The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-08-25


the following letter:
Headquarters Military Div. of the !
Miss, in the Field, near A tlsnta,
Georgia, July 80, 1864. J
John A. Spooner. E,q, Agent for the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Nash
vile, Tennessee
SiR:-Yours from Chattanooga, July
%, is received, notifying me of your ap.
poiu,ment by your State as Lieut. Col.
and Provost Marshal of Georgia, Ala
bama and Mississippi, under Act of Con
gress, approved jay ! 1854, to recruit
volunteers to be credited TO the States re.
specIisely.
Ga applying to General Webster, at
Nashville, he viii grant you pass
through our lines to tl,ose States, and, as
l have had considerable experience in
those States, would suggest recruiting
depo to be established al Macon and
Columbus, Miss, Selma. Montgomery
and Mobile, Ala, aud Columbus, Mil.
letseshe and Savannah, Ga.
90 net see that the law restricts you
TO tlack recruits, but you are at liberty to
COLLECT white recruits, also. 1t is waste
OF time and money 10 open rendezvous il
Northwestern Georgia, for assure GU
have not seen an able bodied mao, black
or white, there, lit for soldier, who wa
not ia this army or the one opposed to it.
You speak of the Impression going
abroad that am opposed to the organl.
zation of colored regiments.
My opinions are usually very positive
and there is no reason why you should
not know them.
Though entertaining profound rever-
ence tor our Congress, do doubt their
wisdom in passing this law:
/. Becsuse civilian agents about an
army are nuisance.
9. The duty of citizens 10 fight for
their country is too sacred one to be ped.
died of BY buying up the refuse of other
States.
3. 1t is unjust to the brave soldiers
and volunteers who are fighting, as those
who compose this army do, to place them
on par with the class of recruits you
are after.
4. The negro is in a transition state,
and is not the equal Of the white man.
3. He is liberated from his bondage BY
&C. Of war; aud the armies in the ielc
are entitled to all his assistance 10 labor
and lighting, in addition to the proper
quotas of the States.
G. This bidding and bartering for re
cruits, white and black, has delayed the
reinforcement Of our armies a. the times
when sneh reinforcemenls would have en-.
atled US TO make our successes perma.
neat.
Z. The law is an experiment which.
pending war, is unwise and unsafe. and
has delayed the universal draft which I
firmly believe will become necessary TO
overcome the wide spread resistance Of
Tered u; and also believe the universal
daft will be vice and benz fetal; for un
der the Providence Of God it will separate
the sheep from the goats. and demonstrate
what citizens will tight for their country
aud what will only talk.
No one will infer from this that am
not Trend of the negro as we'll as the
white race. | contend that the treason
and rebellion Of the master freed the
slave, and the armies | have commanded
have conducted to safe points more ne.
gro's than those of any General officer in
the army; bat prefer negroes for n;o.
neers, transfers, cooks aud ssfvants 9th.
ers gr~duaiiy TO experiment in the A., m
the soldier, beginning with the dutie. ot
local earrlsons, such as we had vt Nor
phiS, VIcksburg. Natchez, Nashville and
Chat'aaoogs But | would no, draw On
the pcor race for too large proportion of
its active. athletic young men, for some
must remain to seek for new homes and
provide for the old and young, the feeble
and helpless
These ere some of my peculiar notion..
but assure you they are shared by large
proportion of our lighting men.
lou may show this to the az euts of the
other States in the same business a. ,o,r.
self I am. etc,
(Sigued,) w. T. SnrnN.x
Major Gen.
-