(_Dunham and Clapperton's Travels and Discoveries in
North and Central Africa_, vol. 2, pp. 140, 230, 332, 333, 353.)
The forests gave way before them, and extensive verdant fields, richly
clothed with produce, rose up as by magic before these hardy sons of
toil. In the place of the unskillful and ill-constructed wigwam, houses,
villages, towns and cities quickly were reared up in their stead. Being
farmers, mechanics, laborers and traders in their own country, they
required little or no instruction in these various pursuits. They were
in fact, then, to the whole continent, what they are in truth now to the
whole Southern section of the Union--the bone and sinews of the country.
And even now, the existence of the white man, South, depends entirely on
the labor of the black man--the idleness of the one, is sustained by the
industry of the other. Public roads and highways are the result of their
labor, as are also the first public works, as wharves, docks, forts, and
all such improvements. Are not these legitimate investments in the
common stock of the nation, which should command a proportionate
interest?
We shall next proceed to review the contributions of colored men to
other departments of the nation, and as among the most notorious and
historical, we refer to colored American warriors.
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