Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama Part 27

The Freedmen's Court? If so, come up to Burnsville and I will rent or sell you three nice, healthy plantations with _Freedmen_. Come soon and get a bargain. I am ahead of any farmer in this section, except on one place, which said court 'Busteed' to-day because some of the Freedmen got flogged.--JOHN F. BURNS."[1186]

The Bureau courts, after the aliens came into control, proceeded upon the general principle that the negro was as good as or better than the southern white, and that he had always been mistreated by the latter, who wished to still continue him in slavery or to cheat him out of the proceeds of his labor, and who, on the slightest provocation, would beat, mutilate, or murder the inoffensive black. The greatest problem was to protect the negroes from the hostile whites, the agents thought. The aliens did not understand the relations of slave and master, and a.s.sumed that there had always been hostility between them, and that for the protection of the negro this hostility ought to continue. A system of espionage was established that was intensely galling. Men who had held high offices in the state, who had led armies or had represented their country at foreign courts,--men like Hardee, Clanton, Fitzpatrick, etc.,--were called before these tribunals at the instance of some ward of the nation, and before a gaping crowd of their former slaves were lectured by army sutlers and chaplains of negro regiments.[1187]

Care of the Sick

The medical department of the Freedmen's Bureau gave free attendance to the refugees and freedmen. In 1865 there were in the state 4 hospitals, capable of caring for 646 patients, with a staff of 11 physicians and 26 male and 22 female attendants. In the hospitals in 1866 were 18 physicians and 16 male and 18 female attendants.[1188] In 1866 there were 6 hospitals, which number was increased in 1867 to 8, with a staff of 13 physicians and 50 male and 40 female attendants. In 1868-1869 there were only three hospitals.

In 1865 no refugees were treated, but there were 2533 negro patients, of whom 602, or 24 per cent, died. To August 31, 1866, 271 refugees had been treated, of whom 8 died, and 4153 negroes, of whom 460 died. From September 1, 1866, to June 30, 1867, 220 refugees were treated and 6 died; 2203 negroes, and 186 died; to October 31, 1866, 3801 freedmen, of whom 473 died, and 305 refugees, of whom 12 died. After July, 1868, 289 freedmen were treated.[1189] These statistics show the relative insignificance of the relief work.

Smallpox was the most fatal disease among the negroes in the towns, and several smallpox hospitals were established. In Selma the complaint was raised that the a.s.sistant superintendent encouraged the negroes to stay in town, and insisted on caring for all their sick, but when an epidemic of smallpox broke out, he notified the city that he could not care for these cases. The Bureau sent supplies for distribution by the county authorities to the dest.i.tute poor and to the smallpox patients. But the relief work for the sick amounted to but little.[1190]

The Issue of Rations

The Department of Records had charge of the issue of supplies to the dest.i.tute refugees and blacks. Among the whites of all cla.s.ses in the northern counties there was much want and suffering. The term "refugee"

was interpreted to include all needy whites,[1191] though at first it meant only one who had been forced to leave home on account of his disloyalty to the Confederacy. The best work of the Bureau was done in relieving needy whites in the devastated districts; and for this the upholders of the inst.i.tution have never claimed credit. The negro had not suffered from want before the end of the war, but now great crowds hastened to the towns and congregated around the Bureau offices and military posts. They thought that it was the duty of the government to support them, and that there was to be no more work.

Before June, 1865, rations were issued by the army officers. From June, 1865, to September, 1866, the Freedmen's Bureau issued 2,522,907 rations to refugees (whites) and 1,128,740 to freedmen. The following table shows the number of people fed each month in Alabama by the Freedmen's Bureau before October, 1866:--

============================================ WHITE ------------------------------------------ Months Men Women Boys Girls Total ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------- 1865. Nov. 72 483 821 875 2,521 Dec. 271 909 1,059 1,090 3,329 1866. Jan. 349 2,377 1,735 2,764 7,225 Feb. 1,285 3,641 3,806 5,039 13,771 March 1,181 4,971 5,796 6,758 18,616 April 1,038 4,340 4,844 6,642 16,864 May 1,743 5,821 6,939 9,064 23,567 June 1,912 5,661 6,932 8,092 22,577 July 1,585 5,036 7,108 8,076 21,805 Aug. 1,376 4,528 5,932 6,836 18,672 Sept. 1,368 4,454 5,547 6,543 17,912 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------- Totals 12,180 42,201 50,429 61,779 166,589 ============================================

================================== BLACK ---------------------------------- Men Women Boys Girls Total ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ 327 656 346 615 1,944 464 860 345 574 2,243 538 1,053 742 1,002 3,335 894 1,455 880 1,095 4,324 995 2,007 1,389 1,662 6,053 1,176 2,331 1,904 2,771 8,182 1,479 3,433 2,898 3,576 14,526 1,654 3,170 2,846 3,151 10,821 1,294 2,472 2,379 2,648 8,793 1,178 2,025 2,112 2,247 7,562 1,242 2,225 1,939 2,126 7,532 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ 11,241 21,687 17,780 21,407 72,115 ==================================

Men, 23,421; women, 63,888; children, 151,295; aggregate, 238,704; rations issued, 3,789,788; value, $643,590.18.

During the month of September, 1865, 45,771 rations were issued to 1971 refugees, and 36,295 rations to 3537 freedmen; in October, 1865, 2875 refugees and 2151 freedmen drew 153,812 rations. From September 1, 1866 to September 1, 1867, 214,305 rations were issued to refugees and 274,329 to freedmen. From September 1, 1867, to September 1, 1868, refugees drew only 886 rations, and freedmen 86,021. Fewer and fewer whites and more and more freedmen were fed by the Bureau.[1192]

In 1865 and 1866, the crops were poor, and in 1866 there were at least 10,000 dest.i.tute whites and 5000 dest.i.tute blacks in the state. The Bureau asked for 450,000 rations per month, but did not receive them. The agents were now (1866) beginning to use the issue of rations to control the negroes, and to organize them into political clubs or "Loyal Leagues."

During this time (1866-1867), however, the state gave much a.s.sistance, and cooperated with the Freedmen's Bureau. Some of the agents of the Bureau sold the supplies that should have gone to the starving.[1193]

The Bureau furnished transportation to 217 refugees and to 521 freedmen who wished to return to their homes, and to a number of northern school teachers. These transactions were not attended by abuses.[1194]

Demoralization caused by the Freedmen's Bureau

After the Federal occupation, when the negroes had congregated in the towns, the higher and more responsible officers of the army used their influence to make the blacks go home and work. If left to these officers, the labor question would have been somewhat satisfactorily settled; they would have forced the negroes to work for some one, and to keep away from the towns. But the subordinate officers, especially the officers of the negro regiments, encouraged the freedmen to collect in the towns. Few supplies were issued to them by the army, and there was every prospect that in a few weeks the negroes would be forced by hunger to go back to work. The establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau, however, changed conditions. It a.s.sumed control of the negroes in all relations, and upset all that had been done toward settling the question by gathering many of the freedmen into great camps or colonies near the towns. One large colony was established in north Alabama, and many temporary ones throughout the state,[1195] into which thousands who set out to test their new-found freedom were gathered. On one plantation, in Montgomery County, in July, 1865, 4000 negroes were placed. There was another large colony near Mobile.[1196] A year later the Montgomery colony had 200 invalids. Perhaps more misery was caused by the Bureau in this way than was relieved by it.

The want and sickness arising from the crowded conditions in the towns was only in slight degree relieved by the food distributed, and the hospitals opened. There were 40,000 old and infirm negroes in the state, and thousands died of disease. Not one-tenth did the Bureau reach. The helpless old negroes were supported by their former masters, who now in poverty should have been relieved of their care. Those who were fed were the able-bodied who could come to town and stay around the office. The colonies in the negro districts became hospitals, orphan asylums, and temporary stopping places for the negroes; and the issue of rations was longest and surest at these places.[1197] Several hundred white refugees also remained worthless hangers-on of the Bureau.

The regular issue of rations to the negroes broke up the labor system that had been partially established and prevented a settlement of the labor problem. The government would now support them, the blacks thought, and they would not have to work. Around the towns conditions became very bad.

Want and disease were fast thinning their numbers. They refused to make contracts, though the highest wages were offered by those planters and farmers who could afford to hire them, and the agents encouraged them in their idleness by telling them not to work, as it was the duty of their former masters to support them, and that wages were due them, at least since January 1, 1863.[1198] They told them, also, to come to the towns and live until the matter was settled.[1199] Domestic animals near the negro camps were nearly all stolen by the blacks who were able but unwilling to work. These marauders were frequently shot at or were thrashed, which gave rise to the stories of outrage common at that time.

Doctor Nott of Mobile wrote that in or near Mobile no labor could be hired; that it was impossible to get a cook or a washerwoman, while hundreds were dying in idleness from disease and starvation, deceived by the false hopes aroused, and false promises of support by the government, made by wicked and designing men who wished to create prejudice against the whites, and to prevent the negroes from working by telling them that to go back to work was to go back to slavery. The negro women were told that women should not work, and they announced that they never intended to go to the field or do other work again, but "live like white ladies."[1200] Wherever it was active the Bureau demoralized labor by arousing false hopes and by unnecessary intermeddling. It has been claimed for the Bureau that it was a vast labor clearing-house, and that a part of its work was the establishment of a system of free labor.[1201] In other states such may have been the case; in Alabama it certainly was not. The labor system partially established all over the Black Belt in 1865 was deranged wherever the Bureau had influence. The system proposed by the Bureau was simply that of old slave wages paid for work done under a written contract. The excessive wages and the interference of the agents in the making of contracts made it impossible for the system to work, and Swayne acquiesced in the nullification of the Bureau rules by black and white, saying that natural forces would bring about a proper state of affairs. Wherever the Bureau had the least influence, there industry was least demoralized. So far from acting as a labor agency, its influence was distinctly in the opposite direction wherever it undertook to regulate labor. The free labor system, such as it was, was already in existence when the Bureau reached the Black Belt, and, in spite of that inst.i.tution, worked itself out.[1202]

A general belief grew up among the freedmen that at Christmas, 1865, there would be a confiscation and division of all land in the South. The soldiers,--black and white,--the preachers, and especially the Bureau agents and the school-teachers, were responsible for this belief. Swayne reported that an impression, well-nigh universal, prevailed that the confiscation, of which they had heard for months, would take place at Christmas, and led them to refuse any engagement extending beyond the holidays, or to work steadily in the meantime.[1203] Christmas or New Year's the negro thought would be the millennium. Each would have a farm, plenty to eat and drink, and nothing to do,--"forty acres of land and a mule." There is no doubt that the "forty acres and a mule" idea was partly caused by the distribution among the negroes of the lands on the south Atlantic coast by General Sherman and others, and by the provisions of the early Bureau acts. "Forty acres and a mule" was the expectation, and to this day some old negroes are awaiting the fulfilment of this promise.[1204] Many went so far, in 1865, as to choose the land that would be theirs on New Year's Day; others merely took charge at once of small animals, such as pigs, turkeys, chickens, cows, etc., that came within their reach.[1205]

On account of this belief in the coming confiscation of property and their implicit confidence in all who made promises, the negroes were deceived and cheated in many ways. Sharpers sold painted sticks to the ex-slaves, declaring that if set up on land belonging to the whites, they gave t.i.tles to the blacks who set them up. A doc.u.ment purporting to be a deed was given with one set of painted sticks. In part it read as follows: "Know all men by these presents, that a naught is a naught, and a figure is a figure; all for the white man, and none for the nigure. And whereas Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also have I lifted this d--d old n.i.g.g.e.r out of four dollars and six bits. Amen. Selah!" In the campaign of 1868 this was circulated far and wide by the Democrats as a campaign doc.u.ment. There is record of the sale of painted sticks in Clarke, Marengo, Sumter, Barbour, Montgomery, Calhoun, Macon, Tallapoosa, and Greene counties, and in the Tennessee valley. The practice must have been general. In Sumter County, 1865-1866, the seller of sticks was an ex-cotton agent. He had secured the striped pegs in Was.h.i.+ngton, he said, and his charge was a dollar a peg. He instructed the buyer how to "step off" the forty acres, and told them not to encroach upon one another and to take half in cleared land and half in woodland.[1206] In Clarke County, as late as 1873, the sticks were sold for three dollars each if the negro possessed so large a sum; but if he had only a dollar, the agent would let a stick go for that. Some of the negroes actually took possession of land, and went to work.[1207] In Tallapoosa County the painted pegs were sold as late as 1870.[1208] In 1902 a man was arrested in south Alabama for collecting money from negroes in this way. It was said that one cause of the survival of this practice was the course of Wendell Phillips, who, in the _Antislavery Standard_, advocated the distribution of land among the negroes, eighty acres to each, or forty acres and a furnished cottage. The speeches of Thaddeus Stevens on confiscation were widely distributed among the negroes. His Confiscation Bill of March, 1867, caused expectations among the negroes, who soon heard of such propositions.[1209] General Wilson, on his raid, had taken all the stock from Montgomery and had left with the planters his broken-down mules and horses. The military authorities of the Sixteenth Army Corps had declared that these animals belonged to the planters, who had already used them a year. But the Rev.

C. W. Buckley, a Bureau chaplain, promised them to the negroes, who began to take possession of them.[1210]

The subordinate agents of the Bureau frequently were broken-down men who had made failures at everything they had undertaken;[1211] some were preachers with strong prejudices, and others were the dregs of a mustered-out army,--all opposed to any settlement of the negro question which would leave them without an office. Such men sowed the seeds of discord between the races and taught the negro that he must fear and hate his former master, who desired above all things to reenslave him.[1212] In this way they were ably abetted by the northern teachers and missionaries.

There were some favorable reports from the Bureau in Alabama, princ.i.p.ally from districts where the native whites were agents. But in the summer of 1866 Generals Steedman and Fullerton, accompanied by a correspondent, made a trip through the South inspecting the inst.i.tution. They reported that in Alabama it was better conducted than elsewhere in the South; that all of the good of the system and not all of the bad was here most apparent. Over the greater part of the state, they said, it interfered but little with the negro, and consequently the affairs of both races were in better condition. General Patton thought that Swayne was the best man to be at the head of the Bureau, yet he was sure that the inst.i.tution was unnecessary, its only use being to feed the needy, which could be done by the state with less demoralization. The negro, he said, should be left to the protection of the law, since there was no discrimination against him.

As long as free rations were issued, the blacks would make no contracts and would not work. Swayne, Patton declared, was doing his best, but he could not prevent demoralization, and the very presence of the Bureau was an irritation to the whites, thus operating against the good of the negro.

He stated that in Clarke and Marengo counties, where there were no agents, the relations between the races were more friendly than in any other black counties, and there the negro was better satisfied. The southern people knew the negro and his needs, Steedman and Fullerton reported, and he should be left to them; the Bureau served as a spy upon the planters; it was the general testimony that where there was no northern agent, there the negro worked better, and there was less disorder among the blacks and less friction between the races. The fact was clearly demonstrated in west Alabama, where there was little interference on the part of the Bureau, and where the negro did well.[1213]

An account of conditions in one county where the agents were army officers and were somewhat under the influence of the native whites will be of interest. When the army and the Bureau came to Marengo County, the white people, who were few in number, determined to win their good will. There were "stag" dinners and feasts, and the eternal friends.h.i.+p of the officers, with few exceptions, was won. The exceptions were those who had political ambitions. The population, being composed largely of negroes, was under the control of the "office," which here did not heed the tales of "rebel outrages." The negro received few supplies and did well, though afterwards, in places doubtful politically, supplies were issued for political purposes. One planter in Marengo gave an order to the negroes on his plantation to do a certain piece of work. They refused and sent their head man to report at the "office." He brought back a sealed envelope containing a peremptory order to cease work. The negroes were ignorant of the contents, so the planter read the letter, called the negroes up, and ordered them back to the same work. They went cheerfully, evidently thinking it was the order of the Bureau. At any time the Bureau could interfere and say that certain work should or should not be done. Another planter lived twelve miles from Demopolis. One day ten or twelve of the negro laborers went to Demopolis to complain to the "office" about one of his orders. The planter went to Demopolis by another road, and was sitting in the Bureau office when the negroes arrived. They were confused and at first could say nothing. The planter was silent. Finally they told their tale, and the officer called for a sergeant and four mounted men.

"Sergeant," he said, "take these people back to Mr. DuBose's on the _run_!

You understand; on the _run_!" They ran the negroes the whole twelve miles, though they had already travelled the twelve miles. Upon their arrival at home the sergeant tied them to trees with their hands above their heads, and left them with their tongues hanging out. It was the most terrible punishment the negroes had ever received, and they never again had any complaints to pour into the ear of the "office."[1214] The white soldiers usually cared little for the negroes, it is said.

From the first the Bureau was unnecessary in Alabama. The negro had felt no want before the beginning of the war, and the efforts of the general officers of the army, besides hunger and cold, would have soon forced him to work. He was not mistreated except in rare cases which did not become rarer under the Bureau. Cotton was worth fifty cents to a dollar a pound, and the extraordinary demand for labor thus created guaranteed good treatment. Much more suffering was caused by the congregation of the black population in the towns than would have been the case had there been no relief. Not a one did it really help to get work, because no man who wanted work could escape a job unless it prevented, and with its red tape it was a hindrance to those who were industrious. Its interference in behalf of the negro was bad, as it led him to believe that the government would always back him and that it was his right to be supported. Thus industry was paralyzed. Yet as first organized by Swayne, the Bureau would have been endurable, though it would have been a disturbing element, and the negro would have been the greater sufferer from the disorder caused by it; but, as time went on, General Swayne was gradually forced by northern opinion to change his policy, and to put into office more and more northern men as subordinate agents. These men, of character already described, had to live by fleecing the negroes, by fees, and by stealing supplies.[1215] Then, recognizing the trend of affairs and seeing their great opportunity, they began to organize the negro for political purposes; they themselves were to become statesmen. The Bureau was then manipulated as a political machine for the nomination and election of state and federal officers, and the public money and property were used for that purpose. The Howard Investigation refused to enter that field, but the testimony shows that the Bureau agents, teachers, the savings-bank, and missionaries industriously carried on political operations.[1216]

In 1869 the Bureau was intrusted with the payment of bounties to the negro soldiers who had been discharged or mustered out. There were several thousand of these in Alabama. Gross frauds are said to have been perpetrated by the officials in charge of the distribution. The worst scandals were in north Alabama, where most of the negro soldiers lived.[1217]

SEC. 2. THE FREEDMEN'S SAVINGS-BANK

The Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company was an inst.i.tution closely connected with the Freedmen's Bureau, and had the sanction and support of the government, especially of the Bureau officials. Many of the trustees of the bank were or had been connected with the Bureau,[1218] and it was generally understood by the negroes that it was a part of the Bureau. It possessed the confidence of the blacks to a remarkable degree and gave promise of becoming a very valuable inst.i.tution by teaching them habits of thrift and economy.[1219]

The central office was in Was.h.i.+ngton, and several branch banks were established in every southern state. The Alabama branch banks were established at Huntsville, in December, 1865, and at Montgomery and Mobile early in 1866. The cas.h.i.+ers at the respective branches, when the bank failed, in 1874, were Lafayette Robinson, who seems to have been an honest man though he could not keep books, Edwin Beecher,[1220] and C. R.

Woodward, both of whom seem to have had some picturesque ideas as to their rights over the money deposited. A bank-book was issued to each negro depositor, and in the book were printed the regulations to be observed by him. On one cover there was a statement to the effect that the bank was wholly a benevolent inst.i.tution, and that all profits were to be divided among the depositors or devoted to charitable enterprises for the benefit of freedmen. It was further stated that the "Martyr" President Lincoln had approved the purpose of the bank, and that one of his last acts was to sign the bill to establish it. On the cover of the book was the printed legend:[1221]--

"I consider the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company to be greatly needed by the colored people and have welcomed it as an auxiliary to the Freedmen's Bureau."--MAJOR-GENERAL O. O. HOWARD.

To the negro this was sufficient recommendation. There was also printed on the cover a very attractive table, showing how much a man might save by laying aside ten cents a day and placing it in the bank at 6 per cent interest. The first year the man would save, in this way, $36.99, the tenth year would find $489.31 to his credit. And all this by saving ten cents a day--something easily done when labor was in such demand. This unique bank-book had on the back cover some verses for the education of the freedmen. The author of these verses is not known, but the negroes thought that General Howard wrote them.

"'Tis little by little the bee fills her cell; And little by little a man sinks a well; 'Tis little by little a bird builds her nest; By littles a forest in verdure is drest; 'Tis little by little great volumes are made; By littles a mountain or levels are made; 'Tis little by little an ocean is filled; And little by little a city we build; 'Tis little by little an ant gets her store; Every little we add to a little makes more; Step by step we walk miles, and we sew st.i.tch by st.i.tch; Word by word we read books, cent by cent we grow rich."

The verses were popular, the whole book was educative, and it was not above the comprehension of the negro. If all the teaching of the negro had been as sensible as this little book, much trouble would have been avoided. It was a proud negro who owned one of these wonderful bank-books, and he had a right to be proud. Many at once began to make use of the savings-banks, and small sums poured in. Only the negroes in and near the three cities--Huntsville, Montgomery, and Mobile--where the banks were located seem to have made deposits, for those of the other towns and of the country knew little of the inst.i.tution. During the month of January, 1866, deposits to the amount of $4809 were made in the Mobile branch. This was all in small sums and was deposited at a time of the year when money was scarcest among laborers.[1222] In 1868 the interest paid on long-time deposits to depositors at Huntsville was $38.02; at Mobile, $1349.40. On May 1, 1869, the deposits at Huntsville amounted to $17,603.29; at Mobile, $50,511.66.

The following statements of the two princ.i.p.al banks will show how the scheme worked among the negroes:--

====================================================================== HUNTSVILLE BRANCH MOBILE BRANCH ------------------------------------- ----------------- -------------- Total deposits to March 31, 1870 $89,445.10 $539,534.33 Total number of depositors 500 3,260 Average amount deposited by each $17.89 $165.60 Drawn out to March 31, 1870 70,586.60 474,583.60 Balance to March 31, 1870 18,858.50 64,750.83 Average balance due to each depositor 47.114 39.82 Spent for land (known) 1,900.00 50,000.00 Dwelling houses 800.00 ---- Seeds, teams, agricultural implements 5,000.00 15,000.00 Education, books, etc. 1,200.00 ---- ====================================================================== STATEMENT OF THE BUSINESS DONE DURING AUGUST, 1872 ====================================================================== HUNTSVILLE MOBILE MONTGOMERY ---------------------- ------------- --------------- ----------------- Deposits for the month $7,343.50 $11,136.05 $8,522.90 Drafts for the month 10,127.61 18,645.62 8,679.60 Total deposits 416,617.72 1,039,097.05 238,106.08 Total drafts 364,382.51 933,424.30 213,861.71 Total due depositors 52,235.21 105,672.75 24,244.37[1223]

These branch banks exercised a good influence over the negro population, even over those who did not become depositors. The negroes became more economical, spent less for whiskey, gewgaws, and finery, and when wages were good and work was plentiful, they saved money to carry them through the winter and other periods of lesser prosperity. Some of those who had no bank accounts would save in order to have one, or, at least, save enough money to help them through hard times. Much of the money drawn from the banks was invested in property of some kind. Excessive interest in politics prevented a proper increase in the number of depositors and in the amount of deposits.

In 1874, after the bank failed through dishonest and inefficient management, the liabilities to southern negro depositors amounted to $3,299,201.[1224] A total business of $55,000,000 had been done. The following table, compiled by Hoffman, will show the total business of the bank, 1866 to 1874.[1225]

================================================================== YEAR TOTAL DEPOSITS DEPOSITS EACH DUE DEPOSITORS GAIN EACH YEAR YEAR ---- ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ---------- 1866 $305,167 $305,167 $199,283 $199,283 1867 1,624,853 1,319,686 366,338 167,054 1868 3,582,378 1,957,525 638,299 271,960 1869 7,257,798 3,675,420 1,073,465 435,166 1870 12,605,782 5,347,983 1,657,006 583,541 1871 19,952,947 7,347,165 2,455,836 798,829 1872 31,260,499 11,281,313 3,684,739 1,227,927 1873 ---- ---- 4,200,000 ---- 1874 55,000,000 ---- 3,013,670 ---- ==================================================================

In Alabama the depositors lost, for the time at least, $35,963 at Huntsville; $29,743 at Montgomery; $95,144 at Mobile. After years of delay dividends were paid; but few of the depositors profited by the late payment.[1226] The philanthropic incorporators took care to desert the failing enterprise in time, and Frederick Dougla.s.s, a well-known negro, was placed in charge to serve as a scapegoat. No one was punished for the crooked proceedings of the inst.i.tution. Several of the incorporators were dead; the survivors pleaded good intentions, ignorance, etc., and finally placed the blame on their dead a.s.sociates. Their sympathy for the negro did not go the length of a.s.suming money responsibility for the operations of the bank, and thus saving the negro depositors. There were several of the incorporators who could have a.s.sumed all the liabilities and not felt the burden severely. Agents and lawyers got most of the later proceeds, and the good work was all undone, for the negro felt that the United States government and the Freedmen's Bureau had cheated him. It is said to have affected his faith in banks to this day.[1227]

SEC. 3. THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU AND NEGRO EDUCATION

As the Federal armies occupied southern territory and numbers of negroes were thrown upon the care of the government which gathered them into colonies on confiscated plantations, there arose a demand from the friends of the negro at the North that his education should begin at once. An educated negro, it was thought, was even more obnoxious to the slaveholding southerner than a free negro; hence educated negroes should be multiplied. No doubt was entertained by his northern friends but that the negro was the equal of the white man in capacity to profit by education. To educate the negro was to carry on war against the South just as much as to invade with armed troops, and various aid societies demanded that, as the negro came under the control of the United States troops, schools be established and the colored children be taught. The Treasury agents, who were in charge of the plantations and colonies where the negroes were gathered, were instructed by the Secretary to establish schools in each "home" and "labor" colony for the instruction of the children under twelve years of age. Teachers, supplied by the superintendent of the colony, who was usually the chaplain of a negro regiment, or by benevolent a.s.sociations, were allowed to take charge of the education of the blacks in any colony they decided to enter.[1228]

Before the end of the war only three or four such schools were established in Alabama. One was on the plantation of ex-Governor Chapman, in Madison County, another at Huntsville, and one at Florence.