GENERAL SHERMAN'S PROCLAMATION. compact, to live under and faithfully support. In doing this you are not only undermining and preparing the way for totally ignoring your own political and social existence, but you are threatening the civilized world with the odious sentiment that self-government is impossible with civilized men. "Fellow-Citizens: I implore you to pause and reflect upon the tenor and consequences of your acts. If the awful sacrifices made by the devastation of our property, the shedding of fraternal blood in battle, the mourning and wailing of widows and orphans throughout our land, are insufficient to deter you from further pursuing this unholy war, then ponder, I beseech you, upon the ultimate, but not the less certain, result which its further progress must necessarily and naturally entail upon your once happy and prosperous State. Indeed, can you pursue this fratricidal war, and continue to imbrue your hands in the loyal blood of your countrymen, your friends, your kinsmen, for no other object than to unlawfully disrupt the confederacy of a great people, a confederacy established by your own hands, in order to set up, were it possible, an independent government, under which you can never live in peace, prosperity, or quietness. "Carolinians: We have come among you as loyal men, fully impressed with our constitutional obligations to the citizens of your State; those obligations shall be performed as far as in our power, but be not deceived; the obligation of suppressing armed combinations against the constitutional authorities, is paramount to all others. If, in the performance of this duty, other minor but important obligations should be in any way neglected, it must be attributed to the necessities of the case, because rights dependent on the laws of the State must be necessarily subordinate to military exigencies, created by insurrection and rebellion." The pill, whatever might be its active 115 qualities, was thus well gilded. Would the Proclamation be received, and with what result? The first experiment, certainly, was not very encouraging. There had been, it seems, at Beaufort a certain Rev. Mr. Wilson, who had taken his departure with his fellow-townsmen, but who left a letter, asking protection as a British subject. Taking advantage of this as an entrance for opening intercourse with the rebels, General Sherman addressed a courteous letter to the divine, enclosing his Proclamation, which he desired also, at the same time to communicate to the refractory South Carolinians, there being no proper persons in the vicinity to receive it unless it were discharged from the mouth of a cannon. On the 14th of the month, six days after the date of the document, two chosen messengers, Lieutenant Wagner of the General's staff, and Dr. Francis Bacon, Surgeon of the 7th Connecticut Volunteers, were landed at Beaufort for the purpose of proceeding with the peaceinviting missive into the interior. They were further fortified with a circular letter, stating the character of their journey, and earnestly inviting all loyal citizens to return and protect their property from the ravages of the negroes, with the assurance that they should "receive the benefits of all constitutional enactments in their behalf." Thus peacefully commissioned, without any weapons of war, the heralds were rather indifferently mounted-a circumstance which detracted nothing from their civic character-on a pair of mules, borrowed for the occasion from the stray property at Beaufort. Thus equipped, and guided by some of the negroes who had not accompanied their masters in their retreat, they made their way onward, bearing a prominent flag of truce. After proceedin some eight miles or more, and finding all deserted, they at length alighted upon a gentleman who proved to be a second clergyman of Beaufort, the Rev. Mr. Walker. An effort was promptly made to serve a copy of the Proclamation upon him, but it was unsuccessful. He declined to receive it, and with reluctance consented to bear the note addressed to the Rev. Mr. Wilson. A short distance beyond brought the travellers to the neighborhood of the Port Royal Ferry, separating the island from the main land, where a boat, with a flag of truce, bearing a party of two officers and a private, came over to receive them. The officers proved to be Captain Thomas O. Barnwell, and Lieutenant H. McKee, of the 12th Regiment of South Carolina Militia. The interview which followed was civil on the part of the Confederates under the circumstances, but quite unsatisfactory, considering the particular object of the expedition. The Proclamation, the messengers were told, was idle, for there were no "loyal" citizens in South Carolina to receive it. The single copy, however, enclosed to the Rev. Mr. Wilson, was permitted to be forwarded, and thus far at least the mission was successful. After a further adventure with another party of the enemy a group of cavalry-of no interest except in the exhibition of a little official importance by a Lieutenant, the bearers of the Proclamation returned in safety to their camp. stored. This was a necessity which had been foreseen in fitting out the expedition, and large supplies of lumber and other materials, with a force of mechanics capable of using them, were brought out in the transports. These trained artisans enlisted in New York under the command of Colonel Serrell, set to work with a good will, and in the course of a fortnight four vast storehouses and a stable, extending, in their united lengths, thirteen hundred and fifty feet, bore witness to their exertions. Others were employed in constructing a huge wharf which, extending beyond the shallow water of the shore, might receive the burdens of vessels of the deepest draught. The plantations of pine on the island afforded ample materials for this purpose. Logs of large size were cut and hauled or floated to the destined point. An important question immediately arose at Port Royal, as to the disposition which should be made of the crops and other property of the rebels left abandoned in the neighborhood. A vast quantity of valuable cotton of the Sea Island variety, to which this peculiar region gave name, lay ripe for picking, ungathered in the fields or was stored in barns. It was desirable, of course, to possess this. Indeed, it had been urged as one of the objects of the expedition to acquire it. Some thought that a port being opened, there would be loyal plant The attention of General Sherman had been at once engrossed in the work of fortifying his position on Hilton Head. Outposts were thrown out, entrench-ers found who would avail themselves of ments made, and the whole island, some twelve miles in length by seven in breadth, was occupied. There was also much to be done on the instant by the men, in receiving the huge quantities of supplies from the transports, an employment of peculiar difficulty in consequence of the shallow water on the shore, and the absence of any pier or accommodation for landing. When brought ashore by men unloading the boats in the water, the provisions and various articles required warehouses in which to be *Correspondence of the N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 12, 1861. the opportunity to get a good price for their commodity, which had now tripled in value in the markets of New York and Liverpool. If this expectation was entertained it was soon felt to be idle in face of the fanaticism of the rebel owners, or the stringent government which constrained them. Not a bale, they had determined, should be offered for sale; and accordingly the order went forth for its destruction by fire. Night after night the sky was lightened by the glare, or obscured by the smoke, of, the burning plantations. tion of the crop gathered or ripe for the market-would be an excess of scrupulosity calculated to excite the wonder of both the North and the South. To spare or abandon the valuable commodity would be an idle exercise of liberality which could hardly be expected by the enemy. An order accordingly was presently issued from Washington by the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom the work of rescuing the products of the South from destruction was temporarily assigned as a portion of an original duty to regulate "At eleven o'clock last night," says the Charleston Mercury of November 30, "the heavens to the southwest were brilliantly illuminated with the patriotic flames ascending from burning cotton. As the spectators witnessed it they involuntarily burst forth with cheer after cheer, and each heart was warmed as with a new pulse. Such a people can never be subjugated. Let the holy flames continue to ascend, and let the demons of hell, who come here on their diabolical errand, learn a lesson and tremble. Let the torch be applied wher-commerce with the revolted States. The ever the invader pollutes our soil, and let him find, as is meet, that our people will welcome him only with devastation and ruin. Our people are in earnest, men, women and children-and their sacrifice will ascend as a sacred holocaust to God, crying aloud for vengeance against the fiends in human shape who are disgracing humanity, trampling down civilization, and would blot out Christianity. Patriotic planters on the seaboard are hourly applying the torch to their crops of cotton and rice. Some are authorized by military authorities to destroy their crops to prevent ravages by the enemy. Plantations on North Edisto and in the neighborhood and elsewhere on the coast of South Carolina, are one sheet of flames and smoke. The commanding officers of all the exposed points on our coast, have received positive instructions to burn or destroy all property which cannot be conveniently taken away, and is likely to be seized by the enemy. order was dated November 30, and prescribed the appointment of agents at the ports or places occupied by the forces of the United States, who should secure and prepare for market the cotton and the products and property which might be found or brought within the lines of the army or under the control of the Federal authority. To enable the agents to perform this duty, the military and naval authorities, it was stated, would be directed to render the requisite "military protection and aid." The slaves or negroes on the spot, or, as the State paper in the customary euphemistic language of the nation styled them, "persons held to service for life under State laws,' were to be enlisted and systematically organized to secure and prepare the various crops for market, in compensation for which they were to receive stipulated pay as laborers. The cotton when thus gathered, it was directed, should be shipped to New York and there sold by regularly appointed agents, and the proFor the Union forces to leave the cot-ceeds paid to the United States Governton untouched, not to gather the precious product for the want of which the world was suffering, and the loss of which, as it affected the policy of foreign nations, might endanger the National cause itself, to say nothing of the opportunity of securing a partial remuneration from the rebels of the expenses of the war which they had recklessly brought upon the country to witness the wanton destruc ment. A careful register and account were to be kept of the negroes employed and the particular products of the various plantations. On receipt of these orders at Port Royal, General Sherman distributed his forces to give the required aid to preserve what the torch of the rebels-which was every night of impunity employed with greater vigor-had left of the crops in the vicinity. Otter several thousand refugees and others about the encampments at Beaufort and Hilton Head, there was an aggregate negro population of about eight thousand-a sufficient number to test the capacity and disposition of the race for the improvement of the opportunities of advancement suddenly thrown in its way. The plan proposed for the treatment of the negroes had two objects in view,-their industrial employment and their improvement by education. By the former their immediate wants would be supplied, the plantations saved from ruin by cultivation, and various crops secured, while missionaries and teachers would instruct the young, and by cultivating the intellectual and moral capacity of those under their care, prepare them gradually for the real responsibilities and duties to which they were subjected. After a cautious review of the condition of this people, Mr. Pierce found many favorable elements for the solution of the problem before him. He came to the conclusion that they were "naturally religious and simple-hearted-attached to the places where they have Island, which, with other islands on St. Helena Sound to the north in the direction of Charleston, had been visited by a reconnoitering party under Captain Drayton, and found abandoned, was occupied, and possession was at length formally taken, by an adequate force, of Beaufort Island, one month after the first arrival of the fleet. The organization of the negroes abandoned by their masters, or thronging in numbers to the Union lines, was a matter of no little difficulty. Fortunately the Government was assisted in the enterprise thus thrown upon its hands, by a band of cultivated and devoted officers either specially appointed or already attached to the military service, who gave to the subject their most earnest attention. The general superintendence and direction of the plantations with a view to their preservation as far as possible and the care and regulation of the negro cultivators, was assigned by Secretary Chase to Mr. Edward L. Pierce as the special agent of the Treasury Department. We have already called the reader's attention to the services of this gentleman in a similar employment in the charge of the contra-lived, still adhering to them both from a bands in the department of General Butler at Fortress Monroe. The ability which he exhibited and the experience gained in that duty, pointed him out for the larger and more responsible sphere in South Carolina. From the two reports which he presented to the Treasury Department, reports distinguished for their philosophical candor and systematic accuracy of statement, we are enabled to present an intelligent account of some of the more important results of this novel and exceedingly embarrassing undertaking. On the 3d of February, 1862, Mr. Pierce reported to the Department about two hundred plantations on some fifteen of the South Carolina Coast islands occupied or under the control of the Union forces. On these islands, exclusive of *Ante vol. i. p. 266-7. feeling of local attachment and self-interest in securing the means of subsistance-that they have the knowledge and experience requisite to do all the labor from the preparation of the ground for planting until the cotton is baled, ready to be exported; that they, the great mass of them, are disposed to labor with proper inducements thereto--that they lean upon white men and desire their protection, and could, therefore, under a wise system, be easily brought under subordination-that they are susceptible to the higher considerations, as duty, and the love of offspring, and are not in any way inherently vicious, their defects coming from that peculiar condition in the past or present, and not from constitutional proneness to evil beyond what may be attributed to human nature -that they have among them natural SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE NEGROES. chiefs, either by virtue of religious leadership or superior intelligence, who, being first addressed, may exert a healthful influence on the rest. In a word, that, in spite of their condition, reported to be worse here than in many other parts of the rebellious region, there are such features in their life and character, that the opportunity is now offered to make of them, partially in this generation and fully in the next, a happy, industrious, law-abiding, free and Christian people, if we have but the patience and courage to accept it."* To maintain and improve these conditions was the work before the Government. Mr. Pierce, as its special agent, recommended the appointment of Superintendents for the plantations, clothed with sufficient power to regulate the conduct and promote the welfare of the negroes, by a kind of paternal control. A Director General or Governor, it was advised, should preside over the whole and maintain a proper police authority, in important cases conferring with the military authorities in punishing offences. Wages were to be given for labor, a proper amount of work required from all, and should there be any failure to perform this duty, the lash was in no case to be resorted to, but a trial was to be made of "the milder and more effective punishments of deprivation of privileges, isolation from family and society, the work-house or even the prison." Forty cents a day was named as a rate of remuneration sufficient to supply the wants of the laborer, no rent being paid for the small house which he occupied. In accordance with former habits, he was to possess his patch of ground to raise corn or vegetables, for consumption or sale. Missionaries and teachers were to be employed in churches and schools. The system, of course, was to be only a temporary one-to meet in the best possible way a difficulty of the times. • Mr. Pierce's Report to the Secretary of the Treasury, Port Royal, February 3, 1862. 119 This proposed organization of labor for the plantations was quite distinct from the method pursued with the negroes at the camps at Hilton Head and Beaufort. There they fell under the charge of the Quartermaster's Department, the Chief Quartermaster of the Expeditionary Corps, Captain R. Saxton, "a humane officer, deeply interested in the matter,' having appointed, in November, Mr. Barnard K. Lee, Jr., of Boston, the Superintendent at Hilton Head. The rate of wages was fixed from eight to twelve dollars a month for mechanics, and from four to eight for other laborers. Of the 472 registered at Hilton Head at the beginning of February, 1862, 137 were on the pay roll. Mr. Lee appears to have had little difficulty in maintaining the necessary order and discipline. At Beaufort, where the negroes were some six hundred in number, a school was opened with considerable success by the Rev. William Peck of Roxbury, Mass. Such were the plans and prospects before the Government at the end of two months from the first occupation of the islands. Four months later, when the supervision of these affairs was transferred from the Treasury to the War Department, Mr. Pierce made a final report to the former of his agency. The means for the plan of superintendence and instruction which he had proposed, and which had been accepted by the Government, in the absence of authority in the Treasury Department to pay the requisite salaries, had been supplied by voluntary charitable associations at the North, as the Educational Commission of Boston, the National Freedman's Relief Association of New York, and the Port Royal Relief Committee of Philadelphia. On the 9th of March, forty-one men and twelve women, accepted for the duties of superintendents and teachers, landed with Mr. Pierce at Beaufort. All were cultivated, intelligent people, the men mechanics, tradesmen. teachers, physibeing of various occupations, farmers, |