Here's the first half of the lecture I delivered today at the Hilton Head Library. We had another great audience, full of questions and eager to read the book. Thanks, everyone. This country’s first experiment with the abolition of slavery began right here on
Hilton Head Island in 1861. The federal
government put together an expedition to capture a safe harbor to be used by
their blockading ships. At the end of
October, 1861, 88 ships, carrying 12 regiments (12,000 soldiers), sailed for
the coastline of South Carolina. In a terribly one-sided battle, they destroyed
two confederate forts, manned by a total of 200 men equipped with 7 guns. From Charleston, General Robert E. Lee sent
word that the Low Country of South Carolina could not be defended. Those left out of the original 200 men took
flight and headed for the safety of Charleston.
Right behind them were the white plantation owners who now had no one to
defend their lives and property. Left behind were some
10,000 slaves who had never been off their respective plantations. They had no
one to direct their labor, no one to supply their usual food allowances and
clothing allotments, no one to treat their illnesses or help them survive on
islands now in the hands of Yankees. The soldiers who had occupied the islands knew nothing about
actual slavery or its conditions. In
letters from those soldiers, we find complaint after complaint that went
something like this. They had come to
free the slaves. They had done so. Now why didn’t the slaves go on and
leave? And of course, the slaves did not
understand the question. Where were they
supposed to go? And how would they get there?
Their little cabins weren’t much but they were home. Their families had lived there for
generations. They didn’t want to
leave. But they did want someone to take
care of them, because someone always had
provided for their simple needs . What was worse, no one in the Union army had expected to
find freed slaves there, and there were no plans for dealing with them. Frantic letters flew back and forth to
Washington DC. “We have 10,000 blacks,
ill, hungry, and helpless, unable to care for themselves? What are we to
do?” Lincoln had a quick answer. He turned to his Secretary of the Treasury,
Salmon P. Chase, and said, “Handle it.” Chase responded by hiring two gentlemen – William Reynolds
to take charge of gathering the cotton crops and administering the plantations
and Edward Pierce to provide humanitarian aid for the slaves. The cotton agents and their adventures would
make a story on their own, but I want to concentrate on the Abolitionists hired
by Pierce to do “something” about the slaves themselves. To this day, when you try to find out what the abolitionists
wanted, there’s only a single answer – to do away with all slavery. But nowhere will you find a clear explanation
of what they thought would happen to the slaves. There were no plans. They were an odd bunch
from the beginning, some 75-80 volunteers who for one reason or another were
free to uproot their lives and travel into a war zone to provide for the needs of 10,000 slaves. Looking at some of their personalities will
demonstrate the flaws in the abolitionist goals. We'll do that tomorrow. |
