night of slavery would end and the dawn of freedom appear.  They often talked to each other of the progress of the war and conferred in secret as to what they might do to aid in the struggle.  Worn out with long bondage, yearning for the boon of freedom, longing for the sun of liberty to rise, they kept their peace and left the result to God.”  Mr. Douglass, whom this same Bishop Gaines speaks of very inappropriately as a “half-breed,” seemed able to grasp the feelings both of the slave and the freeman and said:  “From the first, I for one, saw in this war the end of slavery, and truth requires me to say that my interest in the success of the North was largely due to this belief.”  Mr. Seward, the wise Secretary of State, had thought that the war would come and go without producing any change in the relation of master and slave; but the humble slave on the Georgia cotton plantation, or in the Carolina rice fields, knew that the booming of the guns of rebellion in Charleston was the opening note of the death knell of slavery.  The slave undoubtedly understood the issue, and knew on which side liberty dwelt.  Although thoroughly bred to slavery, and as contented and happy as he could be in his lot, he acted according to the injunction of the Apostle:  “Art thou called being a servant, care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.”  The slaves tried to be contented, but they preferred freedom and knew which side to take when the time came for them to act.

Enough has been said to show that out of the African slave had been developed a thoroughly American slave, so well imbued with modern civilization and so well versed in American politics, as to be partially ready for citizenship.  He had become law-abiding and order-loving, and possessed of an intelligent desire to be free.  Whether he had within him the necessary moral elements to become a soldier the pages following will attempt to make known.  He had the numbers, the physical strength and the intelligence.  He could enter the strife with a sufficient comprehension of the issues involved to enable him to give to his own heart a reason for his action.  Fitness for the soldier does not necessarily involve fitness for citizenship, but the actual discharge of the duties of the soldier in defence of the nation, entitles one to all common rights, to the nation’s gratitude, and to the highest honors for which he is qualified.

In concluding this chapter I shall briefly return to the free colored people of the South that the reader may be able to properly estimate their importance as a separate element.  Their influence upon the slave population was very slight, inasmuch as law and custom forbade the intercourse of these two classes.