GENERAL ORDERS No.
6.}
I. The United States
Government having adopted the policy of leasing abandoned plantations and
giving employment to freedmen, it is the duty of the military authorities to
give protection as far as possible to the lessee and laborer. This protection
can only be given by holding responsible the districts in which the bands of
guerrillas, who are constantly committing depredations upon them, are organized
and encouraged.
II. It is therefore
ordered that hereafter in every instance where a Government lessee is robbed of
his property, the commanding officer of the nearest military post shall send a
sufficient force to the locality, with instructions to seize from disloyal
citizens property sufficient to fully indemnify the lessee, which property will
be sold at public auction and the proceeds paid to the injured person. If the
crops of the lessee are destroyed, or in any manner injured, crops of the same
kind will be seized from disloyal citizens and harvested for the benefit of the
injured party. If any lessee is killed by guerrillas, an assessment of $10,000
will at once be levied upon the disloyal people residing within thirty miles of
the place where the offense was committed. Property of any kind will be seized
and sold for this purpose. The amount so assessed will be appropriated for the
benefit of the family of the lessee. Full reports of all seizures and sales of
property under this order will in all cases be forwarded direct to these
headquarters.
Ill. In deciding
upon the class of persons who are to be assessed, it should not be forgotten
that the oath of allegiance is not an infallible test of loyalty. If a citizen
has relatives and friends among these, if he harbors or protects them, or if
having the means of doing so he fails to inform the lessee of their approach,
he must be held accountable. Men must be judged by their acts and not by the
oaths they have taken.
By command of Maj.
Gen H. W. Slocum:
SOURCE: The War of
the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 39, Part 2 (Serial No. 78), p. 31-2
No comments:
Post a Comment