Extemporaneous musings, occasionally poetic, about life in its richly varied dimensions, especially as relates to history, theology, law, literature, science, by one who is an attorney, ordained minister, historian, writer, and African American.
Friday, February 28, 2014
A SOLDIER'S WAGES: LIBERTY, DIGNITY, INTEGRITY
"I will wait until my change comes." So said the brave, bold and black soldiers of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts, who refused to accept laborers' wages of $10, instead of the $13 per month soldiers' wages, they were promised upon enlistment. Their letters to Gov. John A. Andrews derided the prejudice in the North, as tantamount to the slavery of the South; and the government's lack of "magnanimity" in adhering to its promise as rank hypocrisy! Fighting without any pay for 11 months, while in the field, in 1864, they finally got their promised soldiers' pay and back wages! All the while, they had remained steadfast, unyielding and resolute in battle and in their demands! They did not fight for money, they said, they fought for liberty and for dignity and for integrity! (Taken from William Wells Brown's THE NEGRO IN THE AMERICAN REBELLION (1867))
JOB 14:14 If a man die, shall he live [again]? all the days of my appointed time will I wait,...
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