BIB_ID
347052
Accession number
MA 367.86
Creator
Otey, James Hervey, 1800-1863.
Display Date
1863 Jan 12.
Credit line
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan, before 1901.
Description
1 item (3 p.) ; 25.6 cm
Notes
Part of a 12-volume collection of Autographs and Manuscripts of Bishops of The Protestant Episcopal Church (MA 364-375). The arrangement of the collection is by Bishops in the order of their consecration and chronological within their portion of the collection. Letters in this collection have been described individually in separate catalog records; see collection-level record for more information.
Provenance
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan before 1901, possibly from the estate of Bishop William Stevens Perry of Iowa.
Summary
Commenting on his health; telling him that a Mr. Bray wishes to renew his subscription to the Journal; discussing the fate of the Episcopal Church "in case the unity of the country should be restored"; reporting that most of the men he encounters plan to leave for Brazil or a country governed by Great Britain if the North prevails; writing "Does this surprise you? Why should it? Four millions of Negroes turned loose, armed to pillage, kill & destroy 'ad lib' -- the property of the country confiscated!"; telling stories about the behavior of formerly enslaved people and Union soldiers; complaining about the attitude of the North towards Southerners; sharing at length his racist and paternalistic theories about the "moral, social, religious, & intellectual condition" of Black people in the South before the Civil War versus Black people elsewhere and fortelling a dark end ("one half exterminated by the sword & diseases, & the other half left a prey to famine") for the formerly enslaved individuals who were "seduced from service to seek the blessing of freedom within the Federal lines."
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