Cleveland (OH) Daily Herald, "Slave Stampedes and Slave Soldiers," October 19, 1863

                        Slave Stampedes and Slave Soldiers

            The following paragraph from the Nashville Union of the 11th puts down the daily loss of slaves to the rebels at a very respectable figure, and shows that they flock to Uncle Sam’s standards with a rush. It says:

            An exchange calculates that the rebels lose one hundred slaves a day. The estimate of the number of fugitives is ridiculously short of the actual number, which certainly is not less that [than] one thousand a day. Indeed, the stampedes are so numerous in all parts of the South, that this number falls short of the mark. In the brief space of a fortnight a full regiment of negroes, nearly all the slaves of rebels, have enlisted in the Federal service, at this place alone. Within a few months 25,000 have enlisted under Gen. Banks, and the work progresses rapidly elsewhere. These are mostly first class slaves.