Black Washingtonians observed the same laws as others, were subject to the same punishments, and had no more criminals or paupers among them than “any other class.” They were “intelligent enough to be industrious, to have accumulated property, and to build and sustain Churches,” and they were “educating their children without the aid of any school fund.” Moreover, their “loyalty has never been questioned,” and “in all their Country’s trials they have responded voluntarily and with alacrity, pay or no pay, bounty or no bounty, promotion or no promotion.”
