The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919

C. S. P., Dom., 1663-1664, p. 168, Richard White to Captain Weld, June 11, 1663.

448

As this contract cannot be discovered it is difficult to say just when it was made or what were its conditions. Georges Scelle in his book, La Traité Nègriere aux Indes de Castille, 1: 524, gives the date of this contract as February 28, 1663, and says it was for 35,000 Negroes which were to be delivered at the rate of 5,000 per year. This may be true, but on the other hand the company distinctly declares in one place that the contract was for the annual delivery of 3,500 Negroes per year. C. O. 1: 19, ff. 7, 8, brief narrative of the trade and present condition of the Royal Adventurers, 1664/5.

449

C. O. 1: 17, f. 189, memorial of Sir Ellis Leighton to the duke of York, 1663.

450

Ibid., ff. 244, 247; A. C. R., 75: 48.

451

A. C. R., 75: 15, August 5, 1664.

452

Ibid., 75: 34, May 26, 1665.

453

C. O. 1: 18, f. 165, Willoughby to the king, June 17, 1664.

454

Add. MSS., 12,430, f. 31, Beeston, Journal, April 8, 1665.

455

A. C. R., 75: 43, March 23, 1665/6.

456

P. C. R., Charles II, 5: 396, March 30, 1666.

457

A. C. R., 75: 46; Add. MSS., 12,430, f. 31, Beeston, Journal, February 7, 1664/5.

458

Answer of the Company of Royal Adventurers … to the Petition … exhibited … by Sir Paul Painter.

459

C. O. 1: 19, ff. 7, 8, brief narrative of the trade and present condition of the Royal Adventurers, 1664/5.

460

Davis, The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida, p. 220.

461

For summary of such, legislation to prevent this, see J.C. Kurd, The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States, Vol. II. In Florida, 1827, a law was enacted to prevent trading with Negroes. In 1828, death was declared the penalty for inciting insurrection among the slaves and in 1840 there was passed an act prohibiting the use of firearms by Negroes. In Virginia as early as 1748 there was enacted a measure declaring that even the free Negroes and Indians enlisted in the militia should appear without arms; but in 1806 the law was modified to provide that free Negroes should not carry arms without first obtaining a license from the county or corporation court. One who was caught with firearms in spite of this act was to forfeit the weapon to the informer and receive thirty-nine lashes at the whipping-post. Hening, Statutes-at-Large, Vol. V, p. 17; Vol. XVI, p. 274.

462

General W. S. Harney, commanding in Missouri, responded to the claims of slaveholders for the return of runaway slaves with the words: "Already, since the commencement of these unhappy disturbances, slaves have escaped from their owners and have sought refuge in the camps of the United States troops from the Northern States, and commanded by a Northern General. They were carefully sent back to their owners." General D. C. Buell, commanding in Tennessee, in reply to the same demands stated: "Several applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been found in our camps; and in every instance that I know of, the master has removed his servant and taken him away." William Wells Brown, The Negro in the Rebellion, pp. 57-58.

463

Secretary Seddon, War Department, wrote: "They [the Negroes] have, besides, the homes they value, the families they love, and the masters they respect and depend on to defend and protect against the savagery and devastation of the enemy."—Official Rebellion Records, Series IV, Vol. Ill, pp. 761-762.

464

Governor Walker of Florida, himself a former slaveholder, said before the State legislature in 1865 that "the world had never seen such a body of slaves, for not only in peace but in war they had been faithful to us. During much of the time of the late unhappy difficulties, Florida had a greater number of men in her army than constituted her entire voting population. This, of course, stripped many districts of their arms-bearing inhabitants and left our females and infant children almost exclusively to the protection of our slaves. They proved true to their trust. Not one instance of insult, outrage, or indignity has ever come to my knowledge. They remained at home and made provisions for the army." John Wallace, Carpet-Bag Rule in Florida, p. 23.

465

"For more than two years, Negroes had been extensively employed in belligerent operations by the Confederacy. They had been embodied and drilled as rebel soldiers and had paraded with white troops at a time when this would not have been tolerated in the armies of the Union."—Greely, The American Conflict, Vol. II, p. 524.

"It was a notorious fact that the enemy were using Negroes to build fortifications, drive teams and raise food for the army. Black hands piled up the sand-bags and raised the batteries which drove Anderson out of Sumter. At Montgomery, the Capital of the Confederacy, Negroes were being drilled and armed for military duty."—W. W. Brown, The Negro in the Rebellion, p. 59.

466

Ibid., Vol. II, p. 521.

467

Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, Vol. I, p. 237; Schwab, The Confederate States of America, p. 194.

468

Laws of Florida, 12th Session, 1862, Chap. 1378.

469

Confederate War Department, Bureau of Conscription, Circular No. 36, December 12, 1864. Off. Reds. Reb., Series IV, Vol. III, p. 933.

470

Off. Reds. Reb., Series IV, Vol. Ill, p. 780. Journals of Congress, IV, 260.

471

Washington, The Story of the Negro, Vol. II, p. 321.