Existing comment:
Defeat and Triumph:
Two groups of African Americans were immediately affected by the surrender of the Union forces at Harpers Ferry. Their fates' [sic] are described below:
"And now ensued a scene which to our liberty-loving young northerners was in the highest degree revolting.
"During the long sojourn of the Union Army at Harper's Ferry, large numbers of slaves had escaped into our lines. The old and helpless and the little children, as well as able-bodied men and women, who thought the hour had come for which they had prayed and longed through many a weary year, the hour of freedom, had gathered under the flag which to them was its starry symbol. Alas, in surrendering Harper's Ferry to the rebels, Miles re-surrendered these hapless human beings to the slavery from which they fondly hoped they had escaped forever! Throughout that dismal 15th, fierce-eyed, lank, half-savage men, armed with long, cruel whips, rushed in to claim "their property;" and with oaths and curses, drove before them from their new-found liberty into bondage, the helpless, despairing blacks. The crack of the whip, its cuts across the shoulders of the women and children who flagged; the anguish, the speechless misery of those who lost in a moment the hope of their lifetime and almost their faith in a just God, formed a scene never to be forgotten. And it is dreadful to think that just such a scene ensued at each similar reverse which our army experienced!"
-- Excerpt from the regimental history of the 126th New York Volunteers, Disaster, Struggle, Triumph, by Mrs. Arabella M. Willson
Another group of African Americans faced the same dismal prospect as the contrabands. Their fate, however, was quite different. The 60th Ohio regiment included a number of free African Americans employed as teamsters and servants. The Ohio unit's Colonel, William Tremble, knew that the Union surrender jeopardized the freedom of these black men. Trimble persuaded Confederate General A.P. Hill, in charge of the surrender details, to issue passes for the African-American Ohioans to leave Harpers Ferry. However, as thousands of Union soldiers crossed the river to leave town, a Confederate major attempted to separate the Ohio blacks from their comrades. Colonel Trimble ordered the major to step aside. Trimble then drew the pistol he had been allowed to keep, and held the Confederate officer at gunpoint until all of the Ohio men, black and white, were safely across the river. |