Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

The South Atlantic Coast, 1861–1863 27
This scene at a market in Beaufort, South Carolina, shows the makeup of the Sea
Islands population in 1862—black residents in civilian clothing, white men in uniform.
Local slaveholders had fled the approaching Yankee invaders the previous fall.
roe, Virginia. Pierce surveyed the islands’ remaining population and reported to the
Treasury secretary “what could be done,” as he put it, “to reorganize the laborers,
prepare them to become sober and self-supporting citizens, and secure the successful
culture of a cotton crop, now so necessary to be contributed to the markets of the
world.” Pierce was as much concerned with the home lives of the former slaves as he
was with their ability to grow cotton. “They [should] attend more to the cleanliness
of their persons and houses, and . . . , as in families of white people, . . . take their
meals together at table—habits to which they will be more disposed when they are
provided with another change of clothing, and when better food is furnished and a
proper hour assigned for meals.” Pierce also noted approvingly that “I have heard
among the negroes scarcely any profane swearing—not more than twice—a striking
contrast with my experience among soldiers in the army.” 6
Reynolds’ and Nobles’ single-minded intent to gather cotton soon brought
the two men and their subordinates into conflict with the benevolent authoritarian
Pierce and the band of philanthropic New Englanders, dubbed Gideonites, whom
he had recruited to oversee, educate, and improve the freedpeople. The attitudes
University Press, 1990), p. 90 (hereafter cited as WGFL: LS). Official Army Register of the Volunteer
Force of the United States Army, 8 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Adjutant General’s Office, 1867), 1: 246
(Reynolds), 2: 551 (Nobles) (hereafter cited as ORVF).
6 WGFL: LS, pp. 141 (“what could be”), 128 (“They [should]”), 131 (“I have heard”).