Report of Conditions near Savannah Georgia - 1865

The source I ended up selecting was a “Report of Conditions near Savanah Georgia”. 

The report was written on September 1, 1865 by a Captain A.P. Ketchum to General R. Saxton.  Sherman’s troops had marched through Savannah and left many of the town’s people both white and black left with nothing so the city was trying to help the people by giving rations but soon ran out and Ketchum took over with his resources. He also wrote of the excitement he saw in the freed people when Sherman announced his plan to allocate land to the freed people and how they eagerly lined up to be given their plot of land. Ketchum seemed to respect the freed people as a race and did not see them as inferior.

He also wrote of an example of the hostility the whites held towards the freed people. On July 4^th the black engine company of Savannah wished to have their engine in the parade like the white engine companies were doing. The fire chief known only as Mr. Casey forbade the black engine company from participating in the parade. Ketchum intervened and the black engine company was allowed to participate. The engine company did not get far in the parade until they were attacked by white men and forced to flee. Ketchum later went to the Post Commandant and ensured better policing of the city so that attacks would decrease.

Labor contracts were also a topic reported about. Many white planters did not hold to their contracts with the freed workers. Ketchum wrote of a twelve year old that was kicked off the plantation he worked at and beaten.

The report along with the book Redemption has given me a view point of reconstruction that is on a more personal level. I think the personal stories of the conditions in the south should be shared because they help to reverse the way that scholars have looked at reconstruction through the “Redeemers” point of view instead of the point of view of the freed people.