or dishearten good men, to settle, perhaps, one way or the other, the social problem of the age,—­assuring them that never did a vessel bear a colony on a nobler mission, not even the Mayflower, when she conveyed the Pilgrims to Plymouth, that it would be a poorly written history which should omit their individual names, and that, if faithful to their trust, there would come to them the highest of all recognitions ever accorded to angels or to men, in this life or the next,—­“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto Me.”

This first delegation of superintendents and teachers were distributed during the first fortnight after their arrival at Beaufort, and at its close they had all reached their appointed posts.  They took their quarters in the deserted houses of the planters.  These had all left on the arrival of our army, only four white men, citizens of South Carolina, remaining, and none of those being slaveholders, except one, who had only two or three slaves.  Our operations were, therefore, not interfered with by landed proprietors who were loyal or pretended to be so.  The negroes had, in the mean time, been without persons to guide and care for them, and had been exposed to the careless and conflicting talk of soldiers who chanced to meet them.  They were also brought in connection with some employes of the Government, engaged in the collection of cotton found upon the plantations, none of whom were doing anything for their education, and most of whom were in favor of leasing the plantations and the negroes upon them as adscripti gleboe looking forward to their restoration to their masters at the close of the war.  They were uncertain as to the intentions of the Yankees, and were wondering at the confusion, as they called it.  They were beginning to plant corn in their patches, but were disinclined to plant cotton, regarding it as a badge of servitude.  No schools had been opened, except one at Beaufort, which had been kept a few weeks by two freedmen, one bearing the name of John Milton, under the auspices of the Rev. Dr. Peck.  This is not the place to detail the obstacles we met with, one after another overcome,—­the calumnies and even personal violence to which we were subjected.  These things occurred at an early period of our struggle, when the nation was groping its way to light, and are not likely to occur again.  Let unworthy men sleep in the oblivion they deserve, and let others of better natures, who were then blind, but now see, not be taunted with their inconsiderate acts.  The nickname of Gibeonites, applied to the colonists, may, however, be fitly remembered.  It may now justly claim rank with the honored titles of Puritan and Methodist.  The higher officers of the army were uniformly respectful and disposed to cooeperation.  One of these may properly be mentioned.  Our most important operations were in the district under the command of Brigadier-General Isaac I. Stevens, an officer whose convictions were