Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance ... - Freedom Archives

die where they stood before they would surrender claims to the land ." After
confronting Federal troops one of the Black combatants of Saint Helena, express-
ing their determination, stated "We have but one master now. . .Jesus Christ. . .and
he'll never come here to collect taxes or drive us off." Sensing the determination
of the freedpersons and the consequences of battle the Federal commanders
thought it better to retreat on that day."
Whereas some Blacks stood ready to die for land they had obtained, others
where ready to use arms to seize land. In the fall of 1865, white Southern leaders
from Virginia to Texas warned of rumors of Black insurrections for land by
January of 1866 . It is believed that many freedpersons expected land to be redis-
tributed by Christmas day, 1865 . While some historians have credited rumors of
Black insurrectionary conspiracies for land to hype by the white supremacist
press, the Democratic Party, and the white planter class, not all of these claims
were without merit. Speakers at a public meeting of freedpersons at Greensboro,
Alabama in December, 1865 declared Blacks would have "lands or blood ."
Actual plots by freedpersons to seize land were uncovered near Savannah,
Memphis, and Richmond . In some cases Blacks armed themselves and prepared
for battle, erroneously believing they had the support of the federal government
in their quest for land and self-government . As previously stated, in the years
immediately following the Civil War, it was feared that Black Union forces were
agitating their civilian brothers and sisters to prepare to fight for land . In response
to the fear of Black insurrection, as in the antebellum period, white Southerners
formed militias to suppress Black revolt . DuBois mentions that in the Alabama
Black Belt, during the Winter of 1866-1867, there was an increased fear of Black