New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-05-09
NEW ORLEANS REPUBLICAN, SUNDAY, NAY g. 1875

, | be wholly without remedy. had not the crime o
treason given them the right to pursue, cepturt
ana Drins BACK those persons Of whose benisnani
protection they have been thus suddenly and
cruelty bereft.
} TO the third interrogatory, it is my painful
| duty to reply that never have recelved any
specific authority for issues of clothing uniforms
arms, equipments, and so forth, to the troops il
| guestion-my general instructions from Me-
Cameron. to employ the III i'll any manner might
| find necessary. and the mill tarv exigencies OF The
department aud the country, being my only, but
| trust, suh1cient, Justification. Neither have
| had any sIeciiic authority tor supplying these
persons with shovels spades and pickaAes, when
| employlI them as labOrers; nor with boats and
oars, when using them lighter men: but these
| are not points included in Mr. Wickitie's resoul-
ton. TO me it seemed that liberty to employ
men IN any particular capacity implied and carried
with 1t Liberty also. to supply them with the
necessary toois; and acting upon this faith
| nave clothed, equipped and armed the only loyal
| Florida.
must say in vindcation of my own conduct.
that had it not been for the III snv other diversi.
tied aud imperative claims my time and a1te
ton, a mucn more satisfactory result might have
| oeen achieved; and that. IN place of only one
regiment as at present, least tlve or six well.
drilled brase and thoroughly accimated r-gi-
ments, should, by this time, have been added to
| the loyal forces of the Union.
The experiment of arnling the blacks, so far
| as have made it, has been complete and even
| marvellous success They are sober doce atten-
| tive and nthusiastic-dispiayng great natural
| capacities in acquiring the duties OF the soldier
| They are now eage beyond all things to take the
| field and be led into action; and 1t is the unan
| mots opinion OF the officers who have had charge
OF them that, i'll the peculiarites of this climate
and country they will prove invau able au xiliarIes
| fully equal to the similar regiments SO long and
successfully used by the British authorities il the
| West India islands.
| Ia conclusion. | would saw it is nv hope
there appearing no possibility of other reinforce
| III the Pennsula-tO have organized by the end uf
next tall, and be able to present to the govern
ment, from 1Orty-elght to fifty thousand OF these
| hardy and devoted soldiers.
Trusting that this letter may be made part of
| the honor to be-. very respectfully. your most
obedlent servant,
DAVID HUNTER.
Ma ior General Commanding.
This mssive was duly sent, with many
misgiviugs that it would not get throuyh
the routine OF the War Department in time
to be laid before Congress previous to the
adjournment of that honorable body, which
was then imminent. There were fears. TOO.
that the Secretary of War might think it
not sufficiently respectful or serious in it's
tone; but such apprehensions proved I'M
founded. The moment it was received and
read in the War Department it was hurried
down to the House, and delivered, ore 70.
tun90, from the Clerks desk
Here its effect was magical. The Clerk
could scarcely read it with decorum nor
could half his words be heard amidst the
universal peals OF laughter IN which both
Democrats and Republicans appeared to
MIR. Nicklitfe, who only entered during the
reading of the latter half Ut the document,
rose to his feet in frenzy of Indignation,
complaining that the reply, OF which he had |
only heard some portion, was an insult to |
the dignity of the House, and should be |
severely noticed.
The more he raved and gesticulated the |
more irrepressibly did his colleagues, on |
both sides of the slavery question scream
llu fho |
reached its climax on a motion made by |
some member-Schuyler Colfax, if we re- |
member rightly-that las the document |
appeared to please the honorable gentle
man from Kentucky so much, and as he
had not heard the whole of it, the Clerk be
now requested to read the whole again
a notion which was lnstantaneously carried
amid such an uproar OF universal merri-
ment and applause as the frescoed walls of
the chamber have seldom heard either be-
tore or since. 1t was the great joke of the
day and coming at moment OF universal |
gloom in the public mind, was seized upon
bv the whole loyal press Of the country as
a kind OF pOlltico-military champagne cock
tail.
This set the question at rest forever; and
not long after the proper authorities saw fit
to authorize the employment of 80 900
able-bodl-d blacks for labor in the Quarter.
masters Department" and the armlng and
drilling as soldiers of 5000 of 'these-but for
the sole purpose of protecting the women
aud children of their fellow la borers who
might be absent from home in the public
service"
Here we have another instance of the
reluctance with which tho national govern
nent took up this idea of employing ne
groes as soldlers-a resolution. we NAV add |
to which they were only finally compelled |
~ General Hunters disbandment Of his
original regiment. and the storm of public
Indignation which followed that act.
CHAPTER II.
Nothing could have been happier in its |
Effect upon the public than General Hunters
'eply to Mr.. Wicklitfe, of Kentucky, given
n our last. 1t produced general broad
.rln throughout the country, and the advo- .
ate who can set his jury laughing rarely :
Oses his cause. 1t also strengthened the :
pinal column of the government in a very t
marked degree, although not yet up to the !
'olut OF fully indorsing and accepting this e
arling experiment. t
Meantime the civil authorities, of course, il
ot wind of what was going on-Mr. Henry Z
. Windsor. special correspondent of the :
Jew York Times in the department of the a
outh. having devoted several very graphic b
nd widely copied letters to picture OF :
hat new thing under the sun-"Hunters "
egrO regiment" .
Of course the chiyalry of the rebellion C
-ere lncensed beyond measure at this last n
ankee outrage upon Southern rights. "
heir papers teemed with vindictive ar Il
cles against the commanding general who a.
AIRED to initiate such a novelty-the Savan- II
ali Republican,, in particular, denouncing it
[unter as 1.-THE cold boOded abolition mis- b
reant who. from his headquarters at Hilton o. o.
lead, Is engaged III executing the bloody
I'd savage behests of the imperial gorilla W
no. from his throne of human bones at tt
Washington, rules, reigns and riots over a. .,
ID destinies OF the british and degraded W
orth." IA
Mere newspaper abuse, however, by no D. D.
cans gave content to the outraged feel te
go of the chvalry. They therefore sent to
formal demand to our government for o.
formation as to wheth General Hunter. in
organizing his regiment of emancipated ca
ayes, had acted under the authority of dc
IT War Department., or whether the vii pl
my was OF his own conception If he had
ted under orders, why, then, terrible tn
easures of fierce retaliation against the &C
hole Yankee nation were to be adopted: o.
1t If, per contra, the in;quity were of his Of
vn motion and without the sanction of our al
'vernment, then the foreshadowed retribu- co
N should be made to fall only on Hunter az. an
ID his officers. I'M
To this demand. with its alternative of pc
reats, President Lincoln was in no mood n IN.
make any defnitive reply. In fact no he he
ply at all was sent-for, as yet, the most Ole
r-seeing political augurs could not deter de-
ne whether the bird seen in the sky of -,
e Southern department would prove an Ca ga,
oie OF UuZZ tIu. iUDiic opinion was I'm
/ formed upon the subject, though rapidly WI
ming There were millions who agreed yer
tn Hunter In believing that 1.-The black tin tin
IN should be made fight for the freedom an,
llch could not but be the issue of orr | Pre-
-to- | sol