Excerpts from the book "A Private's Reminiscences of the Civil War," written in 1882 by Rev. Theodore Gerrish. The book chronicles his experiences as a Union Soldier during the American Civil War. Here in the final Chapter XXII, it appears he wrote to the U.S. Government asking/demanding equal rights and protection not be deprived the blacks who did all they could to save the nation and help its Union Army defenders against Confederacy rebels who fought to destroy it from 1861-65.
“OUR BROTHERS IN BLACK.”
There were
some facts developed in regard to the negroes in that bloody strife which
appear remarkable when we consider their moral condition and the positions in
which they were placed. When our white brothers in the South look in haughty
disdain upon the negroes, and question as to what rights they should expect to
exercise under our Government, I think it would be wise for “Uncle Sam” to
whisper these facts, thus developed, in the ears of his proud spirited sons. In
all those eventful years no negro was ever found in a traitor’s uniform. The “stars
and bars” had no beauty for them; they had not forgotten the old “stars and
stripes.”
There were
plenty of white men in the South who were willing to shoot and starve Union
prisoners, but no black man was found base enough to do such work, although
slavery had kept them in ignorance and
degradation, although their virtues had been debauched to gratify the passions
of their owners, although the Government itself had allowed them to be placed on a level with the common animal. But
notwithstanding all this, beneath each black skin there was a human heart that
disdained to descend to depths of infamy that would permit them to so treat
their fellow creatures.
They never
misused a Union prisoner, but were to them angels of mercy, aiding them in
their terrible flight for life from those prison pens, giving the last crumb of
bread and meat in their possession, guiding them through the trackless forests
and across the bayous and rivers, concealing them by skillful devices when the
hoarse deep baying of the pursuing blood-hounds came too near. They fought
heroically when marshaled under the stars and stripes, so that, when the war
closed, they had nobly earned the ballot that the Government placed in their
hands.
With deep
interest and much gratitude the old soldiers have watched their struggles and
rapid development in all the elements of good citizenship since the close of
the war. As these two races march beside each other in the struggle of life, we
only ask and demand that those who, in their poverty, did all they could to
save the nation and assist its defenders, shall not be deprived of their sacred
rights by those who fought to destroy the nation, and rejoiced in the death of
its soldiers.
Give the “brothers
in black” an equal chance with other citizens. Let the general Government
protect the rights of every citizen, without regard to color or race. That is
all we ask, and that we have a right to demand.
It is fitting that one chapter in this volume should be devoted to a review of the record that our soldiers made through those eventful years of the war. This is of special importance, as we are living in an age that is concentrating its thoughts and energies in the present and the future, and is too rapidly forgetting the events of the past, while, consequently, the rising generation is but very imperfectly informed as to the great events of the civil war, of the situation in which the government was placed at its outbreak, and the sacrifices that were made to preserve its life.
About the Author:
Theodore enlisted Company H of the 20th Maine Regiment when he was just 16 years old. He was with the regiment from its founding in 1862 through its mustering out in 1865 except for the summer of 1863 when he was sick in a hospital in Philadelphia and in 1864 when he was recovering from a wound suffered in The Wilderness. After the war he wrote several books including "Army Life: A Private's Reminiscences of the Civil War" which is the only history of his famous regiment written by a member of it.
After the Civil War, he became a minister before moving to the Dakota's where he became wealthy through land speculating. He died in Tennessee in 1923.
The Black Congressmen of Reconstruction: Death of Representation - Mobituaries
