Showing posts with label Department of South Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Department of South Carolina. Show all posts

Monday, October 2, 2017

Edwin M. Stanton to Congressman Galusha A. Grow, June 14, 1862

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