This vague terror was
greatly increased by the outbreak of the Civil War. It stands to
the lasting credit of the negro race that the wrongs of their
long bondage provoked them to no such crime, and that the war
seems not to have suggested, much less started any such attempt.
Indeed, even when urged to violence by white leaders, as the
slaves of Maryland had been in 1859 during John Browns s raid at
Harper's Ferry, they had refused to respond. Nevertheless it was
plain from the first that slavery was to play an important part
in the Civil War. Not only were the people of the South battling
for the principle of slavery; their slaves were a great source of
military strength. They were used by the Confederates in building
forts, hauling supplies, and in a hundred ways that added to the
effectiveness of their armies in the field. On the other hand the
very first result of the war was to give adventurous or
discontented slaves a chance to escape into Union camps, where,
even against orders to the contrary, they found protection for
the sake of the help they could give as cooks, servants, or
teamsters, the information they brought about the movements of
the enemy, or the great service they were able to render as
guides. Practically therefore, at the very start, the war created
a bond of mutual sympathy between the southern negro and the
Union volunteer; and as fast as Union troops advanced and
secession masters fled, a certain number found freedom in Union
camps.
Pages:
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151