Freedmen’s Bureau, July 29, 1865
Sir: I have the honor to report some testimony I have received of the murders and barbarities committed on the freedmen in Clark, Choctaw, Washington and Marengo counties, also the Alabama and Bigbee rivers.
About the last of April, two freedmen were hung in Clark county.
On the night of the eleventh of May, a freedman named Alfred was taken from his bed by his master and others and was hung, and his body still hangs to the limb.
About the middle of June, two colored soldiers (at a house in Washington county) showed their papers and were permitted to remain all night. In the morning the planter called them out and shot one dead, wounded the other, and then with the assistance of his brother (and their negro dogs) they pursued the one who had escaped. He ran about three miles and found a refuge in a white man’s house, who informed the pursuers that he had passed. The soldier was finally got across the river, but has not been heard of since.
At Bladen Springs, (or rather, six miles from there,) a freedman was chained to a pine tree and burned to death.
About two weeks after, and fifteen miles from Bladen, another freedman was burned to death.
In the latter part of May, fifteen miles south of Bladen, a freedman was shot outside of the planter’s premises and the body dragged into the stable, to make it appear he had shot him in the act of stealing.
About the first of June, six miles west of Bladen, a freedman was hung. His body is still hanging.
About the last of May, three freedmen were coming down the Bigbee river in a skiff, when two of them were shot; the other escaped to the other shore.
At Magnolia Bluff (Bigbee river) a freedman (named George) was ordered out of his cabin to be whipped; he started to run, when the men (three of them) set their dogs (five of them) on him, and one of the men rode up to George and struck him to the earth with a loaded whip. Two of them dragged him back by the heels, while the dogs were lacerating his face and body. They then placed a stick across his neck, and while one stood on it the others beat him until life was nearly extinct.
About the first of May, near —— landing, in Choctaw county, a freedman was hung; and about the same time, near the same neighborhood, a planter shot a freedman, (who was talking to one of his servants,) and dragged his body into his garden to conceal it.
A preacher (near Bladen Springs) states in the pulpit that the roads in Choctaw county stunk with the dead bodies of servants that had fled from their masters.
The people about Bladen declare that no negro shall live in the county unless he remains with his master and is as obedient as heretofore.
In Clark county, about the first of June, a freedman was shot through the heart; his body lies unburied.
About the last of May, a planter hung his servant (a woman) in presence of all the neighborhood. Said planter had killed this woman’s husband three weeks before. This occurred at Suggsville, Clark county.
About the last of April, two women were caught near a certain plantation in Clark county and hung; their bodies are still suspended.
On the 19th of July, two freedmen were taken off the steamer Commodore Ferrand, tied and hung; then taken down, their heads cut off and their bodies thrown in the river.
July 11, two men took a woman off the same boat and threw her in the river. This woman had a coop, with some chickens. They threw all in together, and told her to go to the damned Yankees. The woman was drowned.
There are regular patrols posted on the rivers, who board some of the boats; after the boats leave they hang, shoot or drown the victims they may find on them, and all those found on the roads or coming down the river are most invariably murdered.
This is only a few of the murders that are committed on the helpless and unprotected freedmen of the above-named counties.
All the cases I have mentioned are authentic, and numerous witnesses will testify to all I have reported. Murder with his ghastly train stalks abroad at noonday and revels in undisputed carnage, while the bewildered and terrified freedmen know not what to do. To leave is death; to remain is to suffer the increased burden imposed on them by the cruel taskmaster, whose only interest is their labor wrung from them by every device an inhuman ingenuity can devise. Hence the lash and murder are resorted to to intimidate those whom fear of an awful death alone causes to remain, while patrols, negro dogs, and spies (disguised as Yankees) keep constant guard over these unfortunate people.
I was in Washington county in the latter part of June, and there learned there was a disposition to coerce the labor of these people on plantations where they had always been abused. I was alone, and consequently could not go where my presence was most required, but I learned enough then to convince me there were many grievances which required military power to redress. Since my return I have been attentive to the recital of the horrors which these people suffer, and have carefully perused their statements, which receive corroborate testimony.
I have been careful in authenticity, and very much that has been related to me I have declined accepting as testimony, although I believe its truth.
The history of all these cases, besides others, I have in full, with all their horrible particulars.
Believing, sir, you required the earliest intelligence in this matter, I concluded not to await your arrival.
With much respect, I am, sir, your obedient servant,
W.A. POILLON, Captain and Ass’t. Sup’t. Freedmen.
Brig. Gen. SWAYNE.
A true copy of the original deposited in this office.
CHARLES A. MILLER, Major and A.A.A. General.