From Extracts from Reports of Freedmen

Shortly after John Eaton was appointed Superintendent of Freedmen in Tennessee and Arkansas (November 13, 1862*), he appointed several assistant superintendents. Fortunately, in addition to Eaton's Report of the General Superintendent of Freedmen, we have also Extracts from Reports of Superintendents of Freedmen. This 147-page document is full of references to camps in the west. I have Mike Boyle and colleagues of the Cedar County Historical Society to thank for making me aware of this fantastic source. (Some of us will want to follow the extracts back to their original documents, tedious work, but undoubtedly well worth the sweat and called for I think.) At first glance, it appears that every camp I was aware of--and a few not--is mentioned in "Extracts." Today, I'd like to offer a few that give mention of President's Island.

The first comes from Capt. Thomas A. Walker of the 63rd, Superintendent of Freedmen, West Tennessee. He is reporting to Lieutenant Jno. F. Perry, Adjutant Freedmen Department, May 31, 1864. In addition to the camp at President's Island, he reports on Camp Holly Springs and Shiloh.

Of President's Island, he writes that in the interest of the camp and to ensure "the dignity and integrity of our organization," he has placed Jno. C. Walker [his brother], who is of Co. K of the 63rd, in charge of the Island. "Under his administration," Capt. Walker reports, "every resource is developing finely." Capt. Walker continues that the agricultural program is experiencing success with "vegetables coming into market." "The farm is," he reports, "in splendid condition." With these successes, "a spirit of unity and mutual confidence pervades the camp."

It may be worth noting that in John Eaton's report of 1864 (published in 1865), his view of the experiment at President's Island seems somewhat less positive (than Thomas's) due to the usurpation of power by the Treasury. It is also interesting that Capt. Walker's report begins with a note of frustration concerning vagrant freedpeople within the city. He laments that there are many such persons who have circumvented the pass system and by so doing found their own places of residence (he implies at exorbitant prices) and their own employments including thievery. He finds such freedpeople a "nuisance" and believes that they will be better off in camp. In accordance with a circular he indicates was issued by the Adjutant of the Freedmen [sic] Department, he reports that he has sent vagrants "and those guilty of offences, to the Island camps."**

Another report comes from Surgeon D.O. McCord, Medical Director and Inspector of Freedmen, also enlisted in the 63rd. June 28, 1864, Dr. McCord reports that Memphis had "two camps and two hospitals, one of which was for small pox cases." Dr. McCord writes that he was first assigned to the care of freedmen but later took on a more general duty, leaving the people with only two surgeons and a number of hospital stewards detailed by Maj. Gen. Grant. One of the two acting assistant surgeons was, according to Dr. McCord, put in charge of the General Hospital and the other in charge of President's Island. Camp Holly Springs and the small-pox hospital were left, according to Dr. McCord, without surgeons. However, he also reports that in February he wrote to the Western Sanitary Commission, the N.W. Freedmen Aid Commission, and Western Freedmen Relief Commission asking for assistance. The Freedmen Aid Commission, McCord writes, sent "ten surgeons and some vegetables." One of the ten surgeons was sent to President's Island.

McCord comments that the improvements at President's Island are more "marked" than he has seen elsewhere in his tour of camps in the Valley. "It is nicely policed," he writes, and the quarters appear comfortable although the hospital is in need of repair. He made an order for improvements.

"Extracts" also contains much information on Freedmen's Schools throughout the Valley. A report on schools on President's Island (January to June, 1865) includes this:

"During the first three months no reports were received, and during March the overflow of the island stopped the schools almost completely. This fact, combined with the return of the best half of the island to its original owner, caused the authorities to remove all the soldiers, and the self-supporting portion of the camp, to other localities, during the last of April and the first week in May."

In light of the above, one wonders what to make of Maj. Gen. N.J.T. Dana's Special Order No. 10, which effectively removed from President's Island "all white persons not directly connected with the military service." The order was effective January 1, 1865.



*Grant's papers reference November 13, 1862 as the date of Eaton's appointment while Special Order No. 15 dates the appointment at November 11, 1862.
**Note that Thomas reference to more than one Island camp. Perhaps this, combined with the captain's dubiousness, suggests that there was a camp for vagrants and one for enterprising blacks interested in farming and gardening; both may have been on President's Island.

As of today, this blog has drawn over three thousand viewers, so I reason that there are lots of people out there who are interested in the subject of contraband camps in general and of President's Island in particular.

A new development this summer is that I am teaming with some very fine folks at the Cedar County Historical Society (Tipton, Iowa), who have shown deep devotion to telling the story of Lucinda Humphrey Hays, army hospital and contraband camp worker, as well as the noted founder of LeMoyne-Owen College, in Memphis, Tennessee. Sources that historians at CCHS have tapped into are too numerous to mention in one blog post, so I will instead offer bits and pieces of really significant information (actually, all of it is really significant, but I'll do my best to be selective in this blog).

In addition to this blog is my Last Road to Freedom site, which is undergoing redesign this summer. I am aiming for a greater focus on the war in the west and camps and persons who worked in various capacities in the Mississippi Valley. I will soon have a page on key figures, which will include John Eaton (and other chaplains such as Asa Severance Fiske), Humphrey Hays, brothers Capt. Thomas Walker and John Walker. I may also include something on the 63rd Regiment since it is becoming very clear that this black unit, led by Eaton, played a really important role in wartime Reconstruction.

The work goes slowly, however. At the moment, I am working on a timeline that will reflect the narrative offered by Thomas Knox in Camp-Fire and Cotton Field. Knox was a war correspondent and his recounting of troop movement, as well as his own movement, provides I think a good indication of the various windows of opportunity for African Americans to enter Union lines. Knox's timeline will be cross-referenced with The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant (John Simon, Southern Illinois UP, 1982). Hopefully, this will be the first of several timelines that supplement text with visuals. Speaking of which, I have been having great fun living in Mississippi and taking to the roads to visit the towns where the Union opened camps. Another year will not pass without my visiting the camp at Corinth; however, I suppose that I had not earned the right to visit before accepting that in Mississippi the name of the town is not pronounced in keeping with its Greek roots. Instead, the "o" is pronounced as an "a," and strong accent falls on the second syllable. Car-renth. In any case, I will be there soon. In the mean time, I have taken pictures of other areas including Grand Junction (the site of the first camp after Eaton's appointment) and LaGrange (which must have followed soon after). So, the flag or masthead of the Last Road site features doctored photos, somewhat like collages, taken along Highway 7 in Marshall County. This is not the road that freedomseekers would have taken, but symbolically it sends the right message.