The sergeant, p.35
The Sergeant, page 35
28. EPILOGUE
Post-Reconstruction. Literacy rates: R. A. Margo, Race and Schooling in the South, 1880–1950 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 7. “There is something…”: Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1900), 318. Black politicians lose ground: Philip Dray, Capitol Men (Boston: Mariner Books, 2010), 361–62; Matthew Lynch, Before Obama: A Reappraisal of Black Reconstruction Era Politicians (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 2012), 98–100. “A movement of any kind…”: Booker T. Washington, “How I Came to Call the First Negro Conference,” A.M.E. Church Review, April 1899, 807–808. “I have written this…”: Emmett Jay Scott and Lyman Beecher Stowe, Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization (New York: Doubleday, 1916), 313. “You will get your rights…”: “Negro Told to Take His Rights,” Boston Herald, July 19, 1913.
The Evans vendetta. James S. Evans Sr.: “A Great Mistake,” in the Bladon Springs Herald, January 19, 1872, said Evans “was among the first” Alabama lawmakers to support secession, adding that “during the war he was heart and soul in the [Confederate] cause” and had since become “a consistent coworker” in the Democratic Party. James S. Evans Jr.: “Newspaper Men Fight,” Weekly Commercial Herald (Vicksburg, MS), January 22, 1886; “Death of J. S. Evans Ends Unique Career,” Washington [DC] Times, July 4, 1910. “Evans succeeded splendidly…”: “A Rare Exhibition of Ignorance,” Dallas Morning News, September 17, 1897. One error per sentence: “Facts Free of Charge,” Dallas Morning News, September 10, 1897. “Fiction masquerades…”: “Clips and Comment,” Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, November 27, 1897. “When he says…”: “The Memphis Commercial Appeal…” Dallas Morning News, August 29, 1897. “I am very…”: “Sherman’s Interview,” Cincinnati Tribune, October 26, 1895. “Reporter” and “quotation”: Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary (Cleveland: The World Publishing Co., 1911), 272, 286.
Evans’s racism: As just one example, (“Southern Club Setback,” Flint [Michigan] Journal, October 10, 1900) he quit the Southern Democratic Club of Chicago over its opposition to the US military occupation of the Philippines. Noting that “all of us long ago agreed that the negro’s place is inferior to the white man’s on election day,” he argued that “the right of the Anglo-Saxon to rule” also applied to the Philippines. His attack on Overton Woodfork is described in “A Bloody Encounter,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), June 7, 1894, and “Death Summons ‘Jim’ Evans,” Washington [DC] Herald, July 4, 1910. “In contrast with the other…”: Evans, “Famous Negro.”
Said as a convict. “The brightest Negro…,” and following quotes: James S. Evans Jr. (unsigned), “In the Corridors,” St. Louis Republic, November 7, 1892. Schoolteacher forgeries: In one example, “A Raised Warrant,” Nashville Tennessean, July 6, 1883, Wesley Charlton obtained one school director’s signature for his paycheck (or “warrant”) but couldn’t get the other signature, so he had a friend forge it. The news wires: The first squib appeared in “Worldlings,” The Evening World (New York), November 11, 1892. Other squibs included McCook Tribune, December 2, 1892; Ironwood News-Record, December 28, 1892; Waycross Weekly Herald, June 24, 1894; Wilmington Morning Star, March 25, 1894; Bainbridge Democrat, April 12, 1894; Altoona Tribune, March 29, 1894. “It is a common saying…”: “The Teachers’ Association,” Abbeville [S.C.] Press and Banner, October 12, 1881. “There is soon to be released…” and following quotations: “Famous Negro,” Chicago Times Herald. “Nicholas Said, the nigger…”: James S. Evans Jr. (unsigned), “Ayseed Sees Wealth,” New Orleans Times-Democrat, May 29, 1903.
Muslims in American history: Antony Van Salee: Leo Hershkowitz, “The Troublesome Turk: An Illustration of Judicial Process in New Amsterdam,” New York History, (October 1965): 299–310. Joseph Benenhaley: Terri Ann Ognibene and Glen Browder, South Carolina’s Turkish People: A History and Ethnology (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2018). Hamet Achmet, Connecticut, Pension Application No. S38107, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files (NARA). Max Hassan, Service Records, Microfilm Serial: M1818; Microfilm Roll: 198, 1,080–97. Abel Mahomet: Committee of the Regimental Association, The Story of One Regiment: The Eleventh Maine Infantry Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion (New York: J. J. Little, 1896), 299, 363.
“It is not without…”: Said, Autobiography, v–vi.
INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
First and Second North Carolina (newly freed slaves), 2–3
First Rhode Island Regiment, 104
Second Massachusetts, 159, 160
Third Rhode Island Artillery, 151
Seventh Connecticut Infantry, 128
Eighth Colored Troops (freemen from Pennsylvania), 148–53
Eighteenth Heavy Artillery Battalion, 166–67
Thirty-Second US Colored Troops, 186, 187
Thirty-Third US Colored Troops (former South Carolina slaves), 172–74
Thirty-Fourth US Colored Troops, 187
Thirty-Fifth Colored Troops (former slaves from the Carolinas), 148–53
Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment (freeborn colored troops) Fort Wagner attack, 130
men refuse to fall in line, refuse picket duty, 164
ordered to cover white units’ retreat in Olustee, 151–53
and Seymour’s ill-fated sweep through Florida, 148–53
Shaw’s reaction to the pay dispute, 127–29
on Sherman’s march through Georgia, 184–90
Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment (troops of African descent) about, 2–5
assault on a Rebel fortification on James Island, 165–67
assigned to pin down Rebels at Charleston and countryside, 191–94
as backup for Union Army attacking Fort Lamar, takeover of Battery Wright, 172–76
Black recruit shot by a white Irishman, 124–25
at Boyd’s Landing for six weeks protecting the doctors and wounded, 191
building a platform and walkway in the swamp to hold a gun that can bombard Charleston, 133–35, 136, 137
Ellsworth replaces Dennis Jones, 159–64
Gordon establishes a school for illiterate soldiers, 146–47
mutiny related to mistreatment by white officers, 158–59
as occupation force in Florida, 148–53
ordered to the Carolinas, 125
recruiters enlist men in, 114–15
and Sherman’s march through Georgia, 184–90
summoned for a campaign in Florida led by Seymour, 149–53
103rd New York, 165–67, 172–76
115th New York, 151
127th New York, 187
A
Abbeville, Alabama, 228–31
Abdy Aga, 33–34, 35
abolitionists, 21, 119
Abu-Khalum, 15–17
African Americans Rep. Cobb of Georgia praises Southerners, 21–22
as “subject race,” 86–87
See also prejudices; slavery
African Civilization Society, Said’s application to work for, 98–102
Aga, Kislar (Chief of Girls), 42–43
Ahmed, ibn-Ali, Sultan, 13
Alabama, 227, 228–36, 237, 239–40, 244–48
alcohol binges, Said and, 76–78, 105, 227
Alexander, James, 69
Alexander II, tsar of Russia and Napoleon III meeting in Stuttgart, 69–70
popular policies of, 64
al-Kanemi, Mohammed al-Amin ibn, sheikh of Borno, 12, 13–15, 18, 20
American Revolution, Black freemen fighting in, 104
anciens libres (longtime freemen), 92
Andrew, John, 119, 125, 145
The Anglo-African (newspaper), 85, 168–69
Anthony, Isham, 246
Anti-Slavery Reporter, London, Rochussen’s letters to, 84–85, 95–96
Arabic, process for learning, 22–23, 24, 202–3
Archangelsk (Trubetzkoy family estate), Russia, 62–63
Atlanta, Georgia, 223–26
Atlantic Monthly, 209
Austin, Allan D., 253
Avery Institute, Charleston, South Carolina, 212
Aylmer, Canada, 92–93, 96
B
the Bahamas, 88–89
Baker, Wallace, 121, 160, 161–64, 169–71, 177–78
Baldwin, Florida, 149, 153
baobab trees, 26
baptism of Nicholas Said, 60–61
Baptiste, George de, 115
Barber, Moses, 149
barca (blessing), 9
Barca Gana, Katzalla, “Lion of War” (father) biographical info, 1, 8–10, 12
acquisition of Dalia, 17
attempting to lure Denham to Islam, 10–11
battle for Mandara, Borno, 15–17
beliefs about life and death, 59
capturing slaves to benefit Borno, 10
death of, 21, 22
a mamluk, groomed to lead the army, 12
notoriety of, 21–22, 27–28
as a slave of Sheikh Umar, 11, 20
on war and death, 20–21
Bardon, William, 183
Barth, Heinrich, 8
Battery Wright, South Carolina, 173–75
Bean, Jacob, 159
Beauregard, Pierre, 137
Beecham, Mrs., 106
Behieh Khanum, 41
Bell, James, 41
Bierce, Ambrose, 253
Black Belt of Alabama, 238–39
Black prisoners-of-war abandoned by General Vogdes, 135–36
Bladon Springs, Alabama, 233–36, 239, 240
Blakely, Georgia, 227
Boko Haram terrorist group, 7
Bolan’s chapel/Union hospital, near Honey Hill, Georgia, 186, 188–89
Borno al-Kanemi’s warriors vs. dan Fodio’s jihadists, 13–14
fable of the rat and the toad, 23
Kukawa, 7–8, 14–15, 18
oppression of the people, 10
Borno, kingdom of about, 7–10
appreciation for Barca Gana, 1
Barca Gana as a slave of Sheikh Umar, 11
the promise of Islam, 10–11
Boseman, Benjamin, 213, 215, 250
Boston crowds of supporters at send-off, 125
riots against the war, 123–24
Boston Evening Transcript (newspaper), 125 on Said, 3, 122
Bowditch, Charles, 5, 134, 139
Bowles, J. R., 190
Boynton, Winthrop, 188
Breckenridge, Zachariah, 116, 118, 121
Briggs, Charles, 189
British Hotel, Aylmer, Canada, 92, 96
Brown, John, 188
Brown, Mary, 109–14
Brown, William Symington, 181, 182, 188, 195
Brownsville, Tennessee, 244
Brownsville Colored School, 245
Bryan, Lucius, 219–22
Buffalo Express (newspaper), 117, 122
Butler, Alabama, 239
Butler, Benjamin, 116
Buyukdere, Turkey, 40
C
Cain, Isaac, 188–89
Calbreath, Dean, meeting Nicholas Said, 258–61
Call, Henry, 121–22, 163
camels, value of, 29
Camp Finegan, Florida, 149
Camp Meigs, Reedsville, Massachusetts, 117, 124
Cardozo, Francis, 212
“Carolina blizzards” on Folly Island, 132
caste systems in Europe, 70–71
in Haiti, 91–92
Charleston, South Carolina, 133–35, 136, 137, 191–95, 210–15
Cheever, Rev. George, 82–85, 95–96
chiboukjis (pipe bearers), 35–36, 47, 55
Choctaw Herald (newspaper), 238, 242
Christianity, Said’s introduction to, 48–49
Church of St. Alexander Nevsky, Riga, Latvia, 61
Church of the Puritans, New York City, 82, 83–85
Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, 252
circumcision in Borno, 24
Civil War Army rethinks ban on Black soldiers, 108
assault on a Rebel fortification on James Island, 165–67
attack on Fort Sumter, 103
Black men deemed too lazy, too ignorant, too cowardly, and too savage to be soldiers, 104
Black recruits at Camp Meigs, 117–18
civilian clothes of Black recruits burned, “wonderful transformation” follows, 117–18
First and Second North Carolina (newly freed slaves), 2–5
Lee surrenders, 194
Lincoln launches a military draft, 123
North negotiates a prisoner release without consideration for Black prisoners, 135–36
Olustee, Florida, Union troops defeated in a rout, 150–53
recruiters enlist men in all-Black regiments, 114–15
Said teaching French at a private school for “colored” children, 105, 107–8
Sherman’s march through Georgia, Hatch’s attack attempt, 184–90
Sherman’s march through South Carolina, 191–94
soldiers gather around the camp fire in the evenings, 4
Union drives Rebels out of Fort Wagner, 138–40
Union troops build a platform and walkway in the swamp to hold a gun that can bombard Charleston, 133–35, 136, 137
See also Said, Nicholas, “The Sergeant”
civilian clothes of Black recruits burned, “wonderful transformation” follows, 117–18
Clay, Thomas Hart, 208–9
Clear Springs plantation, South Carolina, 204
Cobb, Gideon, 210
Cobb, Howell, 21–22
Coffin Land, Morris Island, South Carolina, 126–27, 128–30, 138–39
Cohen, Marx, 204
Coleman, William, 232
Colored People’s Convention of 1865, 202
Columbia, Alabama, 228
Communists in the Union Army, 167
Concord (steamship), 97
Constantine, Rev. Alfred, 99
constitution of the state of South Carolina, 212–13, 214
Copperheads (northern Americans sympathetic to the South), 109, 116–17
Cost, Phineas, 166
Crane, William, 188
Crescent Farm, South Carolina, Fifty-Fifth moves to, 195–200
Crete-a-Pierrot, Haiti, 90
Crimean War, 57, 64, 67, 68, 69–70
Curtin, Mary Ellen, 239
D
Dalia (mother of Said), 8, 9, 17, 18–19, 22
Dallas Morning News, 252
dan Fodio, Usman, 12–13
Daoud, Haji, 35–38
Darnell, Morris, 121, 160
Darwin, Charles, 197
Davis, Jefferson, 87
Davis, Sally, 97
Davis, William, 147
de Morny, Charles, 71
Denham, Dixon on Barca Gana, 1, 14–15, 21
Barca Gana attempts to lure him to Islam, 10–11
on the battle in Mandara, 17
on party celebrating cancellation of sale of Barca Gana, 20
Detroit, Michigan, 97–104, 105–7, 109–14
Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, 109
Detroit Free Press, 105, 109, 113
Douglass, Lewis, 129
Drake, Catherine, 94–95
Drake, Francis, 94
Drake, Katharine Anne, 80–81, 94–95, 97–98
Dresden, Germany, 66
Du Bois, W. E. B., 241
“Ducit Amor Patriae” (“Led by Love of Country”), 142
Duffield, George, Jr., 114
Duffield, Rev. George, 52–53, 99–102, 105
Durand de Fontmagne, baroness, 40
Dutch Guinea, Africa, 80
E
Eagle, Glorianna, 73–74
Egitto (steamship), 52
el-Kader, Abd, 28–32, 34–35
Ellsworth, Thomas, 159–64
Elmas/el-Mal, 52–53
Emancipation Manifesto (Alexander II), 64
Emancipation Proclamation, 108–14, 177, 177n
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 198
Emilio, Luis, 129, 133–34, 136, 151, 152, 185, 189
England, class trumps race on the social ladder, 70–71
eunuchs, 11, 41–42, 43
Evans, James S., Jr., 252–58
Evans, James S., Sr., 252
F
fable of the rat and the toad, 23
Finegan, Joseph, 150–53
Florida about, 149–50, 154
Fifty-Fifth builds a signal tower and defensive works in Yellow Bluff, 153–54
Seymour’s ill-fated sweep through, 148–53
Flower, Lewis, 171
Folly Island about, 127, 131–32
fatigue duties for all troops on, 133
Fifty-Fifth returns to, 158–59
regimental hospital on, 181–83
