While transcribing my late mother's newspaper articles she wrote in 1963 from a Civil War relative's (Freeman Woodman) diaries for a book on one year (1863) in his life, I came across a profound occurrence. His entry from that time as a member of the Union's 52nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry:

"Sunday, January 11, 1863 – Camp in Corinth, Mississippi. It has been a very warm day. The 66 Indiana and 57 Illinois Vol. Regiment started for Pittsburgh Landing to guard teams (of horses). They have gone for provisions that has come up the river. Our Chaplain preached today. I was over to the negro corral to meeting. I have been to bible class."

From the article my mother wrote for The Geneva Republican, January 10, 1963, called "The Centum Diaries": "The “negro corral”, was necessitated by the arrival of hundreds of negroes at Corinth. Late in 1862 some troops had gone south on a skirmish. On their return hundreds of fugitive slaves followed them. They could not send them back to slavery so they accommodated them the best they could. They were put in a large penned in area and soldiers were assigned to guard them. A chaplain was put in charge and he soon got the idea that some of the negroes should be given uniforms and guns and allowed to patrol their own people. This met with the approval of the commanding officer and was adopted although there was no official sanction at this time for the arming of ex-slaves. The negroes were happy with this arrangement and so were the soldiers. The latter had complained bitterly, saying they had joined the army to fight rebels, not guard runaway slaves."

My interpretation, informed by the fact that most Americans never owned slaves, many northerners were abolitionists and nearly every able-bodied male was enlisted in a fight to free slaves, that the humanity shown in this instance was not unique. It betrays a sentiment lost in the translation of the WOKENESS of the far left's narrative today that all white people are racist. If that were true, something quite terrible might have happened at the "corral." Instead, the "negroes" (not the other "N" word, by the way), cared for as best they could. At that time the 52nd Illinois were foraging daily for subsistence and had just received word that government provisions were being delivered through a port on the Mississippi at Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee.

We need to keep searching for this and other incidents of decency towards one another. Our history is rich, diverse and compelling. Never perfect, but with the aim of becoming better. My ancestors fought and some died to give birth to this great nation and then to keep it free.

I welcome any and all comments and thoughts on this matter. Thank you.