Viewing page 250 of 329
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
0576 K 27 (R&AL Vol 2) 1866 4 REPORTS OF ASSISTANT COMMISSIONERS Until the enactment and enforcement of State laws guaranteeing to the freedmen ample protection in person and property, freedmen's courts will be established for the adjudication of cases in which they are involved. The assistant commissioner earnestly invites the cordial and hearty co-operation of the civil authorities, and of all good citizens of Kentucky, in the important work of adjusting the new relations arising from the total abolition of slavery. CLINTON B. FISK, Brevet Major General, Assistant Commissioner - HEADQUATERS DEPARTMENT OF TENNESSEE, Louisville, December 27, 1865. The foregoing circular of Brevet Major General C. B. Fisk, assistant commissioner, meets my cordial approval, both in its spirit and in its excellent suggestions. JOHN M. PALMER, Major General, Commanding. - BUREAU REFUGEES, FREEMEN, AND ABANDONED LANDS, STAES OF KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE, Assistant Commissioner's Office, Nashville, Tenn., December 26, 1865. Freedmen of Kentucky: The Constitution of the United States has been so amended that hereafter no one can be held as a slave anywhere in the country, except in punishment for crime. All the colored people, therefore, in the State of Kentucky, are free, and your friend, the assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, desires to address you a few plain words: 1. First of all, you should be grateful to your Heavenly Father, who has broken your bonds and conferred upon you the inestimable boon of freedom. 2. You should recognize your high obligations to the federal government, which, in its mighty struggle with the great rebellion and in its triumph, has been true to the interests of freedom, and has fulfilled its pledges to the oppressed. 3. You should love Kentucky, for it is a noble old State-your native State, your home and the home of your children, and now a free State. 4. I advise you to remain in your old homes, and that you enter into good contracts with your former owners and masters. You have been associated with them for many years; you are bound to the old home by many ties, and most of you I trust will be able to get on as well with your late masters as with any one else. If your former owners will not make good contracts with you-giving you good wages, or a share of the crop-you will have a perfect right to go where you can do better. 5. Let me warn you specially against flocking into the towns and cities. There are too many people in the town and cities already. Hundreds, unless they speedily remove to the country, will, I fear, fall victims of pestilence. The small-pox is now prevalent, and in a few weeks the cholera may be among us. In the crowded cities you will wear your lives away in a constant struggle to pay high rent for miserable dwelling and scanty allowances of food. Many of your children, I greatly fear, will be found wandering through the streets as vagrants - plunging into the worst of vices, and filling the workhouses and jails. By all means seek healthy homes in the country. 6. Now that you are free and will enjoy the fruits of your own industry, enter upon your new life with a hearty will. You begin it with little besides your hands, but by patient industry and economy you may soon earn and save enough money to purchase a home of your own, and to furnish it with many of the comforts of life. 7. Let each man turn his heart and his thoughts toward providing a good home for his wife and children, and to aid in the care of his aged and dependent parents; carefully guard and keep sacred the marriage relation; be lawfully wedded: "taking up with each other" is an abominable practice, and must perish with the institution which gave it birth. 8. Early attention should be given to the education of your children. Purchase books for them, and employ good teachers. You have numerous friends in the country who will aid you in the establishment of schools. Be resolved that all your children shall be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. 9. Let the past be forgotten. Treat all men with respect; avoid disputes; demonstrate to Kentucky and to the world, by your faithful observance of the laws, by your sobriety and good morals, and by your thrift, that you are not only qualified for the precious blessing of freedom, but for the high and responsible duties of citizens of the Commonwealth. 10. Until the enactment and enforcement of State laws giving your full protection in person and property, impartial justice will be secured to you by the strong arm of the national government. CLINTON B. FISK, Brevet Major General, Assistant Commissioner.
