But nothing can be done if their homes happen
to be twenty or thirty miles from any office that will protect them. A
great many have thus learned that there is no protection for them, and
quietly submit to anything that may be required of them, or, as is more
frequently the case, they leave such places and crowd about the places
where they can be protected.
A girl about twelve years of age, certainly too young to commit any
serious offence, lies in No. 1 hospital now with her back perfectly raw,
the results of a paddling administered by her former owner. Any number of
such cases could easily be cited. In many cases negroes who left their
homes during the war, and have been within our military lines, and have
provided homes here for their families, going back to get their wives or
children, have been driven off and told they could not have them. In
several cases guards have been sent to aid people in getting their
families, in many others it has been impracticable, as the distance was
too great. In portions of the northern part of this district the colored
people are kept in SLAVERY still. The white people tell them that they
were free during the war, but the war is now over, and they must go to
work again as before. The reports from sub-commissioners nearest that
locality show that the blacks are in a much worse state than ever before,
the able-bodied being kept at work under the lash, and the young and
infirm driven off to care for themselves.
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