There is another authority of peculiar value. It is a letter dated at Webb’s Ranch, Issaquena County, Mississippi, November 13, 1865.
“I regret to state, that, under the civil power, now deemed by all the inhabitants of Mississippi (since the order of President Johnson revoking General Slocum’s decree in relation to the State militia) to be paramount, the condition of the freedmen in many portions of the country has become deplorable and painful in the extreme. I must give it as my deliberate opinion, that the freedmen are to-day, in the vicinity of where I am now writing, worse off in most respects than when they were held as slaves. If matters are permitted to continue as they now seem likely to be, it needs no prophet to predict a rising on the part of the colored population, and a terrible scene of bloodshed and desolation; nor can one blame the negroes, if this proves to be the result. I have heard, since my arrival here, of numberless atrocities that have been perpetrated against the freedmen. It is sufficient to state that the old overseers are in power again. The agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau are almost powerless. Just as soon as the United States troops are withdrawn, it will be unsafe for the agents of the Bureau to remain. The object of the Southerners appears to be to make good their often repeated assertions, to the effect that the negroes would die, if they were freed. To make it so, they seem determined to goad them to desperation, in order to have an excuse to turn upon and annihilate them. There are, within a few miles of where I sit writing, several Northern men, who have settled here, designing to work plantations. They all assure me that they do not consider themselves safe in the country; and two of them, ex-colonels in the United States army, are afraid to leave their places without an armed escort. Other Northern lessees do not dare remain on their places.”
These are grave words, opening in fearful vista the tragical condition of the freedmen, and the perils of Northern settlers.
And now the pretended Legislature is engaged in fashioning an infamous Black Code; but I do not dwell on this, as it has been already exposed by my colleague.
From Mississippi pass to Louisiana, where anarchy is beginning under the sway of returning Rebels emboldened from Washington. Unionists are menaced in safety. The story is so familiar that I content myself with a glimpse. I give the testimony of a responsible person.
“During the canvass, I made a tour through the northern portion of the State, where I have resided for many years and have a large acquaintance among the people, and was surprised to find the spirit of the people more hostile to the Government than at the breaking out of the war. This is especially the case with the leaders, who asserted to me in private conversation that they were more impressed with the truth of Secession than they ever were; that the war against the United States was a just one; that they would not support any man for office who did not participate in that war; and that the only true policy for the Southern people to adopt is to support the Democratic party in opposition to the Republican party of the North. They say that the whole war was an aggression on the part of the Government, and that they intend to use every means in their power to destroy the Government.
“A prominent member of the Legislature, now convened in this city, said to me a short time before the election, that he was a stronger Secessionist now than he ever was, and that he hated the United States Government, and intended to do all in his power to destroy it. This man is a leading member of the Legislature, which, in the House at least, is composed of more than eight tenths who entertain the same feeling, and are now legislating for the loyal citizens of this State.
“There are several respectable men now in this city who are refugees from their homes in the interior of the State, being recently expelled on account of their Union sentiments.”
Here is a private letter from an interior town of Louisiana, written by a lady to a lady in New Orleans and communicated to me:—