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566      DOUGLASS' MONTHLY       DECEMBER, 1861
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other to take care of themselves. But by the morning of the second day fifty were already gathered at headquarters, and signs of a much greater influx were abundant.
    Those who remained were put under the charge of Captain Goodrich, the Quartermaster of Gen. Wright's brigade, who saw that their wants were well attended to, giving up an old building to their accommodation.
    Our troops were accompanied in their first reconnoisance into the island by Dr. J. J. Craven, the efficient surgeon of the 3d brigade, who reports the negroes on the plantations further inland as almost wild with delight at the advent of our troops and the hasty flight of their masters, which they described with the utmost gusto.

THE DAY OF DELIVERANCE.

    "O Lord! massa," said one, "we'se so glad to see you. We'se prayed and prayed the good Lord that he would send you Yankees, and we knowed you'se was coming.
    "How could you know that?" asked Dr. Craven. "You can't read the papers; how did you get the news?"
    "No, massa, we'se can't read, but we'se can listen. Massa and missus used to read, and sometimes they would read loud, and then we would listen so"—making an expressive gesture indicative of close attention at the key-hole—"when I'se would get a chance I'se would list'n, and Jim, him would list'n, and we put the bits together, and we know'd the Yankees were coming. Bless the Lord, massa."

CONVERSATION WITH THE CONTRABANDS.

    Another stout fellow asserted that the good Lord had approached to him in the shape of a "Yankee," who assured him that the hour of deliverance was at hand. 
    The poor, trusting creatures never seemed to question that a war which they had heard was all about them must mean their deliverance from a bondage with which they do not seem to have been sufficiently in love to follow the fortunes of their fleeing masters.
    A driver's whip which was picked up, and which the correspondent of the Evening Post now has in his possession, was shown one of them, and he was asked if he knew what it was.
    "Golly, massa!" said the negro, with a suspicious, sidelong look at the familiar whip he saw raised aloft, "Guess this nigger knows what dat dere is," and he proceeded to explain the use to which it was applied.
    When some doubt was expressed as to the negroes' statements in regard to numbers, one of them answered:
    "We can't read, but we can count."
    "How did you learn to count?"
    "Picking cotton, massa. We'se all got to count when we pick cotton, massa."
    There seems to be abundant work for them in picking cotton on Hilton Head Island, which our troops have occupied, and it is hoped that their services will be in some way turned to account for this purpose.
    Acres of it, already white for the harvest, where found within less than a mile of Fort Walker, and will be lost unless specifically attended to.
    Several buildings filled with unginned cotten were also found futher back toward Skull Creek, and on the island beyond that stream similar deposits could be seen. A heavy smoke which was seen at a distance the negroes reported to come from a lot of cotton which had been fired by the retreating rebels.
    For some reason the negroes appeared at first inclined to wait until they were called for before making their appearance, but the few who were dismissed on the first day spread the report that the Yankees were indeed at hand, and the next morning a number came in from the mainland, where their masters had retreated, making their escape at night in a canoe. The reports must have spread as far up as Beaufort in an astonishingly short space of time, for when our boats went up there the negroes were ready to greet them.
    By that singular sort of freemasonry which seems to be established among the negroes, the report will speedily spread from one end of the South to the other, and before the snows of December shall have whitened the plains of the North, even in distant Texas the story of our appearance will have traveled distorted by a thousand exaggerations, to excite the eager hopes of those who

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are watching and waiting so patiently for the deliverance which is so near at hand.
    The correspondent of the N. Y. World writes:
    As soon as the negro slaves observed us coming on shore they flocked along the banks in great numbers, some bearing parcels and bundles, as if expecting us to take them at once to a home of freedom. Every variety of negro and slave was represented. I say negro AND slave, for it is a melancholy fact that some slaves are apparently as white as their masters, and as intelligent. Darkies of genuine Congo physiques, and darkies of the genuine Uncle Tom pattern, darkies young and jubilant, darkies middle-aged, and eager, and gray-haired, solemn-looking fellows. Some appeared mystified, and some intelligent. The quadroon and the octoroon, possessing an unimstakable tint of negro blood, mingled one drop with seven of Southern nativity and ancient family, formed, to speak mildly, an interesting scene.
    As fast as the contraband article came within reach, it was placed in the guard-house, and old frame building behind Fort Walker.—Here quite a collection was made. They were huddling together, half in fear and half in hope, when a naval officer of the Bienville looked in upon them, asking, 'Well, well, what are you all about?'
    'Dat's jest what we'd like to find out, mas'r,' was the response.
    The officer assured them that they would be kindly taken care of, and perhaps found something to do, and need not be alarmed.
    'Tank God for dat, mas'r,' was the reply. On drawing them into conversation, they said that they caught a great deal of fish in Port Royal harbor, fishing at night, after the plantation work was over. Two slaves were found reconnoitering about on their own account, and on being brought into camp, explained that they belogned to Mrs. Pinkney, of Charleston, and came down to 'see what de white people were all about.' They said that the white people all ran away when the ships came up, crying 'Great God! Great God! Great God! the Yankees are coming; fire the boats.' Other slaves reported that 'when the white folks see the little boats coming up, dey laffed at them, but when dey see de big checker-sided vessels coming,' they laffed on de oder side der moufs.'
    The number of slaves will probably increase each day, and the importance of their aid must be great.

A VISIT TO A PLANTATION.

    The Herald's correspondent gives the following account of a visit he made to the plantation of Gen. Drayton, the rebel commander, situated near Hilton Head:
    After passing along the road through numerous cotton fields (Sea Island) and strips of timber which bordered on the bayous, we came to a broad avenue, shaded by live oak, sycamore, orange and China trees; on either side were rows of white-washed cabins, at nearly every door of which were groups of negroes, all looking with eager curiosity at the white strangers, but evincing nothing like fear; on the contrary, they were much disposed to give full accounts of all that had happened in the brief but eventful period that gave them a new set of masters; how the shell flew fast and thick; how they burst around them, luckily doing no damage to anyone or anything, excepting an an unfortunate outhouse. A little farther on we approached what had once been a large and carefully tended garden, in the midst of which, on a slight elevation, facing, and in full view of the harbor, stood the mansion. It is a large, time-honored building, constructed after the usual style of the South, of two stories and an attic, a wide piazza in front and rear, a wide hall running through the building, with large airy rooms on either side.
    It appears that Gen. Drayton had not lived here for some time past, and that the plantation had been under the direction solely of an overseer. Gen. Drayton has another plantation on the mainland, where his family resided.

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There was, consequently, but little or no furniture in the house; everything, however, had been pretty well overhauled, and the debris of household articles scattered around gave very much the appearance of a house, after the turmoil of a May day, in New York.
    The negro driver, a tall ebony and quite intelligent, said that in the days of the old lady, Mrs. Pope, the mother-in-law of General Drayton, things were kept up in style, but that since her death everything had pretty much gone to rack. It needed but a little fancy to imagine the mansion and its grounds under the regime of its once palmy days—the mistress dispensing hospitality in true old Carolina style to coming or departing guests—steeds prancing at the doorway under care of bright-eyed woolly heads—the gardens blooming with gorgeous flowers—the trim gravelled walks nicely kept, the lofty trees (still remaining) affording a grateful retreat to fair damsels and gay cavaliers, under the shade of their foliage.
    The plantation consists of some three or four hundred acres, and well adapted to the raising of crops that require a light soil. As the crops have only been about half gathered, Capt. Hudson has obtained permission from headquarters to take charge of the place and set the hands to work to gather the rest.—This will secure a large quantity of corn and sweet potatoes, besides about fifty bags of Sea Island cotton. There is a gin on the place, steam engine, &c., so that you may not be surprised to hear of an invoice sent on to New York from the first cotton port opened during the days of the great rebellion.
    The Times' correspondent says:
    Before I left Hilton Head, I saw as many as one hundred negroes, who had come into our camps, and they were constantly arriving. At Bay Point I was informed there were as many more. As soon as they made their appearance they were huddled into a dilapidated building which was strongly guarded. All ages were represented, but only the male sex. Until I saw and conversated with the greater number of these persons I believed that the appearance and intelligence of Southern field hands were greatly libelled by the delineators of negro character at the concert saloons. Now I cannot but acknowledge that instead of gross exaggerations the "minstrels" give representations which are faithful to nature.
    There were the same grotesque dresses, awkward figures, and immense brogans which are to be seen every night at Bryant's or Christy's. Some of them told me that they had heard the "Yankees" were coming down to set them free, as early as last July, and they appeared very happy at their prospects. One old man said he was willing to work at anything "Massa Yankees" gave him to do, but he never would go back to "dat ar rice fiel' agin." I asked him to whom he belonged. He replied that he once belonged to the widow Pinckney, who had four hundred "head o' niggers," but he was free now. The chief anxiety of most of them was to get their families to join them. There was no difficulty in learning from these people that our arrival had been anxiously looked for with pleasant anticipations.

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    SLAVERY IN DELAWARE.—The Wilmington (Del.) State Journal, after referring to the movement in Maryland to abolish slavery, asks the following questions:
    'People of Delaware, how much longer will you be content to linger in the deadly shadow which slavery throws athwart your path to greatness and prosperity? How much longer will you permit the barbarous relic to hang like a millstone about your necks to drag you down to shame and reproach, when a single blow would hurl it from your presence, and raise our noble little State up to and equality of power and influence with her free sisters of the North?'

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    Arrangements are being made by the friends of freedom in Washington, for a course of lectures in that city during the approaching winter, and that among those invited to lecture are Henry Ward Beecher, Wendell Phillips, George W. Curtis and Dr. Cheever.