The Colored Regulars in the United States Army | Page 7

in 1860--Colored Population in British West Indian Possessions--Free
Colored People of the South--Free Colored People of the North--Notes.
Professor DuBois, in his exhaustive work upon the "Suppression of the
African Slave-Trade," has brought within comparatively narrow limits
the great mass of facts bearing upon his subject, and in synopses and
indices has presented all of the more important literature it has induced.
In his Monograph, published as Volume II of the Harvard Historical
Series, he has traced the rise of this nefarious traffic, especially with
reference to the American colonies, exhibited the proportions to which
it expanded, and the tenacity with which it held on to its purpose until it
met its death in the fate of the ill-starred Southern Confederacy. Every
step in his narrative is supported by references to unimpeachable
authorities; and the scholarly Monograph bears high testimony to the
author's earnest labor, painstaking research and unswerving fidelity.
Should the present work stimulate inquiry beyond the scope herein set
before the reader, he is most confidently referred to Professor Du Bois'
book as containing a complete exposition of the development and
overthrow of that awful crime.
It is from this work, however, that we shall obtain a nearer and clearer
view of the African planted upon our shores. Negro slavery began at an
early day in the North American Colonies; but up until the Revolution
of 1688 the demand for slaves was mainly supplied from England, the

slaves being white.[1] "It is probable," says Professor DuBois, "that
about 25,000 slaves were brought to America each year between 1698
and 1707, and after 1713 it rose to perhaps 30,000 annually. "Before
the Revolution the total exportation to America is variously estimated
as between 40,000 and 100,000 each year." Something of the horrors of
the "Middle Passage" may be shown by the records that out of 60,783
slaves shipped from Africa during the years 1680-88, 14,387, or nearly
one-fourth of the entire number, perished at sea. In 1790 there were in
the country nearly seven hundred thousand Africans, these having been
introduced by installments from various heathen tribes. The
importation of slaves continued with more or less success up until 1858,
when the "Wanderer" landed her cargo of 500 in Georgia.
During the period from 1790 to the breaking out of the Civil War,
shortly after the landing of the last cargo of slaves, the colored
population, both slave and free, had arisen to about four million, and
had undergone great modifications. The cargo of the "Wanderer" found
themselves among strangers, even when trying to associate with those
who in color and hair were like themselves. The slaves of 1860 differed
greatly from the slaves of a hundred years earlier. They had lost the
relics of that stern warlike spirit which prompted the Stono insurrection,
the Denmark Vesey insurrection, and the Nat Turner insurrection, and
had accepted their lot as slaves, hoping that through God, freedom
would come to them some time in the happy future. Large numbers of
them had become Christians through the teaching of godly white
women, and at length through the evangelistic efforts of men and
women of their own race. Independent religious organizations had been
formed in the North, and large local churches with Negro pastors were
in existence in the South when the "Wanderer" landed her cargo. There
had been a steady increase in numbers, indicating that the physical
well-being of the slave was not overlooked, and the slaves had greatly
improved in character. Sales made in South Carolina between 1850 and
1860 show "boys," from 16 to 25 years of age, bringing from $900 to
$1000; and "large sales" are reported showing an "average of $620
each," "Negro men bringing from $800 to $1000," and a "blacksmith"
bringing $1425. The averages generally obtained were above $600. A
sale of 109 Negroes in families is reported in the "Charleston Courier"

in which the writer says: "Two or three families averaged from $1000
to $1100 for each individual." The same item states also that "C.G.
Whitney sold two likely female house servants, one for $1000, the
other for $1190." These cases are presented to illustrate the financial
value of the American slave, and inferentially the progress he had made
in acquiring the arts of modern civilization. Slaves had become
blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carriage-makers, carpenters, bricklayers,
tailors, bootmakers, founders and moulders, not to mention all the
common labor performed by them. Slave women had become
dressmakers, hairdressers, nurses and the best cooks to be found in the
world. The slave-holders regarded themselves as the favored of
mankind because of the competence and faithfulness of their slaves.
The African spirit and character had disappeared, and in their place
were coming into being the elements of a new character, existing in
1860 purely in a negative form. The slave had become