OF THE

NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA

FROM 1619 TO 1880

NEGROES AS SLAVES, AS SOLDIERS, AND AS CITIZENS

TOGETHER WITH

A PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATION OF THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN
FAMILY, AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF AFRICA, AND AN
ACCOUNT OF THE NEGRO GOVERNMENTS OF

SIERRA LEONE AND LIBERIA

BY

GEORGE W. WILLIAMS

FIRST COLORED MEMBER OF THE OHIO LEGISLATURE, AND LATE JUDGE ADVOCATE of the
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC OF OHIO, ETC.

NOTE.

T

HIS second volume brings the HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN
AMERICA from 1800 down to 1880. It consists of six parts and
twenty-nine chapters. Few memories can cover this eventful
period of American history. Commencing its career with the Republic,
slavery grew with its growth and strengthened with its strength. The
dark spectre kept pace and company with liberty until separated by the
sword. Beginning with the struggle for restriction or extension of
slavery, I have striven to record, in the spirit of honest and impartial
historical inquiry, all the events of this period belonging properly to my
subject. The development and decay of anti-slavery sentiment at the
South; the pious efforts of the good Quakers to ameliorate the condi-
tion of the slaves; the service of Negroes as soldiers and sailors; the
anti-slavery agitation movement; the insurrections of slaves; the na-
tional legislation on the slavery question; the John Brown movement;
the war for the Union; the valorous conduct of Negro soldiers; the
emancipation proclamations; the reconstruction of the late Confederate
States; the errors of reconstruction; the results of emancipation; vital,
prison, labor, educational, financial, and social statistics; the exodus-
cause and effect; and a sober prophecy of the future, are all faithfully
recorded.

After seven years I am loath to part with the saddest task ever
committed to human hands! I have tracked my bleeding countrymen
through the widely scattered documents of American history; I have
listened to their groans, their clanking chains, and melting prayers, until
the woes of a race and the agonies of centuries seem to crowd upon my
soul as a bitter reality. Many pages of this history have been blistered
with my tears; and, although having lived but a little more than a
generation, my mind feels as if it were cycles old.

The long spectral hand on the clock of American history points to
the completion of the second decade since the American slave became
an American citizen. How wondrous have been his strides, how mar-
vellous his achievements! Twenty years ago we were in the midst of a

great war for the extinction of slavery; in this anniversary week I com-
plete my task, record the results of that struggle. I modestly strive to
lift the Negro race to its pedestal in American history. I raise this
post to indicate the progress of humanity; to instruct the present, to
inform the future. I commit this work to the considerate judgment of
my fellow-citizens of every race, "with malice toward none, and charity
for all."

GEO. W. WILLIAMS.

HOFFMAN HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 28, 1882.

CONTENTS.

Part 4.

CONSERVATIVE ERA-NEGROES IN THE ARMY AND NAVY.

CHAPTER I.

RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION.

1800-1825.

PAGE

Commencement of the Nineteenth Century. - Slave Population of 1800.- Memorial presented
to Congress calling Attention to the Slave-trade to the Coast of Guinea. - Georgia cedes
the Territory lying West of her to become a State. - Ohio adopts a State Constitution..
William Henry Harrison appointed Governor of the Territory of Indiana. - An Act of
Congress prohibiting the Importation of Slaves into the United States or Territories. —
Slave Population of 1810.- Mississippi applies for Admission into the Union with a Slave
Constitution. Congress besieged by Memorials urging more Specific Legislation against
the Slave-trade. - Premium offered to the Informer of every illegally imported African
seized within the United States. Circular-letters sent to the Naval Officers on the
Sea-coast of the Slave-holding States. - President Monroe's Message to Congress on the
Question of Slavery. - Petition presented by the Missouri Delegates for the Admission of
that State into the Union. The Organization of the Arkansas Territory. — Resolutions
passed for the Restriction of Slavery in New States. The Missouri Controversy. - The
Organization of the Anti-slavery Societies. - An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery
in New Jersey. - Its Provisions. The Attitude of the Northern Press on the Slavery
Question. Slave Population of 1820. — Anti-slavery Sentiment at the North

-

CHAPTER II.

NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812.

Employment of Negroes as Soldiers in the War of 1812. - The New York Legislature
authorizes the Enlistment of a Regiment of Colored Soldiers. — Gen. Andrew Jackson's
Proclamation to the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana calling them to Arms. - Stir-
ring Address to the Colored Troops the Sunday before the Battle of New Orleans. Gen.
Jackson anticipates the Valor of his Colored Soldiers. - Terms of Peace at the Close of
the War by the Commissioners at Ghent. - Negroes placed as Chattel Property. — Their
Valor in War secures them no Immunity in Peace.

CHAPTER III.

NEGROES IN THE NAVY.

No Proscription against Negroes as Sailors. They are carried upon the Rolls in the Navy
without Regard to their Nationality. - Their Treatment as Sailors. Commodore Perry's
Letter to Commodore Chauncey in Regard to the Men sent him. - Commodore Chaun-
cey's Spirited Reply. The Heroism of the Negro set forth in the Picture of Perry's
Victory on Lake Erie. Extract of a Letter from Nathaniel Shaier, Commander of a
Private Vessel. He cites Several Instances of the Heroic Conduct of Negro Sailors

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