As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be
gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the
Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she
would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to
treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity
by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will
make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and
friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years,
and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two
dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand
six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time
our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our
clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for
Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to.
Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq.,
Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we
can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good
Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have
done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations
without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in
Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for
the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those
who defraud the laborer of his hire.
In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for
my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls.
You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay
here and starve--and die, if it come to that--than have my girls brought
to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will
also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored
children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to
give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.
Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you
when you were shooting at me.
From your old servant,
JOURDON ANDERSON.
* * * * *
SERGEANT W. H. CARNEY, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, was very severely
wounded when the famous Fifty-Fourth Regiment attacked Fort Wagner; but
he resolutely held up the Stars and Stripes, as he dragged his wounded
limb along, amid a shower of bullets; and when he reached his comrades
he exclaimed exultingly, "The dear old flag has never touched the
ground, boys!"
COLONEL ROBERT G. SHAW.
BY ELIZA B. SEDGWICK.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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