12                  THE BLACK BRIGADE.

  "Previous to that date the proffered aid of that class of citi-
zens, for war purposes, was coldly, we may add, forcibly rejected.
Many calls for aid and assistance to suppress this gigantic rebell
lion, as full in their demands as the one on that day, so far as
this class of persons is concerned, had been made, yet there was
no demand for our services.
  "Deep in the memory of colored citizens of Cincinnati is
written indelibly that eventful day, the 2d of September, 1862.
We were torn from our homes, from the streets, from our shops,
and driven to the mule-pen on Plum Street at the point of the
bayonet, without any definite knowledge of what we were
wanted for. Dismay and terror spread among the women and
children, because of the brutal manner in which arrests were
made. The colored people are generally loyal. This undue
method of enlisting them into the service of Uncle Sam had the
appearance (though false) that the colored people had to be
driven, at the point of the bayonet, to protect their homes, their
wives, and their children. They went unwillingly, under such
circumstances. Contrast this with the alacrity with which they
responded to the gentlemanly request, even before they knew
they would be remunerated for their services.
   "Sir, I have been selected by the members of the Black
Brigade to thank you-deeply thank you-for the very great
interest you have taken in our welfare, for your exertions and
final success in collecting all of the different working parties
into one brigade, for the kindness you have manifested to us in
these trying times. We deeply thank you; our mothers thank
you; our sweethearts thank you; our children will rise up,
thank you, and call you blessed.
  "It would be unpardonable injustice not to make favorable
mention of those kind and gentlemanly officers,you have asso-
ciated with you in conducting the management of the Black
Brigade. Our thanks are due to Messrs. T. C. Day, William
Woods, J. Stacey Hill, Jacob Resor, J. W.  Hartwell, J. W.
Canfield, W. Dickson, William H. Chatfield, and last, though
not least, Capt. James Lupton, whose urbane and gentlemanly
presence has been as constant as our shadows, and whose efforts
for our comfort have been as universal as his wide-spread be-
nevolence.
  "We, the members of the Black Brigade, perceive all the




			

OHS Archives/Library Pamphlet Collection

Black Brigade of Cincinnati: Being a Report of Its Labors and a Muster-Roll of Its Members; Together with Various Orders, Speeches, Etc. Relating to It.

H.