NO SLAVE-TRADE-LAW OF EVIDENCE. 269 as fugitive slaves. In the debate | after, all such persons now in his jail. which ensued, Mr. Wilson stated This put a stop to one of the most that the French legation had recent- flagrant and glaring iniquities habitly taken to that jail gentlemen who ually perpetrated in a Christian and had traversed the world inspecting civilized community. prisons, with a view to their improvement; and that, after examining this, they observed to the jailer that they had never before seen but one so bad; and that was in Austria. Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, remarked that ⚫ he believed there was never a jail so bad as this, save the French Bastile, and some of the dungeons of Venice. When he visited it, a few days before, he found among the prisoners a boy who claimed to be free-born, yet who had been confined there thirteen months and four days on suspicion of being a runaway slave. He further stated that Marshal Lamon had forbidden Members of Congress access to the prison without his written permission. Messrs. Powell, of Kentucky, Pearce, of Maryland, and Carlile, of Virginia, opposed the resolve; but it was warmly supported and passed:" Yeas 31; Nays 4. A bill reported" by Mr. Sumner, from the Select Committee on Slavery and Freedom, to prohibit the holding of slaves on National vessels, and also the coastwise Slave-Trade, was lost "Yeas 13; Nays 20-but he again moved a prohibition of the coastwise Slave-Trade, and of all laws sanctioning and regulating the same, as an amendment to the Civil Appropriation bill; and it was adopted: Yeas 23; Nays 14. Thus fastened to a necessary measure, the proposition was duly enacted, and received the President's signature on the 2d of July, 1864. Mr. Sumner proposed" another Amendment to this bill, providing that "in the Courts of the United States, there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color." Mr. Buckalew moved to add, "or because he is a party to or interested in the issue tried." This was agreed to; and Mr. Sumner's amendment, thus amended, was adopted: Yeas 22; Nays 16; and the bill passed, as already stated; making it the law of the land that no person shall henceforth be precluded from giving testimony either because of his color or because he is interested in the pending issue. A similar resolve had already" been submitted to the House. No action was taken, however, upon this, nor upon the Senate's kindred measure; because the President, through Secretary Seward, addressed" an order to Marshal Lamon, directing him not to receive into custody any persons caught up as fugitives from Slavery, but to discharge, ten days there* Jan. 14, 1862. 93 Dec. 9, 1861. * Jan. 25, 1862. " March 23, 1864. 96 June 24. 7 June 25. XIII. ROSECRANS'S WINTER CAMPAIGN. GEN. ROSECRANS, on assuming' | Tennessee-our army was clustered command of Buell's Army of the Ohio, found it seriously depleted and demoralized by the exhaustive marches and indecisive conflicts of the last six months. With a strength fully adequate to the rout and destruction of all the forces led into Kentucky by Bragg and Kirby Smith, it had seen that State ravaged throughout by that locust horde, which had in due time rëcrossed the Cumberland Mountains unassailed, returning to East Tennessee as if in triumph. Of the 100,000 men formerly borne on its muster-rolls, he found, on examination, no less than 26,482" absent by authority"-most, but not nearly all of them, doubtless, in hospitals sick or wounded; while 6,484 more were "absent without authority"-in other words, had deserted. His effective force was thus reduced to about 65,000 men; while his cavalry was so inferior in numbers and efficiency that the troopers of Forrest and John Morgan rode around us at will, striking at posts and supply trains, and compelling enormous and constantly increasing, exhausting details to keep open our communications and preserve our army from starvation. The railroad from Louisville to Nashville had been reopened to and across Green river; so that, though there was no considerable force of the enemy in its front-Bragg's army being still on its tedious, toilsome, circuitous retreat through East 1 Oct. 30, 1862. around Bowling Green, whence it could advance only so fast as the repair of its sole line of supply should be perfected. Its designation had been changed to "Fourteenth Army Corps ;" the Department having been curtailed, and rechristened that of the Cumberland. It was now organized into three grand divisions: the Right, under Maj.-Gen. McCook, with Brig.-Gens. J. W. Sill, Phil. H. Sheridan, and Col. W. E. Woodruff at the head of its subordinate divisions respectively; the Center, under Maj.-Gen. Geo. H. Thomas, with its subordinate divisions led by Maj.Gen. L. H. Rousseau, Brig.-Gens. Negley, Palmer, Dumont, and Fry; whereof Dumont and Fry were soon relieved, and Palmer transferred to the Left Wing, of which Maj.-Gen. T. L. Crittenden had command, and which consisted of the sub-divisions of Brig.-Gens. T. J. Wood, H. P. Van Cleve, and W. S. Smith. Rosecrans assigned the chief command of his dilapidated cavalry to Maj.-Gen. D. S. Stanley; while Lt.-Col. Julius P. Garesché-an officer of rare capacity and merit-was placed at the head of his staff, with Capt. J. St. Clair Morton as Chief Engineer, and Col. Wm. Truesdail as Chief of Army Police. MOORE'S DISGRACE AT HARTSVILLE. 271 commanded by Gen. Negley, he re- | prised and captured Capt. Portch viewed next day. His divisions, as they arrived, were thrown out in front of the city, covering the roads leading southward; the command of the Right here devolving on Gen. Jeff. C. Davis; Gen. R. B. Mitchell relieved Negley as commandant at Nashville, enabling him to go to the front; while Dumont's division was merged a new one being created, and Brig.-Gen. J. J. Reynolds assigned to its command. Until the railroad was fully reopened' hence to Louisville, our men only lived from hand to mouth, rendering a farther advance impossible; so that Bragg's army had time to conclude its long march and rëappear in our front at MURFREESBOROUGH, before Rosecrans was prepared to assume the offensive. Meantime, Morgan had been exhibiting his audacity and vigor as a leader of cavalry. Several daring dashes on our supply trains below Mitchellsville had resulted in the capture of a number of our wagons and at least 150 men; Lt. Beals and 20 men of the 4th Michigan cavalry had been picked up near Stone river; but Gen. Stanley, reporting for duty about this time, soon drove the Rebel raiders from our rear; and, in several partisan affairs occurring directly afterward, the advantage was with us-a Texas regiment being chased' by Col. L. M. Kennett some 15 miles down the Franklin turnpike; while Brig.-Gen. E. N. Kirk that day drove Wheeler out of Lavergne-Wheeler himself being wounded. Phil. Sheridan, on another road, pressed the enemy back to Nolensville, without loss on our part; and Col. Roberts, 42d Illinois, sur and a small squad of Morgan's men; bringing in their arms and horses. A Rebel force having, about this time, dashed across the Cumberland near Hartsville, capturing a forage train and its escort, Major Hill, 2d Indiana, chased the captors 18 miles, recovering all we had lost, and killing some 18 or 20 Rebels-for which he was publicly complimented by Rosecrans; who, finding that some of his soldiers were base enough to surrender wantonly to the enemy, in order to be paroled and sent home, had fifty of the caitiffs dressed up in ridiculous night-caps, and thus paraded, before their jeering comrades, through Nashville, to the music of the Rogue's March; after which, they were forwarded to the parole camp in Indiana. The lesson did not require repetition. 6 Gen. Thomas having thrown forward on our left a brigade-nearly 2,000 strong-to Hartsville, its command fell to Col. A. B. Moore, 104th Illinois, who allowed himself to be surprised' by Morgan, at the head of 1,500 cavalry and mounted infantry, and most disgracefully captured; though the residue of Gen. Dumont's division was at Castilian Springs, only nine miles distant. Moore had neglected to fortify or even intrench himself; his vedettes were surprised and picked up; Morgan advanced on him at 7 A. M., in broad daylight, having previously gained his rear without exciting an alarm; when Moore, who had hastily taken post on a hill, and who soon contrived to evince every species of incapacity, cowardice inclusive, surrendered, and was hurried off with about 1,500 of his men; the residue escaping and | having been accumulated at Nash giving the alarm at the Springs; whence Col. Harlan's brigade arrived just in time to throw a few shells after the escaping Rebels, scaring them from some of their plunder and taking a few prisoners. Moore's men were first hurried to Murfreesboro', stripped by the way of their blankets and over-coats, and thence marched directly up to our lines to be there exchanged contrary to the cartel agreed on by the military chiefs of the belligerents. Gen. Rosecrans exchanged them; but gave notice that he would do so no more. In the Hartsville disgrace, some 150 on either side were killed or wounded." Two days later, Wheeler, with a large force of mounted infantry and cavalry, attacked a brigade of our infantry, under Col. Stanley Matthews, which was foraging between the two armies; but was received with determined spirit, and driven off, with a loss of 100 to our 40. Matthews returned in triumph, bringing in his train; and was publicly thanked by Rosecrans. Gen. Stanley, having received and distributed among his best horsemen some 2,000 revolving rifles, resolved to test their efficiency. Pushing down the turnpike leading to Franklin, he rode into that town, driving the Rebel vedettes before him, taking a few prisoners, gaining important intelligence, and returning to his camp in triumph. At length-two months' provisions Moore says he had but 1,200 men in the fight, and that he "was hemmed in on all sides by an overwhelming force of five or six to one." Bragg says Morgan had "not more than 1,200 in action," and that he took "1,800 prisoners," with two guns and 2,000 small arms. The Rebel Banner (Murfreesboro', Dec. 11) says: "All ville, and a good part of the Rebel cavalry having been dispatched to West Tennessee and to Kentucky, to operate on our lines of supplyRosecrans determined to advance. His disposable force had been reduced by details and by casualties to 46,910 men: of whom 41,421 were infantry, 2,223 artillery, and 3,266 cavalry-much of the cavalry very raw. The Right Wing, under McCook, numbered 15,933; the Center, under Thomas, 13,395; the Left, under Crittenden, 13,288; beside Morton's brigade of Engineers, numbering 1,700. This army was essentially weakened by its division-or rather dispersion-into no less than 110 infantry and 10 cavalry regiments; its artillerymen serving no less than 24 batteries, or 150 guns. Our army, now well concentrated in front of Nashville, commenced its advance at daylight, Dec. 26; Rosecrans and staff riding out of Nashville to join it, several hours afterward. The three grand divisions covered all the roads leading south and south-west from that city. Of course, it rained heavily, as usual when our Generals attempted an important movement in Winter; and McCook, on our right, was soon enveloped in a fog so dense as to bring him to a halt. Within two miles after passing our picket-line, our advance was resisted by heavy bodies of cavalry, well backed by infantry and artillery; who skirmished sharply told, our forces were about 1,300." Moore says the Rebel loss in killed and wounded was "about 400:" Bragg says their loss in killed and wounded was 125, and ours 500. Moore lays his defeat at the door of the 106th Ohio, Col. Taffle, whom he charges with intense cowardice. • Dec. 12. |