"The Reign of Terror in Norfolk," A Report of Mob Violence
Published in the Tribune and the Commonwealth
and Written by Freedmen's Teacher Lucy Chase

Norfolk, Va., June 25, 1865

"The days of bayonets are passed!" is the bullying street-cry of the returned rebel soldiers in Norfolk and Portsmouth, as they fearlessly assume the once-familiar knife and pistol. At the corners, and in the market-place, many have been heard to say, "We'll kill every nigger, or drive 'em all out of town." Civil power is established here, and the military command is restricted. But Gen. Howard, commandant of the small military force retained here, has said, "There is one thing I will do; I will protect the colored people."

On Thursday last, two or three Southern gentlemen succeeded in infusing Southern sentiments into the hearts of some of the New York 13th Artillery by dosing them with drugged whiskey; and, leading themselves, they encouraged the soldiers to destroy the wares on the stand of a colored man. On from the stand, crying, "Clear out all the niggers," they passed to a ball-room, through which they dashed, driving all before them, and destroying whatever came in their way. On Friday night, a body of colored men, wishing to see a circus performance, deemed it prudent to go in a body, and, protecting themselves with canes, they went forth quietly, but were fired upon as they drew near the circus. Two or three were shot; and all withdrew without offering resistance. Colored men were attacked, that night, in various parts of the city. One man was hung upon a lamp-post. Another, going home from a mission house with a letter which had been written for him there, was seized and put into prison, where he remained until the next day, when his kind amanuensis obtained his release. A worthy exhorter was knocked down, and severely injured, on his way home from church. Another was woefully bruised, while crossing the street from the house of a sick sister to his own home. On Saturday night, the wood-wharf men were attacked, and the stores of two Union white men were broken into, and much of the property destroyed. Finding the declaration, "I am a Union man," no defence against the attack of New York soldiers, one man resorted to his pistol, and, after wounding two of his assailants, succeeded in making his escape. Last night many shots were fired in Portsmouth. The demonstrations there are more violent than here.

On Sunday, two colored men were found hanging dead upon trees, this side of Suffolk. And a young man leaving a church in this city, was shot through the side, and robbed. He still lies, a panting sufferer, on an attic floor; bare of every comfort, save the inestimable one of a devoted mother, who leaves him neither night nor day. "He might have gone to the hospital," his mother said; "but I want him where I can be with him, and do for him all the time." My sister and I well remember when the mother and son came from their master to Norfolk. "We won't stay upon government one moment," the mother said. "Uncle Sam is very good, but he has too much to do; and we don't want to trouble any one. I'll get a little room, and I reckon we can scrub along." And from that little room, for months, they have gone out to their little work, coming back at night to peace and independence; never dreaming of one to molest or make them afraid.

I have just come from the bedsides of two wounded men. One of them was quietly passing to his home, when three soldiers run after him and fired three shots, neither of which took effect. They then cried "Halt!" but, as the man knew their order was not to be respected, he walked on. Another shot fired, and the ball passed through his month. "Finish him, finish him," some one cried. Two men overtook him, and each pointed a revolver at his breast; he turned their hands aside, and said, "You don't shoot me again." "Very well," they said, "come into the guardhouse." There he was received without investigation. In the morning, when the officer of the guard came, he inquired what brought him there, and after hearing the man's story, he said : "Pity they did not kill you." The other man is badly wounded in the leg. He was hobbling home from his day's work at the government commissary when he was overtaken by a howling crowd. His co-laborers were with him, and eleven shots were fired at them. Only one took effect. "You must fight it out, I can do nothing for you," the Mayor of Norfolk said to a committee of colored men who sought his protection. The rioters are taking advantage of the divided, and somewhat obscurely defined, responsibilities resting upon the associated military and civil authorities; responsibilities which the civil authorities shirk, when the interests of the colored man or of Union citizens are at stake. The Mayor of Portsmouth, whose city is more disturbed than our own, requests Col. Howard to "relieve Portsmouth of its military guard!" Col. Howard is abroad, with the will of an army in his breast, and we are confident he will speedily restore quiet again. The disturbance is maintained through the day-time.

A man who just passed my window told me this story :—"Two New York soldiers came up to me, fifteen minutes ago, rolling up their shirt-sleeves, and saying, 'We are going to kill every one of you.' 'You'll have a heap to do, then,' I said. `But I shan't run away from you. I'll meet you, but I shan't run.' Then one of the soldiers drew back, and begged the other off." I heard one of the soldiers say, yesterday, in the presence of several citizens, "The citizens got us to do this. They told us to clean out all the men, and then they could take care of the women and children. I've painted here for twenty-five years, and everybody has thought a heap of me; and I've never been beaten and bruised about in this manner, and I ain't going to stand it, either. I'm one that's always quiet, and ain't meddling with nobody, and I don't want nobody to meddle with me. They think they've got all out of us they can, and now they want to get rid of us. I've always been ready to do anything for the soldiers. Many a time they've asked me for a quid of tobacco, and I have not had any, and I've gone into a store and spent the last cent I had for some, and gladly given it to them." One man said to me, "I heard some soldiers say, this whole thing was got up on New York, and was to run all through the Southern cities."

Day and night, men, boys and soldiers cry "Nig !" " Nig !" at sight of a colored man, and hasten to molest him. Several have said to me, "We're having again what we suffered when the Union forces first came into Norfolk." One man said : " We rejoiced to see the Northern soldiers; there was nothing we would not do for them; and they knew it, too. We were humble, grateful and respectful. But the New York 99th destroyed our property, shot us down, and injured us in every possible way. They got men from their beds at night, saying, 'The general has important work for you to do,' and then took the men so willing to work for the government, and sent them over the lines, and sold them as slaves. It seems, now, as if we had no one to protect us, and there's nothing left us but to protect ourselves."

The colored people are grieved, but not cowed. "We are a nation that loves the white people," one man said, "and we would never attack them, but if we are driven to exasperation we know our duty."