The Journal of Negro History, Volume 7, 1922

Mr. Cary thought that by this arrangement the station at Grand Cape Mount would net better results than the one at Monrovia. Neither he nor the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society were able to maintain both. Some funds were received567 but it developed in about a year that the school had to be given up for lack of funds and assistants.568

Other duties, moreover, required some time. Lott Cary realized from the beginning of the colony that a missionary in Africa ought to be more than a corrector of moral ills and a "doctor" of divinity; he would be fortunate indeed if he could mend human bodies. As a result, Cary was constrained to forego much of the joy which he had anticipated from efforts to show men the living Christ by accepting the position of Health Officer of the colony, August 31, 1822.569 He had no medical schooling but with the use of home remedies, patent medicines,570 and common sense, he was able to cure some. Until the 31st of August, 1823, he was practically the only physician in the settlement (excepting Dr. Ayres who was present a part of the year 1822). After that Dr. Ayres returned on the Oswego in the late spring of 1825.571 He and sixty emigrants who came with him were soon suffering from the disease of the country and had to rely on the medical experience of Cary. Eight emigrants died572 and by December, Dr. Ayres was compelled to leave the colony. The climate was so unhealthy that hardly any one escaped its pestilence.573 When, in addition, the poor housing conditions, the inadequate sanitation and the scanty hospital supplies574 are considered, it is remarkable that so many escaped death.

Every ship575 that brought emigrants meant more work for Cary. On February 13, 1824,576 one hundred and five emigrants arrived in the ship Cyrus and in less than a month every one was prostrate with the fever.577 "Astonishing," said Ashmun,578 "that in this atmosphere should exist causes so universal in their operation, as amongst all the varieties of age, sex and habit, not to leave one in the whole number without disease, and that in less than four weeks; and stranger still, that the blast should be so tempered to the strength of the constitution of every individual, as only to have swept off three small children. Men may call these phenomena in human life, the effects of the laws of nature; I choose to call them singular proofs of the Providence of God over all his creatures."

When the brig Hunter arrived, March 13, 1825, with 66 settlers, nearly all of whom were farmers,579 all were stricken during the first month. Although Cary himself was confined to his house nursing a severe injury, only a few children were fatally affected.580

Cary gratuitously spent about half of his time in caring for the sick of the colony. This fact was a matter of course as no funds were specially designated for this purpose. Cary was financially able to do such a thing. He had defrayed no small share of his own expense581 in equipment for Africa, and when the colonists were in need of medical aid, he spent much of his means in this direction.582 In 1825 he still owned a house and lot near Richmond which he was desirous of selling.583

Lott Cary was so occupied with caring for the sick that his prospective trip to America in the spring of 1826 had to be postponed.584 He was also physician to Governor Ashmun. The governor was very ill in May after an exposure of four hours in attempting to save the schooner Catherine from destruction. "The prescriptions of our excellent and experienced assistant physician, the Rev. L. Cary," the Governor said,585 "under the blessing of Divine Providence, so far succeeded as to afford complete relief, only leaving me in a very emaciated and enfeebled state, about the end of the first week in July."

All of this was just part of the work that Lott Cary had set himself to accomplish. By his unselfish labors and untiring efforts he had won the hearts of the natives. He had been indefatigable in his efforts to uplift the colony. The morale of the settlement was greatly lifted. Drunkenness, profanity and quarreling were unknown; the Sabbath was observed with strictness.586 Nearly the whole adult population had come under the influence of Christianity. On the site of a once desolate forest consecrated to demon worship was erected the commodious chapel which stood as a monument of the overthrow of heathenism and as a tribute to the Son of God.587

But in the sight of this landmark of Christianity, the slave trade was carried on extensively.588 In 1825 from eight to ten, even fifteen traders were engaged at the same time off the coast. In July "contracts were existing for eight hundred slaves to be furnished in the short space of four months within eight miles of the Cape. Four hundred of these were to be purchased for two American traders. During the same season, a boat belonging to a Frenchman, having on board twenty-six slaves, all in irons, was upset in the mouth of the St. Paul River and twenty of their number perished."589 Between October, 1825, and April, 1826, no less than one hundred and eighty Negroes were reclaimed from slave traders and taught the Scripture.590

When Gurley visited the colony in August, 1824, he found the state of religion and morality hopeful, defenses adequate, quiet Sabbaths and physical improvements which indicated that a considerable amount of labor had been done. For twenty-two months following, the jails were in disuse.591 By 1826 the people had developed from inexperienced immigrants to efficient citizens. No family was without ample food and wearing apparel. Wages were high and employment could be found everywhere. The common laborers were receiving from $.75 to $1.75 a day, while the mechanics got $2 a day. Houses were built and a telegraph system was soon to be installed. There were also two corps of militia, an artillery battery of fifty men and forty infantrymen. These had charge of the fifteen large carriages and three small pivot guns.592

A printing press costing more than $1,000, in addition to the salary of a printer, had been sent out. The citizens of Liberia expressed their thanks by subscribing nearly $200 "toward the immediate issue and support of a publick newspaper."593 One thousand volumes of books, a complete set of the North American Review, a gift of Editor Sparks, and many other useful things were on hand.594

Economic effort, however, did not at first play as conspicuous a part in the missionary adventure of Lott Cary as it did in the lives of the pioneers, George Liele and David George, who left this country primarily to be able to make a living.595 Nevertheless, the economic feature developed after a time. The agricultural progress of the country was rapidly promoted. The sultry and moist climate greatly accelerated596 the growth of coffee,597 rice and cassada. The Rev. Colston M. Waring was the first to attempt farming on anything like a large scale. His crop of rice and cassada on a ten acre farm failed and checked so bold an example from all except Lott Cary. He, too, lost a promising crop in 1825 on the same kind of land because of the birds and the monkeys.598 This failure, however, showed him that either farming as the natives adopted (scratching the surface of the ground with a sharp stick) or more improved methods of thoroughly preparing the soil had to be tried.599 In the following year, Cary enlarged his farm, had it cleared, dug it up with picks and hoes, and, in June, sowed about three bushels of rice to the acre. At the first cutting, on the 20th of October, it averaged 50 kroos (a measure varying from 3 to 5 winchester gallons) per acre.600

In one letter, he says:601 "I have a promising little crop of rice and cassada, and have planted about 180 coffee trees this week, a part of which I expect, will produce next season, as they are now in bloom. I think, sir, that in a very few years we shall send you coffee of a better quality than you have ever seen brought into your market. We find that trees of two species abound in great quantities on the Cape."

On the 7th of July, 1825, Cary reported a discovery of gold in the sand near little Cape Mount.602 The appearance of gold was certain to develop the country commercially; some trade was already being carried on. Endeavoring to participate therein, nine of the natives built a ten ton schooner which carried from four to eight thousand dollars' worth of goods each trip.603 Doctor Alexander604 relates that between the first of January and the fifteenth of July, 1826, fifteen vessels stopped at Monrovia.

Nevertheless, there were some anti-slavery leaders in America who seriously questioned the permanent utility and moral influence of the colony of Liberia. One of these anti-slavery groups, composed of free Negroes of Philadelphia, was led by Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.605 In a letter to a gentleman in Richmond, Lott Cary makes mention, September 24, 1827, of the agitation carried on by these Negroes of Philadelphia. "Before I left America," he said,606 "and ever since then, the coloured people in about Philadelphia, have been making efforts in opposition to the scheme of colonizing the free people in Africa; and as some of their very recent publications have reached this place, I felt that in justice to the cause, and my own feelings, I ought to undertake to point out to them their situation."

Unfortunately the letter closes shortly after this but singularly enough our sources supply an "Address, By the Citizens of Monrovia, to the free coloured people of the United States,"607 which no doubt is referred to in the letter. The name of Lott Cary is not attached to this address, which boosts "the doings of the Colonization Society" and which points out the political, social, economic, educational and religious advantages enjoyed by the colonists. Nevertheless, the document could not fully express the sentiments of the colonists unless the feelings of the leaders were given. It is not too much to presume that the address was gotten up by Lott Cary, the outstanding leader of the colonists, but it is very doubtful whether he wrote it in its present form. The correspondence of Cary reveals that he did not express himself so clearly nor did he use so good English.608 The antithetical style reminds one of the writing of Ashmun.609

Through all of the many affairs which Cary performed, he continued pastor of the church at Monrovia. A missionary society was formed in connection with the church in the spring of 1826. Cary was elected president.610 At the first anniversary611 on Easter Monday, in consequence of the failure of the Rev. Colin Teague to come from Sierra Leone, Lott Cary preached the introductory sermon.612 This society contributed $50 for mission work during the year 1827.613 By the following year, the church contained one hundred members and two ordained preachers, John Lewis and Colston M. Waring, besides exhorters.614

Final Work and Worth

Lott Cary was none the less interested and active in the welfare of the government. From the first settlement in Cape Montserado, he was appointed Government Inspector at the same time he was selected Health Officer615 and consequently he knew something of the working of the government. In September, 1826, he was unanimously elected vice-agent of the colony. The colonial agent had great confidence in his judgments, decisions and loyalty616 and left the affairs of the colony in Cary's charge when he was advised in 1828 to return to America for his health.617

"I was able," Mr. Ashmun wrote to the board,618 "to arrange the concerns of the Colony with Mr. Cary, even to the minutest particulars, and I have the greatest confidence that his administration will prove satisfactory, in a high degree, to the Board and advantageous to the Colony."

During the first six months, Cary's task was to see to it that every man and working family were self-supporting. "To effect this object, they must be furnished with a few simple tools—to pay for them if they can—if not, to receive them gratuitously. Their allowance must be withheld if they neglect or negligently follow the improvement of their lands, and the building of their houses. Much may be done by visiting the people separately, getting at their intentions and circumstances and spurring, advising or reproving as they may require. I am persuaded it will be useful, and in most instances possible to get at least all the men out of the public receptacles and on their lands before the rains set in." Respecting the buildings of the United States, those of the colony, the arms, forts, printing establishment, farms, Millsburg settlement, finances, etc., other particular regulations were suggested.619 Lott Cary kept Ashmun and the American Colonization Society informed about the condition of the colony.620 On his death bed, Ashmun again expressed his confidence in Cary and urged that he should be permanently appointed to conduct the affairs of the colony621 which now contained upwards of 1,200 settlers.622

The only trouble that Cary had while he was vice-agent was with the natives.623 The factory belonging to the colony at Digby, a settlement just north of Monrovia, was robbed by them and general hostilities threatened when satisfaction was demanded and refused. A letter of protest to a slave dealer who had stored his goods in the house where stores of the colony had been deposited was intercepted and destroyed by the natives. Immediately, Cary prepared to defend the rights and property of the colony. He called out the militia and began with others, in the evening of November 8, to make cartridges in the old agency house. In some manner, a candle was accidentally upset and almost instantly the entire ammunition exploded, entirely destroying the house. Eight people died; six of the number survived until the next day; Lott Cary and one other until November 10, 1828.624

The unbelievable news of the death of Lott Cary spread like a mighty conflagration to the organizations which he represented. The following is the resolution read and adopted at the annual meeting of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society in 1829:625

The loss which has been sustained, cannot in our estimation, be easily repaired. This excellent man seems to have been raised up by divine providence, for the special purpose of taking an active part in the management of the infant settlement. His discriminating judgment, his honesty of heart, and decision of character, qualified him eminently, for this service. But, especially, in relation to your society is his death to be sincerely lamented. It will be recollected, that he was a principal instrument in the origin of this society, and for several years acted as its recording secretary. A little more than eight years ago, he received his appointment, and sailed, as missionary, in company with brother Teage, for the land of their forefathers. His exertions as a minister in that land have been of the most devoted and untiring kind. In the communications which have been received by the Board, he seemed to possess the most anxious concern for the salvation of the perishing multitudes around him. Through his instrumentality a considerable church has been collected together which seems to be in a prosperous and growing condition. Sabbath and week day schools have been instituted for the instruction of native children and the children of the colony, which have proved eminently useful. We were looking forward with confidence to the more perfect consummation of our wishes, when that moral desert should rejoice and blossom as the rose; but God has seen fit to cross our expectations, in calling from his station this laborious missionary. It becomes us to bow with submission to the stroke, and to realize the saying of the apostle, "how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out." Although we were not permitted to receive his dying testimony to the trust, we have the fullest assurance that our loss is his unspeakable and eternal gain.

At the sixth triennial meeting of the General Missionary Convention, 1829, the committee on the African Mission made this report626 which in some particulars was paradoxical:

This excellent man (it began) went to Africa, under the patronage of the American Colonization Society, as well as of this convention.... Could he have devoted his whole time to our service much good might have been expected to have resulted from his labors. But he was under necessity to assist in its government and defense, as well as to act as its physician.

It is a source of consolation to the friends of Mr. Cary that though his life was terminated in an unexpected moment and in a most distressing manner, the unwearied diligence and fidelity with which he discharged the important trust confided to his care—his zeal for the honor of religion, and the purity and piety of his general conduct have gained him a reputation which must live in grateful remembrance, as long as the interesting colony exists, in whose service he lived and died.

Your committee cannot help expressing their regret that so small a portion of benevolent feeling has been exercised towards this mission, and that so little has been accomplished during the eight years of its existence.

The next item of this report is an appeal for "some brethren of competent talents" to go and labor there.

There surely was ground for regret that so small a portion of benevolent feeling was exercised towards this mission. Some individuals did contribute now and then; "A Georgia Planter" sent a part of $10;627 a "poor woman" of the Rev. H. Malcom's congregation sent $3 for the African mission;628 "a friend to Africa avails of jewelry for mission to Liberia, per Mr. E. Lincoln, $6";629 the Negroes connected with the First Baptist Church, Washington, sent $15630 and, no doubt, some others contributed.

It is not quite clear, however, why William Crane, still representing the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society in the Convention and the Rev. James B. Taylor, a delegate from Virginia and later the biographer of Lott Cary, did not challenge the statement that so little had been accomplished during the eight years of the existence of the African mission.

The Convention then adopted the following recommendation of the Committee:

Resolved, That this convention cherish a grateful recollection of the self-denying labors of our late lamented missionary to Africa, Rev. Lott Cary, and that we sympathize with his family, the American Colonization Society, and the church at Monrovia, in the loss they have sustained in his death.

Resolved, That it be recommended to the Board to take measures for supplying the vacancy occasioned by the death of Bro. Cary as soon as possible by an able white missionary, and that they endeavor to the utmost of their power to promote the success of this mission, as one in which the convention feel a special interest.

S. Cornelius, Chairman.

It was not until 1832 that the Convention saw the error of its conclusion and declared that it must depend "principally on colored persons, as missionaries and school teachers, in Africa."631 Despite this color-phobia of the Baptists, nothing can explain away the fact that Lott Cary had lived helpfully and died honorably. Gurley632 and Hervey633 would make him a man of genius who, had he possessed educational advantages, would have won a worldwide reputation as preacher, as general or as chief magistrate. This square-faced, keen-eyed, reserved, cautious black held nothing back. From Charles City County to Richmond, from slave to freedman, from profligate to prophet, from sinner to saint, is a record that might have gone unnoticed; but from America to Africa, from governed to governor, from missionary to martyr is Lott Cary.

For over a score of years the little village of Carytown was the only memento of the man. But in 1850, the Rev. Eli Ball, an agent of the Southern Baptist Convention, while visiting all the Liberian Baptist Mission stations, found with difficulty the final resting place of Lott Cary. The next year a marble monument was sent out and placed over his grave.634

Miles Mark Fisher

COMMUNICATIONS

The correspondence of the editor often has an historical value as the following communications will show:

February 13, 1922.

Dear Dr. Woodson:

Your Journal of Negro History has been so full of good material that I hesitate to call attention to two things in the last (January) number that seem unsuitable.

The first is the leading article on Slave Society on the Southern Society. For more than thirty years I have been combating with all my might the theory of slave-holding sovereignty set forth in that article. It is the essentially Southern view—a magnified view and an unreal view. The article is practically a mild form of the panegyric of the slave plantation which has been the stock in trade of defenders of slavery for a hundred years.

The reasons for slavery given on pages 1 and 2 do not accord with the facts, and if they were true would have minimized the protests against slavery, past and present. It is ridiculous to say that white men endanger their lives by working in the South when you consider how large a part of the cotton crop is raised entirely by white men.

The description of what was said to be the "usual" type of plantation house does not in my opinion apply to more than two hundred or three hundred plantations in the South at the outside. I have traveled very extensively in the South and have never seen more than three or four such mansions. The testimony of Olmsted and other writers is that ordinarily the slaveholder's house was poor and that he lived in a very poor fashion. As for the twelve sons and daughters in the planters' families, and the fifteen to twenty-five children in the negro families, it is perfect gammon. Not one family in a thousand had such numbers. None but a very few of the richest planters lived in the profusion described on page four. As for the enrolment in colleges between 1859 and 1860, and the incomes of the higher institutions, that is all bosh. Francis Lieber was a German by birth, found his service in South Carolina very uncongenial, and stood by the union. To compare slavery to apprenticeship is an affront. The day's work set down by Murat (whose history of the United States is a very obscure work) is contrary to evidence North or South. Regular nurseries were built only on a few large plantations. The arguments in favor of slavery on pages nine and ten are stated without qualification or contradiction. I deeply regret that a Journal of Negro History should admit an article so full of statements both untrue and dangerous to the Negro race.

The experience of a Georgia peon "seems to me very doubtful. I am personally acquainted with the story of Dade's stockade, and have passed within a few miles of it, and I do not believe in the least that there is now, or has been in the past thirty years, any plantation in the South where families are brought up in servitude. The only Ponce-de-Leon spring that I know is in Florida, which is not on the road between Georgia and Mississippi. The man seems to think that Chattanooga is on the west side of the river. It is a dangerous thing to accept any such statement without thorough investigation and calling upon the relater to state exactly where these things happened, and what was his course of travel.

I should not venture to write so decidedly but that you have done so much for the cause of the Negro race, and I don't like to see you give ammunition to the enemies of your race.

Sincerely yours,Albert Bushnell Hart.326 Flower St.,Chester, Pa.,June 26, 1922.

Carter G. Woodson, Ph.D.,

The Journal of Negro History,

Washington, D. C.

My dear Doctor Woodson:

The following list of Negro delegates to the Republican National Conventions from 1868 to 1920, inclusive, from South Carolina, may be of sufficient interest for publication. As the proceedings of the conventions do not differentiate as to the racial identity of the delegates it is necessary that this data should be collected before it is too late, especially as it pertains to the Reconstruction period. While a reduction in the numbers of delegates from South Carolina, as well as from most of the Southern States, was made by the Republican National Committee in December, 1913, the State still sends a majority of Negro delegates:

1868—Chicago, Ill., May 20-21.

Robert Brown Elliott, Henry B. Hayne, Stephen A. Swails,