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.

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

[77] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 240.

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

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

[80] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 246.

[81] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 238.

[82] New York Times.

[83] Greeley, vol. ii. pp. 249, 250.

[84] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 250.

[85] Greeley, vol. i. p. 585.

[86] Greeley, vol. ii. pp. 239, 240.

[87] Greeley, vol. ii. p. 246.



CHAPTER 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.

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



CHAPTER 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.



CHAPTER 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."