In South Carolina and in Kansas the negroes had been put under arms and mustered into service as Union soldiers.  In engagements of a minor character they had shown coolness and courage worthy of veterans.  There was no valid reason why the negroes along the Mississippi would not be just as valuable in the army, as the men of the same race in other parts of the country.  Our Government determined to try the experiment, and make the Corps d’Afrique a recognized and important adjunct of our forces in the field.

When General Grant encamped his army at Milliken’s Bend and Young’s Point, preparatory to commencing the siege of Vicksburg, many of the cotton plantations were abandoned by their owners.  Before our advent nearly all the white males able to bear arms had, willingly or unwillingly, gone to aid in filling the ranks of the insurgents.  On nearly every plantation there was a white man not liable to military service, who remained to look after the interests of the property.  When our army appeared, the majority of these white men fled to the interior of Louisiana, leaving the plantations and the negroes to the tender mercy of the invaders.  In some cases the fugitives took the negroes with them, thus leaving the plantations entirely deserted.

When the negroes remained, and the plantations were not supplied with provisions, it became necessary for the Commissary Department to issue rations for the subsistence of the blacks.  As nearly all the planters cared nothing for the negroes they had abandoned, there was a very large number that required the attention of the Government.

On many plantations the cotton crop of 1862 was still in the field, somewhat damaged by the winter rains; but well worth gathering at the prices which then ruled the market.  General Grant gave authority for the gathering of this cotton by any parties who were willing to take the contract.  The contractors were required to feed the negroes and pay them for their labor.  One-half the cotton went to the Government, the balance to the contractor.  There was no lack of men to undertake the collection of abandoned cotton on these terms, as the enterprise could not fail to be exceedingly remunerative.

This cotton, gathered by Government authority, was, with a few exceptions, the only cotton which could be shipped to market.  There were large quantities of “old” cotton—­gathered and baled in previous years—­which the owners were anxious to sell, and speculators ready to buy.  Numerous applications were made for shipping-permits, but nearly all were rejected.  A few cases were pressed upon General Grant’s attention, as deserving exception from the ordinary rule.

There was one case of two young girls, whose parents had recently died, and who were destitute of all comforts on the plantation where they lived.  They had a quantity of cotton which they wished to take to Memphis, for sale in that market.  Thus provided with money, they would proceed North, and remain there till the end of the war.