"A WHITE MAN'S WAR."
THE FIRST CALL FOR TROOPS.--RENDITION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY THE
ARMY.--COL. TYLER'S ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA.--GENERAL
ISAAC R. SHERWOOD'S ACCOUNT OF AN ATTEMPT TO SECURE A FUGITIVE
SLAVE IN HIS CHARGE.--COL. STEEDMAN REFUSES TO HAVE HIS CAMP
SEARCHED FOR FUGITIVE SLAVES, BY ORDER FROM GEN. FRY.--LETTER
FROM GEN. BUELL IN DEFENCE OF THE REBELS IN THE SOUTH.--ORDERS
ISSUED BY GENERALS HOOKER, WILLIAMS, AND OTHERS, IN REGARD TO
HARBORING FUGITIVE SLAVES IN UNION CAMPS.--OBSERVATION CONCERNING
SLAVERY FROM THE "ARMY OF THE POTOMAC."--GEN. BUTLER'S LETTER TO
GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT.--IT IS ANSWERED BY THE SECRETARY OF
WAR.--HORACE GREELEY'S LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT.--PRESIDENT
LINCOLN'S REPLY.--GEN. JOHN C. FREMONT, COMMANDER OF THE UNION
ARMY IN MISSOURI, ISSUES A PROCLAMATION EMANCIPATING SLAVES IN
HIS DISTRICT.--IT IS DISAPPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT.--EMANCIPATION
PROCLAMATION BY GEN. HUNTER.--IT IS RESCINDED BY THE
PRESIDENT.--SLAVERY AND UNION JOINED IN A DESPERATE STRUGGLE.
When the war clouds broke over the country and hostilities began, the
North counted the Negro on the outside of the issue. The Federal
Government planted itself upon the policy of the "defence of the free
States,"--pursued a defensive rather than an offensive policy. And,
whenever the Negro was mentioned, the leaders of the political parties
and the Union army declared that it was "_a white mans war_."
The first call for three months' troops indicated that the authorities
at Washington felt confident that the "trouble" would not last long.
The call was issued on the 15th of April, 1861, and provided for the
raising of 75,000 troops. It was charged by the President that certain
States had been guilty of forming "combinations too powerful to be
suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings," and then
he proceeded to state:
"The details for this object will be immediately communicated to
the State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all
loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to
maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our
National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to
redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to
say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called
forth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and
property which have been seized from the Union; and in every
event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the
objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of,
or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful
citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby command the
persons composing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse and
retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days
from this date."[75]
There was scarcely a city in the North, from New York to San
Francisco, whose Colored residents did not speedily offer their
services to the States to aid in suppressing the Rebellion. But
everywhere as promptly were their services declined. The Colored
people of the Northern States were patriotic and enthusiastic; but
their interest was declared insolence. And being often rebuked for
their loyalty, they subsided into silence to bide a change of public
sentiment.
The almost unanimous voice of the press and pulpit was against a
recognition of the Negro as the cause of the war. Like a man in the
last stages of consumption who insists that he has only a bad cold, so
the entire North urged that slavery was not the cause of the war: it
was a little local misunderstanding. But the death of the gallant Col.
Elmer E. Elsworth palsied the tongues of mere talkers; and in the
tragic silence that followed, great, brave, and true men began to
think.
Not a pulpit in all the land had spoken a word for the slave. The
clergy stood dumb before the dreadful issue. But one man was found,
like David of old, who, gathering his smooth pebble of fact from the
brook of God's eternal truth, boldly met the boastful and erroneous
public sentiment of the hour. That man was the Rev. Justin D. Fulton,
a Baptist minister of Albany, New York. He was chosen to preach the
funeral sermon of Col. Elsworth, and performed that duty on Sunday,
May 26, 1861. Speaking of slavery, the reverend gentleman said:
"Shall this magazine of danger be permitted to remain? _We must
answer this question. If we say no, it is no!_ Slavery is a curse
to the North. It impoverishes the South, and demoralizes both. It
is the parent of treason, the seedling of tyranny, and the
fountain-source of all the ills that have infected our life as a
people, being the central cause of all our conflicts of the past
and the war of to-day. What reason have we for permitting it to
remain? God does not want it, for His truth gives freedom. The
South does not need it, for it is the chain fastened to her limb
that fetters her progress. Morality, patriotism, and humanity
alike protest against it.
"The South fights for slavery, for the despotism which it
represents, for the ignoring the rights of labor, and for
reducing to slavery or to serfdom all whose hands are hardened by
toil.
"Why not make the issue at once, which shall inspire every man
that shoulders his musket with a noble purpose? Our soldiers need
to be reminded that this government was consecrated to freedom by
those who first built here the altars of worship, and planted on
the shore of the Western Continent the tree of liberty, whose
fruit to-day fills the garners of national hope.... I would not
forget that I am a messenger of the Prince of Peace. My motives
for throwing out these suggestions are three-fold: 1. Because I
believe God wants us to be actuated by motives not one whit less
philanthropic than the giving of freedom to four million of
people. 2. I confess to a sympathy for and faith in the slave,
and cherish the belief that if freed, the war would become
comparatively bloodless, and that as a people we should enter on
the discharge of higher duties and a more enlarged prosperity. 3.
The war would hasten to a close, and the end secured would then
form a brilliant dawn to a career of prosperity unsurpassed in
the annals of mankind."[76]
Brave, prophetic words! But a thousand vituperative editors sprang at
Mr. Fulton's utterances, and as snapping curs, growled at and shook
every sentence. He stood his ground. He took no step backward. When
notice was kindly sent him that a committee would wait on him to treat
him to a coat of tar and feathers, against the entreaties of anxious
friends, he sent word that he would give them a warm reception. When
the best citizens of Albany said the draft could not be enforced
without bloody resistance, the Rev. Mr. Fulton exclaimed: "If the
floodgates of blood are to be opened, we will not shoot down the poor
and ignorant, but the swaggering and insolent men whose hearts are not
in this war!"
The "Atlas and Argus," in an editorial on _Ill-Timed Pulpit
Abolitionism_, denounced Rev. Mr. Fulton in bitterest terms; while the
"Evening Standard" and "Journal" both declared that the views of the
preacher were as a fire-brand thrown into the magazine of public
sentiment.
Everywhere throughout the North the Negro was counted as on the
outside. Everywhere it was merely "a war for the Union," which was
half free and half slave.
When the Union army got into the field at the South it was confronted
by a difficult question. What should be done with the Negroes who
sought the Union lines for protection from their masters? The
sentiment of the press, Congress, and the people of the North
generally, was against interference with the slave, either by the
civil or military authorities. And during the first years of the war
the army became a band of slave-catchers. Slave-holders and sheriffs
from the Southern States were permitted to hunt fugitive slaves under
the Union flag and within the lines of Federal camps. On the 22d of
June, 1861, the following paragraph appeared in the "Baltimore
American":
"Two free negroes, belonging to Frederick, Md., who concealed
themselves in the cars which conveyed the Rhode Island regiment
to Washington from this city, were returned that morning by
command of Colonel Burnside, who _supposed them to be slaves_.
The negroes were accompanied by a sergeant of the regiment, who
lodged them in jail."
On the 4th of July, 1861, Col. Tyler, of the 7th Ohio regiment,
delivered an address to the people of Virginia; a portion of which is
sufficient to show the feeling that prevailed among army officers on
the slavery question:
"To you, fellow-citizens of West Virginia--many of whom I have so
long and favorably known,--I come to aid and protect. [The
grammar is defective.]
"I have no selfish ambition to gratify, no personal motives to
actuate. I am here to protect you in person and property--to aid
you in the execution of the law, in the maintenance of peace and
order, in the defence of the Constitution and the Union, and in
the extermination of our common foe. As our enemies have belied
our mission, and represented us as a band of Abolitionists, I
desire to assure you that the relation of master and servant as
recognized in your State shall be respected. Your authority over
that species of property shall not in the least be interfered
with. To this end I assure you that those under my command have
peremptory orders to take up and hold any negroes found running
about the camp without passes from their masters."
When a few copies had been struck off, a lieutenant in Captain G. W.
Shurtleff's company handed him one. He waited upon the colonel, and
told him that it was not true that the troops had been ordered to
arrest fugitive slaves. The colonel threatened to place Captain
Shurtleff in arrest, when he exclaimed: "I'll never be a
slave-catcher, so help me God!" There were few men in the army at this
time who sympathized with such a noble declaration, and, therefore,
Captain Shurtleff found himself in a very small minority.
The following account of an attempt to secure a fugitive slave from
General Isaac R. Sherwood has its historical value. General Sherwood
was as noble a _man_ as he was a brave and intelligent soldier. He
obeyed the still small voice in his soul and won a victory for
humanity:
"In the February and March of 1863, I was a major in command of
111th O. V. I regiment. I had a servant, as indicated by army
regulations, in charge of my private horse. He was from
Frankfort, Ky., the property of a Baptist clergyman. When the
troops passed through Frankfort, in the fall of 1862, he left his
master, and followed the army. He came to me at Bowling Green,
and I hired him to take care of my horse. He was a lad about
fifteen years old, named _Alfred Jackson_.
"At this time, Brig.-Gen. Boyle, or Boyd (I think Boyle), was in
command of the District of Kentucky, and had issued his general
order, that fugitive slaves should be delivered up. Brig.-Gen. H.
M. Judah was in command of Post of Bowling Green, also of our
brigade, there stationed.
"The owner of Alfred Jackson found out his whereabouts, and sent
a U. S. marshal to Bowling Green to get him. Said marshal came to
my headquarters under a pretence to see my very fine
saddle-horse, but really to identify Alfred Jackson. The horse
was brought out by Alfred Jackson. The marshal went to Brig.-Gen.
Judah's headquarters and got a written order addressed to me,
describing the lad and ordering me to deliver the boy. This order
was delivered to me by Col. Sterling, of Gen. Judah's staff, in
person. I refused to obey it. I sent word to Gen. Judah that he
could have my sword, but while I commanded that regiment no
fugitive slave should ever be delivered to his master. The
officer made my compliments to Gen. Judah as aforesaid, and I was
placed under arrest for disobedience to orders, and my sword
taken from me.
"In a few days the command was ordered to move to Glasgow, Ky.,
and Gen. Judah, not desiring to trust the regiment in command of
a captain, I was temporarily restored to command, pending the
meeting of a court-martial to try my case. When the command moved
I took Alfred Jackson along. After we reached Glasgow, Ky., Gen.
Judah sent for me, and said if I would then deliver up Alfred
Jackson he would restore me to command. The United States marshal
was present. This I again refused to do.
"The same day, I sent an ambulance out of the lines, with Alfred
Jackson tucked under the seat, in charge of a man going North,
and I gave him money to get to Hillsdale, Michigan, where he
went, and where he resided and grew up to be a good man and a
citizen. I called the attention of Hon. James M. Ashley (then
Member of Congress) to the matter, and under instructions from
Secretary Stanton, Gen. Boyle's order was revoked, and I never
delivered a fugitive, nor was I ever tried."
In Mississippi, in 1862, Col. James B. Steedman (afterward
major-general) refused to honor an order of Gen. Fry, delivered by the
man who wanted the slave in Steedman's camp. Col. Steedman read the
order and told the bearer that he was a rebel; that he could not
search _his_ camp; and that he would give him just ten minutes to get
out of the camp, or he would riddle him with bullets. When Gen. Fry
asked for an explanation of his refusal to allow his camp to be
searched, Col. Steedman said he would never consent to have his camp
searched by a _rebel_; that he would use every bayonet in his regiment
to protect the Negro slave who had come to him for protection; and
that he was sustained by the Articles of War, which had been amended
about that time.
Again, in the late summer of 1863, at Tuscumbia, Tennessee, Gen. Fry
rode into Col. Steedman's camp to secure the return of the slaves of
an old lady whom he had known before the war. Col. Steedman said he
did not know that any slaves were in his camp; and that if they were
there they should not be taken except they were willing to go. Gen.
Fry was a Christian gentleman of a high Southern type, and combined
with his loyalty to the Union an abiding faith in "the sacredness of
slave property." Whether he ever recovered from the malady, history
saith not.
The great majority of regular army officers were in sympathy with the
idea of protecting slave property. Gen. T. W. Sherman, occupying the
defences of Port Royal, in October, 1861, issued the following
proclamation to the people of South Carolina:
"In obedience to the orders of the President 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 personal 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."[77]
This proclamation sounds as if the general were a firm believer in
State sovereignty; and that he was possessed with a feeling that he
had landed in some strange land, among a people of different
civilization and peculiar institutions.
On the 13th of November, 1861, Major-Gen. John A. Dix, upon taking
possession of the counties of Accomac and Northampton, Va., issued the
following proclamation:
"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 compelled to become your enemies. They will invade no
right 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 servitude; and, in order
that there may be no ground for mistake or pretext for
misrepresentation, commanders of regiments or corps have been
instructed not to permit such persons to come within their
lines."[78]
Gen. Halleck, while in command of the Union forces in Missouri, issued
his "Order No. 3." as follows:
"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 person 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."
On the 23d of February, 1862, in "Order No. 13," he referred to the
slave question as follows:
"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."
On the 18th of February, 1862, Major-Gen. A. E. Burnside issued a
proclamation in which he said to the people:
"The Government asks only that its authority may be recognized;
and we repeat, in no manner or way does it desire to interfere
with your laws, constitutionally established, your institutions
of any kind whatever, your property of any sort, or your usages
in any respect."
The following letter from Gen. Buell shows how deeply attached he was
to the "constitutional guaranties" accorded to the rebels of the
South:
"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, }
"NASHVILLE, March 6, 1862. }
"_Dear Sir_: I have the honor to receive your communication of
the 1st instant, on the subject of fugitive slaves in the camps
of the army.
"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.
"I need hardly remind you that there will always be found some
lawless and mischievous person in every army; but I assure you
that the mass of this army is law-abiding, and that it is neither
its disposition nor its policy to violate law or the rights of
individuals in any particular. With great respect, your obedient
servant,
"D. C. BUELL,
"_Brig.-Gen. Commanding Department._
"Hon. J. R. UNDERWOOD, _Chairman Military Committee_,
"Frankfort, Ky."
So "in every instance" the master had recovered his slave when found
in Gen. Buell's camp!
On the 26th of March, 1862, Gen. Joseph Hooker, commanding 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 any obstacle be
thrown in their way by any officer or soldier in the division, he
will be at once reported by the regimental commander to these
headquarters."
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 coöperate 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.