_        ~~~4.  7;.; 
RE PORT
OF THE
PROCEEDINGS OF A MEETING
HELD AT CONCERT HALL,
PHILADELPHIA,
On Tuesday Evening, November 3, 1863,
TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE CONDITION
OF TIlE
FREED PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH.
~,
FREED PEOPLE QF THE SOUTH.
PHILADELPHIA:
MERRIIHEW  & THOMPSON,. PRINTER S
No. 243 Arch Street.
1863. 
E —
.'k 
REPORT.
On motion of Stephen Colwell, Esq., President of the "Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association," the Right Rev. Bishop
Potter was called to the Chair, and Mr. J. Miller McKim and
Mr. Ellis Yarnall were appointed Secretaries.
At the request of the Chairman, the Proceedings were opened
by prayer, by the Rev. Dr. Spear.
Bishop Potter then said:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
I need not state the object for which we are assembled. Some eighteen months since the first public meeting was held in this city to
consider the necessities of those people of African descent who, on the
coast of South Carolina, had been separated from their masters and from
their accustomed employments and support, by the fortunes of war.
That meeting was followed by systematic arrangements, and by generous
contributions for their physical wants and their moral and religious
training.
Since then this class of persons has greatly multiplied. Along our
whole Southern coast, from Fortress Monroe to St. Augustine, at the
mouth and on both banks of the Mississippi, on the Tennessee and
Cumberland and over immense tracts of country, they have been
liberated and thrown, without guide or friend, upon the world. Under
circumstances most demoralizing and, in manyrespects, most discouraging,
this long suffering race have been on their trial; their temper, their
capacity, their virtue,-all have been subjected to the severest strain.
And who shall say that, considering their past disabilities and their
sore temptations, they have not borne the trial nobly? Who shall say that
they will not work, save when under the driver's lash? or that they are
insensible to kindness? or that theyi can attain to no forecast and
frugality in their affairs? or that they are slaves of vindictiveness? or
that they are insensible to the value of rational freedom?   In the
tio
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1
I
0
tied'
r, 
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camp and the battlefield they are fast vindicating their capacity for
discipline, their unflinching courage, and their enthusiastic attachment
to their whole country and to liberty.  Honor, then, to the gracious
Providence which has so wondrously opened to these people the path
not only to nominal freedom but to real manhood. Honor to the
readiness and the severe self-restraint and self control with which they
have accepted the opportunity. Honor to the sympathy and generous
kindness with which they have been relieved by many Christian hearts,
and to the promptness with which cruel prejudice has, in numberless
instances, given way before their advance to a higher life. And
honor to you, my friends, that you do not shrink from the magnitude of
their wants, but have come here prepared to consider and to help
relieve them.
I hold in my hand a letter from a mtan whom to know is to love and
whom we all honor and admire-Admiral Dupont.   For many months
he was in intimate relations, at Port Royal and elsewhere, with these
people and with those who went to their relief. Let me read his
testimony:
NEAR WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 1
29th OCT. 1863.
RT. REV. AND DEAR SIR:
I have your favor of this morning in reference to the operations of
the Relief Committee raised in your neighborhood to help the blacks
about Port Royal and the adjacent coasts.
It gives me pleasure to state that the relief sent to that region by
humane and philanthropic individuals, through the Freedmen's Society
and its committees, so far as it came under my observation, (and I had
some opportunity of forming an opinion,) was judiciously applied and
relieved most worthy objects from extreme want and destitution.
Supplies in food and raiment were followed by instruction in social
organization, improvement in personal habits, in moral and religious
teaching and the establishment of schools.
The conduct of the blacks as a whole was excellent. They appeared
to appreciate all that was doing for them, and, with their first necessities
relieved, I consider them quite capable of self support. They are not
without industry; the spirit of freedom is very strong in them, the
love of locality nearly as great, and they are extremely alive to the ties
of relationship; they are, moreover, emotional and open to religious
impressions, and very free from feelings of vindictiveness in reference
to their past servitude. 
5
I received yesterday a letter from a gentleman in Beaufort, S.C., who
has been earnestly engaged in promoting the spiritual and physical welfare
of this race; he tells me, " The people are improving; the crops are
coming on well.  If the tax commissioners get the lands into market in
season, most of them will be bought by the Freedmen."
Believe me Rt. Rev. and dear Sir,
With the highest respect,
Your friend and humble servant,
S. T. DUPONT.
RT. tIEV. A,LONZO POTTER,a &C. &c.
Philadelphia.
I will detain you no longer. The case is assuming an extent and
grandeur which demand immediate and, organized treatment. The
suffering of women and children especially require instant succour.
We are fortunate in having with us a gentleman (Rev. Mr. Fiske) who
has passed a long time in ministering to these people near Memphis,
Tenn., and who will present you with the results of his experience.
The Chairman then introduced the Rev. A. S. Fiske, Chaplain of the Fourth Minnesota Regiment, who, for the last ten
months, has been in charge  of the "Contraband Camp"  at
Memphis, Tenn., and. who  now visits the North  at the suggestion of Major-General Grant, and by order of the Superintendent in Chief of Contrabands in the Southwest, to make
known the condition of the freed people of that region. Mr.
Fiske spoke substantially as follows:
Having alluded to the patriotism and liberality of our people,
explained  his own position and the authority by which  he  was
sent North upon his present mission, the duty enjoined upon him was
to make known, as widely as possible, the necessities of the freedmen
of the Southwest.
The care of these people was ours inevitably, from the moment we
accepted the sword as the defenders of the Constitution. Prejudice
and hate might repel for a time loyal men, with a mighty motive in
their loyalty, from our lines. Or pride might reject aid firom a de.
spised race, though familiar with the field of conflict, and reared in the
climate to which our sons and brothers too succumbed. But when the
conflict grew hot and heavy, and the sacrifice was slain upon every
household altar, common sense was soon to assume the sway. Before 
6
we accepted them, they were, as servants, bearing the army's burdens.
and doing much of its work, as guides leading our scouts and recon  noissances, as spies bringing otherwise impossible information to our
Generals, and gathering into camps all along our lines. In the course
of Divine Providence, the care was on us, and could not be turned off,
save by turning these people at wholesale, by starvation and nakedness,
into graves.
Three-fourths of all the people who are now a burden upon the coun  try would have been so under any conceivable war policy. They are
the infirm and helpless, the women and children, abandoned upon plan  tations which had been stripped of everything that could sustain life.
The effect of the Proclamation has been to induce many able-bodied
men to effect their escape to our lines, who else would have been taken
to the interior by their masters. It has not much increased our bur dens, while it has vastly swelled the numbers of those who will do
good service in arms.
There will be fifty thousand black soldiers in the field during the
present winter, and at least as many more employed in the various
fatigue duties of the service.
But there is another army equal to that in the Southwest, greater
far than that, including the whole country, which we are to consider
to-night. There rest this night in crowded camps from Hlelena to
Natchez, on the Mississippi, not less than thirty-five thousand blacks,
from whom all the able-bodied men have been assorted. Their shelter
is old tents.  A  cheap ration is furnished by the government, which
also turns over unserviceable military clothing for the infirm men.
Officers-till recently chaplains-are detailed from the army to take
charge of them, and to organize them for labor, when it can be found
for them.
The speaker said: "I shall have some hard things to say of some of
our officers and army, but in the midst of them all, let him, the modest,
unpretending hero of Vicksburg, stand spotless. Overcoming early
all prejudices of education and political training, he has stood the
black man's friend. All that he could do he has done liberally, nobly.
By his authority every measure for their care, protection and supply
has been taken. The honor of his action in these affairs shall brighten
forever the lustre of his enviable fame. This patriot hero shall be
greeted as he lives on through the ages of the world's history as not
only great but good."
He described the shameful abandonment of black men-too sick to 
7
move-in deserted camps, by our army, to perish alone in storm and
mid-winter, stating that in one of its marches it left behind as many as
forty of them to perish hopelessly. He described their suffering in a
heavy snowstorm last winter, which resulted in the miserable deaths
of many.
The key to all their dreadful destitution would be found  in the
manner of their coming in. They were abandoned by their masters
on the approach of the Union army, refusing to follow them to the
interior. The army living upon the country stripped their plantations
of all eatable things, and left them no alternative but to go with the
army or starve. There was nothing to be done but the able-bodied
men must carry soldiers' loads;  the women  must gather up their
children; the old men and women gather a little of their poor "dunnage," as they call it, and tramp on with the moving army. There is
no help. Life thus-starvation else. Or, finding that the master proposes to take to the interior his able-bodied hands, leaving behind the
women, who are for the present worthless, the able-bodied anticipate
him, and gather the whole kindred, and try flight to the Union lines,
pursued often by men and dogs. Happy if thev can come in with
their heart treasures safe, though destitute of winter supplies.  Often.
alas! the father comes alone, with the cry of wife and children ringing
in his ears as they were taken back to bonds. What of them? God
knows! By and by, he-this thing, wonderfully imitative, but no
man-will go back to try again with and for them that fearful flightthis thing, that is no man, and has no heart, but is fit only to be owned
and bought and sold and damned to his master's greed or lust 
The blacks of Jeff. and Joe Davis came in near Vicksburg in June
last, and were supplied in their destitution with comfortables and the
like, procured by the speaker from the agent of the Sanitary Commission. In this case they left their plantations with teams and plenty,
but were stripped of all at the outposts of our army, and sent on to
their camp as destitute as if they had started with nothing,
At Memphis alone, during the months of February, March'and
April, not less than twelve hundred colored people were buried in great
pits, ten to twenty together, without coffin or shroud, and with scarcely
clothing enough for decency. During this time there were in the.
vicinity about an average of four thousand of these people. They
were in extreme destitution, many of them having but a single garment
between them and nakedness. Few of them had bedding; they were
sheltered in leaky tents, had no floors, and were but poorly supplied
I/ 
8
wvith cooking utensils, and had no arrangements for fires except outside
their tents. The mortality among them was mainly the result of
exposure in insufficient clothing.
The speaker dwelt at some length upon the prejudice existing against
this people among Northern men, as illustrated in the conduct of our
army toward them, giving many instances of extreme cruelty on the
part of both officers and men. This spirit is, however, much changed,
during the last six months, for the better, mainly through the arming
of the blacks, and their great usefulness, beside, in fatigue duty.
Will these people work? Let facts reply. The Memphis camps
have averaged about twenty-two hundred people. For the past five
months the able-bodied men have been mainly on guard duty, maintaining themselves by wood-cutting the days they are off duty. Yet
about four hundred comfortable log cabins have been built by them.
Mlany thousand days' work for the government has been performed;
two hundred and fifty acres of land cultivated, and three thousand
cords of wood cut, and that for the most part with neither wages paid
or promised.
They are cheerful, contented, industrious, and less improvident than
could be expected.
But these abandoned people are unable to support themselves by
regular cultivation of the soil.  The wide belt of territory, lately
devastated by the war, is still constantly overrun by guerrilla bands,
who drive off or kill every negro who attempts to work upon it. Not a
week passes but that parties of these maurauders sweep in within three
miles of Memphis.
An interesting account was given of the grand marriage of the people,
on the day of Thanksgiving for the victories of the summer.   One
hundred and fifteen couples were lawfully married that day in the
camps, some of whom had lived together forty years, and had sons
married, besides, the same day.
Their religion is rather one of feeling and passion, of extacies and
visions than of holy living, as might be expected when it was taught
thenm by those who could not apply it against any one of the practical
vices of slavery.  They learn eagerly and easily.
What is to be done with them? The speaker declared that they
could not be sent north.  They wouldn't concur.  They would not
leave the country. They could not be remanded to their masters.
The work to be done is in the South. They are accustomed and willing
to do it.  Only let the government protect them as free men-give 
9
them the right to sell their labor in the best market-the  right tc
learn; the right to own and inherit;  the right to wife and children.
and to do what they are able to do, and you need not trouble statesmen
or politicians about their future.  Reports of their sufferings have gone
back through the confederacy and prevent them from coming in as they
did six months ago. If it prove by and by that the rebels are able to
arm the blacks against us, these reports alone will enable them to do it.
The speaker closed with an earnest appeal for a great national
movement for the relief of the freed women and children in all
departments.
Mr. Fiske was followed by Mr. J. Miller McKim, who said:
Mr. Chairman, I hold in my hands some resolutions, which, on behalf of the parties who have convoked this meeting, I desire to offer.
Before reading them, I beg leave to make a few remarks
About eighteen months ago, as you have intimated, sir, a meeting was
held in this city similar in character and purpose to this.  It was
called to meet a pressing necessity. Our victorious arms in South
Carolina had given us our first instalment of freedom, in the way of'
liberated slaves. Ten thousand human chattels, deserted by there fugacious masters, were thrown upon the country for maintenance and protection. They were in a most destitute condition, perishing for want
of food and lack of needful clothing. An appeal in their behalf was
made to Northern philanthropy by officers in command of the army and
navy of the Southern Department. That appeal was responded to with
promptness and liberality; and nowhere, I am proud to say, with more
promptness and liberality than here in Philadelphia. The meeting
referred to was called to consider the subject. You-will well remember
the occasion sir, for it was our good fortune then, as it is now, to have
you for our presiding officer. Earnest addresses were delivered by
speakers who set forth fully the whole subject. The people were
moved. They adopted a resolution that these suffering blacks of the
sea islands should have the relief-physical, mental and moral-which
their necessities called for, and appointed a Committee t6'reduce this
resolution to practice. That Committee-known afterwards as the
" Port Royal Relief Committee," now styled, from its enlarged sphere,
the "Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association "-cheerfully  un  dertook the task assigned it. hlow that task was executed, it is not for
one speaking on its behalf to say. Its reports are before the public.
They have been circulated extensively in this country, and republished
abroad. 
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It is due, however, to the people-of Philadelphia,-to those who gave
character and shape to the meeting,-to say that the resolution adopted
was no mere idle flourish. It was the expression of a fixed purpose;
a purpose that was to be followed by corresponding action. At once
contributions began to flow into the treasury of' the Committee. With
these, food and raiment were purchased and forwarded to the objects
to be relieved. These again were followed by teachers and superintendents,-.high-toned and devoted men and women,-whose labors from
that time to this have been the admiration of the country,-have elicited grateful acknowledgments from the heads of the Government,
and have reflected honor upon our national character among the people
of foreign lands.
For, Mr. Chairman, this Port Royal business, though in itself considered a mere incident in the progress of the war-a mere episode in
the history of our national struggle, is, nevertheless, in its bearings and
relations, a matter of the very greatest moral and  political significance. The Port Royal Experiment, as it has been called, has been
a beacon light on the dark coast of our tempest-tossed political sea. It
has revealed the only safe channel through which our imperilled ship
of State could make its destined port. It has been one of the most
beautiful of all that series of beautiful providences, by which the
Good God has been leading us along,-saving us, as a nation, in spite
of ourselves, from the rocks and reefs on which our sin-begotten prejudices against a race, and an insane and sorcerous attachment to slavery,
were continually threatening to wreck us.
Port Royal, sir, has been to this country, and not to this country
alone, a great and beneficent revelator. It has disclosed a wealth of
virtue on the part of the people,-a latent mine of benevolence and
love of impartial justice-previously unknown, and by many not even
suspected. When, Mr. Chairman, at that meeting eighteen months
ago, you, as its organi said, "the blacks of the sea-islands are perishing,
and need immediate relief," the instant and emphatic reply was, "they
shall have it." The next day, in the Corn Exchange, gentlemen raised,
for this object, a thousand dollars. This was followed by other thousands from other sources. Men and women, more than could be employed, volunteered as teachers and helpers.
Here was a revelation. As, in the beginning of the war, strong men,
by thousands and tens of thousands, volunteered to fight,-to do the
work of destruction made necessary by the rebellion,-so now it was
seen that a noble army of men and women, stood ready to volunteer to 
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do the moral work-the work of construction made necessary by the
cause of the rebellion.
Port Royal has also brought to light a great wealth of resource
possessed by the country, in the character and capabilities of the black
man. That the blacks will work, without the whip, quietly, indus   triously, and that for the merest modicum of wages, the most reluc  tant are now compelled to admit.   That they will fight, with the same
bravery and the same skill as white men, and that they may be relied
upon as defenders of our common country in time of war, has been
made equally patent. Gen. Hunter's black regiment of South Carolina,
q were the first to put this fact beyond a peradventure. That they are
susceptible to educational influences, the Port Royal enterprize has
also placed beyond the possibility of cavil. Read the published testi  mony of teachers who have gone out from this city.  Read the letters
of that most accomplished and devoted lady, Miss Laura Towne; or
those of the equally accomplished and devoted Miss Charlotte For  ten, granddaughter of the late James Forten, of this~city; or those of
the estimable Mrs. General Saxton, formerly Miss Matilda Thompson,
who went to South Carolina under the auspices of our Philadelphia
Relief Committee.
But I need not multiply illustrations of what has been developed by
this great Port Royal movement.   Suffice it to say, its history consti  tutes one of the most instructive chapters in the annals of our country.
It is a chapter that has been read, studied and reproduced in Eng land and France, and that with the greatest advantage to our national
cause, and to the cause of popular liberty everywhere.
Now, Mr. Chairman, for the moral of these statements: What has
been done at Port Royal, can be done at Memphis.  What can be done
for South Carolina, can be done for Tennessee; and what can be done
for both these States, can and ought to be done for all the other States
of the South similarly situated.
What if there be " 35,000 freed people on the banks of the.Missis sippi" looking to us for aid?  What if there, and elsewhere, this num ber be increased, as it soon necessarily will be, tenfold? The more of
them the better. The sooner they are all free, the sooner will the war
be over; the sooner will the rebellion be suppressed, permanent peace
restored, and the work of our national regeneration complete.
The resolutions I proposed to offer are as follows:
Whereas, We have heard with deep and painful interest the recitals
which have been made to us of the condition of the freed blacks in 
12
Tennessee, on the banks of the Mississippi, and elsewhere; and
whereas, the destitution thus disclosed is of the most pressing exigency, making appeals which admit of no postponement; and whereas,
it would be plainly unreasonable to demand of the Government-with
a colossal war on its hands, and difficulties to contend with of unprecedented magnitude-that it should assume the entire burden of the
support and management of this hapless people: therefore,
Resolved, That all citizens of the United States, and especially the
loyal and humane of the North, owe a duty to the freed blacks of the
South in their present distress, which demands immediate practical
acknowledgement.
Resolved, That the necessities of these people, being inevitably incident to their transition from slavery to freedom, and the result of circumstances for which they are in nowise responsible, ought to be, and
must be, provided for by those on whom, by their own assumption,
this responsibility rests.
Resolved, That the extent and probable duration of the state of
things which now makes its appeal to us, forbid the idea of meeting it
by any mere local, extemporaneous, or impulsive effort; but that, on
the contrary, they demand that it should be provided for by a well
digested and carefully organized system of general operations; and that
we recommend that immediate steps be taken by parties interested in
the subject in this city, to put on foot a plan of concerted action, the
scope of which shall be coextensive with the country; and the results,
a proper provision for the necessities, mental, moral, and physical, of
all who may justly claim its benefits.
Resolved, That in the meantime the people of Philadelphia and of
the State of Pennsylvania should come forward with their accustomed
liberality to meet the present exigency, and that, besides contributions
in clothing to supply the demand now made upon them, a sum not less
than $50,000 should be raised for the purpose of carrying out the
object of this meeting.
I am reluctant to trench upon the time of the speaker who is to follow me, whom I am sure you are impatient to hear, but I beg the
privilege of a few additional words, suggested by these resolutions.
It is asserted that it would be unreasonable to demand that the government, burdened as it is, should assume the entire onus of looking
after the welfare of these people. Mr. Chairman, I am in favor of holding our public servants to a strict account; but there is such a thing
as exacting too much. It would not be possible for any government to 
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pass safely through the difficulties which environ ours, without the
largest amount of outside popular assistance.  I doubt, sir, if there be
another government now on the face of the earth, that could bear up
under the burdens which now press upon the broad shoulders of this.
Our integrity as a nation at this moment, maintained in spite of the
prophecies of Europe's wisest men, is due to the elastic nature of our institutions; to the democratic form, under which power, in this country,
is administered.
It is our duty, sir-the duty of every loyal citizen-to come  up'to
the help of the government in this great crisis, and I rejoice to know
that the people recognize the duty. Look at the Sanitary Commission,
with its hundreds of faithful workers and its $7,000,000 disbursed for
the benefit of the suffering and wounded! Look at the Christian Commission, with similar instrumentalities, spending money like water for
the same purposes! Look at the numerous other voluntary, outside
associations got up to support the government in its hour of trial!
Now, Mr. Chairman, the greatest want of all, at the present moment,
is-as these resolutions point out-a well organized and widely extended system of operations for the benefit of the freed men. It is recommended here, that steps toward such an organization be immediately
taken. Shall it be done? If so, by whom? Shall we wait, as has
been our bad habit in times past, for New York or Boston to take the
initiative? Why should Philadelphia wait for the lead of either of
these cities? Let us be true to our traditions. This city has always
been distinguished, and justly, for its broad charities; its widereaching humanity. Look at our numerous well endowed hospitals,
of every variety and for every class. Look at our Volunteer Refreshment Saloons, feeding, without money and without price, hundreds
of thousands of our country's brave defenders. Look at the Union
League giving $300,000 to support and defend the government. Look
at our Volunteer Enlistment Committees, one of them disbursing a
bounty fund of $500,000, all contributed voluntarily by citizens of
Philadelphia; another, in the teeth of prejudice, assuming the responsibility and expense of putting into the field, three regiments of black
U.S. troops; and, having nearly completed this task, now holding itself
ready to do three times as much more in the same direction.
Mr. Chairman, I say not these things to flatter, I say them as a basis
of an argument. Let us be true to our traditions. Let Philadelphia
be true to her historic character.   She is rich; the State is prosperous;
the whole North is plethoric with abundance; out of this abundance
let us give. 
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Sir, I think the sum fixed in the resolutions too small. Fifty thousand dollars is not enough for so great a city, in so great a cause. I
will take the liberty, therefore, of suggesting that the resolutions should
read " not less than one hundred thousand dollars."
The chairman introduced to the audience the Rev. Phillips
Brooks, who spoke in effect as follows:
We are not dealing to-night with an entirely new subject. One of
the most remarkable things about our time is the way in which experience is matured now in periods that we used to think wholly inadequate. We used to need years to learn lessons that months can teach
us now. And so, although this work of the Freedmen's relief is only
two years old, we have certain clear ideas about the way it ought to be
conducted, and the method of its success. The change of name of this
Committee is significant Starting as the "Port Royal Relief Committee," it widens its view now, and becomes  the "Freedmen's Relief
Association."  Called to enter on a wider sphere of action, it carries
with it the history of that Port Royal enterprise for a continual incitement and direction. That enterprise, growing out of the capture of
Hilton Head by Com. Dupont, just two years ago this week, presents
us certain well-ascertained results, which we set down as facts. It has
proved that the freed black man is capable of a will to work, a desire
to learn, an appreciation of liberty, a healthy social ambition, and a
very practical and effective religion. It has proved, moreover, that he
is capable of, and may be made to manifest all these, not in a small,
but in a very large degree; that when you eliminate the necessary conditions which he lacks, and make account of the disadvantages under
which he labors, his progress has been very remarkable indeed. For
you have to eliminate those things which help the free worker at the
North, but are wanting to the freed worker at the South. First, a
traditionary habit of labor; second, an inciting public opinion; third,
hereditary dispositions and ambitions; and you have to add these things
which hinder the laborer at Port Royal, but not the laborer in Pennsylvania; 1st, an undefined social condition; 2d, an insecure hold on
the results of labor; 3d, the contempt and discouragement of many who
ought to help him; 4th, a bad climate; 5th, a bad training and a blood
only one or two generations removed from savage life. Keep these
things in mind, and then read the reports of this Port Royal work and
weigh its results, and you will grant that it has proved the true method
of this problem of the Freedman's destiny. 
15
The true method has been proved but nothing more. To make that
method effective is the immense work that is opening before us now.
The people have led the Government in the good work of Emancipation; now it does not become them to leave that government unsustained in the inevitable consequences of that work for which we thank
God.
We call on the people to accept the immense fact of these thousands
of helpless black people, and without being deterred by the old prejudice of race, or the endlessness of the toil, to come forward and assume
it as one of the burdens of this generation.
We call on you on broader grounds-not as anti-slavery men, not
even as Americans, but just as men whose brethren are sick, and naked,
and hungry, and cold, and ignorant; we appeal for food, and clothes,
and teachers, to send them, in the name of their share in the humanity
of Him who said —" Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do you even so to them."
At the conclusion of Mr. Brooks' speech, Mr. McKim, as one
of the Secretaries, announced that the names of five gentlemen
had just been handed up as contributors; four of them subscrib ing a thousand dollars each, and the fifth, five hundred. "A good
beginning," the speaker remarked, "toward the $100,000 recommended." The announcement was received with applause.
It was further announced that Mr. Edward Clark, 35 S. Third
Street, was Treasurer of the Freedmen's Association, and that
all contributions in money should be sent to him; while donations in clothing, should be sent to the Counting-house of Mr.
James A. Wright, an active member of the Association, No. 115
Walnut Street.
Before taking the question on the Resolutions, Bishop Potter
remarked that they presented two distinct and important subJects. 1st. The necessity of a national and efficient organization
to meet the emergency created in respect to these people by the
advance of our armies; and 2d, the raising at once in this city
of $50,000 or $100,000 to supply the present necessities of the
women and children. iHe hoped that Philadelphia would not
forget what she owed, not only to the subject, but to her own
past. It should be held in lively remembrance that in this city
the doctrine of what we owed to the black man was for the 
16
first time distinctly and perseveringly proclaimed. More than
an hundred and twelve years ago, a humble school master of
Philadelphia, but one of the best and wisest of men,-Anthony
Benezet-uttered the voice of true humanity and of Christian
duty on this subject. It was at his feet that many years afterwards Thomas Clarkson learned the alphabet of his far-famed
philanthropy.  The place which contains the ashes of such an
Apostle of charity should be forward in the good work, that is
proposed this evening.
The meeting then adjourned.
ADDENDUM.
The object of the meeting, the proceedings of which are here
reported, is not a partial one.  This will have been perceived by
the careful reader;  but it is best, perhaps, that it should be
distinctly stated.
The Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association, who originated the meeting, contemplate the benefit, without preference, of
all who may justly claim their offices.  They have before them
appeals from almost every Southern State.   From Port Royal
there still comes a demand for teachers and books.   The more
the blacks there learn, the more they want to learn.  From the
contraband camps at Washington and on Arlington Heighlts they
have appeals for clothes and bedding as a protection against
the approaching winter.  From Fortress Monroe, a letter has
been [received from Mr WVilder, superintendent of the freed
blacks, who is carrying on an agricultural experiment near
that station, an extract from which is as follows:
" Our plantation operations are doing wonders, and in another year,
if we can get farming implements and'seed enough, we expect to
astonish the best friends of the negro with our success.   *   Were
it not for the old, and young, and sick, and feeble, and new comers, all
of whom have nothing, and need all things, we would not be beggars,
but givers.  Schools and meetings are well attended and do a world of
g,ood." 
17
From  Nashville,  Major Stearns sends a letter, the import of
which will be gathered from the following:
We find in this city between twelve and eighteen hundred children, of
twelve years of age and under, who are mostly of mixed blood, speaking
the English language, intelligent, apt to learn, entering a sphere of selfdependence untried by their class as yet, that are to be rescued from a
prospective condition of degradation and demoralization, only by the
efforts of the benevolent. We propose to give our attention to the
female portion of these children first, and could we obtain Two Thousand
J)ollars, added to what means could be obtained in this locality, we
could make a beginning in this noble work.
From North Carolina an appeal comes to the Freedmen's
Association in this city, in form as follows:
OFFICE OF THE EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION, 2
BOsTON, Nov. 6th, 1863. 
Dear Sir:-The enclosed paper, extracts from letters from Mrs.
James. wife of the' Superintendent of Blacks,' at Newbern, has been
laid before the Committee on Teachers. In sending so many teachers
to Port Royal, Newbern, Norfolk, Alexandria and Georgetown, we use
so much of the money subscribed to the commission, that the supply
of clothing we can send can never meet the demand. The Philadelphia
Society has worked so wisely and successfully at Port Royal, in establishing, by its store there, trade with the freed people in the articles
they need, that it is thought best to send this paper to you, in the
hope that your society may establish the same beneficent arrangement
with the Newbern people.  They have money, but  they cannot pay
tie exhorbitant prices of the sutlers. Would it be agreeable to you
to lay this matter before your Association, and inform us whether they
tl)inrk fit to take action upon it?
Respectfully, &e.
The "paper," referred to, contained the following.
August 29tb.-At Howell's camp, over 1400, mostly women and
children. Only a few instances among all these people where the family
has any one on whom to depend, or any one to earn anything.  Very
many aged women, decrepit and infirm; some such have the care of two
or three, in one instance of five grand-children. One such person has
been in the camp four months, and has had in all this time buta single
?arment of her own; when needful to wash it, some woman, more for
2 
18
tunate, would lend her a covering. No shoe or stocking, nothing but
this coarse ragged garment, of material not unlike crash.  She had the
care of four little children, "motherless  young-uns missus," and was
assiduous and faithful to them as far as possible. I took out three barrels closely packed with clothing, and two ladies to aid in the distribution, and we each felt, when through, that we had not begun to supply
the most pressing wants.
We are besieged at the office withapplications to buy supplies, as all
trade is in the hands of sutlers, &c., and not a yard of material is obtainable under 30 to 45 cts., at the very lowest.
September 2d.-I have issued sixteen barrels of clothing since my
return, and am now all out of supplies. There is a great demand for
boys' clothing-boys from 8 to 14 years, who are very desirous to attend
the schools, now going on so well, and yet are not sufficiently covered
to be willing to present themselves.  Many of these boys come with
money that they have earned, and want to buy clothes, but we cannot
supply them, and to buy materials of the suttlers is simply impossible;
so the poor fellows must wait.
As I write the yard is filled with blacks, who seem to think that by
waiting until they see me they can get some calico, although the clerk
has told them that it is all gone.
September 24th.-The yard of the officeisthronged daily with blacks,
of all conditions, asking for clothing. Some have money to pay; some
have notes from the superintendentof the camp where they live, stating
that they are poor and have no work to do to earn anything, while
others in squalid features and rags, that leave half their persons exposed, tell their own tale of poverty and wretchedness.   I repeat what
I have before stated to you, that my greatest discouragement is lack of
clothing for gratuitous distribution.
The soldiers under Gen. Wild, now before Charleston, in many cases
left families, and their wives, many of them, have nothing to clothe
their little ones with in this damp season now coming upon us. These
peculiarly claim our care.
At present I have not a garment of any kind either for sale or gra
tuity.
October 12th.-I find that these people who attend schools are at
once desirous of something whole, in place of the rags that scarcely
cover their persons,  and  chil(hren, especially, want  clothes.   They
quickly  become ashamed to associate with "de ladies," when  they
"' has noting better dan dis yere,"' and " no shiftier close." 
19
We are in want of dresses for girls, who are almost women, and for
women who are pupils. In issuing our supplies I give preference to
pupils of the ladies, who are out here, as well as to the pupils of
Mrs. Doolittle, after that to the soldiers families.  Many  women are
waiting for a frock before they can enter a school.  They come to me
with their sad story, and say at the close, " de teacher says we's mus
come all clean, an now missus I'se can't be clean wi noting but dis yere
old rag." The proposition is self-evident, and when, as is often the
case, the applicant has in her hand 50 or 75 cents, and perhaps more,
it is sad to turn her empty away.   The checks which you sent us are
on the persons of those who attend school every day or evening.  It as
pleasant to recognize them.
October 8ti.  Miss Chase.-Can you furnish me with knitting yarn
and kneedles? Every colored foot is bare, and every colored woman
can knit. You cannot send me too much yarn, so I will expect a great
deal. If you have shoes for us, they would be very acceptable. The
bare knees of hard-working men, whom I hoped were clothed for tLhe
winter, are even now looking out upon the day, and women are wanting
petticoats, and everybody is asking for blankets.
Similar appeals are coming all the time from various parts of
the Southern States. To all of these it is the purpose of the
Association to respond impartially; aiding those first who are
most necessitous and providing for all with such liberality as
their means may warrant.
The Port Royal enterprise, to which the people of Philadelphia have so liberally contributed, has been in every respect successful.  The freed people there are now a happy, thrifty, selfsupporting community. Several of them are, in a small way,
landed proprietors and planters. Their children go to school,
and have already made such progress that some of them  in
their turn are now performing the part of assistant teachers.
In illustration as well as proof of these statements, takethe following extract of a letter lately received from  Mr. Reuben
Tomlinson, of this city, now General Superintendent, under
Government, of the Island of St. Hielena:
"There never was a time, when every thing connected with our enterprize here seemed to me more promising than now. So far as
plantation labor is concerned, we are just in the midst of harvest, and 
20
all the crops are good. Indeed the cotton crop will be, I think, larger
and better in all respects, than was anticipated by any of us a month
ago.  The' crop' last year, as such7, was so complete a failure, that we
hardly dared to look forward to a much better one this year.  I think
we all felt that, owing to the people's dislike of' Cotton,' and our ig
norance  of its proper culture, comparatively little could  be  done
for some years.  That we were mistaken in these prognostications, this
year's harvest will prove.  You will not understand from this, that 1
anticipate a yield equal to'Secesh' times.  Nothing of the sort.  In
the first place, there has not been more than half as much cotton
planted, as was usual in the days of slavery.   We  lhave not laid ourselves out for the purpose of raising cotton, but to make the people
self-supporting and independent.   In this I have no doubt that we
have succeeded; and we shall have raised enough cotton to pay all our
expenses besides.
Hereafter, no person in this Department, excepting those that would
be paupers under any circumstances, need draw a single' ration' from
Government.   On this' place' there is already double as much' cotton
now picked, as was gathered during the whole season last year.
And this I think is true of every other plantation. The cotton is also,
in quality, very much superior to that of last year.             * 
In the Educational department the results are equally flattering.   I
do not get time to visit the schools as much as I would like to, but the
observations that I have made lead me to but one conclusion, and that
is that the progress made is truly marvellous.
The following letter, with some omissions to save space, is taken
from the New York Tribune of the 9th of November:
From an Occasional Correspondent.
BEAUFORT, S.C., Nov. 4, 1863.
These Sea Islands have become a modern Goshen. The people, who
long dwelt in darkness, now have "light in their dwellings" and " the
cloud" resteth between them and their enemies.
The crops have been gathered, the laborer has been paid his hire, and
yet the lash has not been used, nor the driver's horn been heard through
all the season.
Statesmen, were they here, would find an answer to the question, so
often asked, " What shall be done with the colored people?"  Manufacturers, who have trembled lest their spindles should cease their mn 
21
sic-merchants,  who  have  stood aghast at  the prospect of ceipty
shelves-would dismiss their fears if they knew  what is transpiring
in these islands, the " Pahdees" may safely throw away the torch and
the rope.
Now the call, the almost universal call, is for hands.  The hard earnings and scanty savings of the season are to be invested in lands and
a home.   So intense has been the desire for land that nearly all have
laid by something for a home.
The President, in his instructions to the Tax Commissioners,  has
provided that a certain proportion of the land shall be sold to none but
freedmen, and in tracts not exceeding twenty acres, at $1 25. per acre.
This provision is good, so far as it goes, but the real wants of the people require more.
That the people can support themselves all here admit.  BPut can
they govern themselves? is a question not yet solved satisfactorily to
all. Well, we are to see. A little Republic has been formed in our
great Republic.  It is like the " wheel in a wheel " in Ezekiel's vision.
" Squatter sovereignty" is the corner-stone.   Like the pioneers of the
prairies, anticipating the slow movements  of the Government, and
having confidence in each other, they have resolved to lay, each man,
"his claim " to twenty acres, build him his house and enjoy life.
When this matter was first named, some friends doubted the feasibility
of it, but at a meeting recently held, where were gathered  men and
women who stood and sat in ranks of hundreds beneath the shadows of
the beautiful pines, the fearful were made confident, and believers were
confirmed.   The day was the holy Sabbath; the place just outside a
church, near the centre of Port Royal Island. There were present the
Military Governor, Gen.  Saxton and lady, Col. Yan Wyck, 56th New
York, and late M. C., and officers of various grades in the army and
navy, Treasury and Plantation Agents, missionaries, and a large nuniber of intelligent lady teachers and friends.  Among the freedmen were
scores upon scores of "field women," tidily clad, their smiling faces
indicating that they had entered a new life. Hundreds of Only forms
of fathers, husbands, brothers, who had once borne the crushing weight
of Slavery, were there.  The 1st South Carolina, Col. Hligginson, had
sent a delegation of noble men to claim the soldiers' right to a piece of
land-a claim granted by Congress, and confirmed by their noble, heroic
deeds as soldiers. The services opened by singing
Children of a Heavenly King,
As we journey let us swing," &c.
f 
22
Prayer was then offered by the Rev. Mr. Hall, (colored), from New
York, after which the Rev. Mr. French addressed the people from these
words: "Behold the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee; go
up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee;
fear not, neither be discouraged," Deut. i. 21.
General Saxton, large hearted and courageous in all that appertains
to the good of his people, explained clearly to them the importance of
their owning permanent homes. They were on trial now before themselves and the nation. He had full faith that they would succeed.
Rules for governing the people in settling upon and finally securing
a title to the lands were then adopted.
These rules were preceded by the following declaration
" We, the free colored people now residing in the Parish of St. Helena,
in the State of South Carolina, pledging our lives and services, as far
as we are capable, to the United States, and vowing loyalty to the
same, and being desirous of vindicating our rights to freedom, and our
claims to recognition as freemen, and of exhibiting to the world our
capacity to maintain our position as such, and of evincing our gratitude
to Almighty God, who has brought us out of the house of bondage, do
hereby mutually covenant and agree with each other to observe, obey,
adhere to and maintain the following rules and regulations."
Col. Van Wyck delivered a stirring address, and was followed by
Serjeant Rivers, 1st South Carolina Volunteers, in a speech that made
all hearts rejoice. He said
"Gen. Hunter called him to be a sog,er. He was a recruiting officer.
He  started  out  Sabbath  day,  and  got  thirty-nine  men  befo'
sundown.  He was glad to be a soger, and he meant to knock at the
door of the Union till he got his rights, or die knocking. He saw the
womens all hold back der husbands, didn't want'them to go sogering,
cause they get killed. Women worse than the men, and some hide
the men in the woods. Now you see, we gets our pay for going to the
army. The Government lets we sogers have our land and pay one
quarter down, and have three years to pay the rest. I'feel'shamed
for our women. They ought to know the man's place is to take care
of the women and children, else he be no man at all. If anybody hide,
let the women hide, and the man stand out the door and see where the
danger is.  Now we sogers are men-men de first time in our lives,
Now we can look our old masters in de face. They used to sell and
whip us, and we did not dare say one word. Now we an't afraid, if
they meet us, to run the bayonet through them. Now we help the 
23
Government.   The white soldiers used to say, the niggers fight I oh
no, dem black niggers don't fight. Wont fight if they be sogers.
Now they done cursing-they say, come on brother soldier, we will
whip out the Rebels. My brethren, I don't intend to lay down my gun
till the war is done, and our brethren all get their freedom-and then,
if I be alive, I will come home and enjoy my family and my land. We
mnens, fifty of us in the 1st S. C., have got $1,000 for land, and I won't
say how much more, but if any man bids against us, he will find we
got another dollar more.   So just let him remember that.  And now,
as you goes to pick your land, don't you men, who were afraid to go
and fight, feel cowardly like the women; don't you go and pick all the
best places. The old men, the weak ones, and the poor women must
have the cleared land, and you take the woods.  We fight the Rebels
right up in Fort Wagner, where the bayonets were.   Now you take
the woods and work, and let the old ones, and the women, and the
children, whose husbands and fathers are among the Rebels, ]mve the
good lands. For my part, I mean to stand by the agreement. Gen.
Saxby our friend, and I mean to stand by him and work for the Lord."
Rarely was ever a speech made that did more honor to the speaker
or afforded more pleasure to his audience. A model house was here
exhibited, constructed of poles and without nails, such as Gen. Mitchell
built for the people at Hilton Head before his death. Mr. Wilson is
building these houses as rapidly as possible, with a large force of carpenters. They are 16 by 24, and cost about $25. The most of the people can build the houses for themselves. The people, in view of having
homes of their own and home comforts, such as every heart yearns for,
were carried away in transports of joy. In breaking up the meeting,
the cordial greetings, the thanksgivings, the "Lord bless you, Massa,"
were like copious showers. The day was a jubilee.
The meeting adjourned, but not the action of the people. The
islanders are like bees returning from a clover-blossomed field, laden
with the rewards of diligent toil. From all quarters young men, middle-aged, and the old man, bending under the weight of fourscore years
and ten, are coinig into town with their money.  None  bring less
than $25.  Here comes from the ferry, twelve miles distant, an aged
pilgrim, staff in hand, tidily clad, with a " twenty years younger, massa,
since the meeting yesterday" on his lips, and lays down his wallet,
saying, "please count dat, massa, dat for me and my old woman.  We
tankful to have home and freedom, if only one day, before we die."
Next comes a man saying " our people are thirty head; we be on 
the plantation; we get $500; we want all ole massa place. We work
on it all our days. We support him, and well too; now we take care of
ourselves. He welcome to raise de hliominy, and have it all himself.
We jist want to see how much cotton and corn we can raise."
The very latest intelligence that has been received from Port
Royal is contained in the following extract from a letter of Mr.
John   leacock, one of the Superintendents who went out under
the direction of the Philadelphia Relief Committee:
WALKER'S PLANTATION, }
Port Royal Island, Nov. 5, 1863.
The cotton crop is now nearly gathered; on this plantation there
will be about 2,500 lbs. of ginned cotton. This will be about 100 lbs.
to the acre, against 300-350 in secesh times. This falling off is to be
attributed to the want of manure and the want of animals to do the
necessary work. A1l last winter there was but one mule and a very
poor cart upon this place.  Then was the time to get the manure.  We
have now two mules and two carts.  I hope next year to see double the
crop.  I think it can be done.  The best acre so far has yielded 412
lbs., with enough probably remaining to make 500 lbs. It will be
somine time before northern people can make the crops that used to be
made; there is so much to learn.  I think the yield on this plantation
is labout an average.
Ad What has beenedone at Port Royal, the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association purpose to
do, to the extent of their means, in all the Southern
States.
4