“I have already said that I knew of no provision of law,
constitutional or statutory, which prohibited the acceptance
of persons of African descent into the military service of
the United States; and if they could be lawfully accepted as
private soldiers, so also might they be lawfully accepted as
commissioned officers, if otherwise qualified therefor. But the
express power conferred on the President by the 11th section of
the Act of July 17, 1862, chap. 195, before cited, to employ
this class of persons for the suppression of the Rebellion as
he may judge best for the public welfare, furnishes all needed
sanction of law to the employment of a colored chaplain for a
volunteer regiment of his own race.”[307]
By the report before the Senate, it is declared as follows: “And the
Attorney-General is hereby authorized to determine any question of law
arising under this provision.” In the full confidence that we shall at
last, through the Attorney-General, obtain that justice which Congress
has denied, I consent to give my vote for the report.
The report was concurred in.[308] The Attorney-General, Mr.
Bates, as Mr. Sumner anticipated, affirmed the equal rights of
the colored soldiers.[309]