The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-01-23

Representatives calling upon the sec
rotary Of war for information. The
resolution was forwarded TO Gen. Hun
ter, who made a comprehensive and
practical report, which was forwarded
to congress and was recognized by the
country as a full justifica on of his
act. Mr.. Wyckliff created a scene in
the house by denouncing Gen. Hunter
and declaring that the enlistment of
negroes was an insult TO every white
soldier in the army. Nevertheless con-
gress authorized the president to enlist
persons Of African descent" but pro
vided that they should be used as la
borers il the camps and forts, and were
not to be allowed to bear arms
Gen. Jim Lane of Kansas, who had
been commissioned to recruit volun-
teers, TOOK advantage of this authority
and assumed the responsibility of en-
listing an entire regiment of free col
ored men in that state Many of them
were runaway slaves from Missouri
ard Arkansas Some had purchased
their own freedom. Others had been
rescued by the abolitionists. For a
long time the war department refused
officially TO recognize Jim Lane mig
gers" but he knew he had the sympa-
thy of President Lincoln and Secretary
Stanton, and marched them over the
border, where they took part in several
battles and demonstrated their courage
and efficiency.
The enlistment of negroes was Speci-
fcally prohibited by an army regula-
ton. but nobody knew anything about
it, and the paragraph was not discov-
cred until the regulations were revised
several years afterward.
About the same time Gen. Butler,
who was commanding at New Orleans,
began to organize the free negroes in
his department into companies, battal-
ions and regiments. They had pre-
viously been organized by the Confed-
crate authorities in Louisiana as state
militia. When Gen. Butler reported to
the war department what he had done
the secretary of war simply acknowl-
edged the receipt of his communica-
ton and gave his act the sanction of
silence. President Lincoln, in private
conversation, encouraged the enlist
ment of colored troops, but purposely
avoided the formal recognition of their
4 ted g. %
lie opinion in opposition to their recog-
milton. His experience during the pre-
vious year while Gen. Butler was com
handing in the Virginia peninsula con-
about the camps had taught him eau
ton, and he preferred that those who
sympathized with the advancement OF
the slaves should go on quietly to de
.nonstrate their capacity as soldiers be
fore their existence was officially
recognized 1t will be remembered that
Gen. Butler, in a correspondence that
Is historical, took the ground that ne.
groes, or escaped slaves, like horses
or mules. or any other property cap.
tured from the enemy, were contra
band of war.
Much to the annoyance of the presi-
dent and Secretary Stanton, and even
more so to Gen. Butler. Gen. Godfrey
Weitzel, who had been assigned to the
command of a brigade of negroes by
Gen. Butler. refused to accept the de-
\ 60 hrro ht.att
prominently before the public. Ii
should be said. however. that Gen
Weitzel considered it an honor two
years later 10 command the entire
corps OF negro troops.
Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, who was adj
jutant general, was sent West by Sec
rotary Stanton about this time, and
visited the headquarters of the Union
army in several of the Western and
Southern states, where he privately adj
vised that all colored men who pre-
sented themselves be enlisted on even
terms with the whites, but cautioned
recruiting officers not to call attention
In their reports TO the fact.
Gen. Rufus Saxon was the first Of
fcer to receive official authority to en-
list negroes as soldiers. On the Goth of
August. 1862. the secretary of war or
dered him to proceed to the Depart
ment of the South and organize 5000
troops of african descent" which
Nere to be designated for service in
garrisons not in danger of attack by the
enemy, to relieve white regiments
whose terms Of enlistment had expired.
But one of Gen. Saxon's first acts after
recruiting regiment was to send it
on foraging expedition into the en-
emy's country. The result was entirely
| satisfactory. The colored men proved
to be remarkably good foragers. and
brought in more supplies than three
times the number of white men could
have secured.
A few months later bureau was or
ganized in the war department to direct
the enlistment and organization of ne
gro troops. BY this time the people of
the North were prepared for the inno-
'RtlOi anu ul'piduOtt liC ODltOl
that was thus given to enable the negro
to fight for the freedom of his race,
but in Kentucky, Missouri and other
border states, the prejudice was In
tense. Several recruiting officers were
tarred and feathered and others were
shot. Several officers were dismissed
from the army for refusing to command
negro troops; others resigned in pref
erence to doing so.
This prejudice in the South was the
more remarkable because the Confeder-
ate government had used negroes as
auxiliaries from the beginning of the
war. They were employed as servants
as laborers. as messengers, as hostlers
and In various other capacities, and