April 30, 1864
Two weeks after the Fort Pillow massacre The Christian Recorder, a weekly newspaper published in Philadelphia by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, printed a letter signed “R.H.C.” It may have been written by Richard Harvey Cain, an African Methodist Episcopal minister in Brooklyn, New York, who moved to South Carolina after the war and was elected to Congress during Reconstruction.
MR. EDITOR:—Still we press forward in the great march of mind and matter: winds still blow; and the southern breezes bring a wail of horror from the devoted “Fort. Pillow.” Kentucky, that “virago” in the community of States, whose scoldings have retarded the progress of “civilization,” in these war times more than any other, is now drinking the cup of secession wrath, which is a just retribution meted out to her. But, the dying groans of those butchered men, the desolate hearthstones, cry against, and the widowed mothers and orphans, will hold her accountable for their murdered kindred. Yet, through this bloody sea lies the land of liberty; and although we may have to pour out rivers of blood, liberty is not attainable without it. The brutality which prompted the slaughter of that garrison of brave men, is but a preface to the great book of scaled crimes which this abominable system of slavery has been perpetrating upon our race for two hundred and forty-five years. None but the blacks of this land, have heretofore realized the hateful nature of the beast: but now, white men are beginning to feel, and to realize what its beauties are. This fell spirit was the main spring of this rebellion; it has dictated all the movements in the attempt to destroy the government; it moved the schemers to assassinate President Lincoln, on his passage to Washington; it has murdered all colored soldiers captured by the rebels.
While we deplore the loss of these brave men, we feel that, from their ashes will rise thousands to avenge their deaths. We accept the alternative, and believe that the 54th and 55th Mass., 20th and 26th U.S. troops, in connection with the 1st, 4th, and all the other colored men in the service, will receive this news with defiance sparkling in every eye. The terrors of death should not affright them from the resolve to fight the battles of freedom. We all know, that in the destruction of slavery is the safety of the nation, and the hope of the race. We know that, when we enlisted, threats had been made, and we expected them to be fulfilled; and this butchery is not a new thing to us—we have had experiences before to-day. With slaveholders, this is only an act on a grander scale, than those thousands of similar ones performed daily by the lords of the lash, before this rebellion—and, instead of daunting our courage, should only nerve us to do and dare more in this struggle for human rights and universal liberty.
We now call on our noble brethren in the army, to swear anew never to cease fighting, until they shall have made a rebel to bite the dust for every hair of those three hundred of our brethren massacred in Fort Pillow; and, whenever you may be called upon to measure arms or bayonets, with the rebel horde, give no quarter; take no prisoners; make it dangerous to take the life of a black soldier by these barbarians; then, they will respect your manhood, and you will be treated as you deserve at the hands of those who have made you outlaws. If there be a complaint that you are savage, you can with justice point to forts Wagoner, Hudson, Pillow, and to Milliken’s bend, and remember the deeds of cruelty there inflicted upon the innocent. Warriors! remember that you fight for liberty! Remember the wives and children you have left behind! Remember, you from New York, the July riots! You from the South, who are soldiers of the Republic, remember your old gray-haired mothers, who are yet within the lines of rebeldom; remember your wives and little ones, robbed and maltreated by ruffians and “Legrees;” remember your daughters, dishonored by those red-handed murderers of your race! Remember, that for two hundred and fifty years, your people have been sold and bartered like so many beasts, and then bow down before God, and swear anew to uphold your country’s cause, and the cause of universal liberty: for, in the maintenance of liberty on this continent is the hope of all European nations. Think not that the blood you shed will avail nothing: if you fall in this mighty struggle; you will leave a name that shall live, after you have passed away; and the generations following will rise up and call you blessed. Your children will, undoubtedly, enjoy more liberty, and, the same spirit which animates you to do and dare in this fearful crisis, will fall upon them in double proportion, and they shall rise up to a position honorable among mankind.
No people can hope to be lifted up entirely by the labors or benevolence of others. We must not look for sympathy; we must not ask for pity; we must rise above this condition. So long as we are pensioners on other people’s pity, we will be subject to their insults; but the moment we assume our rights, and maintain them by every lawful means; so soon as it appears to the world that we are not mendicants, but men ready to make any sacrifice for liberty and untrammelled freedom, then, the world will recognize in us more than mere objects of pity.
While our kindred are battling in the field, we who are at home, must not forget that we have duties to perform to those whom they have left behind. We should cheer their hearts by speaking words of comfort; and, if need be, contribute to their wants. Further, the leading minds must look after the interests of the soldiers; see that no injustice be done them by subordinates of the government, for it is by this class they suffer more than any other. And now that there is a great progressive movement on hand, let not any man among us stop, in his efforts to elevate and honor his race. Let those in civil life be on their guard, let them forward the education of the rising generation, and help forward every enterprise which tends to refine, mould, and fashion the future course of our kindred.
R.H.C.