There were also not a few families of Virginia and South Carolina who, though not without difficulties, colonized their Negroes in Ohio, and themselves, in some cases, began life afresh as pioneers in a new country.
Sometimes the liberations were attended with romance, as, when Pierre Chastang, of Mobile, was bought and freed by popular subscription in recognition of public services in the war of 1812 and in the yellow fever epidemic of 1819. Another outstanding figure was Sam whose freedom was bought in reward for his saving the State Capitol from burning, the Georgia Legislature providing $1800 by a special act for this purpose. Negroes freed for meritorious service, and those buying their own freedom, became ensamples of substantial worth to the free population.
Among these freedmen there were some notable figures who, for one cause or another, were highly esteemed in the locality in which they lived. Just two examples must suffice. “In Georgia, the most notable was Austin Dabney, who, as a mulatto youth, served in the revolutionary army and attached himself ever after to the white family who saved his life when he was wounded in battle. The Georgia legislature, by special act, gave him a farm; he was welcomed in the tavern circle of chatting lawyers whenever his favorite, Judge Dooly, held court in his home village; and once, when the formality of drawing his pension carried him to Savannah, the Governor of the State, seeing him pass, invited him as a guest in his house.
In 1792, a Negro named Caesar, noted for his knowledge of curative herbs, was liberated by purchase, the Assembly of South Carolina voting the funds and, in addition, an annuity for life.
Thus, by purchase, manumission and natural growth, the 35,000 free Negroes of 1790 grew to approximately a half million in 1860—about equally divided between the North and the South. The chief concentration was in the border States, the number rapidly decreasing with increasing distance from the middle line. The climate and the industrial repression in the far North were alike unwholesome to this class; and the suspicion and stringent laws in the far South about as much so. In both cases the Whites had the upper hand, and in both cases they used their power after their own wills.
The lot of the freedmen was, indeed, a difficult one to bear. The philosophy of the Negro, and the habit of association, were certainly chief elements in the preservation of peace to a remarkable degree. The well-to-do had their property at stake; the large majority of day laborers, the unprosperous and inert, were satisfied simply to be free. It was the smaller class, within the class, who represented the progressive freedmen, the forerunners and prophets of the after-war leaders and seers of the race. For these forerunners had already, in their day, entered every large field of endeavor which engages the race of today.
Among the Churches, in the North, with few exceptions, the freedman was driven to form his own organizations; while, in the South, he was encouraged to adopt the churches of the Whites; indeed, in the South, few separate churches were provided by any denominations.
Among the fraternal organizations, he had none in the South in common with the Whites; while, in the North, the Masons and Odd Fellows were introduced, the latter through a negro initiate who had been received in England. This most natural and important feature of negro social life was, for the most part, supplied by their own secret societies. These were very numerous all over the land, as they are at this day. It is quite impossible to get accurately at the history of these societies, so screened in secrecy. A mere glimpse may be had of their purpose through the published notes on the “Union Band Society of New Orleans,” 1860. Its motto was “Love, Union, Peace,” its officers were of both sexes. Members were pledged to obey the laws of the Lodge, and its officers were pledged to keep its secrets, to live in love and union with its members, to visit one another and the sick, to report illnesses of members, and to wear the regalia when required. The Official Mother was required to assign nurses for the sick who were looked after in every detail. Funeral expenses and the burial, in minute detail, were provided for. (We may note, parenthetically, that, while secret societies are the rule in every African tribe, it is doubtful if these had more than a remote connection with the societies in America.)
In the public schools, the negro freedmen were little regarded. In the North, generally, they were debarred from the white schools, and poorly provided with schools of their own; in the South, after 1840, education was discouraged, and, in most communities, forbidden.