Sunday, March 15, 2020

Cheers of Defiance at Olustee


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The ultimate irony is that African slaves certainly knew who forced their ancestors to endure the infamous Middle Passage to America. It was England, and later New England — the transatlantic slave trade operated by the fathers and grandfathers of their new abolitionist friends. How could the African now trust the descendants of those who carried them in chains from slavery in Africa to slavery in America?
“Headquarters, District of Florida, Department of the South,
Jacksonville, FLA., March 10, 1864.

General Orders No. 13.

The brigadier-general commanding recurs with great satisfaction to the conduct of his troops in their late battle, and desires to convey to them in the most public manner his full appreciation of their courage on that well-contested field.  Against superior numbers holding a position by themselves, you were all but successful. For four hours you stood face to face with the enemy; and when the battle ended, and it ceased only with night, you sent him cheers of defiance. In your repulse there was perhaps misfortune, but neither disaster nor disgrace; and every officer and soldier may remember with just pride that he fought at Olustee.” By order of, Brigadier-General [Truman] Seymour”
As described above by Brigadier-General Truman Seymour, commanding the Northern forces at Olustee, also known as the battle at Ocean Pond at the South, his troops fought admirably though overpowered by more numerous Southern forces. Olustee is about 40 miles west of Jacksonville, Florida.

More @ Circa1865

6 comments:

  1. Wait a second. Yes the largest slave importers were in New England no doubt. But we're not the vast majority of the slaves then sold into the agricultural demand coming primarily from the planters in the South? Long existing market economics, supply rising to meet demand. Just saying there is plenty of blame to go around.

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    1. Yes, sold by their black brothers to New England ships, then resold to all interested parties which after so many years were mainly Southern states when using them in the north became impractical.

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  2. Actually they were mostly English ships as all the colonists were forbidden to flag anything but coastal freighters. (The French Hugonaughts were also active slavers in the resale markets of Newport and Wickford.) This was one of the main economic issues that drove the Revolutionary war. That said tiny Rhode Island was indeed the last northern state to outlaw slavery. By that time the practice was pretty much confined to household slaves as most field hands had fled into the "Great Swamp" area of the southern mainland and largely intermixed with what remained of the Narragansett tribe. By the middle of the 19th century they were more black than they were Narragansett. This is one of the reasons they are not a Federally recognised tribe and have no reservation or tax exempt status.

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    1. Agreed and I was thinking of after the Revolution and even after 1808. The 'No Confederate flag ever flew from a slaving ship'

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  3. To an extent I largely agree. Virginia had infact outlawed the direct importation of slaves even before the Revolution. In 1753 I believe.

    Again boththat said before and after importation became Constitutionally outlawed there remained an active trade. Legal before 1808 and black market after. This was not always transatlantic but also coming out of the Caribbean sugar plantations where slavery was a far more dominant part of the economies and was both far more profitable and the conditions more brutal than in the American South. Shorter sailing distances between Cuba and Jamacia etc. And Charleston and New Orleans were harder to monitor and enforce and greatly reduced deaths in transit. As far as there being no Confederate flagged slavers that is undoubtably true. The blockade runners were for the most part fast sleek ships engaged in bringing in war supplies from England and other increasingly scarce European goods.

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    1. The blockade runners were for the most part fast sleek ships engaged in bringing in war supplies from England and other increasingly scarce European goods.

      & some were beautiful.https://tinyurl.com/w8d5e3j
      https://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2011/11/clambake-in-honor-of-confederate-spy.html

      Ever hear of Emeline Pigott? https://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2011/11/clambake-in-honor-of-confederate-spy.html

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