An Illustrated History of the USA

o Captain!my Captain!

WahWhitmanis perhaps th emOSIfamousA mer-

ican poeto f th e n in et eenthcentury. Duringthe

Civil Warhe work edin militaryh os p itals,helping

[0rakecar eofwoundedsoldiers.Whitm an w asa

g n:ar admirerofLin co lnandin1B65h e exp ressed

oC aptain !m yCaptain!ourfearfultripis

done,

The shiphasweathcr'de\'e ryrack.thepnze

we sought iswon,

The poriis ncar,rhc bellsI hear, t h epeopleall

exul ting,

Whilefolloweycsrhc steadykeel ,t hevessel

grimandd aring;

Bu t 0 h eart !heart!h eart!

()t hebleedingdropsofred ,

Wher eonthedeckm yCaptainlies.

Fallencoldanddead.

oCaptain !myCaptain!riseupandhearth e

bells:

Riseu p -foryout h eflagist1ung -fo ryout he

buglet rills.

For youbouquetsandribbon'dwreaths - fo r

yo u theshoresa-crowding.

Theot her1( >TIlleTCoufcdcrarcstatessharedthis
attitude. All their assemblies passedlawsto keep
blacksIIIanin fe riorposition.Such lawswerecalled
"BlackC o des. ""Fede ral bayonets"mighthave
madeth e black sfree ,burtheru lingwhitesintended
t hemtorem ainu nski lled. uned uc ated and land less,
with nolegalprotection o r rig htsoft heirown.

BlackCodesre fusedblacksrile vote.sa idth at they
cou ldnotStTH'onjurics.forbaderhcmtog Ive
evidenceincourtagainst a whit t'11I.1 11 .In Mississip pi
blackswerenotallowedto b uyorto rvnrfarmland.
III Lo uisia natheyhadtoagn.'t'toworkfo r011e
em ployerfora.wholeyearandcouldbei m pri so ned
andmad etodoforcedlaboriftheyrefused. With 110
land .nom o n t' yandnoprotectionfromrile law ,ir
wasalmostasifblarkswerestillslaves.

13 nIoUJNST~UCTlON

his griefat the d eathofth e Presid entbyw riting

this po em .The"fearfult rip"in th e o pclllnglin e is

rhcCivil War ,t he"Captain"is Abra ham Linco ln ,

th e"sh ip"isth e Un ite dStaresandth e "prize"I S

peaceandnatio nal unity,

Fo ryou rhcycall,rhcswayingmass.th ei r

eagerfacesturning;

H ereCaptain !d ear fat he r!

T his armbenea t hyourhead!

It is somedreamth at onthedeck,

Yo u'vcfallencoldanddead.

MyCaptaindocsno ranswer, h is lips arc pale

ands till.

My fatherdocsnotfedm y arm,he hasno

pulsenorwill.

T he shipISanchor'dsafeandsound,its

vo yageclosedanddone,

Fromfearfultrip t hevicto rshipcomesin

wit hobjectw on :

Exu lt 0 shores,and rin g 0 bells!

But I w irhmou rnfultread.

Wal k the deckmyCaptainlies,

Pallen coldandd ead.

WaltWhit ma n

In 1S6::;theChie,T.!!t'Tribunencwspaper \....ar nc d

southern erso f t hegrowing;lI1gerin t heNorthabout

th e Black Codes:

"We tellth e whitemenofMississip pi th att he men

o f th e North will convertth e StateofMiss issip piinto

a frog pon dbefor erhc yw illallo w such laws to

disg raceonefoo tofsoil inwhichthebo nos of o ur

sol d iers sleep andover w hicht heHagcffrccdom

wave s.':

T he feeling so f t heC/tiea,l!(lTrill/mt"weresharedb y

m;JIlYm embersoft heUnitedStatesCongress.A

groupth erecalledRad icalRepublica nsbelieved th at

t hemostimportantreasonfo r figluingtheC iv il War

had beento freetheblacks,H avin gwonth eWJr,

th eyweredeterminedthatneithert hey no rth e blacks

werenowgoingtobecheated.Theysaidthat

Pres ident j o hn so nwastreatingth edefeatedwhite

southernersrookind lyandthat[hesouthernerswere

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