land, you will take immediate steps for carrying them into execution. There are now six or eight companies of infantry ready organized in New York that have been ordered to Baltimore, on their way to their regiments here in Washington and in Virginia. Either visit Baltimore or send a staff officer there to stop these troops at Fort McHenry until further orders. Also hold one of the infantry regiments on duty in this city in readiness to move at a moment's notice. By having cars ready to take a regiment all at once, they will be practically as near Baltimore here as if in camp a few miles from that city. These are all the instructions deemed necessary in advance of troops being legally called out to suppress insurrection or invasion. Having the greatest confidence, however, in your judgment and discretion, I wish you to go to Baltimore in person and to remain there until the threatened difficulties have passed over. Proper discretion will no doubt go further towards preventing conflict than force. U. S. GRANT, Washington, D. C. This morning collision looked almost inevitable. Wiser counsels now seem to prevail, and I think there is strong hope that no riot will occur. Propositions looking to the harmonizing of parties are now pending. U. S. GRANT, General. General Grant on Martial Law in Texas. HEADQUARTERS ARMIES UNITED STATES, January 29, 1867. Respectfully forwarded to the Secretary of War. Attention is invited to that part of the within communication which refers to the condition of Union men and freedmen in Texas, and to the powerlessness of the military in the present state of affairs to afford them protection. Even the moral effect of the presence of troops is passing away, and a few days ago a squad of soldiers on duty was fired on by citizens in Brownsville, Texas; a report of which is this *This is the report referred to: HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, NEW ORLEANS, LA., January 25, 1867. GENERAL: The condition of freedmen and Union men in remote parts of Texas is truly horrible. The Government is denounced, the freedmen are shot, and Union men are persecuted if they have the temerity to express their opinion. State to an alarming extent. This condition exists in the northeastern counties of the Applications come to me from the most respectable authorities for troops, but troops have so little power that they are sufficient only in the moral effect which their presence has. * * * * * * I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, day forwarded. In my opinion the great number of murders of Union men and freedmen in Texas, not only as a rule unpunished, but uninvestigated, constitute practically a state of insurrection, and believing it to be the province and duty of every good government to afford protection to the lives, liberty, and property of her citizens, I would recommend the declaration of martial law in Texas to secure these ends. The necessity for governing any portion of our territory by martial law is to be deplored. If resorted to, it should be limited in its anthority, and should leave all local authorities and civil tribunals free and unobstructed, until they prove their inefficiency or unwillingness to perform their duties. Martial law would give security, or comparatively so, to all classes of citizens, without regard to race, color, or political opinions, and could be continued until society was capable of protecting itself, or until the State is returned to its full relation with the Union. The application of martial law to one of these States would be a warning to all, and, if necessary, could be extended to others. U. S. GRANT, General. No action was had by the civil authorities upon the foregoing recommendation. General Grant's Testimony before the House Committee on the Judiciary, July 18, 1867. By Mr. Eldridge: Q. At what time were you made general of the army by your present title? A. In July, 1866. Q. Did you after that time have interviews with the President in reference to the condition of affairs in the rebel States? A. I have seen the President very frequently on the subject,, and have heard him express his views very frequently; but I cannot call to mind any special interview. I have been called to cabinet meetings a number of times. Q. With reference to those matters? A. Gen erally, when I was asked to be at a cabinet meeting, it was because some question was up in which, as General of the army, I would be interested. the subject of granting amnesty or pardon to Q. Did you have any interviews with him on the officers of the Confederate army, or to the people of those States? A. Not that I am aware of. I have occasionally recommended a person for amnesty. I do not recollect any special interview that I have had on the subject. I recollect speaking to him once or twice about the time that he issued his proclamation. I thought myself at that time that there was no reason why, because a person had risen to the rank of general, he should be excluded from amnesty any more than one who had failed to reach that rank. I thought his proclamation all right so far as it excluded graduates from West Point or from the Naval Academy, or persons connected with the government, who had into the rebellion; but I did not see any gone reason why a volunteer who happened to rise to the rank of general should be excluded any more than a colonel. I recollect speaking on that point. Neither did I see much reason, for LETTERS, PAPERS, TESTIMONY, ETC. -thousand-dollar clause. These are vo points that I remember to have t the time. I afterwards, however, at I thought he was much nearer twenty-thousand-dollar clause than ou recollect, when you had that in- there other subjects discussed before meetings referred to? A. Yes, sir. I was there all the subjects that were y were discussed. ak of that time. A. I imagine not. ction is that it was solely to hear the on read; but I would not be positive It is my recollection. 299 Q. That was your understanding of the ar rangement which you made with General Lee? A. That was my understanding of an arrangement which I gave voluntarily. General Lee's army was the first to surrender, and I believed that with such terms all the rebel armies would surrender, and that we would thus avoid bushwhacking and a continuation of the war in a way that we could make very little progress with, having no organized armies to meet. Q. You considered that the like terms were given by General Sherman to the armies which surrendered to him? A. Yes, sir; to all the armies that surrendered after that. Q. And you held that so long as they kept their parole of honor and obeyed the laws they were not subject to be tried by courts? A. That was my opinion. I will state here that I am not quite certain whether I am being tried, or who is being tried, by the questions asked. Mr. Eldridge. I am not trying anybody; I am inquiring in reference to the President's proclamation, and as to the views he entertained. Q. Did you give those views to the President? A. I have stated those views to the President frequently, and, as I have said, he disagreed with me in those views. He insisted on it that the leaders must be punished, and wanted to know when the time would come that those persons could be tried. I told him, when they violated their parole. Q. Did you consider that that applied to Jefferson Davis? A. No, sir; he did not take any you give your opinion to the President you give your opinion to the President you not also insist that that applied as e common soldiers? A. Of course it o every one who took the parole; but er was not canvassed except in case of the leaders. I claimed that, in surrenheir armies and arms, they had done y could not all of them have been comdo, as a portion of them could have But they surrendered in consideration ct that they were to be exempt from trial as they conformed to the obligations ey had taken; and they were entitled Q. He did not surrender? No, sir. It applied to no person who was captured-only to those who were paroled. Q. Did the President insist that General Lee should be tried for treason? A. He contended for it. Q. And you claimed to him that the parole which General Lee had given would be violated in such trial? A. I did. I insisted on it that General Lee would not have surrendered his army, and given up all their arms, if he had supposed that after surrender he was going to be tried for treason and hanged. I thought we got a very good equivalent for the lives of a few leaders in getting all their arms and getting themselves under control, bound by their oaths to obey the laws. That was the consideration which, I insisted upon, we had received. Q. Did the President argue that question with you? A. There was not much argument about it; it was merely assertion. Q. After you had expressed your opinion upon it did he coincide with you? A. No, sir; not then. He afterwards got to agreeing with me on that subject. I never claimed that the parole gave those prisoners any political rights whatever. I thought that that was a matter entirely with Congress, over which I had no control; that, simply, as general-in-chief commanding the army, I had a right to stipulate for the surrender on terms which protected their lives. That is all I claimed. The parole gave them protection at is your view still? A. Yes, sir, un- and exemption from punishment for all offences ably. not in violation of the rules of civilized warfare, d you understand that to apply to Gen-so long as their parole was kept. u looked on that in the nature of a nd held that they could only be tried ey violated that parole? A. Yes; that view I took of the question. THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARIES those conversations? Can you state any particular time, or up to any particular time, when they were finished? A. The conversations were frequent after the inauguration of Mr. Johnson. I cannot give the time. He seemed to be anxious to get at the leaders to punish them. He would say that the leaders of the rebellion must be punished, and that treason must be made odious. He cared nothing for the men in the ranks-the common men. He would let them go, for they were led into it by the leaders. Q. Was that said to you in conversation? A. I have heard him say it a number of times. He said it to me, and he said it in my presence at the time that delegations were coming up to him from the South. Q. What persons do you recollect as being present at those conversations-I mean what Southern men? A. I did not know them at all. I recollect that on one occasion he talked to a delegation from Richmond in that way. I do not know any of their names. Q. Was that prior or subsequent to his proclamation? A. It was subsequent, I think. Q. Do you recollect at any time urging the President to go further in granting amnesty than he had gone in his proclamation? A. Just as I said before, I could not see any reason why the fact of a volunteer rising to the rank of general should exclude him any more than any other grade. And with reference to the twenty-thousand-dollar clause, I thought that a man's success in this world was no reason for his being excluded from amnesty; but I recollect afterwards saying to the President that I thought he was right in that particular, and I was wrong. In reference to the other, I never changed my views. If he was going to give amnesty to a soldier at all, I did not see why the fact of a man's having risen to the rank of a general should be reason for excluding him. Q. Did you not advise the President that it was proper and right he should grant amnesty? A. I do not think I said anything on that subject. I only looked at the proclamation as one which he was determined to issue, and as a thing susceptible to amendment or improve ment. Q. Did you not give your opinion at all that amnesty ought to be granted to those people to any extent? A. I know that I was in favor of some proclamation of the sort, and perhaps I may have said so. It was necessary to do something to establish governments and civil law there. I wanted to see that done, but I do not think I ever pretended to dictate what ought to be done. Q. Did yon not advise? A. I do not think I ever did. I have given my opinions, perhaps, as to what has been done, but I do not think I advised any course myself any more than that I was very anxious to see something done to restore civil governments in those States. Q. Did you not give your opinion at all to the President as to what should be done? A. I do not think I did. After matters were done, I was willing to express an opinion for or against particular clauses. * See pages 47, 48 of the Manual for 1866. Q. I suppose the President called on you for advice on those questions? A. I say I was in favor, and so expressed myself, of something being done to restore civil rule there immediately, as near as it could be done under the circumstances. but Q. Did you suggest anything? A. No, sir. By Mr. Woodbridge: Q. I understand your position to be this: that you did not assume to originate or inaugurate any policy; but that when any question came up, and your opinion was asked as to what the President was going to do or had done, you gave an opinioa? A. That was it, exactly; and I presumed the whole committee so understood me. I have always been attentive to my own duties, and tried not to interfere with other people's. I was always ready to originate matters pertaining to the army, I never was willing to originate matters pertaining to the civil government of the United States. When I was asked my opinion about what had been done, I was willing to give it. I originated no plan and suggested no plan for civil government. I only gave my views on measures after they had been originated. I simply expressed an anxiety that something should be done to give some sort of control down there. There were no governments there when the war was over, and I wanted to see some governments established, and wanted to see it done quickly. I did not pretend to say how it should be done, or in what form. By Mr. Eldridge: Q. I confined my qustions entirely to war and peace. In expressing the opinion that something ought to be done and done quickly, did you make a suggestion of what ought to be done? A. No, sir. I will state here that, before Mr. Lincoln's assassination, the question about issuing a proclamation of some sort, and establishing some sort of civil government there, was up; and what was done then was continued after Mr. Johnson came into office. Q. Did you give your opinion on that after it was done? A. I was present, I think, twice during Mr. Lincoln's administration, when a proclamation which had been prepared was read. After his assassination it continued right along, and I was there with Mr. Johnson. Q. Did you give President Johnson your opinion on the subject of the proclamation, which you say was up before Mr. Lincoln's death, and was continued afterwards? A. I say I have given my opinion on particular passages of it. Q. Tell us what conversations you had with President Johnson on the subject, so far as you can recollect it? A. I have stated once or twice that, so far as I can recollect, I disagreed with two clauses of the proclamation. As to the plan of establishing provisional governors there, that was a question which I knew nothing about, and which I do not recollect having expressed an opinion about. The only opinion I recollect having expressed on that subject at all was to the Secretary of War. I thought there would be some difficulty in getting people down there to accept offices, but I found afterwards they were ready enough to take them. By the Chairman: Q. If I understand you LETTERS, PAPERS, TESTIMONY, ETC. e only opinion that you expressed, y advice that you gave, were in the military side of the question, eference to the civil side? A. Noer than that I was anxious that hould be done to restore some sort ent. ou gave no advice as to what should A. I gave no advice as to what one. Eldridge: Q. State the conversation d on that subject? A. I have had nversations with the President, but ecify what those conversations were han I have already done. ou recommend certain generals of the e army to the President for pardon ithin the exemptions? A. Yes, sir. nded General Longstreet, I think, a half ago; and although I cannot renames of anybody else, I think I ed several others. you recollect recommending J. G. t part did he take in the rebellion ? a class-mate of mine. ou recollect recommending the pardon H. Stuart? A. Yes, sir. t part did he take in the Confederate A. He was a general, and commanded or division. He took no very con 0. art. he a graduate of West Point? was not a class-mate of yours? ne came long after me. A. A. s there any special circumstance in his ch you considered? A. Yes, sir. I at the instance of General Hunter, and ial favor to him, and I did it because an inheritance. Stuart's wife was a consistent Union woman throughout notwithstanding her husband was in army. I think she never went South. as devoted to the Union cause as any vhose husband was on our side. There iderable property in Maryland which been confiscated, which he inherits, and at that his wife and his children were to that property. General Hunter so too. My recommendation was not ny favor to General Stuart. ere those circumstances presented to the it as a reason for the pardon? A. I do ow that they were, and I do not know y were not. I think I merely signed a endation. id that contain the statement you have A. I do not recollect whether it did or do not know that I stated the circumto the President. 301 | General Grant and John Hancock. A. I do not Q. Do you recollect (Beall?) A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you sign a recommendation, or make an application to the President for his pardon? A. I do not think that the record will show that I recommended his pardon, but I am not sure as to that. I know that he sent his application through me, with the request that I should forward it to the President with some endorsement. My recollection is that I made an endorsement as to his general character, which was as high, up to the breaking out of the rebellion, as any man's could be. Q. Were you acquainted with him previous to the breaking out of the rebellion? A. Oh, yes, sir, for many years. I do not think that I recommended him, but still I may have done so. My recollection is that I simply endorsed his character on the application. The application was to the President, but sent through me. Q. Do you recollect P. D. Roddy, said to be a rebel brigadier general? A. Yes, sir. I do not recollect what my endorsement was in Roddy's case, but I know that if I had it to do over again I would recommend his pardon very quickly, and I presume I did so. If he is not pardoned yet, I would be very glad to sign a recommendation for him now. Q. Do you recollect any other officers of the rebel army who were recommended to the President for pardon by you? A. No, sir; I cannot mention any. You have already gone over a bigger list than I thought I recommended. Q. Do you recollect the case of General Pickett? A. I know that I was urged in that case over and over again, and I can send you from the office exactly what I did in the matter. Q. Did you sign a recommendation in his case? A. I do not think I did. I recollect receiving letter after letter from him, and letters were sent to me time and again on his behalf. He was specially uneasy lest he would be tried by a military commission on account of some men who were executed in North Carolina. Q. Do you recollect talking to the President about him? A. I do not recollect ever mentioning his name to the President. I will furnish whatever is in my office about him. I received one appeal after another, not only from Pickett himself and his relatives, but from officers in the army who knew him very well and favorably prior to the war. Q. Do you know whether he has been pardoned yet? A. I do not know. Q. State what the circumstances of his case were, and whether you are in favor of his pardon. A. I was not in favor of his pardon. I was not in favor, however, of his being tried by a military commission. I think that his great anxiety was to receive some assurance that he would not be taken up and imprisoned for offences alleged against him as commander in North Carolina. He wanted to be able to go to work and make a living. It is likely I may have recommended that he be given assurance he report in the House is that he was that he would not be arrested and imprisoned. ed on the recommendation of Lieutenant | I do not think that I ever, under any circum 0 you recollect signing the recommendaM. D. Ector, a rebel brigadier general? sir; I do not recollect there being such lier general in the rebel service. THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARIES now. stances, signed a recommendation for his pardon. | eral amnesty, and I know that I never was in You have no right to ask what my opinion is favor of general amnesty. I do not recollect any conversation at that time on the subject of amnesty at all. I have stated here that I never recommended general amnesty, and never was in favor of it, until the time shall come when it is safe to give it. Q. Was he an active rebel officer? A. Yes, sir. He was charged with executing a number of North Carolina refugees who were captured with a garrison under General Wessels in North Carolina. Those men had gone there to evade By Mr. Williams: Q. When you say that the rebel conscription, or it may be had deserted you did not recommend general amnesty, you from the rebel army, and they were tried as de-mean universal amnesty? A. I do not recollect serters, and quite a number of them executed. of ever having any conversation on the subject Pickett was commanding officer at that time, of universal amnesty. I know I could not have and there was a good deal said of his having recommended such a thing, because I never was approved the proceedings. in favor of it, until the time shall come when it is safe. Q. Was this man French an active rebel officer? He served in the field. I never heard much of him during the rebellion. He was not generally in the army against which I was personally engaged. He was at one time on the James river, when General McClellan was in command, and was afterwards in the West, but he never filled a conspicuous place. Q. Did you ever advise the pardon of General Lee? A. Yes, sir. Q. Were you ever consulted on that question by the President? A. General Lee forwarded his application for amnesty through me, and I forwarded it to the President, approved. Q. I merely put the question in reference to your use of the term " general," because it might be supposed from that that the amnesty in the proclamation was not a general amnesty? A. I meant universal amnesty, of course. Q. You state that you differed with the President as to two points in his proclamation, but that his views afterwards changed. State when the President's mind underwent a change? A. It would be very hard, I reckon, to fix any period for it. Q. Was it in the summer of 1865? A. Yes, sir; along in the summer of 1865. Q. How long after the North Carolina proclamation of the 29th of May? A. It is impossi ble for me to say. Q. Was it more than two or three months? Q. Did you have any conversation about it with the President? A. I do not recollect having had any conversation with him on the subject. I think it probable that I recommended verbally the pardon of General John-A. I should think not. ston, immediately after the surrender of his army, on account of the address he delivered to his army. I thought it in such good tone and spirit that we should distinguish between him and others who did not appear so well. I recol lect speaking of that, and saying that I should be glad if General Johnston received his pardon, on account of the manly manner in which he addressed his troops. By the Chairman: Q. You supposed his pardon would have a good effect? A. Yes; I thought it would have a good effect. I am not sure whether I spoke on the subject to the Secretary of War or to the President. By Mr. Woodbridge: What did you mean by saying that the President's views afterwards changed? A. I meant to say that while I was contending for the rights which those rebel paroled soldiers had, he was insisting on it that they should be punished. My remark was confined to that particular subject. By Mr. Eldridge: Q. Did you have any correspondence with the President in writing? A. Any correspondence I ever had with the President is official, and can be furnished. I had to make frequent endorsements on the subject of the rights of those paroled prisoners. The only correspondence that I could have had on the By Mr. Eldridge: Q. Do you recollect hav-subject of amnesty was where I recommended ing a conversation with the President at any men for pardon, as in the case of French and time when General Hillyer was present? A. I others. remember going with General Hillyer to see the President, but it was on the subject of an appointment which he wanted. I went to state to the President what I knew of General Hillyer. I do not recollect the conversation going beyond that range at all, though still it might have done so. Q. You do not recollect any other meeting with the President when General Hillyer was present? A. I do not know. I think I met him twice, perhaps, but it was on a subject in which General Hillyer himself was personally interested. Whether the President conversed on any other subjects at that time I do not recollect. Q. Do you not recollect any conversation with the President, in the presence of General Hillyer, on the subject of granting amnesty to the people of the South? A. No, sir; I do not recollect any conversation on the subject of gen Q. Did you keep copies of them? A. Yes. sir, and will furnish them. Q. Do you recollect the proclamation that is called the "North Carolina proclamation?" A. Yes, sir; that was the first one published giving a State government. Q. Did you have any conversation with the President as to the terms or purport of that proclamation? A. I was, as I say, present when it was read. It was in the direction that I wanted. I was anxious to see something done to give some sort of temporary government there. I did not want to see anarchy. Q. Did you give any opinion in favor of that proposition? A. I did not give any opinion against it. was in favor of that or anything else which looked to civil government until Congress could meet and establish governments there. I did not want all chaos left there, and no form of civil government whatever. I was |