approved August 6, 1861; and that the said act be published at length with this order. Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN." 13 In view of the sailing from Fortress Monroe of the Port Royal expedition against the Sea Islands and coast of South Carolina, General Instructions were issued to its military chief, whereof the gist is as follows: "You will, in general, avail yourself of the services of any persons, whether fugitives from labor or not, who may offer them to the National Government; you will employ such persons in such service as they may be fitted for, either as ordinary employés, or, if special circumstances seem to require it, in any other capacity, with such organization, in squads, companies, or otherwise, as you deem most beneficial to the service. This, however, not to mean a gen eral arming of them for military service.1 You will assure all loyal masters that Congress will provide just compensation to them for the loss of the services of the persons so employed. It is believed that the course thus indicated will best secure the substantial rights of loyal masters, and the benefits to the United States of the services of all disposed to support the Government, while it avoids all interference with the social systems or local institutions of every State, beyond that which insurrection makes unavoidable, and which a restoration of peaceful relations to the Union, under the Constitution, will immediately remove. "SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War." Gen. T. W. Sherman," having occupied the forts guarding the entrance to Port Royal, and firmly established himself on that and the adjacent islands, issued a proclamation to the people of South Carolina, wherein he said: "In obedience to the orders of the Presi dent of these United States of America, I have landed on your shores with a small force of National troops. The dictates of a duty which, under the Constitution, I owe to a great sovereign State, and to a proud and hospitable people, among whom I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, prompt me to proclaim that we have come among you with no feelings of per 13 Oct. 14, 1861. 14 It is well understood that this sentence was inserted by the President in revising the order. | sonal animosity; no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or interfere with any of your lawful rights, or your social and local institutions, beyond what the causes herein briefly alluded to may render unavoidable." All in vain. None of the Whites on the adjacent mainland could be induced even to accept a copy of this document-those who were brought to parley insisting that there were no "loyal persons" (in Gen. Sherman's sense) that is, no loyal Whites— within their knowledge. And no South Carolina journal intimated that Gen. Sherman's virtual pledge not to intermeddle with Slavery rendered his presence on their coast one whit less unwelcome than it would | otherwise have been. If any White native of South Carolina came over to us, or evinced a desire to do so, thenceforth till near the end of the Rebellion, his name has not been given to the public. 16 Maj.-Gen. Wool, who succeeded Gen. Butler in command at Fortress Monroe, issued an order directing that "all colored persons called conothers within his command, must be trabands" employed by officers or furnished with subsistence by their less than $8; if females, not less than employers, and paid, if males, not $4 per month; and that "all ablebodied colored persons, not employed as aforesaid," will be immediately put to work in the Engineer's or the Quartermaster's Department. By a subsequent order," he directed that the compensation of 'contrabands' working for the Government should be $5 to $10 per month, with soldiers' rations. 15 Not William T., who became so famous, but an old army officer, formerly 5th Artillery. Oct. 14, 1861. 17 Nov. 1, 1861. GENS. DIX AND HALLECK ON SLAVES. Maj.-Gen. Dix, being about to take possession of the counties of Accomac and Northampton, Va., on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, issued 1o a Proclamation, which says: 18 "The military forces of the United States are about to enter your counties as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and with the earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be forced to become your enemies. They will invade no rights of person or property. On the contrary, your laws, your institutions, your usages, will be scrupulously respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any fireside will be disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by yourselves. "Special directions have been given not to interfere with the condition of any person held to domestic service; and, in order that 241 in arms. If Congress shall pass it, you may be certain that I shall enforce it. Perhaps my policy as to the treatment of Rebels and their property is as well set out in Order No. 13, issued the day your letter was written, as I could now describe it." That deserters from the enemy, entering the lines or camp of an army in time of war, are unauthorized persons," is quite obvious; that they very often give false information, and are in fact spies, deserting back again at the first fair opportunity, is well known. Yet no commander prior to Gen. Halleck ever directed deserters to be repelled from his front and thrown back on the enemy; on the there may be no ground for mistake or pre-contrary, the risks of dissimulation, text for misrepresentation, commanders of regiments and corps have been instructed not to permit any such persons to come within their lines." Maj.-Gen. Halleck, soon after succeeding Gen. Fremont in command in Missouri, issued his famous Order No. 3,' which sets forth that "It has been represented that important information, respecting the number and condition of our forces, is conveyed to the enemy by means of fugitive slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to remedy this evil, it is directed that no such persons be hereafter permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march; and that any now within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom." Gen. Halleck afterward, in a letter to F. P. Blair, explained and justified this order, as follows: "Order No. 3 was, in my mind, clearly a military necessity. Unauthorized persons, Black or White, free or slave, must be kept out of our camps, unless we are willing to publish to the enemy every thing we do or intend to do. It was a military, and not a political order. "I am ready to carry out any lawful instructions in regard to fugitive slaves which my superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which Congress may pass. But I can not make law, and will not violate it. You know my private opinion on the policy of confiscating the slave property of Rebels 18 Nov. 13, 1861. VOL. II.-16 falsehood, and treachery, are presumed to be far overbalanced by the chance of thus obtaining valuable information and aid. That the Whites of Missouri were far more likely than the Blacks to be traitors at heart, and infinitely more apt to steal away to the Rebels with important information, was as palpable as noonday; yet Gen. Halleck's No. 3 repelled Blacks only. Gen. Halleck's order No. 13 sheds no further light on this subject; but, in a subsequent order," he says: "It does not belong to the military to decide upon the relation of master and slave. Such questions must be settled by the civil courts. No fugitive slaves will, therefore, be admitted within our lines or camps, except when specially ordered by the General commanding.” Never was a "therefore" more misplaced. How were the persons presenting themselves adjudged to be or known as "fugitive slaves"? Plainly, by the color of their skins, and that only. The sole end of this regulation was the remanding of all slaves to their masters-seven-eighths of whom were most envenomed, im 19 Feb. 23, 1862. placable Rebels-by depriving them of refuge within our lines from those masters' power. or protecting the property of those who are waging war against it. "The principal wealth and power of the Rebel States is a peculiar species of property, consisting of the service or labor of African slaves, or the descendants of Afri cans. This property has been variously estimated at the value of from seven hundred million to one thousand million dollars. "Why should this property be exempt from the hazards and consequences of a re Gen. Cameron, the Secretary of War, had already become an ardent and open convert to the policy of recognizing Slavery as the Union's real assailant, and fighting her accord-bellious war? ingly. In his Annual Report" to the President of the operations of his Department, he said: "It was the boast of the leader of the Re bellion, while he yet had a seat in the Senate of the United States, that the Southern States would be comparatively safe and free from the burdens of war, if it should be brought on by the contemplated Rebellion; and that boast was accompanied by the savage threat that 'Northern towns and "It has become a grave question for determination what shall be done with the slaves abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into Southern terri-cities would become the victims of rapine tory, as in the Beaufort district of South Carolina. The whole White population therein is six thousand, while the number of negroes exceeds thirty-two thousand. The panic which drove their masters in wild confusion from their homes leaves them in undisputed possession of the soil. Shall they, armed by their masters, be placed in the field to fight against us? or shall their labor be continually employed in reproducing the means for supporting the armies of rebellion? "The war into which this Government has been forced by rebellious traitors is carried on for the purpose of repossessing the property violently and treacherously seized upon by the enemies of the Government, and to rëestablish the authority and laws of the United States in the places where they are opposed or overthrown by armed insurrection and rebellion. Its purpose is to recover and defend what is justly its own. "War, even between independent nations, is made to subdue the enemy, and all that belongs to that enemy, by occupying the hostile country, and exercising dominion over all the men and things within its territory. This being true in respect to independent nations at war with each other, it follows that Rebels, who are laboring by force of arms to overthrow a Government, justly bring upon themselves all the consequences of war, and provoke the destruction merited by the worst of crimes. That Government would be false to national trust, and would justly excite the ridicule of the civilized world, that would abstain from the use of any efficient means to preserve its own existence, or to overcome a rebellious and traitorous enemy, by sparing and military spoil,' and that 'Northern men should smell Southern gunpowder and feel Southern steel.' No one doubts the disposition of the Rebels to carry that threat into execution. The wealth of Northern towns and cities, the produce of Northern farms, Northern workshops and manufactories, would certainly be seized, destroyed, or appropriated as military spoil. No property in the North would be spared from the hands of the Rebels; and their rapine would be defended under the laws of war. While the loyal States thus have all their property and possessions at stake, are the insurgent Rebels to carry on warfare against the Ğovernment in peace and security to their own property? "Reason and justice and self-preservation forbid that such should be the policy of this Government, but demand, on the contrary, that, being forced by traitors and Rebels to the extremity of war, all the rights and powers of war should be exercised to bring it to a speedy end. "Those who war against the Government justly forfeit all rights of property, privilege, or security, derived from the Constitution and laws, against which they are in armed rebellion; and, as the labor and service of their slaves constitute the chief property of the Rebels, such property should share the common fate of war to which they have devoted the property of loyal citizens. "While it is plain that the slave property of the South is justly subjected to all the consequences of this rebellious war, and that the Government would be untrue to its trust in not employing all the rights and powers of war to bring it to a speedy close, the details of the plan for doing so, like all 20 Dec. 1, 1861. CAMERON AND LINCOLN ON CONTRABANDS. 243 "But, in whatever manner they may be used by the Government, it is plain that, once liberated by the rebellious act of their masters, they should never again be restored to bondage. By the master's treason and rebellion, he forfeits all right to the labor and service of his slave; and the slave of the rebellious master, by his service to the Government, becomes justly entitled to freedom and protection. other military measures, must, in a great degree, be left to be determined by particular exigencies. The disposition of other property belonging to the Rebels that becomes subject to our arms is governed by the circumstances of the case. The Government has no power to hold slaves, none to restrain a slave of his liberty, or to exact his service. It has a right, however, to use the voluntary service of slaves liberated by war from their Rebel masters, like any other property of the Rebels, in whatever mode may be most efficient for the defense of the Government, the prosecution of the war, and the suppression of rebellion. It is as clearly a right of the Government to arm slaves when it may become necessary as it is to take gunpowder from the enemy. Whether it is expedient to do so, is purely a military question. The right is unquestionable by the laws of war. The expediency pressed this portion of Gen. Camemust be determined by circumstances, keep-ron's Report, inserting in its stead the ing in view the great object of overcoming the Rebels, rëestablishing the laws, and restoring peace to the nation. "The disposition to be made of the slaves of Rebels, after the close of the war, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress. The representatives of the people will unquestionably secure to the loyal slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the country." Mr. Lincoln struck out and sup following: be done with those slaves who were aban"It is already a grave question what shall doned by their owners on the advance of our troops into Southern territory, as at Beaufort district, in South Carolina. The number left within our control at that point is very considerable; and similar cases will probably occur. What shall be done with them? Can we afford to send them forward to their masters, to be by them armed against us, or used in producing supplies to sustain the Rebellion? Their labor may be useful to us; withheld from the enemy, it lessens his military resources; and withholding them has no tendency to induce the horrors of insurrection, even in the Rebel com source; and, being such, that they should not be turned over to the enemy is too plain to discuss. Why deprive him of supplies by a blockade, and voluntarily give him men to produce them? "It is vain and idle for the Government to carry on this war, or hope to maintain its existence against rebellious force, without employing all the rights and powers of war. As has been said, the right to deprive the Rebels of their property in slaves and slave labor is as clear and absolute as the right to take forage from the field, or cotton from the warehouse, or powder and arms from the magazine. To leave the enemy in the possession of such property as forage, and cotton, and military stores, and the means of constantly reproducing them, would be madness. It is, therefore, equal madness to leave them in peaceful and secure possession of slave property, more valuable and efficient to them for war than forage, cot-munities. They constitute a military reton, and military stores. Such policy would be national suicide. What to do with that species of property is a question that time and circumstances will solve, and need not be anticipated, further than to repeat that they can not be held by the Government as "The disposition to be made of the slaves slaves. It would be useless to keep them of Rebels, after the close of the war, can be as prisoners of war; and self-preservation, safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of the highest duty of a Government, or of in- Congress. The Representatives of the peodividuals, demands that they should be dis-ple will unquestionably secure to the loyal posed of or employed in the most effective slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the counmanner that will tend most speedily to suptry. press the insurrection and restore the auSIMON CAMERON, thority of the Government. If it shall be Secretary of War." found that the men who have been held by the Rebels as slaves are capable of bearing arms and performing efficient military service, it is the right, and may become the duty, of this Government to arm and equip them, and employ their services against the Rebels, under proper military regulations, discipline, and command. The abuse of negroes who had escaped from Rebel masters in Virginia and taken shelter within the lines of the Army of the Potomac, elicited the following: “DEPARTMENT OF STATE, "WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 1861. § "To Maj.-Gen. GEO. B. MCCLELLAN: "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 the presumption, arising from color, that they are fugitives from service or labor. “HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT "NASHVILLE, March 6, 1862. "It has come to my knowledge that slaves sometimes make their way improperly into our lines; and in some instances they may be enticed there; but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been found in our camps; and, in every instance that I know of, the master has recovered his servant and taken him away. sure you that the mass of this army is lawabiding, and that it is neither its disposition nor its policy to violate law or the rights of individuals in any particular. "I need hardly remind you that there will always be found some lawless and misBy the 4th section of the Act of Con-chievous persons in every army; but I asgress 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, "WILLIAM H. SEWARD." Maj. Gen. Burnside, having established himself on Roanoke Island, issued," conjointly with Com. Goldsborough, a Proclamation, in which he said: "With great respect, your obedient servant, D. C. BUELL, "Brig.-Gen. Commanding Department. "Hon. J. R. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Military Committee, Frankfort, Ky." Gen. Joseph Hooker, commanding on the Upper Potomac, issued" the following order: "To Brigade and Regimental Commanders of this Division: "Messrs. Nally, Gray, Dunnington, Dent, Adams, Speake, Price, Posey, and Cobey, citizens of Maryland, have negroes supposed to be with some of the regiments of this division: the Brigadier-General commanding directs that they be permitted to visit all the camps of his command, in search of their property; and, if found, that they be allowed to take possession of the same, without any interference whatever. Should The Government asks only that its au- any obstacle be thrown in their way by any thority may be recognized; and we repeat, officer or soldier in the division, he will in no manner or way does it desire to inter- be at once reported by the regimental comfere with your laws, constitutionally estab-mander to these headquarters.' lished, your institutions of any kind whatever, your property of any sort, or your usages in any respect. Maj.-Gen. Buell, soon after establishing himself at Nashville, Tenn., thus demonstrated his undoubted devotion to the "constitutional guaranties;" making no distinction between Rebels and loyal citizens: 21 Feb. 18, 1862. Hereupon, some fifteen mounted civilians rode up to the camp of Brig.-Gen. Sickles's Excelsior Brigade, having just fired two pistol-shots, with evident intent to kill, at a negro running off; and thus created no little excitement among the soldiers; who, though generally enlisted with 22 March 26, 1862. |
