. Slavery and four years of war : a political history of slavery in the United States, together with a narrative of the campaigns and battles of the Civil War in which the author took part, 1861-1865 . ions had started for Savannah, Mitchel, March i8, 1862,resumed his march southward, encamping the first night atLavergne, fifteen miles from Nashville. The next day wemarched on a road leading by old cotton fields, and felt wewere in the heart of the slaveholding South. The slaves wereof an apparently different type from those in Kentucky, thoughstill of many shades of color, varying from pure A
. Slavery and four years of war : a political history of slavery in the United States, together with a narrative of the campaigns and battles of the Civil War in which the author took part, 1861-1865 . ions had started for Savannah, Mitchel, March i8, 1862,resumed his march southward, encamping the first night atLavergne, fifteen miles from Nashville. The next day wemarched on a road leading by old cotton fields, and felt wewere in the heart of the slaveholding South. The slaves wereof an apparently different type from those in Kentucky, thoughstill of many shades of color, varying from pure African blackto oily-white. The eye, in many instances, had to be resortedto, to decide whether there was any black blood in them. Butthese negroes were shrewd, and had the idea of liberty upper-most in their minds. They had heard that the Northern armywas coming to make them free. Their masters had probablytalked of this in their hearing. They believed the time fortheir freedom had come. Untutored as they all were, theyunderstood somehow they were the cause of the war. As ourcolumn advanced, regardless of sex, and in families, theyabandoned the fields and their homes, turning their backs on 264. MAJOR-GENERAL O. M. MITCHEL. (From a photograph taken 1862.) Mitchel in Northern Alabama 265 master and mistress, many bearing their bedding, clothing,and other effects on their heads and backs, and came to theroadsides, shouting and singing a medley of songs of freedomand religion, confidently expecting to follow the army to im-mediate liberty. Their numbers were so great we marchedfor a good part of a day between almost continuous lines ofthem. Their disappointment was sincere and deep when toldthey must return to their homes: that the Union Army couldnot take them. Of course some never returned, but the massof them did, and remained until the final decree of the war wasentered and their chains fell off, never to be welded in Americaon their race again. They shouted Glory on seeing th
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