"Hi! Sammy, what you's doin', chile?"
"Daddy," said the inquisitive5 youth, "don't you know mas'r tell us Yankee hab tail? I don't see no tail, daddy!"
There were many who went to Port Royal during the war, in civil or military positions, whose previous impressions of the colored race were about as intelligent as Sam's view of themselves. But, for once, I had always had so much to do with fugitive6 slaves, and had studied the whole subject with such interest, that I found not much to learn or unlearn as to this one point. Their courage I had before seen tested; their docile7 and lovable qualities I had known; and the only real surprise that experience brought me was in finding them so little demoralized. I had not allowed for the extreme remoteness and seclusion8 of their lives, especially among the Sea Islands. Many of them had literally9 spent their whole existence on some lonely island or remote plantation10, where the master never came, and the overseer only once or twice a week. With these exceptions, such persons had never seen a white face, and of the excitements or sins of larger communities they had not a conception. My friend Colonel Hallo-well, of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, told me that he had among his men some of the worst reprobates11 of Northern cities. While I had some men who were unprincipled and troublesome, there was not one whom I could call a hardened villain13. I was constantly expecting to find male Topsies, with no notions of good and plenty of evil. But I never found one. Among the most ignorant there was very often a childlike absence of vices14, which was rather to be classed as inexperience than as innocence15, but which had some of the advantages of both.
Apart from this, they were very much like other men. General Saxton, examining with some impatience16 a long list of questions from some philanthropic Commission at the North, respecting the traits and habits of the freedmen, bade some staff-officer answer them all in two words,—"Intensely human." We all admitted that it was a striking and comprehensive description.
For instance, as to courage. So far as I have seen, the mass of men are naturally courageous17 up to a certain point. A man seldom runs away from danger which he ought to face, unless others run; each is apt to keep with the mass, and colored soldiers have more than usual of this gregariousness18. In almost every regiment, black or white, there are a score or two of men who are naturally daring, who really hunger after dangerous adventures, and are happiest when allowed to seek them. Every commander gradually finds out who these men are, and habitually19 uses them; certainly I had such, and I remember with delight their bearing, their coolness, and their dash. Some of them were negroes, some mulattoes. One of them would have passed for white, with brown hair and blue eyes, while others were so black you could hardly see their features. These picked men varied20 in other respects too; some were neat and well-drilled soldiers, while others were slovenly21, heedless fellows,—the despair of their officers at inspection22, their pride on a raid. They were the natural scouts23 and rangers24 of the regiment; they had the two-o'clock-in-the-morning courage, which Napoleon thought so rare. The mass of the regiment rose to the same level under excitement, and were more excitable, I think, than whites, but neither more nor less courageous.
Perhaps the best proof of a good average of courage among them was in the readiness they always showed for any special enterprise. I do not remember ever to have had the slightest difficulty in obtaining volunteers, but rather in keeping down the number. The previous pages include many illustrations of this, as well as of then: endurance of pain and discomfort27. For instance, one of my lieutenants28, a very daring Irishman, who had served for eight years as a sergeant29 of regular artillery30 in Texas, Utah, and South Carolina, said he had never been engaged in anything so risky31 as our raid up the St. Mary's. But in truth it seems to me a mere32 absurdity33 to deliberately34 argue the question of courage, as applied35 to men among whom I waked and slept, day and night, for so many months together. As well might he who has been wandering for years upon the desert, with a Bedouin escort, discuss the courage of the men whose tents have been his shelter and whose spears his guard. We, their officers, did not go there to teach lessons, but to receive them. There were more than a hundred men in the ranks who had voluntarily met more dangers in their escape from slavery than any of my young captains had incurred36 in all their lives.
There was a family named Wilson, I remember, of which we had several representatives. Three or four brothers had planned an escape from the interior to our lines; they finally decided37 that the youngest should stay and take care of the old mother; the rest, with their sister and her children, came in a "dug-out" down one of the rivers. They were fired upon, again and again, by the pickets39 along the banks, until finally every man on board was wounded; and still they got safely through. When the bullets began to fly about them, the woman shed tears, and her little girl of nine said to her, "Don't cry, mother, Jesus will help you," and then the child began praying as the wounded men still urged the boat along. This the mother told me, but I had previously40 heard it from on officer who was on the gunboat that picked them up,—a big, rough man, whose voice fairly broke as he described their appearance. He said that the mother and child had been hid for nine months in the woods before attempting their escape, and the child would speak to no one,—indeed, she hardly would when she came to our camp. She was almost white, and this officer wished to adopt her, but the mother said, "I would do anything but that for oonah," this being a sort of Indian formation of the second-person-plural, such as they sometimes use. This same officer afterwards saw a reward offered for this family in a Savannah paper.
I used to think that I should not care to read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" hi our camp; it would have seemed tame. Any group of men in a tent would have had more exciting tales to tell. I needed no fiction when I had Fanny Wright, for instance, daily passing to and fro before my tent, with her shy little girl clinging to her skirts. Fanny was a modest little mulatto woman, a soldier's wife, and a company laundress. She had escaped from the main-land in a boat, with that child and another. Her baby was shot dead in her arms, and she reached our lines with one child safe on earth and the other in heaven. I never found it needful to give any elementary instructions in courage to Fanny's husband, you may be sure.
There was another family of brothers in the regiment named Miller42. Their grandmother, a fine-looking old woman, nearly seventy, I should think, but erect43 as a pine-tree, used sometimes to come and visit them. She and her husband had once tried to escape from a plantation near Savannah. They had failed, and had been brought back; the husband had received five hundred lashes44, and while the white men on the plantation were viewing the punishment, she was collecting her children and grandchildren, to the number of twenty-two, in a neighboring marsh45, preparatory to another attempt that night. They found a flat-boat which had been rejected as unseaworthy, got on board,—still under the old woman's orders,—and drifted forty miles down the river to our lines. Trowbridge happened to be on board the gunboat which picked them up, and he said that when the "flat" touched the side of the vessel47, the grandmother rose to her full height, with her youngest grandchild in her arms, and said only, "My God! are we free?" By one of those coincidences of which life is full, her husband escaped also, after his punishment, and was taken up by the same gunboat.
I hardly need point out that my young lieutenants did not have to teach the principles of courage to this woman's grandchildren.
I often asked myself why it was that, with this capacity of daring and endurance, they had not kept the land in a perpetual flame of insurrection; why, especially since the opening of the war, they had kept so still. The answer was to be found in the peculiar48 temperament49 of the races, in their religious faith, and in the habit of patience that centuries had fortified50. The shrewder men all said substantially the same thing. What was the use of insurrection, where everything was against them? They had no knowledge, no money, no arms, no drill, no organization,—above all, no mutual51 confidence. It was the tradition among them that all insurrections were always betrayed by somebody. They had no mountain passes to defend like the Maroons52 of Jamaica,—no unpenetrable swamps, like the Maroons of Surinam. Where they had these, even on a small scale, they had used them,—as in certain swamps round Savannah and in the everglades of Florida, where they united with the Indians, and would stand fire—so I was told by General Saxton, who had fought them there—when the Indians would retreat.
It always seemed to me that, had I been a slave, my life would have been one long scheme of insurrection. But I learned to respect the patient self-control of those who had waited till the course of events should open a better way. When it came they accepted it. Insurrection on their part would at once have divided the Northern sentiment; and a large part of our army would have joined with the Southern army to hunt them down. By their waiting till we needed them, their freedom was secured.
Two things chiefly surprised me in their feeling toward their former masters,—the absence of affection and the absence of revenge. I expected to find a good deal of the patriarchal feeling. It always seemed to me a very ill-applied emotion, as connected with the facts and laws of American slavery,—still I expected to find it. I suppose that my men and their families and visitors may have had as much of it as the mass of freed slaves; but certainly they had not a particle. I never could cajole one of them, in his most discontented moment, into regretting "ole mas'r time" for a single instant. I never heard one speak of the masters except as natural enemies. Yet they were perfectly53 discriminating54 as to individuals; many of them claimed to have had kind owners, and some expressed great gratitude55 to them for particular favors received. It was not the individuals, but the ownership, of which they complained. That they saw to be a wrong which no special kindnesses could right. On this, as on all points connected with slavery, they understood the matter as clearly as Garrison56 or Phillips; the wisest philosophy could teach them nothing as to that, nor could any false philosophy befog them. After all, personal experience is the best logician57.
Certainly this indifference58 did not proceed from any want of personal affection, for they were the most affectionate people among whom I had ever lived. They attached themselves to every officer who deserved love, and to some who did not; and if they failed to show it to their masters, it proved the wrongfulness of the mastery. On the other hand, they rarely showed one gleam of revenge, and I shall never forget the self-control with which one of our best sergeants59 pointed60 out to me, at Jacksonville, the very place where one of his brothers had been hanged by the whites for leading a party of fugitive slaves. He spoke61 of it as a historic matter, without any bearing on the present issue.
But side by side with this faculty62 of patience, there was a certain tropical element in the men, a sort of fiery63 ecstasy64 when aroused, which seemed to link them by blood with the French Turcos, and made them really resemble their natural enemies, the Celts, far more than the Anglo-Saxon temperament. To balance this there were great individual resources when alone,—a sort of Indian wiliness and subtlety65 of resource. Their gregariousness and love of drill made them more easy to keep in hand than white American troops, who rather like to straggle or go in little squads66, looking out for themselves, without being bothered with officers. The blacks prefer organization.
The point of inferiority that I always feared, though I never had occasion to prove it, was that they might show less fibre, less tough and dogged resistance, than whites, during a prolonged trial,—a long, disastrous67 march, for instance, or the hopeless defence of a besieged68 town. I should not be afraid of their mutinying or running away, but of their drooping69 and dying. It might not turn out so; but I mention it for the sake of fairness, and to avoid overstating the merits of these troops. As to the simple general fact of courage and reliability70 I think no officer in our camp ever thought of there being any difference between black and white. And certainly the opinions of these officers, who for years risked their lives every moment on the fidelity71 of their men, were worth more than those of all the world beside.
No doubt there were reasons why this particular war was an especially favorable test of the colored soldiers. They had more to fight for than the whites. Besides the flag and the union, they had home and wife and child. They fought with ropes round their necks, and when orders were issued that the officers of colored troops should be put to death on capture, they took a grim satisfaction. It helped their esprit de corps72 immensely. With us, at least, there was to be no play-soldier. Though they had begun with a slight feeling of inferiority to the white troops, this compliment substituted a peculiar sense of self-respect. And even when the new colored regiments73 began to arrive from the North my men still pointed out this difference,—that in case of ultimate defeat, the Northern troops, black or white, would go home, while the First South Carolina must fight it out or be re-enslaved. This was one thing that made the St. John's River so attractive to them and even to me;—it was so much nearer the everglades. I used seriously to ponder, during the darker periods of the war, whether I might not end my days as an outlaw,—a leader of Maroons.
Meanwhile, I used to try to make some capital for the Northern troops, in their estimate, by pointing out that it was a disinterested74 thing in these men from the free States, to come down there and fight, that the slaves might be free. But they were apt keenly to reply, that many of the white soldiers disavowed this object, and said that that was not the object of the war, nor even likely to be its end. Some of them even repeated Mr. Seward's unfortunate words to Mr. Adams, which some general had been heard to quote. So, on the whole, I took nothing by the motion, as was apt to be the case with those who spoke a good word for our Government, in those vacillating and half proslavery days.
At any rate, this ungenerous discouragement had this good effect, that it touched their pride; they would deserve justice, even if they did not obtain it. This pride was afterwards severely75 tested during the disgraceful period when the party of repudiation76 in Congress temporarily deprived them of their promised pay. In my regiment the men never mutinied, nor even threatened mutiny; they seemed to make it a matter of honor to do then: part, even if the Government proved a defaulter; but one third of them, including the best men in the regiment, quietly refused to take a dollar's pay, at the reduced price. "We'se gib our sogerin' to de Guv'ment, Gunnel," they said, "but we won't 'spise ourselves so much for take de seben dollar." They even made a contemptuous ballad77, of which I once caught a snatch.
"Ten dollar a month!
Tree ob dat for clothin'l
Go to Washington
Fight for Linkum's darter!"
This "Lincoln's daughter" stood for the Goddess of Liberty, it would seem. They would be true to her, but they would not take the half-pay. This was contrary to my advice, and to that of other officers; but I now think it was wise. Nothing less than this would have called the attention of the American people to this outrageous78 fraud.*
* See Appendix.
The same slow forecast had often marked their action in other ways. One of our ablest sergeants, Henry Mclntyre, who had earned two dollars and a half per day as a master-carpenter in Florida, and paid one dollar and a half to his master, told me that he had deliberately refrained from learning to read, because that knowledge exposed the slaves to so much more watching and suspicion. This man and a few others had built on contract the greater part of the town of Micanopy in Florida, and was a thriving man when his accustomed discretion79 failed for once, and he lost all. He named his child William Lincoln, and it brought upon him such suspicion that he had to make his escape.
I cannot conceive what people at the North mean by speaking of the negroes as a bestial80 or brutal81 race. Except in some insensibility to animal pain, I never knew of an act in my regiment which I should call brutal. In reading Kay's "Condition of the English Peasantry" I was constantly struck with the unlikeness of my men to those therein described. This could not proceed from my prejudices as an abolitionist, for they would have led me the other way, and indeed I had once written a little essay to show the brutalizing influences of slavery. I learned to think that we abolitionists had underrated the suffering produced by slavery among the negroes, but had overrated the demoralization. Or rather, we did not know how the religious temperament of the negroes had checked the demoralization. Yet again, it must be admitted that this temperament, born of sorrow and oppression, is far more marked in the slave than in the native African.
Theorize as we may, there was certainly in our camp an average tone of propriety82 which all visitors noticed, and which was not created, but only preserved by discipline. I was always struck, not merely by the courtesy of the men, but also by a certain sober decency83 of language. If a man had to report to me any disagreeable fact, for instance, he was sure to do it with gravity and decorum, and not blurt84 it out in an offensive way. And it certainly was a significant fact that the ladies of our camp, when we were so fortunate as to have such guests, the young wives, especially, of the adjutant and quartermaster, used to go among the tents when the men were off duty, in order to hear their big pupils read and spell, without the slightest fear of annoyance85. I do not mean direct annoyance or insult, for no man who valued his life would have ventured that in presence of the others, but I mean the annoyance of accidentally seeing or hearing improprieties not intended for them. They both declared that they would not have moved about with anything like the same freedom in any white camp they had ever entered, and it always roused their indignation to hear the negro race called brutal or depraved.
This came partly from natural good manners, partly from the habit of deference87, partly from ignorance of the refined and ingenious evil which is learned in large towns; but a large part came from their strongly religious temperament. Their comparative freedom from swearing, for instance,—an abstinence which I fear military life did not strengthen,—was partly a matter of principle. Once I heard one of them say to another, in a transport of indignation, "Ha-a-a, boy, s'pose I no be a Christian88, I cuss you sol"—which was certainly drawing pretty hard upon the bridle89. "Cuss," however, was a generic90 term for all manner of evil speaking; they would say, "He cuss me fool," or "He cuss me coward," as if the essence of propriety were in harsh and angry speech,—which I take to be good ethics91. But certainly, if Uncle Toby could have recruited his army in Flanders from our ranks, their swearing would have ceased to be historic.
It used to seem to me that never, since Cromwell's time, had there been soldiers in whom the religious element held such a place. "A religious army," "a gospel army," were their frequent phrases. In their prayer-meetings there was always a mingling92, often quaint93 enough, of the warlike and the pious94. "If each one of us was a praying man," said Corporal Thomas Long in a sermon, "it appears to me that we could fight as well with prayers as with bullets,—for the Lord has said that if you have faith even as a grain of mustard-seed cut into four parts, you can say to the sycamore-tree, Arise, and it will come up." And though Corporal Long may have got a little perplexed95 in his botany, his faith proved itself by works, for he volunteered and went many miles on a solitary96 scouting97 expedition into the enemy's country in Florida, and got back safe, after I had given him up for lost.
The extremes of religious enthusiasm I did not venture to encourage, for I could not do it honestly; neither did I discourage them, but simply treated them with respect, and let them have their way, so long as they did not interfere98 with discipline. In general they promoted it. The mischievous99 little drummer-boys, whose scrapes and quarrels were the torment100 of my existence, might be seen kneeling together in their tents to say their prayers at night, and I could hope that their slumbers101 were blessed by some spirit of peace, such as certainly did not rule over their waking. The most reckless and daring fellows in the regiment were perfect fatalists in theur confidence that God would watch over them, and that if they died, it would be because theur time had come. This almost excessive faith, and the love of freedom and of their families, all co-operated with their pride as soldiers to make them do their duty. I could not have spared any of these incentives102. Those of our officers who were personally the least influenced by such considerations, still saw the need of encouraging them among the men.
I am bound to say that this strongly devotional turn was not always accompanied by the practical virtues103; but neither was it strikingly divorced from them. A few men, I remember, who belonged to the ancient order of hypocrites, but not many. Old Jim Cushman was our favorite representative scamp. He used to vex104 his righteous soul over the admission of the unregenerate to prayer-meetings, and went off once shaking his head and muttering, "Too much goat shout wid de sheep." But he who objected to this profane105 admixture used to get our mess-funds far more hopelessly mixed with his own, when he went out to buy chickens. And I remember that, on being asked by our Major, in that semi-Ethiopian dialect into which we sometimes slid, "How much wife you got, Jim?" the veteran replied, with a sort of penitence106 for lost opportunities, "On'y but four, Sah!"
Another man of somewhat similar quality went among us by the name of Henry Ward41 Beecher, from a remarkable107 resemblance in face and figure to that sturdy divine. I always felt a sort of admiration108 for this worthy46, because of the thoroughness with which he outwitted me, and the sublime109 impudence110 in which he culminated111. He got a series of passes from me, every week or two, to go and see his wife on a neighboring plantation, and finally, when this resource seemed exhausted112, he came boldly for one more pass, that he might go and be married.
We used to quote him a good deal, also, as a sample of a certain Shakespearian boldness of personification in which the men sometimes indulged. Once, I remember, his captain had given him a fowling-piece to clean. Henry Ward had left it in the captain's tent, and the latter, finding it, had transferred the job to some one else.
"Cappen! I took dat gun, and I put bun in Cappen tent. Den12 I look, and de gun not dar! Den Conscience say, Cappen mus' hab gib dat gun to somebody else for clean. Den I say, Conscience, you reason correck."
Compare Lancelot Gobbo's soliloquy in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona"!
Still, I maintain that, as a whole, the men were remarkably115 free from inconvenient116 vices. There was no more lying and stealing than in average white regiments. The surgeon was not much troubled by shamming117 sickness, and there were not a great many complaints of theft. There was less quarrelling than among white soldiers, and scarcely ever an instance of drunkenness. Perhaps the influence of their officers had something to do with this; for not a ration26 of whiskey was ever issued to the men, nor did I ever touch it, while in the army, nor approve a requisition for any of the officers, without which it could not easily be obtained. In this respect our surgeons fortunately agreed with me, and we never had reason to regret it. I believe the use of ardent118 spirits to be as useless and injurious in the army as on board ship, and among the colored troops, especially, who had never been accustomed to it, I think that it did only harm.
The point of greatest laxity in their moral habits—the want of a high standard of chastity—was not one which affected119 their camp life to any great extent, and it therefore came less under my observation. But I found to my relief that, whatever their deficiency in this respect, it was modified by the general quality of their temperament, and indicated rather a softening120 and relaxation121 than a hardening and brutalizing of their moral natures. Any insult or violence in this direction was a thing unknown. I never heard of an instance. It was not uncommon122 for men to have two or three wives in different plantations,—the second, or remoter, partner being called a "'broad wife,"—i.e. wife abroad. But the whole tendency was toward marriage, and this state of things was only regarded as a bequest123 from "mas'r time."
I knew a great deal about their marriages, for they often consulted me, and took my counsel as lovers are wont124 to do,—that is, when it pleased their fancy. Sometimes they would consult their captains first, and then come to me in despairing appeal. "Cap'n Scroby [Trowbridge] he acvise me not for marry dis lady, 'cause she hab seben chil'en. What for use? Cap'n Scroby can't lub for me. I mus' lub for myself, and I lub he." I remember that on this occasion "he" stood by, a most unattractive woman, jet black, with an old pink muslin dress, torn white cotton gloves, and a very flowery bonnet125, that must have descended126 through generations of tawdry mistresses.
I felt myself compelled to reaffirm the decision of the inferior court. The result was as usual. They were married the next day, and I believe that she proved an excellent wife, though she had seven children, whose father was also in the regiment. If she did not, I know many others who did, and certainly I have never seen more faithful or more happy marriages than among that people.
The question was often asked, whether the Southern slaves or the Northern free blacks made the best soldiers. It was a compliment to both classes that each officer usually preferred those whom he had personally commanded. I preferred those who had been slaves, for their greater docility127 and affectionateness, for the powerful stimulus128 which their new freedom gave, and for the fact that they were fighting, in a manner, for their own homes and firesides. Every one of these considerations afforded a special aid to discipline, and cemented a peculiar tie of sympathy between them and their officers. They seemed like clansmen, and had a more confiding129 and filial relation to us than seemed to me to exist in the Northern colored regiments.
So far as the mere habits of slavery went, they were a poor preparation for military duty. Inexperienced officers often assumed that, because these men had been slaves before enlistment130, they would bear to be treated as such afterwards. Experience proved the contrary. The more strongly we marked the difference between the slave and the soldier, the better for the regiment. One half of military duty lies in obedience131, the other half in self-respect. A soldier without self-respect is worthless. Consequently there were no regiments in which it was so important to observe the courtesies and proprieties86 of military life as in these. I had to caution the officers to be more than usually particular in returning the salutations of the men; to be very careful in their dealings with those on picket38 or guard-duty; and on no account to omit the titles of the non-commissioned officers. So, in dealing132 out punishments, we had carefully to avoid all that was brutal and arbitrary, all that savored133 of the overseer. Any such dealing found them as obstinate134 and contemptuous as was Topsy when Miss Ophelia undertook to chastise135 her. A system of light punishments, rigidly136 administered according to the prescribed military forms, had more weight with them than any amount of angry severity. To make them feel as remote as possible from the plantation, this was essential. By adhering to this, and constantly appealing to their pride as soldiers and their sense of duty, we were able to maintain a high standard of discipline,—so, at least, the inspecting officers said,—and to get rid, almost entirely137, of the more degrading class of punishments,—standing on barrels, tying up by the thumbs, and the ball and chain.
In all ways we had to educate their self-respect. For instance, at first they disliked to obey their own non-commissioned officers. "I don't want him to play de white man ober me," was a sincere objection. They had been so impressed with a sense of inferiority that the distinction extended to the very principles of honor. "I ain't got colored-man principles," said Corporal London Simmons, indignantly defending himself from some charge before me. "I'se got white-gemman principles. I'se do my best. If Cap'n tell me to take a man, s'pose de man be as big as a house, I'll clam138 hold on him till I die, inception139 [excepting] I'm sick."
But it was plain that this feeling was a bequest of slavery, which military life would wear off. We impressed it upon them that they did not obey their officers because they were white, but because they were their officers, just as the Captain must obey me, and I the General; that we were all subject to military law, and protected by it in turn. Then we taught them to take pride in having good material for noncommissioned officers among themselves, and in obeying them. On my arrival there was one white first sergeant, and it was a question whether to appoint others. This I prevented, but left that one, hoping the men themselves would at last petition for his removal, which at length they did. He was at once detailed140 on other duty. The picturesqueness141 of the regiment suffered, for he was very tall and fair, and I liked to see him step forward in the centre when the line of first sergeants came together at dress-parade. But it was a help to discipline to eliminate the Saxon, for it recognized a principle.
Afterwards I had excellent battalion-drills without a single white officer, by way of experiment; putting each company under a sergeant, and going through the most difficult movements, such as division-columns and oblique-squares. And as to actual discipline, it is doing no injustice142 to the line-officers of the regiment to say that none of them received from the men more implicit143 obedience than Color-Sergeant Rivers. I should have tried to obtain commissions for him and several others before I left the regiment, had their literary education been sufficient; and such an attempt was finally made by Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, my successor in immediate144 command, but it proved unsuccessful. It always seemed to me an insult to those brave men to have novices145 put over their heads, on the ground of color alone; and the men felt it the more keenly as they remained longer in service. There were more than seven hundred enlisted146 men in the regiment, when mustered147 out after more than three years' service. The ranks had been kept full by enlistment, but there were only fourteen line-officers instead of the full thirty. The men who should have filled those vacancies148 were doing duty as sergeants in the ranks.
In what respect were the colored troops a source of disappointment? To me in one respect only,—that of health. Their health improved, indeed, as they grew more familiar with military life; but I think that neither their physical nor moral temperament gave them that toughness, that obstinate purpose of living, which sustains the more materialistic149 Anglo-Saxon. They had not, to be sure, the same predominant diseases, suffering in the pulmonary, not in the digestive organs; but they suffered a good deal. They felt malaria150 less, but they were more easily choked by dust and made ill by dampness. On the other hand, they submitted more readily to sanitary151 measures than whites, and, with efficient officers, were more easily kept clean. They were injured throughout the army by an undue152 share of fatigue153 duty, which is not only exhausting but demoralizing to a soldier; by the un-suitableness of the rations25, which gave them salt meat instead of rice and hominy; and by the lack of good medical attendance. Their childlike constitutions peculiarly needed prompt and efficient surgical154 care; but almost all the colored troops were enlisted late in the war, when it was hard to get good surgeons for any regiments, and especially for these. In this respect I had nothing to complain of, since there were no surgeons in the army for whom I would have exchanged my own.
And this late arrival on the scene affected not only the medical supervision155 of the colored troops, but their opportunity for a career. It is not my province to write their history, nor to vindicate156 them, nor to follow them upon those larger fields compared with which the adventures of my regiment appear but a partisan157 warfare158. Yet this, at least, may be said. The operations on the South Atlantic coast, which long seemed a merely subordinate and incidental part of the great contest, proved to be one of the final pivots159 on which it turned. All now admit that the fate of the Confederacy was decided by Sherman's march to the sea. Port Royal was the objective point to which he marched, and he found the Department of the South, when he reached it, held almost exclusively by colored troops. Next to the merit of those who made the march was that of those who held open the door. That service will always remain among the laurels160 of the black regiments.
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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scrutinizing
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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7
docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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8
seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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9
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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10
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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reprobates
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| n.道德败坏的人，恶棍( reprobate的名词复数 ) | |
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12
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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13
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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14
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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15
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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16
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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17
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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18
gregariousness
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| 集群性；簇聚性 | |
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19
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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20
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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21
slovenly
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| adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的 | |
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22
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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23
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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24
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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25
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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26
ration
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| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
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27
discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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28
lieutenants
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|
| n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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29
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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30
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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31
risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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32
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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33
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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34
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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35
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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36
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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37
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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38
picket
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|
| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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39
pickets
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| 罢工纠察员( picket的名词复数 ) | |
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40
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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41
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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42
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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43
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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44
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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45
marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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46
worthy
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|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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47
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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48
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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49
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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50
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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51
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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52
maroons
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|
| n.逃亡黑奴（maroon的复数形式）vt.把…放逐到孤岛（maroon的第三人称单数形式） | |
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53
perfectly
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|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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54
discriminating
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| a.有辨别能力的 | |
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55
gratitude
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|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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56
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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57
logician
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| n.逻辑学家 | |
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58
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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59
sergeants
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| 警官( sergeant的名词复数 )； （美国警察）警佐； （英国警察）巡佐； 陆军（或空军）中士 | |
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60
pointed
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|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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61
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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62
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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63
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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64
ecstasy
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|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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65
subtlety
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|
| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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66
squads
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|
| n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍 | |
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67
disastrous
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|
| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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68
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
drooping
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|
| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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70
reliability
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|
| n.可靠性，确实性 | |
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71
fidelity
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|
| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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72
corps
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|
| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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73
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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74
disinterested
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|
| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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75
severely
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|
| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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76
repudiation
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|
| n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃 | |
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77
ballad
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|
| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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78
outrageous
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|
| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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79
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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80
bestial
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|
| adj.残忍的；野蛮的 | |
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81
brutal
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|
| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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82
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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83
decency
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|
| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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84
blurt
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| vt.突然说出，脱口说出 | |
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85
annoyance
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|
| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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86
proprieties
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| n.礼仪，礼节；礼貌( propriety的名词复数 )；规矩；正当；合适 | |
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87
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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88
Christian
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|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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89
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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90
generic
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| adj.一般的，普通的，共有的 | |
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91
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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92
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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93
quaint
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|
| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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94
pious
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|
| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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95
perplexed
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|
| adj.不知所措的 | |
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96
solitary
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|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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97
scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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98
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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99
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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100
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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101
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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102
incentives
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| 激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机 | |
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103
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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104
vex
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| vt.使烦恼，使苦恼 | |
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105
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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106
penitence
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| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
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107
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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108
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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109
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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110
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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111
culminated
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| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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112
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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113
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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114
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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115
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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116
inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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117
shamming
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| 假装，冒充( sham的现在分词 ) | |
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118
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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119
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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120
softening
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| 变软，软化 | |
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121
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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122
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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123
bequest
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| n.遗赠；遗产，遗物 | |
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124
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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125
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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126
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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127
docility
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| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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128
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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129
confiding
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|
| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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130
enlistment
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| n.应征入伍，获得，取得 | |
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131
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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132
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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133
savored
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|
| v.意味，带有…的性质( savor的过去式和过去分词 )；给…加调味品；使有风味；品尝 | |
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134
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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135
chastise
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| vt.责骂，严惩 | |
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136
rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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137
entirely
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|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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138
clam
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| n.蛤，蛤肉 | |
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139
inception
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| n.开端，开始，取得学位 | |
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140
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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141
picturesqueness
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142
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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143
implicit
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| a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的 | |
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144
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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145
novices
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| n.新手( novice的名词复数 )；初学修士（或修女）；（修会等的）初学生；尚未赢过大赛的赛马 | |
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146
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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147
mustered
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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148
vacancies
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| n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 )；空虚；空白；空缺 | |
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149
materialistic
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| a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的 | |
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150
malaria
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| n.疟疾 | |
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151
sanitary
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| adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的 | |
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152
undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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153
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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154
surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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155
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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156
vindicate
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| v.为…辩护或辩解，辩明；证明…正确 | |
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157
partisan
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| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
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158
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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159
pivots
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| n.枢( pivot的名词复数 )；最重要的人（或事物）；中心；核心v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的第三人称单数 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开 | |
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160
laurels
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| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
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