JF Ptak Science Books Post 1781 [Part of the series on the History of Blank, Empty and Missing Things.]
In the history of blank, missing and empty things, few things get as missing or empty or blank as compensation to slaves. A whole in a hole, missing bits as complements to lost pieces, a blank nothing wrapped in smoke.
In his march through South Carolina and Georgia and on to the sea, in January of 1865, General William T. Sherman issued an order to compensate freed slaves with the abandoned properties of Southerners. As he wrote in the field, near Savannah, on the 16th of January 1865:
"The islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. Johns river, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes* now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States."
And further:
"...on the islands, and in the settlements hereafter to be established, no white person whatever, unless military officers and soldiers detailed for duty, will be permitted to reside; and the sole and exclusive management of affairs will be left to the freed people themselves, subject only to the United States military authority and the acts of Congress. By the laws of war, and orders of the President of the United States, the negro is free and must be dealt with as such."
So it would seem that at the very least, in the wake of Sherman's march, that the freed slaves would have some degree of economic freedom, given their forty acres so long as they kept it for a year--some would also receive a mule for plowing. (Forty acres was considered the standard size for a sustainable farm for a family in the South at mid-century.)
Thousands of freed slaves responded to the offer, and there was for a time some amount of relief. The order was short-lived. Following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April, the questionable quiddity known as Andrew Johnson decided to rescind the Sherman order, putting all of the former slaves off the lands that they had been awarded in January. By May there were some 40,000 people who had settled some 400,000 acres of land, all of which came to an end on 25 May 1865. On that day Johnson declared that the new "Sherman Land" be disbanded and the lands returned to the white owners. That, along with an amnesty for the remaining Confederate soldiers who had not yet been returned to the Union--this time, though, with the Johnson amnesty, there was no requirement of an oath of allegiance. It had to have been a massively bitter experience for the freed slaves.
There was another attempt to produce some sort of payment, a recompense, to the freed slaves, taken on in the 41st Congress, attempted in December 15, 1869. The petition read as follows: Memorial of the Laboring Men of the United States....that the surveyed public lands in the southern States may be subdivided into tracts of forty acres each, and that any freedman who shall settle on one of such subdivisions, and cultivate the same for one year, shall receive a patent for same. In this memorial, which was the work of the members of the National Labor Convention (which was also meeting in New York City at the time), it was established that the former slaves working the present estates and farms in the South managed to help produce some $168 million in revenues, while receiving negative monies for themselves--not only did they make nothing, but, as the report says, the workers were actually in debt for their efforts and labors. They established that this alone was enough to urge for 46 million acres to be given out, parceled, to the Freedmen, 40 acres each--but not given, but sold, at cost, to the memorialists, to be paid in a five year period.
This effort of course went nowhere--it failed, died, like the others.
These are by no means the highpoint of Reconstruction failures--they are mere examples, two among many in the gargantuan chorus of deceit, and greed, and uncaring that marked the Reconstruction period.
Notes:
* I wrote a short post not long ago on the history of the capitalization of the word "Negro", here.
[Excerpt] Order by the Commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi
IN THE FIELD, SAVANNAH, GA., January 16th, 1865.
SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, No. 15.
I. The islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. Johns river, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States.
II. At Beaufort, Hilton Head, Savannah, Fernandina, St. Augustine and Jacksonville, the blacks may remain in their chosen or accustomed vocations–but on the islands, and in the settlements hereafter to be established, no white person whatever, unless military officers and soldiers detailed for duty, will be permitted to reside; and the sole and exclusive management of affairs will be left to the freed people themselves, subject only to the United States military authority and the acts of Congress. By the laws of war, and orders of the President of the United States, the negro is free and must be dealt with as such. He cannot be subjected to conscription or forced military service, save by the written orders of the highest military authority of the Department, under such regulations as the President or Congress may prescribe. Domestic servants, blacksmiths, carpenters and other mechanics, will be free to select their own work and residence, but the young and able-bodied negroes must be encouraged to enlist as soldiers in the service of the United States, to contribute their share towards maintaining their own freedom, and securing their rights as citizens of the United States.
http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/sfo15.htm
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