THE PINEHURST OUTLOOK
was very certain that in 1865 the Fed
erals and Confederates would have united
in driving the French out of Mexico, fear
ful of their getting a foothold on this
continent, and so very near our very doors.
fThe last cargo of slaves brought into
the South came one night in 1860. Civil
war was impending, the minds of people
were distracted, and it seemed to the men
who made the venture that it was an apt
time to make this daring effort. The ves
sel, a small one, with about three hun
dred slaves between decks, was run in at
a place in South Carolina a little south
of what are known as the Sea Islands,
where the finest cotton is raised, and there
the slaves were gotten ashore, far from
any port, and among people who were
thought to be friendly to the movement.
It seems that the slaves as soon as
gotten ashore were divided among plant
ers who had agreed to take them, and they
were carried off, not in large bodies, but
considerably scattered. They were of a
very wild tribe known as the Gullahs, of
which numbers had been brought into
the South Carolina section and part of
Georgia. 1f In some way news of this
bold affair leaked out and the United
States authorities acted in concert in
checking it. It seems that some of the
slaves thus brought over were rounded
up in order to be deported and that the
young men who had fathered the scheme
were pursued and one was taken. This
was late in the year and the war senti
ment was then spreading so fast that the
matter escaped public notice. Certain of
the slaves were taken in charge by a
United States marshall, and the sheriffs
of( two or three counties perhaps were
ordered to act in concert with him, though
they seemed to have been rather luke
warm in their efforts. The ship was
seized and sold. Some of the descend
ants of these particular slaves yet remain,
and a gentleman who traveled in that
section some years ago had photographs
made which shows their type, which is a
singularly pure African, without a strain
of white blood or any other mixture.
These Coast Negroes in South Carolina
and Georgia retain to a very remarkable
degree the dialect and customs of their
ancestors. On the Sea Islands it is very
difficult to understand much of their talk,
and the overseers before the war and since
that time had to have Avhat may be
termed special training to understand it.
These negroes, avIio represent the very
last slaves brought over to this country,
almost like a race by themselves. Not a
dozen of them have ever been up-country
except during the war, when their owners
refugeed into the hill country and took
their slaves with them whenever they could.
Of course a number of the slaves ran
away and numbers of them became ' ' con
trabands," as they were then termed, be
ing "contraband of war," and received
support from the War Department in the
way of rations and cast-off clothing.
There was very much less in the way of
ties of friendship between them and the
whites than there was between the whites
and those blacks whose ancestors had been
brought over a great while before. 11 There
were a few slaves in the Confederate
service, and there were also some free
negroes in that service. A great many of
the coast negroes went into the United
States Army and entire regiments of
them were formed, some of these being'
perhaps having been in their infancy
brought direct from Africa.
If one goes to Charleston the talk of
many of these pure blood Africans can
now be heard and will surely puzzle the
visitor. Their intense blackness and oili
ness of complextion will arrest attention.
Added to this are the gay turbans the
women wear, wrapped around the head in
peculiar style. Some of these negroes
follow the style of head-dress of their
native country. The very gayest head
handkerchiefs are brought over for them,
largely from the West Indies, the colors
being extremely bright and handkerchiefs
very large. In personal appearance these
negroes are very like the blacks in the
West India islands, though their talk
does not approach the excellent English
of the latter. f The most solid communi
ties of negroes in this country are along
the South Carolina coast, particularly on
the islands; in the Yazoo Eiver Valley in
Mississippi and one spot in North Caro
lina; namely James City, a town near
Newbern, where there are blacks only and
not one white resident. The James City
blacks are pure-blood in most cases and
they live a life apart. They, so far as their
community stands, are a relic of the Civil
War, the United States Army having
located them on this particular spot as a
colony in 1862, though in recent years it
has been found that the property is that
of a private individual..
While there was up to a period of, say
twenty years ago, not a little amalgama
tion, of course unlawful, of whites and
blacks this has ceased, one may say,
entirely, except perhaps in the most re
mote sections. In North Carolina it has
been stamped out. The change in public
and private sentiment against it became
overwhelming. If The negroes in the com
munities in question do not, as a rule
have the franchise to any extent whatever,
nor do they care a whit for it. This has
been shown in North Carolina and cer
tainly in South Carolina and in Mississippi.
Crime among these blacks, along certain
lines, shows a heavy percentage. If There
are colonies in Louisiana which preserve
the Voodoo customs of their native Afri
ca, and the writer has been told that up
to the time of the Civil War there was
something of this here and there along
the coast of South Carolina and Georgia.
It seems to be an unquestioned fact that
in Louisiana these Voodoo believers have
even since the Civil War, made human
sacrifices, sometimes even a young girl,
upon an altar, the victim being termed
in their language or jargon, "the goat
without horns." This is a return to the
old sacrifices of Africa.
There is much fetish belief in Louisiana
and coastal Georgia and South Carolina
among the blacks. There is some of it in
North Carolina, even in the up-country,
where for so long the blacks have been
exposed to white influences, and there are
even in Raleigh, one or two persons who
are reputed to be "conjure doctors," who
for a fee will put charms at a place they
select to ward off evil influences; or, on
the other hand, to injure some person by
this mode. It is known that within three
years such a person has placed a vial
under a room in which a person lay sick,
receiving a dollar for this work, and
(Concluded on page six)
DIXVILLE NOTCH
NEW HAMPSHIRE
THE BALSAMS, June to October
THE BALSAMS WINTER INN
October to June
New eighteen-hole Golf Course and Club House unequalled in the
Summer Resort Field. Playing length over sixty-three hundred yards.
Superb Location. Ask Donald Ross, who supervised its construction,
for particulars, and write for special descriptive booklet. Tennis,
Boating, Bathing, Fishing and Wilderness Life.
As the northernmost point reached by New Hampshire's splendid
system of highways, and famous for its rare scenic beauty, Dixville
Notch is a favorite rendezvous of motor tourists. Garage, machine and
supply shops.
Two well appointed hotels in the center of a vast estate embracing
four thousand acres and including farms, dairy, fish-hatchery, hydro
electric plant and abundant spring water supply.
For booklets, reservation or information address,
CHAKL.ES H. GOULD, Manager
Dixville Notch, N. II .
mm
Veuve Chaffard
Pure Olive Oil
BOTTLED IN FRANCE
in Honest Bottles
Full Quarts
Full Pints
Full Half-pints
S. S. PIERCE CO.
BOSTON
Sole Agents for the United States and Canada
Just the thing after a round of Golf
WMk
M
r
Hock
The Mineral Water De Luxe
From the famous White Rock Mineral Springs
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Office 100 Broadway, New York Sold at the Club House and Hotels
The Kirkuiood SfSE&
JANUARY TO APRIL
THE BUCKWOOD INN, Sfca2r Ba-
18 Hole olf Co u men Among: tlio Be
T. EDMUND KRUMBHOLZ
IN A