Showing posts with label 3rd IA INF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3rd IA INF. Show all posts

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Captain Charles Wright Wills: November 15, 1862

Camp at Lagrange, Tenn., November 15, 1862.

We're having more of a rest here than we anticipated when we arrived. Suppose that the organizing of the army into divisions and brigades delays us some; and, maybe, the change of commanders in the Potomac army has something to do with it. Or possibly we're waiting for McClernand to move from Memphis. I don't think our army here (the Corinth and Bolivar forces) is very large, though some estimate it quite strong, as much as 50,000 or 60,000. I think we have about 35,000, maybe less. General Lauman has been relieved from command of our division by General McKean and ordered to Memphis. Am sorry to lose him. He has few equals for skill in handling a division or honor and courage as a soldier. Am much afraid that the rainy season will catch us in the midst of our slow motions, and then good bye all hopes of the war's closing next spring. McPherson and Logan promised in speeches a few days since that we would finish up the business within 40 days; and I believe we can, West of Georgia, if this weather will continue and our commanders will improve it. Don't believe that Price will dare to fight us anywhere, certainly not this side of Jackson. We can't have more than 40 days' of marching weather yet until the rains come, and in that time we ought at least to make 250 miles. The more I think about the matter, the surer I am that we won't do much before next May. Well, I enjoy soldiering and can stand the delay in proportion; but inactivity when a fellow can't see the reason therefor, is provoking to a degree extensive. We made a capital start from Peoria to this place in five days, but the thing hasn't been followed up. Our cavalry has been doing some dashing work here, sums up about 300 prisoners, etc. But the 7th hasn't figured much therein, at least not in reports, although the 7th boys say they did their share. I have seen all my acquaintances in the 7th, and the 8th Infantry is also here. Fred Norcott and Milo are both looking splendidly. Also Ben Rockhold. 'Tis said that General Logan publicly disgraced the 17th to-day for some insult to himself. Never thought much of that 17th and think less now than ever before. They certainly show no signs of discipline that can be seen by the naked eye. The 7th Kansas Cavalry, 'tis said, proposed in writing to General Grant, that if he would give them a certain time, (no other condition), they would capture or kill General Price. I wish he'd do it. They would raise the d---1 around the Rebel army, and I believe it practicable at any time for 500 daring men to reach the person of any of our commanders, and why not theirs. They are cutting our baggage down to a very small compass, so that six wagons can haul for ten companies. I'm opposed to it, but Halleck ranks me and I will have to submit. Nobody in this country seems to care a cuss whether McClellan is removed or not. General feeling is that the Potomac Army is only good to draw greenbacks and occupy winter quarters. We're in hopes that Pope will be sent back to us after he finishes hanging those Indians. I don't believe there is a regiment in this army that would not cheer him as its corps commander. Everybody seems to be willing to bet something on Pope. Hurlbut is the most popular man here as a division commander, and I think that Grant could get more votes than any other man for commander of the army, always excepting Rosy. Grant is not so popular among the general officers, as far as I know, but the whole line believe in him, mostly, because he is for going ahead and will fight his men. The Memphis force hasn't moved yet that I can hear of. Everything goes on swimmingly in the 103d. The old regiments try to bore our boys by calling them conscripts and $40 men, but don't succeed well. In a march of 15 miles last week an old regiment, 3d Iowa, tried to run us down but it ended in our marching right through them. Dorrance is an excellent fellow in the field, wouldn't trade him for any other lieutenant in the regiment. The Democratic victories at the polls don't excite anyone here. We only wish the soldiers could vote. Illinois would talk differently if we could..

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 143-5

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Diary of 4th Sergeant John S. Morgan: Monday May 25, 1863

No better. Rebs 2000 strong show themselves close to town. 5 Kan 3 Iowa 1st Ind cav sent out severe fighting. drawn battle, both sides ready to play quits. News Vicksburg is ours

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 7, January 1923, p. 490

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Diary of 4th Sergeant John S. Morgan: Sunday May 17, 1863

Sick—er on inspection at 10. A. M. Regulations read to the companies at 3. P. M. 3d Iowa Inf. down at 10. P. M. went down to see them.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 7, January 1923, p. 489

Friday, July 29, 2016

Diary of 4th Sergeant John S. Morgan: Wednesday May 6, 1863

At 6.45 A. M. started out. 33d Iowa 28 Wis. Inf: 3d Ioa 5th Kan. 1st Ind. Cav. 3 steel guns 2 guns of Dubuque bat. long train of wagons. Marched 18 miles. On picket for the night

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 7, January 1923, p. 489

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Diary of 4th Sergeant John S. Morgan: Friday May 1, 1863

At 12 M. saw the 5th Kansas cav start out. 12.30 orders to fall in line in 15 minutes with 60 ronds carts, went out 10 miles within 4 miles of where 3 comps. 3d Iowa were repulsed. met cav. scouts. No enemy near returned 2½ mile camped of the 3d Iowa. 150 were out, 3 killed 9 wounded 29 missing

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 7, January 1923, p. 488

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood’s Second Inaugural Address, January 15, 1862

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:

As this is the first time in the history of our State that the same person has been twice elected to the office, the duties of which I have for the second time just assumed, and as the transmission to you of a message in writing, communicating the condition of the State and recommending such matters as seemed to me expedient, was among the last of the official acts of my first term of service, it was for some time a question with me whether it was proper for me, in commencing my second term, to conform to the custom heretofore acted on by incoming Governors of delivering an inaugural address. Upon reflection, I did not feel at liberty to disregard what is a well established, and what is considered a useful, custom.

When, two years ago, I first assumed the duties of my present office, I saw, and in my inaugural address alluded to, the bitter and exasperated feelings existing in certain portions of our country, which have since resulted in the present Rebellion, and pointed out what seemed to me to be some of the exciting causes of that feeling. The people of our country were then about entering upon one of those political contests by which the policy of our General Government is, for a time, determined; and I expressed the belief that this angry and excited feeling would not result in an appeal to arms, but that a people taught as ours have been to yield almost instinctively to the fairly expressed will of the majority would, when the feeling engendered by its contest had passed away, again permit the calm dictates of reason to resume their sway, and that we would again become a contented and happy nation Time has shown that my belief was erroneous, and yet it seems to me it was a reasonable and just belief.

All men know well that the government against which rebellion would be made, if raised at all, was the government which made the least exactions and conferred the most benefits upon its people of any government in the world. All men knew well, and none better than those now in rebellion, that the Administration, whose accession to power their opponents declared they would consider cause for revolt, could not during their term of office, even if so disposed, inflict upon the defeated party any wrong. And it seemed then, and seems yet, to me to be a reasonable and just belief that no portion of a people, so intelligent as ours has claimed to be, could revolt against a government which had conferred upon them only benefits, and against an Administration powerless to injure them. All men know, too, that rebellion must bring upon those engaged in it terrible calamities, if not sure destruction, and it did seem reasonable and just to believe that sane men would not bring upon themselves such results without cause.

Yet there were other things bearing upon this question which we did not know. We did not know, even although we were so told by some far-sighted men — it seemed too monstrous for our honest and loyal-hearted people to believe — that men whom they had delighted to honor, men upon whom they had conferred the high places, even the highest place of honor and profit and trust under our government, could, whilst yet holding these places and pledged in the sight of God and before men faithfully to discharge their trust, and with professions of love and attachment to our government yet warm upon their lips, deliberately conspire to overthrow and destroy that government which they were so strongly bound to protect and defend. I repeat it, our honest and loyal-hearted people could not believe these things to be true: they were to them too monstrously infamous for their belief. They had not yet learned the bitter lesson that honesty, truth, good faith and loyalty were but mere words used by these men as a cover under which to deal, as they hoped, a fatal stab to that government from which they had derived all they ever had of honor or importance. Had this not been so (and although its truth has produced such terrible results, I thank God our people could not then believe it possible), I am well convinced we would to-day have no Rebellion. Had the occupant of the Presidential chair, for the year preceding the 4th day of March, 1861, and his advisers, been true men, and had they done their duty as such and stricken rebellion one honest, downright blow when first it reared its hateful head, we would have to-day a peaceful and united nation. But this, unfortunately, was not so. Treason and imbecility sat in our high places, and surrendered one after another the outposts of the citadel of our strength into the hands of Rebels, until, emboldened by success, they believed the citadel itself to be within their grasp. In this way the Rebellion was encouraged and strengthened, and thousands of men were induced to array themselves upon its side from the conviction that the government was powerless to protect its friends or punish its enemies.

At last, but too late, came a change of administration. Our Government asserted its rights, and gave evidence of its will and power to maintain them, and then came the Civil War that is now upon us.

I need not undertake to point out to you the primary cause which has led to this disastrous issue. Although there may have been many minor causes, all tending to the same end, such as the disappointed ambition of bad men and the lust for power, the clear common sense of our people has seen and accepted the fact that the one great controlling cause of this wicked Rebellion, and of all the fearful consequences which have followed and must follow from it, is the system of Human Slavery. Sophistry cannot disguise this fact, nor argument illustrate it. It is patent, tangible, and sooner or later it must be accepted by our rulers, as well as by our people, and acted on by all. This baneful system, which has wrought such terrible results, was accepted with great reluctance by our fathers as an existing but most unfortunate fact, and its existence recognized and protected by them as such, but surrounded at the same time by influences such as they confidently hoped would soon eventuate in its total and peaceful extinction. That hope has been sadly disappointed. This system, so reluctantly admitted into our form of government, and so antagonistic to its vital principles, has, like a foreign substance in the human body, been to the body politic a source of constant irritation, and has been the real cause of all the heart-burnings and ill-will among our people. Circumstances, not foreseen at the beginning, have fostered and encouraged it. It has been defended, protected and nourished by its votaries with a devotion almost unparalleled, until it has acquired a strength and power which enabled it, at first by stealthy approaches and then by bold attack, to seize the reins of government and control the policy of our people. And when peacefully and constitutionally it was driven from its usurped seat of empire, and the determination expressed that for the future it should be kept in the subordination for which it was originally intended, it revolted and by civil war has sought to destroy the Republic it could no longer control, and from the remains to build a new one in which its empire should be absolute and undisputed.

I have said that our people have seen and accepted these facts, and that the time must come, sooner or later, when our rulers, too, must see them, and when all, rulers and ruled, must act upon them. It is not for us to determine what that action shall be. That is the right and duty of others. But it is for us — it is our right and duty — to advise with those others, and to point out to them the course which, in our best judgments, should be pursued Understand me rightly. I freely accept, and have cordially acted upon, the theory that it is for our rulers to determine the policy to be pursued, and for us to sustain them, even if that policy should not meet our approbation. But it does not follow that we must not advise a change of policy, if our judgment teaches or experience has shown such change to be necessary.

What then, if anything, have we to advise? Let us see where we stand, and what are our surroundings. More than twelve months ago this war upon our government was begun, and it has been prosecuted up to this moment on the one side with fierce vindictiveness, and terrible earnestness. Nothing, literally nothing, has been allowed to stand in the way of the advancement of the cause for which this war has been waged, by those who advocate that cause. Officers of the army and navy, to advance that cause have deserted their flag. Statesmen, to advance it have betrayed their trusts. Among all ranks, acts of fraud, words of falsehood and deeds of violence have been held good and honorable service, if thereby the cause might be advanced, and the entire energies of its advocates have been directed to that single end. The sole question they have asked has been: “What thing can we do which will most effectually and speedily break the strength of our adversaries?” And when that question has been answered, they have as one man done that thing. How have they been met? Until the 4th day of March last past, not only were no steps taken to arrest their progress, but many of those who now are not of and with them, insisted that coercion should not be used to arrest it. After that date although the new admi[ni]stration took prompt and vigorous steps to meet the crises, many people in the loyal States still protested against coercive measures to suppress rebellion, and many others sought, as if expecting to find, some neutral ground on which to stand, some middle ground between loyalty and treason, as if a citizen could be loyal to his government who did not lend his hand to defend it when rebels sought to destroy it But time passed on till Sumter fell and our nation awoke from what appeared to be the slumber of death. With fiery zeal and generous emulation, the young men of all classes and all parties in the loyal States rallied around the government, until today we have under our banner the best army the world has ever seen; ready and eager to meet in battle all enemies who seek the destruction of the Union. And yet it seems to me that we do not bring to this conflict the same directness, the same unity of purpose and action our adversaries do. It seems to me we do not ask ourselves what one thing can we do that will most effectually and speedily break the strength of our enemies? and when that question is answered, do that thing. It seems to me the idea still pervades and controls the minds of many of us that our duty requires of us not only the preservation and protection of the Union, but the preservation and protection of slavery; that we have sometimes feared to strike an earnest blow against rebellion, lest that blow should fall on the head of slavery; that we regard slavery as an essential part of the Union itself, and that the Union would not be worth preserving, unless slavery could be preserved with and remain part of it.

If these things be so, we are yet far from the path that will lead to success. Slavery, the leading cause of this rebellion, is an element of strength or of weakness to the rebels, just as we will it shall be. If we say to the slaves of rebels, we are your enemies, they will remain with their masters and be to them a strength and support. If we say to them, we are your friends, come to us and you shall be free, they will seek to come by thousands, and the armies now standing in battle array against our soldiers, will be needed at home to restrain them. Take the case of South Carolina. Our soldiers are to-day upon her soil. She has a population of about 700,000 souls, more than one-half of whom are slaves. Experience, the best of teachers, has shown that these slaves want freedom, that they look upon our soldiers as friends, and would, if encouraged so to do, flock to our camps by thousands. As the slaves of rebel masters, their labor in the field and in the camp, furnishes the rebel troops with food, and does for them much of that severe camp labor which exhausts the energies of the soldiers and brings sickness upon them. Thus rebellion is strengthened by slavery. Shall we continue to leave it this strength? shall we do more than this? Shall we continue to drive back to their rebel masters these unfortunates, and compel them to be our enemies although they wish to be our friends? Shall we continue to require of our brave soldiers who have gone forth to fight our battles, those exhausting labors that have brought sickness and death to so many of them, when these people stand ready and willing to relieve them if allowed?

It may be said that if we proclaim freedom to slaves of rebel masters, slavery must suffer and may be extinguished. I reply: So be it. The friends of slavery have in its supposed interest thrust this war with all its evils upon the country, and upon them and upon it be the consequences. It may be said the slaves of loyal masters will escape and thus loyal men will suffer loss. This may be, probably will be so. But if we shall be successful in preserving our government, and putting down this rebellion, we can and will make good all losses caused to them by the acts of the government for its preservation. Besides, it is their misfortune and not our fault that they live in sections of our country in which the war is carried on and in which either a majority of the people are rebels, or the loyal men in the majority have suffered themselves to be prostrated and trampled on by the rebel minority. We regret their condition, we pity their misfortunes, we will make good their losses caused by our acts for the preservation of the Union, but we cannot allow the Union to be stricken down because efforts for its preservation may work them present injury. War necessarily brings suffering and loss to the people among whom it is waged. This war brings suffering and loss to the loyal people of all our States, and we all must bear as well and as patiently as we may, until the end, when it will be our duty to repair so far as we may, the losses sustained by loyal men because of their devotion to their country.

I will not be misunderstood. This war is waged by our government for the preservation of the Union, and not for the extinction of slavery, unless the preservation of the one shall require the extinction of the other. If the war were so prosecuted that on to-morrow the preservation of the Union were effected and secured, I would not now wage the war another day. I would not now spend further treasure or further life to effect the extinction of slavery, although I might regret that the war of its own producing had left in it enough of life to leave it to be our bane and pest in the future as it has been in the past. But while this is true, it is also true that if I had the power on to-morrow to end this terrible strife and preserve our Union by the extinction of slavery, while to preserve both would require a month's or a week's or a day's or an hour's further war; the spending of a single additional dollar to the loss of a single additional life; so surely as the Lord lives, this war would close to-morrow. No wife should mourn her husband, no mother her son, no maiden her lover, slain in a war protracted by me a single hour to preserve to rebels that which caused them to commence and which enables them to maintain rebellion. I would not believe that I had, nor do I believe that others have the right, although they may have the power to protract this war in order to preserve that which has caused the war. My deliberate convictions are that to prosecute this war successfully, we must strike directly at slavery, and that the time must soon come when every man must determine for himself which he loves most, the Union or slavery, and must act accordingly.

In the mean time, and at all times, it is our duty to rally around and support the government. We are not of those whose loyalty is doubtful or conditional. We do not say we will support the government if it adopts our views or carries out our plans, and if not, we will become neutral or join the enemy. We support it with hearts and hands and means, although we may doubt its policy, trusting time will demonstrate the correctness of our views, and bring about their adoption if found correct. The giving of honest counsel and the rendering of faithful service make up the duty of all true men.

The war has brought on us severe trials, and others are yet to come. Many of our best and bravest have died upon the battle-field or in the hospital, and many more must die. Our business operations have been interrupted, our markets have been closed, the prices of the products of our industry have been lessened, we have been compelled to wholly forego or materially to curtail the use of some luxuries which, by use, had become to us comforts of life, and these things must continue to be. They are the inevitable attendants of war, and must be borne as they have been borne, bravely, unflinchingly and cheerfully. Life is valuable, but it is intended to be useful; and how can anyone make his life more useful than by giving it for his country? Could our own brave men who died at Wilson's Creek, Blue Mills and Belmont have used their lives in any other way to better purpose than by losing them on those bloody but glorious battle-fields? Their names will live after them, embalmed in the hearts of our children and our children's children, as the names of men who died for their country, and their example will fire the hearts of generations yet to come to deeds of equal and as noble daring.

We are eminently a peaceful and peace loving people, and the interruption of our peaceful avocations of war and its incidents bears hardly upon us; but we must remember, that the only way to bring back and make permanently secure to us that peace we love so well, is to convince those who have thrust this war upon us and to convince all others that although we love peace much, we love our country's honor and the perpetuity of our Union more. But do we exaggerate the evils of our condition? I am well convinced that there is not in the world a people of equal numbers, all of whom enjoy to-day so many of the necessaries and of the comforts of life as are enjoyed by our people. In our own State our cause of complaint is not that we have not enough of the necessaries of life, but that we cannot get high enough prices for what we can spare of our superabundance; not, that we have not food but that we cannot sell to advantage food, we do not need!

But we will have to pay heavy taxes. True, we will and it is equally true we can. We have to do but one thing, and that thing we must do. We must give up the idea of money making to a great extent until this war is over. We must be content to devote to the preservation of the country a portion of all of the surplus we have been accustomed to lay up in years gone by. We may be required to return to customs and expedients for many years abandoned. We may be compelled to do as our fathers and mothers did, clothe ourselves as they did with the products of their farms and their own hands. What then? Our men will be none the less brave, loyal and loving; our women none the less true hearted, lovely and beloved. We may be required to do and may do all these things and yet suffering and want still be far from us. We may be required to do and may do all these things, and yet will not have done nearly so much as our fathers did to hand down to us the rich inheritance we are now striving to transmit unimpaired to our children. And if required, will we not do it promptly and cheerfully?

There may be amongst us a few men who know no impulse of patriotism, have no love of country, and can see nothing but sordid gain! There may be amongst us a few others who, blinded by prejudice, engendered by former political strife, cannot forget that the Government is guided in this struggle for its life by the hands of political opponents, and who would rather see it perish than have it saved by their hands, who will cry peace when there is no peace, and who will endeavor to turn us from the prosecution of this war by continually dwelling upon and exaggerating the misfortunes it has brought and will bring upon us. But these men are few in number and weak in influence. The great mass of our people see clearly and know well that no peace can be permanent which is made by compromising with armed rebels, and which will leave our present territory divided between jealous and hostile nations by such boundaries as it must be if not preserved in its integrity.

I cannot close this address without paying a well deserved tribute to the brave men who represent our State in the great army collected to do battle for our country. We may well be proud of them. We here as officers, and all our people as citizens, should feel that there is much for us to do to maintain that high reputation they have won for our State.

Trace the Iowa First on their weary way to Springfield; see them ragged and hungry but cheerful and ready; listen to their marching song as it rolls along the column, lending new vigor to themselves and their tired comrades; hear their fierce shouts and witness their daring deeds on the field where Lyon fought and fell; witness the heroic spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice with which the Iowa Third at Blue Mills attacked, and the bravery with which they fought the enemy in overpowering numbers to delay that enemy's retreat until expected reinforcements could arrive. See the Iowa Seventh on the bloody field of Belmont, heading the attack and covering the retreat; witness the cheerful endurance, the untiring energy, the indomitable valor of all our troops whenever and wherever tried, and who does not feel proud that he too is an Iowan? We owe these gallant men much. The rank and file of our regiments have never been surpassed. I doubt very much if they have ever been equaled. There is not a company in any of our regiments which does not contain in its ranks men who, in intelligence and moral worth, are the peers of any man who hears me. They have left behind them the comforts and endearments of home, their business, their friends, their all, and have taken their places as privates in the ranks with nominal pay and almost without a hope for honor and distinction. This is patriotism, and I repeat it “to these men we owe much.” It is due to them at least, that all shall be done that our circumstances will allow to promote their health and comfort and I doubt not you will see to it that the debt is paid.

When the war commenced many of us hoped that by this time it would have been completed, or that at least we would be able to see the beginning of that desirable end. But we have been disappointed. The rebellion had greater strength than we supposed. Obstacles have arisen that we had not anticipated, and the end is not yet. But these things should not discourage, and I am glad to say they have not discouraged us. As the greater strength of the rebellion has been developed, we have promptly furnished the greater needed strength to put it down, and if need be Iowa can yet send forth many regiments as brave, as loyal, and as true as those that have already gone. As obstacles have arisen they have been met as brave men meet them. They have been trampled upon and we have passed on. And now when as it seems to us here that all things are ready, we are waiting patiently, but with beating hearts, for the day when the great battle shall be fought — listening intently, and oh! how anxiously, for the battle shout, “God for the right,” which will on that day roll over that battlefield from the brave men who will be privileged there to rally around our dear old flag and strike in its defense, and trusting humbly and confidently that because they will strike for the right, the God of battles will give us the victory!

SOURCES: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 193-201; Iowa House of Representatives, Journal of the House of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Iowa, p. 37-45; Benjamin F. Shambaugh, The Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of Iowa, Volume 2, p. 296-310

Monday, September 29, 2014

Message of Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to the Legislature of Iowa, January 14, 1862

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:

You have had conferred upon you, and you have accepted the duty of caring for, guarding and promoting the interest of the State. This duty, at all times responsible, is at present, much more than ordinarily so, for the reason that the nation of which we are a part, is engaged in civil war, most wantonly and wickedly thrust upon us by bad and designing men. I doubt not you will address yourselves to the discharge of this duty calmly and earnestly, seeking wisdom and strength from Him w o is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Constitution requires that I shall communicate to you the condition of the State, and recommend such matters as I may deem expedient, and I now proceed to the performance of that duty.


REVENUE AND TAXATION.

The expenditures of the last two years for all State purposes have been about $300,000 for each year. This includes both ordinary and extraordinary expenditures — the amounts expended for the Insane Asylum, the Penitentiary, the Blind Asylum at Vinton, the printing of the Revised Statutes, and other extraordinary objects, as well as the amounts expended in carrying on the ordinary operations of the State Government. The expenditure has not in any case been permitted to exceed the appropriation, and is materially less both for the penitentiary and insane asylum, and has in all cases that have come under my observation, been carefully and economically made. In my judgment, there is not another State in the Union in which the protection of Government is extended to as large a population, so widely scattered, more economically than in our own. But while this is true, it is equally true that our finances are not in a healthy condition. The report of the Auditor of State discloses the somewhat startling fact that of the State tax for 1860 and preceding years, there was, at the date of his Report (the 4th day of November, 1861) delinquent and unpaid the large sum of about $400,000 — a sum more than sufficient to cover the entire expenses of our State Government for one year. This large delinquency has occurred mainly within the last four years, and the same Report shows there were at the same date warrants drawn on the treasury to the amount of $103,645, which were unpaid for want of funds, most of which were drawing interest at the rate of eight per cent. per annum.

From these facts the following conclusions are inevitable: 1st, That during the last four years there has been levied a State tax larger by about $300,000 than the necessities of the State required. 2d, That this was rendered necessary by the fact that only a portion of our people paid the tax due the State. 3d, That the State has been compelled yearly to pay large sums by way of interest on warrants, which need not have been paid had the taxes been collected promptly, and the Treasury kept supplied with funds to meet all demands upon it. 4th, That the State being compelled to purchase its supplies with warrants has had to pay higher prices than if it had had the cash to pay. 5th, That the tax-paying portion of our people have thus been compelled to pay not only their proper share of the public burthens, but also the share of those who did not pay their taxes, increased by interest and high prices. These things should not be so. They reflect discredit not only on those of our citizens who seek to avoid their just share of those burdens which are imposed upon all for the benefit of all, but also upon the laws which permit them to do so with impunity. I, therefore, very earnestly recommend to your attention a careful examination of our revenue laws for the purpose of ascertaining if they can be made more effective in enforcing the prompt payment of taxes.

The leading features of a good revenue law, in my judgment, are: 1st, The imposition of such penalty for the non-payment of taxes when due, as will make it unmistakably the interest of every tax-payer to pay promptly. 2d, The assurance to the purchaser of property at a tax sale, of a valid title at the expiration of a fixed time. There is, in my opinion, much misapprehension in the minds of many persons on this subject. Some seem to think they receive no value for the money paid by them as taxes, and that they are, therefore, not culpable in avoiding payment if they can. Others, whilst they admit there is some kind of doubtful obligation upon them to pay their taxes, if convenient, yet insist that any stringency in the laws to compel payment would be unjust and oppressive, and that no greater penalty should be imposed for nonpayment than the interest allowed by law between citizens. These are radical errors. Every citizen is protected by the State, in life, liberty, and property, in all he has, and all he may acquire, and in all his honest efforts for further acquisition; and in return, he is bound as a good citizen, to render obedience to the laws; to pay promptly his share of the taxes necessary for the support of government; and, in time of war, if need be, to defend the government with his life. If he fails to perform either of these duties of a good citizen, he is liable to punishment, and the amount added to his taxes for failure of payment at the time fixed by law, is not the interest due upon a debt, but a fine or penalty for the non-performance of a duty. Nor can any one justly complain of this. Why should any one of our people claim that he should enjoy all the benefits of civil government and be exempt from its burthens; that he should have all these advantages at the expense his neighbors?

It may be said that some are unable to pay their taxes. This, it seems to me, is erroneous. The amount of tax each one has to pay is in proportion to the property he has, the greater the tax the greater the amount of property from which to raise means of payment. I am well convinced that taxes are paid most promptly by our farmers, and by men of comparatively small means, and that there are very few of us who do not spend yearly for articles of luxury which do not promote either our health, our prosperity, or our happiness, more than the sum required from us as taxes for the support of the government that protects us. The subject of revenue and taxation assumes a graver interest and importance at this time, for the reason that our State is called upon, for the first time since its admission, to pay a direct tax for the support of the General Government. We may expect to be called on to pay, during the present year, a Federal tax of from $600,000 to $700,000. This is rendered necessary by the heavy expenditures incurred by the General Government in preparing to put down the Rebellion in certain States of the Union. A resort to loans has been, and must continue to be, necessary to meet these expenses, and prudence and sound economy require that the General Government shall not be compelled to borrow money to pay the interest accruing upon its loans. The interest upon loans made, and to be made, must be met by actual payment, and not by incurring further indebtedness. The capitalists of the country have, thus far, responded nobly to the calls made upon them by the Government, and have given it assistance and support as necessary as that rendered by the soldiers in the field. Six hundred thousand gallant men, 20,000 of whom are from our own State, are in arms, giving their labor, their health, and their lives, for the country; and now the call comes to us who are at home, and we are asked to give a little of our substance to the same good cause.

I have caused to be prepared from documents in the office of the Auditor of State a table, hereto appended, giving some interesting information touching the taxes paid by our people. It will perhaps be a matter of surprise to many that the taxes for the support of the State Government bear so small a proportion to the entire amount of taxes paid. It appears from this table that the whole amount of taxes for all purposes for 1861, was $1,700,000, and that of this amount only $300,000 was expended from the State Treasury for State purposes, while $1,400.000 were expended from the several County treasurers, for County and other purposes. I regard this table as useful, for this, among other reasons, viz: that the people have been led to believe that the great bulk of our taxes was caused by the expenditures of the State Government under appropriations made by the General Assembly, and they have been taught to look to a reduction of State expenses as the means of relief from taxation. This table shows clearly and conclusively that of every $5.66 paid by the people of the State as taxes, but one dollar reaches the State Treasury, or is used for State purposes, while the other $4.66 are retained in the counties and used for county and other purposes. I would not desire our people to relax their vigilant supervision of State expenses, but I am of opinion this information may lead them to give as vigilant supervision to the expenditures of their respective Counties, where equal vigilance is, in my judgment, equally needed. It is evident from an inspection of the table, showing the amount of taxes paid and the purposes for which paid, that if it be deemed desirable to decrease our present expenditures by an amount equal or approximating to the amount of taxes required by the General Government, much the greater amount of such reduction must be made in the taxes levied for other than State purposes.

In some particulars the expenses of the State may be materially less for the next than for the last two years. The appropriation of $19,500, for the Revised Statutes, was temporary and will not be again required. The amount appropriated for past indebtedness of the Penitentiary, $38,500, has nearly paid that indebtedness, and but a nominal sum will be needed for that purpose. The amount appropriated for the general support of the prison has been so well managed that the amount thereof unexpended is deemed by the Warden sufficient for the next two years, so that the amount of $35,000, appropriated at the last regular session for that purpose need not be renewed in whole or in part. Of the amount of $75,000 appropriated at the last session for finishing and furnishing the Centre and East wing of the Insane Asylum, about $18,000 remain unexpended, which balance, with $20,000 now asked for, is deemed sufficient to complete the whole building. So that the appropriation needed for construction account in that institution may be $55,000 less than at the last session. The Blind Asylum at Vinton is now under cover, and not liable to injury from the weather, and if you should deem it advisable not to make any appropriation for its present completion, $10,000 may be deducted from the amount of the appropriation of the present session as compared with that of the set. There has been paid during the last two years to Agricultural Societies, the sum of about $18,000. If you think it advisable to withhold any appropriation for this purpose for the next two years, this sum may be saved. The foregoing sums, amounting in the aggregate to $176,000, are the expenditures for the objects named for two years, and if withheld will be a saving of $8,000 per annum from the amount of State taxes. This amount, I doubt not, may be increased by a careful examination of our State expenditures and strict economy to $100,000, and if a proportionate reduction of county and township expenses can be made, the entire amount of the tax required by the General Government can be raised without increasing our present taxation. I commend the matter to your most earnest and careful examination.

In order to make the revenue of the State more certain, I recommend that the County Treasurers be required by law to pay the State Treasurer, at fixed times, certain proportions of the amount of revenue due to the State, until the entire sum for each year is paid, whether the County Treasurers have received the entire amount of State tax or not. At present the State is wholly helpless as to its revenue. It has to depend wholly upon the officers of Counties for its collection and transmission, and if the county officers are inefficient, the State is remediless. Each county is now liable by law to the State for the amount of State tax assessed in it, but this liability, without any means of making it practicably effective, is useless. If the Counties were require to pay the revenue due the State, whether collected or not, the County Supervisors would be stimulated to require of the Treasurer a strict performance of his duties; and if, in addition, you should so change the present law as to give County Treasurers, in lieu of salary, a per centum on the amount of money collected and disbursed, or provide for township collectors to be paid in the same way, our taxes would, in my opinion, be more punctually paid.

I also recommend that it be made the duty of the Board of Supervisors of each County to employ a competent accountant once in each year to examine the accounts of each County officer, and state an account between each officer and his County, and between officer and officer, and also that County Treasurers and all other persons who receive public moneys be prohibited, under severe penalties, from using them in any way, or placing them with others to be used for their private benefit.

The law of Congress imposing a direct tax for the support of the General Government gives to any State the privilege of collecting the amount of tax assessed upon its people, and allows such State to retain fifteen per cent. of the amount, on condition the State shall assume the payment of the balance of the tax. Thereupon arises the important question: What shall the State do in the premises? It must be remembered that if the State assumes the tax, the entire amount, less fifteen per cent., must be paid by the State, whether the State collects the tax or not. Keeping this in recollection, let us ascertain as near as may be our precise position. This State has expended for the General Government about $450,000, and has been repaid the sum of $80,000. The State has sold her bonds to the amount of about $200,000. The proceeds of said sale, $184,000, and the $80,000, received from the General Government, have been applied to paying the expenses incurred by the State, leaving unpaid and due wholly, I believe, to our own peop1e, about $186,000, for which they hold or can receive warrants drawn on the War and Defense Fund. If the amount expended by the State, which is to be reimbursed by the General Government, be $450,000, there is now due the State $370,000, and if the Federal tax should be $650,000, and the State should assume it, there would be due the General Government the sum of $182,500, being the entire amount of the tax, less the amount now due the State, and the fifteen per cent. for assumption and collection, which must be assessed upon and paid by our people.

But we must provide also for the payment of the amount due our own citizens. This must be done by assessing the amount as a tax, and by either actually collecting the money and paying it to the holders of the Warrants, or by authorizing those holding warrants to surrender them to the Auditor, and receive in lieu of them other warrants of the amount of five dollars each, which shall be receivable in payment of the Federal tax. These warrants being of small amounts, and being all receivable during the present year for taxes, would be nearly or quite at par, and would be much more valuable to the holders than the present ones. Should this course be deemed advisable, it will be necessary in order to meet the demand made upon us by the Federal Government, to levy a tax of about $368,500, of which $182,500 must be collected in money, and $186,000 may be paid in the warrants outstanding against the War and Defense Fund. Our State debt will have been increased by $200,000, and we will not have any money in our Treasury wherewith to meet further military expenses, should they be necessary. It will be observed that the sums given are generally estimated. Absolute precision could not in some cases he arrived at, but it will be found the estimates approximate very nearly the truth. If this should not be deemed advisable, we can present our claim against the General Government, receive the amount due the State, pay the outstanding warrants in the hands of our people, and either collect in money the Federal Tax and pay it to the General Government, retaining the 15 per cent. for so doing, or allow the General Government to collect the whole without interference on our part. In view of the actual condition of our affairs and the want of promptitude with which our taxes are paid, I am inclined to favor the plan first recommended. If I had assurance that our taxes would be paid as they should be, I would much prefer the second.

Intimately connected with the subject of taxation and revenue, is the question as to the kind of money which shall be received for taxes. Under our present laws, specie only is receivable for public dues. In view of the recent suspension of specie payments by the General Government and the Banks of the Eastern States, it becomes a question of great importance whether we can collect our revenue in coin. I do not believe we can, and I urgently recommend to you such change in our law as will allow the payment of taxes with United States Treasury notes and the notes of the State Bank of Iowa. It is true the United States Treasury notes are not payable in specie, but it is the interest of all loyal states and of all loyal citizens to keep them at par, and the receipt of them for taxes by the loyal States would tend much to that end. The State Bank of Iowa is required by the law creating it, at all times, to redeem its circulation in coin, and I believe it expects and is fully prepared to meet that requisition. If, as it seems to me, we must and should receive for revenue the United States Treasury notes not redeemable in specie, I cannot see the wisdom or justice of refusing to receive the notes of our own Banks, that are so redeemable, especially when by so doing, we make the payment of taxes more easy to our people and more certain to the state, and at the same time aid to some extent in keeping in circulation among us a currency, which has, and in my judgment, deserves the confidence of the people.


MILITARY AFFAIRS.

The Report of the Adjutant General, herewith submitted, shows the number and description of troops raised in this State for United States service, to be Sixteen Regiments of Infantry, Four of Cavalry, Three Batteries of Artillery, and one Independent Company of Cavalry for frontier service. Of these the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Regiments of Infantry are not fully organized. In addition, Col. Koch and Col. Rankin are engaged in raising Regiments of Infantry, which if completed, will make the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Regiments of that arm of the service.

It is a matter of gratification to me that our State has thus promptly responded to the demands made upon it by the United States for aid in this perilous crisis of our country’s history, and it is also a matter of great pride to me that the troops of our State, whether tried in the exhausting service of the camp, the march, or in the fiery ordeal of the battle-field, have never been found wanting, but have by their cheerful endurance of unaccustomed hardship and their indomitable valor, won for themselves and our State a name which may well cause us to feel an honest pride in claiming in any part of our broad land, that our homes are in Iowa.

At the Extra Session of 1861, what was supposed ample provision was made, to furnish the necessary funds for raising, clothing and equipping the Volunteers that might be required from this State, by authorizing the issue and sale of our State bonds. Immediately after the close of that session, the necessary steps were taken to put our bonds in market, but before they could be offered in New York, the faith and credit of our State were most wantonly and unjustly attacked by certain papers in that city, so that when, under the law, the bonds were offered for sale, it was found entirely impossible to effect sales at the prices fixed by the Board of Commissioners appointed for that purpose, or which would not have been ruinous to the State. No sales were therefore made in New York, and an appeal was made to our own people to take the bonds and furnish the means necessary to meet the large expenses consequent upon raising the troops called for from this State. The Report of the Loan Agents herewith submitted will show you the amount of bonds sold by them in the State, and the amount of money received therefor. It will be seen that much the larger proportion of the bonds was taken by persons to whom the State was indebted, and that but a small share was sold for cash. The result was that the officers charged with the duty of raising troops as required by the General Government, were much embarrassed for want of means, being compelled to operate wholly upon credit, consequently to great disadvantage. Whatever could be furnished by our people was promptly furnished on the credit of the State, but without means it was impossible to procure arms, clothing, and such other articles as our own people did not produce. After providing clothing for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments, I found it utterly impossible to provide for those subsequently raised, and although it was a matter of much mortification to me, to be compelled to allow our troops to leave our State un-uniformed and un-armed, yet I am induced to believe the result has been as well for the troops and for the Government. The troops who left our State without uniform, left at a season of the year when but little clothing was needed for comfort, and they were provided with uniforms in Missouri as speedily and more cheaply than I could have provided for them. The regiments which have left the State more recently, have been furnished with good clothing by the General Government before leaving. I have not purchased for the State the arms contemplated by the law passed at the Extra Session, for the reason that arms could be had only for money, and I had not the money wherewith to pay. Some arms have been furnished by the General Government, but not sufficient for the security of the State, and I recommend the subject to your careful consideration.

On several occasions during the past season, when the Rebels had or appeared likely to get, control in Northern Missouri, much uneasiness existed along our Southern border lest they should attempt an invasion of our State, which, for want of arms, our people were not properly prepared to resist. Immediately after the close of the Extra Session of the General Assembly, I appointed Col. John Edwards and Col. Cyrus Bussey my Aids, with large discretionary powers, to act for the preservation of tranquillity in the Southern border counties. I was well satisfied the peace of our State would be more easily preserved by preventing invasion than by repelling it, and therefore while I could not or order our State troops beyond our State line, I instructed Colonels Edwards and Bussey, and through them the troops under their command, that if at an time the loyal men of Northern Missouri were in peril and called upon them for assistance, they had as full authority as I could give them to lead their men into Missouri to the aid of the loyal men there, and my promise upon their return that my power should be used to the utmost extent to protect them, if called in question for so doing. Under these circumstances, and in some cases at the instance of officers of the United States, Colonels Edwards and Bussey and Col. Morledge of Page county, at different times led bodies of Iowa troops into Missouri and kept them in service there until their presence was no longer needed, and I am well assured their services were highly valuable, not only in preserving the peace of our border and protecting our own people, but in supporting and strengthening the Union men of Missouri. The expenses incurred in these expeditions are, in my judgment, properly chargeable to the General Government, and I am now seeking their reimbursement. Great uneasiness also existed on our Western and Northern border lest the Indians in Dacotah and Minnesota might be led by designing men to take advantage of the troubled state of public affairs, and commit depredations on our people in that region. The great distance of that part of the State from the place where my other duties compel me to keep my head quarters, and the want of the means of speedy communication therewith, either by railroad or telegraph, rendered it in my judgment absolutely necessary that I should confer on suitable persons the power to act for me promptly in case of emergency, as fully as if I were resent to act in person.

I accordingly conferred such authority on Hon. Caleb Baldwin, of Council Bluffs, and Hon. A. W. Hubbard, of Sioux City. Under this authority bodies of mounted men were called into service at different times for short periods, and I am happy to be able to state the tranquillity of that portion of our State has been preserved. I cannot permit this occasion to pass without thanking Messrs. Edwards, Bussey, Morledge, Baldwin and Hubbard, for their efficient, and valuable services.

At my request the Secretary of War authorized the enlistment of a company of Cavalry in the service of the United States, specially for the protection of the northwestern border. This company has been recruited and mustered in, and I hope will be sufficient for the protection of that portion of our State.

Our troops in Missouri have suffered greatly from sickness. To some extent this is perhaps attributable to the want of care and prudence among the men themselves, to a change in their mode of life, to their eating badly cooked food, and to the fatigue and exposure of hard labor and severe marches, and to a much greater extent to the want of proper hospitals, proper comforts for the sick, proper nurses, and sufficient medical aid. Doubtless experience in camp life will convince our troops of the necessity of guarding their health, adapt them to their new circumstances and wil1 make them better cooks; and I ardently hope the time will soon come when those who have the power so to do, will provide that the labor which has prostrated so many of them, shall be done by the slaves of those who have forced this war upon the country. Proper hospitals are now provided, and the women of our State, following their womanly instinct to care for the suffering, have been and are engaged in making and forwarding to our troops those delicacies an comforts not provided by the regulations, but so necessary and cheering to the sick. I am decidedly of the opinion that female nurses in our hospitals would render invaluable service; and I earnestly recommend that provision be made for securing such service for the benefit of our sick and wounded soldiers.

I am well convinced that the medical staff (a Surgeon and Assistant Surgeon,) now allowed by law to each Regiment, is insufficient, and I have been corresponding with the roper authorities for the purpose of effecting a change in the law. recommend that power be given the Governor to a point an additional Assistant Surgeon for each of our Regiments in service, to be paid by the State in case Congress shall not by law make the necessary provision.

The law passed at the Extra Session for the organization of the Militia, is in many respects defective, and has been in my judgment a hindrance instead of an aid in raising troops for the service of the United States. If the organization of the Militia is to be provided for by State law, a more full and perfect system must be devised. But the Congress of the United States has power “to provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the Militia, * * * reserving to the States respectively the appointment of officers, and the authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.” It is probable that Congress will at the present session, in view of the necessities of the country, provide a complete s stem of military organization for all the States, to the extent of t e power thus conferred. It may be well to await such action until near the close of your session, and conform your action to such provision, if made.


SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY FUNDS.

The School and University funds require your careful and earnest attention. A large portion of both these funds has been lent to individuals in different parts of the State. Most of the loans were made before the monetary crisis of 1857, and the securities taken for their repayment were, in many cases, insufficient originally, and have become much less valuable since, by reason of the general depreciation of the value of real estate; many of the borrowers have ceased to pay the interest as it falls due, and the results are a rapidly increasing debt with a greatly diminished security, and an increased taxation u on our people to supply the deficiency in the school fund caused by the non-payment of interest. More than this: under our Constitution, all losses to the Permanent School and University Fund which shall have been occasioned by the defalcation, mismanagement or fraud of the agents or officers controlling and managing the same, become a permanent debt against the State. Large losses to both these funds have already occurred, and the amount is steadily increasing, for want of proper attention and proper laws. The responsibility for these losses rests with the law-making power of the State, and the responsibility for all further losses must rest there, until by the enactment of proper laws, that responsibility is placed elsewhere. I recommend that revision be made requiring the prompt closing up of all loans which are insufficiently secured, or on which the interest has not been and within a reasonable time, unless the borrowers shall entitle themselves to further time by giving further securities, or payment of the interest due. I also recommend that where loans are now sufficiently secured and the interest paid, an extension of time be given the borrowers, if desired, under proper limitations; that no new loans be made; and that sums of the principal of either of said funds that may be paid, shall either be paid into the State Treasury and used as other State funds, the State paying the interest thereon, or invested for the support of the proper fund either in the stocks of the United States or of this State.

The State University is now in successful operation, although much embarrassed for want of means arising from the non-payment of interest due on loans of its permanent fund. The enactment of laws requiring the more prompt payment of interest, and for the safety and better investment of the permanent fund as above suggested, will enable the Trustees and Faculty to extend the usefulness of the Institution. I am decidedly of opinion that not only the interest of the institution, but also the interest of the State require that you should provide a Military Department of the University, and should establish a Military Professorship therein. The sad experience of the last few months, has shown us the necessity of military knowledge among our people. By giving to the young men who may attend the University, military instruction and training, we will not only greatly benefit them, but will also have made provision for what our present experience shows may, at any moment, become a necessity to our people. The Board of Education, at their recent session, directed the Trustees of the University to make provision for a Military Department therein as soon as the General Assembly should make the necessary appropriations therefor, and I earnestly recommend the subject to your favorable consideration.


THE PENITENTIARY.


The affairs of the Penitentiary have been well conducted during the last two years. Its present faithful and efficient officers, although laboring under many difficulties, have, by their careful and skillful management, maintained excellent discipline; preserved, in remarkable degree, the health of the convicts, and have so economized its expenses, that of the sum appropriated at the last Regular Session for the general support of the Prison, there remains unexpended, an amount so large that, in the opinion of the Warden, no appropriation for that purpose will be needed at the present Session. These officers, however, as well as those in charge of the Insane Asylum, the Asylums for the Deaf and Dumb, and the Blind, and all others, who have been charged with the duty of procuring for the State either labor, materials or merchandize of any kind, for ordinary State purposes, have been continually embarrassed for the want of money, and have been compelled to carry on their operations, and make their purchases at great disadvantage, with warrants on the Treasury. Of course, they have been compelled to pay higher prices in warrants than the would have had to pay in cash. As soon as these warrants are delivered, they are presented at the treasury, and endorsed unpaid for want of funds, and from that time draw eight per cent. interest, so that the excess of price and interest are so much clear loss to the State that might be saved if our taxes were promptly paid. Neither States nor individuals can manage their affairs in this manner without serious present embarrassment and great ultimate loss, and, in my judgment, it is clearly your duty, as guardians of the public welfare, to see to it that this state of affairs shall not continue. The reports of the officers of the Penitentiary show the sums, which in their opinion, should be appropriate by you, and the objects for which they are needed. Whilst I am satisfied that all these objects are legitimate, and that the accomplishment of them would add much to the safety and completeness of the Prison, I cannot, in the present condition of our finances, recommend appropriations for all. The completion of the third tier of cells, additional accommodations for the hospital, additional shop-room, and a new cistern, are perhaps indispensable, and should be provided for.

The suit pending for some years, between the Warden and the contractors, for the labor of the convicts, has been decided, and in my judgment, very unfavorably to the State. In view of this decision, it will be necessary that considerable additions be made to the present shop-room in the prison yard, unless it be determined to feed and clothe the convicts at the expense of the State, and furnish their labor and shop-room for them gratuitously. I recommend that a Special Committee be sent to examine what further shops may be needed, and what steps can be taken to protect the interests of the State in this particular. The present contract for convict labor will expire on the 1st day of June, 1864. In order to have fair competition for the re-letting of that labor at the expiration of the resent contract, provision therefor should be made at the present session, and if possible, such provision should be made by law as will prevent, under a new contract, the heavy losses the State has sustained under the present one.


CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

The reports of the proper officers of the Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylums are herewith submitted. These institutions appeal so strongly to our better feelings, and the necessities of those for whose benefit they are intended, are so peculiar, and so urgent that I cannot withhold my recommendation that the usual appropriations be made for their support. The appropriation made at the last regular session for the new building For the Blind at Vinton, has been expended in the manner required by law. The building is now enclosed, and is not, as I understand, liable to injury by exposure to the weather, and I submit whether it is not advisable, in our present financial condition, to withhold the appropriation necessary to complete it until the next session of the General Assembly. The failure to make this appropriation will not prevent the proper care and instruction of the pupils, in the meantime, as they can be well provided for in the building now occupied by them. You will learn, by the Reports of the officers of the Insane Asylum, that that Institution, so long and so much needed, has been, for some months, in successful operation. The appropriation made at the last regular session, for finishing and furnishing the centre and east wing of the building has proved to be more than sufficient for that purpose, and there is a considerable balance unexpended. The number of patients now in the institution, is nearly or quite sufficient to fill all the finished portion of the building, and much inconvenience arises from the act that patients of both sexes are confined in the same wing. This fact, with the additional one that before the next session a large portion of the now unfinished part of the building will, in all probability, be needed for the reception of patients, induces me to recommend, as I earnestly do, that an appropriation be now made, which with the unexpended balance of the last appropriation, will be sufficient to finish and furnish the west wing.  Every one who has witnessed the misery and degradation, and knows the hopelessness of the cure of those poor unfortunates when confined in the cells of our county jails, and has also witnessed their comparative happiness and comfort, and knows the prospect for their restoration in the Asylum, will insist that the most terrible diseases shall no longer be treated as a crime, and that the State shall do her duty by providing and caring for these, the most helpless and most unfortunate of her people. An abundant and unfailing supply of water is absolutely essential to the successful operation of an institution of this kind. A reliance for such supply upon cisterns and common wells would be uncertain and unsafe, and as these were the only resources heretofore provided, the Trustees and Commissioners, in order to remove the difficulty, have undertaken the digging of an Artesian well. The details of the work for this purpose thus far, will be found in the reports, and I recommend that a sufficient appropriation be made to complete it or to show its impracticability.  I also recommend that the law requiring the several counties of the State to pay for the support of their own pauper insane, be so changed as to require such payment to be made in advance. In this way only will such payment be prompt and reliable, and the State be relieved practically from the burthen of supporting the Institution. I cannot perceive the necessity for the two Boards of Trustees and Commissioners. Either of the Boards can easily perform, in addition to its present duties, the duties of the other board, and by the consolidation possible conflicts of authority would be avoided, as well as considerable expense.


RECLAMATION OF FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE.

The law in regard to the reclamation of fugitives from justice is indefinite as to the amount of fees to be paid to agents of this State, who bring back such fugitives, and as to whether it is the duty of the Census Board to pay such expenses in all cases. It is desirable that the uncertainty on these points should be removed.


AGRICULTURE.

Agriculture is, and for many years must continue, to be the leading interest in our State; and any fair and legitimate aid that can be given thereto will tend to promote the public good. With this object the State has for some years paid considerable sums yearly to paid the Agricultural Societies of the State and counties. Whether the benefits that have resulted from this expenditure will justify its continuance during our present difficulties and embarrassments, you must decide. This great interest of our State may in my judgment be aided by legislation in a new direction. Hitherto our great staples for export have been wheat, corn, cattle and hogs.

The prices paid for the transportation of these articles to New York, form a large portion of their value at that point. Indeed, wheat and corn will not bear transportation to that market during the season when the navigation of the lakes is closed. Experience has, I think, conclusively shown that our State is admirably adapted to sheep grazing, and the value of wool in proportion to its bulk and weight it, is much greater, and the price of its transportation to New York in proportion to its value, much less than that of our present staples.

A great drawback upon the growing of wool is that large numbers of sheep are annually killed by dogs. I therefore recommend that a tax be levied on all dogs in the State, and that the proceeds of the tax be applied to paying to owners of sheep killed by dogs, the value of the sheep thus killed. I would go further than this — I would exempt from taxation for a period of five years all sheep not exceeding fifty, owned by any resident of the State, and would also exempt from taxation for the same time all capital invested in the State in the manufacture of woolen goods.

I am well satisfied that the cultivation of flax can be successfully and profitably introduced in our State. It is valuable not only for the seed, but for the lint which under a new process, is converted into what is called flax cotton. I am well assured that before the commencement of the rebellion, a remunerative price could be paid in our State for the flax straw, which has heretofore been an entire loss to the farmer, the fibre separated from the wood, and the tow transported to Boston and manufactured into Flax Cotton, which could fairly compete in price and usefulness with the cotton of the Southern States. In order to stimulate our people to examine the question carefully, and if possible, introduce among us a new and profitable branch of industry, I recommend that all capital invested in the manufacture of linseed oil or the conversion of flax straw into flax cotton, be exempted from taxation for five years.

If our industry were more diversified, we would suffer less from fluctuations of prices of particular articles, and if as necessity requires and opportunity offers, we become manufacturers as well as producers, we will increase our wealth and independence.

The Report of the Secretary of the Agricultural College shows the action of the Board of Trustees since your last session. I would gladly recommend liberal appropriations for the erection of the necessary College and other buildings, if the condition of our finances would allow, but I cannot now do so. The farm and buildings are in such condition that a failure to make appropriations will not necessarily work any injury to them. The only unfavorable result will be delay, and to that we must submit until our national difficulties are removed. I heartily approve of the policy adopted by the Trustees of reserving the lands donated by the State and by individuals, and the bonds of Story county to endow the institution, trusting to the liberality of the State and of individuals in more prosperous times for the erection of the necessary buildings.


LAND GRANT.

The Report of the Register of the State Land Office shows the condition of the various grants of land made by the Congress of the United States to this State.

Very serious and embarrassing questions have arisen from the conflicting interests and claims of some of the Land Grant Railroad Companies and the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company. There have been much vacillation and conflict of opinion and action among the heads of the Department of the Interior in regard to the extent of the Des Moines River Land Grant. That Grant has been held by one Secretary to extend only to the forks of the River at Des Moines City; by another to extend to the sources of the River in Minnesota, and by another to extend only to the north boundary of our State. One or more of the Secretaries certified to the State as part of this Grant large bodies of land lying above the forks of the River within the limits of the State, and the State subsequently sold and conveyed many of these lands to individuals. Afterwards the State contracted with the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company to prosecute the work of improving the Des Moines River, agreeing to convey to said Company the title of the State to portions of the lands so certified to the State for that purpose, as rapidly as the work progressed. Under this arrangement the title of the State to many of these lands was conveyed to the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company. Subsequently by settlement with the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company the State conveyed to said Company the title of the State to the remainder of the lands which had been certified to the State by the Secretary of the Interior, and at the same time conveyed to the Keokuk, Ft. Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Company its title to all the lands of said grant which had not been certified to the State by the Secretary of the Interior, except fifty thousand acres reserved for certain purposes. The Des Moines Navigation & Rail Road Company have conveyed to individuals large bodies of the lands thus conveyed to them. The lines of three of the Land Grant Railroads, (the Dubuque & Sioux City, the Cedar Rapids & Missouri, and the Mississippi & Missouri,) cross the Des Moines River above its forks, and hence arises a conflict between these companies, and the companies and their grantees, and the grantees of the State who hold portions of those lands as part of the original Des Moines River Grant. These Railroad Companies claim that the Des Moines River Grant never really extended above the forks of the River at Des Moines, and that consequently all conveyances made by the State of lands above that point, as Des Moines River Grant Lands are invalid, and that by virtue of the Railroad Land Grant they acquired a title to all such lands lying within the limits of their respective grants.

The State having only conveyed what title it had to these lands may not be legally liable to make good any loss that may result to others from a failure of that title, but certainly is morally bound, at the least, to do what may be reasonably an fairly done to protect the rights and interests of those threatened with such loss. When the State granted to the Railroad Companies the lands granted to the State by Congress for Railroad purposes, it was not contemplated by the parties, certainly it was not contemplated by the State, that it was granting to these Companies lands previously conveyed by the State to others, and if since the making of these grants the Companies who are to receive the benefit of them have discovered that by strict legal construction they are entitled to more than was contemplated, either by themselves or by the State, and are disposed to enforce strictly these legal rights, to the injury of innocent purchasers from the State; the State may, and think should, hold these Companies in all things to a strict compliance with the terms of the grants made to them. If these companies are now in default, and ask the indulgence and clemency of the State, it seems to me the State may very properly, before extending such indulgence and clemency, enquire and know what indulgence and clemency these Companies will extend to the unfortunate holders of these lands, and make for the one with the other such terms and conditions as may be equitable and just to all.

In selecting the lands for the five hundred thousand acre grant, so called, by some mistake the agents of the State selected and the officers of the General Government certified to the State several thousand acres more than were covered by the terms of the grant. This mistake being discovered, application was made to my immediate predecessor by the Commissioner of the United States General and Office to reconvey to the United States this excess of land. Upon examination it was found that part of the land had been already sold and conveyed by the State, so that all could not be reconveyed. Under these circumstances it was agreed between Governor Lowe and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, that the unsold portion of this excess of land should be reconveyed, and that the United States should retain of the five per cent. and coming to this State enough to pay for such of said lands as could not be reconveyed by reason of their sale at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. Unfortunately, at the time this agreement was made, the then unsold portion of the lands was not withdrawn from market, and since then still other portions have been sold. Governor Lowe, by letter, relinquished the title of the State in these lands, but quite recently the Commissioner of the General Land Office has applied to me for a formal deed of conveyance. I at once caused the remaining unsold portion of the lands to be withdrawn from market, and would at once have reconveyed them, but have serious doubt whether the Executive can without your authority divest the State of title to land which has been once vested in the State, whether by mistake or otherwise.

I recommend that authority be conferred to settle and adjust this matter on the terms proposed by Governor Lowe, and also to reconvey to the United States any portion of said excess of lands yet remaining unsold.

The swamp land grant is being slowly adjusted with the General Land Office at Washington City. By the terms of the law making this grant, this State will be entitled to receive from the United States in lieu of swamp lands that had been entered with land warrants, land scrip entitling the State to locate a “quantity of like amount upon any of the public lands subject to entry at one dollar and a quarter per acre or less.”

The Commissioner of the United States General Land Office has so construed this law as to require the State to select the lands to which it may be entitled thereunder, from the lands of the United States, subject to entry, at one dollar and a quarter an acre, lying within this State. The law will not, in my opinion, bear this construction, and I am endeavoring to have it set aside, so as to allow the selection of the lands to which the State may be entitled to be made in this State or in any other State or Territory where public lands may be found subject to entry, at one dollar and a quarter per acre.

It will be necessary that an agent or agents be appointed to make these selections, and you should make some provision for such appointment. The lands thus to be selected will, by the laws of this
State, belong to the Counties within which the lands in lieu of which they may be selected were originally located. The United States, however, recognize only the State as the recipient of the grant, and will probably recognize only the agent or agents of the State in making these selections, but as the benefits of the selections enure to the Counties, it would be just and proper that the Counties should bear or refund to the State the expense of the agency.

I have thus endeavored to place before you the condition of the State, so far, as in my judgment, your action is needed for its improvement. Your wisdom will doubtless discover some, perhaps many, particulars in which legislation will be necessary, that have been overlooked by me.

The year which has just closed, has brought to our people a new experience, new trials, new responsibilities, and new duties. Let us continue to meet them as we have thus far met them, with neither an overweening confidence in, and reliance upon, our own strength, nor an unmanly and craven fear for ourselves, or of the hardships we may endure before we win by deserving success, but With patience, calmness, unflinching courage, and an abiding faith in God.

SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD.

SOURCES: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 182-92; Iowa House of Representatives, Journal of the House of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Iowa, p. 11-29; Benjamin F. Shambaugh, The Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of Iowa, Volume 2, p. 264-95

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Speech Of James W. Grimes On The Surrender Of Slaves By The Army, April 14, 1862

April 14, 1862.

It is, of course, to be expected that there will be great differences of opinion among the friends of the Government as to the manner in which the present war should be conducted. Such differences are the natural results of our various domestic institutions, systems of education, modes of thought, degrees of civilization, and of individual opinions of the necessities of our situation. But there are certain great fundamental principles upon which, one would think, all ought to agree. We certainly ought to do nothing and suffer nothing to be done calculated in any degree to repel or paralyze the efforts of our friends at home, who are doing everything in their power to encourage and sustain the soldiers in the field. While inculcating the necessity of the strictest obedience to military duty, it should be constantly borne in mind that ours are a citizen soldiery, soon to return to the bosom of civil society, and that the performance of no unsoldierly duty should be required of them that would be calculated to impair their self-respect, diminish their regard for their officers, incite them to rebel against discipline, or taint their reputations at home. It must not be expected that the natural instincts of humanity will be stifled by military orders, and surely our soldiers should not be required to assist in the perpetration of acts against which every enlightened sentiment of their hearts revolts. One would think that all men would agree in pronouncing that a cruel and despotic order, which repeals the divine precept, “Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me,” and arbitrarily forbids the soldier to bestow a crust of bread or a cup of water upon a wretched, famishing fugitive escaping from our own as well as from his enemy. Yet, I grieve to say there are those high in rank in the service of the United States who have sought to break down the spirit of manhood, which is the crowning glory of true soldiers, by requiring them to do acts outside of their profession which they abhor, and to smother all impulses to those deeds of charity which they have been taught to believe are the characteristics of Christian gentlemen.

It was known to the country at an early day after the commencement of the war, that some military commanders were abusing the great power intrusted to them, and were employing the Army to assist in the capture and rendition of fugitive slaves, not in aid of any judicial process, but in obedience to their own unbridled will. The effect of this assumption of unauthorized power was to incite the soldiery to disobedience, and to arouse the people to the necessity of proper legislative restraints. It was in compliance with the popular sentiment on this subject that Congress enacted the additional article of war, which was approved on the 13th of March last, and which declared that “all officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service.”

It was intended by this article to prevent the military service from becoming odious to the people who support the war, and degrading to those who have volunteered to fight under our banners. It simply declares that the Army of the United States shall not be perverted from the legitimate use for which it was raised, while it interferes in no degree with the claim of any man to a person alleged to be a slave; it leaves questions of that character to be settled, and rights of that description to be enforced, by other than the military authority. The intention of those who voted for this article was not to abridge any man's rights, but to leave every one to his legal remedies as though no war existed.

How is this new article of war enforced? It has been promulgated to the army it is true. It may not be openly and avowedly violated. Soldiers may not hereafter be required to actually perform the humiliating office of fastening manacles upon the limbs of persons said to be slaves, nor to escort them to the residences of their masters; but the experience of the last few days has taught us that, notwithstanding the new article of war, our military officers suffer their camps to be invaded by armed detachments of slave-hunters, without the support of any process of law, who there attempt to shoot, maim, and kill with impunity those whom they claim to be slaves, while our soldiers are required to stand indifferently by and witness the inhuman work.

How long, think you, will this method of dealing with the rebels be endured by the freemen of this country? Are our brothers and sons to be confined within the walls of the tobacco-warehouses and jails of Richmond and Charleston, obliged to perform the most menial offices, subsisted upon the most stinted diet, their lives endangered if they attempt to obtain a breath of fresh air, or a beam of God's sunlight at a window, while the rebels, captured by these very men, are permitted to go at large upon parol[e], to be pampered with luxuries, to be attended by slaves, and the slaves guarded from escape by our own soldiers?

In the month of February last, an officer of the Third Regiment of Iowa Infantry, stationed at a small town in Missouri, succeeded in capturing several rebel bridge-burners, and some recruiting officers belonging to Price's army. The information that led to their capture was furnished by two or three remarkably shrewd and intelligent slaves, claimed by a lieutenant-colonel in the rebel army. Shortly afterward the master dispatched an agent with instructions to seize the slaves and convey them within the rebel lines, whereupon the Iowa officer seized them and reported the circumstances to headquarters. The slaves soon understanding the full import of General Halleck's celebrated Order No. 3, two of them attempted an escape. This was regarded as an unpardonable sin. The Iowa officer was immediately placed under arrest, and a detachment of the Missouri State militiamen, in the pay of the Government and under the command of General Halleck, were sent in pursuit of the fugitives. The hunt was successful. The slaves were caught and returned to their traitor master, but not until one of them had been shot by order of the soldier in command of the pursuing party.

Mr. President, how long shall we permit such conduct as this to go unrebuked? Does any one suppose that the people will quietly submit to the imposition of taxes to support a State militia in the field that is to be employed in the capture of slaves for the benefit of officers in the rebel army? Is it supposed that the Senators from Iowa will silently, patiently permit the gallant officers from that State to be outraged in the manner I have described?

It is quite time that some definite policy should be established for the treatment of escaped slaves; and I am of the opinion that Congress has been grossly derelict in permitting the evil to go so long unregulated and unchecked. We have almost as many diverse systems of dealing with this class of persons as we have military departments. In one, fugitive slaves have been pursued, flogged, and returned to their masters by our army; in another, they have been simply pursued and returned without flogging; in another, they have been pursued and shot in the attempt to return them; in another, they have been termed “contraband,” and received within our lines in the mixed character of persons and property. In the absence of any authoritative declaration of Congress, none of these modes may be held to be in conflict with law, other than the law of common-sense and common decency.1

It is obvious that the article of war which I have quoted does not meet the case presented by Major-General Halleck in his Order No. 3. That celebrated manifesto declares in substance that all persons from the enemy's country shall be excluded from our lines. The plain purpose of the order is to prohibit fugitive slaves escaping from the rebellious district, and thereby securing freedom. It was doubtless competent for General Halleck to issue such an order, and it is equally competent for Congress, which has made and continues to make articles of war for the government of the army and navy, to countermand it. And it ought to be countermanded. I will not pause to discuss the humanitarian features of the question. Public policy, no less than popular feeling, demands that Order No. 3 be forever erased. There never was a war waged in the history of the world where the means of acquiring information of the enemy's position and numbers were more ample than here, and there never was one where the commanding officers have suffered more from lack of such information. Order No. 3 proposes to incorporate the fatuity and blindness which remained unwritten in other military departments into an historical record and a public advertisement. It proposes to warn all persons against bringing information of the enemy's movements to our camps, under penalty of being turned back to receive such punishment as the enemy may choose to inflict for betraying them, or for running away and betraying combined. No organization of secret service can meet all the requirements of an army operating in an enemy's country, unless aided by some portion of the inhabitants of the country. What folly, then, to wall out and repel the very inhabitants who might bring us the information we most need, and who have everywhere shown an eagerness to do so!

It is the undoubted right and the duty of every nation, when engaged in a righteous war — and no other than a righteous war is justifiable at all — to avail itself of every legitimate means known to civilized warfare to overcome its enemies. What will be thought by posterity of this nation, if, in the present emergency, we not only fail to employ the agencies which Providence seems to have placed at our disposal, but actually seek every opportunity to exasperate and drive from our support those who are anxious to serve us? Were the Russian nobles now engaged in a rebellion against their Government, would we not regard their emperor as guilty of the greatest folly, if he not only declined to enlist the serfs of his empire to aid in suppressing the insurrection, but repelled them from his service and allowed his generals to return them to his rebellious nobles, to be used by them in overthrowing his authority? And can anyone tell me the difference between the case I have put and our own?

The whole history of the world does not exhibit a nation guilty of such extreme fatuity as has marked the conduct of our Government in its treatment of the colored population since the present war began. It seems to be impossible to convince ourselves that war, with all of its attendant responsibilities and calamities, really exists, and that future generations will not hold those guiltless who refuse to use any of the means which God has placed in their hands to bring it to a speedy and successful termination. History will pronounce those men criminal who, in this crisis of the nation's fate, consult the prejudices of caste or color, and regard the interests of property of paramount importance to the unity of the nation.

It is useless to attempt to blink out of sight the great issues before us — issues that must be settled, and settled by us. It were wiser and more manly to meet them squarely and at once. We are in the midst of the greatest revolution that ever occurred in ancient or modern times. Such armies as are now marshaled in hostile array on this continent, in point of numbers, equipment, and expense, have been hitherto unknown in the annals of mankind. We are imposing burdens in the form of taxes that will be felt by unborn generations. We are suffering much now; we expect and are willing to suffer more. And why? Because we desire to preserve the integrity of our nation; because we believe that Heaven designed us to be one people with one destiny; the freest and happiest on earth. It was to preserve that unity of our national existence that our sons and brothers have gone forth to do battle. For this it was that the gallant men of Iowa have freely, triumphantly, laid down their lives at Wilson's Creek, Blue Mills, Belmont, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, and Pittsburg. And shall we, after these great sacrifices of life and treasure, hesitate about employing any of the instrumentalities in aid of the country that are known to civilized warfare? Shall we not be recreant to our high trust if we doubt or delay in this particular?

This war will go on until rebellion is subdued. Upon this point there need be no controversy. Rely upon it, the Northwestern States will submit to no temporizing or compromising policy. They are too much in earnest; they have suffered too much already; they know too well what they would be compelled to suffer in the future to allow treason to go unpunished. It is because they desire to prevent the recurrence of the rebellion that they demand that it shall now be thoroughly crushed out. Among things necessary to be done to fully accomplish this purpose, we must conquer and hold all the forts and strong positions on the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts. How shall they be garrisoned when captured? This is a question we shall soon be compelled to answer; and I am prepared for its solution. I answer it unhesitatingly that we should garrison them, in whole or in part, by soldiers of African descent; that instead of returning slaves to their rebel masters to fight against us, we should employ them in our own military service.

I know very well that this proposition encounters at once all the prejudices that have been engendered by differences of race, education, and social position; but let us look at it a moment soberly and practically. It is assumed as admitted by all that the Southern forts must be captured and strongly garrisoned for some years to come. They are situated in a warm and enervating climate, and the particular location of nearly all of them renders them more than usually unhealthy, even for that section of the country. In addition to the forts already established, we shall be compelled to build new ones. The rebels rely upon the diseases of their climate to decimate our Northern army in the summer and autumnal months; and their confidence is well placed. Our troops will wither before the fevers of the Gulf coast as vegetation does before the blast of the sirocco. Now, we have in our midst thousands of hardy, athletic colored men, fitted by nature to endure the heat and miasma of the tropics, and some of them accustomed to it, who are panting to be employed in the capacity of soldiers. Many of them having been in a state of bondage, have been abandoned by their masters, and are now thrown upon us for support. Some of them were forced by our enemies into their military service, and have deserted from it. They implore our protection, and we must give it, if we would not become a “scorn and derision” among the nations of the earth. They have shown on divers occasions, both on sea and land, that they belong to a warlike race. They are obedient and teachable. They can be subsisted much cheaper than white soldiers, can perform more labor, and are subject to fewer diseases in a warm climate.

Now, with these facts before us, shall we refuse to employ them? What substantial reason can be given for not doing so? Is it because they have not the proper capacity for command? Then give them white officers, as is done by the British Government to the same race, by the French Government to the Arabs, and by the Russian Government to the Tartars and other semi-barbarous soldiers within that empire. Is it because they do not possess the average courage of soldiers? In addition to the testimony in disproof of this, furnished a few days ago by the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Wilson), I refer you to your vessels-of-war, where you have hundreds of these men employed, and none more valiant. Is it because they are not obedient to command? The whole history of the race shows the contrary, for, if there is any one thing for which they are remarkable more than another, it is their confiding submission to the will of their superiors. Is it said that we have white soldiers enough for all of our purposes? True, we have a large army, composed of men of unsurpassed valor and patriotism, who, if we require it, will sacrifice their lives for their country, whether by the sword or by disease; but I would, if I could, recall a portion of them to their homes and to the industrial pursuits of life. Am I told that the enrollment of a few colored soldiers will be regarded by the Army as humiliating to them? Mr. President, those public men fail to comprehend the character of American soldiers who suppose that they are fighting for mere military glory, or that in this critical hour they are controlled by ignoble prejudice against color or race. They are citizens and taxpayers as well as soldiers. They want the rebellion speedily crushed and the supreme authority of the law established, leaving social and political questions to be settled afterward. They feel that the desertion of every colored soldier, artificer, or laborer, from the rebellious States, withdraws aid and support from the rebellion, and brings it so much nearer to an end. They cannot understand, nor can I, that refined casuistry that justifies us in converting the enemy's horse or ox to our use, and in turning their inanimate engines of destruction against themselves, but denies to us the right to turn their slaves, their animate hostile engines in human form, to the same purpose. They cannot imagine why it is that some gentlemen are so willing that men of the African race should labor for them, and so unwilling that they should fight for them.

What a wonderful difference of action and sentiment there is on this subject between the officers of the Army and Navy! While officers of the Army have disgraced themselves, annoyed and incensed their subordinates, dishonored the country, and injured the public service, by the promulgation of their ridiculous orders about slaves, no officer of the Navy, thank God, has ever descended to follow their example. Their noble, manly, generous hearts would revolt at the idea of having imposed upon them the humiliating duty of capturing and returning fugitive slaves. They serve their country, not rebel slave-owners. They think that duty to the country requires them to avail themselves of the services of these people, instead of driving them back to their masters, or suffering them to starve; and they act upon this conviction. At the taking of Hatteras, one of the large guns of the Minnesota was wholly manned and worked by persons called “contrabands,” and no gun on the ship was better served. These people are, it is well known, remarkable for the proficiency they soon acquire as cannoneers. On the same ship is a boat’s crew, every one of whom, including the cockswain, is a colored man, and there are none more skillful, or render more satisfactory service to the officers of the vessel. The whole country knows the services rendered by them to Commodore Du Pont and to the vessels under his command. They have acted as pilots, and in the most important positions, and I have the authority of the two superior officers of that fleet for saying that they have never been deceived or misled by any one of them. I am convinced that our expedition to the South Atlantic coast would not have been so perfect a success as it has been but for the slaves found there, and who were employed by our naval officers. There are more or less of them on all our vessels-of-war. They are efficient men, and their presence produces no discord among the crews.

Mr. President, I wish to be distinctly understood. I advocate no indiscriminate arming of the colored race, although I frankly confess that I would do so were it necessary to put down the rebellion. I do not favor this proposition merely because of its antislavery tendency. I approve it because it will result in a saving of human life, and in bringing the rebellion to a speedier termination. It is my business to aid in bringing this war to a close by conquering an unconditional peace in the least expensive and speediest manner possible. Acting upon this idea of my duty, and believing that humanity and the best interests of the country require the enrollment of a few colored regiments for garrisoning the Southern forts, I shall vote, whenever an opportunity shall be afforded me, for converting a portion of the colored refugees into soldiers, instead of forcing them back into servitude to their rebel masters and their rebel government. We may hesitate to do this. Our hesitation will cost us the valuable lives of many of our own race who are near and dear to us. Our hesitation to use the means which Providence seems to have placed in our hands for crushing the rebellion may carry desolation to many a loyal hearthstone. But we must adopt this policy sooner or later, and, in my opinion, the sooner we do it the better. The rebels have this day thousands of slaves throwing up intrenchments and redoubts at Yorktown, and thousands of them performing military duty elsewhere; and yet we hesitate and doubt the propriety of employing the same race of people to defend ourselves and our institutions against them. Mr. President, how long shall we hesitate?
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1 “Up to that date (July, 1862), neither Congress nor the President had made any clear, well-defined rules touching the negro slaves, and the different generals had issued orders according to their own political sentiments.” — Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, written by Himself, Vol. I, p. 285.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 184-93