Abraham Lincoln to Major-General Robert C. Schenck, October 21, 1863 – 2:45 p.m.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, October 21, 1863 — 2.45 p.m.

Major-General SCHENCK,

Baltimore, Md.:

A delegation is here saying that our armed colored troops are at many, if not all, the landings on the Patuxent River, and by their presence with arms in their hands are frightening quiet people, and producing great confusion. Have they been sent there by any order; and if so, for what reason?

A. LINCOLN.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 29, Part 2 (Serial No. 49), p. 363

Speech of Simon Cameron, November 14, 1865

I cannot let this opportunity pass without thanking the African soldiers for the compliment they have paid me, but more than all to thank them for the great service which they have been to their country in this terrible rebellion. I never doubted that the people of African descent would play a great part in this struggle, and I am proud to say that all my anticipations have been more than realized. Your services, offered in the early part of the war, were refused; but when-the struggle became one of life and death, then the country gallantly received you, and thank God you nobly responded and redeemed as you promised. [Applause]. Like all other men, you have your destiny in your hands, and if you continue to conduct yourselves hereafter as in the past, you will have all the rights you ask for, all the rights belonging to human beings. [Applause]. I can truly say again, I thank you, I thank you from my heart for all you have done for your country, and I know the country will hold you in grateful remembrance.

I cannot close without saying that there is at the head of the national government a great man who is able and determined to deal justly with you. I know that with his approval no state that was in rebellion will be allowed to return to the benefits of the Union, without first having a constitutional compact which will prevent slavery in the land for all time to come; which will make all men free and equal before the law; which will prescribe no distinction of color on the witness stand and in the jury box, and which will protect the homes and the domestic relations of all men and women. He will insist, too, on the repudiation of all debts contracted for the support of the rebellion. Remember, when this war began there were four million of slaves in this country unprotected by law. Now all men are made free by the law. Thank God for all this! For He alone has accomplished this work!

SOURCES: Luther Reily Kelker, History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Volume 2, p. 548-9

Edwin M. Stanton to Governor David Tod, June 27, 1863

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, D.C., June 27, 1863.

Governor TOD,

Columbus:

A careful examination of the acts of Congress by the Solicitor of the War Department has led him to the conclusion that the Government can pay to colored troops only $10 per month and no bounty. A month's advance pay will be authorized. For any additional pay or bounty colored troops must trust to State contributions and the justice of Congress at the next session. Upon this basis the organizations have been made elsewhere.

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 3 (Serial No. 124), p. 420

A Word to Messrs. Wickliffe and Mallory — What The Forefathers Thought of the Military Capacity of the Blacks.

It is perhaps too much to expect of our enlightened Congressmen that they shall inform themselves of what their predecessors in the National Legislature thought and said on subjects they are now discussing. If they would take this trouble, however, it would often, certainly, save a great deal of time that might be otherwise better employed. For instance, the House of Representatives consumed the best part of Saturday last in debating the military capacity of the Blacks. Now, this whole question was thoroughly discussed in the very first Congress held in 1790; and if the honorable members had taken the pains to consult their files of GALES & SEATON, they might have saved themselves a good deal of pulmonary exercitation, without leaving the country any less wise than it was before. The using of the Blacks is a question of practical policy which may or may not be adopted, as exigencies shall demand; but speculations on the military capacity of the negroes are abstractions that can lead to nothing. Meanwhile, we commend to Messrs. WICKLIFFE, MALLORY & Co., who think “negroes are naturally afraid of guns,” and that “one shot from a cannon would disperse thirty thousand of them,” the views of another Southern member some seventy-two years ago. Mr. SMITH, member from South Carolina, in the House of Representatives 1790, in the course of an elaborate debate on the question, said:

"Negroes, it was said, would not fight; but he would ask whether it was owing to their being black, or to their being slaves? If to their being black, then emancipating them would not remedy the evil, for they would still remain black; If it was owing to their being slaves, he denied the position; for it was an undeniable truth that in many countries slaves made excellent soldiers. * * Had experience proved that the negroes would not make good soldiers? He did not assert that they would, but they had never been tried. Discipline was everything; white militia made but indifferent soldiers before they were disciplined. It was well known that, according to the present art of war, a soldier was a mere machine, and he did not see why a black machine was not as good as a white one; and in one respect the black troops would have the advantage — in appearing more horrible in the eyes of the enemy.”

SOURCE: The New York Times, New York, New York, Monday, July 7, 1862, p. 4

Diary of John Hay: November 16, 1864

I started for Grant's headquarters. We left the Navy Yard at two o'clock in the afternoon. The party consisted of Fox, Dyer, Wise, M. Blair, Pyne, Ives, Forbes, Ives, Tom Welles Foster, a Chinese English merchant, and Reid of the Gazette . The day was sad, blowy, bleak, and a little wet.

We dined, and some played cards and all went to bed. When we got up in the morning, we were at Hampton Roads. We made no stay there, but after communicating with the Admiral D. D. Porter, we started up the James River, he following in his flagship, the Malvern. He overtook us about noon or a little after, and came on board with Captain Steadman of the Navy. Porter is a good-looking, lively man, a very off-hand talker, a man not impressing me as of a high order of talent, — a hale-fellow; a slight dash of the rowdy.

In the afternoon we passed by the island of Jamestown. On the low, flat, marshy island, where our first colony landed, there now remains nothing but ruins. An old church has left a solitary tower as its representative. A group of chimneys mark the spot of another large building. On the other side of the river, there is high, fine, swelling land. One cannot but wonder at the taste or judgment that selected that pestilential site in preference to those breezy hills. They probably wished to be near their boats, and also thought a river was a handy thing to have between them and the gentle savages that infested the shores of the James.

Fort Powhatan we saw also — where a battalion of negroes flaxed out Fitz Hughs command of the F. F. Vs.

We arrived at City Point at three o'clock. There are very few troops there but quite a large fleet lying in the river.

We went ashore; walked through the frame building standing in place of that blown up by the late fearful explosion. We climbed the steep hill, whose difficulty is mainly removed by the neat stairs that Yankee care has built since our occupation of the Point. At the top of the hill, we found a young sentry who halted us, and would not let us go further, till Porter, throwing himself on his dignity, which he does not use often, said: “Let that General know that Admiral Porter and Mr. Fox are here to see him.” He evidently impressed the sentry, for he said, after an instant's hesitation:— “Go ahead! I reckon it's all right.”

A common little wall-tent being indicated, we went up to beard the General. At our first knock he came to the door. He looked neater and more careful in his dress than usual; his hair was combed, his coat on, and his shirt clean, his long boots blackened till they shone. Everybody was presented.

After the conference was over we went back to the boat; the General accompanied us. We started down the river and soon had dinner. . . . . After dinner we all gathered around Grant who led the conversation for an hour or so. He thinks the rebels are about at the end of their tether, and said:— “I hope we will give them a blow this winter that will hasten their end.”

He was down on the Massachusetts idea of buying out of the draft by filling their quota with recruits at $300, from among the contrabands in Sherman's army. “Sherman’s head is level on that question,” he said in reply to some strictures of Mr. Forbes; “he knows he can get all these negroes that are worth having anyhow, and he prefers to get them that way rather than to fill up the quota of a distant State and thus diminish the fruits of the draft.” Sherman does not think so hopefully of negro troops as do many other Generals. Grant himself says they are admirable soldiers in many respects; quick and docile in a charge; excellent in fatigue duty. He says he does not think that an army of them could have stood the week's pounding at the Wilderness and Spottsylvania as our men did; “in fact no other troops in the world could have done it,” he said.

Grant is strongly of the belief that the rebel army is making its last grand rally; that they have reinforced to the extent of about 30,000 men in Virginia, Lee getting 20,000 and Early getting 10,000. He does not think they can sensibly increase their armies further. He says that he does not think they can recover from the blows he hopes to give them this winter.

He is deeply impressed with the vast importance and significance of the late Presidential election. The point which impressed him most powerfully was that which I regarded as the critical one — the pivotal centre of our history —the quiet and orderly character of the whole affair. No bloodshed or riot, — few frauds, and those detected and punished in an exemplary manner. It proves our worthiness of free institutions, and our capability of preserving them without running into anarchy or despotism.

Grant remained with us until nearly one o'clock at night — Monday morning — and then went to his own boat, the “Martin,” to sleep till day. Babcock, Dunn, and Badeau, of his staff, were with him.

. . . . We left Fort Monroe at 3½, and arrived at Washington Tuesday morning, the 15th, at 7 a. m.

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 245-50; Michael Burlingame & John R. Turner Ettlinger, Editors, Inside Lincoln’s White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay, p. 249-51.

Diary of John Hay: Monday, March 7, 1864

Key West. We steamed away as it grew light and arrived at Key West about noon. The Key lies bathed in the quiet ripples of the pale green water, whitened by the coral. So bright green that I cannot describe the gem-like shine of the distant waters. The sea-gulls that soar above the sea have their white breasts and inside wings splendidly stained with green by the reflection of the gleaming water.

I went ashore, and after several inquiries found that Gen'l W. lived half a mile from the dock. I went to a hotel to inquire about a carriage, and was referred to a Jew druggist, — who pointed to a bay rat hitched to a shay in front of his door, and implored me for pure love of God to be back by two. I drove out by the beach to the barracks; passed two black sentries, and found the General's Adjutant, Capt. Bowers, and soon thereafter Genl. W. I was expected, Gen. Banks’ orders having arrived some time ago. I arranged my matters in half an hour.

. . . . In the evening Stickney and I went out to see a “popular nigger” named Sandy. Some young “Knavies” were there. They chatted a moment, ordered some sapodillos (which tasted like Castile soap and rotten apples), and then went away saying they were going to see the ladies. Whereat Sandy chuckled and guffawed to the imminent danger of his supper, which he had been eating quietly, sensibly refusing to let our entrance disturb him.

Sandy talked mostly of his influential friends. “Captains and Colonels and them things,” and gingerly of the rebellious and fugacious. S. asked him if he were bothered much. “No! not sence I broke dat feller's jaw in tree pieces. I b’lieve he was a rebel — a passel of ’em, — a dozen, sah, come to debbil me; dey tore down my fence panels, and I went out to see. I ain’t feared o’ nobody. But a man got to be lively when he's fighting a passel, it's a busy time ob de year den. I hit one ob ’em and he straightened out like a log; broke his jaw in tree pieces; and de rest, dey run. I nebber complains; de officers, dey got dere hands full; mustn't trouble bout every little tittle. I's a darkey sort ob person. I takes off hat to everybody; but dey got to luff me alone.”

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 175-7. See, Michael Burlingame & John R. Turner Ettlinger, Editors, Inside Lincoln's White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay, p. 176-7 for the full diary entry.

Diary of John Hay: February 9, 1864

Jacksonville. . . . . We came to Jacksonville, gay with flags and busy with shipping at noon. I landed and found no General, no staff, no means of information. Ignorance the densest. Met Dorman, who took me to Mrs. Taylor’s. I saw in a few moments' glance the wretched story of two years. A lady, well-bred and refined, dressed worse than a bound girl, with a dirty and ragged gown that did not hide her trim ankles and fine legs. A white-haired, heavy-eyed, slow-speaking old young man. A type of thousands of homes where punishment of giant crimes has lit on humble innocents.

I put on my seven-leaguers and rode with Reese and Place in the afternoon around the pickets. Reese selected points for fortifications. We saw two negro regiments, one at dress parade, gay with banners, one in camp, fragrant with salt-horse. Some firing in the front, with ultimate intentions of mutton or fresh pork. As we came home we saw a train going to provision Gen Gilmore’s advance; — a pretty dowdy walking in the silent street, — and some blue-bellied vandals making themselves agreeable to one of the few remaining families.

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 162-3; Michael Burlingame, Editor, Inside Lincoln's White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay, p. 159-60

Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Friday, June 23, 1865

Drilled co. a. m. cooler today. One Regt of nigs come up Wednesday evening, go to Brownsville this P. M. At 2. P. M. detailed with 25 men for fatigue, wait 1 hour at the landing for wagons for lumber, during time ½ detail get drunk, hear 2 of 35th Wis to be shot at Bagdad tomorrow for stealing. At camp at 5. P. M. Genls Sheridan & Granger arrived at Bagdad.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 606

Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Saturday, June 24, 1865

To Bagdad a. m. for provision for mess, most of streets foot deep in water, return 11. A. M. attend Off’s call. Col sends communication from Capt Lacy, that the 33d would go home, orders would be issued immediately & to prepare the enc papers for muster out, go to Bagdad P. M. with nearly all the offs of Regt return at dark, parade this eve & two offs in the line. Genls Sheridan Steele Weitzel & Granger, pass up river for Brownville per steamer Heroine, (of Mobile), We await Genl Steeles return for transportation. The British ship Wolvernie fired a national salute at daybreak this morning in honor of the aniversity of the Queens Coronation, 2 Brigades of Nigs moved up to White Ranch last night

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 606

Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Friday, June 16, 1865

Genl Slack is assigned to command our Brigade. Issues orders for drill 2 hours. Parade sundown, no enlisted men to cross the river. Gulf so high that the black troops at Brazos cannot disembark.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 605-6

Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Sunday, May 28, 1865

Can hear an occasional shell burst in the fire of the ruins in town yet. Today there is an impression that we stay here but one or two days then to New Orleans thence home. Preaching evening, take a ride in skiff. Ship loaded with Negro soldiers passed out for New Orleans.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 604

Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Tuesday, May 16, 1865

Quite unwell this morning, with a severe attack of flux Keep my bed all day, & at night feel no better. Lt Loughridge was in town but could learn no news. A boat had arrived from New Orleans & brings important dispatches for this Army but they are secret This evening 300 Negros Ft. Pillow prisonors are brought down the river which proves they were not all killed at least, at 8. P. M. hear loud chearing soon learn the cause to be a dispatch recd from Wilson through Smith announcing the capture of the Traitor Jeff Davis. There is a rumor that Texas is surrendered but needs confirmation, & it is the Opinion that this Corps will go then whether or no, & it is said Hawkins Div of negros will be transferred to the corps in place of Veaches Div to be left at Mobile Smart Thunder shower this P. M.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 602

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: November 27, 1864

The regiment was paid off. During our stay in Columbus I visited the fort where the rebel General Forrest massacred the negro garrison a year before. I recognized it as the spot I visited in 1858, on my way South. The boat I was on at that time stopped at Columbus to take on wood and I went on shore. I noticed the high ground on the bluff above the town, and so, as was my wont, I must go up and see it. There was a fine view of the town, and the position commanded the river up and down for a long distance. I thought to myself it would be a good place to build a fort, but I did not dream there would be one there so soon, and that such a horrible tragedy would be enacted there.

SOURCE: Abstracted from George G. Smith, Leaves from a Soldier's Diary, p. 139

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 8, 1863

From intelligence received yesterday evening, it is probable the Alabama, Harriet Lane, and Florida have met off the West Indies, and turned upon the U. S. steamer Brooklyn. The account says a large steamer was seen on fire, and three others were delivering broadsides into her. The United States press thought the burning steamer was the Florida.

From Charleston or Savannah we shall soon have stirring news. They may overpower our forces, but our power there will be completely exhausted before resistance ceases. There will be no more “giving up,” as with New Orleans, Norfolk, etc. Yet there is a feverish anxiety regarding Vicksburg. Pemberton permitted one iron-clad gun-boat to pass, and all our boats below are now at its mercy.

The House of Representatives, at Washington, has passed the “negro soldier bill.” This will prove a “Pandora's Box,” and the Federals may rue the day that such a measure was adopted.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 256

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: June 25, 1864

The troops were reviewed by General Reynolds. There were forty-three white Regiments, four colored, one dismounted cavalry, seven batteries of forty guns. The boys caught a cat fish. They said it weighed seventy-five pounds. It looked more like a slaughtered hog than a fish.

SOURCE: Abstracted from George G. Smith, Leaves from a Soldier's Diary, p. 125

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Sunday, February 19, 1865

Pass Port Hudson in the night also Battan Rouge, all day passing through the richest contry I ever saw. fine plantations splendid houses & villages of negro houses in regular order with streets; land at Carrolton at 3. P. M. go off & look around but few troops here. Saw flowers in bloom, & oranges on trees. town all the way from here to New Orleans which place we land at at 4 P. M. Gnl Reports. we then cross & disimbark at Algiers at 4.30. any amount of Black troops, & our Brigade which is again disorganized. Hear that Genl Steele is removed. Genl Veach assigned the comd of a Div, raining when we land and 10. P. M. before our things get to camp. no wood & no fire. More than 200 sailing vessels lieing in river here and about 50 to 100 steamboats some 20 gunboats, no end to small craft. Some troops leave on a steam sailing vessel for 3d time wrecked and loss 15 men

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 574

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Saturday, February 18, 1865

Had a good run during the night A. M. Passed Natchez but did not get to see any of the city except “Natchez under the hill.” boat stopping but a few minutes. At 11.30 at the mouth of Red River where are stationed 8 gunboats & Monitors to guard the river, here had a sight of the formidable Rebel Ram Tenesee. She is a formidable looking vessel, at 1.45. landed at Murgauge. Saw Warren Alney, & took on board 1 battalion of 2 N Y. Cav. Place defended by 7 negro Regts & battery. Rebs close. Start down at 6.30

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 574

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: January 18, 1863

It was bitter cold last night, and everything is frozen this morning; there will be abundance of ice next summer, if we keep our ice-houses.

In these times of privation and destitution, I see many men, who were never prominent secessionists, enjoying comfortable positions, and seeking investments for their surplus funds. Surely there must be some compensation in this world or the next for the true patriots who have sacrificed everything, and still labor in subordinate positions, with faith and patient suffering. These men and their families go in rags, and upon half-rations, while the others fare most sumptuously.

We are now, in effect, in a state of siege, and none but the opulent, often those who have defrauded the government, can obtain a sufficiency of food and raiment. Calico, which could once be bought for 12 cts. per yard, is now selling at $2.25, and a lady's dress of calico costs her about $30.00. Bonnets are not to be had. Common bleached cotton shirting brings $1.50 per yard. All other dry goods are held in the same proportion. Common tallow candles are $1.25 per pound; soap, $1.00; hams, $1.00; oppossum $3.00; turkeys $4 to $11.00; sugar, brown, $1.00; molasses $8.00 per gallon; potatoes $6.00 per bushel, etc.

These evils might be remedied by the government, for there is no great scarcity of any of the substantial and necessities of life in the country, if they were only equally distributed. The difficulty is in procuring transportation, and the government monopolizes the railroads and canals.

Our military men apprehend no serious consequences from the army of negroes in process of organization by the Abolitionists at Washington. Gen. Rains says the negro cannot fight, and will always run away. He told me an anecdote yesterday which happened under his own observation. An officer, when going into battle, charged his servant to stay at his tent and take care of his property. In the fluctuations of the battle, some of the enemy's shot full in the vicinity of the tent, and the negro, with great white eyes, fled away with all his might. After the fight, and when the officer returned to his tent, he was vexed to learn that his slave had run away, but the boy soon returned, confronting his indignant master, who threatened to chastise him for disobedience of orders. Caesar said: “Massa, you told me to take care of your property, and dis property” (placing his hand on his breast) “is worf fifteen hundred dollars.” He escaped punishment.

Some 200,000 of the Abolition army will be disbanded in May by the expiration of their terms of enlistment, and we have every reason to believe that their places cannot be filled by new recruits. If we hold out until then, we shall be able to resist at all vital points.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 240-1

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Monday, July 4, 1864

Again another Fourth of July has come and, not as usual for the past three years, all is quiet. Who could have anticipated it with such conditions? It's very warm and dusty. Lieutenant Hill and I have been down to the Division hospital to see Lieutenant H. W. Kingsley. It has been the quietest time in camp to-day we have had in two months; have enjoyed it greatly. Colonel Henry Powell — a good soldier — formerly First Sergeant of Company F, Tenth Vermont, but promoted Colonel of U. S. C. T.* called to-day. I don't think he has a very exalted opinion of colored troops and he may be right; he's a man of good sense and judgment.

_______________

* United States Colored Troops.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 93-4

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Wednesday, February 15, 1865

Start at 2 A. M. Rowena passed us in the night. touched at St Charles at 8. A. M. negro Regt. there & fortifications landed at mouth of White river at 1. P. M. & camped ½ mile from river at 2 P. M. carried all our water from the river 126th Ill & detachment of 1st Ind Cav garrison this Post under comd of Genl ——. Liu Wm Wallace arrives from Pine Bluffs with F. L & K cos of 1st Iowa Cav enroute for Memphis. Some 6 or 8 boats here Weather Pleasant.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 574