Moses

On Jan. 1, 1863 the “Contraband's” of war were freed.

There was a roll of the drums, and all heads turned toward the platform. A Beaufort doctor who had long ago freed his own slaves stepped forward to read the proclamation of the President of the United States: “That, on the first of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people hereof shall then be thence forward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States; including the military and naval authority thereof will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, or any of them, in efforts they may make for their actual freedom.” There was breathless silence in the grove. Throats were too choked for cheers. The commander of the First South Carolina stepped forward to present a flag to his regiment, a flag made for freedom by a ladies’ sewing circle in New York State. As he held out the Stars and Stripes, a voice broke the stillness. It was a voice which had been heard before, on lonely paths in the woods under the north star: “My country,‘tis of thee.
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain side
“Let freedom ring.” Harriet Tubman spoke the final words of the ceremony: “This is the first flag we have ever seen which promised us anything. This is the first day we ever had a country.