San Francisco (CA) Daily Evening Bulletin, "Exodus of Negroes From Kentucky," June 29, 1864

EXODUS OF NEGROES FROM KENTUCKY. – The Cincinnati Commercial of 4th June remarks:

            Within a few days the negroes of Kentucky have become impressed with the idea that the road to freedom lies through military service, and there has been a stampede from the farms to the recruiting offices.  The able-bodied blacks are turning out almost unanimously, and the women and children are disposed to go with the crowd. The consequence is, the railroads of the State have not the capacity of transport the negroes who are finding their way to the United States camps. The white people of Kentucky are taking this extraordinary commotion among the negroes very coolly, looking upon it as one of the phenomena of the times, and acquiescing in it as a part of the drift of destiny. Slave property has been recognized in Kentucky as very precarious in its nature, ever since the Southern fanatics insisted that sectional difficulties should culminate in war.  The negroes have not been in good working condition for sometime, and their rush for the army is not as serious a matter the agricultural interests of the States as might be expected. Then they are reheving the State of the draft, suddenly and doe ever. For enough of them are swarming to meet all probable calls in the future. If the Government chooses to accept black men for soldiers, and the blacks want to go, and the whites don’t, it is absurd for the whites to complain of the policy that practically exempts them and receives an inferior article in full consideration of all demands. The uprising, if may so call it, of the negroes of Kentucky, now in progress, is one of the most remarkable and significant events of the war.