character we submit to Congress."

This is a splendid and well-attested tribute to a gallant and worthy
Negro. There were many such, but, beyond receiving and reading, no
action was taken thereon by Congress. There is no lack of incidents, and
the temptation to quote many of them is great, but the time allotted me
is too brief for extended mention, and I must bring this branch of my
subject to a close. It is in evidence that while so many Negroes were
offering their lives a willing sacrifice for the country, in some
sections the officers of the Continental forces received their bounty
and pay in Negroes, "grown" and "small," instead of "dollars" and
"cents." Fighting for _liberty_ and taking pay in _slaves_!

When the war was over the free men returned to meet their same
difficulties; the slaves were caught when possible and re-enslaved by
their former masters. In Boston a few years later we find a party of
black patriots of the Revolution mobbed on Boston Common while
celebrating the anniversary of the abolition of the slave-trade.

The captain of a vessel trading along the coast tells of a Negro who had
fought in the war and been distinguished for bravery and soldierly
conduct. He was reclaimed and re-enslaved by his master after the war,
and served him faithfully until old age rendered him useless. The master
then brought the poor old slave to this captain and asked him to take
him along on his trip and try to sell him. The captain hated to sell a
man who had fought for his country, but finally agreed, took the poor
old man to Mobile, and sold him for $100 to a man who put him to
attending a chicken-coop. His former master continued to draw the old
slave's pension as a soldier in the Revolution, until he died.

The War of 1812 was mainly fought upon the water, and in the American
Navy at that time the Negro stood in the ratio of about one to six. We
find record of complaint by Commodore Perry at the beginning because of
the large number of Negroes sent him, but later the highest tribute to
their bravery and efficiency. Captain Shaler, of the armed brig _General
Thompson_, writing of an engagement between his vessel and a British
frigate, says:

"The name of one of my poor fellows who was killed ought to be
registered in the book of fame, and remembered as long as bravery is a
virtue. He was a black man, by name John Johnson. A twenty-four pound
shot struck him in the hip, and took away all the lower part of his