Good Signs

The natural docility of the negro made him an excellent man to discipline for a soldier; and his faithfulness and courage were never surpassed, in strength and endurance, by the white man's faithfulness and courage. Their conduct throughout the war was most remarkable Their numbers, in some of the revolted States, were nearly equal to those of the white people; and in the absence of the men of the latter race, in the army, the whole region which they occupied was absolutely at their opportunity and advantage, would rise in insurrection and assert their right to freedom. On the contrary, they worked faithfully and patiently for their masters, on the plantations, and there is no record of an attempt, by individuals or in numbers, of that vast Seville population, to gaintheir liberty. Not a woman or child was injured by their slaves; on the contrary, they were the trusted protectors from violence, of the wives and children of the Confederates soldiers. They had faith that God would, in his own good time, deliver them from bondage; and in that faith they patiently waited and suffered. Because of their faithfulness and forbearance, when they might have filled the land with horror, the colored population of the South deserve the everlasting gratitude and good-will of the white people there, whose families they protected and by their labor supplied with food and clothing during the terrible Civil War. History furnishes no parallel to the noble conduct of the negroes toward those who were making war for the purpose of perpetuating the slavery of their race.