What Will Be Gained by the Present War?

This is a question that Sgt. Charles W. Singer of the 107th U.S. Colored Infantry asked and then answered in a letter to the editor of the Christian Recorder (Philadelphia, Pa.). This is an excerpt of the complete letter published on Oct. 8, 1864.

The question has frequently been asked: What will be gained by the present war? I ask, in return: What will you not lose by a mongrel state of peace? We would lose the best opportunity that has ever been afforded us to show the whole world that we are willing to fight for our rights. Why should not the black slave of the South fight for his liberty as well as the white serf of Russia? A slave is but a slave, and a man is but a man. Age or color is nothing - blood will tell all. The so-called southern Confederacy is fighting for the establishment of a Government, which will have for its corner-stone the perpetuation of human slavery - the degradation of the many for the purpose of elevating the few; but never shall they succeed so long as I can raise my arm against them. Who ever learned in the school of base submission the lessons of freedom, courage and independence? When did submission to a wrong induce an adversary to cease his encroachments? Some say: "Show me what the colored man has to fight for, and then I will go." You cannot see it now; but wait until some future day, and it will unfold itself most gloriously to the whole country. We want the rights of freemen, and must have them; but we can never get them if the South gain its independence. If I were now a slave at the South, my motto would be: "Give me liberty, or give me death!" I hope that motto will ring throughout the entire length and breadth of the rebel States, and fire the hearts of the men. Shall we not console our aged mothers with the hope, that, when hereafter their souls, crowned with the garlands of martyrdom, look down from the home of the blessed, the united joys of the heavens shall thrill through their immortal spirits, seeing their dear people free from the bondage of slavery?

Transformation

Ulysses S. Grant's transformation between 1861 and 1869 from an alcoholic ex-soldier and failed farmer to lieutenant general and commander of all the Union armies and President of the United States is the classic rags to riches American success story. And one that captivated me in my youth and inspires me today.

Grant's whirlwind adventure ends on a positive note. Even after his post-presidency years were tarnished when a swindler bilked him out of his savings and terminal cancer consumed his life, he mustered his last remaining resources to write his memoirs, which, with the help of Mark Twain, became an international bestseller that provided his family with financial support after his death.

Now I am discovering other stories of transformation that rivaled Grant's for their rapid and steep ascent to glory. But these stories end tragically.

Take William Wright, an African American born a slave in Kentucky and the current subject of my research. During a three year period, from 1864 to 1870, his life forever changed when he became a Union soldier and free man, then a farmer living for the first time in control of his own affairs and having the ability to pursue his dreams.

There are few instances in history where hope radiated with such brightness and warmth over humanity than in America during this time. The collapse and fall of the Confederacy and the end of a bloody Civil War. The freedom of an enslaved race of people. Three amendments to the Constitution establishing equality for all. During this brief period along our nation's timeline, hope seemed eternal. The dawn of a new age lay before us.

And yet the hope that burned so brightly dimmed quickly as Reconstruction failed. Civil rights were trampled and within a short time African Americans found themselves in a new slavery fueled by racism. And it would last for more than a century, until a new civil rights movements in the 1960s would rekindle the almost extinguished flame of hope.

William Wright would never see the flame rekindled. Driven from his farm in 1871 by what he called "Night Riders," he and his family fled to Iowa, where he lived a modest life as a farmer in a quiet corner of the country. He died in 1901.

Slavery: Simple Words, Stark Reminder

"I owned Silas Brown."
— Dr. Cyrus N. Brown, Yazoo City, Miss.

"He was owned before & during the war by Dr. C.N. Brown’s wife, thereby getting the name of Brown."
— Tibby Johnson, wife of Silas Johnson, formerly Silas Brown.

These references to Silas Johnson's early life as a slave appear in his application for a Civil War pension. Both are still in my mind weeks after I read them. These simple declarations provoked an immediate emotional response: Surprise that these individuals acknowledged slavery in such a dispassionate way; sadness for a man deprived of freedom and education during his early life; repulsion and disappointment for a man who participated in the ownership of another human being; a sense of loss for the millions of men and women of color who endured centuries of racism.

All of this feeling charged through my body in an instant. Simple words. Stark reminder.

I was unprepared for the depth of my feeling. I know slavery is a moral wrong and that it is at the center of our greatest national crisis. I learned this from books. Silas Johnson and Dr. C.N. Brown lived it. Their simple, dispassionate acknowledgment of the fact, devoid of feeling, somehow makes it all that more personal for me.

It is experiences like this that drive me to tell the stories of men like Johnson.