The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1863-02-25

them rs soldiers to fight in defense of theil
country"
Governor Cooke, in reporting the result
to Washington said:
"libcrty is given to every effective slave to on
ter into the service during the war; aud upon hi,
passing muster he is absolutely made free, and en-
titled to all the wages, bounties and oncouragc
menis given by Congress to any soldier onlis,iul
into their service. The number oi
slaves is not great but it is generally thought tha
three hundred and upwards will be enlisted"
His expectations were not disappointed
anf these slaves who won their own free.
dom in lighting for american Independence
took the field in force. Before the end ot
the year these meh were tried and not
found wanting. In the hattie OF Rhode
Island, August % 1857. said Ivy Lafayette
10 have been the best fought action oI
she whole war this noWly-raisGd black
regiment, under Colonel Greene, dstin.
gujshed itself by deeds of desperate valor
repelling three times the fierce assault oI
an overwhelming torco of llcssian troops
Aud So they continued to discharge their
duty with zeal end fdeity-.never losing
amy Of their frat laurels so galMntly won
IL is not improbable that Colonel John l.au.
rcns witnessed and drew some of his inspi.
ration from the scene of their first trial in
the field.
Ii viii he noticed that in the absence of
l0mdl system Nnder continental author.
ity black men continued tn find their way
into the service undpr variuus laws. and
sometimes under no law, or in defiance OF
law. Probably every State had its colorcd
representatives among the soldicry-aud
there are Acknowledgements OF services cx.
pccted or rendered, among the records OF
nearly all the Statgs
IN New Hampshire, those blacks who Ell.
listed into the army for three years were
entitled to the same bounty as the whites
This bounty their masters received as the
price of their liberty, and then delivered
NJ thoir bills of sale, and gave them a Ger.
tihcate of msnumission. Most of the
slaves i'll New Hampshire were emanci
pated by their owners, with the exception
OF such rs had grown sid IN sorVioc, and
refused to accept their freedom, remaining
with their masters, or rs pensioners on the
families Of their descendants.
In Massachusetts, whose earlier action
has been noted, n committee Of the Lcgis
lature, III lis, reported in favor of raising
a regiment of negroes, mulattoes. or lndi
ans in which ono sergeant in each com
pany, and all the higher officers, were to bC
white men.
tunntGticut, IQu, is said Ia have resoricd
to tho. oNrodient of forming corps o
colored soldiers, when the difficulties oi
recruiting became pressing, and the late
General Humphreys, who was attached tt
the military family of the commandment
chief, like Laurens, accepted the command
of a company of these men, who are Qqid
to have " conducted themselves with lidel
ity and efficiency throughout the war"
In New York ,iwhorc the system of do
mestic slavery was as firmly and vigorously
established as i'll any part of the country
under colonial laws-ccrtainly with more
severity than in either Massachusetts OF
Conccticut--the first act that went to re-
lax tie system was tho act Qi li5l, whicl
gave freedom to all slaves who SHOULD
serve in the army for the term of three
years, or until regularly discharged. Tn,
enlistment was to be with tho consent o
the owner, who received the land bounty
aud was discharged from any future main,
ten..nce of the slave.
1t is singular contrast that, in New Jer.
sey, the enlistment OF slaves was prohib
tied to the same year, lISl.
IN $50, an act Was passed. IN Maryland
10 procure ono thousand men, to serve three
years, Tho property in tho State was di-
vided into classes of IL 600, each of which
was, within twenty days, TO furnish one re-
cruit. who might be either a freeman or
"a slave. In 1852, the Legislature resolved to
raise, Immediately seven hundred and fifty
negroes, to he incorporated with other
troops.
Among IT,? Inducements offered to re.
Grulte m lhe Southern States, "a healthy
snnud negro, between the ages of ten and
thirty years, or sixty pounds in gold or sill
yer, at the option of the soldier, in lieu
thereof" as well as the land bounty. were
given lin Virginia) to soldiers already en-
listed, or who should enlist and serve to
the end of the war.
South Carolina, gave similar bounty,
g one sound negro, between the age of ten
years and forty" for each and every year s
service, to soldiers enlisted for three years
or during the war,
Tho idea iha, the negEoes might be put
to a better use did not escape all the states
men of Virginia James Madison at that
time member Of the Continental Congress
expressing his satisfaction with the deter
minatiOn of the Legislature of that State to
recruit their line of the army for the war,
refers 10 the negro bounty as follows:
without deciding on the expediency Of the
mode under their consideration, would it not be as
well 20 liberate and make soldiers at once of the
blacks themselves, as to make them instruments
for enlistng white soldieEs7 1t would pertaigly be
more cOnSOnant 10 the principles Of liberty which
ought never to be lost sight of in contest for lib
erty; and with wEite officers and majority of
white soldiers, no imaginable danger could be
feared from themselves, ms there certainly could
be none from the effect of the example Of those
who should remain in neutrality-suspicious. having
shown that trocd-Iaan immediately loses all at
taehment and sympathy with his former fellow
slaves"
In Virginia an act was passed in l777'
that no negro should be enlisted without
a certificate of freedom, the preamble to
which declares that slaves had deserted
their masters, and under pretense of being
treemen had enlisted as soldiers.
I'm the "Od Dominion too, many per-
SONS during the course of the war caused
their slaves to cnlist having rendered them
to the recruiting officers as substitutes for
free persons, whose lot or duty it was to
serve in the army. at the same time repre-
senting that these slaves were freemen. On
the expiration of the term of enlistment
the former owners attempted to force them
to return to a state of servitudc, with equal
disregard of tho principles of justice and
their own promise.
The infamy of such proceedings aroused
a just indignation, and led 10 an act of eman-
cipation of all slaves who had been thus en-
listed and served their term faithfully. The
act acknowledged that such persons hav-
ing contributed towards the establishing
of American liberty and independence,
should enjoy the blessings of freedom as a
reward for their tolls and lsbors aud author
ICES them to sue IN Gorma pauperiS and to
recover damages, il detained in slavery.