"Not quite," he said; "but I've been in Michigan. I am from Ohio, and
that is its next neighbor;" and he seemed as glad as if he was meeting
his mother. "O, how much you remind me of my mother! Your advice to us
boys is almost in the same words my mother gave me when I left her;"
and tears spoke louder than words of his appreciation of visits from
his mother's representative.

I visited many camps of the freedmen, where there were two thousand,
with daily additions. Forty came into Bethel Camp one afternoon. I
went among them, and said to the man I met first:

"You concluded to use your freedom in coming into the Union camps?"

"Freedom!" looking up in surprise.

"Yes; you know President Lincoln has proclaimed all slaves free."

"Is dat so?"

"Certainly; you have heard about it, I suppose."

"No, missus, we never hear nothing like it. We's starvin', and we come
to get somfin' to eat. Dat's what we come for. Our people home tell us
Yankees want niggers to kill; an' da boils 'em up in great caldrons to
eat, 'case da's starvin'. But all de white men gone into de army, an'
lef' us all wid missus, an' da locks de bacon up for de sojers, an'
gib us little han'ful o' meal a day, an' we's got weak an' trimbly.
An' I tole my people we's gwine to die anyhow, an' we'd try de
Yankees."