It is possible,
however, that they had not fully realized the trend of the war,
inasmuch as New Orleans was excepted from the effects of the
Proclamation. It is certain that the free colored people of that city
made a tender of support to the Confederacy, although they were among
the first to welcome the conquering "Yankees," and afterward fought
with marked gallantry in the Union cause. The free mulattoes, or
_browns_, as they called themselves, of Charleston, followed much the
same course as their fellow classmen of New Orleans. Here, too, they
had been exclusive and to some extent slave-holders, had tendered
their services to the Confederacy, and had hastily come forward to
welcome the conquerors. They were foremost among the colored people in
wealth and intelligence, but their field of social operations had been
so circumscribed that they had exerted but little influence in the
work of Americanizing the slave. Separated from the slave by law and
custom they did all in their power to separate themselves from him in
thought and feeling. They drew the line against all blacks as
mercilessly and senselessly as the most prejudiced of the whites and
were duplicates of the whites placed on an intermediate plane. It was
not unusual to find a Charleston brown filled with more prejudice
toward the blacks than were the whites.
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