Today in History:

39 Series I Volume XLVII-II Serial 99 - Columbia Part II

Page 39 Chapter LIX. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. -UNION.

14. Andrew Neal, aged sixty-one years, born in Savannah; slave "until the Union army liberated me; " owned by Mr. William Gibsons, and has been deacon in the Third Baptist Church for ten years.

15. James Porter, aged thirty-nine years, born in Charleston, S. C. ; freeborn, his mother having purchased her freedom; is lay render and president of the board of wardens and vestry of Saint Spethen's Protestant Episcopal Colored Church in Savannah; has been in communion nine yeas; the congregation numbers about 200 persons; the church property is worth about $10,000, and is owned by the congregation.

16. Adolphus Delmotte, aged, twenty-eight years, born in Savannah; freeborn; is a licensed minister of the Missionary Baptist Church of Milledgeville, congregation numbering about 300 or 400 persons; has been in the ministry about two years.

17. Jacob Godfrey, aged fifty-seven years, born in Marion, S. C. ; slave "until the Union army freed me; " owned by James E. Godfrey, Methodist preacher, now in the rebel Army; is a class leader and steward of Andrew's Chapel since 1863.

18. John Johnson, aged fifty-one years, born in Bryan County, Ga. ; slave "up to the time the Union army came here; " owned by W. W. Lincoln, of Savannah; is class leader and treasurer of Andrew's

Chapel for sixteen years.

19. Robert N. Taylor, aged fifty-one years, born in Wilkes County, Ga. ; slave " to the time the Union army come; " was owned by Augustus P. Wetter, Savannah, and is class leader in Andrew's Chapel for nine years.

20. James Lynch, aged twenty-six years, born in Baltimore, Md. ; freeborn; is presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and missionary to the Department of the South; has been seven years in the ministry and two years in the South.

Garrison Frazier, being chosen by the persons present to express their common sentiments upon the matters of inquiry, makes answers to inquiries as follows:

First. State what your understanding is in regard to the acts of Congress and President Lincoln's proclamation touching the condition of the colored people in the rebel States.

Answer. So far as I understand President Lincoln's proclamation to the rebellious States, it is, that if they would lay down their arms and submit to the laws of the United States before the 1st of January, 1863, all should be well, but if they did not, then all the slaves in the rebel States should be free, henceforth and forever. That is what I understood.

Second. State what you understand by slavery, and the freedom that was to be given by the President's proclamation.

Answer. Slavery is receiving by irresistible power the work of another man, and not by his consent. The freedom, as I understand it, promised by the proclamation is taking us from under the yoke of bondage and placing us where we could reap the fruit of our own labor and take care of ourselves and assist the Government in maintaining our freedom.

Third. State in what manner you think you can take care of yourselves, and how can you best assist the Government in maintaining your freedom.

Answer. The way we can best take care of ourselves is to have land, and turn in and it by our labor-that is, by the labor of the women, and children, and old men-and we can soon maintain ourselves and have something to spare; and to assist the Government the young men should enlist in the service of the Government, and serve in such manner as they may be wanted. (The rebels told us that they piled


Page 39 Chapter LIX. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. -UNION.