The mud in Virginia is much more formidable than at the
North, and presents an insuperable, perhaps I should say an
unfathomable, obstacle to active operations. I hope General Grant
will succeed in taking Vicksburg. The loss of that important
stronghold would be a great blow to the rebels.
"You ask me, in your last letter, whether I see much of the
contrabands. I have talked with a considerable number. One, a
very intelligent fellow, had been very much trusted by his
master, and had accompanied him to various parts of the South. I
asked him the question: 'Is it true that there are a considerable
number of slaves who would prefer to remain in their present
condition to becoming free?'
" 'Nebber see any such niggers, massa,' he answered, shaking his
head decisively. 'We all want to be free. My old massa treated me
kindly, but I'd a left him any minute to be my own man.'
"I hope the time will soon come, when, from Canada to the Gulf,
there will not be a single black who is not his own man.
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