History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 / Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens

By the Chairman:

Q. Do you know of any rebel officers going on board our gun-boat after she came up?

A. I don't know about the gun-boat, but I saw some of them on board the "Platte Valley," after I had been carried on her. They came on board, and I think went into drink with some of our officers. I think one of the rebel officers was General Chalmers.

Q. Do you know what officers of ours drank with them?

A. I do not.

Q. You know that they did go on board the "Platte Valley" and drink with some of our officers?

A. I did not see them drinking at the time, but I have no doubt they did; that was my impression from all I saw, and I thought our officers might have been in better business.

Q. Were our officers treating these rebel officers with attention?

A. They seemed to be; I did not see much of it, as they passed along by me.

Q. Do you know whether or not the conduct of the privates, in murdering our soldiers after they had surrendered, seemed to have the approval of their officers?

A. I did not see much of their officers, especially during the worst of those outrages; they seemed to be back.

Q. Did you observe any effort on the part of their officers to suppress the murders?

A. No, sir; I did not see any where I was first carried; just about dusk, all at once several shots were fired just outside. The cry was: "They are shooting the darkey soldiers." I heard an officer ride up and say: "Stop that firing; arrest that man." I suppose it was a rebel officer, but I do not know. It was reported to me, at the time, that several darkeys were shot then. An officer who stood by me, a prisoner, said that they had been shooting them, but that the general had had it stopped.

Q. Do you know of any of our men in the hospital being murdered?

A. I do not.

Q. Do you know any thing of the fate of your Quartermaster, Lieutenant Akerstrom?

A. He was one of the officers who went with me to meet the flag of truce the last time. I do not know what became of him; that was about the last I saw of him. I heard that he was nailed to a board and burned, and I have very good reason for believing that was the case, although I did not see it. The First Lieutenant of Company D of my regiment says that he has an affidavit to that effect of a man who saw it.

Francis A. Alexander, sworn and examined.

By the Chairman:

Q. To what company and regiment do you belong?

A. Company C, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry.

Q. Were you at Fort Pillow at the fight there?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Who commanded your regiment?

A. Major Bradford commanded the regiment, and Lieutenant Logan commanded our company.

Q. By what troops was the Fort attacked?

A. Forrest was in command. I saw him.

Q. Did you know Forrest?

A. I saw him there, and they all said it was Forrest. Their own men said so.

Q. By what troops was the charge made?

A. They are Alabamians and Texans.

Q. Did you see any thing of a flag of truce?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. State what was done while the flag of truce was in.

A. When the flag of truce came up our officers went out and held a consultation, and it went back. They came in again with a flag of truce; and while they were consulting the second time, their troops were coming up a gap or hollow, where we could have cut them to pieces. They tried it before, but could not do it. I saw them come up there while the flag of truce was in the second time.

Q. That gave them an advantage?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Were you wounded there?

A. Not in the Fort. I was wounded after I left the Fort and was going down the hill.

Q. Was that before or after the Fort was taken?

A. It was afterward.

Q. Did you have any arms in your hand at the time they shot you?

A. No, sir; I threw my gun away, and started down the hill, and got about twenty yards, when I was shot through the calf of the leg.

Q. Did they shoot you more than once?

A. No, sir; they shot at me, but did not hit me more than once.

Q. Did they say why they shot you after you had surrendered?

A. They said afterward they intended to kill us all for being there with their niggers.

Q. Were any rebel officers there at the time this shooting was going on?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did they try to stop it?

A. One or two of them did.

Q. What did the rest of them do?

A. They kept shouting and hallooing at the men to give no quarter. I heard that cry very frequent.

Q. Was it the officers that said that?

A. I think it was. I think it was them, the way they were going on. When our boys were taken prisoners, if anybody came up who knew them, they shot them down. As soon as ever they recognized them, wherever it was, they shot them.

Q. After they had taken them prisoners?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did you know any thing about their shooting men in the hospitals?

A. I know of their shooting negroes in there. I don't know about white men.

Q. Wounded negro men?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Who did that?

A. Some of their troops. I don't know which of them. The next morning I saw several black people shot that were wounded, and some that were not wounded. One was going down the hill before me, and the officer made him come back up the hill; and after I got in the boat I heard them shooting them.

Q. You say you saw them shoot negroes in the hospital the next morning?

A. Yes, sir; wounded negroes who could not get along; one with his leg broke. They came there the next day and shot him.

John F. Ray, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Q. To what company and regiment do you belong?

A. Company B, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry.

Q. Were you at Fort Pillow, when it was attacked?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. At what time were you wounded?

A. I was wounded about two o'clock, after the rebels got in the breastworks.

Q. Was it before or after you had surrendered?

A. It was after I threw down my gun, as they all started to run.

Q. Will you state what you saw there?

A. After I surrendered they shot down a great many white fellows right close to me—ten or twelve, I suppose—and a great many negroes, too.

Q. How long did they keep shooting our men after they surrendered?

A. I heard guns away after dark shooting all that evening, somewhere; they kept up a regular fire for a long time, and then I heard the guns once in a while.

Q. Did you see any one shot the next day?

A. I did not; I was in a house, and could not get up at all.

Q. Do you know what became of the Quartermaster of your regiment, Lieutenant Akerstrom?

A. He was shot by the side of me.

Q. Was he killed?

A. I thought so at the time; he fell on his face. He was shot in the forehead, and I thought he was killed. I heard afterward he was not.

Q. Did you notice any thing that took place while the flag of truce was in?

A. I saw the rebels slipping up and getting in the ditch along our breastworks.

Q. How near did they come up?

A. They were right at us; right across from the breastworks. I asked them what they were slipping up there for. They made answer that they knew their business.

Q. Are you sure this was done while the flag of truce was in?

A. Yes, sir. There was no firing; we could see all around; we could see them moving up all around in large force.

Q. Was any thing said about it except what you said to the rebels?

A. I heard all our boys talking about it. I heard some of our officers remark, as they saw it coming, that the white flag was a bad thing; that they were slipping on us. I believe it was Lieutenant Akerstrom that I heard say it was against the rules of war for them to come up in that way.

Q. To whom did he say that?

A. To those fellows coming up; they had officers with them.

Q. Was Lieutenant Akerstrom shot before or after he had surrendered?

A. About two minutes after the flag of truce went back, during the action.

Q. Do you think of any thing else to state? If so, go on and state it.

A. I saw a rebel lieutenant take a little negro[114] boy up on the horse behind him; and then I heard General Chalmers—I think it must have been—tell him to "Take that negro down and shoot him," or "Take him and shoot him," and he passed him down and shot him.

Q. How large was the boy?

A. He was not more than eight years old. I heard the lieutenant tell the other that the negro was not in the service; that he was nothing but a child; that he was pressed and brought in there. The other one said; "Damn the difference; take him down and shoot him, or I will shoot him." I think it must have been General Chalmers. He was a smallish man; he had on a long gray coat, with a star on his coat.[115]

The country and the world stood aghast. The first account of this human butchery was too much for credence: after a while the truth began to dawn upon the country; and at last the people admitted that in a Christian land like America a deed so foul—blacker than hell itself!—had actually been perpetrated. The patience of the North and the Union army gave way to bitterest imprecations; the exultation and applause of the South and Confederate army were succeeded by serious thoughts and sad reflections. But it is the duty of impartial history to record that this bloody, sickening affair was not endorsed by all the rebels.

In a letter dated Okalona, Mississippi, June. 14, 1864, to the "Atlanta Appeal," a rebel gives this endorsement of Forrest's conduct at Fort Pillow:

"You have heard that our soldiers buried negroes alive at Fort Pillow. This is true. At the first fire after Forrest's men scaled the walls, many of the negroes threw down their arms and fell as if they were dead. They perished in the pretence, and could only be restored at the point of the bayonet. To resuscitate some of them, more terrified than the rest, they were rolled into the trenches made as receptacles for the fallen. Vitality was not restored till breathing was obstructed, and then the resurrection began. On these facts is based the pretext for the crimes committed by Sturgis, Grierson, and their followers. You must remember, too, that in the extremity of their terror, or for other reasons, the Yankees and negroes in Fort Pillow neglected to haul down their flag. In truth, relying upon their gun-boats, the officers expected to annihilate our forces after we had entered the fortifications. They did not intend to surrender.

"A terrible retribution, in any event, has befallen the ignorant, deluded Africans."

Gen. Forrest was a cold-blooded murderer; a fiend in human form. But as the grave has opened long since to receive him; and as the cause he represented has perished from the earth, it is enough to let the record stand without comment, and God grant without malice! It is the duty of history to record that there is to be found no apologist for cruelties that rebels inflicted upon brave but helpless Black soldiers during the war for the extirpation of slavery. The Confederate conduct at Pillow must remain a foul stain upon the name of the men who fought to perpetuate human slavery in North America, but failed.

Part 8.

THE FIRST DECADE OF FREEDOM.

CHAPTER XXI.
RECONSTRUCTION[116]—MISCONSTRUCTION.
1865-1875.

The War over, Peace restored, and the Nation cleansed of a Plague.—Slavery gives Place to a Long Train of Events.—Unsettled Condition of Affairs at the South.—The Absence of Legal Civil Government necessitates the Establishment of Provisional Military Government.—An Act establishing a Bureau for Refugees and Abandoned Lands.—Congressional Methods for the Reconstruction of the South.—Gen. U. S. Grant carries these States in 1868 and 1872.—Both Branches of the Legislatures in all the Southern States contain Negro Members.—The Errors of Reconstruction chargeable to both Sections of the Country.

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APPOMATTOX had taken her place in history; and the echo of the triumph of Federal arms was heard in the palaces of Europe. The United States Government had survived the shock of the embattled arms of a gigantic Rebellion; had melted the manacles of four million slaves in the fires of civil war; had made four million bondmen freemen; had wiped slavery from the map of North America; had demonstrated the truth that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land; and that the United States is a NATION, not a league.

The brazen-mouthed, shotted cannon were voiceless; a million muskets and swords hung upon the dusty walls of silent arsenals; and war ceased from the proud altitudes of the mountains of Virginia to where the majestic Atlantic washes the shores of the Carolinas. A million soldiers in blue melted quietly into the modest garb of citizens. The myriad hum of busy shuttles, clanking machinery, and whirling wheels proclaimed the day of peace. Families and communities were restored and bound together by the indissoluble, golden ties of domestic charities. The war was over; peace had been restored; and the nation was cleansed of a plague.

But what was to be done with the millions of Negroes at the South? The war had made them free. That was all. They could leave the plantation. They had the right of locomotion; were property no longer. But what a spectacle! Here were four million human beings without clothing, shelter, homes, and, alas! most of them without names. The galling harness of slavery had been cut off of their weary bodies, and like a worn-out beast of burden they stood in their tracks scarcely able to go anywhere. Like men coming from long confinement in a dark dungeon, the first rays of freedom blinded their expectant eyes. They were almost delirious with joy. The hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows, the pain and waiting, the prayers and tears of the cruel years of slavery gave place to a long train of events that swept them out into the rapid current of a life totally different from the checkered career whence they had just emerged. It required time, patience, and extraordinary wisdom on the part of the Government to solve the problem of this people's existence—of this "Nation born in a day." Their joy was too full, their peace too profound, and their thanksgiving too sincere to attract their attention at once to the vulgar affairs of daily life. One fervent, beautiful psalm of praise rose from every Negro hut in the South, and swelled in majestic sweetness until the nation became one mighty temple canopied by the stars and stripes, and the Constitution as the common altar before whose undimmed lights a ransomed race humbly bowed.

The emancipated Negroes had no ability, certainly no disposition, to reason concerning the changes and disasters which had overtaken their former masters. The white people of the South were divided into three classes. First, those who felt that defeat was intolerable, and a residence in this country incongenial. They sought the service of the Imperial cause in war-begrimed Mexico; they went to Cuba, Australia, Egypt, and to Europe. Second, those who returned to their homes after the "affair at Appomattox," and sitting down under the portentous clouds of defeat, refused to take any part in the rehabilitation of their States. Third, those who accepted the situation and stood ready to aid in the work of reconstruction.

In the unsettled condition of affairs at the close of hostilities, as there was no legal State governments at the South, necessity and prudence suggested the temporary policy of dividing the South into military districts. A provisional military government in the conquered States was to pursue a pacific, protective, helpful policy. The people of both races were to be fed and clothed. Schools were to be established; agriculture and industry encouraged. Courts were to be established of competent jurisdiction to hear and decide cases among the people. Such a government while military in name was patriarchal in spirit. As early as the spring of 1865, before the war was over, an act was passed by Congress providing for the destitute of the South.

"An Act to Establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established in the War Department, to continue during the present war of rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the bureau and approved by the President. The said bureau shall be under the management and control of a commissioner, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose compensation shall be three thousand dollars per annum, and such number of clerks as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of War, not exceeding one chief clerk, two of the fourth class, two of the third class, three of the second class, and five of the first class. And the commissioner and all persons appointed under this act shall, before entering upon their duties, take the oath of office prescribed in an act entitled, 'An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes,' approved July 2, 1862. And the commissioners and the chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give bonds to the Treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with securities to be approved as sufficient by the attorney general, which bonds shall be filed in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, to be by him put in suit for the benefit of any injured party, upon any breach of the conditions thereof.

"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen, and their wives and children, under such rules and regulations as he may direct.

"Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an assistant commissioner for each of the States declared to be in insurrection, not exceeding ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the commissioner, aid in the execution of the provisions of this act, and he shall give a bond to the Treasurer of the United States in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, in the form and manner prescribed in the first section of this act. Each of said assistant commissioners shall receive an annual salary of two thousand and five hundred dollars, in full compensation for all his services. And any military officer may be detailed and assigned to duty under this act without increase of pay or allowances. The commissioner shall, before the commencement of each regular session of Congress, make full report of his proceedings, with exhibits of the state of his accounts, to the President, who shall communicate the same to Congress, and shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by the President, or either house of Congress. And the assistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from time to time may be required.

"Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner, under the direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen such tracts of land, within the insurrectionary States, as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation, or sale, or otherwise. And to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of such land, and the person to whom it is so assigned shall be protected in the use and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years, at an annual rent not exceeding six per centum upon the value of said land as it was appraised by the State authorities in the year 1860, for the purpose of taxation, and in case no such appraisal can be found, then the rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the commissioner may, by regulation, prescribe. At the end of said term, or at any time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned may purchase the land and receive such title thereto as the United States can convey, upon paying therefor the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining the annual rent as aforesaid.

"Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

"Robert C. Schenck,	Henry Wilson,
"George S. Boutwell,	James Harlan,
"James S. Rollins,	W. T. Willey,
"Managers on part of House.	Managers on part of Senate."

To have subjected the late rebellious States to military rule for a stated term of years, say a decade or a generation, would have given force to the hasty statement of rebels and their sympathizers in the courts of Europe. It was charged that the United States Government fought to subjugate the Confederate States. The United States did not "begin it," and did not intend, at any time, to lay the mailed hand of military power against the throat of the rights of loyal citizens or loyal States. The sine qua non of reconstruction was loyalty to the Federal Government. But while this idea was next to the heart of the Government, the sudden and horrible taking off of Abraham Lincoln discovered many master-builders, who built not well or wisely. The early education of Andrew Johnson was not in line with the work of reconstruction. His sympathies were with the South in spite of his position and circumstances. The friends of his early political life were more potent than the friends of a sound, sensible, and loyal policy upon which to build the shattered governments of the South. And by indicating and advocating a policy at variance with the logical events of the war, he was guilty of a political crime, and did the entire nation an irreparable injury.

Congress seemed to be unequal to the task of perfecting a proper plan for reconstructing the Southern States. To couple general amnesty to the rebels with suffrage to the Negroes was a most fatal policy. It has been shown that there was but one class of white men in the South friendly to reconstruction,—numerically, small; and mentally, weak. But it was thought best to do this. To a triple element Congress committed the work of reconstruction. The "Scalawag," the "Carpet-bagger," and the Negro. Who were this trio? The scalawag was the native white man who made up the middle class of the South; the planter above, the Negro below. And between this upper and nether millstone he was destined to be ground to powder, under the old regime. A "nigger-driver," without schools, social position, or money, he was "the poor white trash" of the South. He was loyal during the war, because in the triumph of the Confederacy, with slavery as its corner-stone, he saw no hope for his condition. Those of them who fought under the rebel flag were unwilling conscripts. They had no qualifications for governing—except that they were loyal; and this was of no more use to them in this great work, than piety in the pulpit when the preacher cannot repeat the Lord's prayer without biting his tongue. The carpet-baggers ran all the way from "good to middling." Some went South with fair ability and good morals, where they lost the latter article and never found it; while many more went South to get all they could and keep all they got. The Negro could boast of numerical strength only. The scalawag managed the Negro, the latter did the voting, while the carpet-bagger held the offices. And when there were "more stalls than horses" the Negroes and scalawags occasionally got an office.

The rebels were still in a swoon.

The States were reconstructed, after a manner, and the governments went forward.

In 1868 Gen. U. S. Grant carried these States. It was like the handle on a jug, all on one side. The rebels took no part; but after a while a gigantic Ku Klux conspiracy was discovered. This organization sought to obstruct the courts, harass the Negroes, and cripple local governments. It spread terror through the South and made a political graveyard of startling dimensions. The writ of habeas corpus was suspended; arrests made, trials and convictions secured, and the penitentiary at Albany, New York, crowded with the enemies of law and order. A subsidence followed, and the scalawag-carpetbag-Negro governments began a fresh existence.

In 1872 Gen. Grant carried the Southern States again, meeting with but little resistance. In Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina there were Negro lieutenant-governors. The Negroes were learning rapidly the lesson of rotation in office, and demanded recognition. Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, were represented, in part, by Negroes in the National House of Representatives, and Mississippi in the Senate as well. Both branches of the Legislatures of all the Southern States contained Negro members; while many of the most important and lucrative offices in the States were held by Negroes.

The wine cup, the gaming-table, and the parlors of strange women charmed many of these men to the neglect of important public duties. The bonded indebtedness of these States began to increase, the State paper to depreciate, the burden of taxation to grow intolerable, bad laws to find their way into the statute-books, interest in education and industry to decline, the farm Negroes to grow idle and gravitate to the infectious skirts of large cities, and the whole South went from bad to worse.

The hand of revenge reached for the shot-gun, and before its deadly presence white leaders were intimidated, driven out, or destroyed. Before 1875 came, the white element in the Republican party at the South was reduced to a mere shadow of its former self. Thus abandoned, the Negro needed the presence of the United States army while he voted, held office, and drew his salary. But even the army lacked the power to inject life into the collapsed governments at the South.

The mistake of reconstruction was twofold: on the part of the Federal Government, in committing the destinies of the Southern States to hands so feeble; and on the part of the South, in that its best men, instead of taking a lively interest in rebuilding the governments they had torn down, allowed them to be constructed with untempered mortar. Neither the South nor the Government could say: "Thou canst not say I did it: shake not thy gory locks at me." Both were culpable, and both have suffered the pangs of remorse.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION.

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SURELY some good did come out of Nazareth. The poor, deluded, misguided, confiding Negro finished his long holiday at last, and turning from the dream of "forty acres and a mule," settled down to the stubborn realities of his new life of duties, responsibilities, and privileges. His idleness was sporadic, not generic,—it was simply reaction. He had worked faithfully, incessantly for two centuries and a half; had enriched the South with the sweat of his brow; and in two wars had baptized the soil with his patriotic blood. And when the year of jubilee came he enjoyed himself right royally.

This disposition to frolic on the part of the Negro gave rise to grave concern among his friends, and was promptly accepted as conclusive proof of his unfitness for the duties of a freeman by his enemies. But he soon dispelled the fears of his friends and disarmed the prejudices of his foes.

As already shown there was no provision made for the education of the Negro before the war; every thing had been done to keep him in ignorance. To emancipate 4,000,000 of slaves and absorb them into the political life of the government without detriment to both was indeed a formidable undertaking. Republics gain their strength and perpetuity from the self-governing force in the people; and in order to be self-governing a people must be educated. Moreover, all good laws that are cheerfully obeyed are but the emphatic expression of public sentiment. Where the great majority of the people are kept in ignorance the tendency is toward the production of two other classes, aristocrats and political "Herders." The former seek to get as far from "the common herd" as possible, while the latter bid off the rights of the poor and ignorant to the highest bidder.

It was quite appropriate for the Government to make speedy provision for plying the mass of ignorant Negroes with school influences. And the liberality of the provision was equalled by the eagerness of the Negroes to learn. Nor should history fail to record that the establishment of schools for freedmen by the Government was the noblest, most sensible act it could have done. What the Negroes have accomplished through these schools is the marvel of the age.

On the 20th of May, 1865, Major-Gen. O. O. Howard was appointed Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. He gave great attention to the subject of education; and after planting schools for the freedmen throughout a great portion of the South, in 1870—five years after the work was begun—he made a report. It was full of interest. In five years there were 4,239 schools established, 9,307 teachers employed, and 247,333 pupils instructed. In 1868 the average attendance was 89,396; but in 1870 it was 91,398, or 79¾ per cent. of the total number enrolled. The emancipated people sustained 1,324 schools themselves, and owned 592 school buildings. The Freedmen's Bureau furnished 654 buildings for school purposes. The wonderful progress they made from year to year, in scholarship, may be fairly judged by the following, corresponding with the half year in 1869:

There were 74 high and normal schools, with 8,147 students; and 61 industrial schools, with 1,750 students in attendance. In doing this great work—for buildings, repairs, teachers, etc.,—$1,002,896.07 was expended. Of this sum the freedmen raised $200,000.00! This was conclusive proof that emancipation was no mistake. Slavery was a twofold cross of woe to the land. It did not only degrade the slave, but it blunted the sensibilities, and, by its terrible weight, carried down under the slimy rocks of society some of the best white people in the South. Like a cankerous malady its venom has touched almost every side of American life.

The white race is in a constant and almost overpowering relation to the other races upon this continent. It is the duty of this great totality of intellectual life and force, to supply adequate facilities for the education of the less intelligent and less fortunate. Of every ten thousand (10,000) inhabitants there are:

When we turn our attention to the Southern States, we shall find that the white people are in excess of the Colored as follows:

while the Colored people are in excess in only three States, having over the whites the following majorities:

This leaves the whites in these sixteen States in a majority of 4,882,539, over the Colored people. There are more than two whites to every Colored in the entire population in these States.

Group the States and territories into three geographical classes, and designate them as Northern, Pacific, and Southern. The first may comprise all the "free States," where slavery never existed; put in the second the three Pacific States and all the territories, except the District of Columbia; and in the third gather all the "slave States" and the District. Now then, in the Northern class, out of every 14 persons who can neither read nor write, 13 are white. In the Pacific class, out of every 23 who can neither read nor write, 20 are white. In the Southern class, out of every 42 who can neither read nor write, 15 are white. Thus it can be seen that the white illiterates of the United States outnumber those of all the other races together. It might be profitable to the gentlemen who, upon every convenient occasion, rail about "the deplorable ignorance of the blacks," to look up this question a little![117]

The Colored people have made wonderful progress in educational matters since the war. Take a few States for examples of what they are doing. In Georgia, in 1860, there were 458,540 slaves. In 1870 there were 87 private schools, 79 teachers with 3,021 pupils. Of other schools, more public in character, there were 221, with an attendance of 11,443 pupils. In 1876 the Colored school population of this State was 48,643, with 879 schools; and with 55,268 pupils in public and private schools in 1877.

In South Carolina, in 1874, there were 63,415 Colored children attending the public schools; in 1876 there were 70,802, or an increase of 7,387.

In Virginia, in 1870, there were 39,000 Colored pupils in the schools, which were few in number. In 1874 there were 54,941 pupils; in 1876 there were 62,178, or again of 7,237. In 1874 there were 539 teachers; in 1876 there were 636, or an increase of 97. In 1874 there were 1,064 schools for Colored youth; in 1876 there were 1,181, or an increase of 117.

In the District of Columbia, in 1871, there were 4,986 Colored children in 69 schools, with 71 teachers. In 1876, of Colored schools in the District, 62 were primary, 13 grammar, and 1 high, with an enrolment of 5,454.

The following statistics exhibit the wonderful progress the Colored people of the South have made during the brief period of their freedom in the department of education. These tables come as near showing the extent, the miraculous magnitude of the work, as is possible.

COMPARATIVE STATISTICS OF EDUCATION AT THE SOUTH.

Table showing comparative population and enrolment of the White and Colored races in the public schools of the recent slave States, with total annual expenditure for the same in 1879.

a In Delaware and Kentucky the school tax collected from Colored citizens is the only State appropriation for the support of Colored schools; in Maryland there is a biennial appropriation by the Legislature; in the District of Columbia one third of the school moneys is set apart for Colored public schools; and in the other States mentioned above the school moneys are divided in proportion to the school population without regard to race.

b Estimated by the Bureau.

c In 1878.

d For whites the school age is 6-20; for Colored, 6-16.

e In 1877.

f Census of 1870.