Editing Forty acres and a mule (section)

===="Negroes of Savannah"====

Major General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]]'s "[[Sherman's March to the Sea|March to the Sea]]" brought a massive regiment of the Union Army to the Georgia coast in December 1864. Accompanying the Army were an estimated ten thousand black refugees, former slaves. This group was already suffering from starvation and disease.<ref>{{harvnb|Byrne|1995|p=109}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Drago|1973|p=363}}</ref> Many former slaves had become disillusioned by the Union Army, having suffered pillaging, rape, and other abuses.<ref>{{harvnb|Drago|1973|pp=369–371}}</ref> They arrived in Savannah "after long marches and severe privations, ''weary, famished, sick, and almost naked''.<ref>{{harvnb|Drago|1973|p=372}}; quoting the Augusta ''Daily Constitutionalist'', 29 January 1865.</ref> On December 19, Sherman dispatched many of these slaves to [[Hilton Head Island, South Carolina|Hilton Head]], an island already serving as refugee camp. Saxton reported on December 22 "Every cabin and house on these islands is filled to overflowing—I have some 15,000." 700 more arrived on Christmas.<ref>{{harvnb|Byrne|1995|p=110}}</ref>

On January 11, 1865, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton arrived in Savannah with Quartermaster General [[Montgomery C. Meigs (1816–1892)|Montgomery C. Meigs]] and other officials. This group met with Generals Sherman and Saxton to discuss the refugee crisis. They decided, in turn, to consult leaders from the local Black community and ask them: "What do you want for your own people?" A meeting was duly arranged.<ref>{{harvnb|James|1954|p=127}}</ref>

{{wikisource|Negroes of Savannah}}

At 8:00 PM on January 12, 1865, Sherman met with a group of twenty people, many of whom had been slaves for most of their lives. The blacks of Savannah had seized the opportunity of emancipation to strengthen their community's institutions, and they had strong political feelings.<ref>{{harvnb|Byrne|1995|pp=99–102}}</ref> They selected one spokesperson: [[Garrison Frazier]], the 67-year-old former pastor of Third African Baptist. In the late 1850s, he had for $1,000 bought freedom for himself and his wife.<ref>{{harvnb|Byrne|1995|p=106}}</ref> Frazier had consulted with the refugees as well as the other representatives. He told Sherman: "The way we can best take care of ourselves is to have land, and turn it and till it by our own labor." Frazier suggested that young men would serve the government in fighting the Rebels, and that therefore "the women and children and old men" would have to work this land. Almost all of those present agreed to request land grants for autonomous black communities, on the grounds that racial hatred would prevent economic advancement for blacks in mixed areas.<ref>{{harvnb|Cox|1958|p=429}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=13 February 1865|newspaper=New York Daily Tribune|title=Negroes of Savannah|url=http://www.nps.gov/fopu/forteachers/upload/Resources.pdf#page=16|publisher=(Copy of the Daily Tribune article held by the US National Archives and transcribed by the National Park Service. According to Adjutant General [[Edward D. Townsend]], the formal exchange represents a verbatim account of the meeting.)|quote=I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and faithful report of the questions and answers made by the colored ministers and church members of Savannah in my presence and hearing, at the chambers of Major-Gen. Sherman, on the evening of Thursday, Jan 12, 1865. The questions of Gen. Sherman and the Secretary of War were reduced to writing and read to the persons present. The answers were made by the Rev. Garrison Frazier, who was selected by the other ministers and church members to answer for them. The answers were written down in his exact words, and read over to the others, who one by one expressed his concurrence or dissent as above set forth.}}</ref>