders 
 sent from headquarters — e. g., the order that has 
 been issued concerning marketing, nothing to be sold 
 on the plantations except by leave of the superintend- 
 ents and no boats to go to Hilton Head or Beaufort 
 without a "Market Pass" from the superintendent. 
 Until I hear that a guard is stationed [at Hilton Head], 
 — which I shall the day after it is done, — I shall not 
 order men to report to me before going over. I have 
 no idea of making a rule I cannot enforce. 
 
 On the whole, our work is succeediog as well as the 
 disappointments and hindrances' of the year allow 
 
 ' The chief "hindrance" was, of course, the late date at which 
 work on the cotton crop had been started; the land should have been 
 prepared in February, and the planting begun at the end of March. 
 
84 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 us to expect. A great deal will depend on the manner 
 and promptness of the next payments and the treat- 
 ment of the people at harvest-time. 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 Sept. 2. There is one frightful contingency, — a 
 much talked of evacuation. Where the people will go, 
 I know not; but possibly to Hayti. In that case I pre- 
 sume the superintendents wiU go with them, — I cei^ 
 tainly shall. General Saxton, I am soriy to say, goes 
 to-morrow in a gunboat — for his health. It leaves us 
 without a head and worse — renders evacuation all 
 the more likely. It is thought that his presence and 
 words prevented it several weeks ago. I doubt if he 
 comes back, — he is not satisfied with his work here, 
 does not enjoy it. It is properly the duty of a civilian, 
 who should have military rank merely to give him a 
 position. Saxton and his staff understand little or 
 nothing of the real wants of the plantations, and though 
 affairs have of course been improved by his presence 
 and authority, very little in proportion to our hopes 
 and our needs has been accomplished. We need a civ- 
 ilian, who is a first-rate business man, — of force, of 
 forethought, of devoted interest in this undertaking. 
 But there is no use in writing this, — rather some harm. 
 
 FROM C. P. W. 
 
 Sept. 6. Things are in a state of suspension gener- 
 ally; I confess that a decidedly azure hue has prevailed 
 during the last week. Talk of evacuation. General Sax- 
 ton's departure, threatened attacks, and even success- 
 ful forays on an island behind Hilton Head by the rebels. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 85 
 
 the increased inconvenience and vexation of red-tape- 
 ism, threatened changes in the policy to be pursued 
 towards the people in some minor matters, involving, 
 however, infringement of our authority with them, it 
 is feared, besides the breaking of promises already 
 made; the difficulty of getting them promptly and 
 properly paid, and of getting the value of their work 
 fairly estimated; the general inefficiency, ignorance, 
 and indecision of the authorities, wanting a defined 
 system and hampered by prejudice and ignorance and 
 selfishness, — all these things make the aspect of af- 
 fairs dark enough at times, and one gets discouraged 
 and disheartened and disgusted and disappointed, and 
 is ready to part and have nothing more to do with the 
 concern. When, in addition to actual evils, one feels 
 that there is a strong opposition to the enterprise, and 
 that the difficulties are made as vexatious as possible, 
 by jealous and hostile army officers, so that, in short, 
 the spirit of the stronger party here is against us; and 
 when, added to injury, one has to bear 
 
 " the law's delays, 
 The insolence of office, and the spurns, 
 Which patient merit of th' unworthy takes. 
 One almost swears his homeward voyage to make, 
 In the next steamer." 
 
 Ignorance and want of confidence are the two evils 
 which we suffer; want of confidence by the powers 
 in us, by us in the negroes. It is painful to note how 
 distrust must be the rule ; how every one must take it 
 for granted that those under him are cheats and liars. 
 Hence the necessity of red tape, and its delays and vex- 
 atious inconveniences. Mr. Philbrick says, "Working 
 
86 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 for a Corporation is bad enough, but working for the 
 Govemnient is very much worse." However, it would 
 n't be so bad if the Grovemment officers knew enough 
 of the plantation work to do the proper thing at the 
 proper time, even though they use the red-tape method 
 in doing it. I beUeve I knew more after being two 
 weeks on my places than the Heads do at Beaufort 
 now about the details of the work. 
 
 Sept. 9. General Saxton went North last Friday. It 
 is more than hinted that his principal purpose is to ob- 
 tain greater powers for himself. Hunter has gone North 
 too, "in disgust," it is said, and General Brannan, who 
 is said to befriend the enemies of the United States, 
 and has given Saxton a deal of trouble, is left at the 
 head of the Department. 
 
 Brigadier-General John M. Brannan was- in com- 
 mand for a fortnight only, pending the arrival of Major- 
 General Ormsby M. Mitchel. 
 
 Sept. 18. The President having sent word not to 
 evacuate, you need not be anxious about us. I was a 
 little afraid that A. L. would give in to Hunter, evacu- 
 ate all but Hilton Head, and colonize the negroes from 
 the other islands; glad he has more sense. 
 
 Here follows a detailed account of the kind of mag- 
 isterial power which the superintendents found them- 
 selves called upon to "assume," though they "had it 
 not." 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Sept. 23. Alex sent Finnie here before breakfast to 
 request me to come over at once, for Cato was driving 
 his, Alex's daughter Rose, his own wife, out of the 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 87 
 
 house. I rode over after breakfast. Found the whole 
 plantation excited and on the qui vive. Cato had broken 
 up Rose's bedstead and thrown it out of doors and 
 bundled up all her things. I began to talk with him, 
 but he was very saucy and threatened to kiU the first 
 man who interfered with him in "his own house." I 
 thought it quite time to test him, and taking hold of 
 his arm told him he must go home with me. He hung 
 back sulkily at first, but in a minute yielded and said 
 he would do so. I stepped out of the house and he after. 
 Caroline asked me to read her a letter from John at 
 Hilton Head, and while preparing to do so Cato dodged 
 about the house and made for the woods across the 
 cornfield. I cried out for him to halt, but he ran the 
 faster. I puUed out my revolver and fired two shots 
 over his head, but he only ran the harder, and never 
 stopped till he reached the woods. I then had a talk 
 with his father, old Toby, who "wished I had shot 
 bi'TTi and stopped the confusion," and with Alex, both 
 of whom I enjoined to hold their tongues in future. 
 When halfway home Cato stood waiting for me in 
 the road, opening a gate as I approached, touched his 
 hat and said he was very sorry for what he had done 
 and was willing to go with me. I told him to follow 
 me to the house and I would talk with him. I found 
 him very humble. I reasoned with him, teUing him I 
 was sure Rose's child was his and that he had done 
 her great wrong, that he ought not to listen to such 
 scandal after living peaceably with her for eight or nine 
 years. Cato said he hoped he should never do so again. 
 I told him that if I ever found him making any more 
 trouble here I should send him to work on Fort Pulaski. 
 
88 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 Mr. Philbrick's next letter shows him trying to arouse 
 the slothful by "sharing out" a bale of wlute cotton 
 cloth, in bonus form, to the industrious. 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Sept. 27. I gave one yard for every task of cotton 
 hoed in July, requiring about 600 yards. The Coffin 
 people all got some, but about half the people on the 
 Fripp plantations had to go without, having neglected 
 the last hoeing. The people who were too lazy to hoe 
 their cotton in July looked rather glum, and those who 
 got their cloth laughed and looked exultant. Some peo- 
 ple here got twenty-two yards, and many got only two 
 or three, but all took it thanifully and seemed content 
 that they got any. Those who got so little will have 
 to buy more, which they are doing already. I sell it 
 at about half the price that is asked by our own quarter- 
 master, so I shall be liberally patronized. In dividing 
 up this cotton cloth I deducted from the shares of those 
 people to whom clothing was given last spring the 
 value of that clothing. The only cases were those of 
 Martha, Amaritta, and Rosetta, to each of whom Mr. 
 G. gave a dress. Rosetta's cotton was only one acre 
 and her share of cloth was therefore but four yards, 
 which was fully paid for last spring. So she got nothing 
 now. She did n't take it very kindly, and growled about 
 the dress being too small for her, so she could n't wear 
 it, whereupon I offered to take it back, but I have n't 
 heard anything more about it. The more I see of these 
 people, the more I am opposed to the practice of giv- 
 ing them anything except in payment for services actu- 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 89 
 
 ally performed. The cases of destitution are compara- 
 tively very few. 
 
 At this time some of the superintendents were try- 
 ing hard to instruct the negroes in military drill. A 
 young enthusiast on one of the Fripp places was very- 
 proud of his little squad of black recruits, but found 
 their attendance on the daily drill amazingly irregular. 
 Apropos of his own efforts in this direction, Mr. Phil- 
 brick pursues his letter as follows : 
 
 I have tried in vain to get my young men together 
 to drill for self-defense; my twenty-five guns are lyiag 
 useless. One might as well think of a combination 
 among the Boston kittens to scratch the eyes out of all 
 the Boston dogs as to look for an insurrection in this 
 State, if the negroes on these islands are a fair sample 
 of those on the main. If there should be any insurrec- 
 tion in the South, it will not be in this State. The 
 negroes in the sugar plantation districts are different, 
 I suppose, being, a larger portion of them, Kentucky 
 and Virginia bom, torn from their old homes or sent 
 South for bad behavior, and therefore more revenge- 
 ful. But you know the people here are too timid to do 
 any fighting unless driven to it. If General Hunter had 
 not forced them into his regiment last May, we might 
 do more at drilling now. As it is, my men won't hsten 
 to me when I talk about it; they only suspect me of 
 wanting to press them into service by stealth, and lose 
 what little confidence they have in my sincerity. 
 
 C. P. W. opens the next letter with a melancholy 
 comparison between the autumnal glories of "home" 
 and the absence thereof on the Sea Islands of South 
 Carolina. 
 
90 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [H 
 
 FROM C. P. W. 
 
 Oct. 3. Here there are no stones but grindstones, 
 elevation that can be called a hiU except one moui 
 forty feet long and ten feet high, and that is artifici 
 The roads are sandy, the fields are broad and flat a 
 fuU of weeds, the water stands about in great poc 
 not ru nnin g off, but absorbing into the sandy soil. 
 
 I find myself often using nigger idioms, especia 
 in conversation with them. It is often very diffic 
 to make them understand English, and one slips it 
 the form of speech which they can most easily comp 
 hend. O how deliciously obtuse they are on occasio) 
 A boy came to me for a curry-comb for a Governme 
 mule this morning, which I was to send to the drii 
 on his place. While scratching my name on it, I ask 
 him if Jim had sent for some tobacco, as he said 
 should. "Yes, sarr." "Did he send the money 
 " Sarr ? " Repeated. " No, Sarr." " How much does 
 want?" "Don't know, Sarr." "How can I send t 
 tobacco, if I don't know how much he wants ? " "I 
 send for him, Sarr." " Did he send you for it ? " "IS 
 Sarr." "Whom did he send ? " "I dunno, Sarr." "He 
 will he get his tobacco ? " " He come himself, San 
 "Where is he?" "Him at home, Sarr." "He is coi 
 ing to get it himself, is he ? " " Sarr ? " Repeated, in ni 
 ger phrase. "Yes, Sarr." "Did Bruce send you f 
 anything beside the curry-comb ? " " Yes, Sarr." " Wh 
 else?" "Sarr?" "Did Bruce teU you fetch anythii 
 beside this?" "No, Sarr." "Is this all Bruce told y< 
 to get?" "Yes, Sarr," with intelligence. "Go horn 
 then, and cive that to Bruce. Good-momincp." 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 91 
 
 This delay in payments is outrageous. It was bad 
 enough to pay for May and June work the second week 
 in August; but here is the work of July and August 
 unpaid for yet, and with no prospect of its being paid 
 for for six weeks to come. 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Sunday morning, Oct. 5. The President's procla- 
 mation * does not seem to have made a great deal of 
 stir anywhere. Here the people don't take the slightest 
 interest in it. They have been free already for nearly 
 a year, as far as they could see, and have so little com- 
 prehension about the magnitude of our country and 
 are so supremely selfish that you can't beat it into their 
 heads that any one else is to be provided for beyond 
 St. Helena Island. After telling them of the procla- 
 mation and its probable effects, they all ask if they 
 would be given up to their masters in case South Caro- 
 lina comes back to the Union. I tell them there is little 
 chance of such a thing, but a strong probability that 
 there will be a long, bloody war, and that they ought 
 to prepare to do their share of the fighting. I can't get 
 one man to come up and drill yet. They say they would 
 like to have guns to shoot with, but are afraid of being 
 sent off into the "big fight," though willing to fight 
 any one who comes onto this island to molest them. 
 Of course their defense would amount to nothing un- 
 less they were organized and drilled. I do not, however, 
 feel any uneasiness about the rebels coming here. If 
 they came at all they would attack our forces at Beau- 
 
 * The preliminary proclamation of emancipation, dated Septem- 
 ber 22, 1862. 
 
92 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [186i 
 
 fort or Hilton Head, where I am confident they woulc 
 be whipped. Refugees continue to come in from th( 
 mainland every week. They aU agree in saying tha 
 there are no troops left about here but boys, and tha 
 it would be an easy matter to take Charleston now. 
 
 I am anxious to get the winter clothing here befor< 
 next pay-day, so the people may buy it in preferenc) 
 to the trash they see in the shops at Beaufort, etc. No 
 thing is heard of our money yet. Some say that Genera 
 Saxton will probably bring it. I only wish he woul( 
 come; his picket-guard at St. Helena amuses itsel 
 hunting cattle on the Fripp Point Plantation. As I hav( 
 no positive proof against them I can't do anything bu 
 watch the cattle to prevent a repetition of it. 
 
 October 7. I received on Sunday a copy of Presi 
 dent Lincoln's proclamation. I now feel more thai 
 jever the importance of our mission here, not so mucl 
 for the sake of the few hundreds under my own eyei 
 as for the sake of the success of the experiment we an 
 now trying. It is, you know, a question even with ouj 
 good President whether negroes can be made avail 
 able as free laborers on this soil. I, for one, believ( 
 they can, and I am more than ever in earnest to show it 
 for the importance of this question is greater than ever 
 now that we are so near a general crash of the whole 
 social fabric in the Southern States. I don't think th( 
 old masters will ever be successful in employing th( 
 blacks, but I do believe that Yankees can be. 
 
 Our people are picldng the cotton very industriously 
 and though they have only about one third of last year'i 
 crop to gather, they are determined to make the mos 
 of it, and allow none to waste. It is interesting to se( 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 93 
 
 how much more economical of food they are this year 
 than formerly. Every family now feels the responsi- 
 bility of providing food for itself. The same rule should 
 be followed with all tools. I would make the men pay 
 a low price for every tool they want to use, and pay 
 wages enough to enable them to do so.' 
 
 Oct. 8. I succeeded day before yesterday in getting 
 thirteen of the young men on this plantation to come 
 up and drill, but they did not come again yesterday. 
 I don't believe there is sufficient zeal among them to 
 enable them to go through the tedious routine of driU 
 with any regularity, unless held together by some 
 stronger motive than now exists. I find them rather 
 stupid. About half did n't know which their right foot 
 was, and kept facing to the left when I told them to 
 face to the right. They seemed to enjoy it, however. 
 
 FROM C. P. W. 
 
 Oct. 9. We need people at headquarters who un- 
 derstand the details of plantation work. There is no 
 one now who knows anything about the plantations 
 except Hooper,^ and he knows very little. He confesses 
 and mourns at it himself; but he has done nothing but 
 go back and forth between the Oaks and Beaufort ever 
 since he came down. There is a general want of con- 
 certed system on aU the places. Each superintendent 
 has to do as he thinks best in aU cases himself. Gren- 
 eral plans are usually determined on just too late. 
 
 ' It ■will be seen that this excellent idea was not adopted by the 
 authorities. 
 
 ' Edward W. Hooper served on Sajcton's staff, with the rank of 
 Captain. 
 
94 LE'rrEBS FROM POKT KOYAJL [IStSis! 
 
 Oct. 14. The steamer which brought your letter 
 brought also the General. It is said that he comes with 
 additional powers.^ This question will probably be 
 settled soon, as a difficulty has already arisen between 
 him and his old antagonist, Brannan, on a point of 
 authority, and our General has gone to Hilton Head, 
 probably to see Mitchel about it. This interference 
 of the military authorities with our work and our priv- 
 ileges is going to make trouble. One of Mitchel's first 
 acts was to send to Judd, as Superintendent of Port 
 Boyal Island, for 10,000 bushels of corn for army pur- 
 poses. Poor Judd had been rationing his people for 
 some time, owing to a lack of provisions occasioned 
 by the depredations of the soldiers. We have none 
 too much provision now, and any considerable drain 
 must throw the plantations, sooner or later, upon the 
 Government for support. 
 
 In the next letter (October 21) Mr. Philbrick says 
 that the com harvest, which is so light on St. Helena 
 as a whole that it will hardly feed the people in the 
 interval between old and new potatoes, will neverthe- 
 less amount to a surplus at Coffin's, adding : 
 
 I attribute the greater comparative success on my 
 plantations to my having abandoned the system of 
 working a common field early in the season.^ I now 
 measure the yield of each family's corn-patch sepa- 
 rately, with a view to pay them for it, if they have enough 
 for their support in their private fields, or to regulate 
 their allowance, if they need any, by the quantity they 
 raise. 
 
 ' He came with authority to raise negro troops. 
 ' See p. 68. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 95 
 
 We had a case of imprisonment here last week. I 
 learned that old Nat's boy, Antony, who wanted to 
 marry Phillis, had given her up and taken Mary Ann, 
 July's daughter, without saying a word to me or any 
 other white man. I called him up to me one afternoon 
 when I was there and told him he must go to church 
 and be married by the minister according to law. He 
 flatly refused, with a good deal of impertinence, using 
 some profane language learned in camp. I thereupon 
 told him he must go home with me, showing him I had 
 a pistol, which I put in my outside pocket. He came 
 along, swearing all the way and muttering his deter- 
 mination not to comply. I gave him lodging in the 
 dark hole under the stairs, with nothiag to eat. Next 
 morning old Nat came and expostulated with him, 
 joined by old Ben and Uncle Sam, aU of whom pitched 
 into him and told him he was very foolish and ought 
 to be proud of such a chance. He finally gave up and 
 promised to go. So I let him off with an apology. Next 
 Sunday he appeared and was married before a whole 
 church full of people. The wedding took place be- 
 tween the regular church service and the funeral, al- 
 lowing an hour of interval, however. 
 
 Cato never went back to E«se as he promised. 'Siah 
 tells me he is afraid of his father, old Toby, who has 
 been in a state of chronic feud with Rose's father, old 
 Alex, and does all in his power to make trouble. Cato 
 has gone over to Pine Grove and begun to build a house. 
 I daresay he will take Rose into it bye and bye, when 
 it is done. 
 
 I have been very busy lately weighing pease and 
 cotton and measuring corn. The latter is not very 
 
IjJillJiJtti J<itUiVl fUKl tiUlAIu iiaog 
 
 )leasant, for I have to stay in the corn-house and keep 
 ally from nine to three o'clock, and the weevils are 
 Qore numerous than were the fleas the first week we 
 ame here to live. Mosquitoes are about gone, but we 
 lave sand-flies again. No fleas yet that I am aware of. 
 
 FBOM C. P. W. 
 
 Oct. 23. General Saxton returned, as you know, with 
 ull powers from the President to raise one or if pos- 
 ible five negro regiments. I think it will be difficult 
 induce the men to enlist. Their treatment in the 
 pring and summer was such as to prejudice them 
 gainst miUtaiy duty under any circumstances. They 
 rere forcibly drafted, were ill-treated by at least one 
 fficer, — who is a terror to the whole black popula- 
 ion, — have never been paid a cent; they suffered 
 rom the change of diet, and quite as much from home- 
 ickness. I think if their treatment in the spring had 
 leen different, it would be possible to raise a regiment 
 n these islands; as it is, I think it will be surprising 
 [ they fill a company from St. Helena. I think, too, 
 bat it would be very difficult, under any circumstances, 
 train them into fighting condition under six months, 
 nd if they had at the first the prospect of coming into 
 ctual conflict with the Secesh, the number who would 
 le willing to enlist would be extremely small. They 
 lave not, generally speaking, the pluck to look in the 
 ace the prospect of actual fighting, nor have they the 
 haracter to enlist for their own defense. They can 
 inderstand the necessity of their knowing how to de- 
 end themselves, they acknowledge their obligations 
 help the Yankees, and do their part in keeping the 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 97 
 
 islands against their old masters ; a good many of them 
 express their willingness to fight under white officers, 
 and some have intimated a desire to know something 
 of drill and how to handle a musket. But they are very 
 timid and cautious. They fear that when they have 
 learned their drill they will be drafted. They are very 
 reluctant to leave their homes to go and live on HUton 
 Head or Port Eoyal, in camp, away from their famihes 
 and crops. The mere mention of "Captain Tobey," 
 with a hint that " General Saxton wants the black peo- 
 ple to help the white soldiers keep the Secesh off the 
 islands," sends them in panic into the woods. Mr. Phil- 
 brick saw the General this morning, and was told that 
 if the regiment were not raised we should have to give 
 up the whole enterprise; that the President and the 
 people of the North were looking to the raising of this 
 regiment as a test experiment. That if it succeeded and 
 it was found that the negroes could and would aid the 
 Government, then the Government would be encour- 
 aged to hold the islands, trusting not only that the 
 negroes could aid in defending them, but that as fast 
 as negroes were freed, they could be used effectively 
 against the rebels. Moreover, that the success of one 
 regiment here would make the President's proclama- 
 tion a more terribly effective weapon against the South- 
 erners. (There is no doubt that in many parts of the 
 South, especially on the Mississippi, the negroes are 
 much more intelligent than here. Those from the main 
 seem a superior class to those who have always lived 
 on the islands. The success of armed negroes of this 
 inferior class would indicate the danger of the masters 
 of other slaves of a higher class, when they leam that 
 
; LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 all slaves of rebel masters who enter into the service 
 ' the United States are forever free," with their fami- 
 
 5S.) 
 
 If, on the other hand, no black troops can be raised, 
 le General says that the Government will be discour- 
 sed from attempting any longer to protect at such an 
 :pense a people who cannot or will not aid in defend- 
 g themselves. I hope that General Saxton has not 
 ild out too grand hopes of the success of this under- 
 king to the President and to others at the North, and 
 hope he is exaggerating the importance of the move- 
 ent. Perhaps the President wants to try his coloni- 
 ition scheme on these people. He had better lose 
 campaign than evacuate these islands and give up this 
 [perimenl. This experiment and the war must go on 
 de by side. I hope that before the war is done we 
 laU have furnished the Government with sufficient 
 cts to enable them to form a policy for the treatment 
 ' the millions whom the conclusion of the war, if not 
 3 continuance, must throw into our hands. 
 I am very much afraid that the Government wiU 
 ok too much to the material results of the year's occu- 
 ition for determining the success of free labor among 
 le slaves. They will neglect to take into account the 
 iscouragements and drawbacks of the year. The 
 idden reaction consequent upon the change from 
 avery to what they hardly knew as freedom; the con- 
 ision incident upon military occupation (and the con- 
 adictory directions given concerning the year's crops); 
 le abundance of money where the cotton-agents and 
 Bficers were stationed, and the high wages promised 
 Ild often obtained, at Hilton Head and Beaufort; the 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 99 
 
 lateness of the cotton crop, the poorness of the seed, 
 the uncertainty and doubt and want of system in re- 
 gard to the management of the crops; the drafting of 
 the able-bodied men at a critical period, their hard- 
 ships and subsequent distrust and fear, or idleness 
 and insubordination; the changing of superintendents, 
 the fewness of both superintendents and teachers; and 
 lastly, the shameful delay in the payments, causing 
 distrust, carelessness, neglect of plantation work, and 
 in some few cases, suffering for want of the means to 
 purchase clothing. It is too bad to treat people so, and 
 it is wonderful how much they have done and in what 
 an excellent state they are, under these discouraging 
 circumstances. If they were assured of a market at 
 the end of the year, and sufficient money advanced 
 them to enable them to get "sweetening" and clothes 
 through the year, I would trust my plantations to go 
 right ahead, put their crops into the ground, and 
 insure to the Government a handsome surplus next 
 November. 
 
 The cheerfulness and hopefulness of the people in 
 regard to next year's crops, and the interest they take 
 in their success, is surprising. "If we live to see," "if 
 God spare life," they say, " we will plant early, and 
 begin in time, and then you will see. O — yes, sar." 
 
 Mr. Philbrick is appointed cotton-agent for this crop. 
 He is going to have the cotton ginned here, not at New 
 York. Good seed is scarce. The improved seed, the 
 result of many years' cultivation and selection, was 
 lost to the island by the policy of ginning last year's 
 crop in New York. 
 
100 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Oct. 27. When in Beaufort last Wednesday, I got 
 leave to pay off my people with, my own funds, through 
 the paymaster, Mr. Lee. So he came here next day, 
 and I advanced the funds, $649. I sent Joe out to tell 
 the people to come and get their money, but they did n't 
 come with the usual promptness; bye and bye two 
 men came to sound the way, the rest held back. I 
 laughed, at them and sent them off with the chink in 
 their pockets, after which the rest came fast enough. 
 They were evidently afraid of some trap to press them 
 into United States service as General Hunter did. I did 
 n't have the slightest difficulty in collecting what I had 
 advanced last September. Every one paid it cheerfully 
 and thanked us for what they got. This payment was 
 aU in specie. I don't think I shall be refunded in coin, 
 and shall probably lose the difference, which is now 
 about $120, but I don't grudge them this. I had rather 
 let it go than see them paid in the paper currency which 
 they can't read or judge of. It will come to that bye 
 and bye, however, for I can't get any more coin here, 
 and half of this money may not come back again into 
 my hands. 
 
 General Saxton is striving earnestly to fiU up his brig- 
 ade with negroes, but finds it very slow work. The 
 people are so well off on the plantations they don't see 
 why they should go and expose themselves. More- 
 over, the way they were treated last summer is not very 
 attractive to them. Many of their officers abused them, 
 and they were very generally insulted by every white 
 man they met. It will now require a good deal of time 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 101 
 
 and very judicious, careful treatment to get rid of these 
 impressions, particularly as some of the very officers 
 who abused and maltreated the men are stUl in General 
 Saxton's confidence and have places in his new organ- 
 ization. 
 
 I took this place ' more because I want to see the 
 work properly done and to keep it out of the hands of 
 speculators and sharks than because I wanted the 
 position. It is a useful position, however, and I mean 
 to make it so. 
 
 A meeting of superintendents ^ is to be held at the 
 Episcopal Church next Wednesday, which I shall at- 
 tend, and employ the occasion by trying to start some 
 more methodical system of employing the negroes 
 than heretofore. 
 
 Nov. 2. At the meeting we discussed several methods 
 of dealing with the com crop, and several of the super- 
 intendents reported that the negroes had raised hardly 
 enough com to feed the plantation horses and mules 
 on when at work. The small yield of cotton was also 
 talked over and its causes discussed. I do not think it 
 will pay expenses even on this island. My own plan- 
 tations will yield about $5000 worth, when I expected 
 $15,000, a good share of my crop having rotted in the 
 pods during the rains in the early part of October and 
 another share having dropped off the plant before fill- 
 ing, probably from lack of drainage after the heavy 
 July rains. 
 
 After returning from the meeting I found a large 
 box of woolen goods forwarded by Edward Atkinson. 
 
 * As Saxton's agent to collect and ship the cotton crop. See p. 99. 
 ' The superintendents of the Second Division of the Sea Islands. 
 
102 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 I sold $100 worth the next day. Though providing for 
 their wants quite freely, the people seem more frugal 
 with their money than last summer, and I am glad to 
 see them so. 
 
 As far as I can learn now there are very few gins able 
 to work ^ in the department. I have some very good 
 seed here and at Pine Grove which I think I can gin on 
 the spot. Mr. S.^ came and spent a night here. He 
 came to hire some men to go with him to pick up a lot 
 of stray timber on commission for the Government. 
 So my plans for ginning cotton here are postponed for 
 a while. I had flattered myself that we were fairly rid 
 of him, and the men were beginning to take an inter- 
 est in plantation work in his absence, but he turns up 
 again just as disagreeable as ever. 
 
 There have been great exertions made the week 
 past to fill the ranks of the first negro regiment. A Rev. 
 Mr. Fowler has been appointed chaplain and is at 
 work recruiting, appealing to their religious feelings. 
 He spent two nights here and talked in the praise- 
 house, both evenings. The women came to hear him, 
 but the young men were shy. Not one came near him, 
 nor would they come near me when he was present. 
 
 The last time I saw General Saxton he seemed to 
 think our whole destiny depended on the success of this 
 negro recruitment. It is certainly a very important mat- 
 ter, but I think as before that it is doomed to fail here at 
 present, from the imbecile character of the people. I 
 thought while at work with Mr. Fowler that if I were 
 
 * The negroes had broken the cotton-gins by way of putting their 
 slavery more completely behind them. 
 ' Again the cotton-agent. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 103 
 
 to go as Captain I might get a company without trouble, 
 but I failed to get a single man when seriously pro- 
 posing it to them. If I had been able to raise a com- 
 pany to follow me and the same men would not have 
 gone without me, I think I should have accepted Gen- 
 eral Saxton's offer,* but although I consider the arming 
 of the negroes the most important question of the day, 
 I don't feel bound to take hold unless I can give an 
 impetus to the undertaking. I think it would have been 
 attended with some degree of success a year ago at this 
 place, directly after the masters left, when the negroes 
 had more spite in them and had seen less of their facil- 
 ities for making money which they have enjoyed this 
 summer, and if General Hunter had not made his la- 
 mentable blunder, the men would not have been dis- 
 gusted with camp-life at least, but it is difficult enough 
 to get any one of them to feel any pluck. We succeeded 
 in getting Ranty to promise to go, and he seemed quite 
 earnest, but when he came to start next morning he 
 suddenly found he had a pain in his chest! his heart 
 failed him and he backed square out. Next day he 
 came over here and, after begging some time for me 
 to give him a shirt, without success, offered me in pay- 
 ment for it a counterfeit half-dollar which I had told 
 him a week ago was such, but which he had meantime 
 polished up and hoped to pass. So you see when a 
 man's heart fails him he will stoop to almost anything. 
 
 We had four couples married after church to-day, 
 
 Andrew and Phoebe of Pine Grove among the rest. 
 
 Mr. Phillips tried to tie all four knots at one twitch, 
 
 but found he had his hands full with two couples at 
 
 ' Evidently the offer of a captaincy. 
 
104 LETTEES FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 once and concluded to take them in detail. They all 
 behaved very well and seemed impressed with the cere- 
 mony, so it certainly has an excellent effect. We also 
 had an address from Prince Rivers,' a black coach- 
 man from Beaufort, who has been in Greneral Hunter's 
 regiment all summer, and is of sufficient intelligence 
 to take a lively interest in the cause of enlistment. He 
 has been to Philadelphia lately and comes back duly 
 impressed with the magnitude of the country and the 
 importance of the "negro question," but has not suffi- 
 cient eloquence to get many recruits. Of course the 
 young men kept away from church and wiU keep away, 
 so long as the subject is discussed. They have made 
 up their silly minds and don't want to be convinced 
 or persuaded to any change. 
 
 ' Of Prince Rivers, who became color-sergeant and provost-ser- 
 geant in the First South Carolina Volunteers, Thomas Wentworth 
 Higginson, its colonel, writes: " There is not a white officer in this 
 regiment who has more administrative ability, or more absolute au- 
 thority over the men; they do not love him, but his mere presence 
 has controlling power over them. He writes well enough to prepare 
 for me a daily report of his duties in the camp; if his education 
 reached a higher point, I see no reason why he should not command 
 the Army of the Potomac. He is jet-black, or rather, I should say, 
 wine-hlach ; his complexion, like that of others of my darkest men, 
 having a sort of rich, clear depth, without a trace of sootiness, and 
 to my eye very handsome. His features are tolerably regular, and 
 full of command, and his figure superior to that of any of our white 
 officers, being six feet high, perfectly proportioned, and of apparently 
 inexhaustible strength and activity. His gait is like a panther's; I 
 never saw such a tread. No anti-slaveiy novel has described a man of 
 such marked ability. He makes Toussaint perfectly intelligible ; and if 
 there should ever be a black monarchy in South Carolina, he will be 
 its king." (Army Life in a Black Eegivwnt, pp. 57, 68.) 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 105 
 
 You can imagine what a comfort it is to see Mr. G. 
 again and looking so well. 
 
 W. C. G., he who in June spoke so lightly of the 
 dangers of the Sea Island cUmate, had been danger- 
 ously iU during the summer and had been obliged to 
 go North for some weeks. In a letter written October 
 30 he refers to the death of one of the superintendents, 
 adding, " It greatly startled me." A month later another 
 of the superintendents died in the same house, which 
 later proved fatal to still a third white man. These 
 three were cases of typhoid, but the malarial fever of 
 the district not infrequently was as deadly; on October 
 30 General Mitchel himself died of it. The fact as to 
 the climate is expressed in one of the letters by the 
 statement that fevers were "common among the ne- 
 groes" and "universal among the whites." A letter 
 of Mr. Philbrick's, written early in October, speaks 
 of Captain Hooper's "indisposition" as having cut 
 down "the trio of tough ones" to himself and Mr. 
 Soule. 
 
 FROM E. s. p. 
 
 Nov. 7. Everybody has been at work this week 
 digging their winter crop of sweet potatoes, planted 
 with slips in July. They bear famously on all three 
 of my plantations, yielding in some cases two hundred 
 bushels per acre. You know I told every man to plant 
 for his own family separately, so that each one takes the 
 potatoes home to his own yard and buries them, for 
 winter use. They dig a hole about four or five feet in 
 diameter and one foot deep, in which they pack the pota- 
 toes and pile them up above ground in a conical heap 
 about four feet high. So when done they look like a 
 sort of overgrown muskrat's nest, or small wigyam.' 
 ' " These heaps are, hcus a mm, called holes." C. P. W. 
 
106 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 Large families have in some cases seven or eight of 
 these conical heaps in their back yards. 
 
 The mellowing effect of the potato harvest upon 
 the hearts of the people is manifest. Yesterday was 
 a rainy day and the women kept stragghng up here in 
 squads all day. Each one brought a basket of potatoes 
 on her head, from a peck to half a bushel, as a present 
 to me. Uncle Sam and Joe are making a cone of them 
 in the yard. Many of the children bring ground-nuts, 
 of which I now have half a bushel. They have raised 
 a good crop of them this year, and we amuse ourselves 
 evenings by roasting them in the ashes of our open 
 fire and munching them at leisure. I endeavor to 
 acknowledge all these good-will offerings in kind, by 
 making deposits of sugar or coffee in the baskets after 
 emptying the nuts. 
 
 We live in the dining-room now, that being the only 
 room without broken glass, and even there I can't get 
 the thermometer above 60° with all the fire I can build. 
 
 FROM c. p. w. 
 
 Nov. 8. The only interesting event the day that I 
 was in Beaufort I was obliged to leave without behold- 
 ing, viz. : the mustering in of the first full company of 
 the new regiment,' Captain James! They marched 
 through the streets just before I came away, making 
 a, fine appearance. Many of them were in the first 
 regiment,^ and the regularity and steadiness of their 
 marching was very creditable. They are a fine body of 
 
 ' The First South Carolina Volunteers (colored), Thomas Went- 
 iTorth Higginson, colonel. 
 ' Usually referred to as the "Hunter Regiment." 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 107 
 
 men. The regiment is filling fast, its friends are much 
 encouraged. A number of men from the regiment 
 (now numbering about four hundred) have been allowed 
 to return home for a few days, and I think they wiU 
 cany back quite a number with them. 
 
 We have been in occupation just a year. The future, 
 with the prospect of sale, or removal, or renewed blun- 
 ders and mismanagement, is not very cheerful. 
 
 FEOM w. c. G. 
 
 Nov. 15. Our island work is acquiring a little more 
 system, but I 'm not sure that the people are as good 
 as they were six months ago. Great mistakes have been 
 made, and I 'm afraid the experiment so far only shows 
 the absolute necessity of avoiding errors which com- 
 mon sense pointed out before any experience. Still, 
 my belief is n't altered that the slaves would speedily 
 become a self-supporting people, either by a system of 
 wise and humane care, or by the opposite method of 
 letting them alone to feel the misery consequent on idle- 
 ness and the comfort that with very many would at once 
 result from industry. 
 
 FEOM E. s. p. 
 
 Nov. 16. I had a talk with General Saxton. He was 
 feeling very blue, had just been to Hilton Head to get 
 some tents for his new recruits of which he enlisted 
 about a hundred on his recent expedition to St. Mary's.^ 
 There are some 3000 tents in warehouse there, but. 
 
 ' A town very near the extreme southern point of the Georgi* 
 coast. 
 
108 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 General Brannan ' refused to open it for him, alleging 
 the advice of the Medical Department, which closed it 
 because yellow fever had been near it. Now it is notori- 
 ous that whenever one of General Brannan's men wants 
 anything from the same warehouse, he gives a special 
 order and it is opened for him, but not for General Sax- 
 ton, the Abolitionist. So the new recruits have to sleep in 
 open air these frosty nights, dampening their ardor some- 
 what. General Saxton agreed with me that if there is no 
 more earnestness and sincerity among other army officers 
 than among the specimens we have had here, we should 
 all go to the dogs. His expedition was so successful that 
 he was in good spirits tiU balked by General Brannan. 
 The best item in it was that one of the rebel prison- 
 ers taken was marched to Beaufort jail guarded by 
 one of his former slaves! The conduct of the negro 
 troops was very weU spoken of by their officers, but 
 is the subject of a good deal of ribaldry among the white 
 soldiers at Beaufort, who exhibit a degree of hatred 
 reaUy fiendish towards the black regiment, taking their 
 cue from their commanding officer, of course. 
 
 We had a very interesting discussion on Wednes- 
 day about the future management of the plantations. 
 I advocated the subdivision of the land, allotting to 
 each family what it could cultivate and measuring their 
 -<:rops separately. Mr. Bryant, who came from Edisto 
 last June,^ preferred working the people in a gang 
 with a foreman, and paying them by the month. His 
 people had worked very well in that way, but it would 
 
 ^ After Mitchel's death, Brannan again acted as head of the De- 
 partment, till General Hunter's return in January, 1863. 
 ^ To the Dr. Jenkins pkntation. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 10: 
 
 be impossible to work the people on this island in tha 
 way. They are too independent and too ignorant t( 
 see the advantages of it, and too deceitful to enable an; 
 foreman to discriminate between the lazy and indus 
 trious. Such a system, with the insufficient force of whit 
 foremen we could supply, would be only a premiur 
 on deceit and laziness, and would fail to call out th 
 individual exertions of the people. 
 
 The cotton crop will be worth, on this and Ladie 
 Island, about $40,000. I have stored twenty-fiv 
 thousand pounds stone cotton' on my plantation 
 which will be worth at least $4000. The Pin 
 Grove people have done picking and commence^ 
 ginning this week. All the men take hold of i 
 readily. I can't find foot-gins enough here to gi 
 more than one fourth the crop, and I don't think : 
 worth while to gin by steam or horse-power, so remot 
 as we are from mechanical repair-shops. There ar 
 several power-gins which might be readily fitted u 
 in time of peace, but now it would cost too much. Th 
 engines have been appropriated to sawmills in som 
 cases, and worn out in others, while the belting an 
 other movable parts have aU been stolen by the negroes. 
 
 I have not yet decided whether or not to take cai 
 of these plantations another year. General Saxton saj 
 he don't think our relations with the people will b 
 disturbed by the tax-commissioners, but, if the estate 
 are offered for sale ^ as they expect to do, I don't s€ 
 how he is to help it. I think I should like to buy th 
 
 ' Stone or seed-cotton is unginned cotton. 
 ^ Of course on almost all the plantations no taxes had been pai 
 so that the Government was at liberty to sell them at auction. 
 
110 LETTERS PROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 one and see what could be done with the people. I 
 should not expect to make anything out of it. I don't 
 believe much can be made out of this generation by 
 free labor, nor out of the next without teaching them 
 to read, and am sorry so little has been done as yet in 
 the teaching department. It is difficult to get people 
 to stick to it, especially in summer and during the un- 
 healthy season. 
 
 I have already started ginning on nine plantations 
 along this seaside road and shajl succeed in saving on 
 the spot sufficient seed to plant this island, I think. 
 General Saxton has given me carte blanche as to gin- 
 ning and general management of the crop. It seems to 
 be his way to leave all details to his subordinates, whom 
 he holds responsible for a proper result. If I had the 
 same authority in New York I could save something 
 as compared with last year's crop, which was nearly 
 all eaten up by the brokers and agents and contract- 
 ors, through whose hands it passed, leaving but $200,- 
 000 net proceeds from a shipment of about a million 
 dollars' worth. 
 
 Mr. Lee has paid me the amount I advanced on my 
 plantation pay-rolls for July and August. I have fin- 
 ished up my pay-rolls for September and October and 
 intend to get him to go and pay off my people for these 
 months with my funds when paying the other planta- 
 tions for June and July. 
 
 In the prolonged absence of window-glass, I have 
 resorted to other expedients known to Irishmen, etc., 
 but can't keep the wind out of my chamber these frosty 
 nights by any amount of ingenuity. Shingles might 
 do it, but they are as difficult to obtain as the win- 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL li: 
 
 dow-glass, and the towels won't stay put in a higl 
 wind. 
 
 We are very sorry to hear of Captain Hooper's serioui 
 illness. He had kept up his strength so long on quinin< 
 during the summer, that a break-down must be danger 
 ous now. I imagine that General Saxton misses hii 
 indefatigable zeal and straightforward gentleness. 
 
 I want to see what is to be done at the tax-sale anc 
 what sort of a title is to be given. For I don't think ; 
 shall stay here another year unless I can control ur 
 men better than I have done, and I don't believe t 
 better control can be had with the long-delayed pay 
 ments rendered almost necessaiy by the lumbering 
 machinery of the Quartermaster's department. 
 
 The next letter is from C. P. W., and sets forth th 
 result of his cogitations on plantation methods. 
 
 FROM c. p. w. 
 
 Nov. 16. The slip-potato crop is the only cro] 
 by which to judge of the negroes' capacity to take can 
 of themselves. This crop they have, as a general rule 
 raised entirely by themselves, and for their own con 
 sumption; they found their own manure, and receive< 
 no help except the use (small) of the Government team 
 on the place. The crop exceeds, on the average, one hun 
 dred per cent, that raised by their masters, — I mean tha 
 each man gets twice as much as he used to when the; 
 worked and shared in common; and in some case 
 the tasks bear twice as much. "They beer uncom 
 mon." "If we live to see," all the crops next yeai 
 under a management that will encourage and stimu 
 
112 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 late, will be proportionally as good as this 'tater crop. 
 One thing the people are universally opposed to. They 
 all swear that they will not work in gang, i. e., all work- 
 ing the whole, and all sharing alike. On those places 
 where the root 'taters were thus worked this year, the 
 crop did very poorly, and gave out long before its time. 
 Where the Grovemment com was thus worked, the 
 yield averages, I suppose, six to ten bushels, the nig- 
 ger-field, meantime, bearing twice as much, where 
 they had manure. 
 
 Wherever the people have been able to look forward 
 to the result of the crop as beneficial to them, they have 
 shown industry, care, and energy in putting it through. 
 There is much laziness to be overcome in them, how- 
 ever; even in tending their own crops they sometimes 
 neglect weU-known precautions because they cost too 
 much trouble. But the best of them have carried their 
 own crops well, and their example is beneficial in stimu- 
 lating the lazier ones to exertion. There is a good deal 
 of emulation among them; they wiU not sit quietly 
 and see another earning all the money. And it is far 
 better to adapt the system to the intelligence of the 
 best than to treat them all, as one occasionally has to 
 treat one or two, in special matters, like mere children. 
 I am sure a large number of them could get through 
 the year without any pecuniary aid from Government, 
 on the simple assurance that they should be paid for 
 their crop when they had picked it. I am often urged 
 by the best of the people not to trouble myself about 
 the means of doing work, but just to tell them to do 
 the work, and expect to see it done, and not encourage 
 
 f llPTn \c\ n.Bk for lipln tn f\r\ f^vf^-rviyt^-nrv '^ TTl-ifiir Irin Af\ 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 113 
 
 it, sir; don't you worry yeurself, sir; they kin find 
 herself, sir." They have not been working cotton for 
 nothing for so many years under their masters. They 
 recollect how their masters used to treat the land and 
 crops, and what treatment proved most successful. They 
 need supervision and direction constantly, if only to 
 prevent fighting when one says " I free," " I as much 
 right to ole missus' things as you," etc., and more than 
 all, they need the presence and conversation of a white 
 man, not only to elevate them, but to encourage and 
 stimulate them. 
 
 There is but one opinion expressed. "We won't be 
 driven by nobody;" "I don't want no driving, either 
 by black man or white man." "We don't want de 
 whole valler of de cotton. De land belongs to de Gov- 
 Gvment, de mule and ting on de place belong to de Gov- 
 esment, and we have to 'spect to pay somef'n for um. 
 But you just pay us our share, accordin' as we make 
 crop, and if you live to see, Marsa Charlie, and God 
 spare life, you 'II see a crop on dis 'place next year." 
 " There will be a difference in de land, sir, but we can't 
 help dat; each one work his own and do as well as he 
 kin." It is mere fortune that one is on one soil, another 
 on another, kept in better order, perhaps, by the 
 Secesh master. 
 
 The negroes ought not to bear the burden of the loss 
 of their crop through any external cause, as the cater- 
 pillar, drought, etc. The Government ought to stand 
 in the gap and bear the loss. But I should not tell the 
 negroes anything about such atonement before it is 
 made, else one would be overwhelmed with applica- 
 tions from those who had become tired of cotton-hoe- 
 
114 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 ing, and a thousand plausible stories would be fabri- 
 cated, to show that this man or that was peculiarly 
 afflicted in his crop. 
 
 Nov. 25. The people have begun ginning cotton on 
 several places. The gins are of the rudest construc- 
 tion. Two rollers, about the size of a spool of thread, 
 one above the other, horizontal, just touching, are 
 turned in opposite directions by two upright fly-wheels, 
 moved by a single treadle. The cotton, vidth the seed 
 in it, is presented to these rollers, which catch it and 
 draw it through, leaving the seed behind. Ginning is 
 considered "light work." Thirty pounds of the clean 
 cotton is considered a good day's work. It is pretty 
 severe for the knees. Women gin with the men. The 
 movement of "jump and change feet" when one knee 
 gets tired should be introduced into the ballet; it is 
 very elegant. 
 
 We have been reduced to the old system of ration- 
 ing.' For the last two months we have had liberty to 
 draw the value of the soldier's ration which is allowed 
 us, in any kind of food. Consequently everybody has 
 rushed for sugar, rice, candles, and molasses, disdaining 
 hard bread, salt beef, and such low fare. Of course 
 there was soon a deficiency of the better articles in the 
 Department, the Army Commissary at Hilton Head 
 declaring that we used up more candles and sugar than 
 any regiment; so we have got to draw soldier's rations 
 again, a few candles, a little dab of sugar, a big hunk 
 of salt food, and hard biscuit. They can be swapped 
 for duck and chickens, but what a bother to get them. 
 
 ' That is, of drawing their own rations. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 115 
 
 Nov. 26. I hear that Hunter's reappointment * causes 
 some dissatisfaction among the pro-slavery army offi- 
 cers here, as might be expected. 
 
 Dec. 2. It is now rumored that we are Ukely to re- 
 ceive but Httle help from Congress this winter, and 
 that the Cotton Fund ^ is getting low. It is said that 
 the taking of Charleston would benefit us more than 
 anything else could; that any way we must take some 
 place on the main to attract attention and inspire con- 
 fidence. The black regiment may do something for 
 our interests. General Saxtbn is going to send a report 
 of the year's work to Headquarters, and it will doubt- 
 less be laid before Congress. Commissioners, if ap- 
 pointed to investigate the matter, would probably have 
 their notions of the character, ability, and prospects of 
 the "Universal Nigger" much revised, with additions 
 and corrections, before their investigations were com- 
 pleted. You at the North know nothing about niggers, 
 nothing at all. When more is known of their powers 
 and capacity and character more attention wiU be paid 
 to the cultivation of free black labor. 
 
 The next letter again focuses attention on the white 
 population. 
 
 FBOM w. c. G. 
 
 Nov. 29. The wives are multiplying on St. Helena. 
 Since Mrs. Bryant came, two other superintendents 
 have made their houses homes, — one our Baptist par- 
 
 * Greneral Hunter did not actually arrive until January. See note 
 1, p. 108. 
 ' The $200,000 (mentioned on page 110) received by the Govem- 
 
116 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 son, and the other a young fellow who went home 
 shortly before me to marry his betrothed on our salary 
 of $50 a month. Brave youth — in these times ! One 
 man has brought his sister and estabhshed her as 
 the beauty of the island; one his mother; and one an 
 older sister, a perfect New England housekeeper, who 
 makes his home the paradise of mince-pies and family 
 bread. 
 
 FROM E. s. p. 
 
 Dec. 10. (At the Oaks.) I like the General * ever 
 so much. He is so simple — straightforward, and earn- 
 est, so evidently pure and unselfish and so kind in his 
 manner. 
 
 I rode down to Dr. Jenkins' with Mr. G., but found 
 aU the "white folks" gone to Hilton Head. I visited 
 the cotton-house, where about a dozen of the people 
 were ginning cotton. They had just packed two bales 
 of it, which I ripped open to inspect, and found, as I 
 had feared, that it was n't half cleaned. I left a note 
 for Mr. Biyant telling him I did n't want to send the 
 cotton off so and told his driver. Mr. B. was not ac- 
 quainted with the way the staple is usually prepared 
 for market, concerning which I had taken pains to in- 
 form myself before leaving home, and the negroes had 
 taken the chance to shirk. I started off to take the tour 
 of Ladies Island and see their cotton. I visited about 
 a dozen cotton-houses during the day along the east 
 side of the island, and rode on to Cuthbert's Point to 
 sleep with Joe Reed and Mr. Hull. I found them 
 delightfully situated in a small house on Beaufort 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 11 
 
 River surrounded by a superb grove of live-oaks, clea 
 of brush and nicely kept. It is the finest situation tha 
 I have found in the State, but the greater part of th 
 plantations on Ladies Island are miserably poor, be 
 ing the property of small proprietors who had not sui 
 ficient capital to make planting profitable. The soi 
 is poor and the negroes for the most part have not suffi 
 cient food on hand for the coming year. The cotto: 
 crop is proportionally small and poor. No ginnin 
 apparatus being found there, I shall have it all take: 
 to Beaufort for the steam-gins. 
 
 Leaving Cuthbert's Point this morning, I rode wit 
 Mr. Hull to the superintendents' meeting at the Epis 
 copal Church, about eighteen miles, and back here t 
 sleep. We have matured a plan of operations for th 
 employment of the negroes next year, at these meei 
 ings, and it is to be presented to General Saxton for hi 
 approval this week.* 
 
 I have made some further inquiries of Dr. Brisbane 
 one of the tax-commissioners, about the sale of lands 
 which is to take place on the first of February nexl 
 He teUs me it is to be a free sale and that the Govern 
 ment warrants the title, subject, however, to redemp 
 tion by such proprietors as can prove themselves loya 
 within one year. I think it highly important that th 
 welfare of these negroes should not be intrusted t< 
 speculators, and have written to Dr. Russell ^ to sec 
 if Boston people can't be interested, individually o: 
 collectively, in buying these lands and employing th( 
 
 ' This plan of operations was adopted by General Saxton. 
 ' Dr. LeBaron Russell, of the Committee on Teachers of the Edu 
 cational Commission. 
 
118 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 laborers. I am ready to go into it as far as I am able 
 alone, and have offered my time in Boston to carry out 
 any plan they think best. If I can't get any coopera- 
 tion, I mean to buy some of the estates alone, if they 
 don't go very high, and carry them on by means of such 
 agents as I can get. I can find several first-rate men 
 among the superintendents here who would work for 
 me and do well, but I don't think I should care to stay 
 here next summer, for sanitary reasons if nothing more. 
 My experience here will enable me to act to good 
 advantage in carrying on any such undertaking, and 
 I hope to be of use in a permanent way to these people 
 with whom I have been thrown in contact this year. 
 I have given [to Dr. Russell] an exact statement, in 
 dollars and cents, of the expenses and products of my 
 three plantations this year, showing a profit to the Gov- 
 ernment of about $2000,^ besides providing a year's 
 supply of food to a population of four hundred and fifty 
 blacks, " big and little." This island is very much more 
 favorably placed than Ladies, Port Royal, or Hilton 
 Head Islands, which are all much exposed to the depre- 
 dations of the Union soldiers. I find on the north end 
 of Ladies Island the pickets are changed every little 
 while, and have killed nearly all the negroes' poultry. 
 The people don't dare to leave their houses, and take 
 all their hens into their houses every night. They shoot 
 their pigs and in one case have shot two working mules ! 
 All these things are duly reported to General Saxton, but 
 it does no good. Two regiments have come to encamp 
 
 ' Taking the plantations as a whole, the Government lost in 1862 
 the whole $200,000 which it had cleared from the planters' big cotton 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL IIJ 
 
 at Land's End on St. Helena, and Mr. Hanunond says 
 they have burnt up a mile of his fences, and burn the 
 new rails just split out in the woods; they bum the 
 heaps of pine leaves raked up for manure and take 
 possession of all his cotton and com houses. , It is cer- 
 tainly of no use to try to carry on any planting neai 
 these fellows. They would steal all the crops if anj 
 grew near them,' and if the whole miUtaiy estabUsh- 
 ment is to be transferred to this side the harbour, it is 
 of little use to try to do much on that end of the island, 
 Coffin's Point is, however, remote from all these dis^ 
 turbances, and I hope it will remain so. _j[_ajn_aiigous 
 t(i_cxaitinueLJius_free-labor experiment through a term 
 of years and under circtmistancesTnare~favorable thar 
 those under which we have this year been placed. ] 
 do not see how I can do much good in any other way, 
 
 The next letter is the first from H. W. on her return 
 to Port Royal after spending the summer at home. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Coffin's Point, Dec. 14. As we drew near the Fripp 
 Point place at last, the people began to gather on the 
 shore to watch us, and when the boat stopped the peo- 
 ple were all on the banks, pressing forward, and Sammy 
 rushed into the water and took me ashore in his arms. 
 Then they got my trunks in the same manner, and 
 such a shaking of hands ! " So glad for see you ! Glad 
 for see you come back." Boys were sent off at once to 
 catch the mules to take me over, while I went into 
 'Siah's house to wait, and had some hominy and chicken, 
 
 * On Port Royal Island "whole fields of com, fifty acres in extent, 
 have been stritmed of everv ear before hard enough to be stored." 
 
120 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 as I was very hungry. Everything was as neat as a 
 pin here — the children were kept out of the house 
 while I was eating, and then the hominy and chicken 
 were mixed and passed round among the women when 
 I had finished. Mr. Philbrick's sulky happened to be 
 over there to be mended, and as it was finished I drove 
 off in it, Sammy, Peter, and Tony on the mule-cart 
 with all my traps, and Chester following me. The 
 children all asked about school at once, and as I was 
 waiting I drew words for them to spell in the sand to 
 see how much they remembered. 
 
 FEOM c. p. w. 
 
 Dec. 14. I am glad H. came, for Mr. Philbrick has 
 decided that he cannot attend to his plantations and 
 his cotton-agency at the same time, and needs some 
 one to take his place here. He thinks of buying the 
 place in the spring, when the lands are sold (Feb. 1), 
 and I have agreed to work it for him part of the time. 
 So that, as some one must take Mr. Philbrick's place, 
 and as the people had better have me than a stranger, 
 and as I had better become acquainted with them at 
 once, if I am to have charge of them in the spring, I 
 have decided to take the places off his hands, stay here 
 with H., and let my own plantations go to as good a 
 person as I can find. H. is most welcome and much 
 needed here; I am thankful to have her here, if only for 
 the children's sakes. The only difficulty is that she may 
 be devoured on her first visit to Pine Grove. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 121 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Dec. 16. Had the children sent for to school. They 
 brought eggs, and were pleased enough to begin school 
 again. 
 
 Dec. 18. Told the children yesterday that I wanted 
 them to bring me some com "shucks," as they call 
 them, which are aU left on the stalks in the fields. Mr. 
 Philbrick thought I could get enough to stuff a bed 
 with. I thought so too when the children all appeared 
 with sheets and bags full on their heads, some con- 
 taining two or three bushels ! 
 
 Dec. 20. C. managed to get the piano downstairs 
 this morning before he went off. I went with him in 
 the double sulky as far as the cotton-house and then 
 made an expedition to the quarters, where I shook 
 hands with every man and woman to be seen, inspected 
 every new baby (there have been a dozen born since 
 I went away), visited Bacchus in his school, was kindly 
 greeted, though the people hardly knew me and I don't 
 know their names at all, was told that I looked " more 
 hearty" than when I went away, and returned with 
 two dozen eggs and the morning school at my heels. 
 
 Two dozen eggs at fifty cents a dozen was no mean 
 proof of affection! 
 
 Dec. 21. We started for church. C. rode his largest 
 horse and preceded or followed me in the double sulky, 
 an unpainted box with a seat in it, of Mr. Philbrick's 
 manufacture and quite "tasty" for these parts, on a 
 single pair of wheels; and though it is on springs the 
 exercise is not slight which one gets in driving over 
 these sandy, uneven roads. 
 
122 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Sunday evg. Dec. 21. The cotton on this island is 
 nearly all ginned. I have not been able to start the 
 steam-gins in Beaufort yet — am waiting for authority 
 to use the steam, which comes from the condensing 
 boiler under the control of General Brannan's quarter- 
 master. I asked General Saxton about it the other day, 
 but he said he did n't know as they would let him have 
 it. The General feels very blue about his position here, 
 and I don't wonder. He declares he will not stay if he 
 is not sustained, and says that General Halleck * sym- 
 pathizes with Brannan and don't mean to let him be 
 removed. 
 
 Wednesday evg. I looked over the Coffin people's 
 cotton Monday and found it was not yet clean enough 
 to pack, so refused to weigh it, and set the women at 
 work picking over the whole of it again. Each woman 
 keeps her own pile — the same that she and her hus- 
 band raised. 
 
 I find rumors here that General Saxton and sta£E are 
 to be relieved. General Saxton believes in his being 
 relieved, but no -mail has come yet to confirm it. 
 
 I want to keep R., G., C. P. W. and Bryant on plan- 
 tations which I may buy, and they are all anxious to 
 stay. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Dec. 22. Joe doubled up and went off into convul- 
 sions when C. mentioned to me at table that he had 
 
 ' Henry W. Halleck, since Jvdy 11 General-in-Chief of the Aimy, 
 
 Tvitll }lpJl.Hniin.rtprs n.t "WnsliiTiirffm 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 123 
 
 been to call on Mrs. Jenkins (Wil'by) and did not find 
 her at home! I gave Joe a piece of gingerbread for 
 her the other day, and he informed me this morning 
 that she found it very " palatiable " ! He inquired 
 how my " palate was satisfy " with some oysters he fried 
 for me the other day. 
 
 Christmas. C. took me in his double sulky to see 
 the Pine Grove people, driving first to the quarters 
 here, where I went into Bacchus' school and distrib- 
 uted toys. I had also armed myself with a hundred 
 cents and several pounds of candy. At Pine Grove the 
 people crowded about to shake hands, and as I went 
 through the street, stopping at every house, they were 
 pleased as possible that I remembered their names. 
 ' They were very eager to know if I was not going to 
 teach school, the children all rushing home to wash 
 face and hands and dress themselves in their best, 
 after the old fashion, when I told them I wanted to 
 have them go to the praise-house. Flora followed me 
 about, as usual. I saw York for the first time. He is a 
 very fine-looking specimen of a thorough black, large, 
 manly, courteous, and straightforward. 
 
 Once more in the old praise-house, I heard the chil- 
 dren spell, and then distributed toys among them, 
 with candy to the babies and grown people! and gave 
 to each of the girls who have been married since I left 
 a Bible with her name in it. All seemed honestly glad 
 to see me there — there was no mistaking their shin- 
 ing faces. I was there two hours and then went to 
 Fripp Point, where I gave candy to all the grown peo- 
 ple and children, and a toy to each child. I do not know 
 all names and faces anywhere except at Pine Grove. 
 
124 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 Dec. 26. I was in the midst of school when Joe an- 
 nounced two strangers on horseback. They were the 
 Quartermaster and Adjutant of the 1st S. C. V., come 
 for a dozen cattle to be roasted on New Year's Day at 
 General Saxton's grand celebration. C. and the oiEcers 
 went off to select the cattle. They had a very long tramp 
 of it and did not get back till some time after dark. 
 They are very pleasant and gentlemanly and give a 
 charming impression of their intercourse with Colonel 
 Higginson, and of his with the regiment. They had 
 no "taps" Christmas Eve or night, and the men kept 
 their " shout " up all night. One of the Captains heard 
 a negro praying most fervently, contrasting their " lasty 
 Christymas and thisty Christymas," greatly to the 
 advantage of that in the "Yankee Camp" with "too 
 much for eat." 
 
 FROM E. s. p. 
 
 Dec. 26. The preparation of the cotton for ginning 
 goes on very slowly. I am out of all patience with some 
 of the superintendents. They are slower than the 
 negroes. I don't believe in putting Reverends in places 
 where prompt business men are required. Some of 
 them don't get through morning prayers and get about 
 their business tiU nearly noon, and then depend en- 
 tirely upon their black drivers for their information in 
 regard to plantation matters. I saw Captain Hooper for 
 a few minutes last evening and he relieved my mind 
 about General Saxton's removal. It seems it was all 
 a false report got up for a sensation by the Herald. 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 125 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Dec. 28. I was in the midst of school when it was 
 announced that Mr. G. was coming. The children's 
 eyes glistened and they audibly expressed their de- 
 light, but kept their seats very well till he was fairly 
 in the room and had shaken hands with one or two 
 near him; then their impatience could resist no longer 
 and they crowded about him with great delight, tumb- 
 ling over the benches in their eagerness to shake hands 
 with him. It was a very pretty sight. 
 
 Mr. Philbrick has been entertaining us with an ac- 
 count of his week's experience, which ended at church 
 to-day in a funny way. A couple came forward to be 
 married after church, as often happens, when Sarah 
 from this place got up and remarked that was her hus- 
 band! Whereupon Mr. Philbrick was called in from 
 the yard and promised to investigate and report. Jack 
 said he had nothing against Sarah, but he did not hve 
 on the plantation now, and wanted a wife at Hilton 
 Head. 
 
 General Saxton was at church to-day to invite the 
 people to camp Thursday, telling them that they need 
 not be afraid to go, as no one would be kept there against 
 their will. They are afraid of a trap, as they were at 
 the Fourth of July Celebration, but I hope a good many 
 will have the sense to go. 
 
 Mr. Philbrick and C. are having an amiable com- 
 parison of relative plantation work and which has 
 raised the most cotton. The cotton raised on these 
 places and C.'s and R.'s is more than half of that raised 
 on all the islands. 
 
126 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1862 
 
 The Pine Grove house has been broken into and 
 the furniture we left there carried off. The way in 
 which those people have degenerated and these im- 
 proved since we moved here is a proof of how neces- 
 sary it is that they should have the care and oversight 
 of white people in this transition state. When we lived 
 there, that plantation was the best behaved and this 
 the worst; now the reverse is the case. The Point Plan- 
 tation has not been affected so much any way, as they 
 never had a "white house" and have the same ex- 
 cellent driver. 
 
 Finding that Maria, the old nurse, and some babies 
 were sick, I made a pilgrimage to the quarters, visited 
 the invahds and also Bacchus' school, and told the 
 people I hoped they would go to the Celebration at 
 camp. As I went through the long street, women were 
 washing outside their doors, sitting on their doorsteps 
 sewing or tending babies, while the smaller children 
 were rolling in the dirt. In one of the cabins I acci- 
 dentally encountered Sarah, the deserted wife, and 
 coming out found Grace, Jack's mother, holding forth 
 in her dignified way upon the subject, condemning her 
 son, quietly but earnestly. She turned to Sarah as she 
 came out and, gesticulating with her hands respect- 
 ively, said, "I take Becca in dis han' and carry her 
 to punishment, an' Sarah in dis right han' and carry 
 her to Christ." She is a " fine figure of a woman " — 
 I wish I could have drawn her as she stood. She did 
 more work than any one on the plantation on cotton 
 this year. Her husband was coachman and was taken 
 off by the overseer the day after the "gun was fire 
 at Hilton Head." 
 
1862] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 127 
 
 Minda gave me an amusing account of a conversa- 
 tion she heard between Mr. Cockloft, the overseer, 
 and his niece. Miss " Arnie," about the prospect of the 
 Yankees coming here, she telling him, when he was 
 expressing his gratification at the very large crop raised 
 last year, that he did not talk sense, — he was just 
 raising it for the Yankees. And when they had to run 
 off, in the midst of all the crying and dismay, she could 
 not resist telling him she was glad of it, to prove her 
 right. Minda said that she knew more than her uncle 
 because she had been to school, and had "high edicate." 
 They sent Henry to the other end of the island to see 
 if the forts were really taken, and he came back and 
 told them that they had better be off, for aU the Yankee 
 ships were " going in procession up to Beaufort, solemn 
 as a funeral." 
 
 Dec. 30. My occupation was interrupted by the 
 arrival of William Hall,^ bag and baggage. You can 
 think of us as a household of three ^ pursuing our sev- 
 eral occupations, of which more hereafter. 
 
 ' Another young Harvard graduate, cousin of Hi W., come to teach 
 the two Fripp schools. 
 
 ^ Mr. Philbrick had changed his residence to the Oaks. 
 
1863 
 
 Cdehraiion of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. — The land^sdes 
 of 1863, Mr. PhUhricKs purchase of plantations — "Shop" — 
 Visit to Camp — Arrest of General Stevenson — Difficulties mth 
 army offices — More drafting by Hunter — Encxruraging signs 
 among the negroes — " The black draft" — The siege of Charleston 
 
 : — Assavlt on Fort Wagner — Care of the wounded — Depredations 
 of the soldiers on the plantations — Interest in the formeir owners -of 
 plantations — The "Plantation Cammissixm" an informal dml 
 court — Negro speech and negro ways — Attacks on Mr. Philhrick 
 as a "speculator" — Discouraging signs among the negroes — Plans 
 of the Oovemment for selling land to the negroes — The cotton crop 
 of 1863 — The black draft again. 
 
 The first letter of 1863 gives an account of the cere- 
 monies with which the Sea Islands celebrated the 
 Emancipation Proclamation. The place was the Smith 
 Plantation, on Port Royal Island, where the First South 
 Carolina had its camp. 
 
 FEOM H. w. 
 
 Jan. 1, 1863. We started [from R.'s] at ten o'clock 
 with four oarsmen, under a cloudless sky, which re- 
 mained undimmed through the day. The men sang 
 and we sang, as we wound our way through the marsh- 
 bound creek, reaching the Smith Plantation just as 
 the Flora was landing her first load from the Ferry. 
 We followed the crowd up to the grove of Uve-oaks 
 with their moss trimmings, which did not look so dreary 
 under a winter's sun, but very summer-like and beau- 
 tiful. The regiment, which had been drawn up at the 
 wharf to receive the guests from Beaufort, escorted 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 129 
 
 them to the platform in the middle of the grove, where 
 we found it — the regiment — in a circle round the 
 stand, where they remained quiet and orderly as pos- 
 sible through the whole proceedings, which lasted about 
 three hours. Guests, white and colored, were admitted 
 within the Une, and as ladies we were shown seats on 
 the platform. The general arrived in his carriage with 
 the Mission House ^ ladies. 
 
 It is simply impossible to give you any adequate 
 idea of the next three hours. Picture the scene to your- 
 seM if you can, — I wiU tell you all the facts, — but if 
 I could transcribe every word that was uttered, still 
 nothing could convey to you any conception of the 
 solemnity and interest of the occasion. Mr. Judd, Gen- 
 eral Superintendent of the Island, was master of cere- 
 monies, and first introduced Mr. Fowler, the Chaplain, 
 who made a prayer, — then he announced that the 
 President's Proclamation would be read, and General 
 Saxton's also, by a gentleman who would be intro- 
 duced by Colonel Higginson. And he rose amid perfect 
 silence, his clear rich voice falling most deliciously on 
 the ear as he began to speak. He said that the Pro- 
 clamation would be read "by a South Carolinian to 
 South Carolinians " — a man who many years before 
 had carried the same glad tidings to his own slaves now 
 brought them to them, and with a few most pertinent 
 words introduced Dr. Brisbane, one of the tax-com- 
 missioners here now, who read both proclamations 
 extremely well. They cheered most heartily at the 
 President's name, and at the close gave nine with a 
 
 ' An institution situated in Beaufort, managed by the New York 
 Commission. 
 
130 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 will for General " Saxby," as they call hjm. Mr. Zachos 
 then read an ode he had written for the occasion, which 
 was sung by the white people (printed copies being 
 distributed, he did not line it as is the fashion in 
 these parts) — to " Scots wha hae." I forgot to men- 
 tion that there was a band on the platform which dis- 
 coursed excellent music from time to time. At this stage 
 of the proceedings Mr. French rose and, in a short 
 address, presented to Colonel Higginson from friends 
 in New York a beautiful silk flag, on which was em- 
 broidered the name of the regiment and "The Year 
 of Jubilee has come!" 
 
 Just as Colonel Higginson had taken the flag and 
 was opening his Hps to answer (his face while Mr. 
 French was speaking was a beautiful sight), a single 
 woman's voice below us near the corner of the plat- 
 form began singing "My Country, 'tis of thee." It was 
 very sweet and low — gradually other voices about her 
 joined in and it began to spread up to the platform, 
 till Colonel Higginson turned and said, "Leave it to 
 them," when the negroes sang it to the end. He stood 
 with the flag in one hand looking down at them, and 
 when the song ceased, his own words flowed as music- 
 ally, saying that he could give no answer so appro- 
 priate and touching as had just been made. In all the 
 singing he had heard from them, that song he had 
 never heard before — they never could have truly sung 
 "my country" till that day. He talked in the most 
 charming manner for over half an hour, keeping every 
 one's attention, the negroes' upturned faces as inter- 
 ested as any, if not quite as comprehending. Then he 
 called Sergeant Rivers and delivered the flag to his 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 131 
 
 keeping, with the most solemn words, telling him that 
 his life was chained to it and he must die to defend it. 
 Prince Rivers looked him in the eye while he spoke, 
 and when he ended with a "Do you understand?" 
 which must have thrilled through every one, answered 
 most earnestly, "Yas, Sar." The Colonel then, with 
 the same solemnity, gave into the charge of Corporal 
 Robert Sutton ^ a bunting flag of the same size; then 
 stepping back stood with folded arms and bare head 
 while the two men spoke in turn to their countrymen. 
 Rivers is a very smart fellow, has been North and is 
 heart and soul in the regiment and against the "Se- 
 ceshky." He spoke well; but Sutton with his plain com- 
 mon sense and simpler language spoke better. He made 
 telling points ; told them there was not one in that crowd 
 but had sister, brother, or some relation among the 
 rebels still; that all was not done because they were so 
 happily off, that they should not be content till all their 
 
 ' Of Corporal Sutton Colonel Higginson says : "If not in all respects 
 the ablest, lie was the wisest man in our ranks. As large, as powerful, 
 and as black as our good-looking Color-sergeant, but more heavily 
 built and with less personal beauty, he had a more massive brain and 
 a far more meditative and systematic intellect. Not yet grounded 
 even in the spelling-book, his modes of thought were nevertheless 
 strong, lucid, and accurate; and he yearned and pined for intellectual 
 companionship beyond all ignorant men whom I have ever met. I 
 believe that he would have talked all day and all night, for days to- 
 gether, to any officer who could instruct him, until his companion, 
 at least, fell asleep exhausted. His comprehension of the whole prob- 
 lem of slavery was more thorough and far-reaching than that of any 
 Abohtionist, so far as its social and mihtary aspects went; in that 
 direction I could teach him nothing, and he taught me much. But 
 it was his methods of thought which always impressed me chiefly; 
 superficial brilliancy he left to others, and grasped at the solid truth." 
 {Army Life in a Black Reginwnt, p. 62.) 
 
132 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 people were as well off, if they died in helping them; 
 and when he ended with an appeal to them to above all 
 follow after their Great Captain, Jesus, who never was 
 defeated, there were many moist eyes in the crowd. 
 
 General Saxton then said a few words, regretting that 
 his flag had not arrived as he intended, and introduced 
 Mrs. Gage, who spoke to them of her visit to St. Croix 
 and how the negroes on that island had freed them- 
 selves, and telling them that her own sons were in the 
 anny; she might any day hear of their death, but that 
 she was willing they should die in the cause and she 
 hoped they were ready to die too. Quartermaster Bing- 
 ham led the regiment in singing "Marching Along." 
 Mr. Judd had written a hymn which he and a few friends 
 sang. Judge Stickney spoke. The whole regiment then 
 sang " John Brown," and was dismissed in a few words 
 from the Colonel to the tables for the twelve roasted 
 oxen,^ hard bread, and molasses and water, except 
 one company and certain corporals whom he men- 
 tioned, who came to the foot of the steps to escort the 
 colors. 
 
 Lieutenant Duhurst was waiting to escort us to din- 
 ner at his mess-table. We walked into the old fort, 
 part of the walls of which are still standing, made of 
 oyster-shells and cement, very hard still. It was built, 
 say the authorities, in 1562, half a century before the 
 Pilgrims landed. 
 
 ' Mr. Philbrick describes the feast: "I walked about for a half 
 hour watching the carving, which was done mostly with axes, and 
 the eager pressing of the hungry crowds about the rough board tables, 
 by which each ox was surrounded. The meat did n't look very invit- 
 ing." 
 
1863J LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 133 
 
 Miss Forten ' had a letter from Whittier enclosing 
 a song lie had written for the Jubilee and which they 
 have been teaching the children to sing at church nesd; 
 Sunday. 
 
 After dinner we went up to the camp, and a very 
 nice-looking place it was. The tents only hold five, so 
 that there were a great many of them, making the 
 camp look very large. The officers' tents are in a row 
 opposite the ends of the streets, but with only a nar- 
 row street between. The Adjutant took us into his, 
 which is a double one with two apartments Uke the Col- 
 onel's, as his wife is coming out to hve there and teach 
 the first sergeants to read, write, and keep their accounts. 
 As dress-parade was to come off at once, we stayed to 
 see that. Only the commissioned officers are white ; the 
 uniform of the privates is the same as any others, ex- 
 cept that the pantaloons are red,^ faces and hands 
 black! The parade was excellent, — they went through 
 
 ' Miss Fortea was of partly negro blood. H. W. says of her dse- 
 where: "She has one of the sweetest voices I ever heard. The ne- 
 groes all knew the instant they saw her what she was, but she has been 
 treated by them with universal respect. She is an educated lady." 
 
 ' When General Hunter, bent on raising his negro troops, asked 
 the Secretary of War for 50,000 muskets, "with authority to arm such 
 loyal men as I find in the country, whenever, in my opinion, they can 
 be used advantageously against the enemy," he added: "It is im- 
 portant that I should be able to know and distinguish these men at 
 once, and for this purpose I respectfully request that 60,000 pairs of 
 scarlet pantaloons may be sent me; and this is all the clothing I shall 
 require for these people." (Hunter to Stanton, April 3, 1862.) Of 
 the privates of the First S. C. V., when clothed in these trousers, 
 Colonel Higginson writes: "Their coloring suited me, all but the 
 legs, which were clad in a lively scarlet, as intolerable to my eyes as 
 if I had been a turkey." {Army Ldfe in a Black Regiment, p. 7.) 
 
134 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 the manual, including, "load in nine times." There 
 were eighteen men absent without leave, a circumstance 
 not 1;o be wondered at, as they had kept no guard all 
 day, and a negro thinks to go and see his family the 
 height of happiness. Colonel Higginson said, " Think 
 of a camp where there is no swearing, drinking, or card- 
 playing among the men, — where the evenings are spent 
 praying and singing psalms, and it is the first sound you 
 hear in the morning!" He is a strong anti-tobacconist, 
 but he lets the men have all they can get, and helps them 
 get it. 
 
 We started just after sunset, and at the same time 
 with the band, who were rowed up to Beaufort as we 
 went across the river. They played " Sweet Home," and 
 the music sounded dehghtfuUy, but made Mr. Williams 
 exclaim, "Now that's too bad, when a fellow is going 
 to an old South Carohna whitewashed house, with a 
 broken table and chair in it!" Nevertheless, he was 
 very merry, and we had a fine row. The sunset was 
 perfectly clear, the sky retained its brightness for a long 
 time, and the moon was so bright that it did not grow 
 dark. Our delay made us against tide for the second 
 hour, so the negroes turned out of the main creek into 
 the narrow creeks among the grass, which at high tide 
 are deep enough, though very narrow. Our oars were 
 often in the "mash" on one side, but the men knew 
 their way and brought us safely through. They grew 
 very much excited as they rowed and sung, shouting 
 with all their might, and singing song after song the 
 whole way home. The singing while they row always 
 sounds differently from [that] at any other time to me, 
 though they always sing the same, religious songs. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 135 
 
 In the following letter Mr. Philbrick begins by defend- 
 ing himself against the charge of rashness in proposing 
 to buy land of which the legal title was so insecure as to 
 make it a most unsafe investment, and the geographical 
 situation such as to make it unfit for habitation by North- 
 erners. The point of view of his critic is amusingly dif- 
 ferent from that of the good people who subsequently 
 accused him of buying ■with, the expectation of making 
 large profits. 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Jan. 2. As to the title, the right of redemption ex- 
 pires at the end of two years in all cases, and fifteen per 
 cent, interest must be paid by the redeemer before he 
 can take possession. Now I never thought of paying 
 more for these lands than the net value of two good 
 crops, and don't undertake it for the sake of making 
 money at all, but for the sake of carrying out to a 
 more satisfactory issue the present short-lived and un- 
 fairly judged experiment of free labor, and for the sake 
 of keeping the people out of the hands of bad men. 
 You will of course admit that such an enterprise is 
 worthy of my assistance and worthy of the time of such 
 men as are now engaged in it. The health of every 
 white man who has lived on the seaward side of St. 
 Helena, from Coffin's Point to Land's End, has been 
 perfectly good, and that is where I intend to buy, if at 
 aU, including perhaps the places under R.'s charge which 
 he wishes to retain, and those of Captain John Fripp 
 and Thomas B. Fripp, which could easily be managed 
 by a person living on Cherry Hill or Mulberry Hill, 
 directly adjoining them on the south. 
 
 We had a flare-up with Kanty about the furniture left 
 
136 LETTERS xFROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 in the big house [at Pine Grove]. The people broke in on 
 Christmas and took out what we left there, appropriat- 
 ing it to their private uses. I found Frank had the side- 
 board in his new house (the old carriage-house). I told 
 him to give it up and asked where the rest was. Mily 
 had taken the desk, for safe-keeping, and offered to de- 
 liver it when wanted, but the bedsteads are not reported. 
 Ranty had locked up the large dining-table in the pease- 
 house. I blew him up for not reporting such things in- 
 stanter, and hired June to sleep in the big house nights 
 and be responsible for its safe-keeping. Otherwise the 
 doors and windows would soon disappear. 
 
 The future of our country looks darker than ever. I 
 can't see much prospect of an improvement in the con- 
 duct of the war, so long as the mass of our people do not 
 see in slavery the great cause of all the trouble. Neither 
 do I believe that the war will terminate slavery unless 
 the blacks will voluntarily take a part in it. The 1st Re- 
 giment is at length filled here, by means of a great deal of 
 coaxing and the abandonment of St. Simon's Island,' 
 taking aU the men for recruits. They have made two 
 raids upon the Florida coast, where they met with little 
 resistance and accomplished but little. If they can once 
 gain a footing on the mainland and add to their numbers 
 as they advance, they could easily carry all before them. 
 Any other race of men under the sun would do it, but I 
 doubt yet whether there is the requisite amount of pluck 
 in them to fall into such a scheme even when we are 
 ready to lead them. I feel as if this winter were the turn- 
 ing-point of the whole question. 
 
 ' On the Georgia coast. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 137 
 
 FEOM W. C. G. 
 
 Captain Oliver's, Jan. 4. Mr. Philbrick has very gen- 
 erously offered to assist three or four of us poorer super- 
 intendents in buying plantations. If we do not buy, the 
 occupation of most of us is probably gone. Government 
 will probably retain possession of many plantations from 
 the lack of purchasers, — but they will be the poorer ones 
 and those where the people will be subject to such influ- 
 ences that our purposes will meet with little success. For 
 such plantations superintendents may be needed, but, 
 besides doing httle good, their own position I think will 
 be very unpleasant. Nor do I think it unmanly to with- 
 draw from such plantations. The irregular wayward 
 Kfe which the people on such places would probably lead 
 undoubtedly wiU help to develop their self-reUance, but 
 our style of development — that of regular, persistent 
 industry — is so wholly different, that I doubt the wis- 
 dom of attempting to yoke the two styles together. In 
 one point experience confirms what theory would sug- 
 gest, — that their own increasing comfort or misery will 
 be a far stronger agent in the development of these people 
 than any amount of outside human effort. 
 
 I think I shall accept Mr. Philbrick's offer. I wish to 
 stay down here, and I see no satisfactory way of so doing, 
 except by this arrangement. It may turn out disastrously, 
 — so be it ; the Government will probably refund the 
 purchase-money in case the lands return to the Confed- 
 erate States either by capture or compromise. But with 
 success, I doubt if I should realize the amount of my 
 present salary and support. If the lands sell at a nom- 
 inal price, however, they are worth that risk. To stay in 
 
138 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 I am having a pretty hard time at present. The peo- 
 ple are very wayward, — now they work and then they 
 stop, — and some stop before they begin. Several men 
 have been acting badly, too ; I actually knocked a man 
 down the other day, — and think I did right, — for the 
 first time in my hfe. It very much hurts one's popularity 
 to be often severe, — and one's reputation vidth higher 
 authorities also, I fear. My places have the disadvantage 
 — to me — of being very near headquarters, and my 
 people have learned through a very unwise act — the 
 removal of a superintendent on the complaint of the 
 negroes — the benefit of appeahng from me. I have 
 always been sustained — otherwise I should probably 
 have resigned; but it very much weakens my authority, 
 and, as I said, probably my reputation. But the worst 
 is that it discourages and dulls one for the work. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Jan. 7. I went into Ellen's house to see her sick chil- 
 dren. It was her children who were so sick last summer, 
 and Nancy died. They had swollen throats and I pro- 
 mised red flannel — then went all through the quarters 
 talking and giving to all the old women some of our 
 ration coffee and sugar. The women went on talking, 
 Louisa winding up with an attempt to solve the to 
 them great mystery — " Miss Hayiat, you not married .'' 
 when you going to be married? What, and you so 
 smairt ? " C. says they are constantly asking him the 
 same question. " Oh, Mass' Charlie," said a woman to 
 him the other day, " if I was as pretty a woman as you 
 are a man I should be so glad! " I find I shall have to 
 give up going to the quarters if they insist upon giving 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 139 
 
 me so many eggs — I had two dozen and a half given to- 
 day — I can't use them up so fast ! I found C. in collo- 
 quy with a man who came down to see if he could not 
 move here so as to be under him. " But how do you know 
 you shall like me ? " said C, " and get along with me ? " 
 " See it in your countenance, sar, first time I eber see 
 you ! " Nat talked some time (he was a sort of Major 
 Domo here and kept the keys) about the nec^sgiisjpof- 
 some white people's staying here, and of the people's 
 confidence in Mr. Philbrick and C. They are very 
 desirous that Mr. Philbrick should buy. "You see, sar; 
 you won't have no trouble 'bout cotton dis year — Mr. 
 Philbrick pay more money than any other man — de 
 people know now you here to see justice. People all 
 work cotton dis year. I don't care if you neber go 'way 
 — like you much." 
 
 Jan. 8. General Saxton said he was here on the Coast 
 Survey seven years ago, cut that gap through the trees 
 for his triangles, which caused us so much speculation 
 last spring,^ and landing at the Point one day dined here 
 with Mr. Coffin. 
 
 Jan. 12. Just as we were going to sit down to lunch, 
 Tim came running up with a line from C. for his revolver, 
 which I sent. Tim said two of the men were fighting, so 
 Mr. Philbrick ^ took his pistol and went to see what was 
 the row, and soon came back to say that a former hus- 
 band of the woman who had been married the day be- 
 fore at church had turned up, and C. had ordered him 
 off the place. It is a complicated story and I do not know 
 its merits and demerits. I wish C. would write it out as 
 
 1 See p. 60. 
 
 ^ Mr. Philbrick was staying at CoflSn's for a few days. 
 
140 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 a specimen of that part of his business. It is equal to 
 Indian Cutchery. 
 
 Jan 16. Woke to find it very blowy and cold. The 
 changes seem to be as great here as in New England, of 
 their kind. It is funny to see how the people feel the cold. 
 I got no milk, because they could not milk in such wea- 
 ther, and it was so warm the day before that all we had 
 ''^'sSEffhdf '^The children wore sheets over their shoulders 
 and handkerchiefs on their heads to school. 
 
 Jan 17. Went to the quarters to see the people, who 
 wondered to see me out such a cold day! Found those 
 who were out of doors on the sunny side of the street 
 against the houses to keep warm. 
 
 This afternoon I had to sew up a bad cut in Hester's 
 arm. She sat all through school vrithout a word to me, 
 and then I could not close the wound with sticking- 
 plaster, so there was no alternative. She behaved like a 
 Spartan — her black skin made it easier for me, but not 
 for her, 1 fancy. So much for my first attempt at surgery. 
 It was an ugly job. 
 
 FROM E. S. p. TO C. P. W. 
 
 The Oaks, Jan. 21. I got a letter from Mr. Forbes, 
 who says he can raise $12,000 for land, etc., to put in my 
 hands, with the understanding that when I get tired of 
 managing the thing I shall close up and divide what shall 
 be left.' So I shall certainly buy that end of the island, 
 
 ' The agreement made on April 8, between Mr. Philbrick and 
 fourteen gentlemen, all but one of Boston, provided that Mr. Phil- 
 brick, in whose name the land should be bought and who should have 
 complete responsibihty for managing it, should, after paying the sub- 
 scribers six per cent, interest, receive one fourth of the net profits. 
 Mr. Philbrick was to be liable for losses and without the right to call 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 141 
 
 provided the lands are sold, which in Boston they feel 
 very sure they wiU not be, and provided nobody else bids 
 over one dollar an acre or so. 
 
 PROM H. w. 
 
 Jan. 21. C. was gone aU day tramping over the Pine 
 Grove plantation to see and map out the land so as to 
 allot it for corn and cotton to the people for this year's 
 crop, — Flora's York for guide, who was much amused 
 at his maps. He brought me home as a present from Su- 
 san half a dozen deKcious sausages and a piece of fresh 
 pork, which is very nice here, as the pigs run wild and 
 feed on the potatoes left in the field, and other roots. 
 Having had to wait for my washing for over a week, as 
 Judy went first to Beaufort to see "him niece," a man 
 grown, who was sick and died, and then was too sick her- 
 self, I hunted up some one else and had our washing done . 
 Housekeeping with such young things to look after as 
 Robert and Rose ^ only is not an easy or thoroughly 
 satisfactory proceeding, with so much else to see to in 
 this great house. 
 
 Jan. 22. Sam sent word that buckra and white lady 
 were coming. I went to the door. There stood Miss R., 
 Mrs. Clark, and Mr. De la Croix, and coining up the 
 path were the rest of their party, Mrs. Bundy, Mrs. Wil- 
 liams, Mr. R., and, still on the beach, Mr. Williams and 
 
 for further contribution; on the other hand, no subscription was to be 
 ■withdrawn unless he ceased to superintend the enterprise. On his 
 closing the business, the net proceeds were to be divided ■pro raia. 
 
 ' Joe having gone back to his trade of carpenter, the domestic 
 force now included a boy and a girl (daughter of Abel and sister of 
 Hester), marvelously ignorant, even for a Sea Island field-hand. 
 TJnde Sam, Robert's father, was acting as cook. 
 
142 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 Dr. Bundy shooting. I flew down to Uncle Sam to give 
 him potatoes, white and sweet, and rice and hominy, 
 telling him to have the tea-kettle boiUng so that I could 
 give them a cup of coffee. We had eaten our last loaf 
 of bread that morning, so I mixed some griddle-cakes, 
 and Robert, who enjoyed the fun of so many people, set 
 the table and did very nicely. Rose running up and down 
 stairs with the hot flap-jacks. I don't wonder that coun- 
 try-people eat " griddles " so much, — they are so much 
 easier and more quickly prepared than anything else. 
 But nothing is done quickly in this region, and all this 
 was a work of time, during which I entertained my guests 
 and they entertained themselves in the " shop," and 
 they became great purchasers. Then the boatmen who 
 had brought them came up for sugar and tobacco, and 
 Mr. De la Croix opened the new box for me, and they 
 were very much amused to see me diving into the depths 
 of the sugar-barrel and handhng the tobacco at " eight 
 cents a plug!" They were very merry and jolly and 
 seemed to enjoy themselves, — certainly Mrs. Bundy 
 did at our piano, and we in hearing her. Robert and Rose 
 could not put the things on the table — they were fixed, 
 as soon as they entered the room, with delight. It was 
 funny work getting together dishes enough, but I made 
 out. My table was full and my guests hungry, though 
 they protested they only came for a call and did not want 
 any luncheon. We got up from table about three, I got 
 Dr. Bundy to take the stitches from Hester's arm and 
 dress it, and then they said they must be off, — they had 
 stayed too long already. And so it proved, for the tide 
 had gone out and the boat was high and dry on an oyster- 
 bank ! They did not seem much distressed, and all betook 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 143 
 
 themselves to a walk towards the quarters, which they 
 visited in a body, to the delight of the people. I was in- 
 formed, " Miss Hayut, buckra-man on hos-bahck," and 
 Mr. Thorpe appeared on business with C. ; as it never 
 rains but it pours, two officers from our blockading ves- 
 sel now landed, to see the pickets they were told were 
 here. They did not stay long, and then I went to find Dr. 
 Bundy and see what time they would get off. I found 
 they could not get away tiU seven, so began to make pre- 
 parations for tea. I knew my table would not be large 
 enough, and was quietly taking all the books and papers 
 off the big round one in the corner, when the ladies dis- 
 covered what I was about; they rose in a body and pro- 
 tested they would not have any tea. But the gentlemen 
 equally protested I should do just as I chose, and set 
 them to work if I would, so they wheeled out the table 
 and Mr. De la Croix went with me to the milk-closet to 
 take down the shelves, which were the leaves. The table 
 is a monstrous great round one, solid mahogany, and 
 with its leaves in made my table-cloth look Hke a towel 
 on the grass, so we took to the bare boards. We sat down 
 twelve to a repetition of the lunch, with the addition of 
 Susan's pork and sausages, as our boys had had no din- 
 ner. I could not persuade any of them to stay aU night, 
 though I showed them that I had bed accommodations 
 for four, and sofas for more, to say nothing of a floor! 
 There was a little moon and they all got home safely — 
 we had a suspicion we might see them about midnight ! 
 Jan. 23. In the midst of all the fun and frolic yester- 
 day there came a sudden pause, when Mrs. Williams 
 drew down the corners of her mouth and remarked, 
 " And this is a band of Missionaries ! " 
 
144 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 I had the room in the basement cleaned to-day by 
 Samson's Betty. She is the woman whose old husband 
 turned up and gave C. so much trouble. This thing is 
 happening a good deal now, and must. A man who was 
 sold six years ago to Georgia came up from St. Simon's 
 with the troops not long ago to find his wife here married 
 again. He gave her leave to do so, however, when he was 
 sold ofF, so had nothing to say. To go back to Betty. I 
 gave her as careful directions as I could and left her to 
 her own devices. When I went to her once I found her in 
 the middle of the room with two great tubs of water, her 
 skirts all tied up to her knees, the floor swimming in wa- 
 ter which she was flinging about with a handful of shucks 
 i. e., corn-husks ! It would be easier to keep house in a 
 small country house at home and do my own work (minus 
 the washing) and live better than we do here. However, 
 I am very philosophical, and ignore dirt and irregularity. 
 
 Jan. 24. I had promised to go to the quarters and 
 rode down, C. walking by my side to take down the 
 amount of cotton and corn land each hand wished to 
 work this year. He stood with his back against a fence, 
 the "gang" collected in front of him, book in hand, 
 taking down the number of tasks each agreed to work, 
 talking to them about the crop, laughing with them 
 and at them. A not less unique picture certainly was 
 his sister riding his little horse, whose back her large 
 shawl nearly covered behind, in her ordinary dress and 
 hoops, stopping at door after door to look at this sick 
 baby, talk to that old woman; give a comb out of one 
 pocket and put an egg into another; dismount to show 
 Amaritta how to make yeast and raise bread, examine 
 some sore throats, go to Louisa's house and repeat the 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 145 
 
 y^east operation there, then remount and proceed through 
 the street in the same style, only that now the flour and 
 warm water are brought to the door and she stirs on 
 horseback! Sunday is the "Quarter meeting-day" — 
 over a hundred are to be baptized and they want some 
 bread to carry, as they will have to stay all day. I ride 
 back through the overseer's yard, stop at her door to 
 speak to Judy, then have a talk with Abel, who wants 
 to know how I find Rose, says he knows character is 
 better than all the riches of this world, and that he was 
 taught and teaches his children not to lay hand on any- 
 thing that does not belong to them. I took her partly 
 because I knew it w^s a good family. Demus ^ attends 
 me, and I ride home followed by haK a dozen Uttle 
 boys who are coming up to school and run races by my 
 side. The wind has turned east, and a thick fog is driv- 
 ing in visible clouds over the dreary cotton-fields, raw, 
 chilly, and disagreeable enough. I come out of school 
 wondering what I am going to have for dinner and what 
 for Sunday, knowing that Uncle Sam, whose daughter 
 Katrine is " going in the water, " will probably be away 
 aU day and that the R.'s are coming to spend Sunday. 
 You know there was trouble last summer about the 
 superintendents who were not Baptists remaining to 
 the Communion Service — there has been more since, 
 and the negro elders have become so excited about it 
 that they will not allow them to stay, so the R.'s did 
 not wish to go to church, and planned when we were 
 there at New Year's to come down here to spend that 
 Sunday. They told me when they were here Thursday 
 
 ' A boy lately added to the corps of house-servants at CoflSn's 
 Point. 
 
146 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 that they were coming, so I ought to have been ready, 
 but except my three loaves of bread I had made no 
 preparation, and was expecting them momentarily. 
 The Fates were propitious, however, for Minda sent 
 me a piece of fresh pork, and a note from Mr. Philbrick 
 said he would send us a piece of fresh beef for our 
 rations Sunday. I had just time to wash my hands when 
 my guests arrived. That is a process, by the way, which 
 I have to go through with, at the least, twice in an hour 
 — sometimes oftener than that in fifteen minutes — with 
 sand-soap and brush! 
 
 There was a great church-going from this place, as 
 fourteen people were to be baptized, and Sam when he 
 was rigged was a sight, with his beaver over his head- 
 hankercher. Carts were in requisition to bring home 
 the wet clothes — Louisa told C. that she could n't wear 
 hoops into the water and should be so cold she should 
 wear eight coats (they drop the petti-) and she could n't 
 bring them all home. It was foggy and chilly, though the 
 sun came out at noon when the proceedings must have 
 been at their height, as the tide was high then. There 
 were one hundred and forty-nine dipped on this occa- 
 sion. 
 
 The next two letters are largely occupied with the 
 beginnings of the new working year. 
 
 c. p. W. TO E. s. p. 
 
 Jan. 25. I went down to this nigger-house yesterday 
 morning, called the people up and told them what they 
 were going to get on their cotton besides the pay for 
 picking already paid, and then, after talking over 
 plantation matters a little, got their acres for next year. 
 
3] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 147 
 
 ey seemed "well satisfy" with the additional pay- 
 nt, fuUy appreciated the pay according to crop and 
 ording to acre combined, and started on this year's 
 rk with "good encourage." I suppose Mr. Forbes 
 i you are two bricks, serving as the beginning of a 
 )d foundation for these people's prosperity. 
 
 FHOM w. c. G. 
 
 Japtain Oliver Fripp's, Jan. 26. We are very busy 
 w on the plantations. A new system of labor to 
 ugurate, — lands to aUot, — grumbling to pacify 
 1 idleness to check, — my hands — with nine plan- 
 tons — are perfectly overrunning. The worst of it 
 that my people are in pretty bad disposition, — the 
 V system has been received with joy and thankful- 
 ;s in most parts of the island, — here with suspicion, 
 imbKng, and aversion. How far it is the fault of their 
 it and present superintendents, I cannot tell, — it 
 5 been known as a hard district ever since we came 
 •e, — but it must be our failing in some degree. I 
 TOutly hope that by the middle of February it will 
 over as far as I am concerned. It is a httle remark- 
 le that while the Abolitionists and negroes' friends up 
 irth are striving so hard to have the sale postponed,' 
 superintendents, without exception that I have 
 ird, are very desirous to have it effected. This 
 iperintendence " is a most unsatisfactory system, — 
 iporary and unprogressive in every element. Of 
 irse, nothing else could well have been tried this last 
 ir, and perhaps the time has not yet come to abandon 
 But we all think it has. I am satisfied that the sooner 
 
 Prom unwillmgness to see the land owned by any one but negroes. 
 
148 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAI- [1863 
 
 the people are thrown upon themselves, the speedier will 
 be their salvation. Let all the natural laws of labor, 
 wages, competition, etc., come into play, — and the 
 sooner will habits of responsibility, industry, self- 
 dependence, and manliness be developed. Very little, 
 very Kttle, should be given them : now, in the first mo- 
 ments of freedom, is the time to influence their notion 
 of it. To receive has been their natural condition. They 
 are constantly comparing the time when they us§d to 
 obtain shoes, dresses, coats, flannels, food, etc., from 
 their masters, with the present when Kttle or nothing is 
 given them. I think it would be most unwise and 
 injurwus to give them lands, — negro allotments; 
 they should be made to buy before they can feel them- 
 selves possessors of a rod. There are some who are 
 now able to buy their houses and two or three acres of 
 land, — by the end of the year their number will prob- 
 ably be greatly increased. These will be the more intel- 
 ligent, the more industrious and persistent. But give 
 them land, and a house, — and the ease of gaining as 
 good a livelihood as they have been accustomed to 
 would keep many contented with the smallest exertion. 
 I pity some of them very much, for I see that nothing 
 will rouse and maintain their energy but suffering. 
 
 In regard to the immediate sale, — even should 
 speculators buy some plantations, I don't think the 
 people would suffer much oppression during the years 
 of their possession. It would be for their interest to 
 continue or increase the wages which Government offers, 
 — and probably many would let the places almost alone. 
 Should oppression occur, the negroes will probably have 
 an opportunity to move, — such cases would be closely 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 149 
 
 watched and loudly reported, — and the people would 
 be aU the more dependent on their own exertions. I 
 should think the great injury would come at the end of 
 the war, or whenever the speculators sell the lands: 
 then, instead of selling at low prices and in small lots 
 or of consulting the people's interest in any way, they 
 wUl simply realize the greatest advantage for them- 
 selves. Other places, however, will be bought by friends 
 and by the Government, — on the whole, great good 
 would result to the people. Moreover, the work will 
 then have very much more value as a test of their 
 capacity and ambition, — as an experiment in American 
 emancipation. 
 
 I feel that outside of directly spiritual labor, this 
 emancipation work is the noblest and holiest in the 
 country. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Jan. 27. Both schools were very satisfactory. If 
 any one could have looked in, without the children's 
 seeing them, they would have thought we presented 
 quite an ordinary school-like appearance. I have a 
 blackboard with numerals and figures and the second 
 line of the Multiplication Table written on it, aU of 
 which the oldest school know tolerably, but they make 
 sorry work trying to copy the figures on their slates. 
 I let them use them every day now, however, for they 
 must learn, by gradually growing familiar with the use 
 of a pencil, not to use it like a hoe. There are furrows 
 in the slates made by their digging in which you might 
 plant benny-seed, if not cotton! 
 
 Jan. 29. Am trying to teach the children how to tell 
 
150 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 time on the dial-plate of an old English clock, " Pre- 
 sented by Sir Isaac Coffin, Bart.," as its face informs 
 you — one of the many valuable things demolished. 
 
 Jan. 31. Started directly after breakfast to spend the 
 day- and night with H. We broke down, as usual, had 
 to stop and be tinkered up, so that William was late 
 for the ferry, and when we got to the Oaks avenue I 
 got out with my bag and basket and let him go on. I 
 trusted to fate to find some one to carry my traps for 
 me the mile up to the house. The diive was lovely, and 
 I found some people waiting by the roadside for Mr. 
 Soule, to get passes to go to Beaufort. A boy readily 
 took my things for me without promise of any pajonent. 
 On the walk I found he was one of the Edisto refugees 
 who are quartered at the village and supplied with 
 rations by Government, but he had left home with only 
 two pieces of hardtack in his pocket and without 
 breakfast. "Think we'll go back to Edisto, Missy."" 
 he asked most earnestly, hoping that a stranger would 
 give him some hope that he should see his home again. 
 He was a nice boy; as a general thing the Edisto people 
 are a better class of blacks, more intelligent and culti- 
 vated, so to speak, but those brought from there were 
 then refugees from many other places. 
 
 Mr. Philbrick brought word that the North CaroKna 
 army * had arrived at Hilton Head, and we were excited 
 to know who of our friends had come. 
 
 Feh. 1. A message came back from Mr. Philbrick 
 that General "Saxby" was coming to dinner. The 
 
 ' A detachment from the Eighteenth Army Corps, under Major- 
 General John G. Foster, had come to help in the operations against 
 Charleston. 
 
33] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 151 
 
 meral was decidedly blue about affairs here at pre- 
 it. He wants to stop the sale of lands very much, 
 ough, as he can control the sale so as to keep it out of 
 s hands of speculators, I hope the sale wiU take place, 
 ju cannot understand how much we long to have the 
 le over. If it could only have taken place a month 
 oner it would have been all the better, as then the 
 irchasers could have stocked their places by the time 
 3rk began. As it is, the people have gone into the 
 ;lds without the necessary number of cattle or mules, 
 id with only their worn-out hoes; the Edisto people 
 bo are now being distributed onto the plantations have- 
 rthing. With the chance of giving up the control so 
 ion. Government has not supplied aU that is necessary 
 id work bids fair to be as behindhand here as it was 
 st year. Where the people have gone to work at all — 
 
 this end of the island — they have started with " good 
 icourage," but at other places it has been impossible 
 1 get them to start any cotton, though they work corn, 
 his is partly due to the fact that this end of the island 
 
 removed from the demoralizing effects of the camps, 
 id partly, too, to the confidence the people have in the 
 iperintendents here, who have mostly been with them 
 eadily now for nearly a year. It seems to us on the spot 
 3 if things could not go on another year as they are now, 
 ad we long for February eleventh and things to be 
 ;ttled. The auctioneer is at Washington trying, not to 
 ave the sale postponed, but to have lands set apart and 
 tven the blacks beforehand, and we dread lest any day 
 e should hear that it has been delayed. Some of the 
 lacks mean to buy — we don't wish them to till the 
 ar is over, as our tenure here is too uncertain for them 
 
152 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 C. on horseback, I in the double sulky started home- 
 ward, reaching home — and we agreed that it was cer- 
 tainly homelike — by half past six. Rose came up 
 from her house acknowledging that though she wanted 
 to see me she could have waited till to-morrow, but her 
 mother made her come! 
 
 FEOM C. P. W. 
 
 Feb. 2. The sale is a week from Wednesday. General 
 Saxton (proclaim it not from the house-top) says he 
 shall take the liberty to use the Cotton Fund to outbid 
 any troublesome speculators. Glory Hallelujah! 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Feb. 4. Cold as ever again — can do nothing but try 
 to keep warm. Have a good fire in the school-room, 
 and quite a full school — those who stay away for the 
 cold being jeered at as not wishing to learn by the 
 others. I think they have done well for a year with 
 the amount of teaching they have had. 
 
 Feb. 7. Found C. was going to Pine Grove, so thought 
 I would go too, as I have not been to see them since 
 Christmas. I went round to see the people who were at 
 home; many of them had gone into the field, where C. 
 went to deal out the land to them. Then I followed him 
 in the sulky to bring him home, but when I reached the 
 field. Flora, who came running out to see me, crying 
 out, "my ole missus!" informed me that "Mass' 
 Charlie have much long jawing, people in confusion." 
 Mr. S.,* it seemed, had disturbed them about the land- 
 sale, and York vowed if anybody but Mr. Philbrick 
 ' The new postmaster for Beaufort. 
 
1363] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 153 
 
 or C. had the place he would pack up and go to New 
 York with his family. Went home alone, forced to 
 leave C. to walk. Found some of his old people waiting 
 for him — they are very much attached to him and he 
 to them — it is hard for him to give them up. One 
 man met him at church last Sunday, took off his hat, 
 rolled up his eyes, and remarked pathetically, "I goes 
 to sleep and dreams of you. Boss ! " 
 
 Feb. 8. Dr. RusseU sends me word that after March 
 1st my salary will be $20 instead of $25. 
 
 We all went up to church this morning for the chance 
 of finding John L.* there. We go to church to see our 
 friends, and generally manage to get there just as serv- 
 ice is over. If it were any good to the people we could 
 bear it, but they get stones, not bread, I am sorry to say. 
 We did not find any friends from the Twenty-Fourth. 
 
 1 shall hope to send you Colonel Higginson's report of 
 his expedition ^ with the Black Begiment, which was a 
 great success. Oh, if the formation of the regiment last 
 spring had only been differently managed ! we should 
 have had a brigade by this time. January, who I wrote 
 you was taken from here one night as a deserter, and 
 who was found up his chimney, almost frightened to 
 death at going back, he was so badly treated before, 
 came for a day or two since he got back from the 
 expedition and told C. he would not take a thousand 
 dollars to leave now, he had such a good time. 
 
 On Februaiy 10, the very eve of the eagerly awaited 
 
 ' A cousin in the 24th Massachusetts, which had come to Land's 
 End as part of the "North Carolina army." 
 
 2 For lumber up the St Mary's River, which separates Greorgia 
 from Florida. 
 
154 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1803 
 
 day set for the land-sale, H. W. writes: "The cart 
 went up for rations, so I sent some sausages for H. and 
 got some cake at night, with a note saying the sale was 
 stopped." True to his extreme record as friend of the 
 negro. General Hunter had been the means of postpon- 
 ing the sales, in the hope, as has been said, of eventually 
 turning most of the plantations into negro holdings, by 
 gift or the next thing to it. More will be heard of all 
 this shortly. 
 
 FROM c. p. w. 
 
 Feb. 14. It is supposed that the postponement of 
 the land-sales till the allotment of lands is made will be 
 for a year at least. I expect to find the people, though 
 they are all members, will become profane immediately. 
 They are depending on a chance to buy or hire land. 
 
 W. C. G. writes the next letter after having had a 
 talk with a friend in the Twenty-Fourth Massachusetts. 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 Feb. 17. He seemed very well, more contented than 
 most of the soldiers and talking more rationally and 
 humanely than four fifths of those with whom I have 
 conversed. The troops will probably be here a month 
 or two at least, before any attempt is made in any direc- 
 tion. The commanding generals have quarreled,* and 
 one has gone North; the troops are insufficient, the 
 enemy on the alert and strongly defended. The history 
 of the Department so far might read: the forts were 
 taken, one thousand-odd children were taught to read, 
 and one negro regiment was formed.^ Hunter seems 
 
 • See p. 162. 
 
 ^ The history of the Department had been defined as " a military 
 picnic." 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 155 
 
 to be a narrow, self-willed man — to me — who don't 
 know much about his affairs. At first the soldiers were 
 allowed to go wherever they pleased; consequently 
 they poured over our end of the island, confusion 
 coming with them. They cheated, they plundered, 
 they threatened lives, they stole boats, poultry, hogs, 
 money, and other property, they paid for dinners with 
 worthless Richmond money, taking good bills in 
 exchange. They behaved like marauders in an enemy's 
 country, and disgraced the name of man, American, or 
 soldier. The houses of one whole plantation they burnt 
 to the ground in the night. For three whole days and 
 far into the night I did nothing but chase soldiers and 
 ride about to protect the people. The consequence of 
 it all is that the soldiers are now tied up in camp pretty 
 firmly. 
 
 The sales have been postponed to my and many 
 persons' great disappointment. And yet it does seem 
 absurd, in view of the increasing uncertainties of the 
 moment here, to sell land. But I am so heartily sick 
 and weary of this system ! What I shall do if the lands 
 are not sold vdthin a month or two, I don't know. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Feb. 19. You will see by this copy of the Free South ' 
 the outrages that have been committed by the troops 
 who were landed at Land's End, but it can give you 
 but Uttle idea of the outrages that have been committed 
 or the mischief done. Besides the actual loss to the 
 people, — and in many cases it has been their all, — 
 the loss of confidence in Yankees is an incalculable 
 * A paper published at Beaufort. 
 
156 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 injury. The scenes some of the superintendents have 
 had to go through with are beyond description. Sumner 
 had a pistol put at his breast for trying to stop the 
 soldiers and protect the negroes, and Mr. Hammond, 
 when he went with General Saxton to tell Hunter of 
 what had been done under his very eyes on his own 
 plantations, burst into tears. It is disgusting that any 
 Massachusetts regiment should be mixed up with such 
 savage treatment, and that the Twenty-Fourth should 
 be is shameful in the extreme. 
 
 Feb. 20. To-day all the people were on the Bay 
 " drawing seine " when I came out of morning school, 
 and as that is a process I have wished to see I ran down 
 to the beach myself between whiles. Here was a droll 
 enough scene indeed. They had made one " drawing " 
 and were just casting the seine again as I walked along 
 for half a mile towards the drum-hole.^ The shell- 
 banks, which are exposed at low tide, were fringed with 
 small children with baskets and bags which they were 
 filling with oysters and conchs. Rose followed me as 
 guide and protector, jabbering away in her outlandish 
 fashion to my great entertainment, and was very much 
 afraid that the oyster-shells, over which she walked with 
 impunity vsdth bare feet, would cut up my heavy leather 
 boots. I could go out to the very edge of one of these 
 curious sheU-banks, and the seine was drawn up almost 
 at my feet. The net was laid on a boat which was hauled 
 out into the water by the men, who were up to their 
 waists, then dropped along its full length, which is very 
 great, and gradually hauled in shore again with two or 
 three bushels of fish in it, and any number of crabs, 
 ' Haunt of the drum-fish. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 157 
 
 which the children pick up very carefully and ffing 
 ashore. There were about thirty men, and you would 
 have thought from the noise and talking that it was a 
 great fire in the country, with no head to the engine 
 companies and every man giving orders. They were 
 good-natured as possible, but sometimes their gibber- 
 ish sounds as if they were scolding. The boys, with 
 their pantaloons, or what answer for sich, rolled up to 
 their knees, were hauling at the rope or picking up the 
 crabs and making them catch hold of each other tiU 
 they had a long string of them. Another mode of pro- 
 ceeding with them — for a crab-bite is a pretty serious 
 thing — is to hold an oyster-shell out, which they grab, 
 and then with a quick shake the claw is broken off, and 
 they are harmless. A large bass having been taken in 
 the haul I witnessed, it was laid at my feet for my 
 acceptance, and then, the girls following, most of the 
 boys staying to see the third drawing, I wended my 
 way back to school. 
 
 Feb. 21. Such steady shop that C. could not get off 
 very early and sold a barrel of flour before he departed. 
 Shop is a great nuisance, but I don't know what the 
 people would do without it and don't see how it can be 
 given up for a long time. They can't get things as cheap 
 anywhere else, but they cannot understand that it is 
 of no advantage to us. When I told them yesterday 
 they must not hurry me, for I had to put everything 
 down so as to keep a correct account to send to the 
 Quartermaster and people who sent the things, they 
 were quite surprised, and when in explaining the state 
 of the case to them I remarked that I was not even paid 
 for the trouble, Binah said she would not take the 
 
158 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 trouble then; and they can't understand that any one 
 should. 
 
 Other comments on this laborious shop-keeping are : 
 [Feb. 23]. What with sugar and dry goods upstairs, and 
 flour, pork, and salt down, it's busy, not to say nasty 
 work. [Apr. 9.] Mr. P.'s molasses fell short about $5.00 
 on the barrel! Yet you can't convince the people he is 
 not making heaps of money, and I, too, for the matter 
 of that. [June 6.] A stranger the other day asked me 
 for a looking-glass that he might see how his new hat 
 looked, and then informed me that I ought to keep 
 lemonade for my friends! But such things are rare, 
 and so ludicrous that one does n't mind. 
 
 FEOM H. W. 
 
 Feb. 22. I heard Uncle Sam read the first three chap- 
 ters of Genesis, which he translated into his own lingo 
 as he went along, calling the subtile serpent the most 
 " amiable " of beasts, and ignoring gender, person, and 
 number in an astonishing manner. He says "Lamb 
 books of Life," and calls the real old Southern aristo- 
 cracy the gentiles! His vocabulary is an extensive 
 one — I wish his knowledge of the art of cooking were 
 as great! 
 
 Feb. 25. I was in full tide with my A B C's when I 
 saw two mounted officers pass the window. They pre- 
 sently appeared at the door of the school-room, one of 
 them with a General's stars, addressing me and asking 
 about the school. But he did not introduce himself, and 
 I was in profound ignorance as to who it might be. 
 They came, apparently, to see the place, and while they 
 walked on the beach I got up what lunch I could. The 
 itle had an immense effect upon Robert; when I told 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 159 
 
 Sam I must have the water boiled to give the General 
 some coffee, he opened his eyes as wide as the gate, and 
 Rose, who came to ask for the key of the corn-room 
 for him to feed the horses, was such a comical sight, as 
 she stared with mouth and eyes and then dropped a 
 curtsey in the middle of the room, that if any one had 
 been here I think I should have disgraced^ myself and 
 snickered! Unfortunately the dignitary did not see her. 
 
 Feb. 26. I had scarcely done breakfast when I was 
 called upon to serve in the shop for half a dozen men 
 from the blockading vessel off Otter Island, all negroes. 
 They come every once in a while and buy large amounts 
 of sugar and other little things. They evidently think 
 their patronage of great advantage to us. 
 
 Five grown men have come in to swell the evening 
 school. I can't do much for them, as they don't all 
 know their letters, but they have books and I hope the 
 children will help them on out of school. 
 
 Have I told you that the path to the beach has been 
 bordered with flowers for several weeks, jonquils and 
 narcis^s, so far as I can make out, though unlike any I 
 ever saw before ? They are in great profusion, and there 
 are a few snow-drops, very pretty, but a foot or more 
 high, and losing their charm in the height and strength. 
 The jasmine and hawthorn are just coming into blos- 
 som, and I see what looks like a peach-tree in full bloom 
 in Sam's yard. 
 
 Feb. 27. C. came home before night, with the news 
 that the sales had begun ^ and that our fate would be 
 
 ' The War Department ordered the sales to go forward, leaving 
 the restrictions to be arranged by Hunter, Saxton, and the Commis- 
 sioners in charge. See p. 165. 
 
160 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 decided by next week probably. He brought no other 
 news of importance except that my unknown guest was 
 probably a General Potter ^ on Foster's staff. When I 
 came out of school this morning I found Rose asleep on 
 the rug in front of the parlor fire ! She is quite a Topsy 
 in some things, playing all sorts of tricks with her voice 
 and actions, but I have never had reason to doubt her 
 truth or honesty in the smallest particular, since the 
 first, and I have been very watchful. 
 
 Feb. 28. Before I was up I heard a perfect babel of 
 tongues, a magpie chattering, which, on looking out 
 of the window, I found came from about twenty women 
 at work in our new garden getting out the " jint-grass," 
 swinging their great, heavy hoes above their heads. Dr. 
 Dio Lewis should have seen their gymnastics and the 
 physical development therefrom. It was a droll sight — 
 red, blue, and bright yellow in their costume, and such 
 a gabbling! Hindustanee is as inteUigible as their talk 
 among themselves. How C. astonished a man who 
 was muttering away to himself the other day at the 
 Oaks by laughing at him and telling him he und^stood 
 Nigger as well as he ! 
 
 Old Deborah walked from Cheny Hill this morning, 
 — she has lately moved there from^ here, — and came 
 into the early school, which greatly dehghted her. She 
 is Rose's grandmother, and heard her great-grandchild 
 reading to me, yet she is a smart old body and carries 
 on her own cotton this year. Her delight over Raphael's 
 angels — we have Mr. Philbrick's photographs of 
 them here — was really touching. " If a body have 
 any consider, 't would melt their hairt," — and she 
 > Brigadier-General Edward E. Potter, Foster's Chief of Staff. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 161 
 
 tried to impress it upon Rose that she was a greatly 
 privileged person to be able to see them every day. 
 
 In the next letter is described a visit to the camp of 
 the "North Carolina army" at Land's End. 
 
 Sunday, March 1. We started off in time to reach 
 church before the sermon was over, I in the sulky 
 with my things to stay all night, — if it should prove 
 practicable for me to go to camp, by staying at G.'s or 
 the Oaks. H. got into my sulky and we drove off, the 
 question to be decided after dinner. The road to-day 
 was lined with the jasmine in full bloom running over 
 everything. I was too late to see it last spring and as I 
 had not been out of the house for a fortnight the change 
 was very marked. Some trees are putting out fresh, 
 green leaves, the peach and wild plum-trees are all in 
 blossom. Our large field, too, had been "listed" * 
 since I passed through it last, and altogether things had 
 a very spring-like look. After dinner it was decided to 
 take the carriage and Northern horses, with Harry, and 
 make our expedition to the camp in style, escorted by 
 Mr. Sumner pn horseback. 
 
 Behold us, then, starting about ten in the morning, 
 Monday, March 2, driving for fifteen miles through 
 the woods, a perfect spring day, till, as we reached our 
 journey's end, we found the woods cut down and fields 
 cleared for the camps over an immense space. Tents 
 in every direction and masts beyond, looking very busy 
 and thriving. Real war camps, not such as we see at 
 Readville, for most of the regiments coming on such 
 an expedition, from which they expected to return 
 
 * That is, hoed over again and new furrows made for the next crop. 
 
162 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 before this time, had only shelter tents, as few things 
 as they could possibly get along with, and their worst 
 clothes. There were men washing (with a bit of board 
 in a half of a barrel with a horse-brush!), cutting wood, 
 mending the road very much cut up with the army- 
 wagons, sticking down trees in front of their tents, and 
 in almost every camp we saw some men playing ball. 
 Horses and wagons, rough stables, and the carpenters 
 at work with plane and saw getting up comforts. The 
 Twenty-Fourth was at Land's End indeed, so we 
 passed through all the others before we came to it, each 
 additional one causing a louder and more wondering 
 exclamation from Harry at the sight of so many men, till 
 the oxen, evidently waiting to be slaughtered, and of a 
 size so vastly superior to those indigenous to these 
 regions, quite dumbfounded him. 
 
 The Twenty-Fourth reached at last, we went at once to 
 James's tent, where he greeted us very kindly, and inviting 
 us in, went off for John. Glad as I was to see them at last, 
 it only made me doubly sorry that they should have 
 been so near us and unable to come down to the few 
 home comforts we could have offered them; but they 
 haveboth tried to get away in vain. We found the Twenty- 
 Fourth was in a very excited state over General Steven- 
 son's arrest ; ^ and speaking of his release and return to 
 camp the day before, James said — " We gave him such a 
 reception as the Twenty-Fourth can give." The whole 
 North Carolina division were feehng very sore over the 
 quarrel between Hunter and Foster which has so unjustly, 
 
 ' Brigadier-General Thomas G. Stevenson, originally colonel of 
 the Twenty-Fourth Massachusetts, was arrested by General Hunter 
 and soon after released. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 163 
 
 as they feel, deprived them of going under Foster on this 
 expedition, and over the general treatment of them and 
 their officers which they have received ever since they 
 came into this Department.^ This I heard from James 
 first, but more at length and in detail from the surgeon 
 afterwards. For as we drove home a gentleman passed 
 us on horseback, and we presently saw him racing 
 with Mr. Sumner, and then riding by his side. They 
 soon turned. Mr. Sumner introduced to me S. A. Green. 
 Mr. Sumner had never seen him before, but asked him 
 to join us at lunch at Mr. G.'s, where we were to stop 
 on our way. 
 
 G. was expecting us, and such a dinner as he spread 
 before us ! A little roasted pig, over which Mr. Sumner 
 grew pathetic as he described its baby-like appearance 
 before it was cooked, when Tamah, their invaluable 
 cook, brought it in to show them — potatoes, rice, etc., 
 and for dessert, trifle, cake, muffins, waffles of a most 
 excellent variety, and I don't know what. But the spice 
 of the dinner was a long and animated discussion over 
 the cause of General Stevenson's arrest and other mat- 
 ters appertaining thereto. Dr. Green was present at 
 the time Stevenson had his discussion with Major Bar- 
 
 ' The immediate cause of this trouble was a disagreement about 
 the extent of Hunter's authority over Poster and his command while 
 they were in the Department of the South, but the underlying diffi- 
 culty was that Foster and his ofi&cers distrusted Hunter as an anti- 
 slavery zealot. 
 
 Finding that the operations against Charleston could not go for- 
 ward immediately, Foster returned to North Carohna within a few 
 days after his arrival in the Department of the South. His troops re- 
 mained, so restive under Hunter's conmiand that Foster's whole staff 
 was presently sent back to North Carolina for alleged insubordination 
 
164 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 stow and is reported to have said that he would rather 
 be defeated than gain a victory with the aid of black 
 soldiers, — and says that he said no such thing. The 
 question was asked as a leading one, and before General 
 Stevenson replied. Major Barstow exclaimed, "You 
 hear that declaration?" and went oS and reported. 
 Pretty small business, anyway, though the General and 
 most of his oflBcers apparently are not at all waked up 
 to the question, and oppose the idea of negro soldiers 
 very strongly. They seem to have been Uving for a 
 year vsdth their old prejudices quietly slumbering — 
 without coming in contact with the subject and its 
 practical working as we have here, and so are not pre- 
 pared for the change of opinion which has been silently 
 advancing here. We did not think a year ago that these 
 people would make soldiers, though it naight be a wise 
 measure to organize them for garrison duty to save the 
 lives of our men in a climate they could not bear well 
 and where no fighting would be necessary. Now it is 
 a matter of fact, not opinion, as Colonel Higginson's 
 report shows, that they will fight in open warfare, and 
 will succeed in a certain sort of expedition when white 
 men would fail, thus being too valuable an aid in 
 putting down ibe B«belIion for us to give way to the 
 prejudices of the mass of the soldiers. But I do not 
 think it strange those prejudices exist, and they can 
 only be removed by degrees. 
 
 The sales are to go on — how glad I shall be when 
 
 the whole thing is settled ! Dr. Brisbane thinks he has 
 
 proof that Mr. Coffin is in jail in Charleston for Union 
 
 sentiments,' so that he shall reserve his plantations for 
 
 ' This report turned out to be a mistake. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 165 
 
 him. Mr. Philbrick may be able to lease them till the 
 war is over, but if we take Charleston and if Mr. Coffin 
 claims his own again, behold us ! I don't know what the 
 negroes would do, at first, if they thought Mr. Coffin 
 was coming back to take possession of the lands — 
 though they all acknowledge that when he was here 
 there was no "confusion'' — "that was all along de 
 overseer." I suppose, if they were not taken by surprise 
 and could understand matters, they would work for 
 him as well as any one else; but a great deal would 
 depend upon whom they had over them — they would 
 not work under Cockloft again "first." They will^e 
 disappointed if Mr. Philbrick does not get this place. 
 
 FROM w. c. G. 
 
 March 1. The sale of lands, which was arrested by 
 General Hunter's order, has recommenced by authority 
 obtained from Washington. The generals commanding 
 — Hunter and Saxton — are both interested in terms 
 and regulations which will favor the negroes. I hear 
 they are both added as, in some way, joint commis- 
 sioners to those who have been acting in that capacity, 
 with full powers to retain all lands in Government 
 possession which may be wanted for military or educa- 
 tional purposes.* What plan they may adopt is not 
 yet known; but we have already been called on for a 
 complete census of the population, with a view to a 
 land allotment of some kind. I pray it may not be by 
 gift. I used to dread the effects of immediate emanci- 
 
 ' That is, the revenue from the cotton on certain plantations was 
 used for these purposes. A plantation thus devoted to the educa- 
 tional needs of the people was called a School Farm. 
 
166 LETTEES FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 pation and think it was the duty of a Christian nation 
 to ease the passage from slavery to freedom with all 
 kinds of assistance; but I am nearly satisfied that the 
 best thing our Government can do, for the good of these 
 people themselves, is simply to offer and enforce their 
 acceptance of the advantages of civil law and education. 
 I should hope that for a time the relations of employer 
 and employed might be also watched and determined 
 by law, — but more than this, anything in the form of 
 gifts and charity will, I'm pretty sure, only ];elieve 
 momentary distress at the expense of their development 
 in manliness and independence. Verj' few will take a 
 responsibility which they can in any way avoid, and not 
 one in a thousand will refuse charity if offered, even 
 when there is no slightest need of it. At the same time, 
 they perfectly understand the rights of property, almost 
 superstitiously appreciate the advantages of education, 
 and will eagerly seize any opportunity they may have 
 of acquiring the one or the other. As to these island 
 people I feel no doubt that at least three out of five 
 of the present children will be able to read and write 
 when men and women, and that of the present genera- 
 tion of grown people, half a plantation at least would 
 own land in their own right before four years had past, 
 — if they were permitted to buy. Then how much bet- 
 ter to throw them on themselves, to leave them to their 
 own ambition and intelligence, when they have so 
 much of both. Their inveterate suspicion of white 
 kindness, too, joined to their ignorance, so clog the 
 wheels of any system of charity like this of superintend- 
 ence that for this reason alone I think it should cease. 
 But they only too thoroughly comprehend the idea of 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 167 
 
 law, — and are therefore well able to understand and 
 be grateful for beneficent law, which at once protects 
 and leaves them to themselves. " Let us alone" — the 
 cry of their masters — really belongs to them and is 
 their wisest demand. 
 
 I am anxiously hoping to be freed from this place by 
 the sales and to return to my old neighborhood, and 
 there to be able to accomplish something. This is but 
 a stand-still experience, compared to our wishes. The 
 people advance in spite of it. I believe almost the only 
 real good I 've done was to partially protect these people 
 for three days from the soldiers. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 March 5. C. came home at night with the news that 
 the First South Carolina Volunteers started on an ex- 
 pedition * to-day which Colonel Higginson considers 
 of very great importance, which will have very great 
 results, or from which they will probably never return. 
 Also that drafting has begun in Beaufort by Hunter's 
 orders. 
 
 Greneral Saxton has passed his word to the people 
 here that they shall not be forced into the army — I 
 don't see what is to be the upshot of it — they will lose 
 all confidence in us. Anywhere but here ! Saxton him- 
 self gave Colonel Montgomery " leave to draft in Florida 
 and Key West, but he had no need to — more recruits 
 offered than he could bring away with him. I don't 
 wish to find fault with my commanding general, but 
 I have yet to be shown the first thing Hunter has done 
 
 ' To capture Jacksonville, on the St. John's River, Florida. 
 ' Of the Second South Carolina Volunteers (colored). 
 
168 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 which I consider wise or fine. Saxton has had to go 
 down more than once and persuade him not to execute 
 his orders. 
 
 In the following letter the reference to Mrs. Wolcott 
 and McClellan has to do with that visit to Boston of 
 the deposed general which was made such a triumphal 
 progress for him by the conservatives of the town. The 
 reference to Hallowell, who had a commission in the 
 Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, the first colored regiment 
 raised by a state government, is interesting as further 
 evidence of the prejudice against negro troops. 
 
 March 6. C. brought me last night a long letter from 
 S. descriptive of Mrs. Wolcott's party, McClellan, the 
 fashions, and Hallowell's feeling at the position in 
 which he places himself in going into a negro regiment. 
 I wish he could see Colonel Higginson and his, but a 
 Northern black regiment will be a very different thing 
 from a Southern one — the men wiU have the vices of 
 civihzation from which these are free. Colonel Higgin- 
 son is an enthusiast, but I do not see that he exaggerates 
 or states anything but facts. 
 
 Then follow specimens of the conversation of Robert 
 and Rose, with which may be put here two others, 
 really of later date. 
 
 " Miss Hayiut, that your home ? " Robert asked me 
 this morning, looking at some colored pictures of the 
 Crystal Palace I found in a London News and nailed 
 up in the entry yesterday! He's bound to go North 
 with Mass' Charlie. If he expects to Kve in such a man- 
 sion I don't wonder he wishes to. 
 
 Saturday, March 7. If you could have seen Rose's as- 
 tonishment this morning when she comprehended that 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 169 
 
 the clock was not aKve ! I made her tell me what time it 
 was, which she did successfully, and then, as she stood 
 gazing at the minute-hand " move so fast," I said, " Yes, 
 it is going all the time — it never stops." " No rest for 
 eat ? " she said with the utmost innocence ; and when I told 
 her it was not alive and did not need to eat, she was 
 quite sure the pendulum must be if the hands were not. 
 
 [March 10.^] Some instructions about cleaning up 
 led me taask Rose if she liked dirt, to which she replied, 
 like a true Yankee, with the question, "Miss Hay't, 
 you like um ? You no like um, I no like um." A little 
 while after, she got talking about "Maussa" and 
 Cockloft; when I asked what she would do if she should 
 see Mr. Coffin come here, she said, "I run," "dey 
 bad." Oh, no, not bad, I guess. " Miss Hay't " (you 
 have no idea how short it is, almost "Hat"), "you 
 shum? [see 'em] Well, you do'no; I shum, I know." 
 
 [Nov. 1.] "I say praise for you, 'cause I mind you," 
 said Rose to me in her affectionate way this morning. 
 She tames slowly, as Mr. Soule and I thought when we 
 came home from riding this morning and saw her wait- 
 ing for us at the entrance of the path on the beach 
 turning somersaults on the sand! Her hands would 
 appear high in the air, when suddenly her heels would 
 be in their place ! Yesterday morning she said : " Miss 
 Hayiut, you gwine let me go home to-day for wash ? " 
 Yes, Rose, if you are a good girl. "Yes, Ma'am, me 
 gwine be good girl, my contans [conscience] say, ' Rose, 
 you be good girl, not make Miss Hayiut talk.' " 
 
 To return to H. W.'s letter of March 7: 
 
 • The bracket is used for unimportant dates which are out of their 
 chronological place. 
 
170 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 We drove up to church and heard the text read for 
 the first time! H. was not there, so we went there to 
 dinner again, probably for the last time, as we found 
 the places are really to be sold to-morrow. Mr. Phil- 
 brick hopes to be through with collecting the cotton 
 in a fortnight, and then they will be able to come down 
 here, as he can go to Beaufort once a week for a night 
 or two until it is all ginned and shipped, and then they 
 will go home. 
 
 The next letters return to the all-absorbing matter 
 of the land-sales. The opening paragraph refers to 
 them and the way they were being managed, as well 
 as to the old question of negro character and negro 
 labor. 
 
 FROM c. p. w. 
 
 March 8. I should like to come home and make in- 
 quiries among my friends concerning Port Royal mat- 
 ters. I should Kke to take the part of an intelligent for- 
 eigner desiring to obtain information concerning this 
 interesting experiment of free black labor. And when 
 I had heard and written down their description of this 
 enterprise, I should return to my friends here and read 
 for their entertainment. How we should laugh; I must 
 try it some day. 
 
 When the lands are finally sold, a great many enter- 
 taining questions will arise. Only the real estate will 
 be sold; what is to be done with the cattle, the mules, 
 the boats, the furniture, the carriages? How is the 
 Government to be repaid for what it has spent on this 
 year's crop? How are the reserved plantations to be 
 worked by the Goveriunent ? 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 171 
 
 The sale having taken place at last on March 9, the 
 Kst with which C. P. W. begins his next letter is of 
 plantations reserved from sale by the Government. 
 
 March 10. The Oaks, Oakland, where Mr. Hunn's 
 Philadelphia Commission store is, Eddings Point, T. 
 B. Fripp, my two McTureous places, the Hope Place, 
 and a few others on the Sea Side 'road, about four at 
 Land's End, etc., etc. Mr. Eustis and a Mr. Pritchard, 
 living on Pritchard's Island, near Land's End, paid 
 taxes before the sale. (Most of the places reserved were 
 selected for the purpose of selling land to the negroes 
 next year, after this crop is in.) 
 
 The General [Saxton] is afraid that some speculators 
 may interfere with the plan for this year which has been 
 started.' He has made certain promises to the people 
 in regard to this year's crop, and he feels that he ought 
 to be able to impose some conditions on purchasers. 
 Of course he could not impose conditions under which 
 the lands should be sold, but he still may, as Military 
 Governor, enforce justice toward the people. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 March 10. C. a^ -Mr^ Philbrick stopped at the) 
 nigger-houge^ to see and tell the people of the~result of 
 the sale. At Fripp Point, which he also hought, the 
 people were as usual unmoved and apparently apathetic, 
 but here they were somewhat more demonstrative, and 
 slightly expressed their pleasure. All the places he most 
 cared for Mr. Philbrick was able to bid off, and two of 
 C.'s old places, which he wanted but did not expect to 
 get. So much is settled; but there is a great deal besides 
 See p. 147. 
 
172 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 that it will take a long time and a deal of trouble to 
 arrange — we don't know yet how much goes with the 
 plantations, or when possession will be given. 
 
 The confirmation of the report that Hunter is going 
 to draft these people causes a great deal of feeling, as 
 Saxton has publicly promised them that they shall 
 not be forced to join the army. They seem to under- 
 stand that Hunter is in authority and Saxton can't help 
 himseK, C. says, and so have no ill feeling towards the 
 latter; but they will hide, if possible, and it is hard to 
 feel that they have been so treated as to make them as 
 suspicious of a Yankee's word as they have always 
 been of a white man's. I think it right they should go 
 if they are needed, — the war is of more importance 
 even than the experiment of free labor, — but to have 
 them lied to so ! Why was Hunter ever sent back 
 here? 
 
 FROM C. P. W. 
 
 March 14. Mr. Philbrick has bought in all thirteen 
 plantations,' at an expense of about $7000 : three places 
 K for R., two for Wells, two for Hull on Ladies Island, 
 \ six places within five miles of this place. I remain here, 
 and shall probably assume Cherry Hill and Mulberry 
 Hill, my old places ; G. comes to Pine Grove, and takes 
 that, the Point, and Captain John Fripp Homestead. 
 The people are all starting well, we are in excellent 
 spirits, and are in proper season for the crops; and "if 
 God spare life," "if nothing strange happens," "if we 
 live to see," we shall "see crop make, sir." 
 
 This drafting business is simply folly. Hunter is an 
 
 ' Two of the thirteen were merely leased. 
 
 ■A 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 173 
 
 ignorant, obstinate fool.' General Saxton is very much 
 opposed to the measure, especially after promising the 
 men again and again that they would not be taken 
 unless they were wilhng to go; but he says he has done 
 all he can to dissuade Hunter without any eiffect, and 
 if he should go further in the matter, either he or Hunter 
 would have to go home, and he is not wilHng at this 
 crisis to raise this additional difficulty. Hunter's order 
 was published in the New South ^ last Monday. For 
 a full week before the negroes had been anxiously ques- 
 tioning us about this strange news that " they want to 
 take we to make soldiers." Up to Monday I was able 
 to tell them that I had heard such stories, but did not 
 beKeve them; but Tuesday night, when I got home, I 
 told them how matters stood, and they confessed that 
 for a full week before hardly a man on the plantation 
 under sixty years of age had slept in his bed. A strange 
 white face drives them from the field into the woods like 
 so many quails; they will not go to church, they will 
 not go to the Ferry. Two Sundays ago I happened to 
 ask one of the elders at church, to make talk merely, 
 how soon the next Society meeting took place at Pine 
 Grove. It was last Saturday evening. My question to 
 Demus was reported at the meeting, they immediately 
 became suspicious of some trap to catch them, they 
 
 ' H. W., commenting more mildly, says (Mar. 18): "He certainly 
 has not a clear idea of wliat the superintendents and teachers are doing, 
 and unfortunately classes them as in opposition to himself, — as prefer- 
 ring the agricultural to the military department. This I do not think 
 is the case, but they most of them feel his want of wisdom in dealing 
 with the subject, which has made his own especial object as well as 
 theirs harder to accomplish." 
 
 ^ A short-hved newspaper published in the Department. 
 
174 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 grew anxious, a cry arose that there were soldiers out 
 on the plantation, the men left the praise-house, and 
 the meeting, instead of continuing all night, broke up 
 about midnight with some confusion.' They were 
 caught last year, they will not be caught again. They 
 cannot understand how it is that the Government, for 
 whom they have been working, and in whom they have 
 learned to place confidence as a protection, should wish 
 to interrupt their work here. It is a terrible discourage- 
 ment to them, just as they are starting their first fair 
 trial for themselves, to be forced, I do not say into the 
 military service, for very few will be caught, but forced 
 to abandon their crops, and skulk and hide and lead 
 the life of hunted beasts during all this precious planting 
 season. The women would be physically able to carry 
 on for some time the men's share with their own, but they 
 would be very much disheartened, and would need 
 constant encouragement. Under this terrible uncer- 
 tainty and fear, the work has begun to slacken. Even; 
 the head men on the plantations are losing courage. 
 I make as light of the evil as I can, but I am always 
 met by the remark : " We are a year older than we was 
 last year, sir." Their trust in me is a Uttle surprising. 
 They converse in my presence about their dodging fife, 
 and I could easily take any ten of them I chose alone ; 
 or, with the aid of one other, I could take the whole 
 plantation. " If we did n't trust to you, sir, we should 
 
 ' H. W. describes another service that was broken up by this fear 
 of the draft : " pVIay 2.] At chiirch yesterda,y a squad of soldiers with 
 their oflBcer came from Land's End to the service, when a general 
 stampede took place among the men, and women too, jumping from 
 the windows and one man even from the gallery into the midst of the 
 congregation." 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 175 
 
 have to leave the plantation entirely; you are the only 
 person to protect we now, sir." It is hardly necessary 
 to remark that their confidence is not misplaced. Help 
 catch them ? "I would n't do it first." 
 
 In accordance with Hunter's order, referred to 
 above, Saxton issued a general order to superintendents, 
 which bade them send to Captain Hooper a list of all 
 able-bodied freedmen between eighteen and fifty on the 
 plantations, and instructed them to urge the negroes to 
 enlist by appealing to "their reason, sense of right, 
 their love of liberty and their dread of returning to the 
 rule of their late masters," adding : " The General 
 Commanding expects to form a pretty correct judgment 
 of the comparative efficiency of the different superin- 
 tendents and the amount of influence for good they are 
 capable of exerting over their people, by the proportion 
 of the whole number subject to draft which they are 
 able to bring in without the aid of physical force." 
 Referring to this last sentence as a "mean insinuation/-' i 
 C. P. W. goes on: \ 
 
 For my people, I know there is about as much use in \ 
 asking them to enhst as in requesting my horse, a very \ | 
 intelligent animal, to drink salt water. I hope they will ^^^ 
 draft, they may possibly enhst, the loafers at Hilton 
 Head and Beaufort, and those whose proximity to 
 camps, or general worthless character, prevents them 
 from taking much interest in their crops. But these 
 men, who have been paid up in full for last year's crop, 
 and have seen that their crop, slim as it was, brought 
 them a fair compensation, are bound to show a crop 
 this year. Crop-raising is their business, their trade, 
 and they intend to show what they can do at it this 
 year for the Government, which protects them, for me, 
 who "see them justice" (they have a vague idea that 
 
176 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 I reap a certain percentage from their crop — they say, 
 "You will have a bigger crop of cotton than Mr. Phil- 
 brick, sir " — they also think that if I " overlook " four 
 hundred hands, I ought to get more pay than a man who 
 only sees to two hundred), and last, and principally, for 
 themselves. They have not been learning cotton- 
 raising, perforce, all these years for nothing. Now their 
 enforced knowledge comes out in tending a crop of 
 which they are to own a share, and the little tricks of the 
 trade, which had to be watchfully enforced in the old 
 time, are now skillfully produced, especially in the food 
 crops, which are more evidently their own. I let them 
 go ahead very much as they choose; I make regula- 
 tions for the good of all, as in the matter of carts, oxen, 
 etc., but the minutia? I do not meddle with, except as 
 a matter of curiosity and acquirement of knowledge. 
 They work well, some of theip harder than in the old 
 time; the lazy ones are stimulated to exertion for their 
 own benefit, the energetic ones race like sixty. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 March 13. I had the sick people to visit, and C. was 
 going over to the Kingfisher, our blockader, for coal-tar 
 to plant corn with, so he went to the field and I was to 
 make my professional calls for the Doctor, and meet 
 him at the Creek at the nigger-house to take the row 
 with him. Just as I came out of school, however, two 
 officers of an Illinois regiment rode up to look about and 
 see what they could see, and asked if they could have 
 food for man and beast. So I left orders for some lunch, 
 dressed, and started on my tour. I went through the 
 quarters — not a man was to be seen. There lay the 
 
863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 177 
 
 I oat, and the women were coming in from their work, 
 lut said the men would not come till the officers had 
 ;one — they were afraid of being taken. C. had to beg 
 he officers to go oflF the plantation, for he could not get 
 lis crew. Not a man sleeps at night in the houses, 
 ;xcept those too old to be taken. They have made a 
 lamp somewhere and mean never to be caught. There 
 s no question that they can hide; a slave here hid him- 
 elf for two years on one of the little islands, though 
 he whole district was after him; he finally came out 
 dmself. 
 
 FHOM w. c. G. 
 
 March 14. On March 9th the estates were at last 
 iffered for sale. On our island two thirds were bidden 
 a by the Government and I presume. they will remain 
 i nder the system of superintendence. The other third 
 ra.sjTTiij ght hy Mi\^_Pjvi1 brick and two or three sut- 
 srs. No agents of^outhern_pj7ners and no dangerous 
 peculators made their appearance, to my knowledge. 
 Vhere any person evinced a desire to buy, the commis- 
 ioners, by their bids, forced an o£fer of one dollar per 
 ere and let the place go for that price. Several planta- 
 ions, perhaps one in five or six, were bidden in for 
 he special purpose of negro reservations ; but in what 
 7Sij they will be offered to the people is undecided, 
 ndeed, nothing is certain except that the sales have 
 leen made and titles given. I should have bought only 
 wo of my places in any case, — and that for the benefit 
 if the people, — but it happened that both were among 
 lie number reserved. So I own none of the sacred soil. 
 
 In regard to your questions concerning the condition 
 
178 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [186 
 
 and capabilities of the blacks, I hardly feel like writin 
 anything at length, my opinion, as far as it is made uj 
 is so short and decided. Every one says that thes 
 island negroes are more ignorant and degraded tha 
 the great majority of the slaves, and I feel no doubt thai 
 under conditions of peace, three years would find thes 
 people, with but very few exceptions, a self-respecting 
 self-supporting population. Almost everything abou 
 them, even to their distrust and occasional turbulence 
 has that in it which suggests to me the idea of capacit; 
 and'power of development. Their principal vices, — 
 dishonesty, indolence, unchastity, their dishke of respon 
 sibility, and unmanly willingness to be dependent o: 
 others for what their own efiFort might bring, — thei: 
 want of forethought and inability to organize and com 
 bine operations for mutual benefit, — nearly all thei: 
 mental and moral weaknesses can be traced naturally 
 and directly to slavery, — while on the other hand, th( 
 fact that at my close view I cannot make them out t( 
 be characteristic traits confirms that opinion as to thei: 
 origin. Industry is very certainly the rule; there ii 
 much idleness, but apply the spurs of which yoi 
 think a white man worthy, and you are sure to obtaii 
 earnest and persistent exertion. Manliness and self 
 respect are suSiciently strong and common to excit* 
 an expectation of finding them. Instances of plan, con 
 trivance, forethought are very numerous; you arc 
 constantly meeting "smart" fellows. Their eagernes! 
 and aptitude in learning to read surprises every one 
 Their memories are usually excellent, their power o: 
 observation pretty keen, and their general intelligent 
 is in most striking contrast to the idea of chattel anc 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 179 
 
 wonderfully harmonizes with that of man. I am only 
 stating the grounds on which I have hopes of their 
 development, not trying to describe their characteristics 
 or the course or limit of that development. The discus- 
 sion whether they will ever be equal to the white race 
 in anything seems to me to be entirely irrelevant to 
 everything. The only question of importance is whether 
 they can become a moral, self-supporting, and useful 
 part of our population, and of this I cannot feel the 
 slightest doubt. That they ever can leave the country I 
 regard as impossible, that they ever ought to leave it, as 
 ill-advised. That the period of transition will be one of 
 great difficulty and considerable suffering is certain. 
 The best heads and hearts in the country will find work 
 in it. As I think now, I would recommend no gradual 
 system of preparation and training. Strike the fetters 
 off at a blow and let them jump, or lie down, as they 
 please, in the first impulse of freedom, and let them at 
 once see the natural effects of jumping and lying down. 
 Then if the Government would simply provide or en- 
 force education, and with few laws but very many eyes 
 would watch over the new relations of laborer and 
 employer, I should trust that in ten years America 
 would again raise her head proudly among the nations. 
 But all this supposes that we gain our end and have the 
 work to do. Till the common head of the people under- 
 stands and the common heart of the people feels that 
 this is the work of the war, that Emancipation should be 
 the means, and not only the best means but the holy 
 end of the war, — I tremble, and fear neither our 
 strength nor God's help will give us the victory. 
 
180 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 March 20. C. amused himself and us by making two 
 or three of my children who were waiting for school 
 read to him upside down, which they did as readily as 
 the right way. 
 
 Just a year to-night since Mr. Philbrick spent his 
 &st night in this house. He has been telling us about 
 it: a file of soldiers were drawn up at the gate and 
 refused him admittance till his credentials were ex- 
 amined; now he is lord of the manor. I reminded the 
 children to-night that a year ago they did not know 
 their letters; now they are reading BGUard's Second 
 Reader for the second time. 
 
 The feat of reading upside down might seem to sug- 
 gest that they were reading Hillard's Second Eeader 
 for the second time chiefly by the aid of memory! 
 
 The next letter, written by Mr. Philbrick to a North- 
 ern correspondent, was printed at the time on a broad- 
 side, for distribution. 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Coffin's Point, March 20. Just a year ago to-night 
 I entered this house for the first time. If our Northern 
 croakers could only be made to reahze as we do here 
 the ease with which we have reduced a comparative 
 degree of order out of the chaos we found, and see how 
 ready this degraded and half-civilized race are to become 
 an industrious and useful laboring class, there would 
 not be so much gabble about the danger of immediate 
 emancipation, or of a stampede of negro labor to the 
 North. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 181 
 
 We found them a herd of suspicious savages who 
 regarded their change of condition with fear and trem- 
 bKng, looking at the cotton-field as a life-long scene of 
 unrequited toil, and hailing with delight the prospect 
 of "no more driver, no more cotton, no more lickin'." 
 They had broken up the cotton-gins and hidden the 
 iron-work, and nothing was more remote from their 
 shallow pates than the idea of planting cotton for 
 " white folks " again. 
 
 Now they have, without the least urging, prepared 
 for planting some two hundred acres of cotton-land upon 
 this plantation, having spread on it sixteen hundred 
 ox-cart-loads of manure, and worked up every inch of 
 the ground with their hoes. They have also planted one 
 hundred and thirty acres of corn, and have begun 
 ploughing to-day, banking up into ridges with the 
 ploughs the cotton-land into which the manure had 
 been first hoed. The ploughs run over twenty acres 
 per day on this place. They were made at Groton, Mass., 
 and astonish the negroes by their efiiciency. 
 
 As a sample of the change of feeling in regard to 
 working on cotton, I vnll relate how I got the cotton 
 ginned on this and the various other plantations in this 
 neighborhood. I walked through the negro quarters 
 one day in December and told the people I would pay 
 them three cents per pound of clean cotton if they 
 would gin, assort, clean, and pack their cotton ready for 
 market. They said in reply their gins were aU broken 
 up. I told them that was their own fault, and that, if 
 they wanted other people to gin their cotton and get 
 their seed away from the place, they would do so, and 
 so get all the money and leave them no good seed to 
 
182 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 plant. " Dat' so, Massa," said they, and I passed along. 
 The next time I came they had hunted up the broken 
 pieces of twenty-five gins, and patched them up, and 
 had ginned and packed all their cotton, in two weeks, 
 wanting to know what I would have them do next, 
 for they did not want to He still and do nothing. 
 
 So you see there is some satisfaction in being among 
 these people, although they are not exactly companions 
 for us. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 March 23. C. came home to-night, having resigned 
 his position under the Government. 
 
 H. W.'s next letter, after describing a drive towards 
 Land's End, narrates the events of her return trip as 
 follows. 
 
 March, 25. I opened the first gate myself, then met a 
 man coming from his work, who took off his hat with 
 rather a surprised look at seeing a lady alone', and an 
 " Evening, Missus, how far you come from ? " " From 
 Coffin's Point, and am going back again — Mr. Charlie's 
 sister." Whereupon another bow and a pleased grin 
 as I go on. Soon I met another man coming out into 
 the road with a piece of paper, which he asked me to 
 read to him. I took the precaution to ask him his name 
 before opening it, to be sure he had not another man's 
 pass, and then read him an autograph pass from Gen- 
 eral Hunter for him to go to St. Helena and back to 
 Hilton Head, to see his wife. He was a servant of Hunter's 
 and afraid of some trick. He seemed satisfied, and 
 thanked me. When I asked him where his wife lived 
 and if he had seen her, he said, " Shum dere ? " point- 
 
563] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 183 
 
 ig to a woman hoeing, towards whom he made his 
 ay again. At the next gate I was cutting cherokee- 
 jses before opening it, when a sKght sound behind 
 le attracted my attention to a boy on a mule who had 
 ome noiselessly up, so I got into the sulky again, and 
 s he followed me along 'and I questioned him, found 
 e was coming here to see his "aunty." In a few min- 
 tes a loud whistle attracted my attention and Sharper* 
 nnounced Mass' CharKe, who came cantering up be- 
 ind me. He had sent the boy with a note to me and 
 xemption-papers for the old and feeble on his places, 
 s he could not go home and had met the black sol- 
 ders out taking the men for the draft. With Sharper 
 or attendant I drove on to Pine Grove, where I gave 
 I's note to William and the papers to distribute on both 
 be Fripp places while I went on to deHver those here, 
 leard one man say to William that he wished his old 
 oaster was back, — he was at peace then. Poor fel- 
 Dws! 
 
 By the time I reached our quarters it was bright 
 Qoonlight, and in that light I drove through the street, 
 ead the names on C.'s papers and the contents to the 
 nen named as they came out at Primus' knock. A 
 ittle group gathered about to hear what I had to say 
 IS I explained to the men, — a sober, disturbed set, say- 
 ng nothing, but receiving the explanation with a sad 
 lilence that went to my heart. 
 
 FROM w. c. G. 
 
 Coffin's Point, March 3 1 . You see I write from my first 
 lome. In truth it seems like a home. Mrs. Philbrick 
 
 ' The boy. 
 
184 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [186J 
 
 and Miss W., Mr. Philbrick, and Mr. Hall are here 
 besides Mr. Folsom — of '62, Harvard — who is to b( 
 my future house-mate. A week ago, after settling up 
 all business at Captain Oliver's, I resigned my place 
 of Government Superintendent, and last Friday came 
 down here. To-morrow we shall take up our quarters 
 at the " Pine Grove." I am going to take charge of the 
 two William Fripp places. The people are old friends. 
 I used to teach school for them. I think I shall Uke the 
 work here much better; the people are far better and 
 the locality less exposed to outside influences. It is 
 a much better opportunity for trying the experiment oi 
 free black labor. I manage the places, Mr. Philbrick 
 suppUes money to carry them on, and at the end of the 
 year, after deducting all expenses, we share the profits, 
 if any. * 
 
 The draft is either taking or frightening off most of 
 the men, but it should be made, I think. 
 
 FKOM H. w. 
 
 April 3. Caesar came home on a furlough, and it 
 was fun to see him in the street afterwards, surrounded 
 by a great gang, talking away as eagerly as possible. I 
 should like to have heard him, if I could have under- 
 stood him; he had had a " firs' rate time " and he and 
 January have been trying to get some of the men to go 
 back with them, but they can't succeed any better than 
 C. or Mr. Philbrick. 
 
 The next few letters are entirely occupied with in- 
 cidents of the draft. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 185 
 
 E. S. P. TO C. P. W. (in boston) 
 
 April 7. Nothing has been done yet about enforc- 
 ing the draft on our island, but Captain Bryant* told 
 me yesterday he should probably strike the last of this 
 week, taking every point at once as near as may be. 
 Colonel Montgomery's regiment^ are given him for 
 the purpose, with orders not to shoot except in self de- 
 fense ! 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 April 14. The soldiers had been there [at Pripp Point] 
 in the night, but had only caught old Simon and Mike, 
 a boy of about fifteen, though one of them had shot at 
 Dan's Peter, about seventeen, and wounded him in 
 the head slightly. They went in squads all over this 
 end of the island except Pine Grove and here. They 
 got sixty men in all, most of them old, a waste of Uncle 
 Sam's money. Of course our people here are warned 
 and aU off again. The white officer said they took what 
 men they could get without reference to the superin- 
 tendents' lists. 
 
 April 15. Hamlet's wife, Betsey, came to buy salt, 
 said her husband was carried off the other night and 
 she left with ten children and a "heart most broke, 
 shan't live long, no way, oh my Jesus ! " My new cook's 
 husband was shot (and killed) as he ran away when 
 the Secesh tried to make him go with them — how are 
 they to understand the difference ? Captain Dutch ' 
 
 ' Captain J. E. Bryant, of the Eighth Maine. 
 
 2 The Second South Carolina Volunteers (colored). 
 
 3 Of the Kingfisher, the blockader. 
 
186 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 says he thinks that six or eight have gone onto the 
 Main from this island; they openly say, some of them, 
 that they wish the old times were back again. 
 
 April 23. The men at Fripp Point are said to have fired 
 on the soldiers from their houses. They are very bitter 
 that negroes should be sent against them. They would 
 not mind white men, they say. R. has persuaded aU his 
 men to go up to Beaufort,' and only a few were re- 
 tained. The rest have come back as happy as kings 
 — no more bush for them! I wish all would do the 
 same. 
 
 April 29. Mr. Philbrick went off to the wharf before 
 breakfast, and as he was coming back met Phillis on her 
 way to tell the men who were at work on it that the sol- 
 diers had come. As we sat down to lunch we could see 
 the gleaming of the bayonets as they came through the 
 first gate, and Primus sent up to say that he was taken 
 and wanted Mi-. Philbrick to come down. Mr. G. ap- 
 peared from Pine Grove, where they had taken only 
 two men, who will probably be let off. Soon WilHam 
 appeared, saying they had been at the Point, too, but 
 had got no one. Mr. Philbrick rowed down to the 
 [Fripp Point] quarters and presently returned with 
 Captain Hoyt and Captain Thompson, who were very 
 tired, to lunch. They all received him very crustily and 
 coldly at first, but they were prejudiced against him 
 and vexed at their want of success, and I think it did 
 something towards removing ill feelings to see him. 
 When they reached the nigger-house here, where the 
 men [the soldiers], about fifty, had been waiting, they 
 
 ' To be examined, adjudged not '"able-bodied," and given ex- 
 emption-papers. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 187 
 
 found they had tracked two men down through the 
 marsh from Fripp Point and caught them just here, 
 after shooting one. The people were in a wild state of 
 confusion. The soldiers had been telling our people 
 all sorts of stories — that they had orders to shoot 
 because Mr. Philbrick had said in Beaufort that he 
 had a battery here to defend his people, etc. They 
 came flocking round him, aU women of course, and 
 all taUdng at once to try and get at the truth of things, 
 and Mr. Philbrick had to quiet them before he could 
 make out a word. Then Amaritta naturally stood for- 
 ward as spokeswoman to get "satisfaction," and they 
 were easily made to understand that the soldiers had 
 been telling lies, and their confidence in Mr. Philbrick 
 quieted them. 
 
 E. s. p. TO c. p. w. 
 
 Beaufort, May 1. We are led to admire more than 
 ever the cool discrimination of the General command- 
 ing the Department. The other day some oflBcer con- 
 ceived the idea that the superintendents of St. Helena 
 in general, and W. C. G. in particular, were opposing 
 the draft, em/ploying able-bodied men, etc.; also that 
 shots had been fired at the black soldiers on his plan- 
 tation. It was so represented to General Hunter, and 
 he ordered on the spot that he should be arrested and 
 sent out of the Department. Fortunately Captain Bryant, 
 who was to have executed the order, was a man of 
 sense and consulted Captain Hooper, who told him 
 that General Saxton did n't want to spare Mr. G., and 
 that as he had no written orders he had better hold on. 
 The editor of the Free South has been amusing him- 
 
188 LETTEES FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 self by throwing out owlish insinuations to the effect 
 that speculators and others on St. Helena had better 
 take heed of General Hunter's orders, for the prospect- 
 ive profits of a speedy fortune would hardly warrant 
 the risk, etc., etc. 
 
 The next paragraph giyes another version of the 
 search for black recruits. 
 
 Captain Thompson came to Coffin's on Wednesday 
 with about fifty men. They caught no one but Primus, 
 who felt safe and did n't hide. If he had behaved him- 
 self he would n't have been taken, but got into a pas- 
 sion and talked so wild that he was taken out of punish- 
 ment for his impudence, and then held on the ground 
 that his influence must be against the draft, and as he 
 was foreman, his power must be considerable ! Captain 
 Thompson pretended to have orders to shoot men run- 
 ning, and scoured the Fripp Point place through Lieu- 
 tenant O. E. Bryant and some black soldiers. They 
 met no young men except Sancho and Josh, whom 
 they chased down into the marsh opposite Coffin 
 nigger-house, and then shot Josh. He was taken with a 
 bullet in his leg and a buckshot in his head, carried 
 to the village, and placed under Dr. Bundy's care. 
 Of course, Sancho was taken, too, and brought up to 
 camp. He had an Enfield rifle with him, and admits 
 that he fired it to "scare away the soldiers," after 
 Josh was hit, but not before. The black soldiers all say 
 he fired first, and no white man was present to see. 
 I came up to lay the matter before the General, but 
 he is not well. Captain Hooper has taken it in hand and 
 promises to investigate it. The Major of the Second 
 
18631 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 189 
 
 Regiment * was down here, but I could n't see him. 
 He may have given such orders to Thompson as he pre- 
 tends. They seem to have got enraged because they 
 could n't find any men on those three plantations after 
 having been quartered at the village for two weeks, 
 and imputed their want of success to G. and myself. 
 I should n't be surprised if I am ordered out of the 
 Department at any moment. 
 
 Then comes the sequel. 
 
 FEOM H. w. 
 
 May 17. Primus has come home. He deserted a week 
 ago and has been all that time getting here. He says 
 that he has not drilled but once since he was taken to 
 camp, that he Ifes been sick all the time, but that he has 
 not been in the hospital. Of course, not being volun- 
 teers, there is a great deal of shamming, and they have 
 to be very strict ; in short, they pursue the old masters' 
 system of beheving they He until it is proved they have 
 spoken the truth, — a most elevating process ! and he 
 had a large blister put on the back of his neck and was 
 kept in his tent. Finally Captain Hoyt took him to 
 Colonel Montgomery and told him that he thought 
 the man was really sick and not fit to be kept, but the 
 Colonel was very short with him and said drill was the 
 best cure for him. Then Primus ran away, and is now 
 in his bed here. Mr. Philbrick has seen him and says 
 it is impossible to teU whether he is sick or not, but he 
 understands fully the consequences of desertion, and 
 that Mr. Philbrick and C. cannot employ him again. 
 Mr. Philbrick told him that he should not inform 
 ' Second South Carolina Volunteers. 
 
190 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 against him, but that if the officers asked him if he had 
 come home he should have to tell them that he had. 
 " I know dat, massa, but I won't stay dere." He under- 
 stands that we are helpless. He says, and we have 
 learned in other ways, that all who were drafted have 
 been desei-ting. One day they brought in fourteen, and 
 the next day twelve of them had gone, and the next 
 the other two. They can't pretend to get them back 
 again, and of course the demoralization must be great. 
 It will be very bad for Primus now, if they do not take 
 him, to live on here an outlaw, working his wife's cotton 
 but not able to resume his plow or his old position in 
 any way — yet if he is taken again he will never make 
 a good soldier. The whole thing is wrong from the 
 foundation, and should be given up, and all those who 
 did not volunteer sent to their homes — if any are then 
 left in the regiments. Yet I don't see how that could 
 be done unless Hunter went off, and some other Major 
 General repealed his orders. 
 
 To return to matters of plantation management. 
 
 C. P. W. had recently been sent home by Mr. Phil- 
 brick to buy and send a schooner-load of provisions, 
 merchandise, etc., for the "store." He found himself 
 " an object of regard and curiosity," " engaged out 
 to dirmer and tea to ' talk Port Royal ' many days 
 ahead." Apropos of the things he bought for Coffin's 
 Point, he wrote: 
 
 c. p. w. TO E. s. p. 
 
 Boston, [April 27.] I received permission from the 
 Secretary of the Treasury to ship the powder, shot, 
 saddle, bridle, tar, pitch, and rope, but I had to consign 
 these, with the hats, to General Saxton, from whom 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 191 
 
 you will have to obtain an order for them. The tobacco, 
 shoes, rice, and buggy are not contraband. They were 
 going to stop the hats, on the ground that they were 
 "adapted for military uniforms," and I had to get a 
 "character" from one of my friends, a clerk in the 
 Custom House, and then assure the crusty old Collector 
 that the hats were not to be used for any illegal purpose, 
 before he would let them pass. 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 Pine Grove, May 17. The schooner has but just come 
 round to Coffin's, and the rain has prevented our 
 plundering her with energy. But Friday I got up my 
 molasses and gave some out yesterday. You ought to 
 have seen the little ones dance as the mothers came, 
 home with their piggins full. We are going to give| 
 some molasses and bacon monthly for the present, — 
 in Keu of an increase of wages. Most of the proprietors 
 are offering rather better terms than the Government, — 
 some in money, others in a larger share of the crop. 
 We keep the Government scale of prices, but give them 
 the " poke " and " sweet'ning," and I think have touched 
 their sensibilities much more certainly thereby. 
 
 This same day Mr. and Mrs. Philbrick left Port 
 Royal and went home. The next extracts are from two 
 of H. W.'s letters, full of details about the home life 
 and the wonderful ways of the " people." 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 June 10. As we drove up under the shade of a button- 
 wood-tree [at Fripp Point] we found a group of children 
 under it, three or four boys and girls washing at wash- 
 
192 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 tubs, others sitting round taking care of younger chil- 
 dren. They were just Hke children all over the world,* 
 playing and teasing each other, but very good-naturedly, 
 and as happy as you please. This weather the children 
 wear nothing but a shift or shirt, and the other day 
 Lewis and Cicero appeared in the yard entirely naked. 
 Aunt Sally, from Eddings Point, amused us with her 
 queer, wild talk a long time. The story is that she was 
 made crazy by her master's whipping her daughter to 
 death, and very sad it was to hear her talk, though it 
 was funny. She knows any number of hymns and parts 
 of the Bible, and jumbles scraps and Knes from the 
 one with Genesis and Revelation in the most extra- 
 ordinary manner, talking about Mr. Adam and Madam 
 Eve, who brought her and her race all their woe, whom 
 she knows but will never forgive. She stands and reads 
 everything out of her "heart-book," which she says 
 tells her everything, looking all the time at her left hand, 
 which she holds out like a book. Her epithets against 
 her old master and the rebels were voluble and denun- 
 ciatory in the extreme, and she left us with many 
 warnings to remember "Det and de Jugment." I had 
 sent for the "Widow Bedotte," to whom I presented 
 some tobacco and who was very funny indeed. She is 
 in her right mind and deUghts in making herself agree- 
 able. I wish I could describe to you this extraordinary 
 specimen of humanity — a short little old body with 
 an intelligent face — all her wool carefully concealed 
 by an enormous turban, from beneath each side of 
 which hung four black strings, looking Hke an imitation 
 
 ' A noticeable thing about the children of slaves was that they had 
 no games. 
 
1863J LiE'riEKS FKOJM JfOKT KUyAL, 193 
 
 frisette of false curls, her odd figure enveloped in shawl 
 and cape, rubbing her hands nervously and sinking 
 into the floor, as it seemed, as she curtseyed to us 
 lower than I ever saw anybody go and get up again 
 straight. And then her conversation and manner were 
 as comical as her appearance. 
 
 Another characteristic of the "Widow Bedotte" 
 H. W. describes elsewhere. 
 
 She prides herseK upon her good manners, which 
 she says she gets because she belongs to the church, 
 which every now and then she joins again. She has 
 just done so here, so is fuU of extra flourishes. 
 
 On June 12 Hunter was replaced by Brigadier- 
 General Quincy A. Gillmore.' Here follow comments 
 on Hunter's last acts before leaving, as well as on the 
 impression made by his successor. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 May 28. Mr. Williams brought word that Hunter has 
 issued an order to all civilians to enter the army or leave 
 the Department! Twenty days' notice. You need not 
 be afraid of C.'s enlisting here; he would n't do it 
 "first." I don't think many of the superintendents 
 would now hke to serve under Hunter. He imprisoned 
 two of them upon the evidence of their people without 
 inquiring into the matter, and ignored Saxton in the 
 most insulting manner. Mr. Hammond was released 
 by a court-martial with honor. 
 
 May 30. In the evening came a note from R. saying 
 
 ' In the words of the order the command of the Department was 
 taken from Hmiter and given to GiUmore "temporarily." 
 
194 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 that there was no danger from the draft for the super- 
 intendents, but they would probably have to get exemp- 
 tion-papers. 
 
 June 20. C. came home after church Sunday with 
 the information that General Gillmore had given out 
 that he should carry out Hunter's orders, but that he 
 took the liberty of beheving a white man as well as a 
 negro! 
 
 June 24. We hear but Kttle about the new General. 
 He is General Saxton's junior in rank, but a fine engi- 
 neer, so it is supposed he was sent to conduct the siege 
 of Charleston. 
 
 The siege of Charleston, — another attempt, 
 " prompted more by sentiment than military sagac- 
 ity," to capture "the city in which the secession had 
 begun," ^ — is the subject of the next dozen extracts. 
 The expedition failed to justify the high hopes that 
 accompanied it, yet one event in it has attained un- 
 dying fame. 
 
 When, in the first week of July, all the troops left 
 Hilton Head, Land's End, and Port Royal Island, the 
 regiment followed with the keenest interest by the 
 writers of these letters was the Fifty-Fourth Massa- 
 chusetts (colored). Colonel Robert G. Shaw. 
 
 July 10. It was strange to be waked this morning by 
 the incessant, thundering roar of heavy guns. It was 
 just at sunrise, and as I gradually woke to the full 
 realization of what it must be — though as it mingled 
 in my dreams, I was conscious that our masked batter- 
 ies had opened at last — it was very exciting to feel my 
 
 ' Rhodes' History of Hie United States from the Compromise of 1850, 
 vol. iv, p. 332. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 195 
 
 bed shake under me from such a cause. I could hear 
 the people talking excitedly in the yard. About seven 
 o'clock the heavy firing ceased, and we hoped that 
 Morris Island was ours. C. went to the beach and 
 reported a very heavy cloud of smoke resting in the 
 direction of "Town." 
 
 The following extract is a good specimen of the 
 groundless rumors, all with copious circumstantial 
 evidence, that infested the islands. 
 
 moM H. w. 
 
 Jvly 11. About ten o'clock came Juno's daughter 
 Fanny from "Pope's" to spend Sunday, bringing us 
 the apparently reUable intelligence that " Town taken." 
 It seemed too much to believe, but her story was this : 
 her aunt, Juno's sister, and one of Dr. Whitredge's 
 servants, is washing at Hilton Head and was there 
 yesterday, when a vessel came from Charleston with 
 the news and many people (prisoners, we infer), and the 
 first who came ashore were Mass' Alonso and Mass' 
 John, Whitredge, who said to her, "How d' ye!" She 
 says that five boat-loads put off to the Yankees and gave 
 themselves up. "Mass' John know too much to fight 
 'gainst de Yankee — him get college at de Nort' — him 
 say him got no nigger — him no gwine fight." It is 
 preposterous to write you all this. You will know 
 everything with certainty before this reaches you. 
 
 July 12. The good news was most welcome from 
 Vicksburg and Pennsylvania, and our attack on Morris 
 Island was successful, if Town was not taken; but 
 Colonel Higginson's attempt to reach the railroad was 
 
196 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 a failure/ and he was wounded, thought not, it is said, 
 badly. 
 
 The successful attack on Morris Island on July 10 
 had resulted in the occupation of all the ground south 
 of Fort Wagner. On July 18 was made the famous 
 assault on the fort itseK, — an assault hopeless from 
 the start, — in which the attacking column was led 
 by the Massachusetts negro regiment, its colonel at its 
 head. 
 
 July 20. C. came back with the terrible accounts 
 of the Charleston fight and the almost total destruction 
 of the Fifty-Fourth. Beaufort ^ is in amaze at the spirit 
 of "that Uttle fellow. Colonel Shaw." Certainly it is 
 one of the most splendid things ever known in the an- 
 nals of warfare. I long to be doing, and not living so 
 at our ease here. C. offered everything, and Mr. Eustis 
 has been with HalloweU and James ' all day. The 
 greatest want is of physicians — there is no proper 
 medical staff for the Department, and surgeons are 
 scarce. Drs. Bundy and Wakefield were sent for yes- 
 terday. The officers are in the Fripp house, where the 
 Forbeses were. 
 
 There has been very heavy firing again to-day. You 
 see we hear it all, though sometimes very faintly. 
 
 Jvly 24. William took farewell of his schools and 
 came home, having received six dozen eggs as tokens 
 of regret — an ovation at his departure.^ He left them 
 
 * Colonel Higginson had been sent up the South Edisto River, to 
 cut the raiboad at Jacksonboro. 
 
 ^ Whither the wounded had been brought. 
 
 ' Edward N. HalloweU and Garth Wilkinson James, Major and 
 Adjutant of the Fifty-Fourth. 
 
 * For the North. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 197 
 
 to go up to the sick and wounded to-morrow with con- 
 tributions from the people. All vegetables, etc., are 
 seized by the Provost and paid for, for the use of the 
 sick, and there is some one on this side the ferry to 
 receive the gifts. We send all we can, but it is tmsatis- 
 factory not to be on the spot. 
 
 July 25. William is just oif for Beaufort. He will 
 stay to watch to-night, if needed. But " no ladies " is 
 the cry. 
 
 [Later.] William went to the hospital for the officers, 
 of which Dr. Bundy has charge, where he was set to 
 watch and administer to a very badly wounded captain 
 of the Forty-Eighth New York, Paxton by name. He 
 cannot Kve, and knows it, but bears his terrible Wounds 
 with the utmost fortitude. William was with him Sat- 
 urday and Sunday, parts of the day, and G. and Wells 
 divided the night between them. Everything seems to 
 be well conducted, and the hospitals in good order. I 
 suppose the Fulton, which is expected daily, will bring 
 supplies and surgeons. Captain Hooper is invaluable 
 — busy as possible, as he always is — I don't know 
 what the Department would be without him. Yet he 
 found time to write me a long note to tell me about 
 the wounded, and that there was no doubt of Colonel 
 Shaw's death. 
 
 FROM w. c. G. 
 
 Beaufort, July 26. Last night several of us passed in 
 Beaufort at the hospitals. The wounded have been 
 brought down and all the hospitals in Beaufort are full. 
 Wednesday we heard at the superintendents' meeting 
 that there was a great scarcity of fresh fruits and vege- 
 
198 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 tables; so at the Thursday night praise I told the 
 people about it, and yesterday came up with nearly 
 two cartloads of provisions, most of it contributed by 
 the people. Another gentleman had done the same and 
 between us we supplied five hospitals. It is my first 
 experience in such work. It's surprising to see how 
 cheerful and jolly all the wounded are — all who have 
 any strength. A wound means home and a vacation to 
 many of them, and with few exceptions these men with 
 holes in them he on their beds like boys waiting for the 
 word which gives them recess. To-night I shall try 
 to go to one of the colored hospitals. 
 
 A boat is just in from Charleston. A cartel of ex- 
 change had been agreed upon, by which all the wounded 
 on our side were to be exchanged for all the wounded 
 upon the other, so that reference to negro soldiers is 
 avoided. The negro soldiers appear to have received 
 the same care as the white; on the other hand, some 
 of the rebel officers told with much gusto how Colonel 
 Shaw's body had been thrown into a common pit and 
 those of two of his men tossed on top of him. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 July 31. In at our open door walked Captain Hooper, 
 and with him Captain Rand of the First Cavalry, now 
 on General Saxton's staff. Captain Rand told us 
 that our wounded who came down from Charleston 
 had been miserably cared for — the rebels acknow- 
 ledged that they could not take care of them. The 
 surgeon said but one man had been properly operated 
 upon, and his wound had been dressed by one of the 
 navy surgeons, a prisoner. No men or officers of the 
 
LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 199 
 
 Fifty-Fourth among them: they said the officers we 
 should hear of by way of Richmond; the men, I sus- 
 pect, are not. No one knows who are among the dead 
 or living — only that Colonel Shaw is dead, and prob- 
 ably Cabot Russel. It is said to have been a very im- 
 posing sight, when, in the midst of heavy firing from 
 every fort, battery, and gunboat on each side, the 
 Cosmopolitan, with the rebel wounded on board, her 
 hospital flag and flag of truce flying, steamed up to- 
 ward the city. ' Instantly every gun ceased, and white 
 flags appeared from each fort and ship till she had 
 passed, met the rebel steamer (a very fine one, which 
 had run the blockade in the morning!), exchanged her 
 wounded cargo, and returned. 
 
 To give complete the story of the siege of Charles- 
 ton as seen from St. Helena Island, some letters have 
 been included in advance of their chronological place 
 in the series. Therefore the next letter goes back to an 
 earlier date. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 July 3. We were all standing at the back door when 
 a small crowd became visible at the first gate. We 
 watched to discover what it meant, as it was an un- 
 mistakable "gang" drawing nearer. 'Siah's boy had 
 come over from the Point to tell C. that some white 
 soldiers were there from the village stealing corn, etc., 
 after the manner of the soldiers in this region, but so 
 far our plantations have been very free from such de- 
 predations C. had just told Tony that he did not feel 
 well enough to go over, and that the men would be 
 gone before he could get there — and turning to Mr. 
 
200 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 Soule he said that those Point men were just the men 
 to catch white soldiers, if they could do it, and he should 
 not be surprised if they did. The words were hardly 
 out of his mouth before the "gang" appeared, so you 
 may imagine we watched it with great curiosity as it 
 drew near. On they came, a compact body of people, 
 among whom we tried to discover some white faces. 
 Presently the gleaming of muskets was distinctly vis- 
 ible, and as one of the men stepped forward and threw 
 the gate wide open for the company to pass through, 
 three white soldiers appeared in the front ranks. They 
 were all perfectly quiet, not a word was said; and as 
 C. ran down the steps to receive them and they came 
 to a halt, the men brought the muskets to the ground 
 and the women emptied their aprons of corn-shucks at 
 his feet, waiting quietly for him to do what he thought 
 right. I did not hear one loud or angry tone while I 
 stood Ustening as C. heard their story and then ques- 
 tioned the soldiers. They were perfectly quiet, too, — 
 young fellows from the One Hundred and Fourth 
 Pennsylvania Volunteers, a new regiment, — and they 
 evidently thought that C. was a person of authority or 
 the blacks would not have marched them three miles 
 to him. He took from them their dirks and pistols, 
 and the musket which one of them had, and they 
 made no resistance — nor did they say a word when 
 he called to me for "three pair of hand-cuffs" (all 
 he brought down), and asked the three men from the 
 Point who had guns, if they would stay and guard 
 them all night. It was rather a troublesome elephant 
 and he did not quite know what to do with it now 
 it was in his possession. It was a good chance to 
 
LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 201 
 
 do something if he would be sustained, but General 
 Saxton has not conferred any magisterial powers ^ 
 on the superintendents yet, and if he undertook too 
 much and was not sustained, it would be worse than 
 nothing. At any rate, he would have to take them to 
 the village in the morning, so he decided to do so that 
 night, and went off with his prisoners and their guard, 
 driving his Ught sulky, and carrying the light arms, one 
 of the men taking the musket again. He did not use 
 the hand-cuffs. 
 
 It was strange to see how very quiet and apparently 
 unexcited the people were. After the first few minutes 
 they came up to me to buy, and then all went off when 
 C. did, as quickly as possible. 
 
 July 5. When two buckra were reported as approach- 
 ing while we were at breakfast it turned out to be two 
 men from the village picket ■ndth a note from the Lieu- 
 tenant to C. I did not find out the sequel to the story 
 the other night, but it seems that C. and William crossed 
 the creek with the soldiers, only taking two men to 
 row. The blacks certainly behaved extremely well, 
 and Moll told the men they might have the com, which 
 of course they refused to take. And as they went into 
 
 " A few weeks later (July 15) General Saxton authorized the gen- 
 eral superintendents to appoint plantation commissions, or courts 
 for the administration of justice. The people eligible for these com- 
 missions were Government plantation superintendents and Mr. Phil- 
 brick's six plantation superintendents, and they were instructed "that 
 in cases where immediate arrest is in their opinion necessary, the 
 plantation superintendents, and the persons above named, are hereby 
 authorized themselves to make arrests of civilians upon the planta- 
 tions. But they must exercise this power with great discretion, and 
 will be held responsible for any abuse of it." 
 
202 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 the boat a boy put in the watermelon they had taken, 
 saying, " B'longs to you, sah," but the man sent it ashore. 
 The coals were rather hot, I guess, and the men were 
 heartily ashamed of themselves and thoroughly peni- 
 tent. C. went with them to the mess-room and saw the 
 sergeant, who expressed great regret and said it was 
 the first time any of their mien had been guilty of such 
 acts. The Lieutenant was away, and as C. drew paper 
 towards him to report the case in writing, they looked 
 very blank and begged him not to report.' After some 
 consideration he concluded not to report them, as he 
 could not see the Lieutenant and they had behaved 
 so weU about it, and told them he would not unless 
 some further acts of the kind were perpetrated by their 
 men. They were very grateful, but C. did not feel sure 
 that the Lieutenant would not hear of it. And so he 
 did, in some way; investigated the affair and sent the 
 men to Beaufort to be punished by the Commander 
 of the post, who is now not General Saxton but, as it 
 happens, is their own Colonel,' who is not likely to be 
 lenient towards them. The Lieutenant sent a note to 
 this effect to C. this morning, and also wished to know 
 what would repay the negroes for the damage done. 
 (The soldiers had already promised to make it good 
 to them, and were to have been paid off yesterday, but 
 their pay was stopped in consequence of this very occur- 
 rence.) So the whole affair has ended very satisfactorily. 
 I am sorry for the poor fellows, for they wiU probably 
 suffer not so much for what they actually did them- 
 selves, but to serve as an example to all other offenders. 
 
 ' Colonel W. W. H. Davis was in conunand of the post at Beau- 
 fort dviring Saxton's temporaiy absence. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 203 
 
 July 7. Mr. Wells was to come at nine o'clock to the 
 wharf to take Mr. Soule ^ to Morgan Island, one of his 
 plantations. Mr. Wells appeared at the door to say 
 that he had a large sail-boat — it was only a half -hour's 
 sail to the island, and would not I go too. So I put up 
 a httle lunch and C. had his horse saddled and down 
 to the wharf we went, and were soon at our destina- 
 tion. The only white-house on the island now occu- 
 pied is on quite a bluff looking directly out to sea, 
 pleasantly shaded, with a fresh breeze all the time up 
 the Sound, and is a very healthy situation. But the 
 house is of the roughest description, without paint in- 
 side or out, very much hke a New Hampshire farm- 
 house in the back-woods a quarter of a century ago, 
 but not so large, clean, or thrifty-looking, by any means. 
 Here we stopped to see an old man who was brought 
 from Africa when he was over twenty, and remembers 
 his life in his own country, from which he was sold 
 by his brother to pay a debt. Mr. Soule said he was 
 bright and talkative when he last saw him, but now 
 he is very much broken ; and after sitting a few minutes 
 we went on to the driver's house, a great contrast in 
 neatness, and the gentleman left me in a rocking-chair 
 under the shade of the large Asia-berry tree in front 
 of the house, while they went off with Bacchus, the 
 foreman, to see the cotton-fields. Here I stayed for a 
 couple of hours, I should think, talking with Elsie, 
 Bacchus' wife, who was not in the field because she 
 had a headache, and very neat and nice she looked in 
 
 ' R. Soule, Jr., now one of Mr. Philbrick's superintendents, who, 
 upon the departure of the Philbricks, had come to live at CoflBn's 
 Point. 
 
204 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 her caKco gown. She has no children, but made up 
 for the want as far as she could by the number of chick- 
 ens and ducks she had round. By and bye she got up, 
 and picking up a piece of brick, pounded it up with 
 an axe, and began to clean a large knife, which I knew 
 meant watermelon. And when the gentlemen came 
 back, Bacchus brought out a small table and put a 
 melon on it which was almost large enough for a table- 
 cloth; then he produced plates, and Mr. Wells carved 
 the huge monster, which we nearly devoured. The air 
 and grace with which one of the men, who came up 
 to clear off the table for Mr. Wells to pay the people, 
 touched his hat with a bow and a scrape would not have 
 misbecome a Commencement Dinner or Wedding Party. 
 
 The keen interest which these Northern interlopers 
 took in everything that concerned the people into whose 
 shoes they had stepped, and their constant sense of 
 the strangeness and romance of their situation appear 
 in the extracts that follow. Again the chronology of 
 the letters has been somewhat disregarded. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 July 14. G. came over here and spent the day. He 
 told us that a man who belonged on his place came 
 back with the troops on one of their late expeditions, 
 and told him that his master, T. J. Fripp, was killed 
 at Darien. He said he (Fripp) had been past here in 
 a boat and came back with his hands all blistered from 
 rowing; they had been hailed by the Kingfisher, but 
 told some story of having come from here, and escaped. 
 He said his master swore the Yankees were everywhere, 
 and that there was a light in every window of Tom 
 Coffin's house. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 205 
 
 E. S. P. TO C. P. W. 
 
 Boston, Sept. 30. I heard the other day that Cap- 
 tain Boutelle of the Coast Survey, who used to enjoy 
 the hospitahty of the planters of St. Helena, Edisto, 
 etc., was dining at Cambridge, Mass., with a classmate 
 of T. A. C.'s. The host inquired what had become of 
 the Captain's former friends, the South Carolina plant- 
 ers. "Oh, they are all scattered and their property 
 ruined." "Well, what has become of my classmate, 
 Thomas A. CofBn ? " " Oh, he is gone with the rest, 
 and his fine plantation is in the hands of that con- 
 founded Abolitionist, Philbrick." 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 July 10. WiUiam has been overhauling the old let- 
 ters and papers in the garret and has come across 
 many very interesting bits of information among them. 
 They are mostly very old. Old plantation books of 
 Mr. Eben Coffin, the first proprietor of the name of 
 this estate, dated 1800, containing lists of the slaves 
 of former generations, in which some of the oldest 
 here now, like Uncle Sam, are mentioned as two years 
 old; estimates for this house and the building in the 
 yard, etc. 
 
 Aug. 5. C. has found a spike of papers in the 
 old overseer house, on which he and Mr. Soule are 
 now expending their eyesight. Letters from Mr. Coffin 
 to Cockloft, etc. They have found out how much 
 he was paid for the year — also some references to 
 an exciting time on Frogmore where the overseer 
 
206 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 seems to have misiiianaged — somebody was shot and 
 there was a trial! We shall ask the negroes about 
 it all. 
 
 Aug. 6. I entertained myself to-day reading over 
 these same letters. It made me feel very queerly — 
 they were mostly written during the summer of 1860, 
 from Charleston and Newport. It seemed so short a 
 time ago, and every thing and person spoken of about 
 the plantation was so familiar. It seems that the over- 
 seer of Frogmore, Benjarola Chaphn, was a bad man, 
 and, suspecting a boy and girl there of poisoning him, 
 had them tried and sentenced to be hung without let- 
 ting Mr. Coffin know anything about it. We find that 
 the sentence was not executed, — for Peter and Katy 
 are still hving, — but don't know why they were par- 
 doned, though apparently there was no proof of their 
 guilt. 
 
 Sept. 22. This morning I had a call from Henry, 
 Mr. Coffin's old cook, a very intelligent mulatto who 
 wanted me to read some letters to him and then talked 
 a httle while about Mrs. Coffin, to whom he seems very 
 much attached, and says he would serve her to the end 
 of his days. He and his wife would Kke to go North 
 to her, and he was very glad to hear from Captain Bou- 
 telle that she was safe there; he says she suffered so 
 the last part of the time she was here, he could not bear 
 to look at her. "The first Mrs. Coffin was a very nice 
 lady, but she succeed her" He talks very well. He 
 was much pleased that I offered to write to her for him 
 sometime, and said he had not liked to ask any one to 
 do so for fear they should not think it right to have 
 anything to do with the old people — "but she's a 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 207 
 
 Nort' lady, you know, Ma'am, a beautiful lady, I would 
 serve her all my life." 
 
 Sept. 27. Have I told you of an interesting talk we 
 had from one Pompey, who said that it was the poor 
 whites in Beaufort who made the negroes " sensible " 
 about the war? That if it had not been for them he 
 should have beKeved his master and gone away with 
 him, but that they let him into the secret.* He says that 
 [the poor whites] wished to stay, but were driven off 
 by the rich men, whom they hate, and are now in the 
 ranks fighting the rich men's battles. He has heard 
 several times from the Main, through his old fellow 
 servants who have run off, and mentioned two or three 
 of the old proprietors here who are now in jail for try- 
 ing to escape, among them Dr. Clarence Fripp, of whom 
 they all speak with great affection. He never wanted 
 to go, but was carried off by his brothers, one of whom, 
 Eddings, has since died. 
 
 Oct. 15. As soon after breakfast as Robert had fin- 
 ished his regular work we mounted two pair of stairs 
 "to clear up the attic." Do you think you know what 
 that means? You have not the least idea. So far as 
 we can make out, this house was built in 1809, and I 
 think Robert dragged out from under the eaves the 
 original shavings. It was melancholy to see the spoiled 
 and demohshed furniture which would be of so much 
 use to us now, bureaus without drawers, sofas with 
 only the frames, and those all broken, pieces of wash- 
 stands and bedsteads, etc. 
 
 ' The rebel masters had told their slaves that the Yankees intended 
 to sell them " South," — that is, to Cuba or the Gulf. 
 
208 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 It seems that such wonders were afterwards per- 
 formed in renovating this broken furniture that the 
 parlor became ahnost a parody of its ancient splendor. 
 
 The letters now return to chronological order. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 July 18. The cotton-fields are quite full of yellow 
 and pink blossoms. We rode through many cotton- 
 fields, and a pretty sight they were, some good, some 
 poor, — those belonging to the Government as a gen- 
 eral thing showing marked inferiority to those of the 
 "Concern." 
 
 C. has been in the field all day, and has come home 
 with a strong feeling of how much the people in gen- 
 eral have gained and improved in the last year. There 
 are poor ones among them, of course, — some he says 
 he should like to send off the place, another year ; but 
 the majority of the people are very much ashamed of 
 them, and for some time have been very anxious he 
 should go over the fields to see who "work for deir 
 money and who shirk." To-night he has been dis- 
 tributing the pork and molasses and has refused the 
 bonus to those who have not done their work pro- 
 perly, preferring to make the distinction here rather 
 than in the pay, and most of the delinquents have 
 appreciated the justice of the proceeding, only one 
 or two making any fuss at all, and the others were 
 very much ashamed of them. C. says he thinlcs that 
 school has improved the children, too, their manners 
 are improved, as have the grown people's, — less 
 cringing and subservient, but more respectful and 
 manly. Tim does not pull his forelock at every word 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 209 
 
 he speaks, as he did last year, looking like a whipped 
 dog, but looks you fuU in the face and speaks out as 
 if he were not ashamed of himself, and is perfectly re- 
 spectful withal. 
 
 The names of the people have often puzzled me as 
 to what they were originally intended for, and in tak- 
 ing down the names of the children "Rode" puzzled 
 me completely, until old Maria, in talking of her " crop " 
 the other day, told me that one child was born in the 
 road on the way from the field the day "gun fire at 
 Bay Point, and I give him name o' Road"! 
 
 I don't think any of the heirs will find that these 
 people are deteriorated when they redeem this property. 
 I only hope young Mass' JuUan, who is in Europe, 
 wiU be glad to find them so far in training for free 
 laborers and be grateful that they are not ruined, as 
 some of the people are ! 
 
 FROM c. p. w. 
 
 Aug. 3. The people say, all in good earnest, that the 
 best of the [cotton] crop (including nine tenths of it) 
 equals and excels the "Secesh own." There are a few 
 lazy, who have allowed their crop to grow grassy, and 
 some young ones, who need careful instruction or severe 
 admonition from the elder ones. But the large majority 
 are careful, faithful, honest, enthusiastic, and are doing 
 much better for themselves than they would have for 
 their "obershere." The people anxiously inquire for 
 cotton sheets to pick in. They are hiring hands now 
 to pick for them; some of them will be tight pushed 
 to save all their crop. 
 
210 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 FBOM W. C. G. 
 
 Pine Grove, Aug. 22. We are all very busy, all day 
 and every day. And it is well that it is so, for in this 
 climate the only way to keep one's faculties from rust 
 is to keep them constantly in use. It is encouraging, 
 however, to find the good results of our labor so ap- 
 parent. I think our people are improving very fast, 
 and they are very contented and happy. (Next week 
 don't be surprised, however, to find the thermometer 
 lower.) 
 
 A great step has lately been taken. On the whole 
 the people have been growing more lawless this year; 
 to remedy the evil, civil law has just been introduced. 
 The first Commission ' was appointed a few days ago, 
 and as I am one of its members, it gives occupation 
 for another day or two days of a week. I hope it will 
 be able to do much good ; at all events it will be abund- 
 antly supplied with cases. This life is very narrowing, 
 — we talk nothing but negro, we think nothing but 
 negro; and yet it develops a man at almost every point. 
 From house-carpenter to Chief Justice is a long way. 
 And in one who uses the opportunity aright it develops 
 patience and faith marvelously, but through many 
 failures. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Aug. 15. Just as we got up from the dinner-table, 
 a woman came running up for C. because the people 
 were fighting. Poor thing! she was dreadfully fright- 
 ened and had run the whole way with her baby in her 
 ' See note, p. 201. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 211 
 
 arms and looked as if she had just stepped out of the 
 river. I don't know what the trouble was — it was the 
 tongues of the women, and they fired shells and tore 
 each other's clothes in a most disgraceful way, much 
 to the mortification of the better part of the commun- 
 ity. Jealousy is the foundation of a great deal of trou- 
 ble among them, and there is often too much founda- 
 tion for it. 
 
 Aug. 31. Mr. Soule had planned to go to Beaufort 
 and see the General, and C. wished especially to get 
 permission to turn all the young men from outlaws 
 into private citizens by employing them and paying 
 them regularly, for he could not help their aiding their 
 wives and being employed by each other, a species of 
 evasion which was eminently calculated to give them 
 high ideas of the power and value of the law in the hands 
 of the present authorities — C. helpless, and they do- 
 ing as they pleased ! It looked like rain, however, and 
 they gave it up for that day. 
 
 Sept. 1. We had breakfast very early, and Mr. Soule 
 and C. went off, to discover as usual that our clock was 
 about an hour fast! I thought I would go out and dine 
 and see how Mr. G. was, as he had had a fever turn. 
 So I mounted and started alone on my expedition, after 
 carefully locking the house. It was cloudy and cool, 
 but I found my beast beastly hard, so had to content 
 myself with a walk. It was very pleasant, as I rode 
 along, to see how brightly the people looked up to 
 bow and speak. First old Richard in the overseer-yard, 
 watching the arbors, as they are called — the frames 
 where the cotton is spread out to dry; then men and 
 women coming from the field with great sheets of cot- 
 
212 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 ton on their heads which made them aknost unrecog- 
 nizable, little Susie staggering under such a pile that I 
 saw she never could get it onto her head again alone as 
 she was, if I asked her to put it down and run back 
 to open the gate for me, so after more than one trial I 
 succeeded in opening it for myself. Then I took my 
 sack off and rode in my white jacket, putting the sack 
 round the pummel and fastening it there by the extra 
 stirrup which, as the only saddle we had for a long 
 time, was rigged onto it for Mr. Philbrick and still 
 remains, a relic of our early, barbarous days. But in 
 a canter I lost it off, and had to call a child to pick it 
 up for me. Then MiUer came along, going out to help 
 his " old woman " pick cotton, and walked by my side 
 talking of the fine crop, and that next year there would 
 not be land enough for the people — " dey work better 
 nor Secesh time — encouragement so good!" He was 
 as bright and jolly as you ever saw any honest farmer 
 when his crops were in fine condition, and as we came 
 in sight of Phillis and Katy, his wife and daughter, and 
 Amaritta in a task just behind them, the latter called 
 out to him, "Hi! Hi! bru' Miller, where you go? my 
 back mos' broke!" as if it were the pleasantest news 
 in the world. He answered, "Oh, I go walk, I got 
 people pick my cotton," with such a hearty ha ! ha ! as 
 did me good to hear. Many of the men laugh just hke 
 Kttle children — Abel does. Next came Nancy, Peg, 
 and Doll, Demus' mother and sisters, and such a nice 
 family — the bright, smiling faces they raised to me 
 and the cheerful "Hahdy, Missus," was worth seeing 
 and hearing, and when Nancy sent Peg running after 
 me to open the gate I was "fighting" with, she looked 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 213 
 
 so bright, strong, and handsome as she strode along 
 so splendidly, her dress caught up at the waist and let 
 down from the shoulders, that I wished I could daguer- 
 reotype her on the spot. 
 
 I found Mr. G. in a very decided chill on the sofa in 
 front of the parlor fire. I stayed an hour or two, and 
 then, the fever coming on quite severely and affecting 
 his head a good deal, I rode home as fast as possible to 
 signal for Dr. Westcott.' I could not get through the 
 cotton-field, however, without being stopped two or 
 three times by applications for " suthin " for this child's 
 boils or that one's sore eyes, all of which I refen-ed to 
 the house, where I afterwards administered to the best 
 of my knowledge — one of my constant occupations. 
 
 Mr. Soule and C. came back, with no news from 
 Charleston, having found the General and his staff just 
 starting on a visit to the scene of action, but C. had 
 obtained permission to employ the men and made 
 them very happy the next day by telling them so. 
 
 Sept. 5. I have been endeavoring to instill habits 
 of cleanliness into Rose and in many ways have suc- 
 ceeded — she has regular days when she goes home to 
 wash, changes her "linen" twice a week, takes a warm 
 bath every Saturday, and keeps her head and feet in a 
 condition to which they were strangers previously. I 
 can see, too, that it has had a decided effect upon her 
 sisters. One of the important items has been pocket- 
 handkerchiefs, with which I provided her, and she has 
 to keep them in her pocket. For two or three days lately 
 she has forgotten this essential article, and I finally told 
 her that if it was forgotten the next day I should have 
 ' On board the Kingfisher. 
 
214 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 to send her home for it. I had forgotten all about it, 
 till, the next morning when she came to pour the water 
 into my tub for me, a most inordinate snuffling betrayed 
 the absent wipe. " Rose, where 's your pocket-handker- 
 chief ? have you forgotten it again ? " No answer, but 
 a hiding of the head under her arm Uke a duck, which 
 often takes place when she is in fault. "Then, Rose, 
 put the coffee on, sweep the parlor, and go home for it." 
 This ehcited, "me no gwine home," a pert rejoinder I 
 could not understand, till on calling her to me I saw 
 by her face how excessively green I had been. I repri- 
 manded her with a sober face as she again repeated 
 "me no gwine home," at the same time untwisting the 
 handkerchief from about her waist, but when she had 
 left the room I should have shaken the bed, if that had 
 been my style of laughter. Robert is a great wag in 
 his way, though we do not see so much of his fun, as, 
 having been used to the house in "Secesh time," he 
 is utterly undemonstrative before white people and is 
 only gradually thawing into a Kttle more communica- 
 tiveness. But we overhear him sometimes talking with 
 the others. A most entertaining but not quite so pleas- 
 ant exhibition of it (and C. and I could not help laugh- 
 ing at Rose and Hester's good-natured, amusing 
 account) was his riding after the two girls one d^y 
 when he had been out for the horses, extolling himself 
 and insisting that they should call him " Maussa " or he 
 would ride them down, with his spurs on ! Hester gave 
 in, but Rose would n't — "him too mannish!" 
 
 There is a great deal of tyrannizing over each other. 
 " Mind now, min', run quick or I knock you," — or 
 " kill you dead " it is as likely to be, — is an ordinary 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 215 
 
 method of getting anything done, while "cursing," as 
 they call calling names, etc., is one of the hardest things 
 I have to contend with in school, they are so quick to 
 interpret any look or act into an offense and resent it 
 on the spot with word or blow. 
 
 Sept. 9. I had a long talk with some of my big 
 girls who had been very noisy and fighting — they do 
 "knock" each other most unmercifully, and I can't 
 instill any better notions into them. "Anybody hurt 
 you, you 'bleeged to knock 'em," is the universal re- 
 sponse, and they have no idea of letting any difficulty 
 be peaceably settled. 
 
 The definite reply which these people require to the 
 ordinary salutation of Hahdy ? or Huddy ? into which 
 it has degenerated here, is very amusing, and a cor- 
 responding inquiry is expected in return, to which 
 they give the most minute answers. "Good morning, 
 Hacklis (Hercules), how are you to-day?" "Stirring, 
 tank you, Ma'am, how youself ? " and if I had a head- 
 ache I should no more think of saying "pretty well" 
 than if I were being cross-questioned at the bar — 
 the inquiry is so sincere and expects such a particular 
 reply. "Dunno, Missus — tank de Lord for Kfe," is 
 a common rejoinder, as well as " Not so well, tank you, 
 ma'am." 
 
 This is as good a place as any for some more exam- 
 ples of negro speech and negro ways. The sayings 
 of Rose, in particular, were a constant source of inter- 
 est and amusement. H. W. writes that she "teUs me 
 everything, in her simplicity, even to the fact that her 
 father has silver money which he keeps buried, and 
 that her mother sends her to the pen for milk before it 
 comes up here!" 
 
216 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 [May 16.] Rose commented, "You lub Miss Helen," 
 and then in a few minutes, "Miss Helen lub you. 
 All two (both). I love Miss Helen, too. Miss Helen 
 one nice bucki-a. You more rough 'long er Miss 
 Helen. Miss Helen so softie — when him touch me I 
 no feel 'um — me feel you — you so strong." All this 
 with inimitable gesture and expression and a "leetle" 
 and "middhng-sized-bear" voice that was inexpressibly 
 droU. 
 
 [May 17.] As I sat down to write this morning, Rose 
 came in to dust. " Miss Hy't, you gwine write Norf ? " 
 Yes, Rose. I told her that Httle Robert sent me the 
 pictures and a letter from Uttle Mary. It pleased her 
 very much, and she said she wanted to see them. " Me 
 lub Robert and Mary." Thinking I should Hke to get 
 at some of her notions, I asked her. What do you mean 
 by love, Rose.-" "Me dunno — brothers and sisters." 
 Don't you love any one else. Rose.!* "Me dunno." 
 Why, you said yesterday that you loved Miss Helen, 
 and just now that you loved Robert and Mary. "Me 
 lub dem." By this time the top of her head was in con- 
 tact with the floor, when she suddenly raised herself 
 to a kneehng posture and pointing up, said a moment 
 after, "Me lub God," and in a few minutes, as if she 
 were quoting, "An dem dat foller arter Christ." What 
 do you mean by that. Rose ? " Me dunno," and I found 
 she had not the least idea. Presently she enumerated 
 Mass' CharUe, Mass' Willyum, and Mister Philbrick 
 in her category, and then went on with her dusting. 
 By and by she said — " Miss Hyut, me no say your 
 name." No, Rose. "Well, me lub you an' Miss Helen 
 de morer." 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 217 
 
 Mr. Thorpe has a boy, Strappan, who is even more 
 noted than my Rose, and who has given some remark- 
 able answers to questions which Mr. Thorpe puts to 
 him, and which he takes down verbatim. The only one 
 I know is his definition of Love. "Arter you lub, you 
 lub, you know, boss. You can't broke lub. Man can't 
 broke lub. Lub stan', he ain't goin' broke. Man hab 
 to be berry smart for broke lub. Lub is a ting stan' jus' 
 Kke tar; arter he stick, he stick. He ain't goin' move. 
 He can't move less dan you burn um. Hab to kill all 
 two arter he lub, 'fo you broke lub." 
 
 [Aug. 15.] This morning Rose was sewing with me 
 in my chamber, and, as she is very apt to, got talking 
 about the time when they ran away from the "rob- 
 bers" and the Yankees first came. It is always inter- 
 esting, and I wish I could give you her language, 
 though it would be httle without her emphasis and 
 expression. The first time she saw a Yankee — " Great 
 dairdy ! " she said, " So Yankee stan' ? " I don't think 
 she knew what sort of an animal to expect. 
 
 Sept. 15. When Rose came into my room this morn- 
 ing, she came up to my bed to ask how I was and 
 express her contrition that she did not stay all night 
 with me ! " Me could n't sleep, me think all night 
 Miss Hayiut sick, me should stay long him — when I 
 go bed, me say, 'Hester, Miss Hayiut sick,^I oughter 
 stay wid her;' Hester say, 'Come, go 'long me, take 
 you shum,' but me would n't go den ! " She is very 
 trying sometimes, but full of character, as you see, 
 and it is hard to know just how to deal with her. I am 
 afraid of being too lenient to her and so spoiling her, 
 or too stern, for fear I should spoil her, and so losing 
 
218 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 her affection, which ought to be the controlling influ- 
 ence. With all their subserviency, which I am happy 
 to say is disappearing, they have little idea of obedience. 
 
 Sept. 17. This morning there was no milk, as in this 
 benighted region if it rains they don't "pen cow" at 
 night, and for the same reason Abel did not catch one in 
 the field this morning that we might have a drop for 
 breakfast! 
 
 [Oct. 19.] The doctor wanted some wormwood, and 
 thinking I had heard the people speak of it, I asked 
 Elsie. "Me dunno, me dunno nothing; me jis' born 
 yestiddy! " she answered. 
 
 [Nov. 16.] Rose came to teU me this morning that 
 there was no milk. Henry had dropped the bucket 
 (from his head) and spiUed it all. "See Henry here." 
 Why, Henry, where did you spill the milk ? I asked in 
 dismay; but he looked blank till she interpreted for 
 him — "Which side de milk churray?" (throw away). 
 How, when, and where they do not use or know the 
 meaning of. Which side, is where — What time, when — 
 but they do not understand a sentence with how in it. 
 
 The next four extracts give a good idea of Mr. Phil- 
 brick's letters to his superintendents and of the far- 
 sighted, honest thought which he put on his Port Royal 
 undertaking. The first was written in the summer; 
 the others appear in their proper place in order of time. 
 
 E. s. p. TO w. c. G. 
 
 Boston, July 28. If you can induce some old man 
 who is a good judge, I would let him pick select cotton 
 all through the season for seed, going over the whole 
 field, or such parts of it as he finds the best cotton, 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 218 
 
 culling the best pods from the best plants. In this way 
 you can get seed enough to plant some acres next 
 year, which would yield enough for the whole planta- 
 tion another year and of a superior quaUty. This is the 
 way the most intelligent planters got up their famous 
 varieties of seed, and we ought to be able to use as 
 much brains as they did. Perhaps you can get some 
 refugee to do this, without giving offense to the mass, 
 but he must be a good judge. 
 
 I hope you will not feel it your duty to enUst in the 
 army, for I consider your position there a very useful one 
 and difficult to replace. I don't mean useful merely to 
 the people with whom you come in contact, but polit- 
 ically, upon the solution of the great social, political 
 problem which we have got to solve, viz., the worthi- 
 ness and capacity of the negro for immediate and un- 
 conditional emancipation. I intend to pubUsh the re- 
 sults of this year's operations next winter and want to 
 be able to show that we have raised cotton at a lower 
 price per pound than the former proprietors did, count- 
 ing the interest upon their capital invested in negroes 
 as a part of their expenses, which is no more than just. 
 
 This point, as regards the raising of cotton by free 
 labor, Mr. Philbrick did successfully make later, as will 
 be seen (see page 265). Another inducement to Northern 
 capital to come South was offered by him at this time 
 in a letter which appeared in the Boston Daily ^Adver- 
 tiser on July 20. It was entitled " A New Market for 
 Manufactures," and tabulated the results of his opera- 
 tions in the "shop" during the fifteen months of its 
 existence so far. Between March, 1862, and March, 
 1863, for instance, a population of four hundred and 
 twelve had spent there $3047; during the months of 
 
220 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 May and June, 1863, a population of nine hundred 
 and thirty-three had spent $3800 ; the articles bought 
 had included a variety of dry goods, provisions, hard- 
 ware, etc., almost all of which supplied needs entirely 
 new to the blacks. The letter concluded: "It may 
 readily be seen that a considerable demand may arise 
 for the articles above-named and others of kindred na- 
 ture, when a population of some miUions shall be in 
 a position to apply their earnings to the supply of their 
 rapidly increasing wants. Should not the manufactur- 
 ing interests of the North be awake to this ? " This 
 letter, written for the express purpose of bringing 
 means of civilization to the blacks, was taken by many 
 Northern friends of the negro as proof that its writer's 
 motive was to exploit the black race for the benefit of 
 the white. Of course, Mr. Philbrick knew perfectly 
 well to what misconstruction he exposed himself when 
 he told the pubHc that there was profit to be made on 
 the old plantations. The following letter was written 
 in reply to a warning from C. P. W. on this very head. 
 
 E. s. p. TO c. p. w. 
 
 Boston, Sept. 24. I don't agree with you about avoid- 
 ing publicity for our enterprise. I hold that the pecuni- 
 ary success we are likely to meet with is the very best 
 reason why the whole thing should be made public, for 
 it is the only sort of success which can make our enter- 
 prise a permanent thing and take it off the hands of phil- 
 anthropic benevolence, which, though well enough for a 
 spurt, can never be relied on to civihze the four millions 
 of darkies likely to be on our hands. If we succeed finan- 
 cially, it will prove that free labor is self-sustaining, and 
 that the blacks are capable of becoming a useful labor- 
 ing class immediately after leaving their masters' hands, 
 and this fact is of vast importance. If we attempt to 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 221 
 
 keep quiet, we shall incur with much more justice the 
 accusation of being mere speculators than if we make 
 the most of our success by bringing it before the public 
 as a political experiment, of great influence upon our 
 future social system, thus giving the public the full 
 benefit of the experiment. The fact is just this. Negro 
 labor has got to be employed, if at all, because it is profit- 
 able, and it has got to come into the market like every- 
 thing eke, subject to the supply and demand which may 
 arise from all kinds of enterprises in which it chances to 
 be employed. It is not likely that it can be protected on 
 a large scale by the amount of disinterested philanthropy 
 which happens to be present on the Sea Islands, but if it 
 can be open to private enterprise, by an occupation of 
 lands free from unnecessary restrictions and under a 
 proper sense of the security of property, it can afford to 
 lose some of the Methodism now bestowed upon it at 
 Beaufort. We want first to prove that it is profitable, 
 and then it will take care of itself. 
 
 E. s. p. TO w. c. G. 
 
 Sept. 24. Limus' seine was shipped in the schooner. 
 I have not yet ordered any for 'Siah, for I thought it 
 would be too late for him to use it this year, and he had 
 better wait and see if Limus' seine was all right. More- 
 over, entre nous, I don't believe it will do him any good 
 to spend his time a-fishing. It has a sort of excitement, 
 like gold-digging, which unfits a man for steady, plod- 
 ding industry, witness Limus. Now the present demand 
 for fish will not be permanent. After the war the 
 negroes will have to fall back upon field-labor for a 
 living, and it will be better for them if in the mean- 
 
J22 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 yhile they do not acquire a distaste for steady labor 
 md get vagrant habits. I would talk this over with 
 Siah and ask him in serious mood if he really thinks 
 jest to spend so much money in fishing-gear, when he 
 ;ould buy land with it by and bye. 
 
 Here begins again the rambling narrative of planta- 
 ion happenings. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Sept. 26. C. was very busy paying for cotton, and 
 ve found him on the piazza, sitting at a little table with 
 ;he drawer full of money and the gang of women stand- 
 ng and sitting about at the foot of the steps, while he 
 ;alled them up one at a time. He paid old Nancy first, 
 isking her how much she thought it was. " Me dunno, 
 Massa, you knows." As much as ten dollars? "Oh 
 ^es ! Massa, I tink you gib me more nor dat." Fifteen, 
 Derhaps.'' Five for you, Doll, and Peg, each? "Yes, 
 Massa, I tink so." And it was pleasant to see the cor- 
 lers of her mouth go as he counted out $48 — which 
 ihe took in perfect quietness and with a sober face, a 
 ;urtsey and "Tank'ee, Massa." Sinnet was more 
 iemonstrative than anybody, Kfting up hands and eyes, 
 md ending with "Tank de Lord; I mus' go praise." 
 \maritta drew for her gang $78 — they have picked 
 )ver three thousand pounds. C. paid out over $1000. 
 
 H. W. further reports that when C. told old Grace 
 le had weighed altogether a bale for her, " Good God! " 
 she cried, " me lib to raise bale o' cotton ! Come along, 
 rim, less get some vittle." 
 
 The next letter is Mr. Tomlinson's reply to one 
 from W. C. G., in which he had complained of negroes 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 223 
 
 who refused to pay their "corn-tax," — a rent in kind 
 for their private patches of corn-land, — and had sug- 
 gested their expulsion from the plantation as the best 
 remedy. 
 
 BEUBBN TOMLINSON ' TO W. C. G. 
 
 Sept. 30. I have just read yours on the " corn ques- 
 tion." I have told Government Superintendents, when 
 the people refuse or neglect to bring their corn t9 the 
 corn-house, not to interfere with them until it is all 
 broken in; ^ then to tell them how much is expected 
 from them, and give them a certain length of time to 
 bring it in. If it is not done, get a "guard" from the 
 " Jail," and go to their houses and take it. Of course 
 the superintendent is to use a sound discretion in 
 making his demand, making due allowance for failure of 
 " crop," etc. Your plan is in my opinion open to serious 
 objections as a matter of expediency. I have no doubt 
 that there are people on your places whom you would 
 be well rid of. If you can endure them patiently a Uttle 
 while longer, I think it will be to your advantage -to 
 do so. The Government is commencing at once the 
 erection of a large number of houses, and after they 
 are finished those turbulent and unruly people may 
 be disposed of without the scandal and excitement 
 which would otherwise accompany their removal. 
 After this season is terminated, you can refuse any 
 longer to employ such persons, and the Government 
 having then provided homes for them, there will be 
 no longer an excuse for boring you with them. 
 
 ' A Pennsylvanian, General Superintendent for St. Helena and 
 Ladies Islands, since Richard Soule had resigned that position. 
 ' That is, gathered. 
 
224 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 Mr. Philbrick's. advice was as follows : 
 
 E. s. p. TO w. c. G. 
 
 I am not surprised at the prospect of some mean- 
 ness about the corn-tax. The negroes would be a mar- 
 velous race if it were not so. If any difficulty is 
 encountered in collecting the tax, I should take it out 
 of their pay at $1.50 per bushel, wMch is about what it 
 costs me to send corn there. 
 
 FEOM H. W. 
 
 Oct. 13. Mr. G., who had just come from the Point, 
 told me a very nice thing about the men there. It seems 
 that a few weeks ago Mr. Tomlinson made an address 
 to them at church about there being five church-mem- 
 bers in jail for shooting cattle, and after he got through, 
 'Siah, the foreman and elder of the Fripp Point Plan- 
 tation, rose and indorsed what he had said, adding 
 that the thing had never happened on his place. That 
 very week an ox was shot there, and Mr. G. has been 
 unable to find out who did it, all the men protesting 
 that they did not know. So to-day he called them all 
 up and talked to them, and then spoke of the ox and 
 asked them what they thought they ought to do. One 
 man rose and proposed to pay for it — another seconded 
 the motion, and they passed the resolution to do so by 
 a vote of sixteen against two! Mr. G. was very much 
 pleased, and gave notice that if the perpetrator of the 
 deed would come to him and confess within four days 
 he should be let off without paying the fine. 
 
 Oct. 20. Thomas seemed much better, but very 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 225 
 
 weak, and asked me if I would not give Mm some liquor ! 
 I asked if he had ever been in the habit of drinking it, 
 and he said yes, that he bought it by the pint at camp ! 
 He belongs to the First South Carolina Volunteers, Col- 
 onel Higginson's Regiment. It is dreadful to think of 
 such means of civihzation being introduced among 
 these poor people. It made me heartsick. 
 
 While I was dressing for dinner C. came up to ask 
 me if I had "any prejudice against color," as he had 
 asked the steward of the Wabash ^ to dine, " a Boston 
 boy who speaks EngKsh as well as you do." We found 
 him a very bright, intelligent young fellow and very 
 modest and unassuming withal — gave his name only 
 as " Joseph " both to Mr. Soule and C. He had come 
 foraging for the Admiral, and as C. found him wait- 
 ing for the people to come from the field, he took him 
 about with him and brought up at the house. He was 
 on board the Mohegan when Port Royal was taken 
 and had then just come from the coast of Africa where 
 they had taken Gordon, the slave-pirate, on board 
 the barque Ariel, and he gave us a most interesting 
 account of the whole aiBFair, as he went on board with 
 the Captain when he ordered the hatches to be opened 
 and the nine hundred blacks were discovered. C. says 
 he overheard Amaritta say to him, " You free man .'' I 
 t'o't so, when I see you walk wi' buckra," and old 
 Grace, when he asked her if she had any eggs, an- 
 swered , " No, Maus — my dear," her first impression 
 being that as he walked "wid buckra" she must be 
 respectful, and then remembering that she must not 
 say " Maussa " to a black man. He is black as Robert, 
 ' Admiral Dupont's flag-ship. 
 
226 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 but with Saxon features. Speaking of Henry, he asked, 
 "Is he short and stout and about my complexion?" 
 Henry is almost white ! 
 
 Oct. 22. limus is fuU of amazement at the men of 
 the Fifty-Fifth ' and could not express his surprise at 
 their walking up to their post-office kept by a black 
 man, and opening their letters to read " just like white 
 men!" They don't know what to make of educated 
 blacks, — it upsets all their ideas on the relative posi- 
 tion of the two races ! I expected some remarks from 
 Rose about our sable guest — she was not here, but 
 the next day she began: "That stranger man eat up 
 here ? Which side him eat ? " In the dining-room with 
 us. " Him free man ? " Yes, he was born in Boston. 
 "Him read and write?" Yes, as well as I can. This 
 made her open her eyes, and when I told her that in 
 Boston there were schools for the black children to go 
 to just like those for the white children, where they 
 could learn the same things, she departed with a very 
 quiet, "Yes, Ma'am." 
 
 FROM C. p. W. 
 
 Oct. 24. Nothing happens here now, so that even 
 this delightful country, with its charming variety of 
 scenery and its delicious climate, its bracing air, its 
 sparkling streams, its richness of autumnal tints, the 
 ever-varying play of light and shade upon the steep 
 hillsides and through the green valleys often cease to 
 charm. For myself, I may say that even the continual 
 excitement incident to the task of weighing cotton, 
 
 ' The Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts Volunteers (colored), which was 
 in camp at Port Royal. 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 227 
 
 selling sugar, or counting rails, not to mention the no 
 less important duty of seeing that my hat is not stolen 
 from my head, or the shingles off my roof, — even these 
 interesting and exciting occupations sometimes grow 
 wearisome, and fail to afford that continued gratifica- 
 tion and satisfaction to enjoy which is the object of a 
 hfe in this Department. Although the statement seems 
 absurd, I must nevertheless affirm, that it is more 
 bother to take care of a plantation of one hundred and 
 twenty working hands than it is to exercise that num- 
 ber in the "School of the Company;" and that the 
 satisfaction derived from the faithfulness and honesty 
 of perhaps thirty is hardly sufficient to atone for the 
 anxiety and distrust with which one regards the re- 
 maining ninety, who lie by habit and steal on the least 
 provocation, who take infinite pains to be lazy and 
 shirk, who tell tales of others, of which themselves are 
 the true subjects, and from whom all the artifices of 
 the lawyer cannot draw a fair statement of fact, even 
 when it is obviously for their own interest to tell the 
 whole truth. "Wherefore he is called the everlasting 
 Niggah." 
 
 I have had my grumble, and I feel better. What I 
 have said "has truth in it, only distorted." I am not 
 actually miserable, though one might draw that inference 
 from these remarks. The fact is that, the novelty of this 
 life having worn off after fifteen months of the "useful 
 experience," the Hfe, as was to be, and was expected, 
 loses something of its satisfaction, and one is more open 
 to the effect of the vexations and annoyances than when 
 the interest was fresh and the work new and untried. 
 It is not so much that one is annoyed by the work it- 
 
228 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [186S 
 
 self, but the imperfections of the system under which 
 we are obKged to work grow more clear and are con- 
 tinually presented in various forms. The only satis- 
 factory thing would be to reconstruct the system on 
 the plantation, first, by turning oflF all the hands not 
 wanted; second, by adopting a new system in regard 
 to the privileges and compensation of the people. The 
 privileges are, free houses, free land for provision crops, 
 free use of wood, and, with certain restrictions, of the 
 animals and implements. I should do away with these 
 privileges, making them pay house-rent and land-rent, 
 making them pay for their wood, if of certain qualities, 
 and for the use of teams and implements — for their 
 own work. Then I should increase their wages, with 
 fixed prices for the various kinds of work. I should 
 wish to be able to discharge any one whose work did 
 not suit me, and remove him from the plantation. 
 These reforms cannot possibly be instituted now, and 
 can never be, probably, on this island. In the mean- 
 time, if the people were only honest and truthful, other 
 matters would be of comparatively little account, but 
 they are the most provoking set, in this respect, that 
 you can easily conceive. They are almost incorrigible. 
 
 REUBEN TOMLINSON TO C. P. W. 
 
 Oaks, Oct. 30. I have appointed you one of a " Com- 
 mission" of three, to meet in the "Study" at R.'s 
 place on Wednesday, November 4, at 10 A. m. The first 
 case that will probably come before you will be that 
 of the disputed ownersliip of a "boat," now in the 
 possession of one " Limus," purveyor to General Gill- 
 more, but which is claimed by "Barkis," who lives at 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 229 
 
 Hilton Head. Both the parties have been to see me, 
 and Barkis is not "willin"' to give up his claim. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Nov. 8. I found C. had two men locked up in sepa- 
 rate rooms downstairs — there had been some trouble, 
 and one, who was half drunk, had used a knife. One 
 man he let go, the other is still shut up, and sent to see 
 me this evening. | It is dreadful to have such things 
 happening, but it will do good for the people to find 
 that there is some law over them. \ 
 
 Early in November Mr. Philbrick went down to 
 Port Royal again to gin and export his cotton crop. 
 
 E. S. P. TO AIBS. PHILBBICK. 
 
 Coffin's Point, Nov. 10. Arrived here about 6. I 
 found people in the field picking cotton at R.'s places, 
 and found on nearly all my fields the cotton still green 
 and blossoming, while on most of the Government 
 plantations the grass had stopped its growth long ago 
 and the crop was about over. I find old Frank (the 
 wily) in confinement in the harness-room for some row 
 among the people last Sunday, awaiting trial. Oh, the 
 horses, how they do look! A few months among our 
 Northern fixings make everything look so wretched 
 down here. 
 
 There is a circular just issued by General Saxton, 
 pointing out the plantations which are to be sold to 
 the negroes, and advising them to stake out their claims 
 and build cabins on them as preemptors, which will 
 not attract many of my people, I think. The McTure- 
 
230 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 ous places, T. B. Fripp's, Hamilton Pripp's, and others 
 are to be so sold, as soon as the necessary surveys are 
 made. I doubt the policy of this sort of thing until the 
 time shall have passed for the redemption of the land 
 by the old owners, though none may ever appear to re- 
 deem. I am afraid some rows may arise from the difB- 
 culty of fixing and recording boundaries among a lol 
 of negro squatters, should there be many such. 
 
 These plantations, about to be sold at auction tc 
 negro preemptors, were those which had been reserved 
 for this purpose from the sale of March 9, 1863 (see 
 p. 171). The order of the President (dated Septembei 
 16), from which General Saxton got authority for his 
 circular just mentioned, also provided for the sale a1 
 auction of about twenty plantations in lots not to ex- 
 ceed three hundred and twenty acres. This latter pro- 
 vision, which might possibly result in preventing manj 
 negroes from owning any land at present, — since the 
 plantations reserved for them alone were not large 
 enough for all, — presently brought about infinite 
 trouble, through disagreement among the authorities. 
 
 [ FROM H. w. 
 
 Nov. 15. The people are quite disturbed about Gen 
 eral Saxton's new order, which Mr. French and Judg( 
 Smith have been trying to explain to them at church ; — 
 in vain, apparently, — for some of the most ignoran 
 of our people thought they should be obliged to bu] 
 land, and came to C. in distress at leaving the plan 
 tation. Others we hear are selecting their lots, but no-w 
 comes General Gillmore's order to stop all sales ; I an 
 afraid these poor people, who hate all change and " con 
 fusion," will have their brains hopelessly confused 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 231 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Nov. 18. General Saxton has given orders that all 
 work on the plantations ' in preparation for next year's 
 crop shall be stopped, for he expects to give them up 
 either to the purchasers or the tax-commissioners very 
 soon. The tax men are here, as amicably disposed to- 
 wards each other as cat and dog, and as they are not 
 remarkable for their efficiency in matters of business, 
 I do not think it very likely that they will accomplish 
 much this winter. They have two parties of surveyors 
 at work, but they don't seem to be doing much but 
 chop vines and sail about the creeks in boats. 
 
 FROM w. c. G. 
 
 Pine Grove. [Sept 23.] I think you would be quite 
 astonished at the refinement and homeKkeness of our 
 parlor. Bright table-cloths, a most elegant couch lately 
 developed, — a comfortable old sofa, pictures all around, 
 a fancy bookcase almost fuU of books, — a glass-topped 
 secretary with an ample supply of pigeon-holes and 
 writing arrangements, — papers lying around loose, 
 
 — and a wood fire burning in the big chimney-place, 
 
 — won't that do for philanthropists ? One door opens 
 into a large dining-room, — the windows upon a portico, 
 looking out upon the creek winding among the green 
 marsh grass, with broad water and islands in the dis- 
 tance. For contrast now and then a pig squalls vigor- 
 ously under the house, — for it is getting cold now and 
 the pigs eagerly seek the shelter of the "big house." 
 
 ' Meaning, of course, plantations belonging to the Government. 
 
232 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 It is in vain to try to keep them out, though I 've had 
 a fence built round the house. 
 
 Nov. 14. I shall have to take to contraband pants, 
 I 'm afraid, as I did last winter. The negroes can hardly 
 hold me to be of gentle kind, when they see me doing 
 their own work in their own clothes. I wish you would 
 come down to see me, if it is only, by the sight of a white 
 cravat and shining beaver, to convince them that I am 
 a " boss " born. You shall have your fill of clearing up 
 and improving, too; I need just such energy to make 
 respectable my own premises. At present they are the 
 pigs' playground, except on Sundays, when a lot of 
 the plantation urchins are allowed very quietly to peep 
 in at the windows and learn manners from white folks. 
 At present a young fellow, who has lately waked up 
 from a slouch into a man, is patiently leaning against 
 the sill, waiting, I suppose, for his lesson. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26. We sat down to dinner 
 — sixteen Massachusetts people, six ministers' sons. 
 Mr. Folsom and -William AUen, Miss R. and Mr. G. 
 went home ; all the rest spent the night, and no one on 
 a sofa. We wondered what was the last [dinner-party] 
 as large that had dined in this old house, but Robert 
 says he never saw such a large party here — Mr. CofiSn 
 used to give his dinners in Charleston. 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Nov. 26. We got to R.'s house, where he told us he 
 had been helping Mr. Wells all day before in boating 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 233 
 
 Ms cotton from Morgan Island to his home place.* 
 There was about $3000 worth on the island, and he 
 did not choose to expose the rebels to any further temp- 
 tation in regard to it. It seems that Tuesday morning 
 the cow-minder had gone out to the pen with his milk- 
 pail and never returned. Search being made, the milk- 
 pail and his jacket were found, and some new tracks 
 of shoes on the beach, also traces of a bivouac break- 
 fast and marks of a boat's keel on the Coosaw River 
 beach. Nothing more is known than this. The pre- 
 sumption is that a scouting party had come over Coo- 
 saw River and bivouacked on the beach, hauling up 
 their boat, and that, seeing this poor man in the morn- 
 ing, they gobbled him up and cleared out as they came. 
 He was an Edisto man, of considerable intelligence, 
 and it is hoped his information will not be so reliable 
 as the rebels might wish. Mr. Wells immediately in- 
 formed Captain Dutch and got Mr. R. to help him 
 boat over his cotton. Captain Dutch sent a guard to 
 patrol the island and sent his little schooner up oppo- 
 site Morgan Island in Coosaw River as an outpost. 
 
 We had an immense rush at the store yesterday, four 
 hundred and sixty odd doUars during the day here. R. 
 and Wells have taken over fifteen hundred dollars in 
 the three days after opening their goods. Amaritta 
 bought over forty dollars' worth at once, and poor 
 Juliana staggered off with a load on her head that she 
 could hardly carry. The trunks go like smoke, so do 
 the firkins and other domestic wares. 
 
 ' The "Mary Jenkins" place. 
 
234 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Dec. 1. Uncle Nat, who has carried the plantation 
 keys for forty years, giving out all the allowance for 
 people and creatures, and has done no field work for that 
 length of time, has had an acre and a haM of cotton this 
 year, and has raised the largest proportion, six hundred 
 pounds seed-cotton per acre, of any one on the place. He 
 lives at Pine Grove with his wife, but plants here for old 
 association's sake, and the other day, when C. made the 
 last cotton payment, he gave Nat's money to his sister, 
 Nancy. The next morning Nat was up here early and 
 took his hat off to the ground to C. " Came to thank 
 you for what you send me yesterday, Sar — much 
 obliged to you, Sar (with another flourish and scrape). 
 I well sat-is-fy, and jest as long as the Lord give me 
 Ufe and dese ole arms can do so (imitating the motion 
 of hoeing), I work cotton for you, Sar!" 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Dec. 5. Our cotton crop is about all in, though some 
 people are still in the field gleaning. They glean very 
 carefully now, and don't allow a single pod to escape 
 them. I have about one hundred gins now in running 
 order, and expect to have fifty more, all going in another 
 week. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Dec. 10. I rode down to see the work. It was a busy 
 scene — a whipper on each arbor with a child atop to 
 fill the machine, which is used to lash the dirt out of 
 the cotton before ginning and make it easier to gin; 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 235 
 
 then the gins were all at work — the women were sort- 
 ing — the men packing — potato- vines were being 
 brought in to be weighed, carts and oxen carrying seed 
 — altogether such a busy piece of work as one does 
 not often see here. 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Dec. 10. We were surprised by a green carryall com- 
 ing down the road drawn by some army horses, hay- 
 fed and round. The passengers were a Mr. Paige, a 
 correspondent of the Tribune, and his friend, a Mr. 
 Baldwin from Cleveland. I had met them in one of 
 my trips between Hilton Head and Beaufort, and after 
 answering several questions asked them to come and 
 see me, but I did n't think they would take the pains. 
 Mr. Paige asked questions enough to pump me dry 
 while here, but I don't believe he will be much the 
 wiser, for he asked some three or four times over. I 
 took them down to the praise house in the evening and. 
 Uncle Sam being ill of "fever and pain in head," I 
 helped with the hymns and read a chapter from the 
 Bible. Old Aaron and George prayed, Doll's Will told 
 off a hymn from memory, and Greorge repeated one, 
 as I think, from his own brain, putting in all the coup- 
 lets he could remember, and hunting over his brain 
 for each one while they were singing the last. My visit- 
 ors were very much interested, and were chiefly pleased 
 with the earnestness and simplicity of their worship, 
 remarking that they were fortunate in not being bothered 
 with doctrine. I am afraid they did n't get much of 
 an idea of our schools, for the only girl they asked to 
 spell happened to be CaroUne, whom they met in the 
 
236 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 street. She is only half-witted, you know, and did n't 
 dp her teachers much credit. I should like to see what 
 Mr. Paige has to say about our doings in the Tribune. 
 I asked him not to mention the name of this plantation, 
 for I didn't want to call the attention of the Coffin 
 family upon us any more than I could help. He asked 
 me for the names of Jiy superintendents and teachers 
 here, but I told him they did n't care to be brought 
 before the public. 
 
 I was curious to know how much cotton could be got 
 from a certain amount of seed. I ginned just five pounds 
 of cotton and had thirteen pounds of seed left, being over 
 a peck, for it weighs forty-four pounds to the bushel. 
 The people were very much amused to see me gin so 
 long, and wondered that I had the strength for it. You 
 know they consider us rather effeminate in regard to 
 strength, but I did not find it nearly so hard work as I 
 supposed. It is not half as hard as mowing. 
 
 Dec. 13. Mr. Wells had his cotton about half ginned 
 when there came a posse of men from the First South 
 Carolina Regiment, without a white officer, to hunt after 
 deserters on his plantation. They met the men they 
 wanted and shot them all three in broad daylight; one 
 is badly wounded and may not recover, but the others 
 probably wiU. After shooting one man they were going 
 away to leave him, and Mr. Wells went and took care 
 of him and sent him to the hospital. 
 
 Dec. 17. The people Were all at work ginning cotton, 
 and the new mechanic Nero, whom we found at the 
 White place, was putting the engine in order. This en- 
 gine serves as a moral stimulus to keep the people at 
 work at their hand-gins, for they want to gin all the cot- 
 
18G3] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 237 
 
 ton by hand, and I tell them if they don't get it done by 
 the middle of January I shall gin it by steam. The result 
 will probablybe that there will be httle left for the steam- 
 engine to do. But it will do no harm to put it in order 
 and then I can grind corn with it next summer. The 
 weight of all my cotton is now 287,790 pounds ^ in seed. 
 The samples which I sent to Liverpool were appraised 
 there as worth forty-eight to fifty pence, which, if ex- 
 change remains as high as at present, would make our 
 crop worth $100,000 in Liverpool. This is as much as I 
 had ever estimated I should realize from it. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Dec. 17. The cotton packing continues; twelve bales 
 are already prepared for . . the market, stamped with 
 the old Coffin trademark. ( / The initiated know what 
 it means, but I doubt * ' if any one else would 
 recognize the significance of the headless and footless 
 box! 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Dec. 27. The children came up about half-past two 
 o'clock on Christmas afternoon [to see the tree], but 
 being told not to come until sunset they hung around 
 outside the gate till Mr. Hall was ready for them. About 
 dusk they were all marshaled in by classes, and we all 
 helped distribute the presents. The children seemed 
 struck aghast with the brilliant sight, and when WilKam 
 HaU wished them all a Merry Christmas, they threw up 
 their hands and shouted with all their might. It was n't 
 
 ' Two hundred and sixty-five thousand pounds was "about as 
 much as there was raised in the whole Department" in 1862. 
 
238 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 a cheer, but more like a yell, eTidently in answer to his 
 good wishes. The presents were taken with the usual 
 apathy shown on such occasions, and as soon as they 
 had time they began to compare them with each other 
 and some to complain how they did n't get enough. 
 
 Yesterday morning we made our preparations for 
 Hunting Island. It was a fine day, wind east, and rather 
 warm. We had four negro oarsmen. Seven white folks 
 made up the load, including Mr. Eustis. We landed on 
 the Island just as G.'s boat did. After unloading our 
 grub and firing off our guns to dry them and let the deer 
 know that we were coming, we scattered about in vari- 
 ous directions in search of game. I then went to see the 
 ruins of the lighthouse in the middle of the point, a few 
 rods from each beach. It was a brick structure and must 
 have been over one hundred feet high in order to over- 
 look the pine trees about it. There is nothing left now 
 but a mass of brick and rubbish about forty feet high, 
 covering an acre of ground. It was blown up by the 
 rebels at the beginning of the war, and they did the 
 work thoroughly. Great blocks of granite and plates of 
 iron lay bedded in between the masses of brick-work, 
 some of which are still coherent in masses, and several 
 feet in thickness. It is the first real ruin I ever saw in 
 this country. The keeper's house close by has been all 
 torn to pieces by the negroes for rebuilding their own 
 cabins and corn-houses. 
 
 The next extracts tell of more raids for soldiers, fresh 
 despair, and renewed hope that they might at last be 
 stopped. 
 
1863] LETTERS' FROM PORT ROYAL 239 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Dec. 27. On getting up this morning the people were 
 found all in a hubbub. The soldiers had been there in 
 the night, some fifty strong, and had carried off not only 
 Caesar, a deserter, Abel's son, but also old Miller, Tony, 
 and Jonas and David, neither of whom had ever be- 
 longed to any of the regiments. Of course all the people 
 were enraged, and justly, for they have been assured 
 by General Saxton over and over again during several 
 months past that they need n't be afraid of any more 
 drafting, for it was all over. As soon as we had done 
 breakfast I walked down to the quarters to see what 
 facts I could gather. It seemed they [the soldiers] had 
 come by rowboats to the village creek, thinking they had 
 got to our creek, and landed at Fripp Point. There 
 they found no deserters, for there were none, but took 
 all the men they could find, viz. : Pompey's boy Isaac, 
 Fortune's boy Jimmy, and Alick's boy January. They 
 got old Dan to show them the way to Coffin's and came 
 along the road, arriving just after praise-meeting; they 
 set a guard all about the houses and shot at every man 
 that tried to run away, catching the men named above 
 and carrying them off. Tony and Jonas got away at 
 Fripp Point, but they carried off the others. C. and I got 
 into our little boat with Jim to help, and rowed around 
 to the village in hopes to find the party still there, but 
 they had gone, carrying Dr. Hunting's cook. So we 
 rowed back and ate our dinner in disgust. This raid will 
 break up my ginning on this end of the island and put it 
 back at least two weeks, for the men are so scared that 
 they won't dare to go to work, and the women can't do 
 much without them. 
 
240 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Dec. 27. Mr. Philbrick has gone up to-night to see 
 General Saxtou, and Mr. Eustis says that if he can't (or 
 won't) stop it, he shall write to Washington. It is the 
 unauthorized work of the officers whose commissions 
 perhaps depend upon their keeping fuU ranks. 
 
 FROM B. S. P. 
 
 Dec. 28. I rode off for Coosaw Fort on Ladies Island, 
 where the pickets are. I found Captain Bryant at camp. 
 He was very pleasant and told me that the descent upon 
 Coffin's Point Saturday night was not made by his or- 
 ders, but by one of Colonel Higginson's captains. The 
 men were brought to him, however, and he discharged 
 all who did n't want to enlist. So I came off content. 
 
 The holidays and the hunt for deserters have so broken 
 up the labor that nothing of any consequence can be 
 done now till after New Year's, when I hope the work 
 will move on smoothly again. 
 
 \Jan. 1, 1864.] My errand to Beaufort on Tuesday 
 was not very successful. I could find neither Colonel 
 Higginson nor General Saxton. So I had to content my- 
 self with writing to the latter an account of how the sold- 
 diers had been behaving here. On getting back, I found 
 the people more quiet than I had expected. The return 
 of the men from camp had reassured them, and most of 
 them have gone to work again. 
 
 The year closes with W. C. G.'s reflections on the 
 progress of the "Port Royal Experiment." 
 
1863] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 241 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 Dec. 27. We are busy ginning and packing. Both men 
 and women are hard at work, and till 3 o'clock p. m. the 
 scene is almost one of Northern industry. There is more 
 noise, less system and steadiness. Now and then two or 
 three break out into a quarrel, in which they excel all 
 other people I ever saw with their tongues, — tremen- 
 dous noise, terrible gestures, the fiercest looks, — and per- 
 haps by evening they are friends again. Meanwhile the 
 others sit stiU at their work, hstening to it as a matter in 
 the common course of things, — and will tell how they 
 love peace and quiet; it will be their own turn next! In 
 aU their faults, — passion, lying, stealing, etc., — they 
 are perfectly conscious of the sin; and the same ones 
 whom it would be impossible to stop, except by force, 
 in their tempests of rage, will when quiet talk as sensi- 
 bly of their folly as any one could desire. They seem to 
 have a very dehcate conscience without the sHghtest 
 principle. That this want of principle is not innate and 
 not their own fault, I think is proved by their consciences 
 remaining true. Their state of morals I should say is de- 
 cidedly better than it was under slavery, — less of Kcen- 
 tiousness, lying, and stealing, — and more general manli- 
 ness and self-respect. But they are veiy far behind, in 
 character as well as intelligence, and I suspect that most 
 abolitionist views of their character are exaggerated in 
 their favor. It increases the need and it does not de- 
 crease the interest of helping them, to think so. Many a 
 talking abolitionist would be disgusted into indifference, 
 and many a hearty hater of the talk would be surprised 
 into interest and favor, if they lived here for six months. 
 
242 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1863 
 
 It 's pretty hard sometimes to find your best men lying 
 to you, or your most trusty people ungrateful and dis- 
 trusting you, — and then again a light breaks out where 
 you thought there was neither fuel nor fire. The most 
 encouraging symptom is the clearly increasing influence 
 which the best of the people are acquiring, — so that 
 there certainly is a general improvement. 
 
1864 
 
 The land-sales of 1864, contradictory orders — Discontent among the 
 negroes about wages — SmaM-pox on the plantaiions — The 
 chattel sale — Labor corttracts for the season — Newspaper attacks 
 on Mr. PhUbricJc — The raid on Morgan Island — Mr. Phil- 
 brieUs plans for the future — The Uach draft — Bed tape — 
 Approach of Sherman and the battle of Honey HiR. 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Jan. 3. I don't know how low the thermometer 
 would have stood out of doors here. R.'s was at 19°. 
 The one in our parlor was at 28° some time after light- 
 ing the fire. 
 
 You will probably in due course of time see the tin- 
 types of Rose and Demus. Old Judy and Minda got 
 theirs taken some time since, but there has been no 
 opportunity of sending them to you. As they went up 
 all by themselves, the arrangement of their toilet was 
 original; hence a display of jewelry rather more char- 
 acteristic than tasteful. 
 
 The subject of the approaching land-sales now be- 
 comes the all-important topic. 
 
 Jan. 20. There was notice given for all the people 
 to meet at St. Helena church on Sunday last to hear 
 the President's new instructions about land-sales. These 
 new orders were obtained,, as nearly as I can learn, 
 by Father French, who went to Washington at Gren- 
 eral Saxton's request to urge the matter. The plan de- 
 
44 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 eats that of Dr. Brisbane, who meant to sell at auction.' 
 ■^ow, as you will see by the papers, all the lands that 
 7ere bid in by the United States are offered at private 
 ale, to black or white, in lots of twenty or forty acres 
 ,t a uniform price of $1.25 per acre, like Western pub- 
 ic lands, with the privilege of preemption, but to those 
 inly who have resided on lands belonging to the Gov- 
 mment for at least six months since the occupation 
 if the island by our forces. So this gives all the super- 
 Qtendents and teachers a chance to buy as well as 
 he negroes, but excludes all new-comers. I found 
 )r. Brisbane as much disturbed as it is possible to 
 onceive. 
 
 Of course I stayed over with Mr. B.. another night 
 o attend the church. It was a fine morning, and we 
 ound a pretty large attendance, both black and white, 
 i'arson Phillips was there and opened the services, 
 tfr. French followed, urging them to go ahead at once 
 ,nd locate their lots. Greneral Saxton followed, saying 
 >ut little, but urging them not to sleep till they had 
 taked out their claims. 
 
 Father French begged leave to differ, for he wanted 
 hem to respect the Sabbath. Mr. Hunn followed, say- 
 ag they had better do it to-day, for it was no worse to 
 hive stakes Sunday than to keep thinking about it. 
 3e condoled them on the small pay they had been get- 
 ing from Government and private speculators, say- 
 ng, " What 's thirty cents a day in these times for a 
 nan who has to maintain himself and his family?" 
 Great sensation among negroes, and a buzz, with 
 nutterings of "that's so," etc.). Then a paymaster 
 ' See p. 230. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 245 
 
 made a spread-eagle speech. Then Colonel EUwell was 
 called out by Mr. French. Then Judge Smith mounted 
 the pulpit and explained to the negroes the meaning 
 of preemption, how it was formed of two Latin words. 
 Colonel Ellwell contrived to mystify the people a little as 
 foUows. After expatiating on the goodness of President 
 Lincoln, he said he was so kind he had even offered par- 
 don to the rebels, and perhaps we should see their old 
 masters back here some day, with a whole county of 
 scoundrels to swear they had always been loyal Union 
 men, etc. The whole fandango lasted till nearly three 
 o'clock, and then we had the usual amount of shaking of 
 hands, etc., outside. I lost no time in finding Mr. Hunn 
 and informing him that I had paid an average of over fifty 
 cents a day through the whole season of working cotton. 
 If he had been a younger man, I should have said, as 
 I thought, that it was not a true kindness to these igno- 
 rant people to say anything tending to make them dis- 
 contented with the rates of pay that had been estab- 
 lished with a good deal of care by men who had been 
 quite disinterested and well calculated to judge of such 
 things. In fact, I might have told him, what I certainly 
 beUeve, that a much higher rate of pay than they have 
 been receiving would tend to diminish the amount of 
 industry rather than to stimulate it, by rendering it too 
 easy for them to supply their simple wants. I held my 
 peace, however, and was content to hear him apologize, 
 disclaiming any intention of referring to me in what 
 he had said, etc., and admitting that my case was an 
 exception, adding that he did n't suppose I should be 
 allowed by Government to pay higher rates than those 
 established by General Saxton! We were accompanied 
 
246 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 home from church by Mr. Eustis, and Mr. R. came as 
 far as G.'s. They all met here Monday, in a pouring 
 rain, to talk over the subject of wages for the coming 
 year. It was concluded to pay in money entirely in- 
 stead of in molasses and bacon, believing that the days 
 of rationing in any form had passed, and that the ne- 
 groes would be better pleased to handle all the money 
 and spend it as they pleased. So we raise the pay of 
 cotton hoeing from twenty-five cents to thirty-five 
 cents per old task, and add five cents more, making it 
 forty cents, besides the premium on the weight of crop, 
 which remains as before, making the average wages 
 about sixty or sixty-five cents for cotton work, which 
 (ve think none too high for the present prices of dry 
 joods, etc. Of course, the smart hands earn more than 
 this in a day, for they do one and one-half times or twice 
 is much per day as they used to, and these prices are 
 jased upon the old master's day's work or task. I have 
 some men who gin fifty pounds a day and earn their 
 lollar, while they never ginned more than thirty pounds 
 "or their master. I spent most of the day with G. on 
 us plantations, talking with him and his people about 
 ;he prospect of success with the new system. I have n't 
 i^et found a single man on any of my places who wants 
 ;o risk buying land. They all say they had rather stay 
 vhere they are and work for me. The more intelli- 
 gent foresee many difficulties in owning land, such as 
 laving no access to marsh, or woodland, no capital 
 'or live-stock, plows, harness, carts, etc., and they don't 
 ike the idea of having to ^ait a whole year to get their 
 ■eward for planting the cotton crop. The people seemed 
 lighly satisfied to work on and well pleased with the 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 247 
 
 prospect of higher nominal wages to talk about, and 
 slightly higher in reality, with the privilege of spending 
 them as they wish. 
 
 Jan. 27. Last Friday I made an expedition to Ed- 
 dings Point in our little boat. Arriving about one 
 o'clock, and leaving the boat in charge of the boys, 
 I walked up to Mr. Wells' house on the Mary Jenkins 
 place, about one and one-quarter miles. I went down 
 to the nigger-house to see the people. I found the peo- 
 ple in a state of confusion about buying land. They 
 had got the impression at church from the earnest way 
 in which they were urged to buy, that they must buy 
 land nolens volens, and wanted to have my consent to 
 stay where they were and work for me as long as they 
 pleased! Of course I laughed and told them they were 
 welcome to stay as long as they wished and behaved 
 well. They seemed "well satisfy" with this, and all 
 in good humor. 
 
 I stayed at home Monday to see Mr. Hull, who came 
 down with another big boat-load of cotton for our peo- 
 ple to gin. They had finished ginning what he brought 
 last week in two days. As soon as his boat came to the 
 landing near Nab's house, the people made a rush for 
 the cotton, the men carting it and the women carrying 
 the bags on their heads and hiding it, so they might have 
 some of it to gin. It was Kke rats scrambling for nuts. 
 
 Mr. B. has a letter from Secretary Chase, urging 
 that a bale of free labor cotton be sent to the Sanitary 
 Fair at New York, and I offered to present a bale for 
 the purpose. It will be worth about five hundred dol- 
 lars; but is not a very great contribution, considering 
 that we have two hundred of them nearly. 
 
248 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL li»t)4 
 
 I see that my letter to Alpheus Hardy ' is going the 
 rounds, being copied in Providence Journal and New 
 York Evening Post, with a few blunders as usual. Did 
 you notice the expression "extend the arm of charity" 
 was printed "area" instead of "arm," making a very 
 absurd appearance? The Providence Journal put in 
 an extra cipher, multiplying my figures by ten. In order 
 to correct this blunder, which was a serious one, mak- 
 ing the cotton cost ten times as much as I stated, I wrote 
 to the editor, giving him some more information about 
 my crop, for the benefit of the Providence cotton spin- 
 
 FROM w. c. G. 
 
 Jan. 29. Outside of our plantations, the people for 
 once are excited with good reason. In the most awk- 
 ward, incomplete, bungling way the negroes are allowed 
 to preempt twenty and forty acre tracts; so every- 
 body is astir, trying to stake out claims and then to 
 get their claims considered by the Commissioners. 
 
 ' A letter dated December 28, 1863, inclosing $100 for the relief 
 of families of freedmen. The letter gives figures that prove the suc- 
 cess of the free labor experiment on Mr. Philbrick's plantations, and 
 concludes as follows: "I mention these things to show how easy it 
 is to render the negroes a self-supporting and wealth-producing class 
 with proper management; and I, at the same time, fully appreciate 
 the duty imposed upon us as a nation to extend the arm of charity 
 where the unsettled state of the country renders industry impossible 
 imtil time is given to recognize and force to protect it. We are more 
 fortunately situated than the people of the Mississippi valley, and 
 have got the start of them." 
 
 ' A letter dated January 25, 1864, and printed in the Providence 
 Journal on February 6.] 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 249 
 
 These gentlemen meanwhile are at loggerheads, the 
 land is but half surveyed, and everything is delight- 
 fully confused and uncertain. Still it is the beginning 
 of a great thing, — negroes become land-owners and 
 the door is thrown open to Northern immigration. 
 Years hence it will be a satisfaction to look back on 
 these beginnings, — now it is very foggy ahead and 
 very uncertain under foot. 
 
 FROM E. s. p. 
 
 Feb. 4. Sunday morning I met the whole female 
 population on the road, coming to church. It was bap- 
 tism day, and the women had all put on their best 
 dresses, their summer muslins and turbans, making a 
 fine show. On arriving at the Captain John Fripp 
 gate, by the avenue, I found a knot of young men seated 
 there, with one of their number reading to the rest from 
 the Testament. I asked them why they did n't go to 
 church with the women! They said they had heard 
 that "soldiers had come to catch we," and "we were 
 scary." Poor fellows, what a strange life of suspense 
 they are leading! General GiUmore has ordered a com- 
 plete census of the islands, black and white men in- 
 cluded, for enrollment on the militia lists, and no white 
 citizen is allowed to leave the Department until after 
 it is found whether he is wanted for miKtary service, 
 i. e., after a draft. 
 
 Having got the cotton all shipped, Mr. Philbrick 
 prepared to go home, but he was not to leave without 
 receiving from his employees more than one expres- 
 sion of fiieir growing consciousness of power. 
 
250 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Feb. 9. The women came up in a body to complain 
 to Mr. Philbrick about their pay, — a thing which has 
 never happened before and shows the influence of very 
 injudicious outside talk, which has poisoned their minds 
 against their truest friends. The best people were among 
 them, and even old Grace chief spokeswoman. It is very 
 hard, but not to be wondered at in the poor, ignorant 
 creatures, when people who ought to know better are so 
 injudicious, — to use the mildest term the most chari- 
 table interpretation of their conduct will allow. I don't 
 see what is to be the end of it all, but at this rate they 
 will soon be spoiled for any habits of industry. 
 
 Feb. 14. As we went to the back steps to see Mr. Phil- 
 brick off, we found the people collecting with eggs and 
 peanuts for him to carry. He told them that he could 
 not carry the eggs to Miss Helen, but would tell her. 
 Then Grace begged his pardon for her bad behavior and 
 complaining the other day, and, collecting all the eggs 
 which he had refused, told C. they were for him, and 
 sent them by Rose into the house. She, vsdth the other 
 women, had complained of C. to him, and I suppose she 
 meant it as a peace offering. 
 
 E. s. p. TO w. c. G. 
 
 Boston, Feb. 22. 1 regretted that you were not present 
 at the pow-wow after church on the 14th. Mr. TomKn- 
 son talked very " straight " to Pompey and others about 
 their having no right to live on my land without working 
 for me at fair rates. He expressed his opinion very freely 
 about the fairness of our prices and told them they must 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 251 
 
 go and hunt up another home or work for us at these 
 rates. I promised to sign a " pass," which you can do 
 for me, promising to Pompey or any other man who 
 works for us that as soon as he gets a piece of land of his 
 own, gets a deed of it, and gets it fenced in, we will sell 
 him a cow at cost, but I would not agree to allow their 
 cows to run at large on the plantation, and Mr. Tomlin- 
 son said I was perfectly right. During the confab I over- 
 heard mutterings among the crowd such as " we shan't 
 get anything," " it 's no use," etc., serving to convince 
 me that the whole subject would be quietly dropped un- 
 less stirred up by some such men as J. H. and F. J. W. 
 again. Considering the prospect of high prices of mo- 
 lasses and bacon, etc., I think we may find it advisable 
 to pay fifty cents all summer for what we had promised 
 forty. But would do nothing about it till I have made 
 my purchases of molasses, etc., and know just how the 
 thing wiU stand. 
 
 An unexpected danger in the shape of an epidemic of 
 small-pox made its appearance in the middle of the win- 
 ter and lasted for two or three months. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 [Jan. 29.] Mr. Philbrick vaccinated all the children 
 here last year, and the few cases we have had have been 
 among those grown persons who were vaccinated many 
 years ago, and have all been very mild. It may run 
 through the place, but it is not hkely to be violent, and 
 the quarters are too far off to expose us. 
 
 Feb. 26. Rose came up as usual, but had such hot fever 
 that I sent her home to add one more to the sick list there, 
 where all but one have " the Pox," taken from Hester. 
 
252 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 I expected Rose would not escape. Moreover, Uncle 
 Sam now has it, so Robert may give out in a few weeks ; 
 but no one has been very ill, and no one yet has died here. 
 It seems to be a milder form than that which appeared 
 at the Oaks and at Mr. Eustis', where a number have 
 died, or else they give them more air here, which is I 
 believe the fact. I do not go to the quarters now at all. 
 I can do no special good in going, and they send to me 
 for what they want. 
 
 [March 21 .] Monday morning just after breakfast Rose 
 came into the parlor with a funny expression on her face 
 and asked me if I had been into the kitchen. "Well, 
 Aunt Betty got de GoYement lump, for true ; I shum yere 
 and yere," pointing to her chin and cheek. So I went 
 downstairs, and there was Betty on the floor, fairly in 
 for the small-pox. I find the people call it " Govement 
 lump," and those who have it "Union," those who 
 don't "Secesh," while the fever which precedes the 
 eruption goes by the very appropriate name of " Horse 
 Cavahy!" 
 
 March 9. In the evening, a little after nine o'clock, the 
 air was suddenly filled, as it seemed to me, with a strange 
 wild, screaming wail. At first I thought it must be the 
 mules; but it rose and fell again and again in such 
 agony, as I thought, that Mr. Soule and William went 
 out to investigate, while I opened the window to listen 
 more distinctly. It seemed to come from Uncle Sam's 
 house, and though now more subdued I thought it the 
 sobbing of strong men, and that I could distinguish 
 Titus' and Robert's voices. But the gentlemen soon 
 came back, saying that there were evidently a good many 
 people in Uncle Sam's house having a merry time. I 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 253 
 
 said that was strange, for he was not well, and that it 
 sounded so like distress to me that I should think, if I 
 supposed him sick enough, or that they ever manifested 
 grief so audibly, that he had suddenly died. Several 
 times before I went to bed I thought I heard the same 
 sound, though more subdued. As I went upstairs to bed 
 there began, at first quite low, then swelling louder with 
 many voices, the strains of one of their wild, sad songs. 
 Once before when Uncle Sam was sick they have had 
 their praise-meeting up there, for he is the Elder. But 
 it was not praise-night, and as the hymn ceased and I 
 could distinguish almost the words of a fervent prayer, 
 I was quite sure that, as is their custom, they were sit- 
 ting up and singing with the friends of the dead, — all 
 of the plantation who were not watching with the sick 
 in their own homes. And so it proved. The night was 
 wild and stormy, but above the tempest I could hear, as 
 I woke from time to time, the strangely " solemn, wildly 
 sad strains " which were continued all the night through. 
 At sunrise they ceased and separated; the air of their 
 last hymn has been running in my head all day. Then 
 came the stir in the house — Eobert making fires — I 
 knew his step — and then Betty at nay bedside to ask 
 about the breakfast. " And Bu' Sam dead too," was her 
 quiet remark when her business was done. " I dunner if 
 you yeardy de whoop when he gone." 
 
 This practice of sitting up aU night with the dying, 
 H. W. justly enough condemns as " heathenish : " " The 
 houses cannot hold them all, of course, and they sit 
 round out-of-doors in the street, the younger ones often 
 falhng asleep on the ground, and then they ' hab fever.' " 
 But of course it was useless to expostulate with them; 
 
254 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 to their minds the omission of the watch would be a mark 
 of the greatest disrespect. ; 
 
 The next two extracts furnish further comments on 
 the mismanagement preUminary to the land-sales. 
 
 FKOM w. c. G. 
 
 Feb. 22. Did you know we had long ceased to be phi- 
 lanthropists or even Gideonites ? We are nothing now 
 but speculators, and the righteous rail against us. A 
 great crowd of our brethren have just come down to be 
 present at the late sales. Mr. Philbrick and the pur- 
 chasers of last spring paid about $1.00 or $1.25 per acre; 
 now prices run from $5.00 to $27.00 per acre. ' There has 
 been the most disgraceful squabbUng among the tax- 
 commissioners. General Saxton, Rev. Mr. French, and 
 other authorities. The people are the victims. At first 
 most of the lands were to be sold at auction in large lots; 
 that brought in white settlers — and only a little was 
 for negro sales. Then one commissioner sends up to 
 Washington, gets orders for a Western preemption sys- 
 tem, and with a grand hurrah the negroes were told to 
 go and grab the lands. The other commissioners then 
 throw all possible obstacles in the way till they can 
 get dispatches up to Washington too, and the answer 
 comes back, — ■ Preemptions don't count, sell by auc- 
 tion. — And so ! — This is a precious Department of 
 ours. 
 
 March 14. The past two months have been full of 
 unpleasant work, — the people were unsettled, discon- 
 tented, and grumbling. I hope their growling is nearly 
 
 ' Land on the Sea Islands is now worth $15 an acre, — $20 if it is 
 near a road. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 255 
 
 over, and look for quieter times soon. The disputes 
 among the tax-commissioners have been very unin- 
 telligible and prejudicial to them. On some places I 
 understand that the negroes refuse to have anything to 
 do with the new proprietors. On others they have agreed 
 to work, and the year as a whole will probably witness 
 much more industry than either of the last two. 
 
 At about this time an appraisal was at last made of 
 the " chattel property " which had been found on the 
 plantations, with a view to seUing it at auction. Of 
 course Mr. Philbrick and his superintendents, who had 
 been using these things ever since they came into pos- 
 session, desired, in most cases, to buy them. At the IVipp 
 Point auction the negroes showed their ungracious, not 
 to say ungrateful spirit, by bidding against W. C. G. 
 and actually buying all the mules, oxen, and cows away 
 from him. In looking forward to the auction at Coffin's 
 Point, where the movables alone had been appraised 
 as worth more than Mr. Philbrick had paid for the en- 
 tire place, H. W. writes: 
 
 March 6. We were doubtful how far the behavior 
 of the Fripp Point people might affect ours, though C. 
 was quite confident there would be no trouble — and 
 moreover expected a good many outsiders, as R. said 
 Beaufort people had been inquiring all through the 
 week when the sale was to take place here, with the sig- 
 nificant remark, " Coffin's Point 's the place ! " and we 
 knew if they did come things would be run up very high. 
 So that it was impossible not to feel a most uncomfort- 
 able anxiety all day. 
 
 March 7. Monday morning the first thing I heard 
 was Mike in excited tones calling to C. that the Fripp 
 people were coming over "to buy everything out de 
 
256 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 gate " — that they would leave everything on top Massa 
 Charlie, but that he must not let the stranger black 
 people get anything. 
 
 Fortunately Mike's fears proved to be exaggerated, 
 and Massa Charlie got practically everything that he 
 wanted. 
 
 The next letter, from Mr. Philbrick to W. C. G., is 
 concerned with several different matters. The last para- 
 graph will serve to introduce a number of extracts all 
 concerned with criticisms directed against Mr. Phil- 
 brick by Abolitionists and negroes. 
 
 B. s. p. TO w. c. G. 
 
 Boston, March 24. I hope no cases of merchandise will 
 be opened without carefully comparing contents with 
 the invoices, and if any errors are found they should 
 be reported immediately. I am sorry to see that a con- 
 siderable deficit was found in some of the stores, which 
 I can only account for on the supposition of theft. I 
 think sufficient care has not been taken to gua^d against 
 theft from carts on road. The value of the property 
 lost is not a matter of so much consequence as the de- 
 moralization to the thief and to others who are encour- 
 aged to similar practices by his example. I don't think 
 the negroes one bit worse in this respect than the labor- 
 ing classes of other countries, and not nearly so bad 
 as the lower classes in all large cities. But we ought 
 to be very careful how we expose them to temptations 
 which they are not strong enough to resist, till such 
 time as they acquire more self-respect than they are 
 likely to in this generation. 
 
 I shall not be able to make any dividend to the share- 
 holders this year. After paying my advances and set- 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 257 
 
 tling with superintendents, there will not be any sur- 
 plus over the needs of the current year. 
 
 Mr. F. J. W. has been quite talkative and rides his 
 hobby to death,' concerning the rights of the negro to 
 have land for nothing, etc., etc., expatiating upon the 
 tyranny of the newly forming landed aristocracy, the 
 gigantic speculators who are grinding the negro down, 
 etc., etc., ad libitum. He held forth on these topics at 
 length at a meeting of the Educational Commission 
 about two weeks ago, and succeeded in making Pro- 
 fessor Child and some others believe that the whole 
 labor of the Commission for two years past had been 
 wasted or overthrown by the recent changing policy, 
 which had ousted them out of their promised rights 
 and cast them out upon the merciless open jaws to 
 devour them alive, etc., etc. 
 
 E. s. p. TO w. c. G. 
 
 April 18. Just now it would seem as if the Sea Is- 
 lands were to be abandoned to the negroes and wild 
 hogs. I had heard some things of General Bimey ^ 
 before which led me to regard him as having injudi- 
 cious sympathies, and should not be surprised at any 
 time to have him send you home as a " fraudulent coad- 
 jutor " of an unrighteous speculation, upon the repre- 
 sentation of Pompey and John, if they should happen 
 to gain an audience after dinner some day. Joking 
 
 ' F. J. W. was in Boston at the time. 
 
 ' William' Bimey, Brigadier-General and Commander of the Post 
 at Beaufort during one of Saxton's absences, had, on March 30, issued 
 an order to the effect that in all cases the negroes were to be left in 
 possession of the land they claimed as theirs. 
 
258 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 aside, however, I think it would be a good plan to get 
 Colonel S. to retract some of his nonsense, and I have 
 no doubt he will do it at your request, for he is one of 
 the most good-natured and well-intentioned men in the 
 world. He is very likely to have said what the negroes 
 say he did, indiscreetly, of course, and without dream- 
 ing what effect it might have. If the people continue 
 to refuse to receive their money, as I don't believe they 
 will long, I would consult Mr. Tomlinson about it. I 
 think he will sustain us in anything reasonable. I think 
 if Mr. Tomlinson were to tell John or Pompey that 
 they would not be allowed to take any of their cotton 
 and would be severely punished if they attempted it, 
 it would have a good effect. Any way I think the matter 
 will blow over soon. It is not strange that the negroes 
 should act like fools when they have such examples 
 before them as we see nowadays. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 April 18. At night came Mr. Soule from Beaufort 
 with an account of the investigations going on there 
 concerning the tax-commissioners before Judge Smith, 
 an agent sent by the President for the purpose. 
 Mr. Soule found that he had also been commissioned 
 to look into the affairs of our "concern," as the Fripp 
 Point men had sent a petition to the President to be 
 reheved from Mr. Philbrick's oppression! Mr. Soule 
 and Mr. Tomlinson both saw Judge Smith, and had 
 some talk with him at the meeting, which was a public 
 one, and he was invited to come down here, see Mr. 
 Soule's books and investigate all the charges thoroughly. 
 Whoever drew up the petition (of course it had been 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 259 
 
 done by a white man, but who we could not tell, for his 
 name as witness had been omitted in the copy given 
 Judge Smith) had so overshot the mark that it was 
 palpably absurd to aU who knew the facts, and happily 
 Mr. Soule had found Judge Smith to be a fair-minded, 
 able, clear-sighted person, who could not have dust 
 thrown in his eyes. 
 
 April 21. Sat waiting the arrival of Judge Smith, 
 when about one o'clock Bxjbert called to me that a car- 
 riage was coming. To my amazement, instead of the 
 Judge alone or with only a friend, a great vehicle with 
 four white horses and "sofas inside," ^ as Rose said, 
 dashed up to the front door with four gentlemen, Mr. 
 Tomliason and Mr. G. being on horseback besides. 
 Of course I had to fly round about my dinner and get 
 up tables large enough to seat thirteen people. By three 
 dinner was ready and my guests at table — a verj'' 
 pleasant company : Judge Smith, a round, smooth- 
 faced gentleman between fifty and sixty, active and 
 wide-awake ; Judge Cooley, the new tax-commissioner, 
 a Westerner and also very pleasant. Judge Smith 
 took Mr. Soule's statement before dinner, and after- 
 wards Mr. G.'s, all simply facts and with no waste of 
 words. C. was not questioned at all. Then Mr. G. 
 went over to the Point for the men there, for, though 
 the Judge was satisfied that Mr. Philbrick was not a 
 scoundrel and all of us aiders and abetters of his iniqui- 
 ties, we knew the men there would never be satisfied 
 with the statement from any of us or Mr. Tomhnson, who 
 had been talking to them for two hours that morning. 
 Poor things, they are much more sinned against than 
 * An ambulance. 
 
260 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 sinning. They came flocking over so closely upon Mr. 
 G.'s heels as to get here nearly as soon as he did, and 
 the session of the Court began by the examination of 
 John Major before tea, the others crowding about the 
 door and filling the piazza, quiet and orderly, but eager 
 Usteners. Not a single one of our people came up. John 
 Major is a discontented, conceited fellow, who has 
 never worked for Mr. Philbrick, though his wife and 
 children have, and he headed the petition. It was 
 splendid to see how quickly the Judge saw through him, 
 when he has been only a week in the Department, and 
 could hardly understand what he said; but he showed 
 the man pretty plainly what he thought of him, tell- 
 ing him, when he said the Government could not find 
 him out [know him] that it had found him out, that it 
 had his name in Washington, and that if he thought 
 Secesh times were so much better, the Government 
 loved him so well it would let him go back to his old 
 master! After tea came 'Siah and Pompey, two very 
 different men, — intelligent, hard-working, and honest, 
 the former particularly truthful and reliable, men whom 
 we aU respect, — and it was a fine sight to see these 
 men, only two years out of slavery, respectfully but 
 decidedly standing up for what they thought their 
 rights in a room full of white people. 'Siah only said 
 that he thought he ought to have fifty cents for what 
 he is now paid forty for ^ (about four hours work), but 
 that he had given his word to Mr. Philbrick for this 
 year and he would stand by it. He says he never signed 
 the paper, or saw it, but that he answered the ques- 
 tion the two officers asked him and told his name. 
 1 Cf. E. S. P.'s letter of February 22, p. 251. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 261 
 
 Pompey afterwards stated that the two officers asked 
 who owned the adjoining plantations and that one, — 
 and that on being told that Mr. Philbrick had bought 
 them all, said : " Then we need not go any further " — 
 which looks like maUce aforethought. The paper was, 
 apparently, written at Hilton Head and there signed 
 with the men's marks — if so, it is a forgery. Pompey's 
 great difficulty seemed to have arisen from a misun- 
 derstanding of statements made by Mr. Philbrick, in 
 which he considered that Mr. Philbrick took back his 
 word, and so he had lost confidence in him and was 
 ready to appeal to any one who promised to see him 
 righted and relieved from his "confusion." He says, 
 and aU the men say so too, that Mr. Philbrick promised 
 when he bought the land to seU it to them when the 
 war was over for what he gave for it, and that when 
 he was here last he told them he should ask them ten 
 dollars an acre. This they all stand to, and cannot be 
 convinced they have made a mistake, but have lost 
 their faith because he has broken his word, — and 
 outsiders have fanned the Same, teUing them that if 
 they did not work for Mr. Philbrick for what he chose 
 to pay them, — and that he was paying them nothing, 
 — he would turn them out of their homes, and more 
 to the same eflFect. It was a most interesting occasion, 
 and it was pleasant to feel that there was a man of so 
 much sense in the Department. He tried to pacify the 
 men, and then privately told Mr. Soule that he should 
 advise Mr. Philbrick to pay the fifty cents. 
 
 The next day the gentlemen departed, Mr. Tom- 
 linson going to the smaller Philbrick plantations to 
 make the newly-ordered written contracts with the 
 
262 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 people. By the terms of a circular issued April 1 by 
 General Saxton, each superintendent was ordered, 
 before April 15, to make to his general superintendent 
 and to sign a statement of the agreement existing be- 
 tween himself and his laborers. The general superin- 
 tendent was then ordered to visit the plantation, ex- 
 plain the contract to the negroes, and affix to it the 
 names of aU who agreed to the terms of it; any laborer 
 who objected to the terms was warned to leave his em- 
 ployer or stay with him at his own risk. H. W. records 
 the reception given to Mr. Tomhnson by the Pine 
 Grove people. 
 
 Afril 22. They were silenced, but not convinced, but 
 agreed for this year. Mr. Tomlinson had trouble with 
 the people at Mr. Folsom's and Mr. Harrison's both. 
 He had meant to do the job here, but could not, as C. 
 was away. C. did not expect any difficulty, and I sus- 
 pect that he was right, for just after all had gone, two 
 of our men, "Useless" Monday, the stuttering cow- 
 minder, and Hacklis, the sulkiest-looking man on the 
 place, came up and, with the brightest smiles and 
 cheeriest manner, began to ask me so earnestly how 
 I was, that I felt as if I were not honest if I did not 
 mention that I had a slight headache. " Mebbe de con- 
 fusion make you sick, sorry for dat. Not one our 
 people come up yere. We bery sorry for dat," — and 
 much more of regret, and assertion that "so long as 
 Mass' Charlie on de place dey satisfy." Old Monday 
 wished to know if the milk satisfied me, and was very 
 much delighted when I told him that if he had not sent 
 some up the night before I should have had none for 
 the gentlemen's breakfast, and kept exclaiming, "I 
 glad for dat," as if he had wished to express his sym- 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 263 
 
 pathy by deeds as well as words. Then Hacklis said, 
 " Come, let 's go," as if they had come up simply to 
 assure me that our people would give no trouble. I was 
 touched. 
 
 The end of the story was a month later. 
 
 FROM H. W. ■ 
 
 May 27. Mr. Tomlinson came home last night with 
 C. and Mr. Soule to spend the night and make the 
 contract with the people, so C. sent word to them to 
 assemble in the cotton-house yard before they went 
 to their work, and he and Mr. Tomlinson went down 
 before breakfast, so that they need not be interrupted 
 in their work. They were gone so long that we began 
 to fear some trouble — indeed C. said he expected 
 some "jawing," and that it would be strange if this 
 was the only place where there was none ; but not a 
 word was said — the people apparently are so ashamed 
 of the conduct of the women when Mr. Philbrick was 
 here and so indignant with the "Fripp People" that 
 they are on their best behavior. 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 Early May. We have been having a funny time with 
 our people lately. One of my plantations is decidedly 
 ahead of all the others in intelligence and energy. They 
 were so energetic about March 1 as to get a petition 
 sent up to President Lincoln, praying for redress against 
 their various oppressions. The matter was referred 
 to some gentlemen coming down here to make other 
 investigations, and two or three weeks ago they pretty 
 thoroughly examined our affairs. I believe the result 
 
264 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 was pretty satisfactory. The originators of the move- 
 ment were two dissatisfied men who have given me 
 great trouble. There was much reason for some of 
 their feeling, but very little for their complaints. As 
 a result of the whole affair, however, I believe we all 
 think it would be politic to increase our wages still 
 more. At present we pay rather less than some, but 
 our cheap stores far more than make up the difference. 
 This, however, the people, instead of appreciating, 
 only make the subject of more complaint. 
 
 When that was nicely settled, I made the discovery 
 that both plantations had thought it proper to plant 
 a great deal of com among my cotton. I had given 
 them corn-land for themselves, but they, in pursuance 
 of a Secesh custom of planting a little com between 
 the cotton rows, had done so to an outrageous extent. 
 And they in many cases refused to take it out. The 
 truth is here, — ^that we are rather more in the power 
 of the negroes than they in ours. I shall insist on every 
 grain being out, but actually shaU probably have to 
 do it myself. Well — such disputes are almost the only 
 excitement I have; better some, perhaps, though un- 
 pleasant, than none. 
 
 E. s. p. TO c. p. w. 
 
 Boston, May 3. As soon as I can get complete in- 
 formation from Liverpool about my claim on the 
 insurance company,^ I shall settle with them and be 
 
 ' Early in April the steamer City of New York, carrying sixty-one 
 bales of Mr. Philbrick's cotton, was wrecked in Queenstown harbor. 
 The cotton was insured for $1.50 a pound, but would have brought 
 more in the market. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 265 
 
 ready to settle with yourself, G., and Folsom. Are you 
 not ashamed to put in your own private pocket the 
 proceeds of the hard labor of the poor abused negro ? I 
 think you cannot have read the Tribune and Independ- 
 ent lately, or you would not be so depraved. 
 
 The sarcastic allusion in this last letter to the Tri- 
 hune and the IndepcTident refers to two letters which 
 had lately appeared in those papers respectively, the 
 one signed "J. A. S.," the other anonymous. Both 
 were from Beaufort, and both attacked Mr. Philbrick 
 for a letter which he had recently written (February 
 24) to the New York Evening Post. This letter was 
 the presentation which he had planned to make prov- 
 ing from his own experience that it was possible to 
 raise cotton cheaper by free labor than had been pos- 
 sible by slave labor.' In it Mr. Philbrick had also stated 
 his beUef that the land-sales would be an injury to the 
 negro if they enabled him to buy at $1.25 an acre land 
 wMch was already worth much more and would, after 
 the war, rise still higher in value, for such purchases 
 would be made largely as speculations, and would 
 destroy all incentive to labor. The points of attack 
 selected by the writers in the Independent and the 
 Tribune were Mr. Philbrick's rate of wages, — why 
 did he not pay his hands $2.50 a day ? — his views 
 on the land-sales, which, they said, showed his desire 
 to make of the negroes an "agricultural peasantry," 
 as dependent upon great landed proprietors as ever 
 they had been in their days of slavery, and the course 
 he had pursued relative to his own purchases in land. 
 "His own statements of his intentions induced the 
 almost universal belief that he desired to buy land 
 for the purpose of testing the industrial capabilities 
 
 '■ See p. 219. The idea was by no means new. Frederick Law Olni- 
 stead had devoted a great deal of space to proving the truth of it, and 
 indeed had quoted many planters who admitted that, as a system of 
 labor, slavery was expensive. 
 
266 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 of the negroes, and when they had justified his con- 
 fidence in this respect, that he would sell them the lands 
 in small allotments at the cost to himself." His actual 
 performance now, on the other hand, was to put the 
 price of his lands "further from their reach than 
 before," fixing it "according to the increased value 
 which their labor and proved capacity have given 
 them." To these three accusations Mr. Philbrick 
 made reply in two letters. First, as to the auction-sales, 
 he agreed "that the good faith of the Government 
 should have been kept in regard to the promised home- 
 steads, however we may differ in opinion as to the 
 expediency of making the promise at this time." 
 Second, as to his scale of wages, he maintained that, on 
 his plantations, "whenever the amount of work done 
 in a day approaches the standard of a day's work in the 
 North, the wages also approach the limit of Northern 
 wages, under similar conditions." ^ Third, as to his 
 alleged promise to sell his land to negroes at cost, he 
 said, "I am not aware that I have ever committed 
 myself to any definite plans for disposing of this land; 
 for I have not been able to digest or mature any plan 
 satisfactory to myself." ^ 
 
 There is nothing vital in these two letters of Mr. 
 Philbrick's which is new to the reader of these pages. 
 They are based on his firm belief that it was no kind- 
 ness to the negro to make discriminations in his favor. 
 
 Mr. Philbrick's message to his superintendents 
 about the increased pay demanded by 'Siah and 
 Pompey, and his advice to W. C. G. in the matter of 
 com planted between the rows of cotton were as 
 follows : 
 
 E. S. p. TO W. C. G. 
 
 Boston, May 18. I have already written expressing 
 my assent to the rise of wages at any time when you 
 
 ' (Dated April 26, in the Independent.) On St. Helena to-day it is 
 always possible to hire men for common work at fifty cents per day. 
 ' Dated May 2. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 267 
 
 shall all agree, and also write C. P. W. to-day that I 
 should at any time assent to any change in the manage- 
 ment, sustained by the unanimous approval of the 
 corps upon the spot, without waiting to hear from me. 
 You can avail yourself of the change to get rid of the 
 com in cotton-fields. I hope you will not pull it up 
 yourself. I think such a step would lose more in dignity 
 than you would gain in consistency of purpose. We 
 must expect these people will take any undue advan- 
 tage of us they think they can do with impunity, but I 
 think such cases can be more readily reached through 
 their pocket nerves than their moral sensibilities. 
 Moreover, it is always better to do nothing in which 
 we should not be sustained by the authorities, whose 
 tender sympathies are not always judicious, as you 
 know. I would not allow a hill of com in the cotton- 
 field, i. e., I would not pay the extra price till it is 
 puUed up. 
 
 The next letter shows that the f reedmen were waking 
 up to their rights in more ways than one. 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 May 19. We had a queer scene here on Tuesday. 
 It is probably the first time that the slaves — contra- 
 bands — freedmen — have asserted themselves our 
 fellow-countrymen by claiming the right of voting. A 
 meeting was called in Beaufort to elect delegates to 
 the Baltimore convention.' It was assumed that we 
 could stand for the sovereign state of South Carolina, 
 and so we sent her full complement of sixteen repre- 
 • The National Union Convention which met on June 7. 
 
268 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 sentatives, and furnished each with an alternate. There 
 are hardly thirty-two decent men in the Department, 
 it is commonly believed. A large half of the meeting 
 consisted of blacks, and four black delegates were chosen, 
 Robert Small ^ among them; the others I believe were 
 sergeants in the South Carolina regiment. At one 
 time there was considerable excitement, and white 
 paired off against black, — but on the whole both 
 colors behaved very well. 
 
 The whole affair will be laughed at by the North, and 
 it is hardly probable that the delegates will be received. 
 I hope they will. 
 
 In this hope W. C. G. was to be disappointed. Not 
 one of the delegates was received. 
 
 With a group of H. W.'s letters the story goes back 
 to home life. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Sunday, May 8. I have been wanting to see a Baptism 
 performed as it is here in the creek, and as there was 
 to be one to-day C. arranged yesterday for us all to go 
 up. We had a lovely drive, reaching the bridge by the 
 church just as the Baptism began, and, sitting in the 
 wagon where we could see and hear everything, we 
 witnessed the whole ceremony and saw the vast crowd 
 that had collected for the same purpose. As the last 
 came up out of the water the people began to sing, and 
 we moved with the crowd towards the church, which 
 was presently filled, as many more people outside sit- 
 ting about. We sat for about four hours, through all 
 the services. The minister soon changed his clothes and 
 
 * The hero of the Planter episode ; see p. 46. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 269 
 
 came in, but in tte meantime the people sung. Mr. 
 Parker took occasion in his sermon to express very 
 liberal views towards other denominations of Chris- 
 tians, and then invited " all members of sister churches 
 to remain to the Communion service." There has been 
 so much talk and trouble about this, and all who were 
 not Baptists have been so vigorously excluded,^ that 
 we were very glad to see the new minister take a differ- 
 ent ground, and remained gladly. While the deacons 
 were arranging the Table, those who chose went out, 
 after which the elders went to the doors to call them 
 back. "Member, member, what you keep de church 
 waitin' for?" and again the church was filled, floor 
 and gaUery, — I never saw such a sight, — but the 
 minister's earnestness and the general seriousness of 
 the -people made it unlike a spectacle, and a serious, 
 most interesting occasion. Then there was a collection 
 taken up in the elders' hats, the people making change 
 while old Robert would attempt to persuade them to 
 leave the whole bill! Then two couples were severally 
 married, not both at once after Mr. Phillips' heathenish 
 fashion, pronouncing them all husbands and wives! 
 
 May 16. I found that the Court was to meet here at 
 nine o'clock. Mr. Soule asked me to be present, and I 
 listened all day to the examination of the various wit- 
 nesses. It was very interesting; butit was very sad to see 
 how little dependence couldbe placed upon their word. 
 Men and boys took the oath one after the other and then 
 Ued as if they had sworn to do so. Their ingenuity was 
 wonderful, and we had to come to the conclusion that 
 if those who we supposed spoke the truth had been on 
 1 See p. 145. 
 
270 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 the other side they would have lied as badly as the others. 
 It has now become very important to carry the case 
 through and discover if possible who have perjured 
 themselves, as they must learn how important it is for 
 them to speak the truth. But little additional light was 
 thrown by the labor of to-day, and they adjourned at 
 night till Thursday, at Pine Grove. 
 
 May 19. The court sat at Pine Grove, but though 
 the moral certainty was very great, it was almost impos- 
 sible to convict on the evidence, because they Hed so. 
 
 A man came in great excitement to tell us that the 
 rebels had made a raid during the night onto Morgan 
 Island and carried off all the people. F. and R. imme- 
 diately took the sailboat and went over to the gunboat 
 to let them know. 
 
 May 22. P. went to church to find out about the poor 
 Morgan Island people, and heard from Mrs. Wells that 
 eleven people, men and women, had been carried off by 
 fifteen Secesh — three of Hamilton Fripp's sons were 
 among them. They took all the clothes, money, and eat- 
 ables they could find, and told the people that they were 
 living well and earning forty cents a day while their old 
 mistress was starving and had no one to work for her, 
 and they thought it was time they went to take care of 
 her. One man escaped after his hands were tied, and 
 one woman refused to get into the boat, and they knocked 
 her down and left her. They have frightened poor Mrs. 
 Wells pretty effectually by saying they should like to 
 carry Mr. Wells off on the points of their bayonets. 
 "That man that pays them forty cents a day." A 
 picket has been stationed there and another on Eddings 
 Point. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 271 
 
 May 27. My "seamster," Maria, has a little girl 
 who she sent me word should be my little chambermaid, 
 and she wished me to name her. Her youngest child. 
 Noble, I did not know, he is such a great boy, and I re- 
 marked that he was bigger than Cicero was two years 
 ago. " Too much. Missus, him lick Cicero now," and 
 she explained that it was because he was a Yankee child, 
 and then she and Rose enlarged upon the general superi- 
 ority of the Yankee children, who could all "lick" all 
 the Secesh children of twice their years! It was very 
 funny, but I daresay there is some truth in it, as the 
 women only work when they feel able to do so, and 
 moreover they all have a greater variety of food. 
 
 The boys returned from the gunboats with fuU ac- 
 counts from the officers of the disgraceful abandonment 
 of the expedition ' and its complete failure, owing in 
 the first place to the dnmkenness of an officer and then 
 to the failure of common sense. Greneral Foster has 
 arrived ^ — I hope he will prove to be somebody; this 
 poor Department seems doomed. General Bimey seems 
 to have shown as little sense in this matter as on the negro 
 question. 
 
 May 31. To dine at Pine Grove, stopping on the 
 way to see if I could find any of Pierce Butler's ' people 
 among the St. Simonians who have settled on the de- 
 serted plantation of Hamilton Fripp. Found one woman 
 who was nursery-maid at Mr. Hazard's, who she said 
 was a cousin of "Butler's;" she remembered him well 
 and his two daughters, also Mrs. Butler. "She was a 
 
 1 One of many minor raids, very likely up the Combahee River. 
 * As General commanding the Department of the South. 
 ' Husband of Fanny Kemble. 
 
272 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 very great lady — a very great lady, and a most beauti- 
 ful lady — slender-like : she tell Mr. Butler if he give 
 up the slavery, she would likes to live there, but she 
 could n't Stan' that ; but he would n't 'grees to that, 
 so she goes 'way and she get a dewoce. Oh, but she could 
 ride hos' ! " She said that Mr. Butler was a very kind 
 master to his servants indeed, " but sometimes he have 
 bad overseer." 
 
 June 15. Rode through the quarters to tell the people 
 myself that I was going home for a visit. "But you 
 comin' back dough — arter we get use' to you you must 
 n't lef ' we — and you sarvice to we when we sick too 
 much." " Hi ! " said old Betty, " you brudder an' sister 
 been eat you like one oyshter! " "Dey tink you like 
 one angel come down," said old Judy, "and they no 
 ben see you so long time." 
 
 The long letter that comes next is perhaps the most 
 interesting and convincing of all that Mr. Philbrick 
 wrote. 
 
 E. s. p. TO w. c. G. 
 
 Boston, July 8. Your long letter has received due at- 
 tention, but I do not yet feel as if it would be advisable 
 to sell lands any sooner than I had always intended, viz., 
 at the end of the war. I agree with you that the present 
 system is unsatisfactory and annoying, tending to de- 
 velop the evil as weU as the good that is in the negro 
 character. I had about concluded to propose next win- 
 ter something like the following plan, but don't think it 
 good policy to promise anything now for two reasons : 
 first, such promises would be distorted and misrepre- 
 sented by the negroes among themselves in the interim, 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 273 
 
 so that when the time comes, nothing but dissatisfaction 
 and growling would result; second, because something 
 may turn up in the meantime to change my mind as to 
 what is best. My rough plan is to sell to the people at 
 cost all Hve-stock and implements we could spare, — 
 nearly the whole, — for which they can doubtless pay 
 cash next winter. Then divide the lands among them 
 to be used as they see fit for the remainder of the war, 
 they to pay either a certain share of the cotton they raise, 
 say one half, or a certain amount of cotton, annually. 
 (Don't like this last.) A small farm to be reserved on 
 large plantations to be sold to or worked by some white 
 settler, who can devote his time there and act as our agent 
 to look after our rights, and if piossible work a little cotton 
 on his own account, experimenting and introducing im- 
 proved methods of culture . It might be almost impossible 
 for such a man to get labor, but there will be some ne- 
 groes too dependent in their habits to want to wait a year 
 for their pay and some old people and widows who would 
 prefer wages paid monthly. This white man's farm is, 
 however, not a necessary part of the plan, and if labor 
 can't be got, of course it would n't succeed. Teachers 
 and store-keepers to be kept on the ground at our ex- 
 pense, who will look after the houses they live in and do 
 whatever else they can to keep things straight. 
 
 Another plan is to sell life-leases to the negroes, in- 
 stead of the fee simple, disposing of the lands you pro- 
 pose to sell. This occurred to me as a means of avoiding 
 the terrible and disastrous confusion which it will be next 
 to impossible to avoid after a term of years, if the fee 
 should be conveyed, when the purchasers die and sell or 
 change land as they will to a certain extent in time. It 
 
274 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 is bad enough to trace a title and find out whether it is 
 good for anything here in systematic New England, 
 and difficult enough, too, to fix boundaries and main- 
 tain them against encroachments ; but it makes my 
 orderly bones ache to think of a time when, after some 
 men now purchasing land shall die, leaving two or 
 three sets of children, some bom under wedlock and 
 some not, some not their own but their wives' children, 
 some even of questionable parentage, and some who 
 were never heard of before, all claiming a slice of the 
 deceased man's land, and of course aU claiming the 
 best. Suppose it was bounded by a " stake and stones " 
 as of old here, minus the stones which are absent; sup- 
 pose some of the claimants think best to set up a new 
 stake where one has gone to decay, and suppose they 
 are not over exact in placing it; or suppose, as is more 
 than likely, their neighbor thinks the new stake en- 
 croaches on him and pulls it up entirely, stamping on 
 the hole and putting it in according to his own ideas, 
 etc., etc., ad infinitum. Now, as you must admit that 
 all this is likely to occur, and worse too, would such a 
 state of things tend to bring about a healthy and rapid 
 development? Any one who has watched the minute 
 subdivision of lands among the French peasantry 
 knows that after a few generations a man has not land 
 enough to Uve on or work economically, and hence a 
 vast amount of time and energy is wasted in France 
 for lack of organization ; — that, too, where they have 
 an administration of justice the most minute and exact 
 to be found in the whole world, an organization of the 
 judiciary which reaches to every man's case, however 
 minute or inconspicuous. The life-lease system would 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 275 
 
 avoid these troubles, but would be open to this objection, 
 a serious one, too, viz., the negro ought to feel that in 
 building up a home for himself, it shall be a home for 
 his children, for he has too Uttle of the feeling of respon- 
 sibility for his offspring, which is one of the best stimu- 
 lants to good order and civilization. 
 
 The future value of the lands is a question I don't 
 think of much consequence, neither is the question of 
 profit to the present holders to be considered, when 
 conflicting with the future welfare of the community. 
 If we only had clearness of vision, the wisdom to see 
 what would really be best for the masses, I sincerely 
 beUeve that it could readily be adopted without in any 
 way prejudicing the present profits of the holders. You 
 speak of the probability of having less cotton planted 
 for us in case your plan is followed. I should n't con- 
 sider that of any consequence whatever, except that, as a 
 general thing, the amount of cotton planted will always 
 be a pretty sure index of the state of industry of the 
 people, and their industry will always be the best mea- 
 sure of their improvement. It might take them some 
 time to find out that cotton was the best thing for them 
 to work on, but present prices are fast teaching them 
 this fact. 
 
 The objection noted above against a life-lease is a 
 serious one, and perhaps sufficient to balance those 
 future annoyances likely to grow out of selling the 
 fee. 
 
 I do not agree with you in what you say of the un- 
 natural dependence of these people. I don't see any 
 people on the face of the earth of their rank in civiliza- 
 tion who are so independent as they are. 
 
276 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 I don't see the justice of the claim to the soil now 
 made in their behalf by Mr. J. A. Saxton ^ and others, 
 and with which you seem to sympathize somewhat. 
 The fact is that no race of men on God's earth ever 
 acquired the right to the soil on which they stand with- 
 out more vigorous exertions than these people have 
 made. This is apparently the wise order of Providence 
 as a means of discipKne, or the misfortune of man, as 
 a consequence of his faihngs, perhaps both; but I can- 
 not see why these people should be excepted from the 
 general rule. If they have acquired the necessary 
 quahfications to be benefited by becoming landholders, 
 then there is no reason for delay; but here is the very 
 point of difference between us, whether they would be 
 in the long run so benefited. 
 
 As to price, I never considered the question of profit 
 to myseK or those I represent as of consequence in 
 fixing the price. It is no doubt an expression of this 
 kind which gave rise to the general belief, claimed by 
 some whites as well as blacks, that I would sell at cost, 
 "was bound" to do so, etc. It did not occur to those 
 who so believed that I could have any good or disin- 
 terested reasons for selling for more than cost. It may 
 be difficult to fathom one's own motives in such cases, 
 but I can say honestly that I do not believe in the suc- 
 cess of a system of selling to any people any property 
 whatever for less than its market value, with a view to 
 confer a lasting benefit upon them. That is, I think the 
 immediate ease which such a course would confer 
 would beget idleness and unthrifty habits when com- 
 pared with a system by which every man should be 
 '■ Compare J. A. S. on p. 265. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 277 
 
 required to pay full price. No man or race of men 
 ever truly appreciate freedom who do not fight for it, 
 and no man appreciates property who does not work 
 for it, on the same terms with those around him. I 
 think they would be better off for paying ten dollars 
 an acre for land, if the land is worth it, rather than one 
 dollar, because they would use the land for which they 
 had paid fuU price more economically, would be likely 
 to get more out of it, and would be taught a feeUng 
 of independence more readily than by being made the 
 recipients of charity. 
 
 In this case, however, we have a complication of 
 circumstances entirely unique. We have a number of 
 people who have bought land at a rate fixed by Gov- 
 enrment, and a certain amount of "discouragement" 
 would ensue if our people were charged more per acre 
 than their neighbors for similar land. They could n't 
 be expected to see the justice of such an arrangement, 
 and it is difficult for us to explain why it should be so. 
 This is a very strong argument for selling cheap, for 
 we should avoid any course which we should not be 
 able to easily prove just, when deahng with such a 
 defenceless people. Of course there would be a grand 
 howl among the so-called philanthropists at the mention 
 of any plan on my part of selling at any rate above 
 cost, witness the sensation produced by my letter to 
 the Evening Post; but I don't care much for that, 
 and ought not to care at all. We could n't sell the land 
 as you propose ' without calling forth a similar howl 
 
 ' Evidently G.'s suggestion was practically for the plan Mr. Phil- 
 brick did in fact adopt finally, that of selling some of his land to ne- 
 groes and some to white men. The price at which he sold to the negroes 
 was determined by the ideas here expressed. 
 
278 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 from this sickly sympathy, which would have me sell 
 aU the land and would accuse me of a tendency to 
 aristocracy if I retained any lands to be disposed of 
 otherwise. Of course the negroes would n't be satisfied 
 either. I don't expect to satisfy them by any course 
 which would be consistent with common sense. I think 
 it possible that I may fall into such a plan as you sug- 
 gest after I get down there next winter. In the mean- 
 time I don't want to make any promises. 
 
 The next three letters are full of the irritation engen- 
 dered by unintelligent orders from official superiors. 
 
 FEOM c. p. w. 
 
 July 17. Do people look with any interest toward this 
 Department, either for military achievement or civil 
 improvement ? The former require better men — 
 generals — than we are blessed with; the latter may 
 come, — after the war. 
 
 Do people expect much of the negro of Port Royal ? 
 Let them expect. It is amusing to hear M. W.^ She 
 understands all the peculiarities of affairs down here 
 with wonderful quickness and penetration; I have 
 learned to respect her judgment and opinion. To 
 hear her rail at these people, and slip out sly hints about 
 the conduct of the "friends of the freedman" is a treat. 
 
 Rose was sitting disconsolately on the wood-box the 
 other evening; I began chaffing her about her melan- 
 choly looks. She did not say much, but presently she 
 asked if I had heard from Miss Harriet again; I told 
 her no, and she heaved a big sigh, and asked when she 
 
 ' A mulatto, educated in the North, who had gone to help at Port 
 Royal. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 279 
 
 would come back. " Mass' Charlie, no one know how 
 I miss Miss Hayyut. If my own mudder go Nort', I no 
 miss her mo'." I asked her if she missed Miss Harriet 
 more than I missed my " farmly," whom I had n't seen 
 for so many months. She couldn't tell. "Ebry man 
 hab e own feelin'." 
 
 Aug. 17. The unexpected opportunity to send ofif 
 my letter was the visit of one Lewis Keller, from 
 the provost marshal's office at Hilton Head; he came 
 down to make inquiries concerning deserters, able- 
 bodied men, etc., etc. He also obtained a map of the 
 island, with plantations marked thereon. The provost 
 marshal, I am sorry to say, is conceited, opinionated, 
 and wanting in common sense and discretion. He has 
 ideas which, if founded on anything, rest on reports 
 only, and very vague reports too. He thinks, or rather 
 (as the notion, once in his head, must stick there) he 
 is certain, that there is communication between the 
 negroes who buy at our stores and the rebels; that there 
 is a camp of deserters (black and white) on Hunting 
 Island, and that these deserters are employed in carry- 
 ing supplies to the main; that the proximity of our 
 stores to the rebel country is a dangerous state of things, 
 not only inciting the rebels to come over, but Ukely to 
 supply them with aU they want if they do come. Also 
 he thinks that the negroes have no business to have 
 guns. Also he does not see what they can want with 
 all the stuff sent on the Kelley. Now the Kelley arrived 
 just before the regulations which allowed plantation 
 supplies to enter insurrectionary districts. The trea- 
 sury agent at once offered to permit the Kelley' s cargo 
 to come on shore. The provost marshal) who by this 
 
280 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 time appeared to be very willing to "help us all he 
 could," took the invoice to General Foster, and came 
 back with permission to land all of some things, one 
 half the dry goods, one third only of the grocery sup- 
 plies, flour, bacon, etc. We shall probably have to sell 
 the rest at Hilton Head. Very provoking. Some of the 
 supplies were small enough as they were; what is left 
 will be about a mouthful apiece all around ; e. g., one 
 hundred and eighty barrels of flour came; my share 
 would be about thirty-five. I could have sold twenty- 
 five whole barrels, and peddled out the rest in six weeks. 
 My share of sixty barrels will be about twelve ! The 
 provost marshal could not see what the people wanted 
 of so much provision. Yet he has at his office the cen- 
 sus of all these plantations, besides a written statement 
 prepared by Mr. Soule of the amount bought at these 
 stores within the last six months and the lists of pur- 
 chases over five dollars at a time (we have to keep these 
 lists, as one condition of keeping store). 
 
 Besides restricting the quantity of goods, all the 
 stores are to be closed except those at R.'s and Fol- 
 som's. I may sell what I have on hand, but not take 
 in anything more. Ignorance, stupidity, and conceit. 
 
 E. s. p. TO c. p. w. 
 
 Boston, Aug. 24. The recent assumption of authority 
 by the miUtary officials seems to have extinguished the 
 Treasury Department in Port Royal. It is a difficult 
 case to reach, for this officious intermeddling bears the 
 semblance of earnest and zealous watchfulness of the 
 public iaterests. Any representations at Washington 
 will avail nothing, so long as Colonel H. cherishes the 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 281 
 
 idea, or pretends to, that it is not for the public wel- 
 fare to have us sell bacon and 'lasses at Coffin's Point. 
 Any permission from the Treasury Department which 
 would appear to him as too lenient would only give 
 him another chance to exercise his authority, which 
 tickles his vanity and makes him appear a big man. 
 A difference of opinion between him and myself would 
 hardly be listened to at Washington, so long as it is 
 upon a subject on which his superiors think him quali- 
 fied to judge better than myself. Suppose the Secretary 
 of the Treasury were to allow goods to be taken from 
 Hilton Head without restriction. General Foster and 
 Colonel H. would still think the rebels would get them, 
 and, having the power in their own hands, would not 
 be likely to allow us to avail ourselves of any such privi- 
 leges. I should like to have the question asked him, 
 "How the Coffin's Point people are to get supplies?" 
 If we are forbidden to keep a store there, it certainly 
 cannot be forbidden us to send a wagon-load of goods 
 there for the supply of that plantation whenever needed, 
 which will answer our purposes well enough. In order 
 to avoid any trap-springing by parties who might 
 think it a smart thing to tell Colonel H. we had not 
 discontinued the store, it would be best to have a plain 
 talk with him on the subject. We don't want to keep 
 store, but supply the plantations, and need not keep 
 any considerable stock on hand at these "exposed" 
 points. 
 
 The next group of letters returns to the subject of 
 negro recruitment. By this time various Northern 
 States, in despair of finding enough men at home to 
 make out the number of recruits required of them by 
 
282 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 the general Government, were getting hold of Southern 
 negroes for the purpose, and their agents had appeared 
 in the Department of the South, competing for freed- 
 men with offers of large bounties. At the same time 
 General Foster made up his mind that all able-bodied 
 negroes who refused to volunteer, even under these 
 conditions, should be forced into the service. If the 
 conscription methods of the Government up to this 
 time had not been brutal, certainly no one can deny 
 that adjective to the present operations. Yet it will be 
 seen that experience has tempered the indignation of 
 the superintendents, though not their distress. 
 
 FROM c. p. w. 
 
 Aug. 9. Lieutenant- Colonel Rice, agent for Massa- 
 chusetts, has come. After looking about a little, he does 
 not think the prospect of getting recruits very briUiant, 
 but his agents are at work in Beaufort streets, and may 
 pick up a few men. He intends to send native scouts 
 on to the main to beat up recruits; $35 a man is 
 offered for all they will bring in. Colonel Rice intended 
 to come down here to-day, but had to go and see 
 General Foster and Colonel Littlefield,^ Superintendent 
 of Recruiting. (He — Colonel L. — calls it recruiting 
 to conscript all he can lay hands on.) There is to be, 
 not a draft, but a wholesale conscription,^ enforced 
 here. Lieutenant-Colonel Strong of the First South 
 (Thirty-Third United States Colored Troops) ' enrolled 
 aU colored men last month. It is possible, if the men 
 
 1 Colonel Milton S. Littlefield, Twenty-First United States Colored 
 Troops. 
 
 ' Foster's order was dated August 16. 
 
 ^ "The First South," as the First South Carolina Volunteers was 
 always called by the negroes, had in the spring been enrolled among 
 the United States Colored Troops as the Thirty-Third Regiment. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 283 
 
 can be made to understand this, that a few can be 
 induced to volunteer, but I hardly think that many 
 wiU be secured, either by enlistment or draft. Colonel 
 Rice comes down here this week. Mr. Soule (just 
 returned from Beaufort) describes him as a pleasant 
 man, simple in manner, with great good sense, shrewd 
 enough, and of an inquiring turn. He has gone right 
 to work, not bidding for men, but offering the whole 
 bounty, etc., at once, and at the same time he is trying 
 to find out aU he can about things and people here. I 
 long to "shum" and keep him over night. 
 
 PROM W. C. G. 
 
 Sept. 23. I'm glad to say that my plantations have 
 at last contributed their share to the regiment. With 
 two or three exceptions all my young men have gone, — 
 twenty, more or less, — which has deprived me of at 
 least half my stock of labor. They are carrying out the 
 draft with excessive severity, not to say horrible cruelty. 
 Last night three men were shot, — one killed, one 
 wounded fatally, it is thought, and the other disap- 
 peared over the boat's side and has not been seen since, 
 — shot as they were trying to escape the guard sent to 
 capture aU men who have not been exempted by the 
 military surgeons. The draft here is a mere conscrip- 
 tion, — every able-bodied man is compelled to serve, — '■ 
 and many not fit for military service are forced to work 
 in the quartermaster's department. 
 
 Oct. 12. You ask more about the draft. The severity 
 of the means employed to enforce it is certainly not to 
 be justified, nor do the authorities attempt to do so, — 
 after the act is done. The draft here is carried on by 
 
284 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 military, not civil, powers. We have no civil laws, 
 courts, officers, etc. Consequently the only way in 
 which public operations can be accomplished is by 
 issuing a general order and instructing the provost 
 marshals to see it carried into execution. The only 
 agents to be employed are necessarily soldiers, and the 
 only coercion is necessarily that of guns and arbitrary 
 arrests. The state of society — as far as regards the 
 draft and also many other things — is one in which 
 most men conspire to escape the voice of the law; so 
 that, when such unfortunate occurrences happen as 
 the late shooting affair, there seems to be nothing for 
 it but indignation and sorrow, and perhaps an examina- 
 tion into the circumstances to discover if they justified 
 recourse to such extreme action: e. g., the shooting 
 seems to have stopped further proceeding in the draft. 
 If there were any civil power here, such things would 
 be as unjust and horrible as they seem. As it is, each 
 case has to be weighed by itself and may prove better 
 than it seems. The Massachusetts recruiting agents, 
 of course, have nothing to do with enforcing the draft. 
 But their presence seems to have increased its activity 
 and their bounty contributes to its success. Nearly all 
 my men have gone voluntarily {i. e., felt they must go, 
 and, for the bounty offered, concluded to go without 
 violence), and all are constantly writing home letters 
 expressive of great satisfaction. 
 
 The letter following from T. E. R. (one of Mr. 
 Philbrick^s superintendents, frequently referred to in 
 these letters as "R.")> gives a capital idea of the plea- 
 sures of living under military rule. 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 285 
 
 T. E. R, TO C. P. W. (at home ON A VISIt) ■ 
 
 St. Helena Island, Oct. 17. An order was issued 
 just before or about the time you left to take away all 
 the boats, to prevent intercourse with the rebels; so 
 they attempted to enforce it, but, after the first day, 
 boats all went out into the mash or up on dry land in 
 the bush, and then alas for General Order or any other 
 man. Several applications were sent to General Saxton 
 in reference to the matter, and these he forwarded to 
 Foster, and he let his dignity down easily by permitting 
 all the boats taken to be returned and all not taken 
 to be retained, on the presentation to the provost 
 marshal of triplicate certificates describing the owner 
 (age, height, color of eyes, hair, complexion, and occu- 
 pation), describing boat (a pine dugout), certifying to 
 the strict loyalty and good citizenship of the owjier, 
 signed by general superintendent, and approved by 
 general commanding. Is n't that red tape to perfec- 
 tion ? They never went to Cofiin's to take the boats, nor 
 did they ever go there to get soldiers — strange, when 
 it is thought by many that there is nearly a regiment on 
 that plantation. Perhaps they feared Coffin's Battery.^ 
 
 The next letter is from H. W., at the time of her return 
 with C. P. W. to Port Royal. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Coffin's Point, Nov. 12. There had been so much 
 delay and uncertainty over our arrival that Rose had 
 
 ' See p. 187. 
 
286 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1861 
 
 gone home, but Rodwell stopped to tell her we had come 
 as he went down with the cart, and she exclaimed, 
 "Pray day come for me go see Miss Hayiut." In the 
 morning she came early into my chamber, bright and 
 eager. I knew Robert was black as the ace of spades, 
 but they both of them did look blacker than anything 
 I ever saw before, but it was good to see them. 
 
 The next group of extracts is again occupied with 
 the everyday events of plantation Ufe. 
 
 FROM w. c. G. 
 
 Nov. 12. As usual I managed to miss the last mail. 
 Now that the W.'s and their party have returned, per- 
 haps we may be assisted into greater punctuahty. For- 
 tunately for us they live farther from the human race 
 by two and a half miles than ourselves, and can't reach 
 it without passing within half a mile of our house. 
 Politeness usually obUges them to come up and take 
 our budget. We live on our friends in a great many 
 ways here. Without attempting any system or intending 
 to set a wrong world right, we reaKze all the best fruits 
 of socialistic communities. If any one has anything 
 good, he is expected to enjoy only a small piece himself; 
 and most things that are done have a reference to our 
 united, not to any individual interest. Our own geogra- 
 phical location is such that we are peculiarly fitted to 
 receive the benefit of this interchange of good offices, — 
 while we can hardly reciprocate as we ought to. 
 
 FROM c. p. w. 
 
 Nov. 19. Alden and I were put on Plantation Com- 
 mission work as soon as we got here, had a session 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 287 
 
 t 
 Wednesday and tried several cases. The untrust- 
 
 worthiness of these people is more apparent and trou- 
 blesome than ever. I feel as if it would not be safe 
 to allow them to gin the cotton — it seems certain that 
 a great deal of it would be stolen. Their skill in lying, 
 their great reticence, their habit of shielding one an- 
 other (generally by silence), their invariable habit of 
 taking a rod when you, after much persuasion, have 
 been induced to grant an inch, their assumed inno- 
 cence and ignorance of the simplest rules of meum 
 and tuum, joined with amazing impudence in making 
 claims, — these are the traits which try us continually 
 in our dealings with them, and sometimes almost make 
 us despair of their improvement — at least, in the pre- 
 sent generation. It is certain that their freedom has 
 been too .easy for them, — they have not had a hard 
 enough time of it. In many cases they have been "fair 
 spoiled." 
 
 FHOM H. W. 
 
 Nov. 27. Rose is a trump. She does all my cooking 
 neater and better than I have ever had it done — 
 makes bread and biscuit and puddings as well as I 
 could myself, and until this morning, with our help, of 
 course, has done the chamber- work too. With those 
 three children I have got along as well as I could ask. 
 I begin to appreciate what and how much they have 
 learned the last two years. 
 
 [Dec. 11. J Over seventy children at Sunday School. 
 I had a very nice time with them indeed, and was much 
 struck with their progress in general intelKgence. Their 
 eager, intelligent faces and earnest attention and interest 
 
288 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 in all I said to them were a great contrast to anything 
 they would have manifested two years ago. Indeed, I 
 could not have talked to them, and they would not have 
 understood me if I had, in anything like the same way 
 that I did to-day. 
 
 Nov. 23. We saw Mrs. Vaughn, who seems to find 
 life here very hard, and repeats the inevitable experi- 
 ence of all those who have ever had anything to do 
 with the blacks previously, that these are the most 
 degraded and barbarous of their race in the country. 
 
 We met C. Soule and Captain Crane,^ with their two 
 servants, coming down to spend Thanksgiving. We had 
 a right pleasant evening. Captain Crane played and 
 sung, and we were very glad to hear the piano, and he 
 to touch one. 
 
 FROM W. C. G. 
 
 Nov. 27. On Thanksgiving Day we gathered together 
 all our friends, — all our " set," at least, — and sat 
 down, twenty-six of us, together, to eat turkeys and pies. 
 It was a rather formidable thing to attempt, with negro 
 servants and St. Helena suppHes, but we had quite a 
 good time, and have done our duty in giving the party. 
 It is probably the last time that we '11 all meet together. 
 Those who are to stay next year are all bemoaning their 
 fate ; together we have had a very courteous and friendly 
 circle, — rather pecuharly so for such a rough kind of 
 hfe and surroundings, — and the loss of so many as 
 will go will probably rob the work here of much of its 
 pleasantness. 
 
 ' Both in the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts Volunteers (colored). 
 
1864] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 2f 
 
 War, in the person of the triumphant Sherman, wa 
 again drawing near, and the two young officers of tt 
 Fifty-Fifth had barely celebrated Thanksgiving wit 
 the people from home when they were summoned 1 
 take their part. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Nov. 28. C. brought word that all the troops ha 
 been sent to Savannah to meet Sherman, and that cit 
 zens were on guard at Beaufort. 
 
 Dec. 1. To-night comes C. from Beaufort with nev 
 of the Grahamville fight.* It is said we have been twi( 
 repulsed, and the fight is not over. 
 
 Dec. 2. A cart came down from R.'s and brought 
 note from him to the effect that Captain Crane, wl 
 was with us such a short time ago, has been killed in tl 
 fight at Grahamville, but that C. Soule was unhurt. 
 
 Dec. 3. The rumors with regard to the expeditic 
 are various and contradictory, but the impression seen 
 to be that we have been whipped, but hold on and hai 
 intrenched at Grahamville. Mr. and Mrs. Soule a: 
 cheerful and brave, but very anxious, and it maki 
 our hearts sink to hear the guns as we do. Pray Gc 
 we may succeed this time and Sherman may con 
 through. It will be such a day as has not been seen i 
 this Department since Dupont took the place. 
 
 Dec. 4. We have repulsed the enemy since we ii 
 trenched, and deserters say Sherman is coming. 
 
 Dec. 6. Captain Crane found that his company wf 
 left behind at Morris Island, but begged so to g 
 
 1 The battle of Honey Hill (near Grahamville), fought Novei 
 ber 30. 
 
290 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1864 
 
 that Colonel Hartwell ' took him on his staff, sending a 
 Captain Gordon, who had just come from the North, 
 to take charge of his company. Colonel Hartwell was 
 wounded and Captain Crane killed in one of the first 
 charges, in which our troops were repulsed, so that 
 Captain Crane's body was left in the hands of the 
 enemy. To-night we hear that ten thousand troops have 
 come from Fortress Monroe to reinforce us, and de- 
 serters tell of Sherman's advance and successes. You 
 may imagine we are all on the qui vive, and anxious, ^ 
 for we hear all the firing. 
 
 Dec. 11. Savannah is in Sherman's hands and Poco- 
 taUgo in Foster's. We hope and trust this is no South 
 Carolina rumor. 
 
 Dec. 15. To-night Mr. Soule brings word that Sher- 
 man breakfasted with Foster yesterday morning, on a 
 boat that came to Beaufort to-day. 
 
 Just after Christmas Mr. Philbrick went back to Port 
 Royal to see to shipping his cotton. 
 
 FEOM E. s. p. 
 
 Dec. 28. Arrived this evening. No fellow passengers 
 that I knew. Most of them were Sherman's oflScers who 
 had left him at Atlanta for various reasons and now 
 come to join him. Very pleasant men, with a degree 
 of hearty good sense and whole-souled patriotism that 
 was truly refreshing. 
 
 '■ Of the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts. 
 
1865 
 
 The Oeorgia refugees — Sherman's army at Beaufort — Dis 
 of the negroes about wages — W. C. G.'s work at Savannah 
 refugees — Return home of most of the letter-vriters — Th 
 of Lincoln, its effect on the negroes — End of the war and re 
 the jdanfers — Stealing of cotton by the negroes — Superink 
 "demoralized on the negro question." 
 
 FBOM E. S. P. 
 
 Jan. 1. Yesterday morning I had a talk with M 
 in the yard, where he is at work framing the sc 
 house. I like him very much. He is a somewhai 
 combination, of a refined gentleman, without 
 education, but very well informed and wide awake 
 a modest and quiet industry with the most pra 
 common sense. He is truly interested in the nej 
 without the least bit of sentimental or ill-advised 
 pathy. He is very glad to come here and take d: 
 and I think he is the best superintendent I hav( 
 here at all. 
 
 I saw some of the people who came about the ] 
 by chance during the day, and who seemed trulj 
 
 » F. H. was to take charge of Coffin's Point on C. P. W.'s 1 
 permanently for home a few weeks later. In connection wii 
 Philbrick's words about him and in preparation for his own '. 
 it is worth while to record something he had written in the ai 
 
 Oct. 7. St. Helena. I am slowly recovering from my three 
 sickness, — more buoyant and hopeful than ever before. I S( 
 have a new birth, with new aspirations, and new views — p 
 larly in regard to life and its duties and prospects among the 
 people of South Carolina. 
 
 If God is not in it, then I am laboring under hallucination. 
 
292 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 to see me. They have got quite over the land-fever, 
 and say they prefer to work along as they have, wherein 
 they begin to show sense. Rose is still the only cook 
 and does very well, except that she sometimes bakes 
 potatoes longer than she boils hams, etc., etc. I suspect 
 H. helps her put things together somewhat. The 
 Christmas tree was to have been last evening, but the 
 rain prevented. C. P. W. has gone up to bring down 
 Mr. Eustis and his two ladies to dine. The house being 
 an elastic one, I suppose it can be made to hold several 
 more people than ,at present, if they will only bring 
 their own blankets. The old diet of sweet potatoes and 
 honoiny, ham, fresh pork, and waffles, holds its sway 
 yet, with grunnuts in the evening, of course. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Jan. 2. At sunset we all adjourned to the cotton- 
 house, where the tree was all ready to be lighted. It 
 was a very pretty sight, and after we had let the chil- 
 dren in I sent word that the grown people might come 
 and see, if they liked. Then, before anything was cut 
 down, the children sang a number of the songs I have 
 taught them, standing in classes, the smallest in front, 
 their httle eager faces irresistibly comic. The older 
 people soon filled up the building, making rather a 
 crowd, and a less manageable one than the children 
 alone; but they were pleased at the sight, and when the 
 noise became overpowering, I could stop it for the time 
 being by starting a song, which the children would 
 instantly catch up. Then I let the children sing some 
 of their own songs in genuine, shouting style, a sight 
 too funny in the Uttle things, but sad and disagreeable 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 293 
 
 to me in the grown people, who make it a religious act. 
 It is impossible to describe it — the children move 
 round in a circle, backwards, or sideways, with their 
 feet and arms keeping energetic time, and their whole 
 bodies undergoing most extraordinary contortions, 
 while they sing at the top of their voices the refrain to 
 some song sung by an outsider. We laughed tiU we 
 ahnost cried over the little bits of ones, but when the 
 grown people wanted to " shout," I would not let them, 
 and the occasion closed by their "drawing" candy 
 from C. as they passed out. I daresay this sounds 
 pleasant, and I know they all had a good time; but if 
 you could have looked in, you would have thought it 
 Bedlam let loose! 
 
 The " Greorgia refugees " referred to in several of the 
 subsequent letters were hundreds of negroes who had 
 followed Sherman's army northward. " They are said," 
 says C. P, W., " to be an excellent set of people, more 
 intelligent than most here, and eager for work. They 
 will get distributed onto the plantations before a great 
 while." 
 
 Jan. 6. Miss Towne gave us quite an interesting 
 account of the Georgia refugees that have been sent 
 to the Village. The hardships they underwent to march 
 with the army are fearful, and the children often gave 
 out and were left by their mothers exhausted and dying 
 by the roadside and in the fields. Some even put their 
 children to death, they were such a drag upon them, 
 till our soldiers, becoming furious at their barbarous 
 cruelty, hung two women on the spot. In contrast to 
 such selfishness, she told us of one woman who had 
 twelve small children — she carried one and her hus- 
 
294 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 band another, and for fear she should lose the others 
 she tied them all together by the hands and brought 
 them all off safely, a march of hundreds of miles. The 
 men have all been put to work in the quartermaster's 
 department or have gone into the army, and the fami- 
 lies are being distributed where they can find places 
 for thenai. 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Jan. 8. Miss Towne told some amusing stories of 
 the Georgia refugees. Some of them, being very desti- 
 tute, were bemoaning their condition, and wishing they 
 had never left tibeir old plantations, feeUng rather 
 abashed at the responsibility of taking care of them- 
 selves. The old Edisto people, who have been there a 
 year or two, encourage them, saying, "Look 'o we," 
 " We come here wi' noffin at all," " Now we have money 
 for cotton and all the tater and hominy we can eat," etc. 
 One woman said, " Bress the Lord, I have striven and 
 got enough to give seven gowns to these poor folk." 
 So it seems they do what they can for the new-comers. 
 I guess these Edisto people, who have their own recent 
 destitution fresh in mind, are more kind than the natives 
 of St. Helena, who are rather inclined to be jealous of 
 the new-comers, who make the labor market rather 
 easier than before. 
 
 Jan. 6. Monday. I had a talk with the people, who 
 came up to see me in a crowd in the forenoon. They 
 seemed jolly, and had no. complaints to make about 
 the past, but wanted higher wages for the future. I 
 talked with them very quietly for an hour, told them 
 I would give higher wages if I felt sure the price of cot- 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 295 
 
 ton a year hence would pay me as well as the past 
 crop/ and told them if they wanted to share this risk 
 with me, I would give them a share of the cotton for 
 their wages. They all objected to this except one or 
 two of the men, who said they would Uke such an 
 arrangement, but their families could n't wait so long 
 for their money. On the whole they preferred wages, 
 and therein showed their sense, I think. I find that 
 when my last cargo arrived in the Redwing, the people 
 who had worked for me had their pockets full of money 
 and bought what they wanted, but the men who had 
 been cultivating cotton on their own hook looked on 
 with envious eyes and empty pockets, creating a very 
 general impression in favor of the wages system. Under 
 this impression, I think they wiU fall to work gradually 
 at similar wages to what I have been paying, but will 
 probably lie idle a few weeks to think about it, in hopes 
 I wiU offer more. 
 
 Tuesday morning. I heard that the schooner was at 
 Fuller Place to take our cotton. We have been at it 
 ever since tiU yesterday noon, when we put in the last 
 we had, nearly filling her up. There was about half of 
 it negro cotton, brought from one hundred and seventy- 
 six different proprietors, for whom I act as agent in 
 forwarding and selling it. I drove over to spend the 
 night at Mr. Wells' house on Wednesday. He had 
 gone to Morgan Island to receive and stow away some 
 one hundred and fifty Georgia refugees, which were 
 
 * The crop of 1864 had cost Mr. Philbrick about $1.00 a pound, 
 and he thought it quite possible that the crop of 1865 might not fetch 
 more than that in the market. It will be seen that his fears were more 
 than justified. 
 
296 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 expected by a steamer from Beaufort. After lie had 
 waited for them all day, they arrived about sunset, and 
 he spent half the night there in the rain, stowing them 
 in houses and getting their baggage up from the steamer, 
 which lay at anchor in the river discharging into small 
 boats. They came from the shore counties near to Sa- 
 vannah, and brought a good deal of truck, beds, and 
 blankets, and some rice and peas. Mr. Wells gave 
 them rations for a week, and I suppose will continue to 
 do so, for they can't get anything to eat till next harvest 
 in any other way. The able-bodied have all been taken 
 either by the rebels or our Government for fatigue 
 duty and quartermaster service, so those who come here 
 are all women, children, or cripples, such as we had 
 before. They will doubtless be so glad of a home, how- 
 ever, that they will do a good deal of work. Of course 
 it is not an economical class of labor, for it takes too 
 much land to feed the non-workers to allow a great deal 
 to be planted in cotton. In the morning I walked out 
 with Mr. Wells and sold him both the plantations of 
 which he has had charge for me, viz., the Jenkins place, 
 where he Hves, for $1600 or $10 per acre, and Mor- 
 gan Island for $1200, or about $5 per acre, which is 
 more than any one would have given a few weeks ago, 
 when we could n't get a negro to stay there for fear of 
 the rebels. I daresay he may do very well with it now, 
 but it is a vexatious thing to get rations to them in such 
 an out-of-the-way place, and, after all, young Mr. Fripp 
 may make them another visit some night and carry off 
 some more negroes. 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 2E 
 
 FROM C. P. W. 
 
 Jan. 8. Howard's ^ corps came to Beaufort earl 
 last week, and carpenters and engineers have bee 
 busy putting the Shell Road ^ to the Ferry in order an 
 building a bridge across the Ferry. It looks as if a mo^ 
 were to be made towards Charleston or the interi( 
 soon. Beaufort presents a Kvely spectacle; the Westei 
 soldiers are rough, unkempt customers, whose hai 
 falHng over their shoulders, suggests vows of abstinem 
 from the shears till they shaU have accomphshed a grei 
 work. The first few days of their stay in Beaufort wei 
 marked by acts more amusing to the soldiers than 1 
 the owners of property "lying round loose." The fir 
 night was chilly, and three thousand feet of lumbi 
 furnished bonfires at which the soldiers of the " mo 
 able army" warmed themselves. Shopkeepers do a tr 
 mendous business, and their shops look "fair dry;" bi 
 they do not always get pay for their goods, but are r 
 quested to look on the battlefield for their money. TI 
 troops were paid off just before leaving Atlanta, and a: 
 "flush." Bread is very scarce. The troops fared ve: 
 well on the march, — one continued Thanksgivii 
 through the richest part of Georgia. 
 
 The schooner Horace for New York, with the re 
 of our cotton and the first of the negroes', is loade 
 The negroes' crops did not turn out very well, as 
 general rule; want of manure and careless workii 
 being the principal causes; the caterpillar did a gre 
 
 ' General Oliver O. Howard. 
 
 ^ The only thoroughfare by land from Beaufort to Charlest< 
 At Port Royal Ferry it crosses the Coosaw. 
 
298 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 deal of damage. They seem somewhat discouraged at 
 the prospect of having to wait so long for their money; 
 but the advance paid them on shipping the cotton (a 
 dollar a pound of ginned cotton) will be a great help 
 to those who have done well. 
 
 It is an excellent thing for the property here that 
 Mr. H.' is here to keep it in repair. He is a regular 
 trump, the best man down here. I feel more contented 
 at leaving the place with him than with any one here. 
 
 If I could have a place down here all to myself, and 
 have what help I wanted, I think I should stay another 
 year and try the experiment on a Httle different plan. 
 But, as Mr. Folsom said one day, when we agreed that it 
 would be pleasant to stay and hard to leave, " But, after 
 all, one must remember that one has an immortal soul." 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Jan. 11. Mr. Soule, coming from R.'s, teUs us that a 
 salute fired the day before was for Stanton's arrival, 
 come to confer with Sherman. 
 
 The next paragraph suggests that the Secretary of 
 War had come for something besides a conference with 
 Sherman; at any rate, he took speedy action in one 
 important direction. 
 
 FROM H. w. 
 
 Jan. 18. We stopped at Miss Towne's new school- 
 house to see them all in it, and found to our pleasure 
 that General Howard was addressing the children. 
 General Saxton, too, was there, in his new major- 
 general's straps. I was very glad to see General 
 ' F. H. 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 299 
 
 Howard, who has superseded General Foster here. 
 He has a very nice face indeed, and his one arm seemed 
 to make quite an impression on the children. Stanton 
 has been investigating the conscription business, and 
 Foster's removal is the result, apparently, while Saxton 
 has been promoted. 
 
 The next letters, Mr. PhUbrick's last from Port 
 Royal, contain various pieces of Sea Island news, 
 chiefly in connection with his plans for the next year 
 and his difficulties with his laborers. 
 
 FROM E. S. P. 
 
 Jan. 9. I started for Coffin's Point, meeting a long 
 procession of the people on the way to church. More 
 than half the number were in sulkies or some sort of 
 go-carts, with all sorts of animals pulling them, mostly 
 quadrupeds that had once been horses, — and some 
 might still bear that name. I had to stop and shake 
 hands every few rods, of course. I have spent most of 
 the day at Fripp Point, with Mr. York. Mr. G. had not 
 been able to collect the rent of corn-land there, to be 
 paid in corn, most of the men refusing to pay. He had 
 withheld enough from their pay to cover the amount 
 of corn due. I took over the money due, with the pay- 
 roll and corn-hst. After a long talk on the part of 
 Pompey and John Major and others, which I hstened 
 to patiently, most of them still refused to bring their 
 corn. But I felt pretty sure that when some began 
 they would all do it, and so opened the door of the 
 corn-house and told the willing ones to bring in their 
 corn. Jack came first, then Katy, Louisa, and Moll. 
 Pretty soon John Major came along with a cart-load. 
 
300 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 and all the rest followed but Pompey. Then I began 
 to pay off the women for ginning and preparing their 
 cotton. All went smoothly except that Celia wanted 
 her "yellow-cotton-money" ' "by himseK," and as I 
 could n't tell exactly how much the " yellow-cotton- 
 money " was, I had to take her money all back and tell 
 her to go over and see Mr. G. After paying the others, 
 however, CeKa came up and concluded to take her 
 dues. They all took their money excepting Pompey, 
 who stoutly refused, and I came off without paying 
 him. Then came the talk about next year. I introduced 
 Mr. York as having leased the plantation for the year, 
 which fact was received with less dissatisfaction than I 
 expected; but when it came to talk about prices, which 
 I left for Mr. York to settle, they all demanded a dollar 
 a task, evidently having been preparing their minds for 
 this for some time back. Then followed the usual 
 amount of reasoning on my part, enlarging upon the 
 future uncertainty of prices of cotton, etc., but we made 
 little or no impression on them. They had evidently 
 been hstening to an amount of talk about the wealth 
 I had acquired at their expense, and felt aggrieved 
 that they were not making money as fast as those who 
 planted their own cotton, on Frogmore and other 
 places. I told them that the proceeds of last year's 
 crop had all been expended by me in carrying on this 
 year's work, but they would n't believe it. John Major 
 said he knew very well they had been jamming the 
 bills into that big iron cage (meaning my safe at R.'s) 
 for six months, and there must be enough in it now to 
 
 ^ "Yellow cotton" was cotton which for any reason had been 
 stained in the pod. 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 301 
 
 bust it! It had been raining for the last haK-hour pretty 
 steadily, and we finally withdrew, the choir of hands 
 hanging about me, singing out "A dollar a task!" "A 
 dollar a task!" as we went off. 
 
 Jan. 15. I went out and introduced Mr. Jackson 
 on Tuesday morning to the Pine Grove people, who 
 expressed very little surprise or feeling of any kind, but 
 met him with the same cry which had greeted me and 
 Mr. York at the Point about a dollar a task. I left him 
 with them and rode over to Cherry HiU with old Mr. 
 Waters. The Cherry HiU people received us very well. 
 Tony had a long list of grievances to relate, for Mr. 
 Folsom had had him in jail for a fortnight for refusing 
 to bring out his cotton, raised for me, which he kept 
 in his own house. I listened quietly, and then told 
 Tony I could n't go behind the decision of the court, but 
 if he had any other matters in dispute with Mr. Folsom 
 he had better come up to the house in -the evening and 
 we would talk them over together; but he never came, 
 probably from a sense of guilty conscience. 
 
 Primus and Mike and several other negroes were 
 there [in Beaufort], buying horses from officers and 
 men in Sherman's army, titles very uncertain, for they 
 mostly belong to the quartermaster. I advised them not 
 to buy a horse till the ownership was certified by an 
 officer, but they were too much in a hurry for that and 
 hooked on to the first quadruped they could find offered 
 for sale. The fact is that thousands of horses are 
 attached to this army which are picked up by the 
 privates in their march through Georgia, and which 
 these privates pretend to own, and sell without au- 
 thority, pocketing their money as fast as they please. 
 
302 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 Some of them are very good horses, and some are not. 
 The town was crowded with the army, on a general 
 leave to ramble about, and new troops continually 
 arrive. One entire corp? marched over Port Royal 
 Ferry yesterday, and two more army corps are said 
 to be following. Some twenty steamers arrive daily at 
 Beaufort direct from Savannah, bringing the troops and 
 wagons, artillery and animals. So you can imagine what 
 a confusion appears in the streets as they disembark 
 and march out to camp. The greater part of the whole 
 army seems to be coming around this way and marching 
 over the Feny towards Pocotaligo. Secretg,ry Stanton 
 is said to have arrived from Savannah at Beaufort last 
 evening. It seems that Primus and the other negroes 
 were about to get their new horses over the Ferry, when 
 the provost marshal sent down a guard to seize men and 
 animals, and marched them all off to the guard-house 
 for the night. The horses will probably be taken away 
 from them and the men allowed to pursue their way 
 this morning, with more sense and less money than they 
 came with. I don't pity them much, for they were fairly 
 warned, and their eagerness to own horses, for which 
 they pay from $200 to $300 each, is perfectly absurd.* 
 
 ' Concerning this horse-buyiog fever Mr. Philbrick has elsewhere 
 an amusing anecdote: 
 
 [Jan. 8.] The latest case of destitution I have heard of was the case 
 of old Robert at the Oaks, cow-minder, — you remember him. He 
 and old Scylla applied to Mr. Tomlinson for rations, pleading utter 
 poverty. It turned out next day that Robert and Scylla's husband 
 (vere in treaty for Mr. Fairfield's horse, at the rate of $350! They 
 did n't allege inabHiiy to pay the price, but thought they would look 
 around and see if they could n't get one cheaper. I daresay it will 
 end by their buying it. 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 303 
 
 Later. An interesting scene has just taken place. 
 May's Comba knocked at the door and asked me to 
 come out in the entry a minute. Thinking there might 
 be some domestic trouble, though she looked smiUng, 
 I went out and found about twenty women (representa- 
 tive women) about the door. Comba disappeared in 
 the mass with a giggle, and old Grace spoke up, about 
 as follows : " I 'se come to you, sir " — pause — "I 'se 
 been working fer owner three years, and made with 
 my chillun two bales cotton last year, two more this 
 year. I'se a flat-footed pusson and don't know much, 
 but I knows those two bales cotton fetch 'nough money, 
 and I don't see what I'se got for 'em. When I take 
 my leetle bit money and go to store, buy cloth, find it 
 so dear, dear Jesus! — the money aU gone and leave 
 chillun naked. Some people go out yonder and plant 
 cotton for theyself. Now they get big pile of money 
 for they cotton, and leave we people 'way back. That 's 
 what I'se lookin' on, Marsa. Then when I come here 
 for buy 'lasses, when Massa CharUe sell he sell good 
 'lasses, then when Mister W. sell he stick water in 'em, 
 water enough. Molasses turn thin, but he charge big 
 price for 'em. Now I'se done working for such 'gree- 
 ment. I'se done, sir." Whereupon chorus of women 
 join in like a flock of blackbirds all talking at once. 
 After a while I got a chance to say about as follows: 
 " If any one wants to work on this plantation I will give 
 them so and so (naming terms), but if any one don't 
 like my wages, they may go and find better, but they 
 can't use my land to plant their corn and 'tater on. 
 That's my rule." Chorus interrupts with discordant 
 shouts : " I stay right here, sir — I will work this land 
 
304 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 for myself, sir — I mil sell the cotton," etc., etc. 
 Amaritta and Petra stood silent all this time, and finally 
 Amaritta quietly asked me to repeat my terms, which I 
 did. She repeated them after me word for word, but 
 said nothing more, only nodded and grunted a sort of 
 assent. The chorus became wilder and more noisy, and 
 I walked off into the house. Presently Demus came 
 to the door and said Amaritta wanted to see me by 
 heself. So I went to the door, and Amaritta called Tilly, 
 Petra, and one or two others. Thus said Amaritta : 
 "I'se work for you dis lass year, sir, what I was able. 
 I been sick, you know, wi' small-pox and did n't get 
 much strength all summer, but I don't mind much 
 what them people say, sir, they'se got no manners. 
 Now you say you '11 give so and so (carefully repeating 
 my terms). Well, sir, I'se come to say I'se 'gree for 
 work. I 'speck to work, sir. I want to lay my bones in 
 dat air bush (pointing to cemetery), and don't want 
 to go nowhar else ; that's what I wanted to say, sir." 
 Then the other two or three women chimed in with 
 smiling faces and said the same in fewer words, and 
 so I bid them good-morning. I told them, too, that if 
 some of those people who made so much noise did n't 
 look out, they would get turned off the place, just as 
 Venus and her gang got turned off last year. The fact 
 is, they are trying to play brag, as such people often 
 will ; but they will all go to work in a few days, I feel 
 sure. 
 
 Jan. 17. Mr. Folsom went over to Port Royal Island 
 with Mr. G. on Sunday, taking their own horses, and 
 rode over Sherman's pontoons at Port Royal Ferry, 
 without a challenge, and then up the mainland as far 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 305 
 
 as Pocotaligo Bridge, around which the 17th Army Corps 
 is encamped, in full possession of the railroad. Mr. G. 
 called here an hour ago on his way back, and told some 
 of his experiences. He says they were taken for " Se- 
 cesh " by our own troops, all the way, just as we all 
 are in Beaufort, for the officers themselves seem to be 
 hardly aware that we are all Yankees, taking us for 
 the old residents of the island, made loyal by our ex- 
 periences. 
 
 Every one wonders what brought Secretary Stanton 
 here. He seems to have done something, at any rate, 
 viz., hauled General Foster over the coals severely for 
 his negro conscription last summer, promoted Gen- 
 eral Saxton to a brevet major-general, with enlarged 
 powers, and, report says, put General Howard in place 
 of General Foster. The newspapers wiU tell you aU I 
 know, and more, too, without doubt. Mr. TomUnson, 
 who was about disgusted with things here as he found 
 them when he came back from the North, and had 
 concluded to go to Philadelphia to take some position 
 offered him there by the Philadelphia committee, now 
 thinks he will remain here, — for which I am very glad. 
 Very few men could be so useful as he in this place ; 
 for though he has a weak spot on the question of negro 
 character, he has a vast deal of good sense in detail, 
 and is perfectly unimpeachable in his stern regard for 
 justice, never allowing himself to be used in any way 
 for the furthering of the designs' of interested parties. 
 No one who has not spent some time under martial 
 law knows how hard it is and how rare for men in 
 office to follow such a course, unswerved by either 
 flattery or ambition. 
 
306 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 Jan. 22. General Saxton came over to the St. Helena 
 cliurcli last Sunday, and set all the Edisto people into 
 a stew by teUing how he was going to send the black 
 troops there to defend the islands, and how they might 
 all go back to their " old homes," etc., forgetting that 
 they were not natives of Edisto, but only refugees when 
 there, and that they were now more comfortably set- 
 tled here than they were there in 1862. The Georgia 
 refugees are coming along by hundreds and thousands, 
 and he "wanted to make room for them," etc. Of 
 course the Edisto people all say the General has ordered 
 them to pack up and he will carry them back, etc. So, 
 many refuse to work, but pack up and sit still, waiting 
 for the' General to come along and tote them across the 
 sound ! The Georgia negroes are a superior-looking set 
 to those of these islands. Many are taken in outbuild- 
 ings, etc., and have given a good start to labor by 
 giving the impression that if the old residents don't 
 work, somebody else will. They have gone to work for 
 Mr. York at Fripp Point, and here for Mr. H., and all 
 along the road generally. George Wells has got over 
 a hundred Georgians on Morgan Island doing well, 
 and I guess the rebs won't trouble him, they are too 
 busy. 
 
 Mr. Tomlinson is to take the place on General 
 Saxton's staff formerly held by Captain Hooper, but 
 without military rank. C. F. WiUiams is to take Mr. 
 Tomlinson's place here. 
 
 We hear by your letter the Hst of the passengers lost 
 on the Melville. All our worst fears are confirmed, and 
 you were right in supposing that it was our acquaint- 
 ances who were lost. This miserable steamer I once 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 307 
 
 talked of coming on, by her previous trip, but gave it 
 up wben I found her character. 
 
 FROM w. c. G. 
 
 Jan. 23. I think I suggested in a previous letter the 
 possibihty of my staying here. Sherman's operations 
 have opened a wider sphere for negro work and thrown 
 a great number of refugees into our hands. And his 
 approaching campaign will have a similar effect. 
 General Saxton has been appointed "Inspector Gen- 
 eral," with control of all negro affairs from Key West 
 to Charleston and thirty miles inland. The first thing 
 proposed is to recolonize Edisto and the other deserted 
 Sea Islands with the refugees, and men are wanted to 
 assist in their settlement. I have been offered a situa- 
 tion of this kind, or rather the General has simply 
 asked a few of us to stay, and Mr. Tomlinson, Folsom, 
 and myseK will all remain for the present at least. I 
 know nothing more than this, but I look forward to a 
 rough life, something Uke our first year here. I shall 
 probably go to Edisto in a day or two. There will be 
 no danger from attack, etc., as a regiment is to be sta- 
 tioned there. The island is described by all as the 
 finest and healthiest of all the Sea Islands. 
 
 If there is any movement afoot in Boston for the 
 assistance of the negro refugees that Sherman's opera- 
 tions throw into our hands, it can be of the greatest 
 benefit. The efforts three years ago were made chiefly 
 for persons left in their own homes, and with their own 
 clothing and property, besides their share of the plunder 
 from their masters' houses. And in many cases too 
 much was given. But now hundreds and thousands 
 
308 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 are coming in, shivering, hungry, so lean and bony 
 and sickly that one wonders to what race they belong. 
 Old men of seventy and children of seven years have 
 kept pace with Sherman's advance, some of them for 
 two months and over, from the interior of Georgia; 
 of course little or nothing could be brought but the 
 clothing on their backs and the young children in arms. 
 Since their arrival in comparatively comfortable quar- 
 ters, great sickness has prevailed, and numbers and 
 numbers have died. The Government gives them 
 rations, and has tried to give out clothing. But if 
 clothes, cooking utensils, etc., can be sent by Northern 
 friends, nowhere can generosity be better extended. 
 
 Savannah, Feb. 16. As you see, my destination has 
 been changed. General Saxton needed a kind of coloni- 
 zation office here, and I am sent as an assistant. How 
 long this will continue my headquarters I don't know. 
 I am writing in a very large and fine house formerly 
 occupied by Habersham, rebel. It is full of fine furni- 
 ture. Our office, too, is one of the City Bank buildings. 
 The prices are regal, too — $15 per week for board, e. g. 
 
 Mar. 1. The work at the office continues the same 
 in land, and the stream of waiters increases. We hope 
 to send quite a company off to some of the more distant 
 islands before long, but are terribly embarrassed for 
 want of transportation. First, no steamer! then no 
 coal! And when one can be had, the other can't. Gen- 
 eral Saxton is still, as ever previously, left to get round 
 on one leg. His work is of course always inferior in 
 importance to the needs of the military service, so there 
 is never an absence of reason for refusing him what he 
 wants. " Bricks ! — without straw," has so far been 
 
1865] LETTERS PROM PORT ROYAL 309 
 
 the usual fortune. Soon a gentleman is going out 
 towards the Ogeechee to report numbers and condition 
 there. It seems to be a Central Asia, from the popula- 
 tion that swarms in for rations. Compared with those 
 who apply, few are allowed them. No one who can 
 show a finger to pick with and reports an oyster to pick, 
 is allowed to come on the Government for support. 
 
 Here follows the last letter from G., written three 
 months later, not long before he came away. 
 
 FROM w. c. G. 
 
 Savannah, June 9. Our business has slacked greatly, 
 and is now mainly kept up by recent refugees from the 
 up-country. We have stopped more than half the rations, 
 and almost every family within a dozen miles has been 
 represented at the office and been furnished with the 
 proper papers. But slavery still exists in the interior 
 and is spending its last moments in the old abomina- 
 tions of whipping and punishing. Of course it is nearly 
 dead, — the people know they are free and the masters 
 have to own it, — but the ruling passion is strong in 
 death. 
 
 W. C. G. left the South in June; H. W. and C. P. W. 
 had gone several months before him. The letters writ- 
 ten at intervals during the next two years are mostly 
 addressed to the latter by F. H. and T. E. R. They 
 report the gradually changing conditions and increasing 
 difficulties of plantation superintendence. 
 
 K. SOUIiE, JR., TO C. p. W. 
 
 Coffin's Point, April 29. Mr. H. is getting on pretty 
 smoothly, though he has occasionally to take a dose of 
 
310 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 what Mr. York calls "Plantation Bitters," in the shape 
 of complaints, faithlessness, and general rascality on 
 the part of the "poor negroes." 
 
 E. S. P. TO W. C. G. (in savannah) 
 
 Boston, May 1. You wiU see by the papers all about 
 the fall in prices. The Liverpool cotton men had lost 
 twelve millions sterhng upon the depreciation of their 
 cotton in store before they heard of the fall of Richmond 
 and Lee's surrender. There is a terrible panic there, 
 and some of the best firms are failing. After things have 
 come to. an equiUbrium, and the manufacturers begin 
 to buy cotton for spinning, there wiU be a demand for 
 ours, but it may take several months, for they have n't 
 got to the bottom of the trouble yet. 
 
 The affairs at St. Helena seem to be progressing 
 quietly. The chances are that all the cotton we raise 
 this year will cost nearly if not quite as much as we 
 shall get for it. I advanced a dollar a pound on the 
 negroes' cotton, you know, and it has cost me about 
 twenty-five cents a pound more to gin it, etc., etc., while 
 I am offered less than a dollar. Query: how much 
 commission shall I get for doing the business ? 
 
 T. E. H. TO c. p. w. 
 
 St. Helena, May 6. The Coffin's Pointites had a gay 
 old blow-out over at church, owing to Mr. Williams' 
 telling them that they must pay Mr. Philbrick for pas- 
 turing their horses. They called Mr. P. a thief, rob- 
 ber, liar, and everything else that was Ijad. 
 
 The death of Lincoln was an awful blow to the 
 negroes here. One would say, "Uncle Sam is dead, 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 311 
 
 is'n't he ? " Another, " The Government is dead, is n't 
 it ? You have got to go North and Secesh come back, 
 have n't you ? We going to be slaves again ? " They 
 could not comprehend the matter at all — how Lincoln 
 could die and the Government stiU Uve. It made them 
 very quiet for a few days. 
 
 Secesh are coming back quite freely nowadays and 
 looking about as much as they please: Old Ben and 
 young Ben Chaplin, several of the Pritchards, and Cap- 
 tain Williams, that owned a plantation on Ladies Island. 
 
 The negroes begin to clamor about the final payment 
 for their cotton, and we have to teU them that the 
 probabihties are that there will not be any more. Then 
 they think we have cheated them, and so the world goes 
 in South CaroHna. Rather a thankless task. 
 
 F. H. TO c. p. w. 
 
 Coffin's, May 21. The honesty of this people and 
 their disinterested benevolence are as apparent as ever. 
 Please don't exaggerate these valuable quahties, either 
 in the papers, to the Educational Commission, or in 
 your private conversation; because it is better that 
 those who are interested in the welfare of these people 
 should not be deceived into the notion that they are so 
 nearly perfect as to need no further expenditure of 
 benevolent effort. Of course, we know the great danger 
 of your wreathing your account of them in roses and 
 laurel. One's enthusiasm is so excited in their behalf 
 by a few years' residence here, that his veracity is in 
 great danger of being swamped in his ideality, and 
 his judgment lost in his admiration. So pardon my 
 warning to you. 
 
312 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 The McTureous lands have recently been sold, and 
 about every family upon this place has got its five or 
 ten acres. I tell them they had better move or build 
 houses upon their lots and be independent of "we, us, 
 and CO." But the idea seems to meet with little favor. 
 A good many of them are expecting these lands to be 
 offered to them the coming year, now that the war is 
 about over. Dr. Brisbane, General Saxton, and others 
 assuring them that such was Mr. Philbrick's promise 
 when he bought them. I think there would be some 
 important advantages to white proprietors as well as 
 black laborers, if they had some ten acres of land of their 
 own, — at least enough to raise their own provisions 
 upon, and to keep their own hogs and horses upon. 
 Such an arrangement would rid us of many annoy- 
 ances, and help define the rights of each party. 
 
 " G 's article," referred to in the next letter, was en- 
 titled " The Freedmen at Port Royal," and appeared 
 in the North American Review for July, 1865. 
 
 E. SOTJLE, JR., TO C. P. W. 
 
 Coffin's Point, Sept. 10. G.'s article is well written 
 and interesting. He was evidently disposed to report 
 as favorably as possible for the negroes, while at the 
 same time he seems to have suspected that the reader 
 would be a good deal impressed by the darker shades 
 of his sketch, and the conclusion of the whole is : There 
 is ground for hope, but the case is a pretty desper- 
 ate one. A conclusion to which, I confess, my own 
 observation and studies lead me, whichever way I 
 turn. 
 
 The furor among the negroes here just now is to have 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 313 
 
 a Union Store, and they are contributing their funds 
 for this purpose. They propose to put up a building 
 for the store near Smallwood's Bakery (at the corner 
 where village road branches from main road), and to 
 make Mr. Smallwood President of their Corporation! 
 This project will probably have one good effect in the 
 end, namely, to open their eyes to see some things 
 which nobody can make them see now. 
 
 F. H. TO c. p. w. 
 
 Cojfin's Point, Sept. 18. Cotton is opening well now, 
 but we have rather unfavorable weather for picking 
 and drying. The caterpillars have finally run over a 
 good deal of ground, doing some damage, hard to tell 
 how much. 
 
 R. thinks he don't care to try the experiment of 
 cotton-raising again — the risks and vexations are so 
 great. I find that feehng quite general here this year 
 among planters. William Alden says it is his last 
 year. I doubt whether he pays expenses this season. 
 His cotton is late, and now the caterpillars are destroy- 
 ing it. 
 
 F. H. TO C. P. W. 
 
 Sept. 24. Much of my time has been occupied of late 
 in service on Plantation'Commission. The most impor- 
 tant case is still on trial, — that of the stealing of twelve 
 hundred pounds of seed cotton from Mr. De Golyer. 
 There is a " cloud of witnesses " — a very dark one — 
 and it is hard, as yet, to discern in it any glimmering 
 of truth. 
 
314 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 T. E. B. TO C. P. W. 
 
 St. Helena Island, Sept. 25. With the dry weather 
 of July and the wet weather now, with the worm, we 
 shall lose a third sure of our crop, if not more. 
 
 The negroes on the island are very quiet — all 
 absorbed in a scheme of esta,bKshing a "St. Helena 
 Protective Union Store," J. Smallwood, President. 
 They have got the frame out and on the ground. I 
 have a great deal of curiosity to see the working of the 
 thing, for they never did succeed in the North among 
 intelligent white people. If they can read and write, or 
 keep a Union Store, I think they ought to have the right 
 of suffrage. 
 
 Nearly all the Secesh are back in Beaufort, confidently 
 expecting that they will get their land back in season 
 to plant next year. 
 
 All the Georgians wiU go back this fall, but all the 
 people Fuller ' took with him (excuse me, I should say 
 went with him) will return here in a few weeks. Fuller 
 has n't any cotton this year, only corn and potatoes. 
 When he returned from here he told them the people 
 down here were very poor and in miserable condition; 
 nevertheless, they seem willing to come down and 
 share the misery of freedom to staying up there with 
 Fuller in comfort. At the time he was here, 17th of June, 
 he never had said a word to the people with him that 
 they were free, and did not until they made a plan 
 among themselves to go up to him in a body and make 
 
 ' Fuller, of Fuller Place, who had succeeded in keeping with ]jnn 
 on a plantation elsewhere the negroes he had induced to accompany 
 him when the war broke out. 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 315 
 
 him tell them. Then Fuller took the old driver one 
 side and told him he wanted him and all the people 
 to stay with him and plant another year, and wanted 
 him to use his influence to persuade the people to stay. 
 So next morning he called them all up and had them 
 stand on his right hand, and as he called their names he 
 wanted those who were willing to stay with him another 
 year to step over to his left hand. So he commenced 
 with Old Gib, the driver (January's father). He 
 turned right round and walked towards the negro 
 quarters. Fuller says, "Why, Gib, you will stay, won't 
 you ? " " No, Sir." Then he went through the whole 
 list, and every one marched straight home and none to 
 his left hand, much to his disgust. 
 
 The next extract reports E. S. P.'s final decision as 
 to the price for which he should offer land to the negroes. 
 
 E. s. p. TO w. c. G.* 
 
 Boston, Oct. 5. C. F. Williams has gone down to finish 
 surveying my land, and will cut up and sell for me to 
 the negroes about as much land as they have been in 
 the habit of using, — good, arable land, at $5 per acre, 
 where they are not already provided. 
 
 R. S., JR., TO C. P. W. 
 
 Coffin's Point, Oct. 9. I have no reason to complain 
 of my people for any extraordinary delinquencies, for 
 they have workfed as well as we shall probably ever be 
 able to get these negroes to work; but I have frequently 
 had occasion to be vexed at their slow, shiftless habits 
 and at their general stupidity. It is a very great trial 
 ' In Europe. 
 
316 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 to any Northern man to have to deal with such a set 
 of people, and I am satisfied that if Northerners emigrate 
 to the South and undertake agriculture or anything 
 else here, they wiU be compelled to import white labor- 
 ers. In the first place, they will not have the patience 
 to get along with the negroes, even if there were enough 
 of these freedmen to do all the work. But, in the second 
 place, there will not be one quarter enough of them to 
 supply the demand there will be for laborers when the 
 uncleared land at the South is brought under cultivation. 
 The old slaveholders could never get hands enough, 
 and yet they cultivated only about one tenth of the land 
 that is fit for cotton. 
 
 It need hardly be said that this prophecy has not yet 
 been fulfilled. 
 
 E. s. P. TO w. c. G. 
 
 Boston, Oct. 15. I have had a letter from Charleston 
 written by a lawyer on behalf of Captain John Fripp 
 and his three daughters ! The writer says but little abojit 
 his legal rights, but appeals to my "sense of justice 
 and generosity," to see if some compromise can't be 
 made. He does n't say exactly what he wants, but 
 intimates that both parties could profit by such an 
 arrangement and save the vexations of a law suit. I 
 don't see exactly what he has got to give, except his old 
 title, which he probably values a good deal higher than 
 I do. I wrote him telUng him I was hampered in acts 
 of "generosity" by the fact that the present title was 
 not in me alone, but that about a dozen other gentlemen 
 were interested, and asked him to matfe us a definite 
 proposition. You may see by the papers that General 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 317 
 
 Howard is sent by the President to see if he can recon- 
 cile the claims of the negroes on Edisto and other islands 
 with those of the former owners who clamor to be rein- 
 stated in their position. I guess General Howard will 
 have a tough job. I don't envy him. 
 
 Nov. 21. There is a large number of old planters 
 who are offering their lands at very low rates, and so 
 many tempting chances are offered to Northern men. 
 The tide of emigration southward does n't yet set very 
 strong, however. I think the great drawback is the 
 feeling that the South is still intolerant of Yankees. 
 The rabble and the young men are still clinging to the 
 hope that they are going to have their own way about 
 managing the nigger, somehow or other, as soon as 
 they get rid of the United States forces, and they know 
 very well that Yankees who come among them will not 
 agree with them about the best way of "making him 
 work," for they won't beUeve that he will ever work 
 till he is made to. Now, to tell the truth, I don't believe 
 myself that the present generation of negroes will work 
 as they were formerly obUged to, and therefore the race 
 will not produce so much cotton in this generation as 
 they did five years ago. The change is too great a one 
 to be made in a day. It will take many years to make 
 an economical and thrifty man out of a freedman, and 
 about as long to make a sensible and just employer out 
 of a former slaveholder. It is not at aU likely that the 
 Southern community will tax itself to educate the negro 
 yet for a good while, and I have my doubts whether the 
 system of education thus far carried on through the 
 benevolence of Northern and Enghsh communities can 
 be kept up much longer. It is a laudable and a noble 
 
318 * LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1866 
 
 work, but- 1 fear it can't be sustained after the novelty is 
 over. There seems to be a lethargy creeping over our 
 community on this subject, which is very hard to shake 
 off. The feeling is somewhat general that the negro must 
 make the most of his chances and pick up his a, b, c's 
 as he can. Moreover, there is a mass of ignorance in the 
 South under white skins, which is likely to give us more 
 immediate trouble, politically, than the ignorance of 
 the negro, for that latter is not as yet armed with the 
 suffrage. Of course there is not much enthusiasm 
 about sending teachers South to teach the poor whites, 
 so the negro suffers from the magnitude of the under- 
 taking, from his remoteness from view, and the general 
 disposition among mankind to let everybody hoe their 
 own weeds so long as they don't shade one's own 
 garden. 
 
 I hear that General Howard went to Edisto with the 
 view of reconciUng the squatter negroes with the claims 
 of the former owners, as requested by the President, 
 but that the task was rather difficult, as you may ima- 
 gine; and though the former owners had promised to 
 "absorb " the labor, and provide for the negroes' wants, 
 etc., they found the negroes had ideas which they were 
 not quite prepared for, and, in short, got so disgusted 
 with the prospect of getting the said negroes to work 
 for them under the new order of things that they did 
 not seem so anxious to "absorb" them as before, and 
 as General Howard did not feel Uke driving off the 
 negroes to put the old owners in possession, he left things 
 pretty much as he found them,' except that the old 
 owners, who went there confidently expecting to have 
 ' By President Johnson's instructions. 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 319 
 
 all their own way, went off witk a flea in the ear. I 
 have nothing more from the Charleston lawyer, but 
 Mr. TomUnson reports that Charleston lawyers told him 
 they did n't see how to get around our tax-titles, though 
 they would doubtless carry them into court as soon as 
 they have courts, and give the lawyers plenty of work.* 
 Dr. Clarence Fripp began to practice medicine on 
 St. Helena, living with John Major, but afterwards 
 got a contract surgeon's berth from General Saxton, 
 and is now in the Village, next door to his old house, now 
 occupied by Miss Towne! He made a professional 
 visit at Coffin's Point and dined with them ! 
 
 A picture of Clarence Fripp on his return to St. 
 Helena, and a gUmpse of his situation from his own 
 point of view, are given in a letter to the New York 
 Nation from Dennett, a special correspondent (see 
 page 320). Dennett writes that, among the Northern 
 soldiers and traders in the hotel at Hilton Head, there 
 was also "a person who had the easily distinguishable 
 appearance and manners of a South Carolinian. This 
 gentleman, a person of some fifty odd years old, dressed 
 tolerably well in a suit of grey clothes, with a large 
 display of crumpled linen at the collar and cuffs of his 
 coat, sat before the stove smoking, and talking very 
 freely about his present poverty and his plans for the 
 future." After explaining that he had left St. Helena 
 when Dupont forced an entrance, leaving his plate and 
 furniture behind, and that his plantation had been sold, 
 Dr. Fripp set forth the situation in which he now found 
 himself. "Some Massachusetts man had bought it, 
 
 ' The original owners of the Sea Island plantations were subse- 
 quently reimbursed by Congress for their loss (minors receiving again 
 their actual land); but inasmuch as the sums paid them did not 
 include the value of their slaves, they considered the payment inade- 
 quate. 
 
320 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 and he did n't know when he 'd get it back. . . . Up in 
 Greenville he soon spent all his money to support his 
 family, but if he 'd had money he could n't have saved 
 his property. How was he to come back inside the 
 Yankee lines and pay the tax.? The Commissioners 
 knew very well it could n't be done ; the sale was a per- 
 fectly unfair thing." In coming back now to Beaufort, 
 he said " he hoped to be able to pick up a little medical 
 practice; but if his profession failed Mm, he supposed 
 his son and himself could put up a cabin somewhere in 
 the vicinity, and get fish and oysters enough to hve on." 
 He even lalked of circulating a handbill at Greenville 
 asking for money for his needs, and Dennett adds: 
 "This gentleman, it is currently reported, has made 
 several visits to the plantation which he formerly 
 owned, and the negroes hving there have collected for 
 his use nearly a hundred dollars." ' 
 
 T. E. E. TO c. p. w. 
 
 St. Helena, Dec. 10. Your letter has been a reminder 
 of my duty, but cotton ginning is my only excuse. It 
 has proved mjich more of a bore this year than usual, 
 for it is nothing but tief, tief, all the time. We do not 
 get more than one fifth ^ of the weight of seed cotton 
 after it is ginned, and the probabilities are that they 
 steal the balance; but we are perfectly helpless, for we 
 cannot prove it against any of them. I have had about 
 a bale of cotton stolen at the " Oaks " since I put it in 
 the cotton-house. I can assure you there is nothing to 
 be made this year. 
 
 We had a call from Dennett (correspondent of 
 
 ' New York Natim, November 30, 1865. 
 
 ' The cotton when ginned should have weighed between one 
 third and one quarter as much as it weighed before ginning. See 
 p. 236. 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 321 
 
 Nation) on Ms Southern tour, a few weeks ago. He 
 said he was disappointed in not getting better reports 
 of the negroes here on these islands, for he had been 
 looking forward to this place, feeling sure he should 
 find something good to offset the many evil reports he 
 had heard of them all the way down through the coun- 
 try. He thinks Mr. Soule and Mr. H. very much 
 demoralized on the negro question.' 
 
 General Gillmore was removed for being unfriendly 
 to Freedmen's BureJflS, and General Sickles is now in 
 command. He told Saxton ^ to let him know what was 
 wanted and he should have it, so things are moving on 
 very smoothly now. Tomlinson ^ has been on a trip 
 through South Carolina to see what the condition of 
 the people was and at what points he could establish 
 schools. They have them started in nearly all the prin- 
 cipal points. He says the whites do not know that 
 they have been whipped yet, and many of the negroes 
 don't know they are free. 
 
 Mrs. Bryant has opened a pay school [at T. B. 
 Fripp's], older scholars paying one dollar per month 
 and young ones fifty cents. She has about sixty schol- 
 ars. Alden has opened a store on the place. 
 
 ' In one of his letters to the Nation (December 14), Dennett quotes 
 Richard Soule as saying that he thought the past four years had en- 
 couraged and confirmed the faults of the negro. "Demoralized on 
 the negro question," therefore, seems to mean, not that Richard Soule 
 and P. H. were finding the negro worse than they had thought him, 
 but that they considered that present conditions were rapidly mak- 
 ing him worse. 
 
 ^ General Saxton was Assistant Commissioner for South Caro- 
 lina under the Freedmen's Bureau. 
 
 •' Reuben TomUnson had been made State Superintendent of Edu- 
 cation. 
 
322 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 The negroes' Union Store is raised and covered, but 
 I guess will never be stocked.' 
 
 E. S., JK., TO c. p. w. 
 
 Coffin's Point, Dec. 17. I suppose you have heard 
 that our plantation operations here this year have been 
 a failure. Nobody has raised more than half a crop. 
 The drought in the early part of the summer and the 
 caterpillar in August and September contrived to 
 diminish the yield. Most of tne planters, however, 
 thinking that two bad seasons will not come in succes- 
 sion, are making vigorous preparations for next year in 
 the way of gathering marsh-grass and mud. I have 
 about concluded to sell or to lease Mulberry Hill, and 
 if I succeed in doing either I shall probably go home 
 about the first of February. 
 
 There is a universal feeling of dissatisfaction, not to 
 say disgust, with our colored brethren here at the pre- 
 sent time, on account of the extraordinary development 
 of some of their well-known characteristics. They are 
 steahng cotton at a fearful rate. Captain Kellum of 
 Dathaw lost a whole bale a few nights since, and to- 
 day Mr. WiUiams, who has just come down from R.'s, 
 tells us that the cotton-house has been broken into 
 and one packed bale cut open and about one hundred 
 pounds taken out of it and carried off! This bale be- 
 longed to Mr. York. We none of us feel secure against 
 these depredations. 
 
 '■ The Union Store was finished, stocked, and operated, but its 
 life was brief. From the first, its vitaUty was sapped by the claim 
 of the stockholders to unlimited credit; then a dishonest treasurer 
 struck the death-blow. 
 
1865] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 323 
 
 Two of the thieves at Coffin's Point were caught 
 with ginned cotton in their houses, Peter Brown and 
 WiUiam White. Before Mr. Towne could apprehend 
 them they escaped to the main. Another, Jonas Green, 
 had cotton-seed hid away in his corn-house. He was 
 caught, and a Plantation Commission sentenced him to 
 two months' imprisonment. This is the first fruit of 
 making land-owners of the negroes. While they raise 
 cotton of their own and no restraint is put upon them 
 in making sale of what they bring to market, it is impos- 
 sible to ferret out their robberies in most cases. Such 
 rascahty on the part of the negroes is more discouraging 
 than caterpillars and drought. 
 
 F. H. TO c. p. w. 
 
 Coffin's, Dec. 26. I expect my sojourn at Coffin's 
 Point is nearly closed. The attractions of the place or 
 the people are not sufficient to keep me here another 
 year. The chmate is bad enough, the general "shift- 
 lessness " of the people is disgusting enough; but when 
 I see that the disposition to steal the crop is very gen- 
 eral, that the people have done and can do it with 
 impunity, I am discouraged about cotton-raising here. 
 I beheve they have not taken any of ours since it has 
 been packed, but large quantities of it before. And as 
 they all raised cotton on McTureous ' for themselves, 
 they could mix and secrete it very successfully. 
 
 Mr. Soule has this moment learned that his cotton- 
 house has been entered and cotton stolen, but to what 
 extent has not been determined. 
 
 I think Mr. Soule will be glad to get away from this 
 ' See p. 312. 
 
SM LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1865 
 
 " Sodom." He is too good a man to be worn out by the 
 barbarians of this latitude. 
 
 E. s., JR., TO c. p. w. 
 
 Coffin's Point, Dec. 31. How well Grant appears in 
 everything he writes as well as in everything he does! 
 In the Weekly Advertiser just received by me, I find 
 his report of his recent Southern tour/ and, if I mis- 
 take not, he intimates pretty clearly that General Sax- 
 ton has not managed his Department judiciously. 
 
 Mr. Philbrick has made an effort to sell the most of 
 the plantations. As yet, however, no purchaser has 
 appeared, and he has now about concluded to dispose 
 of them as follows: to lease Fuller Place to N., R., and 
 W. (the new firm who have purchased the stock on hand 
 in store), and Cherry Hill ^ to Mr. Waters, to intrust 
 the management of Homestead to the latter gentle- 
 man, and that of Coffin's Point to Mr. H. for account 
 of E. S. P., and to let Mr. Williams sell the whole of 
 Comer ' and Fripp Point to negroes. I have leased 
 Mulberry Hill to Mr. Waters. 
 
 Negroes continue to steal cotton, and we continue 
 to be helpless against their depredations. 
 
 ^ This was Grant's famous "car-window"' report, in which he 
 stated his belief that "the mass of thinking men at the South accept 
 the situation in good faith." 
 
 ' Mr. Waters bought Cherry Hill and lived there for a short time. 
 
 ^ "Comer"' was the Captain John Fripp place. 
 
1866—1867—1868 
 
 Mr. Pkilbrick's sales to the negroes — Persistent discowagement 
 with the negroes — H. W.'s visit to Coffin's Point in 1868 — Tribute 
 of the negroes to Mr. Philbrick. 
 
 E. S. P. TO W. C. G. [in EUROPE] 
 
 Boston, Jan. 12, 1866. The Freedmen's Aid Societies 
 have all consolidated, and lately have united with the 
 big Orthodox society for helping refugees, the latter 
 class being no longer so needy except that the poor 
 whites need education as much as the blacks, and I 
 have made up my mind that we can't help the blacks 
 much except by helping poor whites at the same time. 
 The combination enlarges the begging field immensely, 
 and by putting white and black schools under the same 
 control will give negro schools a sort of footing which 
 they would n't otherwise have, after our troops get 
 scarce. The old feeling has already blossomed out 
 and borne fruit in Louisiana, where all the freedmen's 
 schools have just been extinguished or snuffed out at 
 a single pinch, except in New Orleans city, one lady 
 teacher being shot through the head. 
 
 A sweeping order has mustered out over a hundred 
 generals of the Volunteer Army, General Saxton among 
 the re^t. I don't know who takes his place in the 
 Freedmen's Bureau. This institution will probably be 
 continued by Congress with enlarged powers, but it is 
 but a drop in the bucket, after all. 
 
 C. F. Williams is busy sharing out land. He sells the 
 
326 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1S66 
 
 whole of Fripp Point in small lots to the negroes of both 
 places, and some others from outside. The whole place 
 measures only four hundred and sixty acres, bought 
 for seven hundred and fifty, and the Captain John 
 Fripp place is only four hundred and sixty instead of 
 one thousand for which I bought it! By the way, the 
 old man is dead, leaving his three daughters in povei-ty, 
 to earn their Kving as they best may. Julian Coffin has 
 visited Mr. Soule, etc., asking leave to go into his old 
 room, to take some of his father's old books, and left 
 after a few hours, since which none of us have heard 
 anything further of them. 
 
 There seems to be less law than ever there. I am 
 about making representations at Washington to see if 
 I can't get some improvement. 
 
 I lost about $2800 on the negro cotton ginned in 
 New York, and paid over about $2500 on account of 
 the cotton which they ginned there! I also lost some 
 
 $2000 on cotton taken from Mr. in Beaufort, he 
 
 turning out a knave. Our crop of 1864 paid our Com- 
 pany a profit of about $19,000. I shall just about pay 
 expenses on the crop of 1865, not much more, I think. 
 The caterpillar and the drought did n't leave much 
 cotton. 
 
 T. E. H. TO c. p. w. 
 
 Feb. 3, 1866. I am a gentleman of leisure and, like 
 most every one else here, am living on the interest of 
 what I have lost. I am no longer a member of the noted 
 firm of N., R., and W. We dissolved January 1, and 
 N. and W. continue the business at the old stand. I 
 decided that there was not salt enough for three cer- 
 
18G6] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 327 
 
 tainly. There is no money here to speak of, and what 
 there is will go to Beaufort where there is Uquor sold 
 or given away. I have also given up cotton-planting; 
 it is not a very lucrative business when it brings only 
 sixty-six cents. 
 
 I made arrangements with Mr. Pope to still occupy 
 this half of the house free of rent until August, if I 
 wished, and was calculating on having a rich time 
 seeing a native plant cotton with these island negroes, 
 but alas, my hopes are aU blighted, for every blessed 
 soul but one man and his wife has moved away and 
 wiU not work for him; so he has decided not to move 
 here until after we are gone. He has sent one man here 
 who was an old servant and has been with him all the 
 time, and he is very industrious, works from morn until 
 night; it is quite refreshing to see him. Pope was the 
 only one of the natives who bid off places at auction '■ 
 that came to time in paying up ; so the places were put 
 up again and bought by Northern men. 
 
 The present planters are in a dubious frame of mind 
 these days over the prospect for another year, for it is 
 very hard to bring wages down, and one cannot get his 
 money back at the present price of cotton, so most of 
 them wiU work on shares;^ but that is a sure way of 
 running a place all out, for the people will not manure 
 it sufficiently to keep it up. Mr. Eustis is always good- 
 natured, and is about the only man here who is not 
 utterly demorahzed on the negro question. 
 
 ' At the auction referred to, the Government offered for sale the 
 plantations which had been reserved for the support of schools. 
 
 ' A negro who worked a plantation "on shares" was independent 
 of the owner, merely paying a rent in cotton. 
 
328 LETTEKS FROM PORT ROYAL [1866 
 
 F. H. TO C. P. W. 
 
 Coffin's Point, Feb. 16, 1866. Eeally the people have 
 met with a great change of late, since I have sent away 
 Anthony Bail. They love and respect me hugely, which 
 I hope will last another whole week. 
 
 Dr. Oliver and Captain Ward, who have bought 
 "Pine Grove," have taken the usual disgust for the 
 people. They have got it bad; say they would not have 
 bought here had they imagined half of the reality. 
 They have some friends who would have bought 
 CoflSn's Point if they could have made a favorable 
 report of the people. But they tell them not to think 
 of buying to use the labor that is now here. I say the 
 same when I say anything about it, though I have no 
 friends who think of buying here. 
 
 T. E. R. TO C. p. W. 
 
 May 21, 1867. I don't suppose we shall be able to 
 make any new additions to your collection of negro 
 songs. ^ They sing but very little nowadays to what 
 they used to. Do you remember those good old days 
 when the Methodists used to sing up in that cotton- 
 house at Fuller's ? Was n't it good ? They never sing 
 any of them at the church, and very few in their praise- 
 meeting. 
 
 Crops on the island are looking worse than I ever 
 saw them at this season before. 
 
 We are all American citizens now, and there has been 
 
 an effort to form a Republican party, but it has not 
 
 1 Afterwards used as the nucleus of Slave Songs of the United 
 States. 
 
1868] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 329 
 
 succeeded very well yet. They are too suspicious to be 
 led by the whites, and there is not sense enough in 
 themselves to go ahead. 
 
 The last extract in the series is from a letter written 
 by H. W. exactly one year later, when she made a 
 trip to Port Royal, staying with Miss Towne and Miss 
 Murray at St. Helena Village. The tardy tribute of 
 the negroes to Mr. Philbrick makes the story com- 
 plete. 
 
 FROM H. W. 
 
 Thursday, May 21, 1868. When I inquired at break- 
 fast if I could have Jacob's horse for the day, I found 
 that, as he was in use for the crop. Miss Towne had 
 already had her horse put singly into their rockaway 
 for school, and Miss Murray's into the chaise for my 
 use. So when they started for school, I followed along 
 in company as far as the end of the Village road, where 
 Mr. N. now has a store, and, turning on to the more 
 famihar road, soon found myself crossing the creek 
 over Mr. Philbrick's bridge, — one of the very few in 
 decent repair, — and on my way to Captain John 
 Fripp Homestead. The entire absence of gates, and as 
 a consequence of pigs, or vice versa, made my drive an 
 easy one, and I did not have to get out once. It had 
 seemed hot early, but light clouds and a fresh breeze 
 kept it cool all day. I turned up the familiar avenue 
 to Folsom's, after passing through one field in which 
 the houses are still, though more scattered. The ave- 
 nue was clean and trim, and the house corresponded, 
 — a new piazza and steps all freshly painted, fresh 
 paint inside, and paper on the walls made every- 
 
330 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1868 
 
 thing look uncommonly spruce. The schoolroom 
 is now the parlor, and my sofa and cushion grace it 
 still! 
 
 Mr. Alden met me very cordially at the foot of the 
 steps, and I went in to see the other occupants, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Waters and their son. I had a pleasant call and 
 talk, and then, refusing their earnest invitation to spend 
 the day, as Coffin's Point was my one object, I pur- 
 sued my lonely way. Trees cut down, and houses 
 moved and built in the middle of the field, with the 
 absence of fences, gates, and pigs, were the most no- 
 ticeable changes, and I drove along, meeting no one, 
 until I came to the pine woods on the right opposite 
 old Frank's ground, just before you turn into the Pine 
 Grove field. The woods were aU thinned out, logs 
 lying in every direction. Hoeing the corn planted there 
 were two women I thought I recognized, and, walking 
 the horse, I leaned forward to see who was the man 
 further on. Then I stopped and asked him whose the 
 land was he was working, when he began an account 
 of how "it used to be McTureous and Mr. Thomas 
 Coffin buy 'em," ^ which I cut short with — "Yes, I 
 know that, but is it your own now ? What is your name ? " 
 " My name Able, ma'am ; dis Ian' mine, yes, ma'am " — 
 and then — "Oh! my Lord! Der Miss Hayiut, an' 
 me no know um!" and he dropped his hoe and came 
 scrambHng and running to the road. Sarah and Elsie, 
 whom I had just passed, and Martha further on, came 
 out at his call, grinning and pleased, and then he and 
 Martha began directly upon what I had done for 
 
 ' Before the war. 
 
1868] LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL 331 
 
 Rose,' their gratitude, and willingness that I should 
 keep her forever. Then they talked of how hard 
 the last year or two had been, and there were many 
 reiterations of "Ebery word Mass' Charlie and Mr. 
 Philbrick tell we come true." " Tell 'em tousan howdy 
 over for we — long too much for shum. We fin' 'em 
 out now." 
 
 !, A few steps more brought me into the Pine Grove 
 field, and I turned towards the house, followed by half 
 a dozen small children, only one of whom I knew or 
 knew me, — httle Abigail. Towards the house whom 
 should I come upon but Flora and her Sarah, a great 
 girl. She was pleased as could be, but told me I should 
 find no one at the Grove. Old Monah was dead, and 
 aU the old people had bought land and lived at the 
 Point. They were working for Mr. Ward, glad enough 
 to earn a Httle ready money for food. I went on to see 
 Mrs. Vaughn, and as she had not come up from school, 
 walked down to the praise-house, seeing no one I 
 knew but old Binah. 
 
 School had dispersed, so I walked back to the house, 
 and dined there, and then for Coffin's Point. Once 
 inside the hue — for the gate is not — I met the fa- 
 miUar breeze of the Big Pasture, but its altered face. 
 The houses are back as far as the creek on one side 
 and the woods on the other, — two or three quite large 
 and with piazzas, — the praise-house near the comer of 
 the wood. I was a long time passing through it, for they 
 all dropped their hoes and came down to shake hands. 
 I got Uncle George to follow along with hammer and 
 
 ' Rose had been living with H. W. in the North, and was now at 
 Port Royal with her, also on a visit. 
 
332 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1868 
 
 nails to mend the chaise, as the floor was so broken I 
 could not put my feet on it, and the bag of oats had 
 dropped through on the way. I had tied the halter to 
 the dasher and wound it round the bag, so there was 
 no loss. The dilapidation was a pleasing reminiscence 
 of old times, and George was pleased enough to earn 
 a quarter by patching it up. Then I drove on to the 
 house, where are only a Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair left ia 
 charge. Mrs. S. was very polite, and asked me up into 
 our old parlor, which did not look as pleasant as in the 
 old time. Garibaldi was out at pasture, so I could not 
 have the ride I coveted while my horse was eating his 
 dinner. As I had never been into the schooUiouse 
 since it was finished, I borrowed the key and walked 
 down to it. As I pulled the rope to hear the sound of the 
 unused bell, Robert came in, quiet as ever, but greatly 
 pleased, and asking many questions about Mass' 
 Charlie and Mr. and Mrs. Soule. I found the people 
 were coming up to be paid, so I went back to the yard 
 and stood there as they came up to the schoolroom 
 door, across which was the old school table, with 
 Primus behind it, and Mr. Sinclair, looking over his 
 list. Then I walked on the beach, and Robert put my 
 horse in and I drove off. 
 
 Mike had followed me up the road, loud in his 
 regrets for the "good ole times when Mass' Charlie 
 and de fust gang white people been here." "Mr. 
 Philbrick de fustest man in de worl'. General Bennett ^ 
 could n't — could n't — fetch de fust feathers round 
 his heart! " whatever that may be. 
 
 ' Gteneral Bennett was managing Coffin's for the owner, who had 
 bought it of Mr. Philbrick. 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 When the end of this record is reached, undoubtedly 
 the feeling uppermost in the mind of the reader is one 
 of disappointment. At first blush one is ready to believe 
 that the members of the little colony, in proving the 
 free negro capable of raising cotton to good advantage, 
 had still more completely proved him unfit for free- 
 dom. Yet the more one reflects on the story, the more 
 plainly one sees that the discouraging state of things 
 described in the later letters was merely the inevitable, 
 result of Emancipation, and would have been the same 
 had any other race been concerned, whatever its char- 
 acteristics. The ferment of Freedom worked slowly in 
 the negroes, but it worked mightily, and the very sign 
 of its working was, as a matter of course, unreasonalDle- 
 ness, insubordination, untrustworthiness. This result 
 might have been foreseen, and probably was foreseen. 
 It was not a pleasant thing to contemplate, nor is it 
 pleasant to read of, but it proved nothing as to the 
 powers and possibilities of the negro people. It is not 
 probable that any of the "missionaries," however dis- 
 couraged, came to think that the black man was too 
 stupid or too dishonest to become a self-respecting 
 member of society. Nor does it appear that W. C. G. 
 was justified in fearing that their efforts were worse 
 than wasted, inasm.uch as the negro might have ac- 
 quired manhood more rapidly if left to himself from 
 the start. They had established two facts, the very 
 foundation-stones of the new order in the South; that 
 
334 LETTERS FROM PORT ROYAL [1868 
 
 the freedman would work, and that, as an employee, 
 he was less expensive than the slave. Their reward was 
 not in any one's gratitude, but in their own knowledge 
 that they had served their unfortunate fellow-beings as 
 far as, at the moment, was possible. And it must not 
 be forgotten that some stayed on, putting their energies 
 where there was no question, even, of waste or of in- 
 gratitude. There is no telling the service done for the 
 Sea Islands by the education that has been given to it 
 these forty years, or indeed by the mere presence of the 
 women who have devoted their lives to this service. 
 
 Looking at the letters as a whole, perhaps the reader 
 finds that the chief impression they have made upon 
 him is that of profound respect for the negro wisdom 
 shown by the writers. Keenly as they felt the past 
 suffering and the present helplessness of the freedmen, 
 they had the supreme common-sense to see that these 
 wrongs could not be righted by any method so simple 
 as that of giving. They saw that what was needed was, 
 not special favor, but even-handed justice. Education, 
 indeed, they would give outright; otherwise they would 
 make the negro as rapidly as possible a part of the 
 economic world, a laborer among other laborers. All 
 that has happened since has only gone to prove how 
 right they were. 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aaron, 235. 
 
 Abel, 65, 66, 141 n., 145, 212, 218, 239, 
 330. 
 
 Abigail, 331. 
 
 Abolitionists, hostility to. See Army 
 Officers; Hunter; Saxton. 
 
 Advertiser, Boston, 62, 219, 324. 
 
 Africa, 203, 225. 
 
 Alden, William, 286, 313, 321, 330. 
 
 Alex, 86, 87, 95. 
 
 Alick, 31, 239. 
 
 Allen, William, 232. 
 
 Amaritta, 88, 144, 187, 212, 222, 225, 
 233,304. 
 
 Andrew, 103. 
 
 Anti-slayery people, hostility to. 
 See Army Officers ; Hunter ; Sax- 
 ton. 
 
 Antony, 95. 
 
 Ariel, The 225. 
 
 Army Corps, 17th, 305 ; 18th, 150 n. 
 
 Army officers, hostility of, to anti- 
 slavery people, 108, 115, 122, 308. 
 See also Negroes, hostility of army 
 officers to; Hunter; Saxton. 
 
 Army Life in a Black Regiment, 104 
 n., 131 n., 133 n. 
 
 " Arnie," Miss, 127. 
 
 Atkinson, Edward, 63, 62, 101. 
 
 Atlanta, Georgia, 290, 297. 
 
 Atlantic, The, 2, 9. 
 
 B , Mr., 247. 
 
 Bacchus, 64, 65, 121, 123, 126. 
 Bacchus, foreman of Morgan Island, 
 
 203, 204. 
 Bail, Anthony, 328. 
 Baldwin, Mr., 235. 
 Baltimore Convention, 1864, 267. 
 Baptisms, 145, 146, 249, 268. 
 Barkis, 228, 229. 
 Barnard, James M., 162, 163. 
 Barney, Hiram, 2. 
 Barstow, Major, 163, 164. 
 Bay I-omt, T, 13, 29, 36, 37 n., 41, 73, 
 
 79 
 Beaufort, N. C, 82. 
 Beaufort, S. C, Tin., 6, 9, 16, 31, 39, 
 
 45, 46, 47, 63, 54, 61, 71, 72, 82, 83, 92, 
 93, 98, 100, 104, 106, 108, 117, 122, 127, 
 128, 129 n., 134, 141, 150, 165 n., 167, 
 170, 175, 186, 187, 196, 197, 202, 207, 
 211, 221, 235, 240, 255, 257 n., 258, 
 265, 267, 282, 283, 289, 290, 295, 297, 
 301, 302, 306, 314, 320, 326, 327. 
 
 Beaufort Kiver, vi n., 6, 71, 116, 117. 
 
 Beaufort Sound, 203. 
 
 Beauregard, Port, v, 5, 37, 61. 
 
 Becca, 126. 
 
 Ben, 95. 
 
 Bennett, General, 332. 
 
 Betsey, 185. 
 
 Betty, 61, 252, 263, 272. 
 
 Betty, 144. 
 
 "BieEert,"49, 82. 
 
 Binah, 27, 44, 45, 167. 
 
 Bingham, Quartermaster-General, 
 132. 
 
 Bimey, William, Brig.-Gen., 257, 271. 
 
 Black Draft. See Draft, Black. 
 
 Boston, vi, 117, 118, 141, 168, 190, 205, 
 220, 226, 226, 260, 256, 267 n., 264, 266, 
 272, 307, 310, 316, 316, 325. 
 
 Boston syndicate, 140, 172, 208, 258, 
 275, 316. 
 
 Boutelle, Captain, 205, 206. 
 
 Brannan, John M., Brig.-Gen., 86, 94, 
 108, 122. 
 
 Brisbane, Dr. , 129, 164, 244, 312. 
 
 Brown, Peter, 323. 
 
 Biyant, Captain J. E., 185, 187, 240. 
 
 Bryant, Lieutenant O. E., 188. 
 
 Bryant, Mr., plantation superintend- 
 ent, 108, 116, 122. 
 
 Bryant, Mrs., 115, 321. 
 
 Bundy, Dr. Francis, 142, 143, 188, 196, 
 197. 
 
 Bundy, Mrs. Francis, 141, 142. 
 
 Burying-place, 65 n., 66. 
 
 Butler, Pierce, 271, 272. 
 
 Butler, Mrs. Pierce. See Kemble, 
 Fanny. 
 
 Caesar, 184, 239. 
 Caroline (1), 16, 17. 
 Caroline (2), 87. 
 
338 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Caroline (3), 235. 
 
 Cat Island, 6. 
 
 Cato, 86, 87, 95. 
 
 Celia, 300. 
 
 ChapUn, Benjarola, 206, 311. 
 
 Charleston, S. C, 31 n., 36, 45, 46, 61, 62, 
 63, 92, 115, 164, 165, 195, 198, 206, 213, 
 232, 297, 307, 316, 319; siege of, 150 
 n., 163 n., 194-199. 
 
 Chase, Salmon P., t, 70 n., 247. 
 
 Chattel sales, 256, 256. 
 
 Cherry Hill, 79, 80, 135, 160, 172, 301, 
 324. 
 
 Chester, 120. 
 
 Child, Professor F. J., 257. 
 
 Christmas, 1863, 237; 1864, 292, 293. 
 
 Church, Brick (Baptist), 49, 243, 306. 
 
 Church, White i^Bpiscopal), 49 n., 68, 
 101, 117. 
 
 Cicero, 192, 271. 
 
 City of New York, The, 264 n. 
 
 Clarke, Mrs., 141. 
 
 Climate of Sea Islands, vi, 10, 68, 73, 
 105, 106, 110, 118, 140, 145, 152, 243, 
 323. 
 
 Coast Survey, 60, 139. 
 
 Cockloft, overseer, 127, 165, 169. 
 
 Cookspur Island, 43 n. 
 
 Coffin, Eben, 205. 
 
 Coffin family, 236. 
 
 Coffin, Sir Isaac, Bart., 150. 
 
 Coffin, Julian, 209, 326. 
 
 Coffin, Thomas Astor, 79, 139, 164, 165, 
 204, 206, 232, 330. 
 
 Coffin, Mrs. T. A., 206. 
 
 Coffin trade-mark, 237. 
 
 "Coffin's Battery," 187, 285. 
 
 Coffin's Point, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 22, 29, 
 40, 42, 46, 46, 61, 53, 64, 68 n., 62, 68, 71, 
 79, 88, 94, 119, 122, 135, 139 n., 145, 
 180, 182, 183, 188, 190, 191, 203, 229, 
 239, 240, 255, 281, 285, 291 n., 299, 
 309, 310, 311, 312, 322, 323, 324, 328, 330, 
 331, 332 n. 
 
 Comba, 303. 
 
 Combahee Kiyer, 271 n. 
 
 " Concern." See Boston Syndicate. 
 
 Contracts with negroes, 262, 263. 
 
 Cooley, Judge, 269. 
 
 Coosaw, Fort, 240. 
 
 Coosaw River, vi, 233, 297 n. 
 
 Corn Crop of 1862, 12, 13, 64, 94, 101. 
 
 "Comer," 324 n. 
 
 Cosmopolitan, The, 6, 199. 
 
 Cotton-agents, v, 12, 14, 18, 22, Vs. 
 See also Mr. 8. 
 
 Cotton crop, 1861, v, 11, 110, 118 n., 
 
 127; 1862, vi, vii, 13, 54, 57, 83 n.,92, 
 99, 101, 109, 117, 126, 237 n., 264 n.; 
 1863, 151, 171, 208, 209, 211, 212, 234, 
 235, 236, 237; 1864, 295 n., 297, 310, 
 326; 1866, 313, 314, 320, 322, 326. 
 
 Cotton Fund, 115, 152. 
 
 Cotton-gins broken by the negroes, 
 102 n., 109, 181. 
 
 "Court." See Plantation Commis- 
 sion. 
 
 Crane, Captain W. D., 288, 289, 290. 
 
 Crystal Palace, 168. 
 
 Cufly, 20, 26, 27, 01. 
 
 Cutchery, Indian, 140. 
 
 Cuthbert's Point, 116, 117. 
 
 Dan, 185, 239. 
 
 Darien, 204. 
 
 Dathaw, 322. 
 
 David, 46, 47, 239. 
 
 Davis, Col. W. W. H., 202 n. 
 
 De Golyer, Mr., 313. 
 
 De la Croix, Mr., 141, 142, 143. 
 
 Deborah, 160. 
 
 Demus, 145, 212, 243, 304. 
 
 Demus, elder, 173. 
 
 Dennett, Mr., 319, 320. 
 
 Department of the South, 86, 114, 164, 
 163, 173 n., 193, 196, 197, 227, 237, 249, 
 254, 260, 261, 268, 271, 278, 289. 
 
 Doll, 25, 212, 236. 
 
 Draft, Black, 37-42, 43, 44, 50, 51, 54, 
 77, 96, 99, 167, 172-175, 176, 177, 182, 
 183, 184, 185-190, 211, 213, 236, 239, 
 240, 249, 281-284. 
 
 Drivers, 8, 12, 31 n., 40, 41, 78, 80, 124. 
 
 Duhurst, Lieut., 132. 
 
 Dupont, Commodore S. F., v, 6, 225, 
 289, 319. 
 
 Dutch, Captain, 185, 233. 
 
 Eddings Point, 171, 192, 247, 270. 
 
 Edisto, 318. 
 
 Edisto refugees, 72, 150, 161, 294, 306, 
 307. 
 
 Educational Commission for Freed- 
 men (Boston), vi, 1, 4, 12, 33, 37 n., 
 117 n., 257, 311 ; (New York), vl, 4, 
 12, 129 n.; (Philadelphia), vi, 171, 
 306. 
 
 Eggs, donations of, 21, 22, 35, 44, 59, 
 75, 121, 139, 196, 250. 
 
 Egypt, 5, 11, 15, 28. 
 
 Ellen, 138. 
 
 Ellwell, Col., 246. 
 
 Elsie, 203, 204. 
 
 Elsie, at Coffin's Point, 218, 330. 
 
INDEX 
 
 339 
 
 Emancipation celebration, 124, 125, 
 
 126, 127-134. 
 Emancipation, Preliminary Procla^ 
 
 mation of, 97. 
 Emancipation, Proclamation of, 92. 
 Eustis, F. A., 8, 19, 32, 44, 171, 196, 238, 
 
 240, 246, 292, 327. 
 Eustis Place, 252. 
 Evacnatlon of Sea Islands, 84, 86, 
 
 98. 
 
 Fanny, 195. 
 
 Fairfield, Mr., 302 n. 
 
 Ferry, from Port Koyal Island to 
 
 Ladies Island, 19 n., 128, 173; to 
 
 mainland, 297, 302. 
 Festina Lente, 63. 
 Finnic, 86. 
 
 First Soutli, see S. C. Vols., 1st Eegt. 
 Flora, 21, 23, 25, 31, 35, 36, 40, 41, 43, 
 
 45, 46, 52, 58, 59, 123, 141, 152, 331. 
 Mora, The, 182. 
 Florida, 50, 136, 153 n, 167. 
 Folsom, Dr. Charles F., 70, 184, 232, 
 
 262, 265, 298, 301, 304, 307. 
 Folsom's Place, 280, 329. 
 Forbes, John M., 3, 16, 17, 18, 140, 147, 
 
 196. 
 Fort Coosaw, 240. 
 Fort on Smith Plantation, 132. 
 Forts Walker and Beauregard, 5, 37, 
 
 61. 
 Forten, Charlotte, 133. 
 Fortress Monroe, 290. 
 Fortune, 239. 
 Foster, John G., Maj.-Gen., 150 n., 
 
 154, 160, 162, 163, 271, 280, 281, 282, 
 
 285, 290, 299, 305. 
 Fourth of July, 68-70. 
 Fowler, EeT. Mr., 102, 129. 
 Frank, 136, 229, 330. 
 Free South, The, 155, 187. 
 Freedmen at Port Royal, Tlie, 312. 
 Freedmen's Aid Societies, vi, 325. 
 b'reedmen's Bureau, 321, 325. 
 French, Rev. Mansfield, 4, 49, 50, 130, 
 
 230, 243, 254. 
 Fripp, Alyirah, plantation of, 81. 
 Fripp, Dr. Clarence, 31, 59, 207, 319, 
 
 320. 
 Fripp, Eddings, 207. 
 Fripp, Eden, 31. 
 
 Fripp, Edgar, plantation of , 68, 74 n. 
 Fripp, Hamilton, 270; plantation of, 
 
 230, 271; sons of, 296. 
 Fripp, Harriet, 22, 31. 
 Fripp house in Beaufort, 196. 
 
 Fripp, Captain John, 316,326; daugh- 
 ters of, 316, 326; plantation of, 135, 
 172, 249, 324 n., 326, S29. 
 
 Fripp, Juliana, 34. 
 
 Fripp, Lynch, 34. 
 
 Fripp, Captain Oliver, plantation of, 
 68, 137, 184. 
 
 Fripp Point, 12, 30, 41, 43, 88, 92, 119, 
 123, 126, 127 n., 139, 172, 183, 184, 185, 
 186, 187, 188, 191, 199, 20O, 224, 239, 
 265, 258, 259, 263, 299, 301, 306, 324, 
 326, 331. 
 
 Fripp, Sam, 34. 
 
 Fripp, T. B., plantation of, 135, 171, 
 230, 321. 
 
 Fripp, T. J., 204. 
 
 Fripp, Washington, 31. 
 
 Fripp, William, 12, 31, 59; sons of, 12, 
 31. 
 
 Fripp, Willie, 34. 
 
 Frogmore, 205, 206, 300. 
 
 Fuller, Rev. Robert, 314, 315. 
 
 Fuller Place, 295, 324, 328. 
 
 Fulton, The, 197. 
 
 Funeral, negro child's, 65, 66, 67. 
 
 K. G., 33. 
 
 W. C. G., vii, 3, 8, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 32, 
 34, 40, 41, 61, 64, 65, 66, 88, 105, 116, 
 122, 125, 147, 161, 172, 186, 187, 189, 
 197, 204, 211-213, 224, 232, 238, 240, 
 246, 255, 259, 260, 265, 266, 268, 299, 
 300, 304, 305, 312, 333; letters from, 
 11, 14, 20 n., 22, 32, 37 n., 43, 57, 84, 
 107, 115, 137, 154, 165, 167, 177, 183, 
 191, 197, 210, 222, 231, 241, 248, 254, 
 263, 267, 277 n., 283, 286, 288, 307, 308, 
 309. 
 
 W. C. G., article by, in North Amer- 
 ican Review, 312. 
 
 W. C. G., poem by, 66. 
 
 Gage, Mrs., 132. 
 
 Gang system, 58 n., 94, 108, 109, 112. 
 
 George, 235, 331, 332. 
 
 Georgia, 50, 136 n., 144, 153, 297, 301, 
 
 308. 
 Georgia refugees, 293, 294, 295, 306, 
 
 307, 314. 
 Gettysburg, battle of, 195. 
 Gib, 315. 
 Gilhnore, Q. A., Brig.-Gen., 193, 194, 
 
 228, 233, 249, 321. 
 Gordon, Captain, 290. 
 Gordon, slave pirate, 225. 
 Government, D. S., v, t1, 1, 9, 10, 14, 
 
 17, 37 n., 53, 56 n., 57, 72, 78, 81, 86, 97, 
 
340 
 
 INDEX 
 
 98, 99, 102, 112, 113, 115, 117, 118, 137, 
 148, 149, 150, 151, 171, 174, 175, 177, 
 182, 185, 191, 208, 229, 231 n., 244, 245, 
 260, 266, 277, 282, 296, 308, 309, 311, 
 327 n. 
 
 Grace, 126, 222, 225, 250, 303. 
 
 GrahamTille, S. C, 289. 
 
 Grant, U. S., Iiieut.-Gen.,324. 
 
 Green, Jonas, 322. 
 
 Green, Dr. S. A., 163. 
 
 " Gun fire at Bay Point," 37 n., 79, 
 126, 209. 
 
 H , Col., 280, 281. 
 
 F. H., vii, 291, 298, 306, 309, 321, 324; 
 letters from, 291 n, 311, 313, 323, 328. 
 Habersham, Mr., 308. 
 HackUs, 262, 263. 
 
 Halleck, Henry W., Ma j .-Gen., 122. 
 Hall, "Wm., 127, 150, 183, 184, 186, 196, 
 
 197, 201, 205, 216, 237, 262. 
 HaUoweU, Col. E. N., 196. 
 Hallowell, Col. N. P., 168. 
 Hamlet, 185. 
 
 Hammond, Mr., 119, 166, 193. 
 Hardy, Alpheus, 248. 
 Harriet, 34. 
 
 Harrison, Mr., 262. 
 
 Harry, 16, 162. 
 
 Hartwell, Col. A. S., 290. 
 
 Harvard College, vii. 
 
 Hayti, 84. 
 
 Hazard, Mr., 271. 
 
 Henry, 127, 206, 207, 226. 
 
 Herald, Boston, 124. 
 
 Hester, 140, 141, 142, 214, 217, 251. 
 
 Higglnson, Col. T. W., 104 n., 106 n., 
 124, 129, 130, 131, 133 n., 134, 153, 164, 
 167, 168, 196, 225, 240. 
 
 Hilton Head, v, vl, 6, 6, 9, 13, 37 n., 40, 
 41, 42, 44, 46, 48, 60, 53, 57, 71, 73, 77, 
 79, 83, 84, 86, 87, 92, 94, 97, 98, 107, 114, 
 118, 125, 126, 150, 175, 182, 194, 195, 
 229, 235, 261, 279, 280, 281, 319. 
 
 Honey Hill, S. C, 289 n. 
 
 Hooper, Captain E. W., 3, 9, 16, 19, 49, 
 50, 93, 105, 111, 124, 175, 187, 188, 197, 
 
 198, 306. 
 
 Hope Place, 81, 82, 171. 
 
 Horace, The, 297. 
 
 Horse-buying, 301, 302. 
 
 Howard, O. O., Maj.-Gen., 297, 298, 
 
 299, 305, 317, 318. 
 Hoyt, Capt., 186, 189. 
 Hull, Mr., 116, 11% 172. 
 Hunn, Mr. J., 171, 244, 251. 
 Hunter, David, Maj.-Gen., 37 n., 38, 
 
 39, 40, 42, 48, 50, 62, 63, 86, 89, 100, 103, 
 104, 108 n., 115, 133 n., 154, 155, 156, 
 159 n., 162, 163 n., 165, 167, 172, 173, 
 175, 182, 187, 188, 190. 
 
 Hunter Regiment, 62, 96, 104, 106. 
 
 Hunting Island, 78, 238, 279. 
 
 Hunting, Dr., 239. 
 
 Hurd, Augustus, 3. 
 
 Indemnity, for slave-owners, 319 n. 
 
 Independent, The, 266. 
 
 Irish, compared with negroes, 11, 15, 
 
 18, 22, 56, 75. 
 Isaac, 82, 239. 
 
 Jack, 125, 126, 299. 
 
 Jackson, Mr., 301. 
 
 Jacksonhoro', 196. 
 
 Jacksonville, Fla., 167. 
 
 James, Capt., 106. 
 
 James, G. W., Adjt., 196. 
 
 January, 153, 181, 239, 315. 
 
 Jenkins, Dr. , plantation of , 108 n. , 116. 
 
 Jenkins, Mary, plantation of, 233, 
 
 247, 296. 
 Jim, 78, 79, 90, 239. 
 Jinxmy, 239. 
 Joe, 20, 23, 39, 40, 41,46, 52, 60, 61, 100, 
 
 106, 122, 123, 141 n. 
 John, 87, 267, 258. 
 John, Major, 260, 299, 300, 319. 
 Johnson, Andrew, 317, 318. 
 Jonas, 239. 
 Joseph, 265. 
 Josh, 188. 
 
 Journal of Music, The Boston, 30. 
 Journal, Providence, 248 n. 
 Judd, Mr., Gen. Supt. of Port Royal 
 
 Island, 94, 129, 132. 
 Judy, 141, 154, 243, 272. 
 Juliana, 233. 
 July, 95. 
 June, 136, 195. 
 
 Katrine, 145. 
 
 Katy, 212, 299. 
 
 Katy, at Frogmore, 206. 
 
 Keller, Lewis, 279. 
 
 Kelley, The, 279. 
 
 Kellum, Capt, 322. 
 
 Kemble, Fanny, 271, 272. 
 
 Kingfisher, The, 176, 185 n., 204, 212 n. 
 
 L , John, 152, 162. 
 
 Ladies Island, 8, 9, 19 n., 54, 72, 109, 
 
 116, 117, 118, 172, 223 n., 240, 311 
 Land-sales, 109 n.. Ill, 117, 120, 135, 
 
INDEX 
 
 341 
 
 137, 140, 141, 147, 148, 151, 162, 154, 
 155, 159, 165, 170, 171, 172, 177, 229, 
 230, 231, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 
 254, 265, 266, 277, 312, 315, 320, 327. 
 
 Land's End, 119, 135, 153 n., 155, 161, 
 162, 174 n., 182, 194. 
 
 Lee, Mr., paymaster, U. S., 100, 110. 
 
 Lee, E. E., Gen., 310. 
 
 Lester, 65. 
 
 Lewis, 192. 
 
 Lewis, Dio, 160. 
 
 Lieutenant, of 104tli Pa. Tols., 200, 
 201, 202. 
 
 Llmus, 37, 77, 221, 226, 228. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraiiam, 48, 50 n., 62, 63, 86, 
 91, 92, 96, 97, 98, 129, 230, 243, 245, 
 258, 263, 310. 
 
 Littlefleld, Milton S., Col., 282. 
 
 London News, The, 168. 
 
 Louisa, 35, 138, 144, 146, 299. 
 
 L'OuTerture, Toussaint, 104 n. 
 
 McClellan, George B., Maj.-Gen., 168. 
 
 McKee's plantation, 46. 
 
 McKim, Lucy, 30 n. 
 
 McTiireous Plantation, 76, 77, 78, 79, 
 
 171, 229, 230, 312, 323, 330. 
 Mack, Dayld, 3. 
 Maria, nurse, 126, 209. 
 Maria, seamster, 271. 
 Market for manufactures, A mew, 
 
 219. 
 Marriage of negroes, 9S, 103, 104, 125, 
 
 126, 144. 
 Martha, 88, 330. 
 Mary, 61, 216. 
 Mary Ann, 95. 
 Massachusetts Tols., 24th Eegt., 153, 
 
 154, 156, 162; 54th Eegt., 168, 194, 
 
 196, 198; 55th Eegt., 226, 288, 289, 
 
 290 n. 
 . May, 303. 
 Mayflower, The, 71. 
 MelvUle, The, 306, 307. 
 Methodism, 124, 163, 221. 
 Mike, 185, 255, 256, 311, 332. 
 Miller, 212, 239. 
 MUy, nurse, 26, 59, 136. 
 Minda, 127, 146, 243. 
 Mission House, 129. 
 Mitchel, Ormsby M., Maj.-Gen., 86, 
 
 94, 105, 108 n. 
 Mohegan, The, 225. 
 Moll, 201, 299. 
 Monah, 331. 
 
 Monday, "Useless," 262. 
 Monroe, Fortress, 290. 
 
 Montgomery, Col., 167, 185, 189. 
 Morgan Island, 203, 233, 270, 295, 296, 
 
 306. 
 Morris Island, 195, 196, 289. 
 Mulberry HUl, 80, 81, 135, 172, 322, 
 
 324. 
 Murray, EUen, 329. 
 
 N. E. & W., Firm of, 324, 326, 329. 
 
 Nancy, 138, 212. 
 
 Nancy, old, 222, 234. 
 
 Nat, 77, 95, 139. 
 
 Nation, The New York, 26 n., 319-321. 
 
 National Union Convention, 261 n. 
 
 Negro Burying Ground, The, 66. 
 
 Negroes of Sea Islands, characteris- 
 , tics of, viii, ix, 11, 15, 21, 22, 23, 25, 75, 
 76, 81, 99, 109, 116, 122, 138, 144, 171, 
 177, 214, 215, 241, 315, 328; compared 
 with Irish, 11, 15, 18, 22, 56,75; com- 
 pared with negroes elsewhere, 11, 
 15, 89, 97, 288; condition of, in 1862, 
 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 51, 70, 181, 307; con- 
 tracts with, 262, 263; cotton-gins 
 destroyed by, 102 n., 109, 181; dis- 
 honesty of, 126, 136, 227, 241, 242, 256, 
 269, 28V, 310, 311, 313, 320, 322, 323, 
 324, 328; food of, 53, 62, 73, 93, 120 ; 
 future of, 317, 318, 334; gratuities to, 
 14, 33, 34, 44, 47, 51, 52, 53, 58, 80, 88, 
 94, 148, 150, 165, 166, 179, 191, 208, 246, 
 276, 277, 302 n., 309, 334; health of, 
 15, 105, 213 ; hostility of army ofScers 
 to, 74, 85, 101, 164; industry of , 11, 
 37 n., 48, 65, 111, 166, 175, 181, 182, 208, 
 209, 212, 222; independence of, 208, 
 260, 275; intelligence of, 21, 60, 63, 
 74, 76, 90, 93, 97, 112, 166, 168, 169, 
 174, 241; Intemperance of, 15, 225, 
 229, 327; as land-owners (see also 
 Land-sales), 272, 276, 312, 315, 323, 
 326; language of, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 
 35, 36, 90, 123, 157, 160, 218; mar- 
 riage of, 95, 103, 104, 125, 126, 144; 
 names of, 36,52, 209; petition of, 
 258-26], 263, 264 ; religion of, 15, 20/ 
 21, 26, 27, 36, 44, 61, 65, 66, 67, 146) 
 146, 193, 235, 268; singing of, 19; 
 28, 29, 30, 1.S4, 253, 292, 293, 328; 
 as soldiers, 42, 43, 63, 89, 91, 93, 
 96, 97, 100, 102, 103, 104, 108, 136, 153, 
 164, 168, 184; treatment of, by mas- 
 ters, 31, 32, 36, 206, 207; wages of, 45, 
 66, 57, 75, 85, 91, 92, 99, 100, 110, 111, 
 112, 139, 147, 148, 222, 234, 244, 246, 
 246, 250, 251, 258, 260, 264, 265, 266 n., 
 267, 294, 295, 300, 301, 303, 304. 
 
342 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Nero, 236. 
 
 New Orleans, 62, 325. 
 
 New South, The, 173. 
 
 New York Vols., 19th Kegt., 13; 48th, 
 
 197; 79th, 39. 
 Nile, songs on the, 28. 
 Nohle, 271. 
 
 North American Review, The, 312. 
 North Carolina Army, 150, 153 n., 
 
 161. 
 Nubia, 11, 15. 
 
 Oailand, 171. 
 
 Oaks, The, 69, 83, 93, 127 n., 150, 171, 
 
 320. 
 Ogeechee Kiver, 309. 
 Oliver, Dr., 328. 
 
 Olmstead, Frederick Law, 265 n. 
 Otter Island, 47, 159. 
 
 Paige, Mr., 235, 236. 
 
 Palmer, Mr., 79, 81, 82. 
 
 Paris, 81, 82. 
 
 Parker, Kev. Mr., 268, 269. 
 
 Paxton, Capt., 197. 
 
 Peg, 212. 
 
 Peggy, Old, 43, 44. 
 
 Penn Normal, Industrial, and Agri- 
 cultural School, 16 n., 298, 329, 334. 
 
 Pennsylvania Volunteers, Round- 
 head Eegt., 51; 104th Eegt., 200. 
 
 Peter, Uncle, 26, 36, 46, 120, 185. 
 
 Peter, on Frogmore, 206. 
 
 Petition of negroes, 258-261, 263, 
 264. 
 
 Petra, 304. 
 
 Philadelphia, vi, 47, 51, 53, 104. 
 
 Philbrick, Bdward S., vi, 14, 16, 19, 
 22, 24, 28, 31 n., 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 
 42, 44, 45, 46, 58, 59, 61, 62, 64, 65, 
 69, 75, 76, 83, 85, 97, 99, 105, 120, 121, 
 126, 127 n., 135, 137, 139, 146, 150, 
 152, 158, 160, 165, 170, 171, 172, 176, 
 177, 180, 184, 186, 187, 189, 190, 191, 
 201 n., 203 n., 205, 212, 216, 218, 219, 
 
 220, 229, 240, 249, 250, 251, 254, 255, 
 256, 258, 259, 260, 261, 264 n., 265, 284, 
 291 n., 312, 324, 329, 331, 332. 
 
 Letters from, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 
 15, 63, 62, 86, 88, 91, 92, 93, 94, 100, 
 101, 105, 107, 116, 122, 124, 132 n., 135, 
 140, 180, 185, 187, 205, 218, 219, 220, 
 
 221, 224, 229, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, 
 237, 239, 240, 243, 247, 248 n., 249, 250, 
 256, 267, 264, 265, 266, 272, 280, 290, 
 291, 294, 299, 301, 302 n., 304, 306, 310, 
 315, 316, 317, 325. 
 
 PhUhrick, Mrs. B. S., 3, 4, 10, 11, 16, 
 
 19, 20, 23, 25, 33, 41, 44, 46, 51, 58, 59, 
 
 61, 65, 73, 82, 150, 154, 161, 170, 183, 
 
 191, 216. 
 Phillips, Eev. Mr., 103, 115, 244, 269. 
 Phillis, 95, 186, 212. 
 Phoebe, 103. 
 Pierce, E. L., v, vi, 3, 4, 7, 8, 16, 19, 37, 
 
 38, 42, 45 n., 49, 50, 54, 64, 68, 69, 70. 
 Pine Grove Plantation, 12, 15, 16, 21, 
 
 22, 23, 26, 31, 51, 59, 60, 75, 88, 96, 102, 
 
 103, 109, 120, 123, 126, 127 n., 136, 141, 
 
 152, 172, 173, 183, 184, 185, 186, 191, 
 
 210, 231, 234, 262, 270, 271, 301, 328, 
 
 330, 331. , 
 
 Plantation Commission, 201 u., 210, 
 
 228, 269, 270, 286, 313, 323. 
 " Plantation Bitters," 310. 
 Planter, The, 45, 46, 47, 51, 63, 268 n. 
 Pocotaligo, 290, 302, 305. 
 Pompey, 207, 239, 250, 251, 257, 258, 260, 
 
 261, 266, 299, 300. 
 "Poor Rosy," 30. 
 Pope, Mr., 327. 
 Pope's plantation, 19, 50, 195. 
 Port Royal, vi, viii, 1, 4 n., 28, 70, 119, 
 
 190, 191, 225, 226 n., 229, 278, 280, 285, 
 
 290, 299, 329, 331 n. 
 Port Royal Bar, 5. 
 Port Royal Experiment, vii, ix, 92, 
 
 98, 118, 119, 170, 172, 180, 218, 219, 
 
 240, 241. 
 Port Royal Ferry, 297, 302, 304. 
 Port Royal Island, 6, 69, 97, 118, 119 n., 
 
 128, 194, 304. 
 Post, The N. Y. Evening, 248. 265, 
 
 277. 
 Potter, Edward E., Brig.-Gen., 158, 
 
 159, 160. 
 Preemption system, 229, 230, 244, 245, 
 
 248, 254, 266, 318. 
 Prices, war-time, 47. 
 Primus, 183, 186, 188, 189, 190,301,302, 
 
 332. 
 Prisoners, exchange of, 198, 199. 
 Pritchard, 78, 79, 171, 311. 
 Fritchard's Island, 171. 
 Pulaski, Fort, 43, 87. 
 
 T. E. E., vii, 122, 126, 136, 141, 145, 
 172, 186, 193, 229, 233, 243, 244, 246, 
 284, 313; letters from, 285, 310, 314, 
 320, 326, 328. 
 
 " R.'s," 128, 228, 232, 280, 289, 298, 300, 
 322. 
 
 R., Miss, 141, 146, 232. 
 
 Rand, Capt., 198. 
 
INDEX 
 
 343 
 
 Ranty, 58, 103, 135, 136. 
 
 Raphael, 160. 
 
 Rations to negroes, 34, 80, 94, 150, 216, 
 
 302 n., 309; to whites, 10, 20, 23, 32, 
 
 72, 114, 146. 
 EeadviUe, 161. 
 Rebel raids, vi, 233, 270, 279, 296, 
 
 306. 
 Red tape, 72, 76, 85, 86, 190, 191, 285. 
 Reed, Joe, superintendent, 116. 
 Refugees. See Edisto Befugees and 
 
 Georgia Refugees. 
 Republican party, 328. 
 Rhodes, J. F., History of the United 
 
 States, 194. 
 Rice, Lt.-Col., 282, 283. 
 Bichard, 211. 
 Richmond, 199, 310. 
 Eipley, Fort, 47. 
 Kirers, Sergeant Prince, 104, 130, 
 
 131. 
 Road, 209. 
 Robert, 76, 141, 142, 158, 168, 207, 214, 
 
 225, 232, 252, 253, 259, 286, 332. 
 Robert, old, 269, 302 n. 
 KodweU, 286. 
 
 Rose, Alex's daughter, 86, 87, 95. , 
 Bose, 141, 142, 145, 152, 156, 159, 160, 
 161, 168, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 21^, 
 
 226, 243, 250, 261, 262, 259, 271, 278, 
 285, 287, 292, 331. ( 
 
 Bosetta, 88. 
 
 Bussel, Cabot, 199. 
 
 RuaseU, Dr. LeBaron, 117, 118, 153. 
 
 S , Col., 258. 
 
 S , Mr., cotton-agent, 12, 14, 33, 
 
 42, 44, 55, 102. 
 
 S , postmaster at Beaufort, 162. 
 
 St. Croix, 132. 
 
 St. Helena Island, 6, 10, 16, 19 n., 36, 
 
 74 n., 78, 79, 91, 94, 96, 109, 115, 118, 
 
 119, 127, 135, 182, 187, 188, 199, 205, 
 
 223 n., 266 n., 279, 285, 288, 294, 310, 
 
 314, 319, 320. 
 St. Helena Sound, 10. 
 St. Helena Tillage, 30, 68, 72, 201, 
 
 329. 
 St. John's Elver, 167. 
 St. Mary's, 107. 
 St. Mary's Eiver, 153. 
 St. Simon's Island, 136, 144, 271. 
 Sally, Aunt, 192. 
 Sam (Uncle), 34, 61, 65, 66, ^5, 106, 
 
 141, 145, 146, 168, 169, 205, 235 2B2, 
 
 263. 
 Sammy, 119, 120. 
 
 Samson, 144. 
 
 Sancho, 188. 
 
 Sanitary Fair, N. T., 247. 
 
 Sarah, of C. Ft., 125, 126. 
 
 Sarah, 330. 
 
 Sarah, Flora's, 331. 
 
 Savannah, 289, 290, 296, 302, 308, 809, 
 310. 
 
 " Saxby," Gen., 130, 150. 
 
 Saxton, J. A., 265, 276. 
 
 Saxton, Maj.-Gcn. EufuB, 48, 57, 69, 
 83, 84, 86, 92, 93 n., 94, 96, 97, 98, 100, 
 101, 102, 103, 107, 108, 109, 110, HI, 
 115, 116, 117, 118, 122, 124, 125, 129, 
 130, 132, 139, 150, 151, 152, 156, 159 n., 
 165, 167, 168, 171, 172, 173, 175, 187, 
 188, 190, 193, 194, 198, 201, 202, 211, 
 213, 229, 230, 231, 239, 240, 243, 244, 
 245, 254, 257 n., 262, 286, 298, 299, 305, 
 
 306, 307, 308, 812, 319, 321, 324, 325. 
 Schools, 16 n., 20, 21, 24, 32, 43, 69, 60, 
 
 149, 152, 169, 180, 208, 273, 298, 321, 334. 
 School Farm, 165 u. 
 ScyUa, 302 n. 
 Sea Islands, vi, viii, 42, 45 n., 70 n., 
 
 71, 89, 90, 128, 221, 254 n., 257, 299, 
 
 307, 319, 321, 334. 
 Sea Side Boad, 76, 171. 
 
 " Secesh," 43, 44, 51, 61, 72, 97, 113. 
 
 185, 252, 260, 264, 270, 305, 311, 314. 
 " Secesh children," 271. 
 Seed-cotton, 109 n., 286, 320. 
 " Shares," 327. 
 Sharper, 183. 
 
 Shaw, Col. E. G., 194, 196, 197, 199. 
 Shell Boad, 297. 
 Sherman, "W. T., Maj-Gen., 289, 290, 
 
 293, 298, 301, 304, 307, 308. 
 Shop, 24, 33, 46, 67, 92, 142, 157, 168, 
 
 159, 185, 190, 219, 220, 233, 264, 273, 
 
 279, 280, 281, 321. 
 Shout, 26, 27, 34, 292, 293. 
 Siah, 34, 119, 199, 221, 222, 224, 260, 
 
 266. 
 Sickles, D. B., Maj.-Gen., 321. 
 Sim, 36. 
 Simon, 185. 
 Sinclair, Mr., 332. 
 Sinclair, Mrs., 332. 
 Sinnet, 222. 
 Slave Songs of the United State), 
 
 28, 328 n. 
 sup-potato crop. See Sweet potato 
 
 crop. 
 Small, Eobert, 268. 
 Small-pox, 251-253. 
 SmaUwood, Mr., 313, 314, 
 
344 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Smith, Judge, tax-commissioner, 
 
 230,245. 
 Smith, Judge, Special Agent, 258, 
 
 259, 260. 
 Smith Plantation, 17, 128. 
 Soldiers, 38, 39, 92, 94, 118, 119, 155, 
 
 199-202. 
 Soule, Capt. C. C, 89, 289. 
 Soule, Richard, Jr., Til, Tlii, 3, 37, 74, 
 
 78, 79, 105, 150, 169, 200, 203, 205, 211, 
 I 213, 223, 225, 258, 259, 261, 263, 269, 
 
 280, 283,289,290, 321, 323, 326,332; 
 
 letters from, 309, 312, 315, 322, 324. 
 Soule, Mrs. E., 289, 332. 
 South Carolina, 50, 53 n., 91, 267, 290, 
 
 291, 311, 321. 
 South Carolina Vols., Ist, 102, 104 n., 
 
 106, 107, 116, 124, 128, 129, 130, 133, 
 
 134, 136, 163, 164, 167, 225, 236, 268, 
 
 282; officers of, 106, 124, 129, 132, 133, 
 
 240, 268; 2d, 167, 185 ; officers of, 
 
 188, 189. 
 Stanton, E. M., Secretary of War, 48, 
 
 133 n., 298, 299, 305. 
 Stevens, Hazard, 38, 39. 
 Stevens, Brig.-Gen. Isaac I., 47. 
 Stevenson, Thomas Q., Brig.-Gen., 
 
 162, 163, 164. 
 Stickney, Judge, 132. 
 Stone-cotton, 109, 236. 
 Store. See Shop. 
 Strappan, 217. 
 Strong, Lt.-Col., 282. 
 Sumner, Arthur, 68, 156, 161, 163. 
 Sumter, Tort, 46, 47, 51. 
 Superintendence, system of, 101, 117, 
 
 137, 147, 167, 228, 272. 
 Superintendent, typical day of, 76- 
 
 82. 
 Superintendents, duties of, 86; meet- 
 ings of, 101, 108, 117, 197. 
 Susan, 23, 43, 141. 
 Sutton, Corp. Robert, 131. 
 Sweet potato crop, 105, 106, 111. 
 
 Tamah, 163. 
 
 Tasli, 45 n. 
 
 Tax-commissioners, 109, 117, 129 n., 
 
 165, 231, 248, 254, 265, 258, 259, 320. 
 Thanksgiving Day, 1863, 232; 1864, 
 
 288, 289. 
 Thomas, 224. 
 Thompson, Capt. Thomas, 186, 188, 
 
 189. 
 Thorpe, Mr., 143, 217. 
 Tilly, 304. 
 Tim, 139, 208, 222. 
 
 Times, The New York, 69. 
 
 Tira, 36. 
 
 " Titles," 36, 52. 
 
 Titus, 262. 
 
 " Tobey," Captain, 97. 
 
 Toby, 87, 96. 
 
 Tom, 30, 31, 59, 61. 
 
 " Tom, Uncle," 61. 
 
 Tomlinson, Eeuben, 222, 224, 251, 258, 
 
 269, 261, 262, 263, 302 n., 305, 306, 307, 
 
 319, 321; letters from, 223, 228, 260. 
 Tony, driver, 79, 80, 82, 120, 199, 239, 
 
 301. 
 Towne, Laura E., founder of Penn 
 
 School, 16, 49, 293, 294, 298, 319, 329. 
 Towne, Mr., 323. 
 
 Treasury Department, 1, 280, 281. 
 Treasury, Secretary of, y, 70 n., 247, 
 
 281. 
 Tribune, The New York, 62, 236, 236, 
 
 265. 
 
 Union Store, 312, 314, 322. 
 
 United States Colored Troops, 2lBt 
 
 Keg't., 282 n.; 33d Reg't. See S. C. 
 
 Vols., 1st Reg't. 
 
 Vaughn, Mrs., 288. 
 Venus, 304. 
 Vicksburg, 196. 
 
 C. P. W., vii, 70, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 
 138, 139, 141, 143, 144, 146, 162, 153, 
 167, 159, 160, 167, 168, 171, 172, 176, 
 177, 180, 182, 183, 184, 189, 190, 193, 
 194, 195, 196, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 
 205, 208, 210, 211, 213, 214, 216, 220, 
 222, 226, 228, 230, 234, 239, 260, 265, 
 256, 269, 262, 263, 267, 268, 279, 286, 
 286, 289, 291 n., 292, 293, 303, 309, 331, 
 332; letters from, 71, 72, 73, 76, 76, 
 84, 86, 90, 93, 94, 96, 105 n., 106, 111, 
 114, 116, 120, 146, 152, 154, 170, 171, 
 172, 190, 209, 226, 279, 282, 286, 293, 
 297 
 
 H. W., vii, 10, 16, 22, 34, 76, 120, 184, 
 278, 279, 286, 309, 331 n. ; letters from, 
 16, 21, 22, 25, 30, 34, 35, 36, 43, 44, 45, 
 46, 49, 51, 52, 68, 59, 60, 61, 6i, 64, 66, 
 119, 121, 122, 124, 125, 127, 128, 133 n., 
 138, 139, 140, 141, 144, 149, 160, 152, 
 153, 154, 155, 157, 158, 160, 161, 167, 168, 
 169, 170, 171, 173 n., 174 n., 176, 180, 
 182, 184, 186, 186, 189, 191, 193, 194, 
 196, 196, 197, 199, 204, 205, 206, 207, 
 208, 210, 211, 213, 216, 216, 217, 218, 
 222, 224, 226, 229, 230, 232, 234, 237, 
 
INDEX 
 
 345 
 
 240, 250, 251, 252, 253, 258, 259, 262, 
 
 263, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 285, 287, 
 288, 289, 292, 293, 298, 329. 
 
 W , Mies, 49. 
 
 Wabash, 225. 
 
 Wagner, Fort, assault on, 196. 
 
 Wakefield, Dr., 41, 45, 51, 196. 
 
 War Department, 159 n. 
 
 War, Secretary of, 48, 133 n.,298, 299, 
 
 305. 
 Ward, Captain, 328, 331. 
 Walker, Fort, v, 6, 37, 61. 
 Washington, 122 n., 151, 165, 240, 243, 
 
 264, 260, 280, 281, 326. 
 Waters, Mr., 301, 324, 330. 
 Waters, Mrs., 330. 
 
 Wells, George, 172, 197, 203, 204, 232, 
 
 233, 236, 247, 270, 295, 296, 306. 
 Wells, Mrs. Geo., 270. 
 Westcott, Dr., 213. 
 White, William, 323. 
 
 White Place, 236. 
 
 Whitredge, Alonso, 195. 
 
 Whitredge, John, 195. 
 
 Whittler, J. G., 133. 
 
 " Widow Bedotte," 192. 
 
 Will, 236. 
 
 Wil'by, 41, 43, 61, 123. 
 
 Williams, C. F., 134, 141, 193, 306, 310, 
 
 315, 322, 324, 325. 
 Williams, Mrs., 141, 143. 
 Williams, F. J., 251, 267. 
 Williams, Capt., 311. 
 Williamsburg, battle of, 62. 
 Wolcott, Mrs. J. Huntington, 168. 
 
 Tale College, vii. 
 York, Mr., 299, 300, 306, 310, 322. 
 York, Polite, 13, 36, 37, 58, 123, 141, 
 152. 
 
 Zachos, Mr., 130. 
 
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