WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington City,
D.C., June 14, 1862.
Hon. GALUSHA A. GROW,
Speaker of the House of Representatives:
SIR: A resolution of the House of Representatives has been
received, which passed the 9th instant, to the following effect:
Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to
inform this House if General Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, has
organized a regiment of South Carolina volunteers for the defense of the Union
composed of black men (fugitive slaves) and appointed the colonel and other
officers to command them.
2. Was he authorized by the Department to organize and
muster into the Army of the United States as soldiers the fugitive or captive
slaves?
3. Has he been furnished with clothing, uniforms, &c.,
for such force?
4. Has he been furnished, by order of the Department of War,
with arms to be placed in the hands of those slaves?
5. To report any orders given said Hunter and correspondence
between him and the Department.
In answer to the foregoing resolution I have the honor to
inform the House—
First. That this Department has no official information
whether General Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, has or has not
organized a regiment of South Carolina volunteers for the defense of the Union
composed of black men (fugitive slaves) and appointed the colonel and other
officers to command them. In order to ascertain whether he has done so or not a
copy of the House resolution has been transmitted to General Hunter, with
instructions to make immediate report thereon.
Second. General Hunter was not authorized by the Department
to organize and muster into the Army of the United States the fugitive or
captive slaves.
Third. General Hunter, upon his requisition as commander of
the South, has been furnished with clothing and arms for the force under his
command without instructions as to how they should be used.
Fourth. He has not been furnished, by order of the
Department of War, with arms to be placed in the hands of “those slaves.”
Fifth. In respect to so much of said resolution as directs
the Secretary “to report to the House any orders given said Hunter and
correspondence between him and the Department,” the President instructs me to
answer that the report at this time of the orders given to and correspondence
between General Hunter and this Department would, in his opinion, be improper
and incompatible with the public welfare.
Very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume
2 (Serial No. 123), p. 147-8
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