The Negro in The American Rebellion

And nerve the Southern bondmen now
To rise and strike the final blow,
To lay Oppression’s minions low.
Oh! rouse the mind and nerve the arm
To brave the blast and face the storm;
And, ere the war-cloud passes by,
We’ll have a land of liberty.

Our God has said, “Let there be light
Where Error palls the land with night.”
Then send forth now, O Freedom’s bell,
Foul Slavery’s last and fatal knell!
Oh! speed the tidings o’er the land,
That tells that stern Oppression’s hand
Has yielded to the power of Right:
That Wrong is weak, that Truth is might!
Then Union shall again return,
And Freedom’s fires shall brightly burn;
And peace and jot, sweet guests, shall come,
And dwell in every heart and home.”

“Free forever! Forever free!”

No pen can fitly portray the scene that followed this announcement. Every heart seemed to leap for joy: some were singing, some praying, some weeping, some dancing, husbands embracing Wives, friends shaking hands, and appearing to feel that the Day of Jubilee had come. A sister broke out in the following strain, which was heartily joined in by the vast assembly: —

“Go down, Abraham, away down in Dixie’s land,
Tell Jeff. Davis to let my people go.

Our bitter tasks are ended, all onr unpaid labor done;
Our galling chains are broken, and our onward march begun:
Go down, Abraham, away down in Dixie’s land,
Tell Jeff. Davis to let my people go.

Down in the house of bondage we have watched and waited long;
The oppressor’s heel was heavy, the oppressor’s arm was strong:
Go down, Abraham, away down in Dixie’s land,
Tell Jeff. Davis to let my people go.

Not vainly have we waited through the long and darkened years;
Not vain the patient watching, ’mid our sweat and blood and tears:
Go down, Abraham, away down in Dixie’s land,
Tell Jeff. Davis to let my people go.

Now God is with Grant, and he’ll surely whip Lee;
For the Proclamation says that the niggers must be free:
Go down, Abraham, away down in Dixie’s land,
Tell Jeff. Davis to let my people go.”

Thus ended the last night of slavery in the contraband camp at Washington.

The morning of Jan. 1, 1863, was anxiously looked for by the friends of freedom throughout the United States; and, during the entire day, the telegraph offices in the various places were beset by crowds, waiting to hear the news from the Nation’s capital. Late in the day the following proclamation made its appearance: —

Washington, Jan. 1, 1863. – I Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, do issue this my Proclamation: —

Whereas, On the 22d day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: —

“That, on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or any designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, henceforward, and forever, free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval force thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any effort they may make for their actual freedom; that the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any in which the people therein respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State or people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States.

“Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in times of actual rebellion against the authorities and Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing this rebellion, do on this, the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the date of the first above-mentioned order, do designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States. The following, to wit: —

“Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

“Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Placquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not made.

“And by virtue of the power, for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons.

“And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them, that, in all cases where allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

“And I further declare and make known, that such persons, if in suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. And upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice warranted by the Constitution, and upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

“In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

“Done at the city of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

[L. S.] (Signed) “ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

“By the President.

“Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State.”

This was the beginning of a new era: the word had gone forth, and a policy was adopted.

“The deed is done. Millions have yearned
To see the spear of Freedom cast:
The dragon writhed and roared and burned;
You’ve smote him full and square at last.”

The proclamation gave new life and vigor to our men on the battle-field. The bondmen everywhere caught up the magic word, and went with it from farm to farm, and from town to town. Black men flocked to recruiting stations, and offered themselves for the war. Everybody saw light in the distance. What newspapers and orators had failed to do in months was done by the proclamation in a single week. Frances Ellen Harper, herself colored, cheered in the following strain: —

“It shall flash through coming ages;
It shall light the distant years;
And eyes now dim with sorrow
Shall be brighter through their tears.

It shall flush the mountain ranges,
And the valleys shall grow bright;
It shall bathe the hills in radiance,
And crown their brows with light.

It shall flood with golden splendor