Here is an interesting article on Union occupied/liberated New Orleans from a pro-Confederate newspaper in Texas. The article takes up nearly a full page in the paper and parts of it are difficult to read. I am posting the section reflecting on the change in racial relations caused by occupation. NOTE: There is harshly racist language in the article.
The article was published a year and a half after this largest of Southern cities was captured by Union forces. The Union general in command, Ben Butler, had a record of freeing slaves even before the Emancipation Proclamation. The article says that African Americans in New Orleans are now “as free here as in Boston.” It complains that white women sometimes cannot find seats on trains because Blacks can now sit in the same cars as whites.
The final paragraph complains that African Americans, always barred from testifying against whites during slave times, are now able to speak in court and give evidence. The article is particularly concerned that Black servants might now disclose the pro-Confederate utterances of their white employers. In the example given, the newspaper alleges that a Black woman testified that a white woman had played the pro-Confederate song Bonnie Blue Flag.
Tri-Weekly State Gazette
Friday, Sep 18, 1863
Austin, TX
Page: 2
My late brother did his Masters’ dissertation on Benjamin Butler… I’m not that knowledgeable myself, but I was intrigued. Unfortunately, the jpgs don’t seem to be opening…