LETTERS FROM BLACK SOLDIERS

"This section of the country presents a vivid picture of the desolating effects of the 'Slaveholders' Rebellion '. Extensive tracts of land that were formerly plantations, owned by those who would be lords of the earth, have been abandoned, the dwellings and sugar houses knocked down, leaving only their huge chimneys standing, cotton gins gutted, slave quarters ventilated, and here and there you see a Freedman or woman, or a returned rebel on a half-starved horse or mule, riding in great agony through what is at present an over-grown weed field. "We have been endeavoring to find out for which of our many sins we have been sent here to be punished . "It is going on the third week since we landed here, and we have yet to get a mouthful of fresh meat. The rebs, when they went to Texas, did not only drive their slaves with them, but everything else that could be driven. Consequently, they stripped the place of horses, mules , cattle, sheep, hogs, &c, and now they have the impudence to be sneaking back to look for what is left and to lay claim to it. "But thank God there is one fact demonstrated here, 'The Freedmen can take care of themselves,' notwithstanding the desolation and the barren condition of this God-forsaken section of the country. "The Freedmen are industriously and perseveringly engaged in the cultivation of small portions of lands, raising for themselves and their families what they need to subsist upon ...rations. Let the enemies of the Freedmen put that in their pipes and smoke it....slaves can make industrious Freedmen...others. Give them 'Fair Play.'... "There is no church nearer than Vicksburg, which is twenty-five miles from here. "The people hold meetings in their quarters, in their old plantation style. I propose to preach to them, at least once a Sabbath. I desire the prayers of the faithful that my labors among them may not be in vain." P.195-196, "Occupation Duty," A GRAND ARMY OF BLACK MEN : LETTERS FROM AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN THE UNION ARMY, 1861-1865 edited by Edwin S. Redkey (1993) [This excerpt is from a letter written by George W. LeVere, Chaplain, 20th USCI, Millikens Bend, Louisiana, dated August 30, 1865, later published in the 'Weekly Anglo-African ' on November 4, 1865. Chaplain LeVere was a black Congregational minister from Brooklyn, New York.]