[30]
As an outlet to the congested grouping of Negroes and poor whites in the
war camps it was arranged to send a number of them to the loyal States as
fast as there presented themselves opportunities for finding homes and
employment. Cairo, Illinois, in the West, became the center of such
activities extending its ramifications into all parts of the invaded
southern territory. Some of the refugees permanently settled in the North,
taking up the work abandoned by the northern soldiers who went to war.[31]
It was soon found necessary to appoint a superintendent of such affairs at
Cairo, for there were those who, desiring to lead a straggling life, had
to be restrained from crime by military surveillance and regulations
requiring labor for self-support. Exactly how many whites and blacks were
thus aided to reach northern communities cannot be determined but in view
of the frequent mention of their movements by travellers the number must
have been considerable. In some cases, as in Lawrence, Kansas, there were
assembled enough freedmen to constitute a distinct group.[32] Speaking of
this settlement the editor of the _Alton Telegraph_ said in 1862 that
although they amounted to many hundreds not one, that he could learn of,
had been a public charge. They readily found employment at fair wages, and
soon made themselves comfortable.
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