Testimony before the Joint Committee on Reconstruction on Atrocities in the South against Blacks

Document Text

Washington, February 3, 1866.

Dr. Daniel Norton (colored) sworn and examined.

By Mr. Howard:

Question. Where do you reside?

Answer. I reside in Yorktown, Virginia.

Question. How old are you?

Answer. About 26 years old.

Question. Are you a regularly licensed physician?

Answer. I am.

Question. Where were you educated?

Answer. In the State of New York. I studied privately under Dr. Warren.

Question. How long have you resided at Yorktown?

Answer. About two years.

Question. Are you a native of Virginia?

Answer. Yes, sir; I was born in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Question. What is the feeling among the rebels in the neighborhood of Yorktown towards the government of the United States?

Answer. They do not manifest a very cordial feeling toward the government of the United States. There are some, of course, who do, but the majority do not seem to manifest a good spirit or feeling.

Question. How are they disposed to treat you?

Answer. Me, as a man, they are generally disposed to treat well, but there are others of my fellow-men whom they do not treat as well.

Question. Are you employed as a physician in white families?

Answer. I have not been employed in any white families, except in one case, since I have been there. I principally practice among the colored.

Question. How do the returned rebels treat the colored people?

Answer. They have in some cases treated them well, but in more cases they have not. A number of persons living in the country have come into Yorktown and reported to the Freedmen’s Bureau that they have not been treated well; that they worked all the year and had received no pay, and were driven off on the first of January. They say that the owners with whom they had been living rented out their places, sold their crops, and told them they had no further use for them, and that they might go to the Yankees.

Question. What is the condition of the colored people in that neighborhood?

Answer. They are poor, sir. There is a large settlement near Yorktown, called Slabtown, settled by the government during the war with those who came within the lines. The colored people there are doing such work as they can get to do, oystering, &c.

Question. Are not their old masters ready to employ them for wages?

Answer. There have been some sent for, and in several cases they received such bad treatment that they came back again. (Witness related several instances of this kind.)

Question. Are the colored people in your neighborhood willing to work for fair wages?

Answer. They are, sir.

Question. Do they find any difficulty in obtaining employment at fair wages?

Answer. They do find some difficulty. The slaveholders, who have owned them, say that they will take them back, but cannot pay them any wages. Some are willing to pay a dollar a month, and some less, and some are only willing to give them their clothing and what they eat. They are not willing to pay anything for work.

Question. Are the colored people generally provided with houses in which they can eat and sleep?

Answer. Yes, sir; such houses as they have built themselves, slab-houses.

Question. How do the colored people feel toward the government of the United States?

Answer. They feel determined to be law-abiding citizens. There is no other feeling among them.

Question. Are you a delegate sent to the city of Washington by some association?

Answer. I am. I was sent by three counties; I represent, perhaps, something like fifteen or twenty thousand people. The great trouble, in my opinion, is, that the colored people are not more disposed to return to their former homes on account of the treatment which those who have gone back have received.

Question. State generally whether or not the treatment which these colored people receive at the hands of their old white masters is kind or unkind?

Answer. It is not what I would consider kind or good treatment. Of course I do not mean to be understood that there are not some who treat them kindly, but I mean generally; they do not treat them kindly.

Question. In case of the removal of the military force from among you, and also of the Freedmen’s Bureau, what would the whites do with you?

Answer. I do not think that the colored people would be safe. They would be in danger of being hunted and killed. The spirit of the whites against the blacks is much worse than it was before the war; a white gentleman with whom I was talking made this remark: he said he was well disposed toward the colored people, but that, finding that they took up arms against him, he had come to the conclusion that he never wanted to have anything to do with them, or to show any spirit of kindness toward them. These were his sentiments.

Washington, February 3, 1866.

Reverend William Thornton (colored) sworn and examined.

By Mr. Howard :

Question. What is your age?

Answer. Forty-two, sir.

Question. Where were you born?

Answer. In Elizabeth City county, Virginia.

Question. What degree of education have you received?

Answer. My education is very narrowly limited; I have not had the advantages of a first-rate education.

Question. You can read and write?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Can you read the Bible?

Answer. Oh, yes, sir.

Question. Can you read ordinary newspapers?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Can you write a letter on business?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Were you ever a slave?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. When were you made free?

Answer. I was made free under the proclamation.

Question. Where do you reside?

Answer. Hampton, Elizabeth City county, Virginia.

Question. How do the old rebel masters down there feel toward your race?

Answer. The feeling existing there now is quite disagreeable.

Question. Do they not treat the colored race with kindness down there?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. What acts of unkindness can you mention?

Answer. I was asked the other day if I did not know I was violating the law in celebrating marriages. I did not know that that was the case, and I went up to the clerk’s office to inquire; I said nothing out of the way to the clerk of the court; I only asked him if there had been any provision for colored people to be lawfully married. Said he, “I do not know whether there is or not, and if they are granting licenses you can’t have any; that is my business, not yours.” After I found I was violating the law, I went to the Freedmen’s Bureau and stated the case. A provision was afterwards made in the bureau granting licenses, and authorizing me to marry. Some days after that an old gentleman named Houghton, a white man living in the neighborhood of my church, was in the church. In my sermon I mentioned the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. Next day I happened to meet Houghton, who said to me, “Sir, as soon as we can get these Yankees off the ground and move that bureau, we will put you to rights; we will break up your church, and not one of you shall have a church here.” Said I, “For what? I think it is for the safety of the country to have religious meetings, and for your safety as well as everybody else’s.” “We will not have it, sir,” said he, and then he commenced talking about two classes of people whom they intended to put to rights, the colored people and the loyal white men. I asked him in what respect be was going to put them to rights; said he, “That is for myself.”

Question. Is he a man of standing and condition in the neighborhood?

Answer. He owns property there.

Question. Is he a rebel?

Answer. Oh, yes.

Question. Can you speak of any acts of violence committed by the whites upon the blacks?

Answer. Yes, sir; about three weeks ago a colored man got another one to cut some wood for him, and sent him into the woods adjoining the property of a Mr. Britner, a white man. The colored man, not knowing the line between the two farms, cut down a tree on Britner’s land, when Britner went into the woods and deliberately shot him as he would shoot a bird.

Question. Was he not indicted and punished for that?

Answer. They had him in prison.

Question. Is he not in prison now?

Answer. I heard that they had let him out last Sunday morning.

Question. Do you know any other instances of cruelty?

Answer. I have church once a month in Matthews county, Virginia, the other side of the bay. The last time I was over there an intelligent man told me that just below his house a lady and her husband, who had been at the meeting, received thirty-nine lashes for being there, according to the old law of Virginia, as if they had been slaves. This was simply because they were told not to go to hear a Yankee darkey talk. They said he was not a Yankee but was a man born in Virginia, in Hampton,

Question. Why did they not resist being flogged?

Answer. They are that much down.

Question. Did they not know that they had a right to resist?

Answer. They dare not do it.

Question. Why?

Answer. I do not know. On the 1st of January we had a public meeting there, at which I spoke. The next night when I was coming from the church, which is about a mile and a half from my house, I met a colored man who told me that there was a plot laid for me; I went back to the church and got five of my church members to come with me. I afterwards learned that a fellow named Mahon, a white man, had determined, for my speech that day, to murder me the first chance.

Question. Did that come to you in so authentic a form as to leave no doubt upon your mind?

Answer. I believe he made the threat. The next day he said to me, “We hope the time will come that these Yankees will be away from here, and then we will settle with you preachers.” That gave me to understand that the threat was made.

Question. Do you wish to state any other instances?

Answer. These are as many as I care to speak of.

Question. You are up here as a delegate to make representations to the President in reference to the condition of the colored people?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Are you a regularly ordained minister of the gospel?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. In what church?

Answer. In the Baptist church.

Washington, February 3, 1866.

Madison Newby (colored) sworn and examined.

By Mr. Howard :

Question. Have you any white blood in you?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Where were you born?

Answer. In Surrey county, Virginia.

Question. How old are you?

Answer. Thirty-three.

Question. Can you read and write?

Answer. I cannot write; I can read a little.

Question. Can you read the Testament?

Answer. A little.

Question. Have you a family?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Have you been a slave before the war?

Answer. No, sir; I never was a slave.

Question. How do the rebel white people treat you since the war?

Answer. They do not allow me to go where I came from, except I steal in there.

Question. Why not?

Answer. They say I am a Yankee. I have been there, but was driven away twice; they said I would not be allowed to stay there, and I had better get away as quick as possible. I had gone down to look after my land.

Question. Do you own land there?

Answer. Yes.

Question. How much?

Answer. One hundred and fifty acres.

Question. Did you pay for it?

Answer. Yes.

Question. Do you stand in fear of the rebel white men?

Answer. Yes, sir, I do. If all the Union men that are down there would protect us we would not be so much afraid. I went down there to pay my taxes upon my land, but I could not see any person to pay them to; I didn’t want to pay any but the United States government; and finally, they told me at the court-house that I had better let it alone until I could see further about it.

Question. What is your land worth?

Answer. I gave $700 for it.

Question. Is there a house on it?

Answer. Yes.

Question. Do the colored people down there love to work?

Answer. They work if they can get anything for it; but the rebel people down there who have got lands will not let the colored people work unless they work for their prices, and they drive them away. They expect colored people down there to work for ten or eighteen cents a day. Six or eight dollars a month is the highest a colored man can get; of course he gets his board, but he may have a family of six to support on these wages, and of course he cannot do it.

Question. How do you get your living?

Answer. I am living in Norfolk at present. I piloted the Union forces there when they first came to Surrey; and afterwards the rebels would not let me go back.

Question. Were you impressed by the Union forces, or did you voluntarily act as a guide?

Answer. I was impressed. I told the Union forces when they came that unless they were willing to protect me I did not want them to take me away, because my living was there; and they promised they would see to me.

Question. Did they pay you for your services?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. They gave you enough to eat and drink?

Answer. They gave me plenty to eat when I was travelling, but nothing to drink except water.

Question. Now that the blacks are made free, will they not, if left to themselves without the protection of the whites, become strollers and rovers about the country and live in idleness, and pilfer and misbehave generally?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Why not?

Answer. Because they have all been used to work, and will work if they can get anything to do.

Question. Do they not want to go away from the old places where they have been accustomed to live and go off west somewhere?

Answer. No, sir; we want to stay in our old neighborhoods, but those of us who have gone away are not allowed to go back. In Surrey county they are taking the colored people and tying them up by the thumbs if they do not agree to work for six dollars a month; they tie them up until they agree to work for that price, and then they make them put their mark to a contract.

Question. Did you ever see a case of that kind?

Answer. Yes, sir, I did.

Question. How many cases of that kind have you ever seen?

Answer. Only one; I have heard of several such, but I have only seen one.

Question. What is the mode of tying up by the thumbs?

Answer. They have a string tied around the thumbs just strong enough to hold a man’s weight, so that his toes just touch the ground; and they keep the man in that position until he agrees to do what they say. A man cannot endure it long.

Question. What other bad treatment do they practice on the blacks? Do they whip them?

Answer. Yes, sir; just as they did before the war; I see no difference.

Question. Have you seen them whipped since the war?

Answer. Several times.

Question. By their old masters?

Answer. By the old people around the neighborhood; the old masters get other people to do it.

Question. Do they whip them just as much as they did before the war?

Answer. Just the same; I do not see any alteration in that. There are no colored schools down in Surrey county; they would kill any one who would go down there and establish colored schools. There have been no meetings or anything of that kind. They patrol our houses just us formerly.

Question. What do you mean by patrolling your houses?

Answer. A party of twelve or fifteen men go around at night searching the houses of colored people, turning them out and beating them. I was sent here as a delegate to find out whether the colored people down there cannot have protection. They are willing to work for a living; all they want is some protection and to know what their rights are; they do not know their rights; they do not know whether they are free or not, there are so many different stories told them.

Question. Where did you learn to read?

Answer. I first picked up a word from one and then from another.

Question. Have you ever been at school?

Answer. Never in my life.

Question. Are the black people there anxious for education and to go to school?

Answer. Generally they are; but down in my neighborhood they are afraid to be caught with a book.

Washington, February 3, 1866.

Richard R. Hill (colored) sworn and examined.

By Mr. Howard :

Question. Where do you live?

Answer. Hampton, Virginia.

Question. That is where President Tyler used to live?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did you know him?

Answer. Yes, I knew him pretty well.

Question. Can you read and write?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. How old are you?

Answer. About thirty-four years.

Question. Were you ever a slave?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. When did you become free?

Answer. When the proclamation was issued. I left Richmond in 1863.

Question. Did you serve in the rebel army?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Or in the Union army?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. How do the rebels down there, about Hampton, treat the colored people?

Answer. The returned rebels express a desire to get along in peace if they can. There have been a few outrages out upon the roadside there. One of the returned Union colored soldiers was met out there and beaten very much.

Question. By whom was he beaten?

Answer. It was said they were rebels; they had on Union overcoats, but they were not United States soldiers. Occasionally we hear of an outrage of that kind, but there are none in the little village where I live.

Question. What appears to be the feeling generally of the returned rebels towards the freedmen; is it kind or unkind?

Answer. Well, the feeling that they manifest as a general thing is kind, so far as I have heard.

Question. Are they willing to pay the freedmen fair wages for their work?

Answer. No, sir; they are not willing to pay the freedmen more than from five to eight dollars a month.

Question. Do you think that their labor is worth more than that generally?

Answer. I do, sir; because, just at this time, everything is very dear, and I do not see how people can live and support their families on those wages.

Question. State whether the black people down there are anxious to go to school?

Answer. Yes, sir; they are anxious to go to school; we have schools there every day that are very well filled; and we have night schools that are very well attended, both by children and aged people; they manifest a great desire for education.

Question. Who are the teachers; white or black?

Answer. White, sir.

Question. How are the white teachers treated by the rebels down there?

Answer. I guess they are not treated very well, because they have very little communication between each other. I have not heard of any threatening expression in regard to them.

Question. Did you ever hear any threats among the whites to reduce your race to slavery again?

Answer. They have said, and it seems to be a prevalent idea, that if their representatives were received in Congress the condition of the freedmen would be very little better than that of the slaves, and that their old laws would still exist by which they would reduce them to something like bondage. That has been expressed by a great many of them.

Question. What has become of your former master?

Answer. He is in Williamsburg.

Question. Have you seen him since the proclamation?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did he want you to go back and live with him?

Answer. No, sir; he did not ask me to go back, but he was inquiring of me about another of his slaves, who was with him at the evacuation of Williamsburg by the rebels.

Question. How do you feel about leaving the State of Virginia and going off and residing as a community somewhere else?

Answer. They do not wish to leave and go anywhere else unless they are certain that the locality where they are going is healthy and that they can get along.

Question. Are they not willing to be sent back to Africa?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Why not?

Answer. They say that they have lived here all their days, and there were stringent laws made to keep them here; and that if they could live here contented as slaves, they can live here when free.

Question. Do you not think that to be a very absurd notion?

Answer. No, sir; if we can get lands here and can work and support ourselves, I do not see why we should go to any place that we do not want to go to.

Question. If you should stay here, is there not danger that the whites and blacks would intermarry and amalgamate?

Answer. I do not think there is any more danger now than there was when slavery existed. At that time there was a good deal of amalgamation.

Question. Amalgamation in Virginia?

Answer. There was no actual marrying, but there was an intermixture to a great extent. We see it very plainly. I do not think that that troubles the colored race at all.

Question. But you do not think that a Virginia white man would have connexion with a black woman?

Answer. I do, sir; I not only think so, but I know it from past experience. It was nothing but the stringent laws of the south that kept many a white man from marrying a black woman.

Question. It would be looked upon as a very wicked state of things, would it not, for a white man to marry a black woman?

Answer. I will state to you as a white lady stated to a gentleman down in Hampton, that if she felt disposed to fall in love with or marry a black man, it was nobody’s business but hers; and so I suppose, that if the colored race get all their rights, and particularly their equal rights before the law, it would not hurt the nation or trouble the nation.

Question. In such a case do you think the blacks would have a strong inclination to unite with the whites in marriage?

Answer. No, sir; I do not. I do not think that the blacks would have so strong an inclination to unite with the whites as the whites would have to unite with the blacks.

Washington, D. C. February 3, 1866.

Alexander Dunlop (colored) sworn and examined.

By Mr. Howard:

Question. How old are you?

Answer. Forty-eight years.

Question. Where do you reside?

Answer. In Williamsburg, Virginia. I was born there.

Question. Have you ever been a slave?

Answer. Never, sir.

Question. Are you able to read and write?

Answer. No, sir; I can read some. That was not allowed me there.

Question. Can you read the Bible?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Do you belong to a church?

Answer. Yes; I belong to the First Baptist church of Williamsburg. I am one of the leading men and trustees.

Question. About how many are included in the church?

Answer. Our minutes show seven hundred and thirty-six.

Question. Do you own the church building?

Answer. We do.

Question. Are you a delegate to the President of the United States?

Answer. Yes, sir; I was sent by my people convened at a large mass meeting.

Question. For what purpose?

Answer. My purpose was to let the government know our situation, and what we desire the government to do for us if it can do it. We feel down there without any protection.

Question. Do you feel any danger?

Answer. We do.

Question. Danger of what?

Answer. We feel in danger of our lives, of our property, and of everything else.

Question. Why do you feel so?

Answer. From the spirit which we see existing there every day toward us as freedmen.

Question. On the part of whom?

Answer. On the part of the rebels. I have a great chance to find out these people. I have been with them before the war. They used to look upon me as one of the leading men there. I have suffered in this war; I was driven away from my place by Wise’s raid; and so far as I, myself, am concerned, I do not feel safe; and if the military were removed from there I would not stay in Williamsburg one hour, although what little property I possess is there.

Question. In case of the removal of the military, what would you anticipate?

Answer. Nothing shorter than death; that has been promised to me by the rebels.

Question. Do they entertain a similar feeling toward all the freedmen there?

Answer. I believe, sir, that that is a general feeling, I ask them, sometimes, “Why is it? we have done you no harm.” “Well,” they say, “the Yankees freed you, and now let the Yankees take care of you: we want to have nothing to do with you.” I say to them, “You have always been making laws to keep us here, and now you want to drive us away— for what?” They say, “We want to bring foreign immigration here, and drive every scoundrel of you away from here.” I told them that I was born in Virginia, and that I am going to die in Virginia. “There is but one thing that will make me leave Virginia,” I say, “and that is, for the government to withdraw the military and leave me in your hands; when it does that, I will go.”

Question. Has your property been destroyed by the rebels?

Answer. I had not much, except my blacksmith’s shop. I carried on a large business there. The rebels and the northern men destroyed everything I had; what the one did not take, the other did; they did not leave me even a hammer.

Question. Have you a family?

Answer. Yes, sir; a wife, but no children; I bought my wife.

Question. How much did you give for her?

Answer. I gave four hundred and fifty dollars for my wife, and seven hundred dollars for my wife’s sister. After I bought my wife, they would not let me set her free. I paid the money, and got the bill of sale.

Question. What hindered her being free?

Answer. It was the law, they said. She had to stand as my slave.

Question. How extensive is this feeling of danger on the part of colored people there?

Answer. I believe, sincerely, that it is the general feeling.

Question. Did you ever see a black rebel, or hear of one?

Answer. I must be honest about that. I believe that we have had some as big rebel black men as ever were white.

Question. Many?

Answer. No, sir; they are “few and far between;” but I believe that any man who, through this great trouble that we have had, would do anything to stop the progress of the Union army, was a rebel. When Wise made his raid into Williamsburg, I just had time to leave my house and make my escape. They broke up everything I had; they took their bayonets and tore my beds all to pieces. All they wanted was Aleck Dunlop; they wanted to hang him before his own door. One day, since the fall of Richmond, I met General Henry A. Wise at Norfolk. He spoke to me, and asked me how I was. I said, “I am doing a little better than could be expected.” Said he, “Why?” Said I, “Them devils of yours did not catch me; I was too smart for them that morning.” “Do you think,” said he, “they would have hurt you?” “No,” said I, “I don’t think so, but I know it; they had orders to hang me.”

Question. Did Wise admit it?

Answer. He did not say so; but he turned and went off. The day that Wise’s men were there, my wife asked them what had I done that they wanted to hang me in preference to anybody else? They said it was because I was a Union man. I had worked for the rebels from the time the war broke out until General McClellan moved up; and then they concocted a scheme to get me to Richmond; but when I saw the wagon coming for me, I went off in the opposite, direction. When General Hooker and General Kearney came there, they sent for me, within three hours of their arrival, and asked me about the country, and what I knew. I gave them all the information I could; that, through a colored friend, got to the secessionists and embittered them against me. The next Union officer who came there was Colonel Campbell, of the 5th Pennsylvania cavalry; and I believe he was as great a rebel as Jeff. Davis. He was governor there for a long time. They captured him, and carried him to Richmond.

Question. The rebels never caught you?

Answer. They have never caught me yet.

Question. How do the black people down there feel about education?

Answer. They want it, and they have a desire to get it; but the rebels use every exertion to keep teachers from them. We have got two white teachers in Williamsburg, and have got to put them in a room over a colored family.

Question. Do the black people contribute liberally to the support of their own schools?

Answer. They are not able, sir. The rebels made many raids there, and destroyed everything they could get their hands on belonging to colored people—beds and clothing.

Washington, February 3, 1866.

Thomas Bain (colored) sworn and examined.

By Mr. Howard:

Question. Where do you reside?

Answer. Norfolk, Virginia.

Question. How old are you?

Answer. I think about forty.

Question. Have you ever been a slave?

Answer. Yes.

Question. When were you made free?

Answer. When emancipation came, I was in Massachusetts; I had got there on the underground railroad. I went back to Virginia after the proclamation, and sent my child away to Massachusetts; I have been down there ever since.

Question. Can you read and write?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Can you write a letter on business?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Can you read the Bible?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. And newspapers?

Answer. Yes, sir; I subscribe to newspapers.

Question. What is your business?

Answer. Dentist.

Question. Did you ever start to be a dentist?

Answer. Yes, sir; I was raised in the business.

Question. Where?

Answer. In Norfolk. I spent ten years at it in Norfolk, and ten years in Massachusetts.

Question. Have you a family?

Answer. My wife died some time after I was married; I have one child—a daughter.

Question. Are you here as a delegate from the colored people of Norfolk?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. To make representations to the President?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Have you had an interview with him?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. What is the feeling on the part of white rebels at Norfolk towards the colored people?

Answer. Their feelings are very hard—terrible. I have had a chance to travel around some, preaching.

Question. Do you preach?

Answer. Yes, sir; I am a volunteer missionary—a self-sustaining one. The church, under whose auspices I act, is not taxed for my services; neither are the people; I make my practice as I go along; just enough to support me; I can reach most of them in that way; I have a permanent office; and then I travel about the State and preach.

Question. To what denomination do you belong?

Answer. The Wesleyan Methodist.

Question. You preach to the colored people?

Answer. Yes; I have had occasion, of course, to visit a great many.

Question. How are the black people treated in Virginia by the whites since the close of hostilities?

Answer. The only hope the colored people have is in Uncle Sam’s bayonets; without them, they would not feel any security; and what is true of the colored people in that respect, is also true of the Union men; the secessionists do not seem to discriminate between them; they do not seem to care whether a northern man is with us or not with us; if he is a Yankee, that is enough; they hardly wait to examine what his views are; it is not uncommon to hear such threats as this: “We will kill one negro, at least, for every rebel soldier killed by them.”

Question. Did you, yourself, over hear such a threat as that made?

Answer. I have heard it at night, in the streets of Norfolk. (Witness related some incidents going to show how much afraid the colored people there are of ill treatment from the whites.) Last June there was a threat by a white citizen of Norfolk to get up a riot.

Question. Did he get one up?

Answer. Yes; they got one up.

Question. What did it result in?

Answer. It resulted in three colored men being shot. One white man got shot through the shoulder; had his arm amputated, and died. It was got up to attack the colored people, and clear all the negroes out of the city.

Question. Are the colored people whipped now as they used to be?

Answer. Not in my vicinity; I only hear reports of that.

Question. Have you heard of cases of whipping by white men?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. During the summer?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Many cases?

Answer. Yes, sir; and it is not so much that the colored people are afraid of the white people, as it is that they are a law-abiding people.

Question. Do they submit to be whipped?

Answer. They do, in places near where there are military men. They fool the colored people into believing that the military ordered them to be whipped; they do not want to resist the government.

Question. Are the black people down there fond of education?

Answer. I think that they are excelled by no people in an eagerness to learn.

Washington, February 3, 1866.

Edmund Parsons (colored) sworn and examined.

By Mr. Howard:

Question. How old are yon?

Answer. A little over fifty.

Question. Where do you reside?

Answer. In Williamsburg, Virginia.

Question. Can you read and write?

Answer. I can read a little. I have been a regular house-servant, and I had a chance to turn my attention to it.

Question. Have you ever been a slave?

Answer. Yes, sir. I have been a slave from my childhood up to the time I was set free by the emancipation proclamation.

Question. How do the black people in your neighborhood feel toward the rebels?

Answer. I did think myself always secure with the whites; but it is very different now sir, very different.

Question. Do you stand in fear of them?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. What have you to be afraid off

Answer. When the Union forces came there first a good many officers became attached to me and my wife, and we felt perfectly secure; but now the rebels use the officers that are there “to pull the chestnuts out of the fire.”

Question. Have you heard threats of violence by white rebels against the blacks?

Answer. Yes.

Question. What do they threaten to do?

Answer. They threaten to do everything they can. My wife died about a year ago. I had a house, where I had been living for twenty years. A lawyer there went and got the provost marshal to send a guard and put me out of my house. They broke my things up, and pitched them out, and stole a part of them.

Question. The Union guard?

Answer. Yes, sir; it is a positive fact. They put me out of my own house. That was January, 1866.

Question. What was the pretext for putting you out?

Answer. My wife had been left free. She had a half-sister and a half-brother; and they pretended to be owners of the property where I had been living all my lifetime.

Question. Who was the provost marshal?

Answer. Reynolds.

Question. Do the returned rebels threaten to commit violence on the colored people there?

Answer. I can hear people complaining of that; but I have really been so mortified at the bad treatment I received, that I have not paid much attention.

Question. How do the colored people feel in regard to education?

Answer. They are very anxious to get education, and feel grateful for it.

Question. Are you a member of a church?

Answer. Yes, sir. I have been deacon of the Baptist church for years. It is pretty much my living.

Question. Are you willing to go away and leave old Virginia?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Why not?

Answer. I would rather stay in Virginia.