USA > Georgia > Ten years on a Georgia plantation since the war > Part 5
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to my pocket and labours to give up shop- keeping, although we only had it open for about two hours every afternoon.
But all this time, while we were getting things more and more settled on the place, the troubles from outside were drawing nearer and nearer as the day for voting approached, and in March burst upon us in the shape of political meetings and excitement of all kinds. Two or three Northern political agents arrived in Darien, and summoned all the negroes to attend meetings, threatening them with various punishments if they stayed away. I in vain reasoned with the negroes, and did all in my power to prevent their attending these meetings, and told them no one could punish them for not going : not because I cared in the least which way they voted, but because it interfered so terribly with their work. I doubled the watchmen at night, and did all I could to prevent strangers land- ing on the Island ; but one morning found that during the night a notice had been put
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up on the wharf, calling upon all the people to attend a political meeting on pain of being fined five hundred dollars, or exiled to a foreign land. As the meeting was some way off, and the election followed in a few days, I knew that if the people once broke off, no more work would be done for at least a week, and this was just the time one of our plant- ings had to be put in, which, as we can only do it on the spring tides, would have cost me just two hundred acres of rice. So I argued and threatened, and told them it was all rubbish-no one could either exile or fine them, and that they must not go to the meeting at all, and when the day for voting came must do all their day's work first and vote afterwards; which they easily could have done, having always finished their day's work by three o'clock, and the voting place not being half a mile off.
It was useless, however. My words were powerless, the negroes naturally thinking that the people who had freed them could
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do anything they liked, and must be obeyed ; so they not only prepared to go to the meet- ing, but, I knew, would not do a stroke of work on the voting days. At last, in despair, I wrote to General Meade, who was then the military commander of our district, and a personal acquaintance of mine, to tell him what was going on, and ask him if it was impossible that the planters should be pro- tected from these political disturbers and agitators. I received the following answer and order from him almost immediately :-
Head-quarters, Third Military District. (Department of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.) Atlanta, Georgia : April 11, 1868.
My dear Miss B __ ,-I have to ac- knowledge the receipt of your letter, reporting that certain persons are ordering the labourers under your employment to attend political meetings, and threatening, in case of refusal, to punish them with fines or exile them to a foreign country ; and have to state in reply, that no interference of any kind with the
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and, on conviction, will be punished, the same as any attempt to dissuade voters from going to the polls, as referred to in paragraph II, General Orders, No. 57.
No. 3. The Major-General Command- ing also makes known that, while he ac- knowledges, and will require to be respected, the right of labourers to peacefully assemble at night to discuss political questions, yet he discountenances and forbids the assembling of armed bodies, and requires that all such assemblages shall notify either the civil or military authorities of these proposed meet- ings, and said military and civil authorities are enjoined to see that the right of electors to peaceably assemble for legitimate purposes is not disturbed.
No. 4. The wearing or carrying of arms, either concealed or otherwise, by persons not connected with the military service of the Government, or such civil officers whose duties under the laws and orders is to preserve the public peace, at or
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in the vicinity of the polling places, on the days set apart for holding the election in the State of Georgia, is positively forbidden. Civil and military officers will see that this order, as well as all others relative to the preservation of the peace and quiet of the counties in which they are acting, is strictly observed.
By order of Major-General MEADE,
R. C. DRUM, A.A.G.
These orders were accompanied by a private letter, which was as follows :-
Easter Sunday : April 11, 1868.
My dear Miss B-,-You will see by my writing you to-day how much I feel flattered by your appeal to me, and how ready I am to respond to it. I regret very much to learn the state of affairs as de- scribed by you; they are certainly un- authorised by any laws or orders from these Head-quarters, and, since the receipt of your letter I have had prepared an order to cover
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and, on conviction, will be punished, the same as any attempt to dissuade voters from going to the polls, as referred to in paragraph II, General Orders, No. 57.
No. 3. The Major-General Command- ing also makes known that, while he ac- knowledges, and will require to be respected, the right of labourers to peacefully assemble at night to discuss political questions, yet he discountenances and forbids the assembling of armed bodies, and requires that all such assemblages shall notify either the civil or military authorities of these proposed meet- ings, and said military and civil authorities are enjoined to see that the right of electors to peaceably assemble for legitimate purposes is not disturbed.
No. 4. The wearing or carrying of arms, either concealed or otherwise, by persons not connected with the military service of the Government, or such civil officers whose duties under the laws and orders is to preserve the public peace, at or
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in the vicinity of thé polling places, on the days set apart for holding the election in the State of Georgia, is positively forbidden. Civil and military officers will see that this order, as well as all others relative to the preservation of the peace and quiet of the counties in which they are acting, is strictly observed.
By order of Major-General MEADE,
R. C. DRUM, A.A.G.
These orders were accompanied by a private letter, which was as follows :-
Easter Sunday : April 11, 1868.
My dear Miss B_,-You will see by my writing you to-day how much I feel flattered by your appeal to me, and how ready I am to respond to it. I regret very much to learn the state of affairs as de- scribed by you ; they are certainly un- authorised by any laws or orders from these Head-quarters, and, since the receipt of your letter I have had prepared an order to cover
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such case, and forbidding the interference of political agents with the rights of em- ployers. I will have a copy sent to you officially, which you can make use of to correct this evil in future.
I have been twice in Savannah, on my way to Florida; have both times thought of you and inquired after you. If you had been a little more accessible, and had I not feared to compromise you by a visit from the awful military satrap and despot who rules so tyrannically over you, Miss W. will tell you that I, as well as the Colonel (my son), were both desirous of visiting you. I am very much gratified to learn that you acknowledge being my subject, and beg you to remember the acknowledgment is re- ciprocal, as I acknowledge my allegiance to you-an allegiance founded on respect, kindly regard, and many pleasant recollections of former times.
Let me assure you I shall be ready at all times to aid and encourage you in your
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labours, and that you must not hesitate to appeal to me; for, though many people will not believe it, I am trying to act impartially, and to do justice to all.
Very truly and sincerely yours, GEORGE G. MEADE.
P.S .- Your letter being marked private, I have not deemed myself justified in acting on it, but you will see from my official letter that, if you will send me evidence and names of witnesses in Mr. Campbell's case, I will attend to that gentleman. Official letter goes by to-day's mail with this. Let me know if it does not reach you.
I was, of course, much pleased and very triumphant when I received these letters, although it was impossible to comply with General Meade's request that we would report the offenders, as the notices served on the negroes were never signed-which convinced us of their illegality, but did not in the least take away from their importance
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to the negroes. Still, I not only read my order to them, but had it posted up in Darien, and, on the strength of it, repeated my previous orders to my negroes that, if one of them neglected his work to attend political meetings or to vote, I would dismiss him from the place; adding, at the same time, 'there is no difficulty about your voting after your work is over.' My surprise and disgust were therefore extreme when I received the following day a second letter from General Meade, as follows :-
Atlanta : April 13, 1868.
My dear Miss B_,-I wrote you very hastily yesterday on my return from church, not wishing to lose a mail, advising you of my views and action. I find to-day, on a careful re-perusal of your letter, that you are in error in one particular. You seem to think you have the right to decide when your people shall vote, and that as there is time for them after three o'clock, the end of their day's work, that you are authorised to pro-
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hibit their leaving at an earlier hour. This is not so, and I would advise you not to insist on it. The theory of my order is that no restraint is to be put on the labourer to prevent his voting.
Now as it is sometimes difficult for a person to vote as soon as he reaches the polls, some having to wait days for their turn, and as, often, examination has to be made of the registration books, and the voter in addition to the delay of awaiting his turn after getting up to the polls, may find some error in the spelling of his name or omission to put his name on the list, and in conse- quence of these obstacles lose his turn to have the error corrected and then again take his chance, more time must be allowed than your rule would admit. I think you will have to make up your mind that the election will be a great nuisance, and that you will not get much out of your people during its continuance. If they are reasonable and the facilities good at Darien, they should not
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require any more time than is absolutely necessary, but as I know that voting is a work of time, for which reason we give four days, I fear these plausible, and perhaps actual obstacles, will be taken advantage of to spend the time in idleness and frolicking, on the plea that ' they could not get a chance to vote.'
I take the liberty of writing this to you because my letter of yesterday might lead you astray. Again assuring you of my warm regard,
I remain, Yours very truly, GEORGE G. MEADE.
I naturally felt indignant at this letter, for I had told General Meade that I did not intend to interfere with my negroes voting, but only to save myself from loss, and in my case no difficulty existed about their reaching the polls, which were not a mile from the house. And this second letter undid all the good of
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the first, besides which I could not help feeling the gross injustice of coolly telling me that for four whole days I must not expect any work, for it would really just in that week have entailed a loss of two hundred acres, as I told General Meade in my letter. And what Northern farmer or manufacturer would have submitted for one moment to an order from the Government, directing him to give his employés four whole days for voting, just at the busiest season ?
I was both hurt and angry, and never have to this day understood this afterthought of General Meade. He was always so kind and courteous, and had been a personal friend of my father, and could not really have dis- believed my statements. I suppose that he thought in fact I was not my own mistress, but acting under orders and advice from my Southern neighbours. But I can solemnly assert that neither then nor since, to my knowledge, have my negroes been influenced in their way of voting by the planters, beyond
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a mere joking remark as to whether they felt sure that they had the right ticket, or some such thing. I think most of the gentlemen felt as I did, that the negroes voting at all was such a wicked farce that it only deserved our contempt. I do not say that no outside influence was ever used afterwards, although I do not know of any personally, and cer- tainly, no intimidation, as I think I can most clearly and satisfactorily prove by a statement as to how matters stand with us politically at present. From first to last all our political disturbances arose from agents belonging to the Republican party, mostly Northern ad- venturers, of whom, thank God, we are now rid.
After thinking the matter over I deter- mined to pay no attention to General Meade's second letter, as I felt I was justified in doing by the facts of the case. So I put the letter in my pocket, and repeated my orders that the negroes were to do their work first, and vote afterwards.
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The election day came, and my agent, who was not very judicious and was very excitable, had me awaked at six o'clock in the morning to tell me that there was not a negro in the field, all having announced their inten- tion of going over to Darien to vote. By ten o'clock there was not a man left on the place, even the old half-idiot, who took care of the cows, having gone to vote with the rest; and my agent, who was much excited over it all, said, ' Now, Miss B -- , what will you do ? You can't dismiss the whole plantation.' I confess for a moment I felt checkmated, and did not know what to do, but as I had in- tended to go down to St. Simon's that day I determined to carry out my intention, which would give me time to think quietly and coolly over the situation. So I sent word to my two boat hands that they must cast their votes as soon as possible and return to take me down, an order they promptly obeyed. The next day I received a note from my agent, saying that the hands had all returned
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to their work early in the day after voting, and had all finished the entire task with the exception of two or three, who promised to do double work the next day. Here was an unexpected triumph, and I truly believe that my plantation was almost the only one in the whole State of Georgia where any work was done during those four days, and apart from the actual loss of labour, four days of idleness would have made it doubly difficult to get the people in hand again. Down on St. Simon's their ardour about voting was con- siderably cooled by the fact that they had twelve miles to walk to the polls, and besides had not been visited by any political agents to stir them up. So only a few out of the whole number went, and we had no trouble about it. This ended our political troubles for this year, but the work was still anything but steady or satisfactory, and hardly a day passed without difficulty in some shape or other.
In a letter written at the end of April I say :-
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All winter I have had a sort of feeling that before long I should get through and have things settled ; but I am beginning to find out that there is no getting through here, for just as you are about getting through, you have to begin all over again. I have had a good deal of trouble this last week with my people- not serious, but desperately wearisome. They are the most extraordinary creatures, and the mixture of leniency and severity which it is requisite to exercise in order to manage them is beyond belief. Each thing is explained satisfactorily to them and they go to work. Suddenly some one, usually the most stupid, starts an idea that perhaps by-and-by they may be expected to do a little more work, or be deprived of some privilege ; upon which the whole field gets in the most excited state, they put down their hoes and come up to the house for another explanation, which lasts till the same thing happens again.
They are the most effervescent people in the world, and to see them in one of their
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excitements, gesticulating wildly, talking so violently that no one on earth can understand one word they say, you would suppose they never could be brought under control again. But go into the field the next morning, and there they are, as quiet, peaceable, and cheerful as if nothing had happened. At first I used to talk too, but now I just stand perfectly quiet until they have talked them- selves out, and then I ask some simple question which shows them how foolish they have been, and they cool down in a moment.
The other day, while I was at dinner, I heard tramp, tramp, outside, and a gang of fifty arrived, the idea having occurred to them that, while I was gone in harvest time, they might be overworked. They talked and they raved ' that they had contracted to do two tasks and no more,' going from one imaginary grievance to another, until one man suddenly broke out with, ' And, missus, when we work night and day, we ought to be paid extra.' Upon which they all took it up,
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' Yes, missus, when we tired with working hard all day, den to work all night for nothing is too much.' Not having spoken before, I then said very quietly, ' Have you ever been asked to work at night ?' There was a dead pause for a moment, and then one man said rather sheepishly, ' No.' 'Well,' said I, ' when you are, you will certainly be paid extra, and now, as you seem to have for- gotten the contract, I will read it to you over again.'
So I brought it out and read it slowly and solemnly, dwelling particularly on the part in which it said, 'The undersigned freed men and women agree to obey all orders and to do the work required of them in a satis- factory manner, and in event of any violation of this contract, they are to be dismissed the place and to forfeit all wages due to them.' This cooled them considerably, and when I added, ' Now understand, your work is just what you are told to do, and if one bushel of rice is lost through your disobedience
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or carelessness, you shall pay for it,' this quenched them utterly, and they went to work the next morning with the greatest possible good-will, and all will go on well until the next time, whenever that may be. But what with troubles without and troubles within, life is a burden and rice a difficult crop to raise.
As for Mr. D_'s and Mr. W-'s opinions about the glorious future of our Sea Island cotton plantations, they are worth just as much as the paper on which their calcula- tions are made, and are theoretical entirely.
Mr. G-, another rich New York man, who figured it all out on paper there, came here two years ago to make his fortune, and he told me the other day that he was perfectly convinced that Sea Island cotton never would pay again. Rice, he said, might, but this fine cotton, never. The expense and risk of rais- ing it was too great, and the price too much lowered by foreign competition. The labour is too uncertain, and anyone who knows, as I
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do, that after all my hard work the crop may be lost at any moment by the negroes going off or refusing to work, knows how useless it is to count on any returns with certainty. Wherever white labour can be introduced, other crops will be cultivated, and wherever it can't, the land will remain uncultivated.
Rice lands now rent at ten dollars an acre, and cotton from two to three, so you can judge what the people here think about it; and, after all, I suppose they must know best. The orange trees are all in full bloom now, and smell most deliciously sweet, and the little place looks its prettiest, which is not say- ing much for it, it is true. Another year I hope to improve it by removing the negro houses away from where they now are, close to this house, to where I can neither see, hear, nor smell them. I shall then run my own fence out a little further, taking in a magnifi- cent magnolia and some large orange trees, which, with the quantities of flowers I have
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set out everywhere, will at any rate make the garden round the house pretty.
A little later on, the Island being sub- merged by a sudden overflow and rise of the river, I accepted an invitation from some friends in South Carolina, also rice-planters, to visit them. From there I write as follows :-
Mrs. P.'s family consists of a very nice girl about my own age, clever and well- educated, and two sons, one about twenty- seven and the other about twenty-four, both of whom were educated abroad, and are well- informed and intelligent. So altogether it is a pleasant family to be in, and as we are all trying to make our fortunes as rice-planters, we have everything in common, and talk ' rice' all day.
I have ridden every day since I have been here, and on Friday went deer-hunting, which, of course, I enjoyed very much. We started at eight o'clock in the morning, and
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did not return till five o'clock in the afternoon, having seen six deer and killed two, one of which we lost, after a short run, in the river.
This part of the country has suffered more heavily than any other from the war. Hun- dreds of acres of rice land, which yielded millions before the war, are fast returning to the original swamp from which they were reclaimed with infinite pains and expense, simply because their owners are ruined, their houses burnt to the ground, and their negroes made worthless as labourers. It is very sad to see such wide-spread ruin, and to hear of girls well-educated, and brought up with every luxury, turned adrift as dressmakers, school- teachers, and even shop girls, in order to keep themselves and their families from starvation. One of Mrs. F-'s nieces paddles her old father over to the plantation every morning herself, and while he is giving his orders in the fields, sits on a heap of straw, making under- clothes to sell in Charleston. It is wonderful to me to see how bravely and cheerfully they
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do work, knowing as I do how they lived before the war.
I was agreeably surprised with the beauty of this place, for I thought all rice plantations, like Butler's Island, were ugly and uninter- esting. Here the rice fields are quite out of sight. The garden, which is very large, is enclosed by a lovely hedge of some sweet- smelling shrub and roses ; in it are clematis and sweet olea bushes thirty feet high, with quantities of violets and all sorts of sweet things besides. Then there are three superb live oak trees, from under which we look out on the river, which runs clear and deep in front of the house. The house itself is a good- sized building, with remains of great elegance about it, and with some nice old family pic- tures and china in it. Mrs. P -- is very proud of having saved these things, which she did by remaining with her daughter in the house during a raid, when all her neigh- bours fled, leaving their houses to be literally emptied of their contents by the soldiers of
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the Northern army who visited this section of the country.
M- told me a funny story of a visit she received from a tipsy Yankee captain, to whom she and her mother were, from in- terested motives, most civil, and who became so affected by her charms that he presented her with a silver pitcher to which he had just helped himself from a neighbouring house, which she gratefully accepted, and returned as soon as possible to its rightful owner.
I leave here this evening, as my agent writes me the waters have subsided from the face of the earth. So I must get back to my work and to my new planting machine, which I am very anxious to try, being the first step to- wards freeing ourselves from negro labourers.
On my return, the season being well ad- vanced and the rice place no longer healthy, I went down at once to the cotton plantation, of which my final letter written from the South this year gives this account :-
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Hampton Point : May 5, 1868.
I came down here last Tuesday, as, before I return to the North I want to get a little sea air, as well as to have the house re- shingled, the rain now coming through the old roof in plentiful showers. The main body of the house, I am glad to find, is per- fectly good, so that repairing the roof and piazzas will put it in thorough order ; and as I have brought my whole force of eight carpenters down, the work is going briskly forward. This place, always lovely, is now looking its best, with all the young spring greens and flowers lighting up the woods, and I long to cut and trim, lay out and take up, making the place as beautiful as it is capable of being made. It is a great contrast in every way to Butler's Island, the place as well as people.
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