Department should assume the administrative powers of the State. Its disorganized condition, the helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who infest nearly every county of the State, and avail themselves of the public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they find plunder, finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and ruining the State. In this condition the public safety and the success of our arms require unity of purpose, without let or hindrance, to the prompt administration of affairs. to inflict the extraordinary severities of the now governing law is rigidly confined to few, who are to be held strictly accountable for its exercise. They are also reminded that the same necessity which requires the establishment of martial law demands also the enforcement of the military law, which governs themselves with the same sudden severity. The commanding general therefore strictly prohibits all vexatious proceedings calculated unnecessarily to harass the citizens, and also unauthorized searches, seizures, and destruction of property, except in cases of military neces sity, and for which the officer authorizing or permitting it will be held strictly and personally responsible. In order, therefore, to suppress disorder, to maintain as far as now practicable the public peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and property of loyal citizens,ances a strict obedience to orders, close attention to duI do hereby extend and declare established martial law throughout the State of Missouri. The lines of the army of occupation in this State are for the present declared to extend from Leavenworth by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi river. All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by court-martial, and if found guilty will be shot. All officers commanding districts, posts, or detachments are enjoined to use the utmost prudence and circumspecon in the discharge of their duties. Under the circumts, and an earnest effort to protect and to avoid harassing iocent persons, is requested and expected everywhere fi m officers and men. The commanding general trusts that he will find few osions to reproach the troops. He hopes and believes that he will find many to admire and commend them. J. C. FREMONT, Major General Commanding. FREMONT. The property, real and personal, of all persons, in the PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST LETTER TO GENERAL State of Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men. [Private.] WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 2, 1861. MY DEAR SIR: Two points in your procla All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telemation of August 30th give me some anxiety: graphs, shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law. All persons engaged in treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to the enemies of the United States, in fomenting tumults, in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interests warned that they are exposing themselves to sudden and severe punishment. All persons who have been led away from their allegiance are required to return to their homes forthwith; any such absence, without sufficient cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them. The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the military authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of war demand. But this is not intended to suspend the ordinary tribunals of the country, where the law will be administered by the civil officers in the usual manner, and with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably exercised. The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public welfare, and in his efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only the acquiescence, but the active support of the loyal people of the country. J. C. FREMONT, [SPECIAL MILITARY ORDER.] HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT, ST. LOUIS, August 30, 1861. The commanding general sincerely regrets that he finds it necessary to make any reproach to the patriotic army under his command. He had hoped that the rigid enforcement of discipline and the good example of the mass of the enlightened soldiery which he has the honor to lead, would have been sufficient to correct in good time the irregularities and licence of the few who have reflected discredit upon our cause and ourselves But the extension of martial law to all the State of Missouri, rendered suddenly necessary by its unhappy condition, renders it equally imperative to call the army to good order and rigorous discipline. They are reminded that the power ance of the said order of Gen. Fremont, I will hang, draw, and quarter a minion of said Abraham Lincoln. First. Should you shoot a man according to the proclamation, the Confederates would very certainly shoot our best men in their hands, in retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my order that you allow no man to be shot under the procla mation without first having my approbation or consent. the closing paragraph, in relation to the conSecond. I think there is great danger that fiscation of property, and the liberating slaves of traitorous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends and turn them against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion, modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections of the act of Congress entitled, "An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," approved August 6, 1861, and copy of which act I herewith send you. This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure. I send it by a special messenger, in that it A. LINCOLN. GEN. FREMONT'S REPLY. ST. LOUIS, September 8, 1861. MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the second, by special messenger, I know to have been written While I am anxious that this unfortunate war shall be before you had received my letter, and before conducted, if possible, upon the most liberal principles of civilized warfare and every order that I have issued has my telegraphic dispatches and the rapid developbeen with that object-yet, if this rule is to be adopted, ment of critical conditions here had informed (and it must first be done by our enemies,) I intend to exceed Gen. Fremont in his excesses, and will make all tories you of affairs in this quarter. I had not writthat come within my reach rue the day that a different ten to you fully and frequently; first, because policy was adopted by their leaders. Already mills, barns, in the incessant change of affairs I would be warehouses, and other private property have been wastefully exposed to give you contradictory accounts; and wantonly destroyed by the enemy in this district, while we have taken nothing except articles strictly con- and, secondly, because the amount of the subtraband or absolutely necessary. Should these things be jects to be laid before you would demand too repeated, I will retaliate ten-fold, so help me God! much of your time. M. JEFF. THOMPSON, Trusting to have your confidence, I have to the confiscation of property and the libera- been leaving it to events themselves to show | you, upon the ground, could better judge of the you whether or not I was shaping affairs here necessities of your position than I could at this according to your ideas. The shortest com- distance, on seeing your proclamation of Aumunication between Washington and St. Louis gust 30th, I perceived no general objection to generally involves two days, and the employ-it. The particular clause, however, in relation ment of two days in time of war goes largely toward success or disaster. I therefore went along according to my own judgment, leaving the result of my movement to justify me with you. And so in regard to my proclamation of the thirtieth. Between the rebel armies, the provisional government, and home traitors, I felt the position bad, and saw danger. In the night I decided upon the proclamation and the form of it-I wrote it the next morning and printed it the same day. I did it without consultation or advice with any one, acting solely with my best judgment to serve the country and yourself, and perfectly willing to receive the amount of censure which should be thought due, if I had made a false movement. This is as much a movement in the war as a battle, and in going into these I shall have to act according to my judgment of the ground before me, as I did on this occasion. If, upon reflection, your better judgment still decides that I am wrong in the article respecting the liberation of slaves, I have to ask that you will openly direct me to make the correction. The implied censure will be received as a soldier always should the reprimand of his chief. If I were to retract of my own accord, it would imply that I myself thought it wrong, and that I had acted without the reflection which the gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full deliberation, and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure right and necessary, and I think so still. In regard to the other point of the proclamation to which you refer, I desire to say that I do not think the enemy can either misconstrue or urge anything against it, or undertake to make unusual retaliation. The shooting of men who shall rise in arms against an army in the military occupation of a country is merely a necessary measure of defence, and entirely according to the usages of civilized warfare. The article does not at all refer to prisoners of war, and certainly our enemies have no grounds for requiring that we should waive in their benefit any of the ordinary advantages which the usages of war allow to us. As promptitude is itself an advantage in war, I have also to ask that you will permit me to carry out upon the spot the provisions of the proclamation in this respect. Looking at affairs from this point of view, I am satisfied that strong and vigorous measures have now become necessary to the success of our arms; and hoping that my views may have the honor to meet your approval, I am, with respect and regard, very truly yours. Maj. Gen. JOHN C. FREMONT. A. LINCOLN. GENERAL FREMONT'S LETTER TO REBEL COLONEL SIR: Yours of the 8th instant, containing an erroneous construction of my proclamation of the 30th ultimo, has had my attention. I understand the object of your note to be to enquire whether it was my intention to shoot the wounded who might be made prisoners by the forces under my command. The following paragraph, extracted from the proclamation, will be strictly enforced within the lines pre scribed against the class of offenders for whom it was intended, viz: "All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by a court martial, and if found guilty will be shot." The lines are expressly declared to be those of the army in the military occupation of this State. You have wholly misapprehended the meaning of the proclamation. Without undertaking to determine the condition of any man engaged in this rebellion, I desire it to be clearly understood that the proclamation is intended distinctly to recognize the usual rights of an open enemy in the field, and to be in all respects strictly conformable with the usages of war. It is hardly necessary for me to say that it was not prepared with any purpose to ignore the ordinary rights of humanity with respect to the wounded men, or those who are humanely engaged in alleviating their sufferings. J. C. FREMONT, Major General Commanding. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS OF THE WAR OFFICE. clared by the proclamation of the President to be in a state General Butler on the 30th of May and the 8th of August, copies of which are herewith furnished to you. As special directions, adapted to special circumstances, cannot be given, much must be referred to your own discretion as commanding general of the expedition. You will, however, in general avail yourself of the services of any persons, whether fugitives from labor or not, who may offer them to the national Government; you will employ such persons in such services as they may be fitted for, either as ordinary employés, or, if special circumstances seem to require it, in any other capacity with such organization, in squads, companies, or otherwise, as you deem most beneficial to the service. This, however, not to mean a general arming of them for military service. You will assure all loyal masters that Congress will provide just compensation to them for the loss of the services of the persons so employed. It is believed that the course thus indicated will best secure the substantial rights of loyal masters, and the benefits to the United States of the services of all disposed to support the Government, while it avoids all interference with the social systems or local institutions of every State, beyond that which insurrection makes unavoidable, and which a restoration of peaceful relations to the Union, under the Constitution, will immediately remove. Respectfully, SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War. Commanding Expedition to the Southern Coast. In pursuance of these instructions, a proclamation was issued by General Sherman to the people of South Carolina, saying that Brigadier General T. W. SHERMAN, In obedience to the orders of the President of these United States of America, I have landed on your shores with a small force of national troops. The dictates of a duty which, under these circumstances, I owe to a great sovereign State, and to a proud and hospitable people, among whom I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, prompt me to proclaim that we have come amongst you with no feelings of personal animosity, no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or interfere with any of your lawful rights or your social or local institutions, beyond what the causes herein alluded to may render unavoidable. Major General Dix also issued a proclamation to the people of Accomac and Northampton counties, Virginia, dated November 13, 1861, beginning as follows: The military forces of the United States are about to enter your counties as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and with the earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be forced to become your enemies. They will invade no rights of person or property. On the contrary, your laws, your institutions, your usages, will be scrupulously respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any fireside will be disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by yourselves. Special directions have been given' not to interfere with the condition of any person held to domestic service; and, in order that there may be no ground for mistake or pretext for misrepresentation, commanders of regiments and corps have been justructed not to permit any such persons to come within their lines. The same day, Major General Wool issued this order: HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, [Special Orders No. 72.] FORT MONROE, October 14, 1861. All colored persons called contrabands, employed as servants by officers and others residing within Fort Monroe, or outside of the Fort at Camp Hamilton and Camp Butler will be furnished with their subsistence and at least eight dollars per month for males, and four dollars per month for females, by the officers or others thus employing them. So much of the above named sams, as may be necessary to furnish clothing, to be decided by the Chief Quartermaster of the department, will be applied to that purpose, and the remainder will be paid into his hands to create a fund for the support of those contrabands who are unable to work for their own support. All able-bodied colored persons who are under the protection of the troops of this department, and who are not employed as servants, will be immediately put to work in either the Engineer's or Quartermaster's Department. By command of Major General Wool: (Signed) WM. D. WHIPPLE, Assistant Adjutant General. Again, November 1, 1861 : HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, [General Orders No. 34.] Class 1st.-Negro men over eighteen years of age, and able-bodied, ten dollars per month, one ration and the necessary amount of clothing. Class 2d.-Negro boys from 12 to 18 years of age, and sickly and infirm negro men, five dollars per month, one ration, and the necessary amount of clothing. The quartermaster will furnish all the clothing. The department employing these men will furnish the subsistence specified above, and as an incentive to good behavior (to be withheld at the direction of the chiefs of the departments respectively) each individual of the first class will receive $2 per month, and each individual of the second class $1 per month, for their own use. The remainder of the money valuation of their labor will be turned over to the quartermaster, who will deduct from it the cost of the clothing issued to them; the balance will constitute a fund to be expended by the quartermaster under the direction of the commanding officer of the department of Virginia for the support of the women and children and those that are unable to work. For any unusual amount of labor performed they may receive extra pay, varying in amount from fifty cents to one dollar, this to be paid by the departments employing them, to the men themselves, and to be for their own use. Should any man be prevented from working, on account of sickness, for six consecutive days, or ten days in any one month, one half of the money value will be paid. For be ing prevented from laboring for a longer period than ten days in any one month all pay and allowances cease. By command of Major General Wool: WM. D. WHIPPLE, Assistant Adjutant General. (Signed) This Department understands that such persons afterwards coming into the city of Washington are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon the presumption, arising from color, that they are fugitives from service or labor. By the 4th section of the act of Congress approved Asgust 6th, 1861, entitled "An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," such hostile employ ment is made a full and sufficient answer to any further claim to service or labor. Persons thus employed and es caping are received into the military protection of the United States, and their arrest as fugitives from service or labor should be immediately followed by the military arrest of the parties making the seizure. Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the city of Washington and to the Marshal of the Dis * General Halleck, in a letter, thus explained the order: HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, ST. LOUIS, December 8, 1861. MY DEAR COLONEL: Yours of the 4th instant is just received. Order No. 3 was, in my mind, clearly a military necessity. Unauthorized persons, black or white, free or slaves, must be kept out of our camps, unless we are willing to publish to the enemy everything we do or intend to do. It was a military and not a political order. I am ready to carry out any lawful instructions in regard to fugitive slaves which my superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which Congress may pass. But I cannot make law, and will not violate it. You know my private opinion on the policy of confiscating the slave property of rebels in arms. If Congress shall pass it, yon may be certain that I shall enforce it. Perhaps my policy as to the treatment of rebels and their property is as well set out in Order No. 13, issued the day your letter was written, as I could now describe it. Hon. F. P. BLAIR, Washington. trict of Columbia, that any collision between the civil and the rebels, and their rapine would be defended under the military authorities may be avoided. I am, General, your very obedient, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, laws of war. While the loyal States thus have all their property and possessions at stake, are the insurgent rebels to carry on warfare against the Government in peace and security to their own property? Reason and justice and self-preservation forbid that FROM THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR, such should be the policy of this Government, but demand, DEC. 1, 1861. It is already a grave question what shall be done with those slaves who were abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into southern territory, as at Beaufort district, in South Carolina. The number left within our control at that point is very considerable, and similar cases will probably occur. What shall be done with them? Can we afford to send them forward to their masters, to be by them armed against us, or used in producing supplies to sustain the rebellion? Their labor may be useful to us; withheld from the enemy it lessens his military resources, and withholding them has no tendency to induce the horrors of insurrection, even in the rebel communities. They constitute a military resource, and, being such, that they should not be turned over to the enemy is too plain to discuss. Why deprive him of supplies by a blockade, and voluntarily give him men to produce them? The disposition to be made of the slaves of rebels, after the close of the war, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress. The Representatives of the people will unquestionably secure to the loyal slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the country. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War. It is understood that the Report of the Secretary of War, as originally prepared was as follows, and that it was modified at the request of the PRESIDENT: It has become a grave question for determination what shall be done with the slaves abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into southern territory, as in the Beaufort district of South Carolina. The whole white population therein is six thousand, while the number of negroes exceeds thirty-two thousand. The panic which drove their masters in wild confusion from their homes, leaves them in undisputed possession of the soil. Shall they, armed by their masters, be placed in the field to fight against us, or shall their labor be continually employed in reproducing the means for supporting the armies of rebellion? The war into which this Government has been forced by rebellious traitors is carried on for the purpose of repossessing the property violently and treacherously seized upon by the enemies of the Government, and to re-establish the authority and laws of the United States in the places where it is opposed or overthrown by armed insurrection and rebellion. Its purpose is to recover and defend what is justly its own. War, even between independent nations, is made to subdue the enemy, and all that belongs to that enemy, by occupying the hostile country, and exercising dominion over all the men and things within its territory. This being true in respect to independent nations at war with each other, it follows that rebels who are laboring by force of arms to overthrow a Government, justly bring upon themselves all the consequences of war, and provoke the destruction merited by the worst of crimes. That Government would be false to national trust, and would justly excite the ridicule of the civilized world, that would abstain from the use of any efficient means to preserve its own existence, or to overcome a rebellious and traitorous enemy, by sparing or protecting the property of those who are waging war against it. The principal wealth and power of the rebel States is a peculiar species of property, consisting of the service or labor of African slaves, or the descendants of Africans. This property has been variously estimated at the value of from seven hundred million to one thousand million dollars. Why should this property be exempt from the hazards and consequences of a rebellious war? It was the boast of the leader of the rebellion, while he yet had a seat in the Senate of the United States, that the Bouthern States would be comparatively safe and free from the burdens of war, if it should be brought on by the contemplated rebellion, and that boast was accompanied by the savage threat that "northern towns and cities would become the victims of rapine and military spoil," and that "northern men should smell southern gunpowder and feel southern steel." No one doubts the disposition of the rebels to carry that threat into execution. The wealth of northern towns and cities, the produce of northern farms, northern workshops and manufactories would certainly be seized, destroyed, or appropriated as military spoil. No property in the Now bawared from the hands of on the contrary, that, being forced by traitors and rebels to the extremity of war, all the rights and powers of war should be exercised to bring it to a speedy end. Those who war against the Government justly forfeit all rights of property, privilege, or security, derived from the Constitution and laws, against which they are in armed rebellion; and as the labor and service of their slaves constitute the chief property of the rebels, such property should share the common fate of war to which they have devoted the property of loyal citizens. While it is plain that the slave property of the South is justly subjected to all the consequences of this rebellious war, and that the Government would be untrue to its trust in not employing all the rights and powers of war to bring it to a speedy close, the details of the plan for doing so, like all other military measures, must, in a great degree, be left to be determined by particular exigencies. The disposition of other property belonging to the rebels that becomes subject to our arms is governed by the circumstances of the case. The Government has no power to hold slaves, none to restrain a slave of his liberty, or to exact his service. It has a right, however, to use the voluntary service of slaves liberated by war from their rebel masters, like any other property of the rebels, in whatever mode may be most efficient for the defence of the Government, the prosecution of the war, and the suppression of rebellion. It is clearly a right of the Government to arm slaves when it may become necessary as it is to take gunpowder from the enemy. Whether it is expedient to do so is purely a military question. The right is unquestionable by the laws of war. The expediency must be determined by circumstances, keeping in view the great object of overcoming the the rebels, re-establishing the laws, and restoring peace to the nation. It is vain and idle for the Government to carry on this war, or hope to maintain its existence against rebellious force, without employing all the rights and powers of war, As has been said, the right to deprive the rebels of their property in slaves and slave labor is as clear and absolute as the right to take forage from the field, or cotton from the warehouse, or powder and arms from the magazine. To leave the enemy in the possession of such property as forage and cotton and military stores, and the means of constantly reproducing them, would be madness. It is, therefore, equal madness to leave them in peaceful and secure possession of slave property, more valuable and efficient to them for war than forage, cotton, and military stores. Such policy would be national suicide. What to do with that species of property is a question that time and circumstances will solve, and need not be anticipated further than to repeat that they cannot be held by the Government as slaves. It would be useless to keep them as prisoners of war; and self-preservation, the highest duty of a Government, or of individuals, demands that they should be disposed of or employed in the most effective manner that will tend most speedily to suppress the insurrection and restore the authority of the Government. If it shall be found that the men who have been held by the rebels as slaves are capable of bearing arms and performing efficient military service, it is the right, and may become the duty, of this Government to arm and equip them, and employ their services against the rebels, under proper military regulations, discipline, and command. But in whatever manner they may be used by the Government, it is plain that, once liberated by the rebellious act of their masters, they should never again be restored to bondage. By the master's treason and rebellion he forfeits all right to the labor and service of his slave; and the slave of the rebellious master, by his service to the Government, becomes justly entitled to freedom and protection. The disposition to be made of the slaves of rebels, after the close of the war, can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress. The representatives of the people will unquestionably secure to the loyal slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the country. GENERAL BURNSIDE'S PROCLAMATION. ROANOKE ISLAND, N. C., February 18, 1862. TO THE PEOPLE OF NORTH CAROLINA: The mission of our joint expedition is not to invade any c your rights, but to assert the authority of the United States, and to close with you the desolating war brought upon your State by comparatively a few bad men in your midst. The Government asks only that its authority may be rec ognized; and we repeat, in no manner or way does it desire to interfere with your laws, constitutionally established, your institutions of any kind whatever, your property of any sort, or your usages in any respect. L. M. GOLDSBOROUGH, Flag Officer, Commanding North Carolina Blockading Squadron. A. E. BURNSIDE, Brigadier General, Commanding Department of North Carolina. GENERAL HALLECK'S PROCLAMATION. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF Missouri, ST. LOUIS, February 23, 1862. The major general commanding the department desires to impresa upon all officers the importance of preserving good order and discipline among their troops as the armies of the West advance into Tennessee and the southern States. Soldiers! let no excoss on your part tarnish the glory of our arms! | Brigadier General D. E. Sickles, to report as to the occur rence at this camp on the afternoon of the 26th instant, I beg leave to submit the following: At about 3.30 o'clock p. m., March 26, 1862, admission within our lines was demanded by a party of horsemen, (civilians,) numbering, perhaps, fifteen. They presented the lieutenant commanding the guard with an order of entrance from Brigadier General Joseph Hooker, commanding division, (copy appended,) the order stating that nine men should be admitted. I ordered that the balance of the party should remain without the lines; which was done. Upon the appearance of the others, there was visible dissatisfaction and considerable murmuring among the soldiers, to so great an extent that I almost feared for the safety of the slave-owners. At this time General Sickles opportunely arrived, and instructed me to order them outside the camp, which I did, amidst the loud cheers of our soldiers, It is proper to add, that before entering our lines, and within about seventy-five or one hundred yards of our camp, one of their number discharged two pistol shots at a negro, whe was running past them, with an evident intention of taking his life. This justly enraged our men. All of which is respectfully submitted. Your obedient servant, The order heretofore issued in this department, in regard to pillaging and marauding, the destruction of private prop. erty, and the stealing or concealment of slaves, must be strictly enforced. It does not belong to the military to decide upon the relation of master and slave. Such questions must be settled by the civil courts. No fugitive slave will To Lieutenant J. L. PALMER, Jr., therefore be admitted within our lines or camps, except when specially ordered by the general commanding. Military stores and the public property of the enemy must be surrendered, and any attempt to conceal such property, by fraudulent transfer or otherwise, will be punished, but no private property will be touched urless by order of the general commanding. Wherever it becomes necessary to obtain forced contributions for the supply and subsistence of our troops, such levies will be made as light as possible, and be so distributed as to produce no distress among the people. All property so taken must be receipted and fully accounted for, as heretofore directed. These orders will be read at the head of every regiment, and all officers are commanded to strictly enforce them. By command of Major General Halleck: N. H. MCLEAN, Adjutant General. GENERAL BUELL'S LETTER. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, Nashville, March 6, 1862. DEAR SIR: I have had the honor to receive your communication of the 1st instant on the subject of fugitive slaves in the camps of the army. It has come to my knowledge that slaves sometimes make their way improperly into our lines, and in some instances they may be enticed there, but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several applications have been made to ine by persons whose servants have been found in our camps, and in every instance that I know of the master has recovered his servant and taken him away. I need hardly remind you that there will always be found D. C. BUELL, Hon. J.R. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Military Committee, Frankfort, Ky. JOHN TOLEN, Major Commanding Second Regiment, E. B. A. D. C. and A. A. A. General. GENERAL DOUBLEDAY'S ORder. HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DEFENSES WASHINGTON, April 6, 1862. SIR: I am directed by General Doubleday to say, in an swer to your letter of the 2d instant, that all negroes coming into the lines of any of the camps or forts under his cou mand, are to be treated as persons, and not as chattels camp the power of surrendering persons claimed as fugitive slaves, as it cannot be done without determining their character. Under no circumstances has the commander of a fort or The additional article of war recently passed by Congress positively prohibits this. The question has been asked, whether it would not be better to exclude negroes altogether from the lines. The general is of the opinion that they bring much valuable information, which cannot be obtained from any other source, They are acquainted with all the roads, paths, fords, and other natural features of the country, and they make excellent guides. They also know and frequently have exposed the haunts of secession spies and traitors and the existence of rebel organizations. They will not, therefore, be ex cluded. The general also directs me to say that civil process cannot be served directly in the camps or forts of his command, without full authority be obtained from the commanding officer for that purpose. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Lieut. Col. JOHN D. SHAUL, PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION RESCINDING GENERAL GENERAL HOOKER'S ORDER IN A FUGITIVE SLAVE what purports to be a proclamation of Major CASE. HEADQUARTERS, HOOKER'S DIVISION, CAMP BAKER, TO BRIGADE AND REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS OF THIS DIVISION: JOSEPH DICKINSON, General Hunter, in the words and figures fol lowing, to wit: HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, HILTON HEAD, S. C., May 9, 1862. [General Orders No. 11.] The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising the military department of the South, having deliberately declared themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare them under martial law. This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible; the persons in these three States – Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina-heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free. |