Frederick Douglass

The office of speech now is only to point out when, where, and how to strike to the best advantage.

They tell you this is the ‘white man’s war’; that you will be no ‘better off after than before the war’; that the getting of you into the army is to ‘sacrifice you on the first opportunity.’ Believe them not; cowards themselves, they do…

We can get at the throat of treason and slavery through the State of Massachusetts.

I am authorized to assure you that you will receive the same wages, the same rations, the same equipments, the same protection, the same treatment, and the same bounty, secured to white soldiers.

The day dawns; the morning star is bright upon the horizon!

The iron gate of our prison stands half open.

Guilty or not guilty, to be accused was to be sure of a flogging.

The 54th was not long in the field before it proved itself gallant and strong, worthy to rank with the most courageous of its white companions in arms.

I owe it to my long-abused people, and especially to those already in the army, to expose their wrongs and plead their cause.

When I plead for recruits I want to do it with all my heart, without qualification.

But thus far, the government had not kept its promise, or the promise made for it.

Why should a people who have made such progress in the course of a few years be humiliated and scandalized by exodus agents, begging money to remove them from their homes? especially at a time when every indication favors the position that…