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526   DOUGLASS MONTHLY    SEPTEMBER, 1861

THE NEGROES AT FORTRESS MONROE.

A correspondent of the Tribune, writing from Fortress Monroe, August 7th, says:

Every day adds to the number of negroes who seek protection within our lines.  It is impossible to give an idea of the satisfaction, the sense of security, which the sight of the fortress affords to this unhappy class of beings.  Once under its guns, they begin a new life, and are doubtless animated with hopes never before cherished, and to which they would otherwise have been strangers forever.  Little is said to them about their changed situation, or of the prospects before them;— what their own idea is I do not know, any further than that they comprehend that a great event has happened, which, if it has not given them their freedom and permitted them to go wherever and whenever they please, has at least placed them beyond the reach of the danger from which they have fled, of being separated forcibly from friends and relatives and sold for service in the Cotton States.  I do not think that many of them canvass the probabilities of ever going North, of setting up for themselves, of owning property and being their own owners and masters.  At present they only realize that they are among friends, who have no such purposes.  The measure of contentment which such a realization affords is quite sufficient, and is probably fully equal to their capacity.  They go to work with entire willingness, and I believe that all are agreed that as laborers they are not excelled.  They are faithful, cheerful, and even zealous.  Every morning they are taken out in 'details', with overseers, always marching in regular order, under the direction and leadership of one of their number.  They imitate the manners and discipline of the soldiers with great quickness, and evince much aptness in learning whatever they are set to do.  A gang has for some time been engaged in building the railroad, and I am told by the engineer that he could not desire better hands.  Rations are regularly issued to them, the same as to soldiers, and clothing is furnished as it is needed.  Most of them have tents inside the fortress, but the women who have not situations in the families of officers, or elsewhere, are quartered in buildings on the outside, with the children and those that are incapable of labor.  Many of them do washing, and some carry on a brisk business in selling pies, cakes, and other things to the soldiers.  There is a building outside of the fortress where a large number are quartered, and where every evening before tattoo, they sit and sing, to the edification of all the neighborhood.  The scene is original and attractive.  The singing is always characteristic, and always of a devotional kind, the tunes being plaintive, and frequently imitations of well-known airs.  When, as is frequently the case, a hundred, and sometimes more, voices join in swelling the chorus, we have an unabridged idea of negro melody uncorrupted by art or other skill than what is nature to the negro.  Occasionally a tune is started in which all the parts are well sustained by male and female voices, and sometimes it happens that there are specimens of rude melody which the most celebrated Minstrels in Broadway might strive in vain to equal.  At a later hour, when the gathering has broken up, the lights are put out, and the night is comparatively still, the voice of prayer, loud and earnest. interspersed with fervent responses, may be heard within; and thus the 'contraband'—for they are known by no other name—introduced into a new existence, prove their usefulness, their capacity for rational enjoyments, and live indeed, almost revel, I may say, in the hope of better days for themselves and their race.

Some half dozen negroes - men, women and children—came into camp at Newport News last night, having come across the Roads, a distance of six miles, in open boats of the frailest sort, bringing with them beds and a limited, yet to them ill-sufficient, wealth of household effects.  It was a bold venture, that bordered on heroism, a push for little less than life itself.  This morning they came by steamer, and their names now figure conspicuously in the catalogue which Sergeant Smith keeps of such as know that 
'Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.'

The number seeking refuge within our lines, now on the increase, would be even greater but for the report that has been spread among the negro population that they are not wanted, and will not be received.  This story has doubtless been set afloat to keep negroes from running away, but it does not in all cases serve the purpose.  The other day a delegation of two came to the fortress to ascertain the truth of the statement.  Finding that it was a falsehood, and that protection and the means of living would be given to all comers, with the only requirement in return that those who could should work for it, and that would be free and equally certain to such as could not, they returned to convey the tidings.  They will probably return before many days with a numerous train.

The World correspondent relate the following:  

As to 'contrabands,' every house and hovel this side the river, not used for our forces, is crammed and jammed with them.  Many of them possess a natural intelligence, industry and enterprise that is not acknowledged in the usual estimates of the class.  I last evening conversed with a negro, a brawny, stalwart fellow, about thirty-five or forty years of age, who is a blacksmith by trade, and was worth, in his own name, before the commencement of the war, the snug little fortune of about $15,000.  He includes in this valuation himself, wife and five children, whom he has purchased by his own exertions.  He had the titles to them, as well as the deeds of his estate, in his possession, while I was walking with him.  He can neither read nor write, and employs a white man, at a very fair salary, in the capacity of book-keeper.  He has been obliged to leave Hampton, (which has since been entirely burned by the rebels,) and his property with the rest.

SEPARATION OR EMANCIPATION.—The Hon. AMASA WALKER, writing to the New York Independent, says:

The truth of the matter is, that the only alternatives left us are either a complete separation of the free and slave States, or the destruction of slavery itself.  It is the most idle matter in the world to talk of any other course.  We must choose one of the two, and the sooner we begin to contemplate this fact, and consider all its bearings and consequences, the better.  Politicians are not ready to take the responsibility of discussing this question, but the people must; and unless we greatly mistake the signs of the times, they are beginning to do it, pretty generally, since the battle at Bull Run.  Public sentiment is changing almost as rapidly since that great disaster, as it did after the fall of Fort Sumter.  There is less noise made on the subject, but the current is strong and deep, and is setting powerfully, if we mistake not, toward one of these alternatives.  Never was a more momentous question submitted to a people. - Emancipation or separation?  How tremendous the consequences of either!  How vast the interests involved!  If emancipation, what a mighty change in the relations of master and slaves, and what a revolution in the social condition of the slave States!  If separation, what a complete change will be made in American politics!  Two separate independent nationalities, in juxtaposition, with totally antagonistic institutions!  Despotism and freedom both permanently organized on the Western continent, to be as matter of certainty in unceasing conflict!

But the time has now come when, however unwilling, we must look both these alternatives in the face.  We are losing time, and are demoralizing the free States, by our delay in making up fully and clearly our issue, either for separation or emancipation.

AN IMPORTANT ADMISSION.

The following article is copied from a recent number of the Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser, showing what an immense service the slaves are to the rebels:

It is understood that the Secretary of War of the Confederate States has, or will, recommend to Congress the passage of a law, before its adjournment, to increase the effective force of the army by the addition of three hundred regiments.  These, with the number already in the field, would make the entire strength of the Confederate army between five and six hundred thousand—a force amply sufficient to beat back any army which can be mustered at the North.  The Congress of the North has called for five hundred thousand men to engage in the task of subjugating the South, and the Confederate Government must of course take measures to repel them.  The requisitions already made on the States are probably sufficient for present purposes.  They are enough to meet all the troops which our enemies have yet organized to operate against us, but they will soon commence under the new law to organize their grand army of half a million of men, and it will not do for them to find us unprepared.— The Government fully appreciates the necessities of the case, and we presume Congress will do everything in its power to increase the efficiency of the army, and make the adoption of a vigorous war policy both feasible and desirable.  It is probable that Congress will pass some law authorizing the President to call out any number of troops not exceeding three hundred additional regiments, at any time when he may deem their services necessary.  It is hardly probable that the whole number will be required at any one time, but they can be enrolled, officered and drilled, ready at the call of the President to take the field in defence of the country.  A portion may be ordered into active service, another portion placed in camps of instruction, and still another portion left at home to drill until called for.  In this way the greater part of the people of the South, capable of bearing arms, may become acquainted with military discipline, andfitted, whenever the opportunity occurs, to take the field for the defence of their homes, their firesides and their country's independence.

The total white population of the eleven States now comprising the Confederacy, is between five and six millions, and therefore to fill up the ranks of the proposed army, about ten per cent of the entire white population will be required.  In any other country than our own such a draft could not be met; but the Southern States can furnish that number of men and still not leave the material interests of the country in a suffering condition.  Those who are incapacitated for bearing arms can oversee the plantations, and the negroes can go on undisturbed in their usual labors.  In the North the case is different—the men who join the army of subjugation are the laborers, the producers and the factory operatives.  Nearly every man from that section, especially those from the rural districts leaves some branch of industry to suffer during his absence.

The institution of slavery in the South alone enables her to place in the field a force so much larger in proportion to her white population than the North, or indeed than any country which is dependent entirely on free labor.  The institution is a tower of strength to the South, particularly in the present crisis, and our enemies will be likely to find that the "moral cancer," about which their orators are so fond of prating, is really one of the most effective weapons employed against them by the South.  Whatever number of men may be needed for this war we are confident our people stand ready to furnish.  We are all enlisted for the war, and there must be no holding back until the independence of the South is fully acknowledged.

—The Concord (N. H.) Democratic Standard and the Bangor Democrat, two secession papers, have been mobbed, and their contents thrown into the streets.  The Grand Jury of New York have presented the Day Book, News, Journal of Commerce, Freeman's Journal and the Brooklyn Eagle, for publishing treasonable sentiments, and recommend that they meet with condign punishment.

Transcription Notes:
Reviewed - removed unnecessary descriptions of format - see Instructions... & fixed a couple of typos (x2)