[July 19,1863]
Enclosed you will
please find the statements of officers of this Regmient [sic] with regard to a matter the investigation of which has been made
ordered by Maj Genl Grant—I refer to the charge of the exercise of undue means to
on the part of an officer of this Regmient to procure recruits from the 'Duncan
Plantations' In justice to the officer—now deceased having lost his life from
wounds received in defence of his country—it is due me to say there was no
better officer in the regiment & his personal appearance and known
character in the Regmient would go far to disprove any charge of the kind I was
with the Regmient at or about the time the recruits were received into the
Regmient— concerning the means of getting which there is complaint—no
complaints were made to me as it would seem to me there would
have been had they (men) been forced into the regmient against their will—for
the men were always very free to lay all their complaints before me The negro
race—as every one acquainted with it knows—has very strong attachments for
family—and a negro will risk his liberty and life for his family—The men now
connected with this Regmient are absent from their families and are feeling
very desirous of seeing them as they have been unable to do for since
the Regmient left Lake Providence—the result is that they will resort to almost
any means to get back to see them and in my opinion this motive went far to
cause them to make the declarations they did as to their being forced into the
service[.]
_______________
* Of the 8th Louisiana Volunteer Infantry of African Descent.
SOURCE: John Y.
Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 9, p.
40
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