Purman proceeded immediately to his new assignment in New Smyrna, arriving on March 13. Ralph Ely, a former Bureau agent, had organized a group of about 1200 African Americans to settle on supposed homesteads in the New Smyrna area. Purman’s investigation revealed the tragic results. Upon arriving in January 1867, the settlers found no shelter or provisions or livestock with which to begin homesteads on the worthless land. They very quickly descended into destitution and near starvation. Instead of establishing independent homesteads, most were soon contracting with local planters to work as laborers, defeating the purpose of the effort. At the time that Purman reported in mid-March, he found only 233 people scattered in the forest persisting in trying to eke an independent existence. To add insult to injury, the freedmen had essentially been embezzled out of their deposits on the homesteads. Purman blamed the organizers of this “blind and heartless” scheme.
While assessing the situation, Purman befriended Dr. J. Milton and Esther Hawks. Although inexperienced as a businessman, Hawks was attempting, idealistically, to establish a lumber company at Port Orange to employ freedmen. Purman continued to write to Esther Hawks for a few months after he left the area.
In early May, Sprague directed Purman to tour the Florida panhandle’s western counties to establish registration boards. The new Congressional Reconstruction plan called for the registration of all adult males as voters (excepting those disallowed) for purposes of holding an election to elect delegates to state constitutional conventions. Sprague instructed Purman that the each county was to have a board consisting of three members, two white and one black. Purman was then reassigned to Jackson County and reappeared in time for the Fourth of July barbecue.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
1867: "with a heart devoted to the Freedmen’s cause"
In early 1867, Purman joined Hamilton in approving freedmen's labor contracts for the coming year. Purman reported that 116 contracts had been signed by employers and six hundred freedmen. Perfunctory attempts by planters to convince the freedmen to forgo the contracts failed. Ultimately, the contracts so enthusiastically promoted by the Bureau were of little effect. As Purman observed, the freedmen were frequently cheated out of the proceeds of their labor by conspiring planters and merchants.
As Congressional Republican plans for the future of Reconstruction began to form, the Bureau agents became involved more deeply with the freedmen community. In addition to his continuing lectures, Purman helped found the Freedmen's Benevolant Society. The ostensible purpose of this society was to provide relief for the indigent, but it also likely served as a front for the Lincoln Brotherhood, which was itself a front for the Republican Party.
As Reconstruction progressed and tensions between the races increased, Hamilton and Purman were now subject to threats more menacing than the social snubs they had previously suffered. In February, Hamilton and Purman traveled up to Campbellton to supervise contracting. Purman described the scene:
"In the morning a few of the best citizens were present, but towards noon all of this ilk quietly disappeared off the _apis, and a crowd of roughs had full sway.
Whiskey was guzzled down in abundance to get up steam to assault the "Yankees", and a mob of a dozen drunken, cowardly wretches, with revolvers buckled round them came into our room, criticizing and insulting us in the most provoking manner. Our only protection was in our revolvers laying on the table before us. They retired, came again, repeating this manoevore several times, when we were entreated by our colored friends to leave the town as quickly as possible, which in our unprotected condition we thought expedient to do, and did, in an open manner, with our revolvers in our hands, surrounded by a small band of noble freedmen." While in Campbellton, Purman and Hamilton found horses that had been left behind or captured during the Asboth raid in 1864 and requested permission from the Bureau to keep the horses for their own use.
Purman contemplated the nature of white resentment: "The acts and feelings of citizens towards Agents of the Bureau, and Northern men, are of a character of great social bitterness. Among the poor and ignorant people this feeling is nourished in the form of personal hatred, while among the wealthier and intelligent classes, this bitterness is exhibited in our total ostracism from society. The better order of gentlemen are good "street friends" but they never compromise their social standing by extending to the forlorn Agent an invitation or introduction to their homes and families."
He then came to a startling conclusion about the root of such attitudes: "This social exclusion is principally due to unreasonable and unforgiving female influence, as the ladies seem to make it the solemn fashion of cherishing the Confederate dead, and hating the Federal living. Ladies have refused to appear at the same table as us."
The only restraint on white violence was their fear that "the Government would visit a terrible punishment upon the district, by the infliction of martial law, or that the freedmen would take a worse vengeance upon the whole community."
In February, the Bureau relieved the civilian agents in Hamilton's territory of their duties and ordered Purman to report to Bureau headquarters for reassignment. Hamilton conveyed his distress at this development to his Bureau supervisors. A few days after Purman's departure, seventy freedmen signed a petition addressed to Col. John T. Sprague, Foster's replacement as Bureau Assistant Commissioner and commander of military forces in Florida, beseeching him "to restore to us our good Freedmen Bureau Agent, W. J. Purman." Their tribute to Purman detailed his contributions to the community:
"He worked day & night for our good. Starting up our education. Starting up our societies. Making speeches. Settling our difficulties, and explaining our difficulties and settling them up for us, explaining to all through the country how to work, how to make money & how to live in peace and harmony. We feel that he has done all of us more good than any man we ever saw. The people all want him back. And therefore Colonel if you can possibly do it, we will pray and thank you for it, with our blessings on the whole Freedmens Bureau."
Among the signers of the petition were several men who became prominent as Reconstruction progressed, including Calvin Rogers (county constable); Benjamin Livingston (state legislator, county commissioner and Marianna postmaster and councilman); Jesse Robinson (state legislator and justice of the peace); Rev. Fuller White (county commissioner and councilman); and Isham White (county commissioner). The first name on the petition and its probable author was Rev. Emanuel Fortune.
As Congressional Republican plans for the future of Reconstruction began to form, the Bureau agents became involved more deeply with the freedmen community. In addition to his continuing lectures, Purman helped found the Freedmen's Benevolant Society. The ostensible purpose of this society was to provide relief for the indigent, but it also likely served as a front for the Lincoln Brotherhood, which was itself a front for the Republican Party.
As Reconstruction progressed and tensions between the races increased, Hamilton and Purman were now subject to threats more menacing than the social snubs they had previously suffered. In February, Hamilton and Purman traveled up to Campbellton to supervise contracting. Purman described the scene:
"In the morning a few of the best citizens were present, but towards noon all of this ilk quietly disappeared off the _apis, and a crowd of roughs had full sway.
Whiskey was guzzled down in abundance to get up steam to assault the "Yankees", and a mob of a dozen drunken, cowardly wretches, with revolvers buckled round them came into our room, criticizing and insulting us in the most provoking manner. Our only protection was in our revolvers laying on the table before us. They retired, came again, repeating this manoevore several times, when we were entreated by our colored friends to leave the town as quickly as possible, which in our unprotected condition we thought expedient to do, and did, in an open manner, with our revolvers in our hands, surrounded by a small band of noble freedmen." While in Campbellton, Purman and Hamilton found horses that had been left behind or captured during the Asboth raid in 1864 and requested permission from the Bureau to keep the horses for their own use.
Purman contemplated the nature of white resentment: "The acts and feelings of citizens towards Agents of the Bureau, and Northern men, are of a character of great social bitterness. Among the poor and ignorant people this feeling is nourished in the form of personal hatred, while among the wealthier and intelligent classes, this bitterness is exhibited in our total ostracism from society. The better order of gentlemen are good "street friends" but they never compromise their social standing by extending to the forlorn Agent an invitation or introduction to their homes and families."
He then came to a startling conclusion about the root of such attitudes: "This social exclusion is principally due to unreasonable and unforgiving female influence, as the ladies seem to make it the solemn fashion of cherishing the Confederate dead, and hating the Federal living. Ladies have refused to appear at the same table as us."
The only restraint on white violence was their fear that "the Government would visit a terrible punishment upon the district, by the infliction of martial law, or that the freedmen would take a worse vengeance upon the whole community."
In February, the Bureau relieved the civilian agents in Hamilton's territory of their duties and ordered Purman to report to Bureau headquarters for reassignment. Hamilton conveyed his distress at this development to his Bureau supervisors. A few days after Purman's departure, seventy freedmen signed a petition addressed to Col. John T. Sprague, Foster's replacement as Bureau Assistant Commissioner and commander of military forces in Florida, beseeching him "to restore to us our good Freedmen Bureau Agent, W. J. Purman." Their tribute to Purman detailed his contributions to the community:
"He worked day & night for our good. Starting up our education. Starting up our societies. Making speeches. Settling our difficulties, and explaining our difficulties and settling them up for us, explaining to all through the country how to work, how to make money & how to live in peace and harmony. We feel that he has done all of us more good than any man we ever saw. The people all want him back. And therefore Colonel if you can possibly do it, we will pray and thank you for it, with our blessings on the whole Freedmens Bureau."
Among the signers of the petition were several men who became prominent as Reconstruction progressed, including Calvin Rogers (county constable); Benjamin Livingston (state legislator, county commissioner and Marianna postmaster and councilman); Jesse Robinson (state legislator and justice of the peace); Rev. Fuller White (county commissioner and councilman); and Isham White (county commissioner). The first name on the petition and its probable author was Rev. Emanuel Fortune.
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