Two questions of importance naturally arose at this period: First, did the American slave understand the issue that had been before the country for more than a half-century and that was now dividing the nation in twain and marshalling for deadly strife these two opposing armies? Second, had he the courage necessary to take part in the struggle and help save the Union? It would be a strange thing to say, but nevertheless a thing entirely true, that many of the Negro slaves had a clearer perception of the real question at issue than did some of our most far-seeing statesmen, and a clearer vision of what would be the outcome of the war. While the great men of the North were striving to establish the doctrine that the coming war was merely to settle the question of Secession, the slave knew better. God had hid certain things from the wise and prudent and had revealed them unto babes. Lincoln, the wisest of all, was slow to see that the issue he himself had predicted was really at hand. As President, he declared for the preservation of the Union, with or without slavery, or even upon the terms which he had previously declared irreconcilable, "half slave and half free." The Negro slave saw in the outbreak of the war the death struggle of slavery. He knew that the real issue was slavery.
The masters were careful to keep from the knowledge of the slave the events as well as the causes of the war, but in spite of these efforts the slave's keen perception enabled him to read defeat in the dejected mien of his master, and victory in his exultation. To prevent the master's knowing what was going on in their thoughts, the slaves constructed curious codes among themselves. In one neighborhood freedom was always spoken of as "New Rice"; and many a poor slave woman sighed for the coming of New Rice in the hearing of those who imagined they knew the inmost thoughts of their bondwomen. Gleefully at times they would talk of the jollification they would make when the New Rice came. It was this clear vision, this strong hope, that sustained them during the trying days of the war and kept them back from insurrection. Bishop Gaines says: "Their prayers ascended for their deliverance, and their hearts yearned for the success of their friends. They fondly hoped for the hour of victory, when the night of slavery would end and the dawn of freedom appear. They often talked to each other of the progress of the war and conferred in secret as to what they might do to aid in the struggle. Worn out with long bondage, yearning for the boon of freedom, longing for the sun of liberty to rise, they kept their peace and left the result to God." Mr. Douglass, whom this same Bishop Gaines speaks of very inappropriately as a "half-breed," seemed able to grasp the feelings both of the slave and the freeman and said: "From the first, I for one, saw in this war the end of slavery, and truth requires me to say that my interest in the success of the North was largely due to this belief." Mr. Seward, the wise Secretary of State, had thought that the war would come and go without producing any change in the relation of master and slave; but the humble slave on the Georgia cotton plantation, or in the Carolina rice fields, knew that the booming of the guns of rebellion in Charleston was the opening note of the death knell of slavery. The slave undoubtedly understood the issue, and knew on which side liberty dwelt. Although thoroughly bred to slavery, and as contented and happy as he could be in his lot, he acted according to the injunction of the Apostle: "Art thou called being a servant, care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather." The slaves tried to be contented, but they preferred freedom and knew which side to take when the time came for them to act.
Enough has been said to show that out of the African slave had been developed a thoroughly American slave, so well imbued with modern civilization and so well versed in American politics, as to be partially ready for citizenship. He had become law-abiding and order-loving, and possessed of an intelligent desire to be free. Whether he had within him the necessary moral elements to become a soldier the pages following will attempt to make known. He had the numbers, the physical strength and the intelligence. He could enter the strife with a sufficient comprehension of the issues involved to enable him to give to his own heart a reason for his action. Fitness for the soldier does not necessarily involve fitness for citizenship, but the actual discharge of the duties of the soldier in defence of the nation, entitles one to all common rights, to the nation's gratitude, and to the highest honors for which he is qualified.
In concluding this chapter I shall briefly return to the free colored people of the South that the reader may be able to properly estimate their importance as a separate element. Their influence upon the slave population was very slight, inasmuch as law and custom forbade the intercourse of these two classes.
According to the Census of 1860 there were in the slave-holding States altogether 261,918 free colored persons, 106,770 being mulattoes. In Charleston there were 887 free blacks and 2,554 mulattoes; in Mobile, 98 free blacks and 617 mulattoes; in New Orleans, 1,727 blacks and 7,357 mulattoes. As will be seen, nearly one-half of the entire number of free colored persons were mulattoes, while in the leading Southern cities seventy-five per cent. of the free colored people were put in this class. The percentage of mulatto slaves to the total slave population at that time was 10.41, and in the same cities which showed seventy-five per cent, of all the free colored persons mulattoes, the percentage of mulatto slaves was but 16.84. Mulatto in this classification includes all colored persons who are not put down as black.
In New Orleans the free mulattoes were generally French, having come into the Union with the Louisiana purchase, and among them were to be found wealthy slave-holders. They much resembled the class of mulattoes which obtained in St. Domingo at the beginning of the century, and had but little sympathy with the blacks, although they were the first to acquiesce in emancipation, some of them actually leading their own slaves into the army of liberation. It is possible, however, that they had not fully realized the trend of the war, inasmuch as New Orleans was excepted from the effects of the Proclamation. It is certain that the free colored people of that city made a tender of support to the Confederacy, although they were among the first to welcome the conquering "Yankees," and afterward fought with marked gallantry in the Union cause. The free mulattoes, or browns, as they called themselves, of Charleston, followed much the same course as their fellow classmen of New Orleans. Here, too, they had been exclusive and to some extent slave-holders, had tendered their services to the Confederacy, and had hastily come forward to welcome the conquerors. They were foremost among the colored people in wealth and intelligence, but their field of social operations had been so circumscribed that they had exerted but little influence in the work of Americanizing the slave. Separated from the slave by law and custom they did all in their power to separate themselves from him in thought and feeling. They drew the line against all blacks as mercilessly and senselessly as the most prejudiced of the whites and were duplicates of the whites placed on an intermediate plane. It was not unusual to find a Charleston brown filled with more prejudice toward the blacks than were the whites.
[Transcriber's Note: This footnote text appeared without a footnote anchor: "Census of 1860.">[
The colored people of the North in 1860 numbered 237,283, Pennsylvania having the largest number, 56,849; then came New York with 49,005; Ohio, 36,673; New Jersey, 25,318; Indiana, 11,428; Massachusetts, 9,602; Connecticut, 8,627; Illinois, 7,628; Michigan, 6,799; Rhode Island, 3,952; Maine, 1,327; Wisconsin, 1,171; Iowa, 1,069; Vermont, 709; Kansas, 625; New Hampshire, 494; Minnesota, 259; Oregon, 128.
Considerably more than one-half of this population was located within the States along the Atlantic Coast, viz.; Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Here were to be found 154,883 free colored people. Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey took the lead in this population, with Massachusetts and Connecticut coming next, while Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont had but few. The cities, Boston, New York and Philadelphia, were the largest cities of free colored people then in the North. In Boston there were 2,261; New York City, 12,574, while in Philadelphia there were 22,185