INTRODUCTION.BY SAMUEL J. HUNTER, REPORTER, CINCINNATI, O., DAILY TRIBUNE.

The object of this introduction is not intended to set forth the merit of this very interesting and instructive "Pocket History of the Negro Race," as it is intended to pay homage to the genius of the author. There will be no dispute, after the contents of this little book is carefully read, that it is a very valuable addition to Negro literature, especially as it pertains to setting forth the Negro's "place in the history of America's greatness." But what of the author? What has he done? What is he giving us as a legacy by which to know and remember him? Who is he These questions are easily answered

R. C. O. Benjamin is one of the most remarkable men in the galaxy of prominent Negroes of America. He is an intense race man, highly educated, polished, dignified, affiable in his manners, and a brilliant conversationalist. He has a wonderful memory and a most erratic store of facts at ready disposal. The life of this eminent man is fraught with achievements as a lawyer and politician. As a preacher and author Mr. Benjamin is classed among the foremost men of 00042the Negro race, while as an orator he has no peer among the great orators of the race. Mr. Benjamin is one of the finest and most versatile lecturers on the American platform. His lectures on "Fools and Other People," "Five Big Liars," "Where Are We At," "Stumbling Blocks," and "Bugs and Other Bugs," have gained for him quite a reputation as a humorist. His lectures on "The Black Spartacus," "Origin of the Races," Science Versus Religion," etc., shows him to be a man whose mind is richly indowed by nature and highly cultivated by study. The press of the country in general speak of his efforts in the highest terms. I append a few testimonials from some of the leading newspapers:

The Alexandria, Va., Leader, says: "R. C. O. Benjamin is beyond question the most popular, pleasing, witty and instructive lecturers now before the American people. A man of ripe scholarship, extensive travel and splendid presence, a humorist by nature, he is virtually without a rival on the rostrum as a weilder of the weapon of satire, logic, eloquence and humor for the pleasing of his audience, while at the same time teaching the most valuable lessons of truth and right."

"The Washington D. C., Bee says: "Mr. Benjamin is a scholar. He is a model speaker. His command of language is perfect and almost unlimited. His presence on the platform is fine and his delivery graceful. He carries his audience from tears, to peals of hearty laughter; then to an attentive silence that is remarkable."

The Los Angeles, Cal., Graphic says: "It is useless 00053to attempt to give a correct idea of the wonderful oratorical powers of Mr. Benjamin."

The Brooklyn, N.Y., Union says: "Mr. Benjamin is an honor to his race. He is a lawyer, a learned man, of extensive travel, and a fluent speaker of a strong nervous temperament. His eloquence is unsurpassed and his humor irresistible." "We would be glad," says the Portland Oregonian, "if every intelligent person on the globe could hear this unapproachable speaker." The Boston Courant calls Mr. Benjamin the "prince of lecturers," while the Washington D.C. Daily Post regards his word painting in the pulpit as unsurpassed. His arguments before a jury are also spoken of by the press as being forcible, convincing and of extraordinary power. Mr. Benjamin has traveled extensively in Europe, Africa, South America, India and the West Indies, and he speaks fluently Spanish, French and Malay languages. He has held some of the most prominent positions in the Church. He is secretary of the Negro Lawyers' National Bar Association; was highly recommended by the Bench, the Bar, the city and county officials of Los Angeles, and all Southern California, to President Harrison for appointment as Counsel to Antigua, West Indies. In 1892 the Independent Republicans of the 9th Congressional District of Alabama nominated him for Congress. For several years Mr. Benjamin has held the position of National Grand Organizer of the United Brothers of Friendship, the most powerful Negro benevolent society in America, numbering over half a million; he was also unanimously elected Grand Master of the society 00064for the State of Ohio. Mr. Benjamin is also a past Master Mason, an Odd Fellow, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and a member of almost every secret and benevolent society conducted by the Negroes of America. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Alexandria, Va., Normal and Industrial School, a member of the faculty of Curry College, Mechanicsburg, O., and either directly or indirectly connected with other institutions of learning and insurance companies either as trustee, lecturer or attorney. Mr. Benjamin is a special correspondent to a number of the leading newspapers of the country. To the newspaper fraternity he is known by the non de plume of "Cicero." He has also owned and edited the following newspapers: "The Colored Citizen," Pittsburg, Pa.; "Chronicle," Evansville, Ind.; "Free Lance," Nashville, Tenn.; "Negro American," Birmingham, Ala.; "Observer," Los Angeles, Cal.; "Sentinel," San Francisco, Cal.; and "Republican Sun," Providence, R.I. Mr. Benjamin also enjoys the distinction of being the only Negro in the United States to edit a white newspaper-"The Daily Sun," Los Angeles, Cal. In the midst of his clerical, legal and journalist work he has found time to write several very interesting books, among the most prominent of which are, The Boy Doctor, History of the British West Indies, Obediah Kuff, Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture, Origin of the Negro Race, Don't-a book for girls, Africa, the Hope of the Negro Race, Southern Outrages, Churcheology, Ethnological Solution of the Negro Problem, An Historical Chart of the Negro 00075Race, and a volume of poems which has passed through several editions. All of these books are thoroughly racy, graphic and vigorous, full of interest, honest and straightforward. His lectures, public addresses, discourses and sermons have been collected by Judge John H. Ballou, of Providence, R. I., for publication, and I venture to say that the views and opinions contained in them will be of value to the whole Negro race.

But it is not merely Mr. Benjamin's able sermons, legal ability, platform eloquence and profile writings which makes him shine as a star in the first magnitude of the Negro race, but he possesses that quality of earnestness which gives force to every purpose in life. He is full of strong sympathy for all that is true and good, and of as strong antipathy for all that he conceives to be false and unjust. Mr. Benjamin is noted for his absolute frankness and candor. If he believes a thing, he says it, willing that the consequences should take care of themselves. He battles in the cause that he conscientiously feels to be right, with his whole heart and soul, and wages an uncompromising war against what seems to him to be shams and falsities. He is of the stern stuff of which martyrs and made; for when he sees his way clear, and his conscience approves, he never hesitates to act boldly and energetically. We may not agree with Mr. Benjamin in all of the views he holds and advocates, but we cannot fail to admire the undeviating and high-minded consistency of his life, and the purity of the motives on which he acts. In all of his public acts and expressions, 00086his motto is: "My race first and my best friend next." Mr. Benjamin regards every white man who questions the Negro's right to independence of opinion and freedom of thought as an enemy to the race and denounces him accordingly. Mr. Benjamin's temperament doubtless owes something to the warm sunshiny clime in which he was born, that of St. Kitts, West Indies, 1855. He is yet a young man (1896) and there is much for him to do in furthering the exploration of the doctrine of the Negro's incapacity to grapple with science, art and literature, and become eminent as orators and historians. Mr. Benjamin is doing more perhaps on this line than any other Negro in the United States, from the fact that few men of the race can measure arms with him as an all 'round man.

Lawyer, author, preacher, scholar, poet, journalist, lecturer, orator, humorist, politician, traveler and linquist; fancy this wonderful combination of abilities, and yet R. C. O. Benjamin is the man who embodies them in his one extraordinary person. In conclusion, the reader is asked to take this carefully prepared little book as evidence of Mr. Benjamin's interest in his race, and his desire to place the bright side of the Negro's "case in equity" before the American people. Read it.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

A large majority of "our people" object to the term Negro and prefer the term "Colored." This is a mistake. It is no compliment for us to be designated as "Colored People." The fact of the matter is, the term "Colored" as applied to us is meaningless. "Colored" is a very general term; it applies to several different peoples whose complexion is not fair; hence it can have no special reference or strict application to the black man. The school geography tells us that there are five races, but this is not the truth. There have never been but three races on the earth- the red, the white and the black. The yellow, the brown, with all other shades, are but derived from an amalgamation of three others, which were prior and radical. I use the term Negro always, because it means something. The correct definition is black--a moor, a descendant of Africa. The term Negro includes the whole race, wherever they may be dwelling. When we desire to be known by some name that will designate locality, it is proper to say American Negro, European Negro, Canadian Negro, Northern Negro, Southern Negro, etc. The word Negro is the name of a race of men, just as the word Caucasian is the name of a race of men, and should be spelled with a capital N. I know of no better term than Negro by which the race could be designated. It 00098is ethnologically accurate as descriptive of all persons of African descent. It is etymologically and scientifically correct when applied to the race. There is nothing dishonorable about it, and if there is, it is for us to make it honorable. Races are what they make themselves, and the terms by which they are designated stand or fall on this theory.R. C. O. Benjamin,Xenia, Ohio.

PREFACE(SELECTED.)"Light after darkness,Gain after loss,Strength after weakness,Crown after cross;Sweet after bitter,Hope after fears,Home after wandering,Praise after tears.Sheaves after sowing,Sun after rain,Light after mystery,Peace after pain;Joy after sorrow,Calm after blast,Rest after weariness,Sweet rest at last."

Though the Negro did not come to America as an invited guest, or as an honored stranger, he was gladly received by the colonists (1620) and set to work as a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, for a master who having paid a price for him, claimed not only his service, but the right to dispose of his person according to his own pleasure. Instant and unvarying obedience was required of him. He was very clearly identified with the interests of this the land of his enforced adoption. When the relations of the colonies with Great Britain became complicated and throughout the struggle for independence he was a patriot. In 1770 when the oppressions and insolence of the British solders became unbearable, he, bearing the name of Crispus Attucks, led the first assault upon them in the streets of Boston. When the standard of independence was flung to the breeze the Negro rallied to its defence. He distinguished himself at Bunker Hill; he starved with Washington's ragged Continentals at Valley Forge; (Dec. 1777) his feet marked with blood the frozen banks of the Delaware; he shared in the glory of Trenton. In both army and navy he was distinguished for patient suffering, unwearied vigilance and uniform gallantry. When peace came he rejoiced with his master; through victory and peace brought no freedom to himself. Again when bugle and drum called men to arms in 1812, his dusky face and sturdy form were seen in the ranks marshalled under the stars and stripes, and his faithful hands helped to carry that banner forward 001111ultimate triumph. But this sacrifice on his part won for him only temporary applause. He was returned to his condition. Major Jefferies, a Negro of Tennessee, who at Mobile, Ala., filled the place of a regular in the American army under General Stump, and saved the army from annihilation by the British, after peace and independence received thirty-nine lashes upon his bare back for daring to strike a white ruffian, and from the effects of which he died.

Notwithstanding Simeon Lee served in Virginia during the memorable revolutionary struggle up to the close of the war, immediately after the surrender at Yorktown, he was returned to his master, and finally died on his tobacco plantation. Though the Negro fought side by side with his white kindred brother, the victory gained did not loosen the shackles of slavery riveted upon him; he continued the same chattle. Heroism, whether upon the deck of Perry's fleet, or in the field with Andrew Jackson, seemed insufficient to destroy the wrong--upas of manhood, the curse of slavery. Bunker Hill was a myth; the surrender of Yorktown meant freedom only for the white man. From the close of the war of 1812, thence forward for fifty years, the history of the Negro is one dreary and monotonous story of wrong and oppression, only here and there relieved by personal kindness of masters who were far better than the system they sustained. The Negro cannot forget the evils of slavery, for it made his position a peculiar one. He was held 001212in contempt by all; by many was considered as something less than a human being, and yet he was often the confidential fried of his master. He was suspected and watched, yet he was trusted with sacred interests, to which he was rarely unfaithful. Denied all social recognition, he was nursed in the same arms with his master and was often his chosen and most intimate associate. His faithfulness was recognized and his affectionate nature was well known and appreciated; yet he was driven to hard labor, and was at the mercy of any one, white of skin, who chose to afflict him. He might be beaten and maimed for life, subjected to degraded brands, be half starved or sold away from his family; there was no appeal for him but to heaven. If he struck a white man, no difference what the provocation might be, he was liable to be whipped, to have his ears cropped, or to be put to death for it. He could not acquire property by purchase or gift, or in any other way, nor could he hold it. Whatever was his, was not his but his master's. He could neither buy nor sell on his own account. If he was made free by the will of a deceased master, he might still be held for that master's debt. He could not legally marry, and such marriage as was practical might be annulled at his master's will. If he ran away, he was liable to be torn with blood hounds or be shot down. Fines of from ten dollars to seven hundred dollars were assessed against any who harbored assisted him in any way in his break for freedom. He must be kept in ignorance; hence it was a crime to educate him. He could indulge but faint 001313hope of liberty, or of any improved condition of life. Degrading bondage, hard labor, usage at the will of a capricious master, liability to be sold to a yet more intolerable condition, an unwept grave--these things the future promised.

Sometimes, to be sure he was freed from bondage. In 1781 Massachusetts freed him and in 1797 New York declared that he should be free in that State on and after July 4, 1827. Vermont freed him in her limits in 1777, before she came into the Union. Pennsylvania provided for gradual emancipation in 1780, and Rhode Island did the same, having but five slaves left in 1840. New Jersey liberated her slaves in 1804. So that in some parts of the land fortune seemed to smile upon him. Even in those states where he was never freed by legislation, sometimes a kindly master whose conscience protested against the wrong of human slavery, would, by will, free his Negroes. Then again for services rendered in the army, upon conditions, some states granted liberty. But freedom under such circumstances was not an unmixed blessing to the Negro, for he was still the object of unjust discriminations. Even in Ohio he was not suffered to reside without a certificate of freedom, and citizens were prohibited from assisting him in any way, unless he held such a certificate. He could not give evidence in any issue between two parties one of whom was white. It was so in Indiana likewise. In nearly all the states, if not by law, then by public sentiment, he 001414was excluded from the polls, militia and the courts. Though native born, a patriotic participant in two wars, an industrious law abiding citizen, yet he was not regarded as a member of political society. He might be taxed and governed, yet, though in arms standing beside the Continental soldiers, he protesting against the injustice of taxation without representation so far as they were concerned, nevertheless for himself he must patiently bear this great wrong. The schools of nearly every Northern state were shut in his face. He was excluded from the trades, from schools of medicine and theology. If he traveled it was always restriction that marked his inferiority and his poverty of rights. There was literally "no room for him in the inn." Even the church of God, instituted to be the helper of the helpless and the defender of the weak, afforded him, in most cases, no asylum. So that freedom in those earlier times brought him but little blessings, except exemption from sale. But the reader asks, "Why bring up these sad memories?" Alas; these are not dead things. Remember that--"The evil that men do live after them."

It is easy for the white man to excuse himself for the wrong of slavery, but day by day it is growing harder for the Negro to do so, and it is simply to state a universal fact of human nature to declare that a great and lasting wrong like slavery, done to a whole people because of race or creed, grows blacker and darker for generations and ages as they go away from 001515it. The educated grandchild of the slave who looks back into the black pit of slavery will find little excuse for the white Christian civilization which forbade marriage, crushed aspirations, and after two centuries and a half offered the world, as the fruits of "Christian Endeavor," five millions of blasted sons and daughters, the product of a promiscuity enforced by law and upheld by Christian teaching. Slavery will be a more terrible thing to the Negro a hundred years hence than it was to the calloused consciousness of his nameless father. We are told that because slavery no longer exists as a legalized form of society, that it should be dismissed from our thought and no longer considered as a factor of our civilization. Impossible! In truth the conditions it bequeathed are far more difficult and delicate than those attending its existence. It is a living force in the white man's thought and in the black man's life. The lessons it taught both races are ineradicable by law, and beyond the control of mere reason. It is all very well to look to the future, but he who tries to separate it from the past is as foolish as one who seeks to run away from his own shadow. Yesterday, To-day and To-morrow are an eternal repetend. To-day is what it is because Yesterday was what it was, and every To-morrow must be what all its Yesterdays shall make it. This is God's law of human evolution; and man's will is as powerless to change it as it is to make Yesterday what it was not. Prophecy is not so much a foreknowledge of what shall be as a clearer comprehension of what has been, and he who could foretell the future will 001616look forever in the mirror which reflects the past.

We now approach a crisis in the Negro's history. Patiently working in the cotton, cane, rice or tobacco fieles of the South, all unmindful of the prominence given him, he was the subject of the debate in senatorial halls, and of discussions of publicists and statesmen of this and other lands. About him raged conflagration of opinion and passion which menaced at once his safety and the institutions of his country. Political parties achieved victory and suffered defeat according to their attitude toward this inoffensive man. As a compromise, in 1820, his enslavement was finally prohibited north of 36 degrees 30' north latitude, except in Missouri. But at the same time an amendment to the Fugitive Slave Law (1849) was passed which made it a penal offense to harbor or assist a fugitive slave in any part of the country. About this time the "Underground Railroad" was constructed and immediately went into active operation. The name does not indicate its real character. It had no grades, cuts, embankments, ties, rails; nor was equipped with baggage, freight and palace sleeping cars. The track was an ordinary highway, country road, or path. The locomotive was a pair of horses or mules. The cars was a road wagon, or the back of a horse. Very often there was neither locomotive nor car, and the passengers were compelled to walk. The sole employe was at once engineer and conductor, no brakeman being needed, since the breaks must always be off. But always 001717the purpose was the same--to help slaves to escape from bondage; always the destination was the same--Canada. Once there the Negro was under the protection of the British flag and was free. In short, the Underground Railroad was simply an informal association of people who believed that the Negro had an inherent right to his freedom, and who "without money and without price," received, harbored and guided the fleeing slave on his way to Canada. The contention over the Negro grew more serious as the years went on. The Missouri Compromise (1820) and the amendment to the Fugitive Slave Law (1849) were but flags of truce; they were only temporary expedients resorted to for the purpose of lulling the conflict.

More fiery than ever the conflict raged over the admission of Kansas (1861) into the Union and the introduction of slavery into that territory. In the midst of plot and counter-plot, the Negro stood unmindful of the important part he played in the history of this Nation, and knowing little of how vitally his own interests were bound up with the issues of the struggle about him. Darker and yet more dark grew the prospect before him, as scanned by humanitarians. But as the cry of Israel in the house of their bondage; so, too, the prayers of His "dusky children" in this land were heard, and He was swiftly preparing the way for their deliverance. At last the artillery of Charleston, South Carolina, was trained on Fort Sumter and the first discharge (April 12,1861) was the morning gun which heralded the dawn of a 001818brighter day in the American Negro's history. The Southern States had already seceded from the Union and had organized a government at Montgomery, Ala. This, together with the firing on Fort Sumter, aroused both the indignation and the military enthusiasm of the North, which in a single day was, by a lightning flash, fused in a white heat of patriotism and a desire to avenge the dishonored flag. For the time all party lines disappeared and the whole population were united and solid in defense of the Union. Both sides now prepared to fight in good earnest. Both sides were confident of victory. It was during this great conflict that the President, Abraham Lincoln, on January 1, 1863, issued his memorable Emancipation Proclamation, which, though a military necessity--an incident of the war--brought freedom to the Negro And now it is in order to see what part the Negro took in this great conflict.

HOW THEY FOUGHT FOR THE UNION.

The pen of the historian has been used as to almost exclude any reference to the service of Negro soldiers in the Union army. It is not known that any black men ever distinguished themselves as soldiers. None of the individual acts of unsurpassed bravery, courage, coolness, dash of the Negro regiments are recorded by those who have furnished us history. When the war clouds broke over the country the Negro man was counted on the outside of the issue. He was given to understand whenever he presented himself 001919to enlist as a soldier, that it was a white man's war, a war to save the Union. Abraham Lincoln, in his letter to Horace Greeley, Aug. 22, 1862, said: "My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that,"

Mr. Lincoln, on the 15th, of April, 1861, issued a call, providing for the raising of 75,000 troops to suppress the rebellion. From New York city to San Francisco black men promptly offered their services, which were as promptly declined. The Northern abolitionist said: "The colored people of the South are more than loyal to our flag; they are helping our army in prison dens, and those who have escaped from Southern pesthouses of starvation and death. These slaves are their only friends; we desire that they be enlisted as soldiers in our army. Give the colored man the bayonet bayonet; he deserves it. His ambition to use it is a sufficient test of his bravery."

The then Secretary of War, Hon. Simon Cameron, sent an order to Brigadier Gen. Sherman directing him to accept the services of all loyal persons who desired to aid in the suppression of the rebellion in and about Port Royal. Gen. Sherman was soon relieved by Gen. Hunter. The former turned over to him the instructions of the Secretary of War. There being no mention of color, and Gen. Hunter being a gentleman of broad, liberal and humane views, and having a desire 002020to secure the enlistment of all "loyal persons," directed the organization of a regiment of black men. The opposition to Gen. Hunter's action was very powerful and strong, especially in the lower House of Congress, in which, on the 9th of June, 1862, Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, introduced a resolution calling upon Gen. Hunter to explain to Congress his unprecedented conduct in arming Negroes to fight the battles of the Union.

Mr. Stanton, who was now at the head of the War Department, explained the matter by stating that Gen. Hunter had no authority whatever for such a procedure. In Louisiana thousands of black men sought the Federal camps. Brigadier Gen. J. N. Phelps, commanding the Union forces at Carrollton, reported the same to Gen. B. F. Butler, suggesting in the mean time the propriety of arming them as soldiers. Gen. Butler advised Gen. Phelps to employ these Negro contrabands for mere fatigue duty, and charged him not to use them as soldiers.

On the 31st of July, 1862, Gen. Phelps sent the following to Gen. Butler: "I am not willing to become the mere slave driver you propose, having no qualifications that way," and immediately tendered his resignation. Gen. Butler repented, however, and on the 24th of August, 1862, appealed to the free "colored men" of New Orleans to take up arms in defense of the Union. With alarming promptness they responded to the call, and in less than two weeks 1000 were organized into a'regiment; three weeks after, another and two batteries were raised. These regiments were 002121officered by Negroes, save Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel.

The war was now in full blast; the Union forces were being repulsed and routed. The friends of the Union came to the conclusion that a rigorous prosecution of the war was the only hope of the nation. Congress was forced from the position of "no Negro soldiers," and the President was compelled to make another call for troops--60,000. In the meantime, Senator Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, had introduced a bill in the Senate amending the act of 1795, prescribing the manner of the calling forth of the militia to suppress insurrections, etc., and empowering the President to "accept persons of African descent for the purpose of constructing intrenchments or performing camp service, or any war service for which they may be competent." It went to the House where, under the championship of Thaddeus Stevens, it passed, and on the 17th of July received the signature of the President.

On the 26th of January, 1863, the Secretary of War, authorized Gov. Andrew, of Massachusetts, to raise two regiments of Negro troops to served three years.

The first of these regiments was filled by the 13th of May and called the 54th Massachusetts. This was the first regiment of free Negroes raised at the North. During this time Gen. Lorenzo Thomas was at work recruiting troops in the Mississippi Valley. On the 7th of August, 1863, President Lincoln wrote Gen. Grant, saying: "Gen. Thomas has gone to the 002222Mississippi Valley with the view of raising Negro troops. I have no doubt that you are doing what you reasonably can upon the subject, for I believe it is a resource which, if vigorously applied now, will soon close the contest. It works doubly, weakening the enemy and strengthening us. We were not ripe for it until the river was opened; now I think 100,000 can and ought to be organized along its shores, relieving all the white troops to fight elsewhere."

Gen. Grant at once set about obeying Mr. Lincoln's orders. On the 11th day of July, seven days after he had received in part Gen. Pemberton's terms of surrender, Grant wrote the Adjutant General: "I am anxious to get as many of those Negro regiments as possible, and to have them full and completely equipped. I am particularly desirous of organizing regiments of heavy artillery from the Negro to garrison this place, Vicksburg, and shall do so as soon as possible."

While the organizing of Negro troops in the Mississippi Valley was going on, Capt. R. D. Mussey was recruiting Negro troops in Pennsylvania. In New York city the Union League Club applied to Horatio Seymour, the Governor, to grant them permission to enlist Negro men as soldiers, to which the Governor refused; the club, however, was granted permission by the National Government, and in 45 days raised and equipped 2000 Negro soldiers. Gen. Grant's attempt to carry out Mr. Lincoln's orders of organizing Negro troops all along the shores of the Mississippi Valley was somewhat handicapped by the unrelenting 002323prejudice of his officers. Even the common soldier at first opposed the use of black troops, but when conscription became unavoidable, the prejudice against the employment of Negroes began to decrease in proportion to the increase of the chances of white men to be drafted. The idea rose in the minds of the white man soldiers that a Negro was as easy to hit as a white man.

Charles Godfrey Leland, in his biography of Lincoln, page 161, says: "I once heard of a soldier say: 'I used to be opposed to having black troops, but yesterday when I saw ten cart loads of niggers carried off the field, I thought it better that they should be killed than I." Negro soldiers were required by the act of Congress to fight for the Union at a salary of $10 per month, with $3 deducted for clothing--leaving them only $7 per month as their actual pay. White soldiers received $13 per month and clothing. In addition to their small pay, Negro soldiers had to run the gauntlet of the persecuting hate of white Northern troops, and if captured endure the most barbarous treatment of the rebels, without a protest on the part of the Government--for at least a year. Hootedat, jeered and stoned in the streets of Northern cities, as they marched to the front to fight for the Union; scoffed at and abused by white troops, under the flag of a common country, there was little of a consoling or inspiring nature in the experience of Negro soldiers.

The white man of America had been so accustomed to deny all manliness to the Negro, that few believed 002424him capable of fighting, but when at Nashville they saw platoons of black soldiers lying dead in regular rows, just as they had been shot, facing the enemy, they believed the Negro capable of fighting. The correspondent of the New York Times, in a letter dated Sept. 4, 1864, wrote in extravagant praise of the Negro troops at Port Royal, then came Horace Greeley's able editorial on the 28th of March, 1863, in which he said: "Facts are beginning to dispel prejudice; enemies of the Negro race, who have persistently denied the capacity and doubted the courage of the blacks, are unanswerably confuted by the men whom they persecute and slander; the loyalty, heroism and bravery of the colored troops will crown our success."

Speaking of Gen. Saxton's Negro troops in the department of the South, immediately after the battle of Jacksonville (Florida), Mr. Greeley said, editorily, March 29, 1863: "This is an instance in which the white chivalry ventured to make a stand against them; the white were defeated and driven off the field by the blacks." The gallant charge of the Negro troops at Port Hudson was made the subject of a poem by George H. Baker, entitled, "The Black Regiment," which became known all over the country. Officers who at first refused the command of Negro regiments, were now making application to take charge of them. Nearly every white private expected the lightning to strike him. Men who but a few months before refused to fight as a private alongside the Negro soldier, now hoped to be commissioned as officers, and, therefore, had no prejudice against the men 002525they hoped to command as superior officers. To prepare the large number of applicants for commissioned officers in Negro regiments, a free military school was established at No. 1210 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, which was officially endorsed by Secretary Stanton.

The nation asked the Negro, "Are you willing to fight for your freedom?" The answer to this is found in the eagerness manifested by Negroes to become soldiers. Their enthusiasm in this particular has no parallel in the history of the war. Every opportunity that was offered to enlist was at once embraced. From Port Hudson to Richmond the blood of Negro soldiers moistened the soil, their bones lie scattered in front of every demi-impregnable work. Wherever the fight was strong, they were; where the enemy's cyclone of fire swept they fell the thickest; when the enemy resorted to savage butchery (as the horrible massacre at Fort Pillow, April 18, 1864), they were the victims. Their iron nerve, patriotic valor, incomprehensible courage, indubitable heroism, their sufferings and privations, their long marches and stubborn fights, their impregnable alignments, the terrible charges endured and made for the freedom of their race and to keep the Government from being torn in twain, called forth from the Chief Magistrate the assertion "that no braver men than they ever stood before as brave an enemy; and that during the long night of war, not a traitor in black skin was found." Never did a race in all history of wars merit such a tribute.

The official list of battles, published by authority of the war office, shows that Negro regiments of calvalry, 002626infantry and artillery took part in 57 of the recognized battles of the war, including seige, assault and capture--Petersburg, Charleston, Vicksburg, Nashville, Chattanooga, Olustee, Wagner, Hudson, Richmond, Dalton, Dallas, Fort Fisher, Memphis, Fort Pillow, Plymouth, Spanish Fort, Honey Hill, Jacksonville, Fort Donelson, Fair Oaks, James Island and Tupelo, as well as 137 actions and skirmishes. In these battles the Negro soldiers won for themselves golden opinions from the officers and men of the white organizations.

Gen. B. F. Butler, commanding a number of Negro troops at Fort Harrison on the 29th of September, after white troops had been driven back by the enemy, ordered his Negro troops to storm the fortified position of the enemy at the point of the bayonet. The troops had to charge down a hill, ford a creek, and preceded by axmen, who had to cut two lines of abatis, then carry the works held by the infantry and artillery. They made one of the most brilliant charges of the war, and carried the works in a short time. Gen. Butler, years after the battle, in speech in Congress on the Civil Rights bill, said of this affair: "It became my painful duty to follow in the track of that charging column, and there, in a space not wider than the clerk's desk, and 300 yards long, lay the dead bodies of 543 of my colored comrades, fallen in defense of their country, who had offered up their lives to uphold its flag and its honor as a willing sacrifice; and as I rode along among them, guiding my horse this way and that way, lest he should profane with his 002727hoofs what seemed to me the sacred dead, and as I looked on their bronzed faces, upturned in the shining sun, as if in mute appeal against the wrongs of the country for which they had given their lives, whose flag to them had only been a flag of stripes, on which no star of glory had ever shone for them--feeling I had wronged them in the past and believing what was the future of my country to them; among my dead comrades there, I swore to myself a solemn oath: May my right had forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I ever fail to defend the rights of those men who have given their blood for me and my country that day and for their race forever and, God helping me, I will keep that oath,"--and he kept it. The Negroes of this country had no stauncher friend than Benjamin F. Butler.

Gens. Sherman, Phelps, Ord, Dwight, Strong, Banks, and Gen. Godfrey Weitzel have time and again expressed the estimate placed upon the services of Negro soldiers in the Union army. Negroes did fatigue duty in every department of the army. Negro men built most of the fortifications and earthworks for Gen. Grant in front of Vicksburg. The works in and about Nashville were cast up by the strong arm and willing hands of loyal Negro men. The corduroy roads and miles of earthworks at Dutch Gap were made by Negroes. At the siege of Petersburg, June 18, 1864, Hink's division was composed entirely of Negro troops.

It was the Negro calvalry under Gen. Kautz that cut the Nelson road below Petersburg and destroyed 002828the Danville railroad, whilst the Negro troops under Col. Robert West were rushing from Williamsburg across the Chickahominy to Harrison's Landing. They were the first to enter Petersburg. It was Negro troops who fortified City Point, Fort Powhattan and Wilson's Wharf. At the latter place they defeated Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's calvalry on the 24th of May, 1864. It was the 1st and 2nd South Carolina Colored Volunteers; under Colonels Higginson and Montgomery, who in March, 1863, ascended the St. John's river in Florida as for as Jacksonville and reoccupied that important town. On the 26th of September, 1864, the Negro troops, under Gen. Ord, crossed the James river and carried by assault Battery Harris, capturing 22 pieces of heavy ordnance, the strongest of the enemy's works around Richmond and within the very gates of the Confederate capital. On the 26th of October, 1863, the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th and 22nd United States Colored Troops, and the 2d United States Cavalry, carried the enemy's works at New Market Heights.

The last guns fired at Lee's army at Appomatox were in the hands of Negro soldiers. On the 16th of May, 1865, at Palmetto Ranch, Tex., the 63d Regiment of Negro troops fired the last volley of the war; and when President Lincoln lay low in death, a Negro regiment guarded his remains. It is not intended here to show that the Negro soldiers fought better than their white brothers. The white soldier is deserving of great praise, but the qualities, heroism and patient devotion of the Negro soldiers are dwelt upon 002929because they fought under vastly more disadvantageous circumstances.

The Negro has not been idle. He has not only been coming since his liberation, but he is here climbing against the greatest odds. History furnishes no example of emancipation under circumstances so unfavorable as that of the American Negro. When Russia emancipated her serfs, Alexander declared that "liberty without the means of living was a fatal gift." "Liberty and Land" was the Russian watchword, and every free-man was provided a homestead. The American Negro was suddenly thrown upon the world, ignorant, poor, helpless, and without a foot of land; still in the thirty-three years, (from 1863 to 1896,) he has struggled to full manhood. The progress in music, in education, in the professions, in literature, and in the accumulation of wealth, made by the American Negro, is one of the marvels in history. No people ever had such an experience of great and sudden transition, slaves yesterday, free-men to-day, scholars tomorrow.

To begin with, at the close of the Rebellion it was asserted, without contradiction' that the Negro would "die out," the double and rapidly increasing population of the Negro, however, has fully demonstrated that he is a living and not a dying race. The idea of his becoming extinct finds no support in this fact. The Negro population of 1870 was 4,800,000; of 1880,0030306,580,000, of 1890 nearly 10,000,000; 600 Negro children are born every day. At the present rate of increase, in 1985 there will be 192,000,000 Negroes in the United States.

The doctrine of incapacity has been exploded; the mean notion that the Negro was incapable of learning and grappling with science and philosophy or becoming first-rate theologians or historians was only preached in the interest of slavery and has faded away in the light of facts to the contrary. Five years after the surrender, (1870) only a tenth of the Negro children eligible to school opportunities, were actually reported therein. In 1890 we find that within a fraction, ONE HALF of the eligibles are reported in school. The figures to authenticate this statement are as follows; According to census figures, in 1870 there were 2,789,679, Negroes above the age of ten years who could not read or write. If we should make an approximation of a million for Negroes under ten years we should have 3,789,679, who could not read or write twenty years ago. With a population of 4,880,000 we should have ONE AND A TENTH MILLION of Negroes who could not read in 1870. If it is a fact that the increase of the population from 1870 to 1890 has been 70 per cent, it would be unfair to say that with the great and constantly increasing educational facilities in all the departments of state and church education and the Negro's eager cry for learning, that his educational increase from 1870 to 1896 003131should be less than four times that of 1870. It then, the great educational endeavors of twenty years in all departments and all lines, justifies and increases four times as large as that of 1870 we have in 1896 FOUR AND FOUR TENTH MILLIONS who can read and write. Of this balance of illiteracy a majority are ex-slaves, elderly persons, who may not read the letter but who are yet intelligent by contact and association, The showing as to the Negro school teachers in the United States is a bright ray of hope for the Negro's future, when the fact is considered that these teachers have been prepared and put into the field during twenty-five years; very little more than the school life allotted an individual. Two-thirds of these teachers are Normal and High School Graduates: number of teachers, 25,000; number of pupils, 1,512,890; private students, 200,000. Added to this is over 8,000 young people enrolled in the Industrial and Mechanical Institutions, and nearly as many more who attend denominational schools. The Denominational Colleges, Normal Schools and Academies are manned by Negro presidents, principals, professors and instructors. There are sixty-eight Negro presidents in Negro colleges, denominational or otherwise. For the scholastic year of 1891-2, of the $834,646,41 contributed by various societies, denominations, etc., $316,446,92 was contributed by the Negro himself, being nearly one-half the entire expenditure. It is a marvelous accomplishment that in less than a generation the Negroes should have educated men in every avenue and calling of life; that their young men 003232should graduate from the oldest and best colleges in this land, and win honors in classes composed of the sons of the Puritans the Roundheads and Cavaliers, and command their respect and confidence.

In 1863 a Negro lawyer was an unknown quantity; 1896 finds 700 of them with a National Bar Association. There are also deans and professors of law in their law schools, circuit court commissioners, several judges, a large number of clerks of courts, several distriot, commonwealth and city attorneys. The medical profession has not been a whit behind the legal; over 800 graduates in the practice of medicine have come forth since 1863, and are occupying honorable stations in the medical jurisprudence of our common country. Nearly every state has its Negro Medical State Organization. In Dentistry, there are 130 practicing physicians in the South and nearly the same in the North. In Pharmacy over two hundred have graduated.

Thirty-three years ago a Negro who could read a newspaper was looked upon as a curiosity; to-day he owns, publishes and edits over three hundred journals, several magazines and has a National Press Association. Several of our journalists hold responsible positions on the leading white dailies as editors of departments and reporters; essays, short stories and poems appear in the leading white magazines of the country from the pen of the Negro writer. A Greek 003333grammar by a Negro author is in use in the schools of Ohio. Since 1865 over 1000 books and pamphlets have been published by Negro writers. They have been mainly histories of the race, autobiographies, poems and works on science, fiction, religion and general literature. At least two thirds of these publications are in their own offices and on their own presses.

The denominations in which the Negro is most largely found are; Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America, the Methodist Protestant, the African Union Methodist Protestant, the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church, the Zion Union Apostolic Church, Evangelist Missionary Church, Christian Church, Protestant Episcopal, Cumberland Presbyterian, Presbyterian Church in America, Presbyterian Church in the United States, United Presbyterian Church, Lutheran, Catholic, Congregationalist and Regular Baptists Churches.

Of these denominations there are about thirty-three thousand organizations, twenty-eight thousand Church edifices with a seating capacity of over seven millions. The value of Church property may be approximated at $35,000,000; the number of church members, 3,600,000. In the distinctive Negro Methodist bodies there are twenty-six bishops. Many of the largest edifices and finest church buildings in the South are those owned by Negroes, and it may be said, without fear of 003434successful contradiction, that the Negro church system has assumed coherence and has become effective from the fact that all of the Negro's interest, particularly his social life, centres in his church. His motto is first to seek the kingdom of God, believing that all other things will be added to his prosperity.

To nearly all of the Negro schools are connected mechanical and industrial features, and these schools are yearly sending forth skilled labor which demands a consideration and can easily compete in all lines of industry where prejudice does not debar them. Thirty years ago, the hoeing of corn and tobacco and the performance of domestic labor was as high as the Negro was allowed to reach, with few exceptions; to-day he is able to compete with a skilful industrial white mechanic. At the Patent Office at Washington City the list of patents granted by the United States to Negroes since 1863 number over three hundred.

Neither the Southern States nor the nation seem to appreciate the value of the Negro as a laborer. The productive value of Negro labor is the wealth of the South, and a very considerable part of the wealth of the nation. The large farms and plantations of the South, without Negro labor, would go to waste with sickening weeds. Every staple and crop raised there is dependent on Negro labor. Think of the vast annual production of cotton, rice, tobacco, corn, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, watermelons, peanuts and other staples;003535the resin, turpentine, lumber and other interests; the mines, the mills, the factories, the foundries that the South is developing, and that all is dependent on Negro labor; and that the trades are in the hands of the Negro; and that the mechanics are Negroes; that the various grades of servants and help are Negroes--think of these things and an opinion may be formed of the value of the Negro as a laborer. The cotton which the Negroes make in the South is shipped to the North, and there it sets turning the many thousand spindles and looms, puts bread into the mouths of tens of thousands of Northern Capitalists. This cotton is made into thousands of fabrics and shipped to all parts of the world, and is a source of revenue to those who pack goods, and in various way provides facilities for packing for those employed in transporting, and those who provided the facilities for transporting, and also those, who, under varying circumstances, as merchants or otherwise handle the goods. The spool of cotton used by the humblest sewing woman in New York City is spun from the cotton made by the Negroes of the South. The merchant who sells the thread, and the banker who takes on deposit the merchant's money, are likely benefitted.

The Negro is not only valuable as a producer, but he is also valuable as a consumer. If the Negroes spend, on the average, only fifty dollars a year each for necessaries which they do not produce, as dry goods and notions, hats, shoes, clothing, furniture,household 003636goods and furnishings, tools, machinery, implements, school and other books the expenditure for 8,000,000 Negroes would be $400,000,000 a year. Thus the North--for the things mentioned are Northern Products--has a market among the Negroes for its wares of $400,000,000, a year,--a market not to be despised.

There are a large number of excellent crayon portrait painters; several have won recognition for their ability as professionals. E. M. Bannister, of Providence, R. I., has gained the distinction of being one of the leading landscape painters in this country. One of the best known representatives in the art of sculpture is a Negro woman, Miss Edmonia Lewis. In music the American Negro vocalists and composers are taking front rank with the great musicians of the world. So eminent an authority as Dr. Antorim Dvorak, the great Bohemian composer, voluntary says: "I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies. These are the folks songs of America and your composers must turn to them. In the Negro melodies of America, I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music. They are pathetic, tender, passionate, melancholy, solemn, religious, bold, merry, gay, or what you will. It is music that sets itself to any mood or any purpose. There is nothing in the whole range of composition that cannot be supplied with themes from this source.

In the short space of seven years--between 1866 and 1873, the Negro deposited in the "Freemen's Bank" $53,000,000, which whole amount was stolen from him. With patience and thrift he went to work, and to-day, 1896, his wealth is fixed at the following figures--Alabama,$9,200,125Arkansas,8,100,315California,4,006,200Chicago, alone,2,700,000Connecticut,500,115Colorado,3,100,472Delaware,1,200,179Dist. Columbia,5,300,633Florida,7,900,040Georgia,10,415,330Illinois,8,300,511Indiana,4,004,113Indian territory600,000Iowa,5,500,372Kansas,3,900,222Kentucky,5,900,000Liouisiana,18,100,528Maine,175,211Maryland,9,900,735Massachusetts,9,004,112Michigan4,800,000Minnesota,1,100,236Mississippi,13,400,213Missouri,6,600,340Montana,120,000Nebraska,2,500,000Nevada,250,000New Hampshire,300,125New Jersey,3,300,185New Mexico,290,000New York,17,400,756North Carolina,11,010,652North Dakota,76,459Ohio,7,800,325Oregon,85,000Pennsylvania,15,300,648Rhode Island3,400,000South Carolina,12,500,000South Dakota,175,225Tennessee10,400,211Texas18,010,545Utah75,000Vermont1,100,371Virginia4,900,000Washington573,000West Virginia5,600,721Wyoming211,115The total amount of property owned by the race is $263,000,000.

This report, which has been going the rounds and accepted as a most remarkable showing, is an underestimate by several millions. For the State of Virginia 003838alone, according to the report of the Auditor of Public Accounts, the Negro's property is valued at $9,625,578. This is over four millions and a half more than the above table. In Texas the property interests of the Negro are estimated at twenty millions, which is two millions more than the above table. Likewise in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana, the report of the Auditor of Public Accounts shows the estimate of the Negro's wealth to be from two to four millions more than is given in the above table. With these corrections, the correct estimate of the wealth of the Negro is not less than $300,000,000. This added to church property would give $335,000,000.

As already shown, the Negro within thirty years, in the face of every opposition, has produced Philosophers. Astronomers, Historians, Physicians, Lawyers, Artisans and Mechanics. In every sphere of human activity he has been represented by men whose intellect and genius have challenged the admiration of the American people. Not less so in the political arena; we have been creditably represented in every branch of this government. We have had Diplomats, Senators, Congressmen, Lieutenant-Governors, and various state officers.

The money of the Nation has been made legal by the signature of a Negro (Bruce) as Register of the Treasury. The political privileges of the Negro in the future will be what he makes them.

His rapid increase in numbers, and therefore in 003939power, will make him an uncertain and dangerous factor in politics. The nearer he arrives to a comprehension and an appreciation of the responsibilities of citizenship, to that extent will he enjoy the benefits of political society and good government.

In 1863 the Negro knew nothing of co-operation; now, 1896, he has banks, building and loan associations, insurance companies and co-operative stores, and holds stock in mines and railroads. One Negro owns a whole street car system, (Pine Bluff, Arkansas) Negro societies, charitable and otherwise, are multifarious and beneficial. The halls and other property owned by the different societies may be approximated at $8,000,000. The Negro has also given a great deal of attention to his domestic comfort. The "little old log cabin in the lane" has given place to palatial residences, and his plantations and farm houses are fitted with comforts and conveniences unknown to white planters of thirty years ago. The social status of the Negro has kept pace with his financial and educational improvements. Thousands of homes amongst us are the centers of refinement and culture--of which our brother in white knows nothing, because, fettered by kitchen aristocracy, he lacks the moral courage to step across the barriers of prejudice. That the so-called immorality of the Negro was imposed upon the mothers of the race by the low, degraded and debased natures of the slave-holding class, in evident by the fact that, since the emancipation, the fathers of the 004040race are Negroes, lawfully wedded to the mothers of their children.

Bearing in mind the point from which the Negro started, what people have ever achieved so much in thirty-one years?

This progress is the more remarkable because it has been achieved in the very teeth of hostile and opposing forces. As the Negro's footprints in the sands of time can be traced by the blood of his ancestors, so has his upward struggle been marked by fierce and bloody encounters with his unrelenting foes. With unconquered prejudice and subtle malignity the wealth and brains of the late slave-holding class, their sympathizers and henchmen, have combined, and persistently exert their all-powerful influence in and out of Congress, through every ramification of the States and National government, through every avenue of life, to retard the Negro's progress and perpetuate his poverty and degradation. Every scheme and device of fraud, violence and cool calculating murder have been, perpetrated to destroy the legitimate fruits of freedom, and to deny, resist, nulify and cheat him out of his constitutional guaranteed rights and privileges as an American Citizen. To set a people free is one thing, but to throw stumbling blocks in their way and expect them to get along with nothing but reprobation of their success, is to give one of the races of human nature a mighty test. The Negro seems to have been equal to the test. If, however, it is thought that his progress has been slow, it must be remembered, that 004141he is yet in the twilight dawn after centuries of barbarism in his own land; a hundred years of slavery in this, and the insiduous influence of prejudice, since his freedom, on account of his color, closing every avenue of progress. The wonder is that any perceptible improvement should have been made in so short a time. His history reads like a romance; only recently he was a savage in the wilds of Africa. Yesterday he was a slave, bought and sold in the markets as a beast of burden; today he is a citizen of the most progressive country of the earth, with brain developed and mind expanded, standing side by side with all other races of the earth in civilization, playing with credit his part in the great drama of the world.

Taking in the entire scope of the past, and allowing some play of fancy as to the future, it hardly seems after all, a calamity to the Negro to have been forced away from the African wilds, and to have been held in bondage; for God has overruled it for good to him and possibly to the land of his fathers. For what is more probable than that the American Negro will return to Africa, not in irons as he came out, nor bearing either chains nor rum to curse others, but with a Bible in his hand, and a story of a mighty Saviour upon his lips. In the order of Providence there is no evil without some compensating benefit. The bleeding African was torn from his savage home by his ferocious neighbors, sold into slavery, and cast upon this continent. Here the race has been wonderfully multiplied, compared with anything ever known in barbarous life; the descendants of a few thousands have become 004242millions, and all from the first made acquainted with the arts of civilization, and above all been brought under the light of the Gospel. To the poor the Gospel is preached--and never did the Gospel come to a people with such fitness. A great company, already in heaven, who have come out of great tribulations, and washed their garments and made them clean in the blood of the Lamb, will bless God to all eternity that so many of their race were taken from Africa, though amid tears and bloodshed, and placed in this land, though under the galling yoke, where a great light has shined in upon their darkness, and so many have been made heirs to an incorruptible crown. "God moves in a mysterious way," and who dares dispute that the race was sent here to be SCHOOLED in the rigors of slavery, more especially that they may yet be the instruments in the hands of God to work out the destiny of Africa. What is more probable than that through the American Negro will come at last the blessings of Christian civilization to that dark continent. Down through not many ages, the missionary and the merchant, the scholars and the agriculturist, the soldier and the statesman, and representatives of rich corporations from every section of the now "dark continent" (and it may be from all quarters of the globe), may meet together upon some central mountain or fertile plain in the land of Ham, and unite in the general chorus of her redemption. May Heaven speed its glorious coming and prepare us to welcome and enjoy it. "Princess shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God."