XIV. DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE…

XIV. DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE

INCREASE OF SLAVE POPULATION IN SLAVE-HOLDING STATES FROM 1850-1860.--PRODUCTS OF SLAVE LABOR.--BASIS OF SOUTHERN REPRESENTATION.--SIX SECEDING STATES ORGANIZE A NEW GOVERNMENT.--CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT.--SPEECH BY ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.--MR. LINCOLN IN FAVOR OF GRADUAL EMANCIPATION.--HE IS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.--THE ISSUE OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.

In 1860 there were, in the fifteen slave-holding States, 12,240,000 souls, of whom 8,039,000 were whites, 251,000 free persons of color, and 3,950,000 were slaves. The gain of the entire population of the slave-holding States, from 1850-1860, was 2,627,000, equal to 27.33 per cent. The slave population had increased 749,931, or 23.44 per cent., not including the slaves in the District of Columbia, where they had lost 502 slaves during the decade. The nineteen non-slave-holding States and the seven territories, including the District of Columbia, contained 19,203,008 souls, of whom 18,920,771 were whites, 237,283 free persons of color, and 41,725 civilized Indians. The actual increase of this population was 5,624,101, or 41.24 per cent. During the same period--1850-1860--the total population of free persons of color in the United States increased from 434,449 to 487,970, or at the rate of 12.33 per cent., annual increase of above 1 per cent. In 1850 the Mulattoes were 11.15 per cent., regarding the United States as one aggregate, and in 1860 were 13.25 per cent., of the entire Colored population.

TOTAL COLORED POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. --------------+-----------------------+--------------- | Numbers. | Proportions. +-----------+-----------+-------+------- Colored. | 1850. | 1860. | 1850. | 1860. --------------+-----------+-----------+-------+------- Blacks | 3,233,057 | 3,853,478 | 88.85 | 86.75 Mulattoes | 405,751 | 588,352 | 11.15 | 13.25 --------------+-----------+-----------+-------+------- Total Colored | 3,638,808 | 4,441,830 |100.00 |100.00 --------------+-----------+-----------+-------+-------

So, in ten years, from 1850-1860, the increase of blacks above the current deaths was 620,421, or more than one half of a million, while the corresponding increase of Mulattoes was 182,601. Estimating the deaths to have been 22.4 per cent. during the same period, or one in 40 annually, the total births of Blacks in ten years was about 1,345,000, and the total births of Mulattoes about 273,000. Thus it appears, in the prevailing order, that of every 100 births of Colored, about 17 were Mulattoes, and 83 Blacks, indicating a ratio of nearly 1 to 5.

There were:

Deaf and dumb slaves 531 Blind 1,387 Insane 327 Idiotic 1,182 ----- Total 3,427

There were 400,000 slaves in the towns and cities of the South, and 2,804,313 in the country. The products of slave labor in 1850 were as follows:

SLAVE LABOR PRODUCTS IN 1850.

Cotton $98,603,720 Tobacco 13,982,686 Cane sugar 12,378,850 Hemp 5,000,000 Rice 4,000,000 Molasses 2,540,179 ------------ $136,505,435

There were 347,525 slave-holders against 5,873,893 non-slave-holders in the slave States. The representation in Congress was as follows:

Northern representatives based on white population 142 Northern representatives based on Colored population 2 Southern representatives based on white population 68 Southern representatives based on free Colored population 2 Southern representatives based on slave population 20 Ratio of representation for 1853 93,420

The South owned 16,652 churches, valued at $22,142,085; the North owned 21,357 churches, valued at $65,167,586. The South printed annually 92,165,919 copies of papers and periodicals; the North printed annually 334,146,081 copies of papers and periodicals. The South owned, other than private, 722 libraries, containing 742,794 volumes; the North owned, other than private, 14,902 libraries, containing 3,882,217 volumes.

In sentiment, motive, and civilization the two "Sections" were as far apart as the poles. New England, Puritan, Roundhead civilization could not fellowship the Cavaliers of the South. There were not only two sections and two political parties in the United States;--there were two antagonistic governmental ideas. John C. Calhoun and Alexander H. Stephens, of the South, represented the idea of the separate and individual sovereignty of each of the States; while William H. Seward and Abraham Lincoln, of the North, represented the idea of the centralization of governmental authority, so far as it was necessary to secure uniformity of the laws, and the supremacy of the Federal Constitution. On the 25th of October, 1858, in a speech delivered in Rochester, N. Y., William H. Seward said:

"Our country is a theatre which exhibits, in full operation, two radically different political systems: the one resting on the basis of servile or slave labor; the other on the basis of voluntary labor of freemen.

* * * * *

"The two systems are at once perceived to be incongruous. They never have permanently existed together in one country, and they never can.

... "These antagonistic systems are continually coming in closer contact, and collision ensues.

"Shall I tell you what this collision means? It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must, and will, sooner or later, become entirely a slave-holding nation, or entirely a free labor nation. Either the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina, and the sugar plantations of Louisiana, will ultimately be tilled by free-labor, and Charleston and New Orleans become marts for legitimate merchandise alone, or else the rye fields and wheat fields of Massachusetts and New York must again be surrendered by their farmers to the slave culture and to the production of slaves, and Boston and New York become once more markets for trade in the bodies and souls of men."

Upon the eve of the great Rebellion, Mr. Seward said in the United States Senate:

"A free Republican government like this, notwithstanding all its constitutional checks, cannot long resist and counteract the progress of society.

"Free labor has at last apprehended its rights and its destiny, and is organizing itself to assume the government of the Republic. It will henceforth meet you boldly and resolutely here (Washington); it will meet you everywhere, in the territories and out of them, where-ever you may go to extend slavery. It has driven you back in California and in Kansas; it will invade you soon in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, and Texas. It will meet you in Arizona, in Central America, and even in Cuba.

* * * * *

"You may, indeed, get a start under or near the tropics, and seem safe for a time, but it will be only a short time. Even there you will found States only for free labor, or to maintain and occupy. The interest of the whole race demands the ultimate emancipation of all men. Whether that consummation shall be allowed to take effect, with needful and wise precautions against sudden change and disaster, or be hurried on by violence, is all that remains for you to decide. The white man needs this continent to labor upon. His head is clear, his arm is strong, and his necessities are fixed.

* * * * *

"It is for yourselves, and not for us, to decide how long and through what further mortifications and disasters the contest shall be protracted before Freedom shall enjoy her already assured triumph.

"You may refuse to yield it now, and for a short period, but your refusal will only animate the friends of freedom with the courage and the resolution, and produce the union among them, which alone is necessary on their part to attain the position itself, simultaneously with the impending overthrow of the existing Federal Administration and the constitution of a new and more independent Congress."

Mr. Lincoln said during a discussion of the impending crisis:

"I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South.

"I have always hated slavery as much as any Abolitionist. I have always been an old-line Whig. I have always hated it, and I always believed it in a course of ultimate extinction. If I were in Congress, and a vote should come up on a question whether slavery should be prohibited in a new territory, in spite of the Dred Scott decision I would vote that it should."

Notwithstanding the confident tone of Mr. Lincoln's statement that he did "not expect the house to fall," it did fall, and great was the fall thereof!

On Saturday, 9th of February, 1861, six seceding States met at Montgomery, Alabama, and organized an independent government. The ordinances of secession were passed by the States as follows:

STATE. DATE. YEAS. NAYS. South Carolina Dec. 20, 1860 169 ---- Mississippi Jan. 9, 1861 84 15 Alabama Jan. 11, 1861 61 39 Florida Jan. 11, 1861 62 7 Georgia Jan. 19, 1861 228 89 Louisiana Jan. 25, 1861 113 17

The following delegates presented their credentials and were admitted and represented their respective States:

ALABAMA.--R. W. Walker, R. H. Smith, J. L. M. Curry, W. P. Chilton, S. F. Hale Colon, J. McRae, John Gill Shorter, David P. Lewis, Thomas Fearn.

FLORIDA.--James B. Owens, J. Patten Anderson, Jackson Morton (not present).

GEORGIA.--Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, F. S. Bartow, M. J. Crawford, E. A. Nisbet, B. H. Hill, A. R. Wright, Thomas R. Cobb, A. H. Kenan, A. H. Stephens.

LOUISIANA.--John Perkins, Jr., A. Declonet, Charles M. Conrad, D. F. Kenner, G. E. Sparrow, Henry Marshall.

MISSISSIPPI.--W. P. Harris, Walter Brooke, N. S. Wilson, A. M. Clayton, W. S. Barry, J. T. Harrison.

SOUTH CAROLINA.--R. B. Rhett, R. W. Barnwell, L. M. Keitt, James Chestnut, Jr., C. G. Memminger, W. Porcher Miles, Thomas J. Withers, W. W. Boyce.

A president and vice-president were chosen by unanimous vote. President--Honorable Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. Vice-President--Honorable Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia. The following gentlemen composed the Cabinet:

Secretary of State, Robert Toombs; Secretary of Treasury, C. G. Memminger; Secretary of Interior (Vacancy); Secretary of War, L. P. Walker; Secretary of Navy, John Perkins, Jr.; Postmaster-General, H. T. Ebett; Attorney-General, J. P. Benjamin.

The Constitution of the Confederate Government did not differ so very radically from the Federal Constitution. The following were the chief points:

"1. The importation of African negroes from any foreign country other than the slave-holding States of the Confederate States is hereby forbidden, and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same.

"2. Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of this Confederacy.

"The Congress shall have power:

"1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, for revenue necessary to pay the debts and carry on the government of the Confederacy, and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederacy.

"A slave in one State escaping to another shall be delivered, upon the claim of the party to whom said slave may belong, by the Executive authority of the State in which such slave may be found; and in any case of abduction or forcible rescue, full compensation, including the value of slave, and all costs and expense, shall be made to the party by the State in which such abduction or rescue shall take place.

"2. The government hereby instituted shall take immediate step's for the settlement of all matters between the States forming it and their late confederates of the United States in relation to the public property and public debt at the time of their withdrawal from them; these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and earnest desire to adjust everything pertaining to the common property, common liabilities, and common obligations of that Union, upon principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith."

At first blush it would appear that the new government had not been erected upon the slave question; that it had gone as far as the Federal Government to suppress the foreign slave-trade; and that nobler and sublimer ideas and motives had inspired and animated the Southern people in their movement for a new government. But the men who wrote the Confederate platform knew what they were about. They knew that to avoid the charge that would certainly be made against them, of having seceded in order to make slavery a national institution, they must be careful not to exhibit such intentions in their Constitution. But that the South seceded on account of the slavery question, there can be no historical doubt whatever. Jefferson Davis, President, so-called, of the Confederate Government, said in his Message, April 29, 1861:

"When the several States delegated certain powers to the United States Congress, a large portion of the laboring population consisted of African slaves, imported into the colonies by the mother-country. In twelve out of the thirteen States, negro slavery existed; and the right of property in slaves was protected by law. This property was recognized in the Constitution; and provision was made against its loss by the escape of the slave.

"The increase in the number of slaves by further importation from Africa was also secured by a clause forbidding Congress to prohibit the slave-trade anterior to a certain date; and in no clause can there be found any delegation of power to the Congress, authorizing it in any manner to legislate to the prejudice, detriment, or discouragement of the owners of that species of property, or excluding it from the protection of the Government.

"The climate and soil of the Northern States soon proved unpropitious to the continuance of slave labor; whilst the converse was the case at the South. Under the unrestricted free intercourse between the two sections, the Northern States consulted their own interest, by selling their slaves to the South, and prohibiting slavery within their limits. The South were willing purchasers of a property suitable to their wants, and paid the price of the acquisition without harboring a suspicion that their quiet possession was to be disturbed by those who were inhibited not only by want of constitutional authority, but by good faith as vendors, from disquieting a title emanating from themselves.

"As soon, however, as the Northern States that prohibited African slavery within their limits had reached a number sufficient to give their representation a controlling voice in the Congress, a persistent and organized system of hostile measures against the rights of the owners of slaves in the Southern States was inaugurated, and gradually extended. A continuous series of measures was devised and prosecuted for the purpose of rendering insecure the tenure of property in slaves.

* * * * *

"With interests of such overwhelming magnitude imperilled, the people of the Southern States were driven by the conduct of the North to the adoption of some course of action to avoid the danger with which they were openly menaced. With this view, the Legislatures of the several States invited the people to select delegates to conventions to be held for the purpose of determining for themselves what measures were best adapted to meet so alarming a crisis in their history."[72]

Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President, as he was called, said, in a speech delivered at Savannah, Georgia, 21st of March, 1861:

"The new Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution,--African slavery as it exists amongst us, the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. JEFFERSON, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the 'rock upon which the old Union would split.' He was right. What was conjecture with him is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that great rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution, were, that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with; but the general opinion of the men of that day was, that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent, and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the prevailing idea at the time. The Constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last; and hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation; and the idea of a government built upon it,--when the 'storm came and the wind blew, it fell.'

"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas. Its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. It has been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well that this truth was not generally admitted, even within their day."[73]

Now, then, what was the real issue between the Confederate States and the United States? Why, it was extension of slavery by the former, and the restriction of slavery by the latter. To put the issue as it was understood by Northern men--in poetic language, it was "The Union as it is." While the South, at length, through its leaders, acknowledged that slavery was their issue, the North, standing upon the last analysis of the Free-Soil idea of resistance to the further inoculation of free territory with the virus of slavery, refused to recognize slavery as an issue. But what did the battle cry of the loyal North, "The Union as it is," mean? A Union half free and half slave; a dual government, if not in fact, certainly in the brains and hearts of the people; two civilizations at eternal and inevitable war with each other; a Union with the canker-worm of slavery in it, impairing its strength every year and threatening its life; a Union in which two hostile ideas of political economy were at work, and where unpaid slave labor was inimical to the interests of the free workingmen. And it should not be forgotten that the Republican party acknowledged the right of Southerns to hunt slaves in the free States, and to return such slaves, under the fugitive-slave law, to their masters. Mr. Lincoln was not an Abolitionist, as many people think. His position on the question was clearly stated in the answers he gave to a number of questions put to him by Judge Douglass in the latter part of the summer of 1858. Mr. Lincoln said:

"Having said this much, I will take up the judge's interrogatories as I find them printed in the Chicago 'Times,' and answer them seriatim. In order that there may be no mistake about it, I have copied the interrogatories in writing, and also my answers to them. The first one of these interrogatories is in these words:

"Question 1. 'I desire to know whether Lincoln to-day stands, as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive-Slave Law?'

"Answer. I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive-Slave Law.

"Q. 2. 'I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to-day, as he did in 1854, against the admission of any more slave States into the Union, even if the people want them?'

"A. I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any more slave States into the Union.

"Q. 3. 'I want to know whether he stands pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union with such a constitution as the people of that State may see fit to make.'

"Q. 4. 'I want to know whether he stands to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia?'

"A. I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.

"Q. 5. 'I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different States?'

"A. I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different States.

"Q. 6. 'I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit slavery in all the territories of the United States, north as well as south of the Missouri Compromise line?'

"A. I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in all the United States territories. [Great applause.]

"Q. 7. 'I desire him to answer whether he is opposed to the acquisition of any new territory unless slavery is first prohibited therein?'

"A. I am not generally opposed to honest acquisition of territory; and, in any given case, I would or would not oppose such acquisition, accordingly as I might think such acquisition would or would not agitate the slavery question among ourselves.

"Now, my friends, it will be perceived upon an examination of these questions and answers, that so far I have only answered that I was not pledged to this, that, or the other. The judge has not framed his interrogatories to ask me any thing more than this, and I have answered in strict accordance with the interrogatories, and have answered truly that I am not pledged at all upon any of the points to which I have answered. But I am not disposed to hang upon the exact form of his interrogatories. I am rather disposed to take up at least some of these questions, and state what I really think upon them.

"As to the first one, in regard to the Fugitive-Slave Law, I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, the people of the Southern States are entitled to a congressional slave law. Having said that, I have had nothing to say in regard to the existing Fugitive-Slave Law, further than that I think it should have been framed so as to be free from some of the objections that pertain to it, without lessening its efficiency. And inasmuch as we are not now in an agitation in regard to an alteration or modification of that law, I would not be the man to introduce it as a new subject of agitation upon the general question of slavery.

"In regard to the other question, of whether I am pledged to the admission of any more slave States into the Union, I state to you very frankly that I would be exceedingly sorry ever to be put in a position of having to pass upon that question. I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never be another slave State admitted into the Union; but I must add, that if slavery shall be kept out of the territories during the territorial existence of any one given territory, and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a clear field, when they come to adopt the constitution, do such an extraordinary thing as to adopt a slave constitution, uninfluenced by the actual presence of the institution among them, I see no alternative, if we own the country, but to admit them into the Union. [Applause.]

"The third interrogatory is answered by the answer to the second, it being, as I conceive, the same as the second.

"The fourth one is in regard to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. In relation to that I have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the District of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the constitutional power to abolish it. Yet, as a member of Congress, I should not, with my present views, be in favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, unless it would be upon these conditions: First, that the abolition should be gradual; second, that it should be on a vote of the majority of qualified voters in the district; and, third, that compensation should be made to unwilling owners. With these three conditions I confess I would be exceedingly glad to see Congress abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; and, in the language of Henry Clay, 'sweep from our capital that foul blot upon our nation.'

"In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say here that, as to the question of the abolition of the slave-trade between the different States, I can truly answer, as I have, that I am pledged to nothing about it. It is a subject to which I have not given that mature consideration that would make me feel authorized to state a position so as to hold myself entirely bound by it. In other words, that question has never been prominently enough before me to induce me to investigate whether we really have the constitutional power to do it. I could investigate it, if I had sufficient time, to bring myself to a conclusion upon that subject; but I have not done so, and I say so frankly to you here, and to Judge Douglass. I must say, however, that if I should be of opinion that Congress does possess the constitutional power to abolish slave-trading among the different States, I should still not be in favor of the exercise of that power unless upon some conservative principle as I conceive it, akin to what I have said in relation to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.

"My answer as to whether I desire that slavery should be prohibited in all territories of the United States, is full and explicit within itself, and cannot be made clearer by any comments of mine. So, I suppose, in regard to the question whether I am opposed to the acquisition of any more territory unless slavery is first prohibited therein, my answer is such that I could add nothing by way of illustration, or making myself better understood, than the answer which I have placed in writing.

"Now, in all this the judge has me, and he has me on the record. I suppose he had flattered himself that I was really entertaining one set of opinions for one place, and another set for another place--that I was afraid to say at one place what I uttered at another. What I am saying here I suppose I say to a vast audience as strongly tending to abolitionism as any audience in the State of Illinois, and I believe I am saying that which, if it would be offensive to any persons and render them enemies to myself, would be offensive to persons in this audience."[74]

Here, then, is the position of Mr. Lincoln set forth with deliberation and care. He was opposed to any coercive measures in settling the slavery question; he was for gradual emancipation; and for admitting States into the Union with a slave constitution. Within twenty-four months, without a change of views, he was nominated for and elected to the Presidency of the United States.

With no disposition to interfere with the institution of slavery, Mr. Lincoln found himself chief magistrate of a great nation in the midst of a great rebellion. And in his inaugural address on the 4th of March, 1861, he referred to the question of slavery again in a manner too clear to admit of misconception, affirming his previous views:

"There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:

"'No person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.'

"It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law.

"All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution--to this provision as well as any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause 'shall be delivered up,' their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath?

"There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by National or by State authority; but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done; and should any one, in any case, be content that this oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept?"

So the issues were joined in war. The South aggressively, offensively sought the extension and perpetuation of slavery. The North passively, defensively stood ready to protect her free territory, but not to interfere with slavery. And there was no day during the first two years of the war when the North would not have cheerfully granted the slave institution an indefinite lease of legal existence upon the condition that the war should cease.

FOOTNOTES:

[72] National Intelligencer, Tuesday, May 7, 1861.Return to passage

[73] National Intelligencer, Tuesday, April, 2, 1861.Return to passage

[74] Barrett, pp. 177-180.Return to passage

Chapter XV

"A WHITE MAN'S WAR."

THE FIRST CALL FOR TROOPS.--RENDITION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY THE ARMY.--COL. TYLER'S ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA.--GENERAL ISAAC R. SHERWOOD'S ACCOUNT OF AN ATTEMPT TO SECURE A FUGITIVE SLAVE IN HIS CHARGE.--COL. STEEDMAN REFUSES TO HAVE HIS CAMP SEARCHED FOR FUGITIVE SLAVES, BY ORDER FROM GEN. FRY.--LETTER FROM GEN. BUELL IN DEFENCE OF THE REBELS IN THE SOUTH.--ORDERS ISSUED BY GENERALS HOOKER, WILLIAMS, AND OTHERS, IN REGARD TO HARBORING FUGITIVE SLAVES IN UNION CAMPS.--OBSERVATION CONCERNING SLAVERY FROM THE "ARMY OF THE POTOMAC."--GEN. BUTLER'S LETTER TO GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT.--IT IS ANSWERED BY THE SECRETARY OF WAR.--HORACE GREELEY'S LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT.--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S REPLY.--GEN. JOHN C. FREMONT, COMMANDER OF THE UNION ARMY IN MISSOURI, ISSUES A PROCLAMATION EMANCIPATING SLAVES IN HIS DISTRICT.--IT IS DISAPPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT.--EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION BY GEN. HUNTER.--IT IS RESCINDED BY THE PRESIDENT.--SLAVERY AND UNION JOINED IN A DESPERATE STRUGGLE.

When the war clouds broke over the country and hostilities began, the North counted the Negro on the outside of the issue. The Federal Government planted itself upon the policy of the "defence of the free States,"--pursued a defensive rather than an offensive policy. And, whenever the Negro was mentioned, the leaders of the political parties and the Union army declared that it was "a white mans war."

The first call for three months' troops indicated that the authorities at Washington felt confident that the "trouble" would not last long. The call was issued on the 15th of April, 1861, and provided for the raising of 75,000 troops. It was charged by the President that certain States had been guilty of forming "combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings," and then he proceeded to state:

"The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date."[75]

There was scarcely a city in the North, from New York to San Francisco, whose Colored residents did not speedily offer their services to the States to aid in suppressing the Rebellion. But everywhere as promptly were their services declined. The Colored people of the Northern States were patriotic and enthusiastic; but their interest was declared insolence. And being often rebuked for their loyalty, they subsided into silence to bide a change of public sentiment.

The almost unanimous voice of the press and pulpit was against a recognition of the Negro as the cause of the war. Like a man in the last stages of consumption who insists that he has only a bad cold, so the entire North urged that slavery was not the cause of the war: it was a little local misunderstanding. But the death of the gallant Col. Elmer E. Elsworth palsied the tongues of mere talkers; and in the tragic silence that followed, great, brave, and true men began to think.

Not a pulpit in all the land had spoken a word for the slave. The clergy stood dumb before the dreadful issue. But one man was found, like David of old, who, gathering his smooth pebble of fact from the brook of God's eternal truth, boldly met the boastful and erroneous public sentiment of the hour. That man was the Rev. Justin D. Fulton, a Baptist minister of Albany, New York. He was chosen to preach the funeral sermon of Col. Elsworth, and performed that duty on Sunday, May 26, 1861. Speaking of slavery, the reverend gentleman said:

"Shall this magazine of danger be permitted to remain? We must answer this question. If we say no, it is no! Slavery is a curse to the North. It impoverishes the South, and demoralizes both. It is the parent of treason, the seedling of tyranny, and the fountain-source of all the ills that have infected our life as a people, being the central cause of all our conflicts of the past and the war of to-day. What reason have we for permitting it to remain? God does not want it, for His truth gives freedom. The South does not need it, for it is the chain fastened to her limb that fetters her progress. Morality, patriotism, and humanity alike protest against it.

"The South fights for slavery, for the despotism which it represents, for the ignoring the rights of labor, and for reducing to slavery or to serfdom all whose hands are hardened by toil.

"Why not make the issue at once, which shall inspire every man that shoulders his musket with a noble purpose? Our soldiers need to be reminded that this government was consecrated to freedom by those who first built here the altars of worship, and planted on the shore of the Western Continent the tree of liberty, whose fruit to-day fills the garners of national hope.... I would not forget that I am a messenger of the Prince of Peace. My motives for throwing out these suggestions are three-fold: 1. Because I believe God wants us to be actuated by motives not one whit less philanthropic than the giving of freedom to four million of people. 2. I confess to a sympathy for and faith in the slave, and cherish the belief that if freed, the war would become comparatively bloodless, and that as a people we should enter on the discharge of higher duties and a more enlarged prosperity. 3. The war would hasten to a close, and the end secured would then form a brilliant dawn to a career of prosperity unsurpassed in the annals of mankind."[76]

Brave, prophetic words! But a thousand vituperative editors sprang at Mr. Fulton's utterances, and as snapping curs, growled at and shook every sentence. He stood his ground. He took no step backward. When notice was kindly sent him that a committee would wait on him to treat him to a coat of tar and feathers, against the entreaties of anxious friends, he sent word that he would give them a warm reception. When the best citizens of Albany said the draft could not be enforced without bloody resistance, the Rev. Mr. Fulton exclaimed: "If the floodgates of blood are to be opened, we will not shoot down the poor and ignorant, but the swaggering and insolent men whose hearts are not in this war!"

The "Atlas and Argus," in an editorial on Ill-Timed Pulpit Abolitionism, denounced Rev. Mr. Fulton in bitterest terms; while the "Evening Standard" and "Journal" both declared that the views of the preacher were as a fire-brand thrown into the magazine of public sentiment.

Everywhere throughout the North the Negro was counted as on the outside. Everywhere it was merely "a war for the Union," which was half free and half slave.

When the Union army got into the field at the South it was confronted by a difficult question. What should be done with the Negroes who sought the Union lines for protection from their masters? The sentiment of the press, Congress, and the people of the North generally, was against interference with the slave, either by the civil or military authorities. And during the first years of the war the army became a band of slave-catchers. Slave-holders and sheriffs from the Southern States were permitted to hunt fugitive slaves under the Union flag and within the lines of Federal camps. On the 22d of June, 1861, the following paragraph appeared in the "Baltimore American":

"Two free negroes, belonging to Frederick, Md., who concealed themselves in the cars which conveyed the Rhode Island regiment to Washington from this city, were returned that morning by command of Colonel Burnside, who supposed them to be slaves. The negroes were accompanied by a sergeant of the regiment, who lodged them in jail."

On the 4th of July, 1861, Col. Tyler, of the 7th Ohio regiment, delivered an address to the people of Virginia; a portion of which is sufficient to show the feeling that prevailed among army officers on the slavery question:

"To you, fellow-citizens of West Virginia--many of whom I have so long and favorably known,--I come to aid and protect. [The grammar is defective.]

"I have no selfish ambition to gratify, no personal motives to actuate. I am here to protect you in person and property--to aid you in the execution of the law, in the maintenance of peace and order, in the defence of the Constitution and the Union, and in the extermination of our common foe. As our enemies have belied our mission, and represented us as a band of Abolitionists, I desire to assure you that the relation of master and servant as recognized in your State shall be respected. Your authority over that species of property shall not in the least be interfered with. To this end I assure you that those under my command have peremptory orders to take up and hold any negroes found running about the camp without passes from their masters."

When a few copies had been struck off, a lieutenant in Captain G. W. Shurtleff's company handed him one. He waited upon the colonel, and told him that it was not true that the troops had been ordered to arrest fugitive slaves. The colonel threatened to place Captain Shurtleff in arrest, when he exclaimed: "I'll never be a slave-catcher, so help me God!" There were few men in the army at this time who sympathized with such a noble declaration, and, therefore, Captain Shurtleff found himself in a very small minority.

The following account of an attempt to secure a fugitive slave from General Isaac R. Sherwood has its historical value. General Sherwood was as noble a man as he was a brave and intelligent soldier. He obeyed the still small voice in his soul and won a victory for humanity:

"In the February and March of 1863, I was a major in command of 111th O. V. I regiment. I had a servant, as indicated by army regulations, in charge of my private horse. He was from Frankfort, Ky., the property of a Baptist clergyman. When the troops passed through Frankfort, in the fall of 1862, he left his master, and followed the army. He came to me at Bowling Green, and I hired him to take care of my horse. He was a lad about fifteen years old, named Alfred Jackson.

"At this time, Brig.-Gen. Boyle, or Boyd (I think Boyle), was in command of the District of Kentucky, and had issued his general order, that fugitive slaves should be delivered up. Brig.-Gen. H. M. Judah was in command of Post of Bowling Green, also of our brigade, there stationed.

"The owner of Alfred Jackson found out his whereabouts, and sent a U. S. marshal to Bowling Green to get him. Said marshal came to my headquarters under a pretence to see my very fine saddle-horse, but really to identify Alfred Jackson. The horse was brought out by Alfred Jackson. The marshal went to Brig.-Gen. Judah's headquarters and got a written order addressed to me, describing the lad and ordering me to deliver the boy. This order was delivered to me by Col. Sterling, of Gen. Judah's staff, in person. I refused to obey it. I sent word to Gen. Judah that he could have my sword, but while I commanded that regiment no fugitive slave should ever be delivered to his master. The officer made my compliments to Gen. Judah as aforesaid, and I was placed under arrest for disobedience to orders, and my sword taken from me.

"In a few days the command was ordered to move to Glasgow, Ky., and Gen. Judah, not desiring to trust the regiment in command of a captain, I was temporarily restored to command, pending the meeting of a court-martial to try my case. When the command moved I took Alfred Jackson along. After we reached Glasgow, Ky., Gen. Judah sent for me, and said if I would then deliver up Alfred Jackson he would restore me to command. The United States marshal was present. This I again refused to do.

"The same day, I sent an ambulance out of the lines, with Alfred Jackson tucked under the seat, in charge of a man going North, and I gave him money to get to Hillsdale, Michigan, where he went, and where he resided and grew up to be a good man and a citizen. I called the attention of Hon. James M. Ashley (then Member of Congress) to the matter, and under instructions from Secretary Stanton, Gen. Boyle's order was revoked, and I never delivered a fugitive, nor was I ever tried."

In Mississippi, in 1862, Col. James B. Steedman (afterward major-general) refused to honor an order of Gen. Fry, delivered by the man who wanted the slave in Steedman's camp. Col. Steedman read the order and told the bearer that he was a rebel; that he could not search his camp; and that he would give him just ten minutes to get out of the camp, or he would riddle him with bullets. When Gen. Fry asked for an explanation of his refusal to allow his camp to be searched, Col. Steedman said he would never consent to have his camp searched by a rebel; that he would use every bayonet in his regiment to protect the Negro slave who had come to him for protection; and that he was sustained by the Articles of War, which had been amended about that time.

Again, in the late summer of 1863, at Tuscumbia, Tennessee, Gen. Fry rode into Col. Steedman's camp to secure the return of the slaves of an old lady whom he had known before the war. Col. Steedman said he did not know that any slaves were in his camp; and that if they were there they should not be taken except they were willing to go. Gen. Fry was a Christian gentleman of a high Southern type, and combined with his loyalty to the Union an abiding faith in "the sacredness of slave property." Whether he ever recovered from the malady, history saith not.

The great majority of regular army officers were in sympathy with the idea of protecting slave property. Gen. T. W. Sherman, occupying the defences of Port Royal, in October, 1861, issued the following proclamation to the people of South Carolina:

"In obedience to the orders of the President of these United States of America, I have landed on your shores with a small force of National troops. The dictates of a duty which, under the Constitution, I owe to a great sovereign State, and to a proud and hospitable people, among whom I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, prompt me to proclaim that we have come among you with no feelings of personal animosity; no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or interfere with any of your lawful rights, or your social and local institutions, beyond what the causes herein briefly alluded to may render unavoidable."[77]

This proclamation sounds as if the general were a firm believer in State sovereignty; and that he was possessed with a feeling that he had landed in some strange land, among a people of different civilization and peculiar institutions.

On the 13th of November, 1861, Major-Gen. John A. Dix, upon taking possession of the counties of Accomac and Northampton, Va., issued the following proclamation:

"The military forces of the United States are about to enter your counties as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and with the earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be compelled to become your enemies. They will invade no right of person or property. On the contrary, your laws, your institutions, your usages, will be scrupulously respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any fireside will be disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by yourselves.

"Special directions have been given not to interfere with the condition of any person held to domestic servitude; and, in order that there may be no ground for mistake or pretext for misrepresentation, commanders of regiments or corps have been instructed not to permit such persons to come within their lines."[78]

Gen. Halleck, while in command of the Union forces in Missouri, issued his "Order No. 3." as follows:

"It has been represented that important information, respecting the number and condition of our forces, is conveyed to the enemy by means of fugitive slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to remedy this evil, it is directed that no such person be hereafter permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march, and that any now within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom."

On the 23d of February, 1862, in "Order No. 13," he referred to the slave question as follows:

"It does not belong to the military to decide upon the relation of master and slave. Such questions must be settled by the civil courts. No fugitive slaves will, therefore, be admitted within our lines or camps, except when specially ordered by the general commanding."

On the 18th of February, 1862, Major-Gen. A. E. Burnside issued a proclamation in which he said to the people:

"The Government asks only that its authority may be recognized; and we repeat, in no manner or way does it desire to interfere with your laws, constitutionally established, your institutions of any kind whatever, your property of any sort, or your usages in any respect."

The following letter from Gen. Buell shows how deeply attached he was to the "constitutional guaranties" accorded to the rebels of the South:

"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, } "NASHVILLE, March 6, 1862. }

"Dear Sir: I have the honor to receive your communication of the 1st instant, on the subject of fugitive slaves in the camps of the army.

"It has come to my knowledge that slaves sometimes make their way improperly into our lines; and in some instances they may be enticed there; but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been found in our camps; and in every instance that I know of the master has recovered his servant and taken him away.

"I need hardly remind you that there will always be found some lawless and mischievous person in every army; but I assure you that the mass of this army is law-abiding, and that it is neither its disposition nor its policy to violate law or the rights of individuals in any particular. With great respect, your obedient servant,

"D. C. BUELL, "Brig.-Gen. Commanding Department.

"Hon. J. R. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Military Committee, "Frankfort, Ky."

So "in every instance" the master had recovered his slave when found in Gen. Buell's camp!

On the 26th of March, 1862, Gen. Joseph Hooker, commanding the "Upper Potomac," issued the following order:

"To Brigade and Regimental Commanders of this Division:

"Messrs. Nally, Gray, Dunnington, Dent, Adams, Speake, Price, Posey, and Cobey, citizens of Maryland, have negroes supposed to be with some of the regiments of this division. The brigadier-general commanding directs that they be permitted to visit all the camps of his command, in search of their property; and if found, that they be allowed to take possession of the same, without any interference whatever. Should any obstacle be thrown in their way by any officer or soldier in the division, he will be at once reported by the regimental commander to these headquarters."

In the spring of 1862, Gen. Thos. Williams, in the Department of the Gulf, issued the following order[79]:

"In consequence of the demoralizing and disorganizing tendencies to the troops of harboring runaway negroes, it is hereby ordered that the respective commanders of the camps and garrisons of the several regiments, 2d brigade, turn all such fugitives in their camps or garrisons out beyond the limits of their respective guards and sentinels.

"By order of "Brig.-Gen. T. WILLIAMS."[80]

In a letter dated "Headquarters Army of the Potomac, July 7, 1862," Major-Gen. Geo. B. McClellan made the following observations concerning slavery:

"This Rebellion has assumed the character of a war; as such it should be regarded; and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known to Christian civilization. It should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be at all a war upon populations, but against armed forces and political organizations. Neither confiscation of property, political executions of persons, territorial organization of States, nor forcible abolition of slavery should be contemplated for a moment."

But the drift of the sentiment of the army was in the direction of compromise with the slavery question. Nearly every statesman at Washington--in the White House and in the Congress--and nearly every officer in the army regarded the Negro question as purely political and not military. That it was a problem hard of solution no one could doubt. Hundreds of loyal Negroes, upon the orders of general officers, were turned away from the Union lines, while those who had gotten on the inside were driven forth to the cruel vengeance of rebel masters. Who could solve the problem? Major-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler banished the politician, and became the loyal, patriotic soldier! In the month of May, 1861, during the time Gen. Butler commanded the Union forces at Fortress Monroe, three slaves made good their escape into his lines. They stated that they were owned by Col. Mallory, of the Confederate forces in the front; that he was about to send them to the North Carolina seaboard to work on rebel fortifications; and that the fortifications were intended to bar that coast against the Union arms. Having heard this statement, Gen. Butler, viewing the matter from a purely military stand-point, exclaimed: "These men are contraband of war; set them at work." Here was a solution of the entire problem; here was a blow delivered at the backbone of the Rebellion. He claimed no right to act as a politician, but acting as a loyal-hearted, clear-headed soldier, he coined a word and hurled a shaft at the enemy that struck him in a part as vulnerable as the heel of Achilles. In his letter to the Lieut.-Gen. of the Army, Winfield Scott, 27th of May, 1861, he said:

"Since I wrote my last, the question in regard to slave property is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia are using their negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send their women and children South. The escapes from them are very numerous, and a squad has come in this morning, and my pickets are bringing in their women and children. Of course these can not be dealt with upon the theory on which I designed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might come within my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account in my last dispatch.

"I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of property. Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women, with their children,--entire families,--each family belonging to the same owner. I have therefore determined to employ--as I can do very profitably--the able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food for the support of all; charging against their services the expense of care and sustenance of the non-laborers; keeping a strict and accurate account, as well of the services as of the expenditures; having the worth of the services and the cost of the expenditures determined by a board of survey hereafter to be detailed. I know of no other manner in which to dispose of this subject and the questions connected therewith. As a matter of property, to the insurgents it will be of very great moment--the number that I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what in good times would be of the value of $60,000.

"Twelve of these negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the erection of the batteries on Sewell's Point, which fired upon my expedition as it passed by out of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the enemy's hands, these negroes, when able-bodied, are of great importance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected; at least, for many weeks. As a military question it would seem to be a measure of necessity, and deprives their masters of their services.

"How can this be done? As a political question, and a question of humanity, can I receive the services of a father and a mother and not take the children? Of the humanitarian aspect, I have no doubt; of the political one, I have no right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment, and, as these questions have a political aspect, I have ventured--and I trust I am not wrong in so doing--to duplicate the parts of my dispatch relating to this subject, and forward them to the Secretary of War.

"Your obedient servant, "BENJ. F. BUTLER.

"Lt.-General SCOTT."[81]

The letter of Gen. Butler was laid before the Secretary of War, who answered it as follows:

"SIR: Your action in respect to the negroes who came within your lines, from the service of the rebels, is approved. The Department is sensible of the embarrassments which must surround officers conducting military operations in a State, by the laws of which slavery is sanctioned. The Government can not recognize the rejection by any State of its Federal obligations, resting upon itself. Among these Federal obligations, however, no one can be more important than that of suppressing and dispersing any combination of the former for the purpose of overthrowing its whole constitutional authority. While, therefore, you will permit no interference, by persons under your command, with the relations of persons held to service under the laws of any State, you will, on the other hand, so long as any State within which your military operations are conducted remains under the control of such armed combinations, refrain from surrendering to alleged masters any persons who come within your lines. You will employ such persons in the services to which they will be best adapted; keeping an account of the labor by them performed, of the value of it, and the expenses of their maintenance. The question of their final disposition will be reserved for future determination.

"SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War.

"To Maj.-Gen. BUTLER.

In an account of the life and services of Capt. Grier Talmadge, the "Times" correspondent says:

"To the deceased, who was conservative in his views and actions, belongs the credit of first enunciating the 'contraband' idea as subsequently applied in the practical treatment of the slaves of rebels, Early in the spring of 1861, Flag-Officer Pendergrast, in command of the frigate 'Cumberland,' then the vessel blockading the Roads, restored to their owners certain slaves that had escaped from Norfolk. Shortly after, the Flag-Officer, Gen. Butler, Capt. Talmadge, and the writer chanced to meet in the ramparts of the fortress, when Capt. T. took occasion, warmly, but respectfully, to dissent from the policy of the act, and proceeded to advance some arguments in support of his views. Turning to Gen. Butler, who had just assumed command of this department, he said: 'General, it is a question you will have to decide, and that, too, very soon; for in less than twenty-four hours deserting slaves will commence swarming to your lines. The rebels are employing their slaves in thousands in constructing batteries all around us. And, in my judgment, in view of this fact, not only slaves who take refuge within our lines are contrabands, but I hold it as much our duty to seize and capture those employed, or intended to be employed, in constructing batteries, as it is to destroy the arsenals or any other war-making element of the rebels, or to capture and destroy the batteries themselves.' Within two days after this conversation, Gen. Butler has the question practically presented to him, as predicted, and he solved it by applying the views advanced by the deceased."[82]

The conservative policy of Congress, the cringing attitude of the Government at Washington, the reverses on the Potomac, the disaster of Bull Run, the apologetic tone of the Northern press, the expulsion of slaves from the Union lines, and the conduct of "Copperheads" in the North--who crawled upon their stomachs, snapping and biting at the heels of Union men and Union measures,--bred a spirit of unrest and mob violence. It was not enough that the service of free Negroes was declined; they were now hunted out and persecuted by mobs and other agents of the disloyal element at the North. Like a man sick unto death the Government insisted that it only had a slight cold, and that it would be better soon. The President was no better informed as to the nature of the war than other conservative Republicans. On the 19th of August, 1862, Horace Greeley addressed an open letter to the President, known as "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," of which the following are specimen passages:

"On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, there is not one disinterested, determined, intelligent champion of the Union cause who does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion, and at the same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous and futile--that the Rebellion, if crushed out to-morrow, would be renewed within a year if slavery were left in full vigor--that army officers, who remain to this day devoted to slavery, can at best be but half-way loyal to the Union--and that every hour of deference to slavery is an hour of added and deepened peril to the Union. I appeal to the testimony of your Embassadors in Europe. It is freely at your service, not mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether the seeming subserviency of your policy to the slave-holding, slavery-upholding interest, is not the perplexity, the despair, of statesmen of all parties; and be admonished by the general answer!

"I close, as I began, with the statement that what an immense majority of the loyal millions of your countrymen require of you is a frank, declared, unqualified, ungrudging execution of the laws of the land, more especially of the Confiscation Act. That Act gives freedom to the slaves of rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may at any time inclose,--we ask you to render it due obedience by publicly requiring all your subordinates to recognize and obey it. The rebels are everywhere using the late anti-negro riots in the North--as they have long used your officers' treatment of negroes in the South--to convince the slaves that they have nothing to hope from a Union success--that we mean in that case to sell them into a bitter bondage to defray the cost of the war. Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant and credulous bondmen, and the Union will never be restored--never. We can not conquer ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against us, powerfully aided by Northern sympathizers and European allies. We must have scouts, guides, spies, cooks, teamsters, diggers, and choppers, from the blacks of the South--whether we allow them to fight for us or not--or we shall be baffled and repelled. As one of the millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle at any sacrifice but that of principle and honor, but who now feel that the triumph of the Union is indispensable not only to the existence of our country, but to the well-being of mankind, I entreat you to render a hearty and unequivocal obedience to the law of the land.

"Yours, "HORACE GREELEY."[83]

It was an open letter. Mr. Greeley had evidently lost sight of his economic theories as applied to slavery in the abstract, and now, as a practical philosopher, caught hold of the question by the handle. Mr. Lincoln replied within a few days, but was still joined to his abstract theories of constitutional law. He loved the Union, and all he should do for the slave should be done to help the Union, not the slave. He was not desirous of saving or destroying slavery. But certainly he had spoken more wisely than he knew when he had asserted, a few years before, that "a nation half free and half slave, could not long exist." That was an indestructible truth. Had he adhered to that doctrine the way would have been easier. In every thing he consulted the Constitution. His letter is interesting reading.

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,} "August 22, 1862.}

"Hon. HORACE GREELEY:

"Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the 19th instant, addressed to myself through the New York Tribune.

"If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them.

"If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them.

"If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to be right.

"As to the policy 'I seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the Constitution.

"The sooner the national authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be the Union as it was.

"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them.

"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them.

"My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery.

"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.

"What I do about slavery and the Colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.

"I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause; and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause.

"I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

"I have here stated my purpose according to my views of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.

"Yours, "A. LINCOLN."[84]

But there were few men among the general officers of the army who either reached the conclusion by their own judgment, or were aided by the action of General Butler, that it was their duty to confiscate all the property of the enemy. Acting upon the plainest principle of military law, Major-General John C. Fremont, commanding the Department of the Missouri, or the Union forces in that State, issued the following proclamation:

"HEADQUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEP'T,} "ST. LOUIS, August 31st. }

"Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it necessary that the Commanding General of this Department should assume the administrative power of the State. Its disorganized condition, the helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who infest nearly every county in the State, and avail themselves of the public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they find plunder, finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and ruining the State. In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms require unity of purpose, without let or hindrance to the prompt administration of affairs.

"In order, therefore, to suppress disorders, to maintain, as far as now practicable, the public peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare established martial law throughout the Stale of Missouri. The lines of the army of occupation in this State are, for the present, declared to extend from Leavenworth, by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi River.

All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands, within these lines, shall be tried by Court Martial, and, if found guilty, will be shot. The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, or shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use; and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men.

"All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs, shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law.

"All persons engaged in treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to the enemies of the United States, in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interest warned that they are exposing themselves.

"All persons who have been led away from their allegiance are required to return to their homes forthwith; any such absence, without sufficient cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.

"The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the military authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of war demand. But it is not intended to suspend the ordinary tribunals of the country, where the law will be administered by the civil officers in the usual manner and with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably exercised.

"The Commanding General will labor vigilantly for the public welfare, and, in his efforts for their safety, hopes to obtain not only the acquiescence, but the active support, of the people of the country.

"J. C. FREMONT, Major-Gen. Com."[85]

This magnificent order thrilled the loyal hearts of the North with joy; but the President, still halting and hesitating, requested a modification of the order so far as it related to the liberation of slaves. This Gen. Fremont declined to do unless ordered to do so by his superior. Accordingly the President wrote him as follows:

"WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 11, 1861.

"Major-Gen. JOHN C. FREMONT:

"Sir:--Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d inst., is just received. Assured that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing your proclamation of August 30th, I perceived no general objection to it; the particular clause, however, in relation to the confiscation of property and the liberation of slaves, appeared to me to be objectionable in its non-conformity to the Act of Congress, passed the 6th of last August, upon the same subjects; and hence I wrote you, expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly. Your answer, just received, expresses the preference on your part that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very cheerfully do. It is, therefore, ordered that the said clause of said proclamation be so modified, held, and construed, as to conform with, and not to transcend, the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress entitled 'An Act to Confiscate Property Used for Insurrectionary Purposes,' approved August 6, 1861; and that the said act be published at length with this order.

"Your obedient servant, "A. LINCOLN."[86]

Gen. Fremont's removal followed speedily. He was in advance of the slow coach at Washington, and was sent where he could do no harm to the enemy of the country, by emancipating Negroes. It seems as if there were nothing else left for Gen. Fremont to do but to free the slaves in his military district. They were the bone and sinew of Confederate resistance. It was to weaken the enemy that the general struck down this peculiar species of property, upon which the enemy of the country relied so entirely.

Major-Gen. David Hunter assumed command at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on the 31st of March, 1862. On the 9th of May he issued the following "General Order:"

"HEADQUARTERS DEP'T OF THE SOUTH, "HILTON HEAD, S. C., May 9, 1862.

"General Order, No. 11.

"The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising the Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared themselves no longer under the United States of America, and, having taken up arms against the United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare them under martial law.

"This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible. The persons in these States--Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina--heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free."[87]

But the President, in ten days after its publication, rescinded the order of General Hunter, in the following Proclamation:

"And whereas, The same [Hunter's proclamation] is producing some excitement and misunderstanding, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, proclaim and declare that the Government of the United States had no knowledge or belief of an intention on the part of Gen. Hunter to issue such a proclamation, nor has it yet any authentic information that the document is genuine: and, further, that neither Gen. Hunter nor any other commander or person have been authorized by the Government of the United States to make proclamation declaring the slaves of any State free; and that the supposed proclamation now in question, whether genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such declaration. I further make known that, whether it be competent for me, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any State or States free; and whether at any time, or in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government to exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field.

"Those are totally different questions from those of police regulations in armies or in camps.

"On the sixth day of March last, by a special Message, I recommended to Congress the adoption of a joint resolution, to be substantially as follows:

"'Resolved, That the United States ought to cooeperate with any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system.'

"The resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic, definite, and solemn proposal of the nation to the States and people most interested in the subject-matter. To the people of these States now I mostly appeal. I do not argue--I beseech you to make the arguments for yourselves. You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the times.

"I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of them, ranging, if it may be, far above partisan and personal politics.

"This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The change it contemplates would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or wrecking any thing. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done by one effort in all past time, as, in the Providence of God, it is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament that you have neglected it!

"In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.

"Done at the city of Washington this 19th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1862, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.

"(Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

"By the President: "W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

The conservative policy of the President greatly discouraged the friends of the Union, who felt that a vigorous prosecution of the war was the only hope of the nation. Slavery and the Union had joined in a terrible struggle for the supremacy. Both could not exist. Our treasury was empty; our bonds depreciated; our credit poor; our industries languishing; and the channels of commerce were choked. European governments were growing impatient at the dilatory policy of our nation; and every day we were losing sympathy and friends. Our armies were being repulsed and routed; and Columbia's war eagles were wearily flapping their pinions in the blood-dampened dust of a nerveless nation. But the Negro was still on the outside,--it was "a white man's war."

FOOTNOTES:

[75] Rebellion Recs., vol. i. Doc., p. 63.Return to passage

[76] Albany Atlas and Argus, May 27, 1861.Return to passage

[77] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 240.Return to passage

[78] Rebellion Records, vol. iii. Doc. p. 376.Return to passage

[79] I have quite a large number of such orders, but the above will suffice.Return to passage

[80] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 246.Return to passage

[81] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 238.Return to passage

[82] New York Times.Return to passage

[83] Greeley, vol. ii. pp. 249, 250.Return to passage

[84] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 250.Return to passage

[85] Greeley, vol. i. p. 585.Return to passage

[86] Greeley, vol. ii. pp. 239, 240.Return to passage

[87] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 246.Return to passage

XVI. THE NEGRO ON FATIGUE DUTY

NEGROES EMPLOYED AS TEAMSTERS AND IN THE QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT.--GENERAL MERCER'S ORDER TO THE SLAVE-HOLDERS ISSUED FROM SAVANNAH.--HE RECEIVES ORDERS FROM THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO IMPRESS A NUMBER OF NEGROES TO BUILD FORTIFICATIONS.--THE NEGRO PROVES HIMSELF INDUSTRIOUS AND EARNS PROMOTION.

The light began to break through the dark cloud of prejudice in the minds of the friends of the Union. If a Negro were useful in building rebel fortifications, why not in casting up defences for the Union army? Succeeding Gen. Butler in command at Fortress Monroe, on the 14th of October, 1861, Major-Gen. Wool issued an order, directing that "all colored persons called contrabands," employed by officers or others within his command, must be furnished with subsistence by their employers, and paid, if males, not less than four dollars per month, and that "all able-bodied colored persons, not employed as aforesaid," will be immediately put to work in the Engineer's or the Quartermaster's Department. On the 1st of November, Gen. Wool directed that the compensation of "contrabands" working for the government should be five to ten dollars per month, with soldier's rations. These Negroes rendered valuable service in the sphere they were called upon to fill.

In the Western army, Gen. James B. Steedman was the first man to suggest the idea of employing Negroes as teamsters. He saw that every Negro who drove a team of mules gave to the army one more white soldier with a musket in his hands; and so with the sympathy and approval of the gallant Gen. Geo. H. Thomas, Gen. Steedman put eighty Negroes into uniforms, and turned them over to an experienced white "wagon-master." The Negroes made excellent teamsters, and the plan was adopted quite generally.

In September, 1862, an order from Washington directed the employment of fifty thousand Negro laborers in the Quartermaster's Department, under Generals Hunter and Saxton! This showed that the authorities at Washington had begun to get their eyes open on this question. "And while speaking of the negroes," wrote a "Times" correspondent, in 1862, from Hilton Head, "let me present a few statistics obtained from an official source, respecting the success which has crowned the experiment of employing them as free paid laborers upon the plantations. The population of the Division (including Port Royal, St. Helena and Ladies' islands, with the smaller ones thereto adjacent, but excluding Hilton Head and its surroundings) is as follows:

"Effective 3,817 "Non-effective 3,110 ----- "Total 6,927

"The number of acres under cultivation on the same islands, is:

"Of Corn 6,444 "Of Cotton 3,384 "Of Potatoes 1,407

"A little calculation will show that the negroes have raised enough corn and potatoes to support themselves, besides a crop of cotton (now ripe) somewhat smaller than in former years, but still of very considerable value to the Government."[88]

Gen. Mercer issued the following order at Savannah, Georgia, which shows that the rebels did not despise the fatigue services of Negroes:

"C. S. ENGINEER'S OFFICE, } "SAVANNAH, GA., Aug. 1, 1863.}

"The Brigadier-General Commanding desires to inform the slave-holders of Georgia that he has received authority from the Secretary of War to impress a number of negroes sufficient to construct such additional fortifications as are necessary for the defence of Savannah.

"He desires, if possible, to avoid the necessity of impressment, and therefore urges the owners of slave property to volunteer the services of their negroes. He believes that, while the planters of South Carolina are sending their slaves by thousands to aid the defence of Charleston, the slave-holders of Georgia will not be backward in contributing in the same patriotic manner to the defence of their own seaport, which has so far resisted successfully all the attacks of the enemy at Fort McAllister and other points.

"Remember, citizens of Georgia, that on the successful defence of Georgia depends the security of the interior of your State, where so much of value both to yourselves and to the Confederacy at large is concentrated. It is best to meet the enemy at the threshold, and to hurl back the first wave of invasion. Once the breach is made, all the horrors of war must desolate your now peaceful and quiet homes. Let no man deceive himself. If Savannah falls the fault will be yours, and your own neglect will have brought the sword to your hearth-stones.

"The Brigadier-General Commanding, therefore, calls on all the slave-holders of Eastern, Southern, and Southwestern Georgia, but especially those in the neighborhood of Savannah, to send him immediately one fifth of their able-bodied male slaves, for whom transportation will be furnished and wages paid at the rate of twenty-five dollars per month, the Government to be responsible for the value of such Negroes as may be killed by the enemy, or may in any manner fall into his hands. By order of

"Brig.-Gen. MERCER, Commanding.

"JOHN MCCRADY, "Captain and Chief Engineer, State of Georgia."[89]

Negroes built most of the fortifications and earth-works for Gen. Grant in front of Vicksburg. The works in and about Nashville were cast up by the strong arm and willing hand of the loyal Blacks. Dutch Gap was dug by Negroes, and miles of earthworks, fortifications, and corduroy-roads were made by Negroes. They did fatigue duty in every department of the Union army. Wherever a Negro appeared with a shovel in his hand, a white soldier took his gun and returned to the ranks. There were 200,000 Negroes in the camps and employ of the Union armies, as servants, teamsters, cooks, and laborers. What a mighty host! Suppose the sentiment that early met the Negro on the picket lines and turned him back to the enemy had continued, 50,000 white soldiers would have been required in the Engineer's and Quartermaster's Department; while 25,000 white men would have been required for various other purposes, outside of the ranks of the army.

A narrow prejudice among some of the white troops, upon whose pedigree it would not be pleasant to dwell, met the Negro teamster, with a blue coat and buttons with eagles on them, with a growl. They disliked to see the Negro wearing a Union uniform;--it looked too much like equality.

But in his lowly station as a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, the Negro proved himself industrious, trustworthy, efficient, and cheerful. He earned promotion, and in due time secured it.

FOOTNOTES:

[88] Times, Sept. 4, 1862.Return to passage

[89] Rebellion Recs., vol. vii. Doc. p. 479.Return to passage

XVII. THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS

CONGRESS PASSES AN ACT TO CONFISCATE PROPERTY USED FOR INSURRECTIONARY PURPOSES.--A FRUITLESS APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT TO ISSUE AN EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.--HE THINKS THE TIME NOT YET COME FOR SUCH AN ACTION, BUT WITHIN A FEW WEEKS CHANGES HIS OPINION AND ISSUES AN EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.--THE REBELS SHOW NO DISPOSITION TO ACCEPT THE MILD TERMS OF THE PROCLAMATION.--MR. DAVIS GIVES ATTENTION TO THE PROCLAMATION IN HIS THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.--SECOND EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION ISSUED BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN JANUARY 1, 1863.--THE PROCLAMATION IMPARTS NEW HOPE TO THE NEGRO.

The position taken by General Butler on the question of receiving into the Federal lines the slaves of persons who were in rebellion against the National Government, and who were liable to be used in service against the government by their owners, had its due influence in Washington. But all the general officers did not share in the views of General Butler. As many as twenty Union generals still had it in their minds that it was the duty of the army "to catch run-away slaves"; and they afforded rebels every facility to search their camps. They arrested fugitive Negroes and held them subject to the order of their masters. Congress was not long in seeing the suicidal tendency of such a policy, and on the 6th of August, 1861, passed "An Act to Confiscate Property Used for Insurrectionary Purposes." Notwithstanding this act, General McClellan and other officers still clung to the obsolete doctrine of "the sacredness of slave property." His conduct finally called forth the following letter from the Secretary of State:

"CONTRABANDS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

"DEPARTMENT OF STATE, } "WASHINGTON CITY, December 4, 1861. }

"To Major-General George B. McClellan, Washington:

"GENERAL: I am directed by the President to call your attention to the following subject:

"Persons claimed to be held to service or labor under the laws of the State of Virginia, and actually employed in hostile service against the Government of the United States, frequently escape from the lines of the enemy's forces and are received within the lines of the Army of the Potomac. This Department understands that such persons, afterward coming into the city of Washington, are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon presumption, arising from color, that they are fugitives from service or labor.

"By the fourth section of the act of Congress, approved August 6, 1861, entitled 'An Act to Confiscate Property Used for Insurrectionary Purposes,' such hostile employment is made a full and sufficient answer to any further claim to service or labor. Persons thus employed and escaping are received into the military protection of the United States, and their arrest as fugitives from service or labor should be immediately followed by the military arrest of the parties making the seizure.

"Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the City of Washington and to the Marshal of the District of Columbia, that any collision between the civil and military authorities may be avoided.

"I am, General, your very obedient, "WM. H. SEWARD."

It was now 1862. The dark war clouds were growing thicker. The Union army had won but few victories; our troops had to fight a tropical climate, the forces of nature, and an arrogant, jubilant, and victorious enemy. Autumn had come but nothing had been accomplished. The friends of the Union who favored a speedy and vigorous prosecution of the war, besieged the President with letters, memorials, and addresses to "do something." But intrenched behind his "constitutional views" of how the war should be managed he heard all, but would pot yield. On the 13th of September, 1862, a deputation of gentlemen, representing the various Protestant denominations of Chicago, called upon the President and urged him to adopt a vigorous policy of emancipation as the only way to save the Union; but he denied the request. He said:

"The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance: the other day, four gentlemen of standing and intelligence from New York called as a delegation on business connected with the war; but before leaving two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general Emancipation; upon which the other two at once attacked them. You know also that the last session of Congress had a decided majority of anti-slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the same is true of the religious people. Why, the Rebel soldiers are praying with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops, and expecting God to favor their side: for one of our soldiers, who had been taken prisoner, told Senator Wilson a few days since that he met nothing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among in their prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case.

"What good would a proclamation of Emancipation from me do, especially as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet. Would my word free the slaves, when I cannot even enforce the Constitution in the Rebel States? Is there a single court, or magistrate, or individual, that would be influenced by it there? And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon the slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved, and which offers protection and freedom to the slaves of rebel masters who come within our lines? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single slave to come over to us. And, suppose they could be induced by a proclamation of freedom from me to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we feed and care for such a multitude? Gen. Butler wrote me a few days since that he was issuing more rations to the slaves who have rushed to him than to all the White troops under his command. They eat, and that is all; though it is true Gen. Butler is feeding the Whites also by the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there. If, now, the pressure of the war should call off our forces from New Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from reducing the Blacks to Slavery again; for I am told that whenever the rebels take any Black prisoners, free or slave, they immediately auction them off! They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground in the Tennessee river a few days ago. And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it! For instance, when, after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from Washington, under a flag of truce, to bury the dead and bring in the wounded, and the Rebels seized the Blacks who went along to help, and sent them into Slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the Government would probably do nothing about it. What could I do?

"Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would follow the issuing of such a proclamation as you desire? Understand: I raise no objection against it on legal or constitutional grounds; for, as Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy in time of war, I suppose I have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the enemy; nor do I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible consequences of insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a practical war measure, to be decided on according to the advantages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the Rebellion."

Not discouraged, the deputation urged in answer to his conservative views, that a policy of emancipation would strengthen the cause of the Union in Europe, and place the government upon high humane grounds, where it could boldly and confidently appeal to Almighty God in an honest attempt to save His poor children from the degrading curse of American slavery. But the President replied:

"I admit that Slavery is at the root of the Rebellion, or at least its sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to act; they would have been impotent without Slavery as their instrument. I will also concede that Emancipation would help us in Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something more than ambition. I grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the North, though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent imagine. Still, some additional strength would be added in that way to the war; and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the Rebels by drawing off their laborers, which is of great importance; but I am not so sure we could do much with the Blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the Rebels; and, indeed, thus far, we have not had arms enough to equip our White troops. I will mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and contempt. There are fifty thousand bayonets in the Union army from the Border Slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the Rebels. I do not think they all would--not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as six months ago--not so many to-day as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the Rebels. Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already have an important principle to rally and unite the people, in the fact that constitutional government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea, going down about as deep as anything."[90]

But there were millions of prayers ascending to the God of Battles daily that the President might have the courage and disposition to pursue a course required by the lamentable condition of the Union. And just nine days from the time he thought a proclamation not warranted and impracticable, he issued the following:

"I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States, and the people thereof, in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed.

"That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of Slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued.

"That, on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.

"That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled 'An Act to make an additional Article of War,' approved March 13th, 1862; and which act is in the words and figures following:

"'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such:

"'SECTION 1. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due; and any officer who shall be found guilty of a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service.

"'SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.'

"Also, to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled 'An Act to Suppress Insurrection, to Punish Treason and Rebellion, to Seize and Confiscate Property of Rebels, and for other Purposes,' approved July 16, 1862; and which sections are in the words and figures following:

"'SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them and coming under the control of the Government of the United States; and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by Rebel forces and afterward occupied by forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves.

"'SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offense against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present Rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service.'

"And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act and sections above recited.

"And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States, who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the Rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation between the United States and their respective States and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves.

"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

"Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

[L. S.] "ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

"By the President: "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

But why this change in the views of the President? History, thus far, is left to conjecture. It was hinted that our embassadors in Western Europe had apprised the State Department at Washington that an early recognition of the Southern Confederacy was possible, even probable. It was also stated that he was waiting for the issue at the battle of Antietam, which was fought on the 17th--five days before the proclamation was issued. But neither explanation stands in the light of the positive and explicit language of the President on the 13th of September. However, he issued the proclamation,--the Divine Being may have opened his eyes to see the angel that was to turn him aside from the destruction that awaited the Union that he sought to save with slavery preserved!

The sentiment of the people upon the wisdom of the proclamation was expressed in the October elections. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois went democratic; while the supporters of the Administration fell off in Michigan and other Western States. In the Congress of 1860 there were 78 Republicans and 37 Democrats; in 1862 there were 57 Administration representatives, and 67 in the Opposition.

The army did not take kindly to the proclamation. It was charged that "the war for the Union was changed into a war for the Negro." Some officers resigned, while many others said that if they thought they were fighting to free the "niggers" they would resign. This sentiment was contagious. It found its way into the rank and file of the troops, and did no little harm. The following telegram shows that the rebels were angered not a little at the President:

"CHARLESTON, S. C., Oct. 13, 1862.

"HON. WM. P. MILES, Richmond, Va.:

"Has the bill for the execution of Abolition prisoners, after January next, been passed? Do it; and England will be stirred into action. It is high time to proclaim the black flag after that period. Let the execution be with the garrote.

"(Signed) G. T. BEAUREGARD."

But the proclamation was a harmless measure. First, it declared that the object of the war was to restore "the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States." After nearly two years of disastrous war Mr. Lincoln declares the object of the war. Certainly no loyal man had ever entertained any other idea than the one expressed in the proclamation. It was not a war on the part of the United States to destroy her children, nor to disturb her own constitutional, comprehensive unity. It must have been understood, then, from the commencement, that the war begun by the seceding States was waged on the part of the United States to preserve the Union of the States, and restore them to their "constitutional relation."

Second, the proclamation implored the slave States to accept (certainly in the spirit of compromise) a proposition from the United States to emancipate their slaves for a pecuniary consideration, and, by their gracious consent, assist in colonizing loyal Negroes in this country or in Africa!

Third, the measure proposed to free slaves of persons and States in rebellion against the lawful authority of the United States Government on the first day of January, 1863. Nothing more difficult could have been undertaken than to free only the slaves of persons and States in actual rebellion against the Government of the United States. Persons in actual rebellion would be most likely to have immediate oversight of this species of their property; and the owners of slaves in the States in actual rebellion against the United States Government would doubtless be as thoroughly prepared to take care of slave property as the muskets in their rebellious hands.

Fourth, this emancipation proclamation (?) proposed to pay out of the United States Treasury,--for all slaves of loyal masters lost in a rebellion begun by slave-holders and carried on by slave-holders!

Under the condition of affairs no emancipation proclamation was necessary. Treason against the United States is "levying war against them," or "adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." The rebel States were guilty of treason; and from the moment Sumter was fired upon, every slave in the Confederate States was ipso facto free!

But it was an occasion for rejoicing. The President had taken a step in the right direction, and, thank God! he never retraced it.

A severe winter had set in. The rebels had shown the kind-hearted President no disposition to accept the mild terms of his proclamation. On the contrary, it was received with gnashing of teeth and bitter imprecations. On the 12th of January, 1863, the titular President of the Confederate States, in his third Annual Message, gave attention to the proclamation of the President of the United States. Mr. Davis said:

"It has established a state of things which can lead to but one of three possible consequences--the extermination of the slaves, the exile of the whole white population of the Confederacy, or absolute and total separation of these States from the United States. This proclamation is also an authentic statement by the Government of the United States of its inability to subjugate the South by force of arms, and, as such, must be accepted by neutral nations, which can no longer find any justification in withholding our just claims to formal recognition. It is also, in effect, an intimation to the people of the North that they must prepare to submit to a separation now become inevitable; for that people are too acute not to understand that a restitution of the Union has been rendered forever impossible by the adoption of a measure which, from its very nature, neither admits of retraction nor can coexist with union.

* * * * *

"We may well leave it to the instincts of that common humanity which a beneficent Creator has implanted in the breasts of our fellow-men of all countries to pass judgment on a measure by which several millions of human beings of an inferior race--peaceful and contented laborers in their sphere--are doomed to extermination, while at the same time they are encouraged to a general assassination of their masters by the insidious recommendation to abstain from violence unless in necessary self-defense. Our own detestation of those who have attempted the most execrable measures recorded in the history of guilty man is tempered by profound contempt for the impotent rage which it discloses. So far as regards the action of this Government on such criminals as may attempt its execution, I confine myself to informing you that I shall--unless in your wisdom you deem some other course more expedient--deliver to the several State authorities all commissioned officers of the United States that may hereafter be captured by our forces in any of the States embraced in the proclamation, that they may be dealt with in accordance with the laws of those States providing for the punishment of criminals engaged in exciting servile insurrection. The enlisted soldiers I shall continue to treat as unwilling instruments in the commission of these crimes, and shall direct their discharge and return to their homes on the proper and usual parole."

And although the President and his supporters had not reaped the blessings their hopes had sown, they were, nevertheless, not without hope. For when the sober second thought of the nation took the place of prejudice and undue excitement, the proclamation had more friends. And so, in keeping with his promise, the President issued the following proclamation on the first of January, 1863.

"Whereas, on the 22d day of September, in the year of our Lord 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

"'That on the 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

"'That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members, chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.'

"Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:

"Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemine, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are, for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

"And, by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States, are and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

"And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

"And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

"Done at the City of Washington, this 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord 1863, and of the independence of the United States the 87th.

[L. S.]

"By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

Even this proclamation--not a measure of humanity--to save the Union, not the slave--left slaves in many counties and States at the South. It was a war measure, pure and simple. It was a blow aimed at the most vulnerable part of the Confederacy. It was destroying its corner-stone, and the ponderous fabric was doomed to a speedy and complete destruction. It discovered that the strength of this Sampson of rebellion lay in its vast slave population. To the slave the proclamation came as the song of the rejoicing angels to the shepherds upon the plains of Bethlehem. It was like music at night, mellowed by the distance, that rouses slumbering hopes, gives wings to fancy, and peoples the brain with blissful thoughts. The notes of freedom came careering to them across the red, billowy waves of battle and thrilled their souls with ecstatic peace. Old men who, like Samuel the prophet, believing the ark of God in the hands of the Philistines, and were ready to give up the ghost, felt that it was just the time to begin to live. Husbands were transported with the thought of gathering to their bosoms the wife that had been sold to the "nigger traders"; mothers swooned under the tender touch of the thought of holding in loving embrace the children who pined for their care; and young men and maidens could only "think thanksgiving and weep gladness."

The slave-holder saw in this proclamation the handwriting upon the walls of the institution of slavery. The brightness and revelry of his banqueting halls were to be succeeded by gloom and sorrow. His riches, consisting in human beings, were to disappear under the magic touch of the instrument of freedom. The chattel was to be transformed into a person, the person into a soldier, the soldier into a citizen--and thus the Negro slave, like the crawling caterpillar, was to leave his grovelling situation, and in new form, wing himself to the sublime heights of free American citizenship!

The Negroes had a marvellous facility of communicating news to each other. The proclamation, in spite of the precautions of the rebel authorities, took to itself wings. It came to the plantation of weary slaves as the glorious light of a new-born day. It flooded the hovels of slaves with its golden light and rich promise of "forever free." Like St. Paul the poor slaves could exclaim:

"In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."

And the significant name of Abraham--"father of the faithful"--was pronounced by the Negroes with blessings, and mingled in their songs of praise.

FOOTNOTES:

[90] Greeley, vol. ii. pp. 251, 252.Return to passage

XVIII. EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS

THE QUESTION OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES.--THE REBELS TAKE THE FIRST STEP TOWARD THE MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES.--GRAND REVIEW OF THE REBEL TROOPS AT NEW ORLEANS.--GENERAL HUNTER ARMS THE FIRST REGIMENT OF LOYAL NEGROES AT THE SOUTH.--OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE SECRETARY OF WAR AND GENERAL HUNTER RESPECTING THE ENLISTMENT OF THE BLACK REGIMENT.--THE ENLISTMENT OF FIVE NEGRO REGIMENTS AUTHORIZED BY THE PRESIDENT.--THE POLICY OF GENERAL PHELPS IN REGARD TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS IN LOUISIANA.--A SECOND CALL FOR TROOPS BY THE PRESIDENT.--AN ATTEMPT TO AMEND THE ARMY APPROPRIATION BILL SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE FURTHER EMPLOYMENT OF COLORED TROOPS.--GOVERNOR JOHN A. ANDREW, OF MASSACHUSETTS, AUTHORIZED BY SECRETARY OF WAR TO ORGANIZE TWO REGIMENTS OF COLORED TROOPS.--GENERAL LORENZO THOMAS IS DESPATCHED TO THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TO SUPERINTEND THE ENLISTMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS IN THE SPRING OF 1863.--AN ORDER ISSUED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT IN THE FALL OF 1863 FOR THE ENLISTMENT OF COLORED TROOPS.--THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB OF NEW YORK CITY.--RECRUITING OF COLORED TROOPS IN PENNSYLVANIA.--GEORGE L. STEARNS ASSIGNED CHARGE OF THE RECRUITING OF COLORED TROOPS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND.--FREE MILITARY SCHOOL ESTABLISHED AT PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.--ENDORSEMENT OF THE SCHOOL BY SECRETARY STANTON.--THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL.--OFFICIAL TABLE GIVING NUMBER OF COLORED TROOPS IN THE ARMY.--THE CHARACTER OF NEGRO TROOPS.--MR. GREELEY'S EDITORIAL ON "NEGRO TROOPS."--LETTER FROM JUDGE ADVOCATE HOLT TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR ON THE "ENLISTMENT OF SLAVES."--THE NEGRO LEGALLY AND CONSTITUTIONALLY A SOLDIER.--HISTORY RECORDS HIS DEEDS OF PATRIOTISM.

At no time during the first two years of the war was the President or the Congress willing to entertain the idea of employing Negroes as soldiers. It has been shown that the admission of loyal Negroes into the Union lines, and into the service of the Engineer's and Quartermaster's Department, had been resisted with great stubbornness by the men in the "chief places." There were, however, a few men, both in and out of the army, who secretly believed that the Negro was needed in the army, and that he possessed all the elements necessary to make an excellent soldier. Public sentiment was so strong against the employment of Negroes in the armed service that few men had the courage of conviction; few had the temerity to express their views publicly. In the summer of 1860,--before the election of Abraham Lincoln,--General J. Watts De Peyster, of New York, wrote an article for a Hudson paper, in which he advocated the arming of Negroes as soldiers, should the Southern States declare war against the Government of the United States. The article was reproduced in many other papers, pronounced a fire-brand, and General De Peyster severely denounced for his advice. But he stood his ground, and when the war did come he gave to his country's service three gallant sons; and from the first to the last was an efficient and enthusiastic supporter of the war for the Union.

The rebels took the first step in the direction of the military employment of Negroes as soldiers. Two weeks after the firing upon Sumter took place, the following note appeared in the "Charleston Mercury":

Several companies of the Third and Fourth Regiments of Georgia passed through Augusta for the expected scene of warfare--Virginia. Sixteen well-drilled companies of volunteers and one negro company, from Nashville, Tennessee, offered their services to the Confederate States."[91]

In the "Memphis Avalanche" and "Memphis Appeal" of the 9th, 10th, and 11th of May, 1861, appeared the following notice:

"ATTENTION, VOLUNTEERS: Resolved by the Committee of Safety, that C. Deloach, D. R. Cook, and William B. Greenlaw be authorized to organize a volunteer company composed of our patriotic free men of color, of the city of Memphis, for the service of our common defence. All who have not enrolled their names will call at the office of W. B. Greenlaw & Co.

"F. TITUS, President.

"F. W. FORSYTHE, Secretary."

On the 9th of February, 1862, the rebel troops had a grand review, and the "Picayune," of New Orleans, contained the following paragraph:

"We must also pay a deserved compliment to the companies of free colored men, all very well drilled, and comfortably uniformed. Most of these companies, quite unaided by the administration, have supplied themselves with arms without regard to cost or trouble. One of these companies, commanded by the well-known veteran, Captain Jordan, was presented, a little before the parade, with a fine war-flag of the new style. This interesting ceremony took place at Mr. Cushing's store, on Camp, near Common Street. The presentation was made by Mr. Bigney, and Jordan made, on this occasion, one of his most felicitous speeches."

And on the 4th of February, 1862, the "Baltimore Traveller" contained the following paragraph:

"ARMING OF NEGROES AT RICHMOND.--Contrabands who have recently come within the Federal lines at Williamsport, report that all the able-bodied colored men in that vicinity are being taken to Richmond, formed into regiments, and armed for the defence of that city."

The following telegram was sent out:

"NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 23, 1861.

"Over twenty-eight thousand troops were reviewed to-day by Governor Moore, Major-General Lovell, and Brig.-General Ruggles. The line was over seven miles long. One regiment comprised fourteen hundred free colored men."

These are sufficient to show that from the earliest dawn of the war the rebel authorities did not frown upon the action of local authorities in placing arms into the hands of free Negroes.

The President of the United States was still opposing any attempt on the part of the supporters of the war to constrain him to approve of the introduction of Negroes into the army. But the Secretary of War, the Hon. Simon Cameron, had sent an order to Brig.-Gen. T. W. Sherman, directing him to accept the services of all loyal persons who desired to aid in the suppression of the Rebellion in and about Port Royal. When Gen. David Hunter relieved Gen. Sherman, the latter turned over to him the instructions of the Secretary of War. There was no mention of color, nor was any class of persons mentioned save "loyal persons." Gen. Hunter was a gentleman of broad, liberal, and humane views, and seeing an opportunity open to employ Negroes as soldiers, in the spring of 1862 directed the organization of a regiment of blacks. He secured the best white officers for the regiment, and it soon obtained a fine condition of discipline. The news of a Union Negro regiment in South Carolina completely surprised the people at Washington. On the 9th of June, 1862, Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, introduced in the National House of Representatives a resolution of inquiry, calling upon Gen. Hunter to explain to Congress his unprecedented conduct in arming Negroes to fight the battles of the Union. Mr. Stanton was now at the head of the War Department, and the following correspondence took place:

"GENERAL HUNTER'S NEGRO REGIMENT.

"OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

"WAR DEPARTMENT, June 14, 1862.

"Hon. G. A. Grow, Speaker of the House of Representatives:

"SIR: A resolution of the House of Representatives has been received, which passed the ninth instant, to the following effect:

"'Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to inform this House if Gen. Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, has organized a regiment of South Carolina volunteers for the defence of the Union, composed of black men (fugitive slaves), and appointed a Colonel and officers to command them.

"'2d. Was he authorized by the Department to organize and muster into the army of the United States, as soldiers, the fugitive or captive slaves?

"'3d. Has he been furnished with clothing, uniforms, etc., for such force?

"'4th. Has he been furnished, by order of the Department of War, with arms to be placed in the hands of the slaves?

"'5th. To report any orders given said Hunter, and correspondence between him and the Department.'"

"In answer to the foregoing resolution, I have the honor to inform the House;

"1st. That this Department has no official information whether Gen. Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, has or has not organized a regiment of South Carolina volunteers for the defence of the Union, composed of black men, fugitive slaves, and appointed the Colonel and other officers to command them. In order to ascertain whether he has done so or not, a copy of the House resolution has been transmitted to Gen. Hunter, with instructions to make immediate report thereon.

"2d. Gen. Hunter was not authorized by the Department to organize and muster into the army of the United States the fugitive or captive slaves.

"3d. Gen. Hunter, upon his requisition as Commander of the South, has been furnished with clothing and arms for the force under his command, without instructions as to how they should be used.

"4th. He has not been furnished by order of the Department of War with arms to be placed within the hands of 'those slaves.'

"5th. In respect to so much of said resolution as directs the Secretary 'to report to the House my orders given said Hunter, and correspondence between him and the Department,' the President instructs me to answer that the report, at this time, of the orders given to and correspondence between Gen. Hunter and this Department would, in his opinion, be incompatible with the public welfare.

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "EDWIN M. STANTON, "Secretary of War."

"WAR DEPARTMENT, } "WASHINGTON, July 2, 1862. }

"SIR: On reference to the answer of this Department of the fourteenth ultimo to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the ninth of last month, calling for information respecting the organization by Gen. Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, of a regiment of volunteers for the defence of the Union, composed of black men, fugitive slaves, etc., it will be seen that the resolution had been referred to that officer with instructions to make an immediate report thereon. I have now the honor to transmit herewith the copy of a communication just received from Gen. Hunter, furnishing information as to his action touching the various matters indicated in the resolution.

"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"EDWIN M. STANTON, "Secretary of War.

"Hon. G. A. GROW, "Speaker of the House of Representatives."

"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, } "PORT ROYAL, S. C., June 23, 1862. }

"Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington.

"SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a communication from the Adjutant-General of the army, dated June thirteenth, 1862, requesting me to furnish you with the information necessary to answer certain resolutions introduced in the House of Representatives, June ninth, 1862, on motion of the Hon. Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, their substance being to inquire:

"First. Whether I had organized or was organizing a regiment of 'fugitive slaves' in this department?

"Second. Whether any authority had been given to me from the War Department for such organization? and

"Third. Whether I had been furnished, by order of the War Department, with clothing, uniforms, arms, equipments, etc., for such a force?

"Only having received the letter covering these inquiries at a late hour on Saturday night, I urge forward my answer in time for the steamer sailing to-day (Monday)--this haste preventing me from entering as minutely as I could wish upon many points of detail, such as the paramount importance of the subject calls for. But, in view of the near termination of the present session of Congress, and the widespread interest which must have been awakened by Mr. Wickliffe's resolutions, I prefer sending even this imperfect answer to waiting the period necessary for the collection of fuller and more comprehensive data.

"To the first question, therefore, I reply that no regiment of 'fugitive slaves' has been or is being organized in this department. There is, however, a fine regiment of persons whose late masters are 'fugitive rebels,'--men who everywhere fly before the appearance of the national flag, leaving their servants behind them to shift as best they can for themselves. So far, indeed, are the loyal persons composing this regiment from seeking to avoid the presence of their late owners, that they are now, one and all, working with remarkable industry to place themselves in a position to go in full and effective pursuit of their fugacious and traitorous proprietors.

"To the second question I have the honor to answer that the instructions given to Brig.-Gen. T. W. Sherman, by the Hon. Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, and turned over to me by succession for my guidance, do distinctly authorize me to employ all loyal persons offering their services in defence of the Union and for the suppression of this rebellion in any manner I might see fit, or that the circumstances might call for. There is no restriction as to the character or color of the persons to be employed, or the nature of the employment, whether civil or military, in which their services should be used. I conclude, therefore, that I have been authorized to enlist 'fugitive slaves' as soldiers, could any such be found in this department. No such characters, however, have yet appeared within view of our most advanced pickets, the loyal slaves everywhere remaining on their plantations to welcome us, aid us, and supply us with food, labor, and information. It is the masters who have in every instance been the 'fugitives,' running away from loyal slaves as well as loyal soldiers, and whom we have only partially been able to see--chiefly their heads over ramparts, or, rifle in hand, dodging behind trees--in the extreme distance. In the absence of any 'fugitive-master law,' the deserted slaves would be wholly without remedy, had not the crime of treason given them the right to pursue, capture, and bring back those persons of whose protection they have been thus suddenly bereft.

"To the third interrogatory it is my painful duty to reply that I never have received any specific authority for issues of clothing, uniforms, arms, equipments, and so forth, to the troops in question--my general instructions from Mr. Cameron to employ them in any manner I might find necessary, and the military exigencies of the department and the country being my only, but, in my judgment, sufficient justification. Neither have I had any specific authority for supplying these persons with shovels, spades, and pickaxes, when employing them as laborers, nor with boats and oars when using them as lightermen; but these are not points included in Mr. Wickliffe's resolution. To me it seemed that liberty to employ men in any particular capacity implied with it liberty also to supply them with the necessary tools; and acting upon this faith I have clothed, equipped, and armed the only loyal regiment yet raised in South Carolina.

"I must say, in vindication of my own conduct, that had it not been for the many other diversified and imperative claims on my time, a much more satisfactory result might have been hoped for; and that in place of only one, as at present, at least five or six well-drilled, brave, and thoroughly acclimated regiments should by this time have been added to the loyal forces of the Union.

"The experiment of arming the blacks, so far as I have made it, has been a complete and even marvellous success. They are sober, docile, attentive, and enthusiastic, displaying great natural capacities for acquiring the duties of the soldier. They are eager beyond all things to take the field and be led into action; and it is the unanimous opinion of the officers who have had charge of them, that in the peculiarities of this climate and country they will prove invaluable auxiliaries, fully equal to the similar regiments so long and successfully used by the British authorities in the West-India Islands.

"In conclusion, I would say it is my hope--there appearing no possibility of other reenforcements, owing to the exigencies of the campaign in the Peninsula--to have organized by the end of next fall, and to be able to present to the Government, from forty-eight to fifty thousand of these hardy and devoted soldiers.

"Trusting that this letter may form part of your answer to Mr. Wickliffe's resolutions, I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your very obedient servant,

"D. HUNTER, "Major-General Commanding."

Mr. Wickliffe seemed to feel that he had received an exhaustive reply to his resolution of inquiry, but his colleague, Mr. Dunlap, offered the following resolution on the 3d of July, 1862, which was never acted upon:

"Resolved, That the sentiments contained in the paper read to this body yesterday, approving the arming of slaves, emanating from Major-General David Hunter, clothed in discourteous language, are an indignity to the American Congress, an insult to the American people and our brave soldiers in arms; for which sentiments, so uttered, he justly merits our condemnation and censure."

There was quite a flutter among the politicians in the rear, and many army officers felt that the United States uniform had been disgraced by being put upon "fugitive slaves."

Within a few weeks after the affair in Congress alluded to above, two United States Senators,[92] charmed with the bold idea of General Hunter, called upon the President to urge him to accept the services of two Negro regiments. The "New York Herald" of the 5th of August, 1862, gave an account of the interview under the caption of "Important Decision of the President."

"The efforts of those who love the negro more than the Union to induce the President to swerve from his established policy are unavailing. He will neither be persuaded by promises nor intimidated by threats. To-day he was called upon by two United States Senators and rather peremptorily requested to accept the services of two negro regiments. They were flatly and unequivocally rejected. The President did not appreciate the necessity of employing the negroes to fight the battles of the country and take the positions which the white men of the nation, the voters, and sons of patriotic sires, should be proud to occupy; there were employments in which the negroes of rebel masters might well be engaged, but he was not willing to place them upon an equality with our volunteers, who had left home and family and lucrative occupations to defend the Union and the Constitution, while there were volunteers or militia enough in the loyal States to maintain the Government without resort to this expedient. If the loyal people were not satisfied with the policy he had adopted, he was willing to leave the administration to other hands. One of the Senators was impudent enough to tell the President he wished to God he would resign."[93]

But there the regiment was,--one thousand loyal and competent soldiers; and there was no way out but for the government to father the regiment, and, therefore, on the 25th of August, 1862, the Secretary of War sent General Rufus Saxton the following order:

"3. In view of the small force under your command, and the inability of the Government at the present time to increase it, in order to guard the plantations and settlements occupied by the United States from invasion, and protect the inhabitants thereof from captivity and murder by the enemy, you are also authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and receive into the service of the United States, such number of Volunteers of African descent as you may deem expedient, not exceeding five thousand; and may detail officers to instruct them in military drill, discipline, and duty, and to command them; the persons so received into service, and their officers, to be entitled to and receive the same pay and rations as are allowed by law to Volunteers in the service.

"4. You will occupy, if possible, all the islands and plantations heretofore occupied by the Government, and secure and harvest the crops, and cultivate and improve the plantations.

"5. The population of African descent, that cultivate the land and perform the labor of the Rebels, constitute a large share of their military strength, and enable the White masters to fill the Rebel armies, and wage a cruel and murderous war against the people of the Northern States. By reducing the laboring strength of the Rebels, their military power will be reduced. You are, therefore, authorized, by every means in your power, to withdraw from the enemy their laboring force and population, and to spare no effort, consistent with civilized warfare, to weaken, harass, and annoy them, and to establish the authority of the Government of the United States within your Department."

But public sentiment was growing with every passing day. The very presence of the Negro regiment at Port Royal converted the most pronounced enemies of Negro troops into friends and admirers. The newspaper correspondents filled their letters to the papers North with most extravagant praise of the Negro soldier; and the President was driven from his position of "no negro soldiers."

The correspondent of the "Times," in a letter dated September 4, 1862, wrote:

"There is little doubt that the next mail from the North will bring an order from the War Department recalling Major-Gen. Hunter to a field of greater activity. The Government had not lent him a hearty support in carrying out his policy of arming the blacks, by which alone he could make himself useful in this department to the National cause; and, therefore, more than two months since he applied to be relieved, rather than sit supinely with folded hands when his military abilities might be found of service elsewhere. Now, however, I have reason to believe that Gen. Hunter's views upon the question of forming negro regiments, have been unreservedly adopted by the President, and the whole question has assumed such a different phase that Gen. Hunter almost regrets that he is to leave the department. The last mail brought the authorization of the President to enlist five negro regiments, each of a thousand negroes, to be armed and uniformed for the service of the United States, and also authorizes the enrollment of an additional 50,000 to be employed in the Quartermaster's Department nominally as laborers, but as they are to be organized into companies and uniformed, and a portion of their time is to be spent in drilling, it is easy to understand that the possibility of their being used as soldiers is not lost sight of. The exact time of commencing the work of enlisting the colored recruits, I am not able to state, but that it will be shortly, to my mind, there is not a shadow of doubt. The only way in which the men can be obtained is by the establishment of posts at various places upon the coast, where the negroes, assured of protection, will flock to us by thousands. Past experience and present information both go to prove this fact, and to establish these posts more men will be required; therefore we may soon expect that the Government will be deriving positive advantages from this department which, heretofore, has been only negative of service, as the field of experiments and the testing of ideas. Gen. Saxton will go to Washington by the first steamer, for consultation with the President on the subject."

Just what one thing changed the President so suddenly upon the question of the employment of Negroes as soldiers was not known.

In Louisiana the Negroes were anxious to enlist in the service of the Union, and with this object in view thousands of them sought the Federal camps. Brig.-Gen. J. W. Phelps, commanding the forces at Carrolton, La., found his camps daily crowded with fugitives from slavery. What to do with them became a question of great moment. Gen. Phelps became convinced that it was impossible to subdue a great rebellion if slavery were to have the protection of Federal bayonets. He gave the Negroes who came to his camp protection; and for this was reported to his superior officer, Gen. Butler. In a report to the latter officer's Adjutant-General, on June 16, 1862, he said:

"The enfranchisement of the people of Europe has been, and is still, going on, through the instrumentality of military service; and by this means our slaves might be raised in the scale of civilization and prepared for freedom. Fifty regiments might be raised among them at once, which could be employed in this climate to preserve order, and thus prevent the necessity of retrenching our liberties, as we should do by a large army exclusively of Whites. For it is evident that a considerable army of Whites would give stringency to our Government; while an army partly of Blacks would naturally operate in favor of freedom and against those influences which at present most endanger our liberties. At the end of five years, they could be sent to Africa, and their places filled with new enlistments."

Receiving no specific response to this overture, Gen. Phelps made a requisition of arms, clothing, etc., for "three regiments of Africans, which I propose to raise for the defense of this point"; adding:

"The location is swampy and unhealthy; and our men are dying at the rate of two or three a day.

"The Southern loyalists are willing, as I understand, to furnish their share of the tax for the support of the war; but they should also furnish their quota of men; which they have not thus far done. An opportunity now offers of supplying the deficiency; and it is not safe to neglect opportunities in war. I think that, with the proper facilities, I could raise the three regiments proposed in a short time. Without holding out any inducements, or offering any reward, I have now upward of 300 Africans organized into five companies, who are all willing and ready to show their devotion to our cause in any way that it may be put to the test. They are willing to submit to any thing rather than to slavery.

"Society, in the South, seems to be on the point of dissolution; and the best way of preventing the African from becoming instrumental in a general state of anarchy, is to enlist him in the cause of the Republic. If we reject his services, any petty military chieftain, by offering him freedom, can have them for the purpose of robbery and plunder. It is for the interests of the South, as well as of the North, that the African should be permitted to offer his block for the temple of freedom. Sentiments unworthy of the man of the present day--worthy only of another Cain--could alone prevent such an offer from being accepted.

"I would recommend that the cadet graduates of the present year should be sent to South Carolina and this point, to organize and discipline our African levies; and that the more promising non-commissioned officers and privates of the army be appointed as company officers to command them. Prompt and energetic efforts in this direction would probably accomplish more toward a speedy termination of the war, and an early restoration of peace and unity, than any other course which could be adopted."[94]

Gen. Butler advised Gen. Phelps to employ "contrabands" for mere fatigue duty, and charged him not to use them as soldiers. On the 31st of July, 1862, Gen. Phelps rejoined by informing Gen. Butler: "I am not willing to become the mere slave-driver you propose, having no qualifications that way," and immediately tendered his resignation.

Nothing could stay the mighty stream of fugitives that poured into the Union lines by day and by night. Nothing could cool the ardor of the loyal Negroes who so earnestly desired to share the perils and honors of the Federal army. There was but one course left and that was to call the Negroes to arms as Gen. Jackson had done nearly a half century before. Gen. Butler repented his action toward the gallant and intelligent Phelps, and on the 24th of August, 1862, appealed to the free Colored men of New Orleans to take up arms in defence of the Union. As in the War of 1812, they responded to the call with enthusiasm; and in just two weeks one thousand Negroes were organized into a regiment. All the men and line officers were Colored; the staff-officers were white. Another regiment was raised and officered like the first--only two white men in it; while the third regiment was officered without regard to nationality. Two Colored batteries were raised, but all the officers were white because there were no Negroes found who understood that arm of the service.

The summer was gone, and Gen. McClellan, instead of "taking Richmond," had closed his campaign on the Peninsula most ingloriously. The President was compelled to make another call for troops--60,000. Conscription was unavoidable in many places, and prejudice against the military employment of Negroes began to decrease in proportion to the increase of the chances of white men to be drafted. On the 16th of July, 1862, Gen. Henry Wilson, United States Senator from Massachusetts, and Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, introduced a bill in the Senate amending the act of 1795, prescribing the manner of the calling forth of the militia to suppress insurrections, etc. Several amendments were offered, much debate was had, and finally it passed, amended, empowering the President to accept "persons of African descent, for the purpose of constructing entrenchments or performing camp service, or any war service for which they may be found competent." It was agreed, grudgingly, to free the slaves of rebels only who should faithfully serve the country,--but not their wives and children! The vote was 28 yeas to 9 nays. It went to the House, where it was managed by Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, and upon a call of the previous question was passed. On the next day, July 17th, it received the signature of the President, and became the law of the land.

On the 28th of January the Army Appropriation bill was under consideration in the United States Senate. Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, had opposed, by the most frantic and desperate efforts, every attempt to use Negroes in any capacity to aid in the suppression of the Rebellion. Accordingly he offered the following amendment to the Appropriation bill:

"Provided, That no part of the sums appropriated by this act shall be disbursed for the pay, subsistence, or any other supplies, of any negro, free or slave, in the armed military service of the United States."

It received 8 votes, with 28 against it. Those who sustained the amendment were all Democrats:

Messrs. Carlyle, G. Davis, Kennedy, Latham, Nesmith, Powell, Turpie, and Wall.

The fight against the employment of Negroes as soldiers was renewed. On every occasion the opposition was led by a Kentucky representative! On the 21st of December, 1863, during the pendency of the Deficiency bill in the House, Mr. Harding, of Kentucky, desired to amend it by inserting the following:

"Provided, That no part of the moneys aforesaid shall be applied to the raising, arming, equipping, or paying of negro soldiers."

It was rejected: yeas, 41; nays, 105. The yeas were:

Messrs. Ancona, Bliss, James S. Brown, Coffroth, Cox, Dawson, Dennison, Eden, Edgerton, Eldridge, Finck, Grider, Hall, Harding, Harrington, Benjamin G. Harris, Charles M. Harris, Philip Johnson, William Johnson, King, Knapp, Law, Long, Marcy, McKinney, William H. Miller, James R. Morris, Morrison, Noble, John O'Neill, Pendleton, Samuel J. Randall, Rogers, Ross, Scott, Stiles, Strouse, Stuart, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, Yeaman.

On the 26th of January, 1863, the Secretary of War authorized Gov. John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, to raise two regiments of Negro troops to serve three years. The order allowed the governor to raise "volunteer companies of artillery for duty in the forts of Massachusetts and elsewhere, and such companies of infantry for the volunteer military service as he may find convenient, and may include persons of African descent, organized into separate corps."

The Governor of Massachusetts immediately delegated authority to John W. M. Appleton to superintend the recruiting of the 54th Massachusetts, the first regiment of free Colored men raised at the North. The regiment was filled by the 13th of May, and ready to march to the front. It had been arranged that the regiment should pass through New York City on its way to the scene of the war in South Carolina, but the Chief of Police of New York suggested that the regiment would be subject to insult if it came. The regiment was sent forth with the blessings of Massachusetts and the prayers of its patriotic people. It went by water to South Carolina.

While Massachusetts was engaged in recruiting Negro soldiers, Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General of the United States Army, was despatched from Washington to the Mississippi Valley, where he inaugurated a system of recruiting service for Negroes. In a speech to the officers and men in the organization of white troops, he said, on the 8th of April, 1863, at Lake Providence, La.:

"You know full well--for you have been over this country--that the Rebels have sent into the field all their available fighting men--every man capable of bearing arms; and you know they have kept at home all their slaves for the raising of subsistence for their armies in the field. In this way they can bring to bear against us all the strength of their so-called Confederate States; while we at the North can only send a portion of our fighting force, being compelled to leave behind another portion to cultivate our fields and supply the wants of an immense army. The Administration has determined to take from the Rebels this source of supply--to take their negroes and compel them to send back a portion of their whites to cultivate their deserted plantations--and very poor persons they would be to fill the place of the dark-hued laborer. They must do this, or their armies will starve. * * *

"All of you will some day be on picket duty; and I charge you all, if any of this unfortunate race come within your lines, that you do not turn them away, but receive them kindly and cordially. They are to be encouraged to come to us; they are to be received with open arms; they are to be fed and clothed; they are to be armed."

On the 1st of May, 1863, Gen. Banks, in an order directing the recruiting of the "Corps d'Afrique," said:

"The prejudices or opinions of men are in no wise involved"; and "it is not established upon any dogma of equality, or other theory, but as a practical and sensible matter of business. The Government makes use of mules, horses, uneducated and educated White men, in the defense of its institutions. Why should not the negro contribute whatever is in his power for the cause in which he is as deeply interested as other men? We may properly demand from him whatever service he can render," etc., etc.

In the autumn of 1863, Adjutant-General Thomas issued the following order respecting the military employment of Negroes as soldiers:

"ENLISTMENT OF COLORED TROOPS.

"GENERAL ORDERS, No. 329.

"WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, } "WASHINGTON, D. C., October 13, 1863. }

"WHEREAS, The exigencies of the war require that colored troops be enlisted in the States of Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee, it is

"ORDERED BY THE PRESIDENT, That the Chief of the Bureau for the Organization of Colored Troops shall establish recruiting stations at convenient places within said States, and give public notice thereof, and be governed by the following regulations:

"First. None but able-bodied persons shall be enlisted.

"Second. The State and county in which the enlistments are made shall be credited with the recruits enlisted.

"Third. All persons enlisted into the military service shall forever thereafter be FREE.

"Fourth. Free persons, and slaves with the written consent of their owners, and slaves belonging to those who have been engaged in or given aid or comfort to the rebellion, may now be enlisted--the owners who have not been engaged in or given aid to the rebellion being entitled to compensation as hereinafter provided.

"Fifth. If within thirty days from the date of opening enlistments, notice thereof and of the recruiting stations being published, a sufficient number of the description of persons aforesaid to meet the exigencies of the service should not be enlisted, then enlistments may be made of slaves without requiring consent of their owners, but they may receive compensation as herein provided for owners offering their slaves for enlistment.

"Sixth. Any citizen of said States, who shall offer his or her slave for enlistment into the military service, shall, if such slave be accepted, receive from the recruiting officer a certificate thereof, and become entitled to compensation for the service of said slave, not exceeding the sum of three hundred dollars, upon filing a valid deed of manumission and of release, and making satisfactory proof of title. And the recruiting officer shall furnish to any claimant of descriptive list of any person enlisted and claimed under oath to be his or her slave, and allow any one claiming under oath that his or her slave has been enlisted without his or her consent, the privilege of inspecting the enlisted man for the purpose of identification.

"Seventh. A board of three persons shall be appointed by the President, to whom the rolls and recruiting lists shall be furnished for public information, and, on demand exhibited, to any person claiming that his or her slave has been enlisted against his or her will.

"Eighth. If a person shall within ten days after the filing of said rolls, make a claim for the service of any person so enlisted, the board shall proceed to examine the proof of title, and, if valid, shall award just compensation, not exceeding three hundred dollars for each slave enlisted belonging to the claimant, and upon the claimant filing a valid deed of manumission and release of service, the board shall give the claimant a certificate of the sum awarded, which on presentation shall be paid by the chief of the Bureau.

"Ninth. All enlistments of colored troops in the State of Maryland, otherwise than in accordance with these regulations, are forbidden.

"Tenth. No person who is or has been engaged in the rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who in any way has or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Government, shall be permitted to present any claim or receive any compensation for the labor or service of any slave, and all claimants shall file with their claim an oath of allegiance to the United States. By order of the President.

"E. D. TOWNSEND, "Assistant Adjutant-General."

This order was extended, on October 26th, to Delaware, at the personal request of Governor Cannon.

On the 12th of November, 1863, the Union League Club of New York City appointed a committee for the purpose of recruiting Colored troops. Col. George Bliss was made chairman and entered upon the work with energy and alacrity. On the 23d of November the committee addressed a letter to Horatio Seymour, Governor of New York, stating that as he had no authority to grant them permission to enlist a Negro regiment; and as the National Government was unwilling to grant such authority without the sympathy and assent of the State government, they would feel greatly obliged should his excellency grant the committee his official concurrence. Gov. Seymour assured the committee of his official inability to grant authority for the raising of Colored troops,--just what the committee had written him,--and referred them to the National Government, on the 27th of November. The committee applied to the authorities at Washington, and on the 5th of December, 1863, the Secretary of War granted them authority to raise the 20th Regiment of United States Colored Troops. Having secured the authority of the Government to begin their work, the committee wrote Gov. Seymour: "We express the hope that, so far as in your power, you will give to the movement your aid and countenance." The governor never found the time to answer the request of the committee!

The work was pushed forward with zeal and enthusiasm. The Colored men rallied to the call, and within two weeks from the time the committee called for Colored volunteers 1,000 men responded. By the 27th of January, 1864, a second regiment was full; and thus in forty-five days the Union League Club Committee on the Recruiting of Colored Regiments had raised 2,000 soldiers!

Out of 9,000 men of color, eligible by age--18 to 45 years--to go into the service, 2,300 enlisted in less than sixty days. There was no bounty held out to them as an incentive to enlist; no protection promised to their families, nor to them should they fall into the hands of the enemy. But they were patriots! They were willing to endure any thing rather than the evils that would surely attend the triumph of the Confederacy. They went to the front under auspicious circumstances.

The 20th Regiment, under the command of Col. Bartram, landed at Thirty-Sixth Street, was headed by the police and the patriotic members of the Union League Club, and had a triumphal march through the city.

"The scene of yesterday," says a New York paper, "was one which marks an era of progress in the political and social history of New York. A thousand men with black skins and clad and equipped with the uniforms and arms of the United States Government, marched from their camp through the most aristocratic and busy streets, received a grand ovation at the hands of the wealthiest and most respectable ladies and gentlemen of New York, and then moved down Broadway to the steamer which bears them to their destination--all amid the enthusiastic cheers, the encouraging plaudits, the waving handkerchiefs, the showering bouquets and other approving manifestations of a hundred thousand of the most loyal of our people.

"In the month of July last the homes of these people were burned and pillaged by an infuriated political mob; they and their families were hunted down and murdered in the public streets of this city; and the force and majesty of the law were powerless to protect them. Seven brief months have passed, and a thousand of these despised and persecuted men march through the city in the garb of United States soldiers, in vindication of their own manhood, and with the approval of a countless multitude--in effect saving from inevitable and distasteful conscription the same number of those who hunted their persons and destroyed their homes during those days of humiliation and disgrace. This is noble vengeance--a vengeance taught by Him who commanded, 'Love them that hate you; do good to them that persecute you.'"

The recruiting of Colored troops in Pennsylvania was carried on, perhaps, with more vigor, intelligence, and enthusiasm than in any of the other free States. A committee for the recruiting of men of color for the United States army was appointed at Philadelphia, with Thomas Webster as Chairman, Cadwalader Biddle, as Secretary, and S. A. Mercer, as Treasurer. This committee raised $33,388.00 for the recruiting of Colored regiments. The 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments had cost about $60,000, but this committee agreed to raise three regiments at a cost of $10,000 per regiment.

The committee founded a camp, and named it "Camp William Penn," at Shelton Hill, near Philadelphia. On the 26th of June, 1863, the first squad of eighty men went into camp. On the 3d of February, 1864, the committee made the following statement, in reference to the raising of regiments:

"On the 24th July, 1863, the First (3d United States) regiment was full.

"On the 13th September, 1863, the Second (6th United States) regiment was full.

"On the 4th December, 1863, the Third (8th United States) regiment was full.

"On the 6th January, 1864, the Fourth (22d United States) regiment was full.

"On the 3d February, 1864, the Fifth (25th United States) regiment was full.

"August 13th, 1863, the Third United States regiment left Camp William Penn, and was in front of Fort Wagner when it surrendered.

"October 14th, 1863, the Sixth United States regiment left for Yorktown.

"January 16th, 1864, the Eighth United States regiment left for Hilton Head.

"The 22d and 25th regiments are now at Camp William Penn, waiting orders from the Government."

The duty of recruiting "Colored troops" in the Department of the Cumberland was committed by Secretary Stanton to an able, honest, and patriotic man, Mr. George L. Stearns, of Massachusetts. Mr. Stearns had devoted his energies, wealth, and time to the cause of the slave during the holy anti-slavery agitation. He was a wealthy merchant of Boston; dwelt, with a noble wife and beautiful children, at Medford. He had been, from the commencement of the agitation, an ultra Abolitionist. He regarded slavery as a gigantic system of complicated evils, at war with all the known laws of civilized society; inimical to the fundamental principles of political economy; destructive to republican institutions; hateful in the sight of God, and ever abhorrent to all honest men. He hated slavery. He hated truckling, obsequious, cringing hypocrites. He put his feelings into vigorous English, and keyed his deeds and actions to the sublime notes of charity that filled his heart and adorned a long and eminently useful life. He gave shelter to the majestic and heroic John Brown. His door was--like the heavenly gates--ajar to every fugitive from slavery, and his fiery earnestness kindled the flagging zeal of many a conservative friend of God's poor.

Such a man was chosen to put muskets into the hands of the Negroes in the Department of the Cumberland. His rank was that of major, with the powers of an assistant adjutant-general. He took up his headquarters at Nashville, Tennessee. He carried into the discharge of the duties of his important office large executive ability, excellent judgment, and rare fidelity. He organized the best regiments that served in the Western army. When he had placed the work in excellent condition he committed it to the care of Capt. R. D. Mussey, who afterward was made the Colonel of the 100th U. S. Colored Troops.

The intense and unrelenting prejudice against the Negroes, and their ignorance of military tactics, made it necessary for the Government to provide suitable white commissioned officers. The prospect was pleasing to many young white men in the ranks; and ambition went far to irradicate prejudice against Negro soldiers. Nearly every white private and non-commissioned officer was expecting the lightning to strike him; every one expected to be promoted to be a commissioned officer, and, therefore, had no prejudice against the men they hoped to command as their superior officers. To prepare the large number of applicants for commissions in Colored regiments a "Free Military School" was established at No. 1210 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Secretary Stanton gave the school the following official endorsement in the spring of 1864.

"WAR DEPARTMENT, } "WASHINGTON CITY, March 21, 1864. }

"THOMAS WEBSTER, ESQ., Chairman, "1210 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

"SIR: The project of establishing a free Military School for the education of candidates for the position of commissioned officers in the Colored Troops, received the cordial approval of this Department. Sufficient success has already attended the workings of the institution to afford the promise of much usefulness hereafter in sending into the service a class of instructed and efficient officers.

"Very respectfully, "Your obedient servant, "EDWIN M. STANTON, "Secretary of War."

In reply to a letter from Thomas Webster, Esq., Chairman, etc., of the Recruiting Committee, General Casey sent the following letter:

"WASHINGTON, D. C., March 7, 1864.

"DEAR SIR: Yours of the 4th instant is received, and I have directed the Secretary of the Board to attend to your request.

"It gives me great pleasure to learn that your School is prospering, and I am also pleased to inform you that the Board of which I am President has not as yet rejected one of your candidates. I am gratified to see that the necessity of procuring competent officers for the armies of the Republic is beginning to be better appreciated by the public.

"I trust I shall never have occasion to regret my agency in suggesting the formation of your School, and I am sure the country owes your Committee much for the energy and judgment with which it has carried it out. The liberality which opens its doors to the young men of all the States is noble, and does honor to those citizens of Philadelphia from whom its support is principally derived.

"Truly yours, "SILAS CASEY, "Major-General.

"TO THOMAS WEBSTER, ESQ., Chairman, "1210 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia."

In reference to applicants the following letter was written by the Adjutant-General:

"GENERAL ORDERS, } "No. 125." }

"WAR DEPARTMENT," "ADJUTANT-GEN.'S OFFICE, "WASHINGTON, March 29, 1864.

"Furloughs, not to exceed thirty days in each case, to the non-commissioned officers and privates of the army who may desire to enter the Free Military School at Philadelphia, may be granted by the Commanders of Armies and Departments, when the character, conduct, and capacity of the applicants are such as to warrant their immediate and superior commanders in recommending them for commissioned appointments in the regiments of colored troops.

"By order of the Secretary of War.

"E. D. TOWNSEND, "Assistant Adjutant-General."

The organization of the school was as follows:

Chief Preceptor.

JOHN H. TAGGART

(Late Colonel 12th Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Corps), Professor of Infantry Tactics and Army Regulations.

Assistant Professors.

MILITARY STAFF.

ALBERT L. MAGILTON (Graduate of West Point Military Academy, and late Colonel 4th Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Corps), Professor of Infantry Tactics and Army Regulations.

LEVI FETTERS (Late Captain 175th Pennsylvania Regiment), Professor of Infantry Tactics and Army Regulations.

STUDENT DANL. W. HERR (Late 1st Lieutenant Co. E., 122d Pennsylvania Regiment), Post Adjutant.

STUDENT J. HALE SYPHER, OF PENNSYLVANIA, Field Adjutant.

STUDENT LOUIS M. TAFT. M.D. (Graduate of University of Penn.), Surgeon.

ACADEMIC STAFF.

JOHN P. BIRCH, A.M., A. E. ROGERSON, A.M., Professors of Mathematics, Geography, and History

Wm. L. WILSON, Librarian and Phonographic Clerk.

STUDENT CHARLES BENTRICK, SR., Postmaster.

JAMES BUCHANAN (COLORED), Messenger.

Within less than six months 1,051 applicants had been examined; 560 passed, and 491 were rejected.

Four regular classes were formed, and in addition to daily recitations the students were required to drill twice every day. The school performed excellent work; and furnished for the service many brave and efficient officers.

By December, 1863, 100,000 Colored Troops were in the service. About 50,000 were armed by that time and in the field.

Everywhere they were winning golden laurels by their aptitude in drill, their patient performance of the duties of the camp, and by their matchless courage in the deadly field. The young white officers who so cheerfully bore the odium of commanding Colored Troops, and who so heroically faced the dangers of capture and cruel death, had no superiors in the army. They had the supreme satisfaction of commanding brave men to whom they soon found themselves deeply attached. It was a school in which the noblest and purest patriot might feel himself honored and inspired to the performance of deathless deeds of valor.

The following tables indicate the manner in which the work was done.

Analysis of Examination of Applicants for Command of Colored Troops, before the Board at Washington, of which Major-General Silas Casey is President, from the organization of the Board to March 29th, 1864, inclusive.

Number accepted and for what rank recommended. --------------------------- Colonels. | Lieutenant-Colonels. | | Majors. Rank. | | | Captains. | | | | 1st Lieutenants. | | | | | 2d Lieutenants. Number | | | | | | Number examined. | | | | | | rejected. Colonels 4 - - 2 - - - 2 Lieutenant-Colonels 3 - 2 - - 1 - - Majors 9 2 3 1 2 - - 1 Captains 68 3 7 8 20 5 3 22 1st Lieutenants 52 3 - 4 10 8 7 20 2d Lieutenants 24 - - - 9 2 3 10 Sergeants 505 - 1 - 62 75 133 234 Corporals 230 - - - 23 46 64 97 Privates 449 - - - 26 57 124 242 Civilians 429 1 6 15 48 49 94 216 -------------------------------------- 1,773 9 19 30 200 243 428 844 Students of the Philadelphia Free Military School 94 2 4 6 28 25 25 4 -------------------------------------- 1,867 11 23 36 228 268 453 848

Analysis of the Examination to 31st March, 1864, of the Students of the Philadelphia Free Military School, before the Board of Examiners at Washington, for Applicants for Command of Colored Troops, Major-General Silas Casey, President.

Number accepted and for what rank recommended. --------------------------- Colonels. | Lieut-Colonels. | | Majors. Rank. | | | Captains. | | | | 1st Lieutenants. | | | | | 2d Lieutenants. Number | | | | | | Number examined. | | | | | | rejected. Sergeants 14 - 1 - 3 3 6 1 Corporals 8 - - - 2 4 2 - Privates 33 1 - 1 9 11 10 1 Civilians[95] 39 1 3 5 14 6 8 2 ---------------------------------------- 94 2 4 6 28 24 26 4

The following official table gives the entire number of Colored Troops in the army from beginning to end.

STATES AND TERRITORIES.

Colored Troops furnished 1861-'65. Connecticut 1,764 Maine 104 Massachusetts 3,966 New Hampshire 125 Rhode Island 1,837 Vermont 120 ------ Total of New England States 7,916

New Jersey 1,185 New York 4,125 Pennsylvania 8,612 ------ Total of Middle States 13,922

STATES AND TERRITORIES.--(Continued.)

Colored Troops furnished 1861-'65. Colorado Ter. 95 Dakota Ter. - Illinois 1,811 Indiana 1,537 Iowa 440 Kansas 2,080 Michigan 1,387 Minnesota 104 Nebraska Ter. - New Mexico Ter. - Ohio 5,092 Wisconsin 165 ------ Total, Western States and Territories 12,711

California - Nevada - Oregon - Washington Ter. - Delaware 954 Dist. Columbia 3,269 Kentucky 23,703 Maryland 8,718 Missouri 8,344 West Virginia 196 ------ Total, Border States 45,184

Alabama 4,969 Arkansas 5,526 Florida 1,044 Georgia - Louisiana 3,486 Mississippi 17,869 North Carolina 5,035 South Carolina 5,462 Tennessee 20,133 Texas 47 Virginia - ------ Total, Southern States 63,571

STATES AND TERRITORIES.--(Continued.)

Colored Troops furnished 1861-'65. Indian Nation - Colored Troops[96] - ------- Grand Total 173,079 At Large 733 Not accounted for 5,083 Officers 7,122 ------- Total 186,017

Notwithstanding the complete demonstration of fact that Negroes were required as United States soldiers, there were many opposers of the movement. Some of the best men and leading journals were very conservative on this question. An elaborate and cautious editorial in the "New York Times" of February 16, 1863, fairly exhibits the nervousness of the North on the subject of the military employment of the Negro.

"USE OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS.

"One branch of Congress has rejected a bill authorizing the enlistment of negro soldiers. Mr. Sumner declares his intention to persist in forcing the passage of such a law by offering it as an amendment to some other bill. Meantime the President, by laws already enacted, has full authority over the subject, and we can see no good object to be attained by forcing it into the discussions of Congress and adding it to the causes of dissension already existing in the country at large.

"A law of last Congress authorized the President to use the negroes as laborers or otherwise, as they can be made most useful in the work of quelling the rebellion. Under this authority, it is understood that he has decided to use them in certain cases as soldiers. Some of them are already employed in garrisoning Southern forts, on the Mississippi River, which whites cannot safely occupy on account of the climate. Governor Sprague has authority to raise negro regiments in Rhode Island, and has proclaimed his intention to lead them when raised in person, and Gov. Andrew has received similar authority for the State of Massachusetts. We see, therefore, not the slightest necessity for any further legislation on this subject, and hope Mr. Sumner will consent that Congress may give its attention, during the short remainder of its session, to topics of pressing practical importance.

"Whether negroes shall or shall not be employed as soldiers, seems to us purely a question of expediency, and to be solved satisfactorily only by experiment. As to our right so to employ them, it seems absurd to question it for a moment. The most bigoted and inveterate stickler for the absolute divinity of slavery in the Southern States would scarcely insist that, as a matter of right, either constitutional or moral, we could not employ negroes as soldiers in the army. Whether they are, or are not, by nature, by law, or by usage, the equals of the white man, makes not the slightest difference in this respect. Even those at the North who are so terribly shocked at the prospect of their being thus employed, confine their objections to grounds of expediency. They urge:

"1st. That the negroes will not fight. This, if true, is exclusive against their being used as soldiers. But we see no way of testing the question except by trying the experiment. It will take but a very short time and but very few battles to determine whether they have courage, steadiness, subjection to military discipline and the other qualities essential to good soldiership or not. If they have, this objection will fall, if not then beyond all question they will cease to be employed.

"2d. It is said that the whites will not fight with them--that the prejudice against them is so strong that our own citizens will not enlist, or will quit the service, if compelled to fight by their side,--and that we shall thus lose two white soldiers for one black one that we gain. If this is true, they ought not to be employed. The object of using them is to strengthen our military force; and if the project does not accomplish this, it is a failure. The question, moreover, is one of fact, not of theory. It matters nothing to say that it ought not to have this effect--that the prejudice is absurd and should not be consulted. The point is, not what men ought to do, but what they will do. We have to deal with human nature, with prejudice, with passion, with habits of thought and feeling, as well as with reason and sober judgment and the moral sense. Possibly the Government may have made a mistake in its estimate of the effect of this measure on the public mind. The use of negroes as soldiers may have a worse effect on the army and on the people than they have supposed.

"But this is a matter of opinion upon which men have differed. Very prominent and influential persons, Governors of States, Senators, popular Editors and others have predicted the best results from such a measure, while others have anticipated the worst. The President has resolved to try the experiment. If it works well, the country will be the gainer. If not, we have no doubt it will be abandoned. If the effect of using negroes as soldiers upon the army and the country, proves to be depressing and demoralizing, so as to weaken rather than strengthen our military operations, they will cease to be employed. The President is a practical man, not at all disposed to sacrifice practical results to abstract theories.

"3d. It is said we shall get no negroes--or not enough to prove of any service. In the free States very few will volunteer, and in the Slave States we can get but few, because the Rebels will push them Southward as fast as we advance upon them. This may be so. We confess we share, with many others, the opinion that it will.

"But we may as well wait patiently the short time required to settle the point. When we hear more definitely from Gov. Sprague's black battalions and Gov. Andrew's negro brigades, we shall know more accurately what to think of the measure as one for the Free States; and when we hear further of the success of Gen. Banks and Gen. Saxton in enlisting them at the South, we can form a better judgment of the movement there. If we get very few or even none, the worst that can be said will be that the project is a failure; and the demonstration that it is so will have dissipated another of the many delusions which dreamy people have cherished about this war.

"4th. The use of negroes will exasperate the South; and some of our Peace Democrats make that an objection to the measure. We presume it will; but so will any other scheme we may adopt which is warlike and effective in its character and results. If that consideration is to govern us, we must follow Mr. Vallandingham's advice and stop the war entirely, or as Mr. McMasters puts it in his Newark speech, go 'for an immediate and unconditional peace.' We are not quite ready for that yet.

"The very best thing that can be done under existing circumstances, in our judgment, is to possess our Souls in patience while the experiment is being tried. The problem will probably speedily solve itself--much more speedily than heated discussion or harsh criminations can solve it."

It didn't require a great deal of time for the Black troops to make a good impression; and while the Congress, the press, and the people were being exercised over the probable out-come, the first regiment of ex-slaves ever equipped for the service was working a revolution in public sentiment. On the last day of January, 1863, the "New York Tribune" printed the following editorial on the subject:

"A disloyal minority in the House is factiously resisting the passage of the Steven's bill, authorizing the President to raise and equip 150,000 soldiers of African descent. Meanwhile, in the Department of the South a full regiment of blacks has been enlisted under Gen. Saxton; is already uniformed and armed, and has been actively drilling for the last seven weeks. A letter which we printed on Wednesday from our Special Correspondent, who is usually well qualified to judge of its military proficiency, says of this regiment that no honest-minded, unprejudiced observer could come to any other conclusion than that it had attained a remarkable proficiency in the short period during which it had been drilled. We have in addition from an officer of the regiment, who is thoroughly informed as to its condition, a very interesting statement of its remarkable progress, and some valuable suggestions on the employment of negro troops in general.

"'This regiment--the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson--marched on the 17th for the first time through the streets of Beaufort. It was the remark of many bitterly pro-slavery officers that they looked "splendidly." They marched through by platoons, and returned by the flank; the streets were filled with soldiers and citizens, but every man looked straight before him and carried himself steadily. How many white regiments do the same? One black soldier said: "We didn't see a thing in Beaufort; ebery man hold his head straight up to de front, ebery step was worth a half dollar."

"'Many agreed with what is my deliberate opinion,' writes this officer, 'that no regiment in this department can, even now, surpass this one. In marching in regimental line I have not seen it equalled. In the different modes of passing from line into column, and from column into line, in changing front, countermarching, forming divisions, and forming square, whether by the common methods, or by Casey's methods, it does itself the greatest credit. Nor have I yet discovered the slightest ground of inferiority to white troops.

"'So far is it from being true that the blacks as material soldiers are inferior to white, that they are in some respects manifestly superior; especially in aptness for drill, because of their imitativeness and love of music; docility in discipline, when their confidence is once acquired; and enthusiasm for the cause. They at least know what they are fighting for. They have also a pride as soldiers, which is not often found in our white regiments, where every private is only too apt to think himself specially qualified to supersede his officers. They are above all things faithful and trustworthy on duty from the start. In the best white regiments it has been found impossible to trust newly-enlisted troops with the countersign--they invariably betray it to their comrades. There has been but one such instance in this black regiment, and that was in the case of a mere boy, whose want of fidelity excited the greatest indignation among his comrades.

"'Drunkenness, the bane of our army, does not exist among the black troops. There has not been one instance in the regiment. Enough. The only difficulty which threatened to become at all serious was that of absence without leave and overstaying passes, but this was checked by a few decided measures and has ceased entirely.

"'When this regiment was first organized, some months ago, it had to encounter bitter hostility from the white troops at Port Royal, and there was great exultation when General Hunter found himself obliged to disband it. Since its reorganization this feeling seems to have almost disappeared. There is no complaint by the privates of insult or ill-treatment, formerly disgracefully common from their white comrades.

"'It has been supposed that these black troops would prove fitter for garrison duty than active service in the field. No impression could be more mistaken. Their fidelity as sentinels adapts them especially, no doubt, to garrison duty; but their natural place is in the advance. There is an inherent dash and fire about them which white troops of more sluggish Northern blood do not emulate, and their hearty enthusiasm shows itself in all ways. Such qualities are betrayed even in drill, as anybody may know who has witnessed the dull, mechanical way in which ordinary troops make a bayonet charge on the parade ground, and contrasts it with the spirit of those negro troops in the same movement. They are to be used, moreover, in a country which they know perfectly. Merely from their knowledge of wood-craft and water-craft, it would be a sheer waste of material to keep them in garrison. It is scarcely the knowledge which is at once indispensable and impossible to be acquired by our troops. See these men and it is easier to understand the material of which the famous Chasseurs d'Afrique are composed.'

"General Saxton, in a letter published yesterday, said: 'In no regiment have I ever seen duty performed with so much cheerfulness and alacrity. * * * In the organization of this regiment I have labored under difficulties which might have discouraged one who had less faith in the wisdom of the measure; but I am glad to report that the experiment is a complete success. My belief is that when we get a footing on the mainland regiments may be raised which will do more than any now in the service to put an end to this rebellion.'

"We are learning slowly, very slowly, in this war to use the means of success which lie ready to our hands. We have learnt at last that the negro is essential to our success, but we are still hesitating whether to allow him to do all he can or only a part.

"It will not take many such proofs as this black regiment now offers to convince us of the full value of our new allies. But we ought to go beyond that selfishness which regards only our own necessities and remember that the negro has a right to fight for his freedom, and that he will be all the more fit to enjoy his new destiny by helping to achieve it."

On the 28th of March, 1863, Mr. Greeley sent forth the following able and sensible editorial on the Negro as a soldier:

"NEGRO TROOPS.

"Facts are beginning to dispel prejudices. Enemies of the negro race, who have persistently denied the capacity and doubted the courage of the Blacks, are unanswerably confuted by the good conduct and gallant deeds of the men whom they persecute and slander. From many quarters come evidence of the swiftly approaching success which is to crown what is still by some persons deemed to be the experiment of arming whom the Proclamation of Freedom liberates.

"The 1st and 2d South Carolina Volunteers, under Colonels Higginson and Montgomery, have ascended the St. John's River in Florida as far as Jacksonville, and have re-occupied that important town which was once before taken and afterward abandoned by the Union forces. Many of the negroes composing these regiments had been slaves in this very place. Their memory of old wrongs, of the privations, outrages and tortures of Slavery, must here, if anywhere, have been fresh and vivid, and the passions which opportunity for just revenges stimulates even in white breasts, ought to have been roused more than in all other places on the spot where they had suffered.

"If, then, Jacksonville were to-day in ashes, and the ghastly spirit visions of 'The World' materialized into terrible realities, the negro haters would have no, cause to be disappointed. 'The World' hailed the alleged repulse and massacre of the negroes and white officers--a report which it invented outright, in sheer malignity, in order to forestall public opinion by creating a belief in the failure of the expedition--would have changed into agonized shrieks over the outrages on its Southern brethren. The experiment of subjecting negroes to military rules and accustoming them to those amenities of civilized warfare which the rebels so uniformly practice would again have been declared to be a hopeless failure; and for the hundredth time the Proclamation and the radicals who advised it would have been pilloried for public execration.

"Since, however, the contrary of all this is true, it may be presumed by a confiding public which does not read it that 'The World' has honestly acknowledged the injustice of its slanders. It is unpleasant to disabuse a confiding public on any subject, but we who are sometimes obliged to look at that paper as a professional duty, regret to say that we have not discovered a single evidence of its repentance. The facts are, however, that Colonel Higginson's men landed quietly at Jacksonville, marched through its streets in perfect order, committed no outrages or excesses of any kind, and by the testimony of all witnesses conducted themselves with a military decorum and perfect discipline which is far from common among white regiments in similar circumstances. They have gone before this time still further into the interior, and will doubtless do good service in a direction where their presence has been least expected by the Rebels. In the only instance in which the white chivalry ventured to make a stand against them, the whites were defeated and driven off the field by the Blacks.

"The truth is that the fitness of negroes to be soldiers has long since, in this country and elsewhere, been amply demonstrated, and the success of Col. Higginson's Black Troops is no matter of surprise to any person tolerably well informed about the history of the race. If it were in any sense an experiment, the only thing to be tested was the obstinacy of our Saxon prejudice which denied the possibility of success, and did what it could to prevent it. But even Saxon prejudice must shortly yield to the logic of facts."

In the face of the fact that the United States Government had employed Negroes as soldiers to fight the battles of the Union, there were men of intelligence who held that it was all wrong in fact, in policy, and in point of law. And this opinion attained such proportions that the Secretary of War felt called upon to request the opinion of Judge Advocate Holt. It is given here.

ENLISTMENT OF SLAVES.

In a letter to Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, dated Aug. 20, 1863, Judge Advocate Holt said: "The right of the Government to employ for the suppression of the rebellion persons of African Descent held to service or labor under the local law, rests firmly on two grounds:

"First, as property. Both our organic law and the usages of our institutions under it recognize fully the authority of the Government to seize and apply to public use private property, on making compensation therefor. What the use may be to which it is to be applied does not enter into the question of the right to make the seizure, which is untrammelled in its exercise, save by the single condition mentioned.

"Secondly, as persons. While those of African Descent held to service or labor in several of the States, occupy under the laws of such States, the status of property; they occupy also under the Federal Government, the status of 'persons.' They are referred to so nomine in the Constitution of the United States, and it is not as property but as 'persons' that they are represented on the floor of Congress, and thus form a prominent constituent element alike in the organization and practical administration of the Government.

"The obligation of all persons--irrespective of creed or color--to bear arms, if physically capable of doing so, in defence of the Government under which they live and by which they are protected, is one that is universally acknowledged and enforced. Corresponding to this obligation is the duty resting on those charged with the administration of the Government, to employ such persons in the military service whenever the public safety may demand it. Congress realized both this obligation on the one hand, and this duty on the other when, by the 12th section of the Act of the 17th of July, 1862, it was enacted that 'the President be and is hereby authorized to receive into the service of the United States for the purpose of constructing intrenchments, or performing camp service or any other labor, or any military or naval service for which they may be found competent, persons of African Descent, and such persons shall be enrolled and organized under such regulations not inconsistent with the Constitution, and the laws, as the President may prescribe.'

"The terms of this Act are without restriction and no distinction is made, or was intended to be made, between persons of African Descent held to service or labor or those not so held.

"The President is empowered to receive them all into the military service, and assign them such duty as they may be found competent to perform.

"The tenacious and brilliant valor displayed by troops of this race at Port Hudson, Milliken's Bend, and Fort Wagner, has sufficiently demonstrated to the President and to the country, the character of service of which they are capable. In the interpretation given to the Enrolment Act, free citizens of African Descent are treated as citizens of the United States, in the sense of the law, and are everywhere being drafted into the military service.

"In reference to the other class of persons of this race--those held to service or labor--the 12th section of the Act of July 17th is still in full force, and the President may in his discretion receive them into the army and assign them to such field of duty as he may deem them prepared to occupy. In view of the loyalty of this race, and of the obstinate courage which they have shown themselves to possess, they certainly constitute at this crisis in our history a most powerful and reliable arm of the public defence. Whether this arm shall now be exerted is not a question of power or right, but purely of policy, to be determined by the estimate which may be entertained of the conflict in which we are engaged, and of the necessity that presses to bring this waste of blood and treasure to a close. A man precipitated into a struggle for his life on land or sea, instinctively and almost necessarily puts forth every energy with which he is endowed, and eagerly seizes upon every source of strength within his grasp; and a nation battling for existence, that does not do the same, may well be regarded as neither wise nor obedient to that great law of self-preservation, from which are derived our most urgent and solemn duties. That there exists a prejudice against the employment of persons of African Descent is undeniable; it is, however, rapidly giving way, and never had any foundation in reason or loyalty. It originated with and has been diligently nurtured by those in sympathy with the Rebellion, and its utterance at this moment is necessarily in the interests of treason.

"Should the President feel that the public interests require he shall exert the power with which he is clothed by the 12th section of the Act of the 17th of July, his action should be in subordination to the Constitutional principle which exacts that compensation shall be made for private property devoted to the public uses. A just compensation to loyal claimants to the service or labor of persons of African Descent enlisted in our army, would accord with the uniform practice of the Government and the genius of our institutions!

"Soldiers of this class, after having perilled their lives in the defence of the Republic, could not be re-enslaved without a national dishonor revolting and unendurable for all who are themselves to be free. The compensation made, therefore, should be such as entirely to exhaust the interest of claimants; so that when soldiers of this class lay down their arms at the close of the war, they may at once enter into the enjoyment of that freedom symbolized by the flag which they have followed and defended."

The Negro was now a soldier, legally, "constitutionally." He had donned the uniform of an American soldier; was entrusted with the honor and defence of his country, and had set before him liberty as his exceeding great reward. Rejected at first he was at last urged into the service--even drafted! He was charged with the solution of a great problem--his fitness, his valor. History shall record his deeds of patriotism, his marvellous achievements, his splendid triumphs.

FOOTNOTES:

[91] Charleston Mercury, April 30, 1861.Return to passage

[92] They were, no doubt, from Massachusetts.Return to passage

[93] New York Herald, Tuesday, August 5, 1862.Return to passage

[94] Greeley, vol. ii, pp. 517, 518.Return to passage

[95] Many of these had previously been in the three months', nine months', and three years' service, from which they had been honorably discharged.Return to passage

[96] This gives Colored Troops enlisted in the States in rebellion; besides this, there were 92,576 Colored Troops (included with the white soldiers) in the quotas of the several States.Return to passage