CHAPTER LXXV. THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH-GENERAL MITCHEL-MILITARY AFFAIRS, APRIL- OCTOBER, 1862. MAJOR-GENERAL DAVID HUNTER succeeded General Sherman in command of the Department of the South, comprising the States of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, on the 31st of March. He was accompanied by General Benham, who, since the pursuit of Floyd in Western Virginia, had not been employed in active operations in the field, and to whom now was assigned the command of the district embracing the extreme northern part of Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia, with his headquarters at Port Royal. This was called the Northern District. Two others were formed, the Southern and Western Districts; the former under command of Brigadier-General J. M. Brannan, including the eastern and southern portions of Florida; the latter the western region, with headquarters at Fort Pickens, under command of Brigadier-General L. G. Arnold. The first prominent event in the department, the capture of Fort Pulaski, in the concluding operations attending which, and the final surrender, both Generals Hunter and Benham bore a part, we have already minutely described, with the attendant naval operations on the coast of Florida.* The next stirring incident in the department, the notable order of General Hunter, of May 9th, respecting slavery, has also been noticed in connection with the national movements on that subject in Congress, and the course of President Lincoln. That order which was preceded by a proclamation of martial law throughout his department, declared the absolute emancipation of slaves in the States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, was thought by the President far too radical and sweeping to issue from the local commander of a department, and was accordingly pronounced void. Within the more limited jurisdiction within the lines of his army, however, the policy of General Hunter with regard to slavery was not interfered with. There he availed himself of every means to elevate the condition of the colored population and make them available for the support of the army in the cultivation of the fields and in preparation for military service in the field. The former, as we have seen, had been already provided for under the administration of General Sherman, and the labors of the superintendent, Mr. Pierce.* The latter, General Hunter, foreseeing its importance as an element in the further conduct of the struggle in which the nation was forced, gave particular attention to. In advance of general public opinion in the North on the subject, he held that the negro, properly instructed, would form a most available fighting man, and he accordingly early lent his efforts in the department to make him such. Free papers or deeds of emancipation were issued by him in accordance with the act of Congress liberating slaves of rebels, in the following terms:-"“ It having been proven to the entire satisfaction of the general commanding the Department of the South, that the bearer, named heretofore held in involuntary servitude, has been directly employed to aid and assist those in rebellion against the United States of America: Now, be it known to all that, agreeably to the laws, I declare the * Ante p. 118. said person free and forever absolved pany him. For three days he kept the from all claims to his services. Both he provisions of the party secreted in the and his wife and his children have full hold, awaiting an opportunity to slip right to go north, south, east, or west, as away. At length, on Monday evening, they may decide." Accompanying these the white officers of the vessel went on guarantees of freedom came an appeal shore to spend the night, intending to to the negroes to enlist in military ser- start on the following morning for Fort vice. An incident which occurred in Ripley and to be absent from the city May, a few days after the issue of the for some days. The families of the conorder, was undoubtedly calculated to trabands were notified and came stealthstimulate his resolution in the matter. ily on board. At about three o'clock This was the daring and courageous ad- the fires were lit under the boilers, and venture of a party of the colored popu- the vessel steamed quietly away down lation of Charleston in escaping from the harbor. The tide was against her, that city and bringing out from under and Fort Sumter was not reached till the batteries of the forts and delivering broad daylight. daylight. However, the boat to the Union blockading squadron a. passed directly under its walls, giving rebel gunboat which was employed in the usual signal-two long pulls and a military service in the bay. This was the Planter, a high-pressure side-wheel steamer, armed with one 32-pounder and one 24-pound howitzer, and beside this armament, having on board at the time of the conveyance, four large guns, which she was engaged in transporting to Fort Ripley, then in process of construction in the harbor. The leader in this spoliation of the enemy was a negro born in Charleston, named Robert Small, who had been serving for some six weeks on board the vessel as a pilot. It is said that he first conceived the idea of carrying off the vessel from a joke of one of his companions. "He immediately," writes a correspondent, who narrates the circumstances from his own lips, "cautioned the crew against alluding to the matter in any way on board the boat, but asked them, if they wanted to talk it up in sober earnestness, to meet at his house, where they would devise and determine upon a plan to place themselves under the protection of the Stars and Stripes instead of the stars and bars. Various plans were proposed; but finally the whole arrangement of the escape was left to the discretion and sagacity of Robert, his companions promising to obey him and be ready at a moment's notice to accom jerk at the whistle cord-as she passed the sentinel. Once out of range of the rebel guns, the white flag was raised, and the Planter steamed directly for the blockading steamer Augusta. Captain Parrott, of the latter vessel, as you may imagine, received them cordially, heard their report, placed acting Master Watson, of his ship, in charge of the Planter and sent the confederate gunboat and crew forward to Commodore Dupont. The families of the crew have been sent to Beaufort, where General Stevens will make suitable provision for them. The crew will be taken care of by Commodore Dupont."* There were eight contrabands on board the vessel beside five colored women and three children. In reporting the affair to Secretary Welles, flag-officer Dupont remarked : "The bringing out this steamer, under all the circumstances, would have done credit to any one," and especially commends the intelligence of the chief performer. "This man, Robert Small," says he, "is superior to any who have yet come into the lines, intelligent as many of them have been. His information has been most interesting, and portions * Hilton Head Correspondence New York Herald, May 14, 1862. GENERAL HUNTER ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF AFRICANS. 585 of it of the utmost importance. The gress, angry speeches were made by steamer is quite a valuable acquisition border state conservative members, and to the squadron by her good machinery a resolution was passed in the House of and very light draught. I shall con- Representatives, inquiring of the Secre tinue to employ Robert as a pilot on tary of War for information on the matboard the Planter for the inland waters, ter. The Secretary responded that he with which he appears to be very famil- had no official information, and transiar. I do not know whether, in the mitted the resolution to General Hunter views of the government, the vessel will to answer for himself. The general acbe considered a prize, but if so, I re- cordingly replied to Secretary Stanton spectfully submit to the department the on the 23d of June, in the following reclaims of this man Robert and his asso- port, which was laid before the House : ciates." In accordance with this sugges-"Sir-I have the honor to acknowledge tion a bill was introduced into the Senate at Washington, on the 19th of May, and promptly passed in that body and the House of Representatives, ordering the Planter with all the property on board of her at the time of her delivery to be appraised, and one half of the sum thus awarded to be equitably apportioned between Small and his associates. To secure to the parties the benefit of this grant the Secretary of the Navy was authorized to invest the sums thus awarded to the several individuals, in United States securities, the interest to be paid semi-annually until such time as he might deem it expedient to pay the principal sum.* Small continued to be employed as a pilot, and rendered much service in the subsequent naval operations in and about Charleston. A deed like this could only have been prompted by that love of freedom which is the natural instinct of all men, and the example of Robert Small doubtless had its effect upon his colored brethren at Port Royal, to whom General Hunter was now appealing to enlist to serve their country, and protect themselves from the risk of further bondage. Various feelings were of course excited by the attempt to arm the negro, and it met with much prejudice and opposition on the spot as well as among the conservative classes at the North. The subject of course excited the attention of Con *Act for the Benefit of Robert Small and others, approved May 30, 1862. the receipt of a communication from the "To the first question, therefore, I reply that no regiment of fugitive slaves has been or is being organized in this department. There is, however, a fine "To the third interrogation it is my painful duty to reply that I have never received any specific authority for issues of uniforms, arms, equipments, etc., to the troops in question, my general instructions from Mr. Cameron to employ them in any manner I might find necessary, and the military exigencies of the department and the country, being my only, and in my judgment, sufficient justification. Neither have I had any specific authority for supplying those persons with shovels, spades and pick-axes when employing them as laborers, nor with boats and oars when using them as lighter-men; but these are not points indicated in Mr. Wicliffe's resolution. To me it seemed that liberty to employ them in any particular capacity implied with it liberty also to supply them with the necessary tools; and, acting upon this faith, I have clothed, equipped, and regiment of persons whose late masters these persons, of whose protection they are fugitive rebels'-men who every- have been thus suddenly bereft. every-have where fly before the appearance of the national flag, leaving their servants behind them to shift as best they can for themselves. So far, indeed, are the loyal persons composing this regiment from seeking to avoid the presence of their late owners, that they are now one and all working with remarkable industry to place themselves in a position to join in full and effective pursuit of their fugacious and traitorous proprietors. To the second question I have the honor to answer that the instructions given to Brigadier-General T. W. Sherman by the Hon. Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, and turned over to me by succession for my guidance, do distinctly authorize me to employ all loyal persons offering their service in defence of the Union, and for the suppression of this rebellion, in any manner I might see fit, or that the circumstances might call for. There is no restriction as to the charac-armed the only loyal regiment yet raised ter or color of the persons to be employed, or the nature of the employment, whether civil or military, in which their services should be used. I conclude, therefore, that I have been authorized to enlist fugitive slaves as soldiers, could any such be found in the department. No such characters, however, have yet appeared within view of our most advanced pickets, the loyal slaves everywhere remaining on their plantations to welcome us, aid us, and supply us with good labor and information. It is the masters who have in every instance been the fugitives, running away from loyal slaves as well as loyal soldiers, and whom we have only partially been able to see, chiefly with their heads over ramparts, or rifle in hand dodging behind trees in the extreme distance. In the absence of any fugitive-master law, the deserted slaves would be wholly without remedy, had not their crime of treason given the right to pursue, capture, and bring back in South Carolina. I must say, in vindication of my own conduct, that, had it not been for the many other diversified and imperative claims on my time and attention, a much more satisfactory result might have been looked for; and that in place of only one, as at present, at least five or six well-drilled, brave and thoroughly acclimated regiments should by this time have been added to the loyal forces of the Union. The experiment of arming the blacks, so far as I have made it, has been a complete and even marvelous success. They are sober, docile, attentive and enthusiastic, displaying great natural capacities for acquiring the duties of the soldier. They are eager, beyond all things, to take the field and be led into action; and it is the unanimous opinion of the officers who have had charge of them, that in the peculiarities of the climate and country they will prove invaluable auxiliaries, fully equal to the similar regiments so long and successfully used by the Brit THE AFRICAN QUESTION. ish authorities in the West India islands. In conclusion, I would say it is my hope, there appearing no possibility of other reinforcements, owing to the exigencies of the campaign in the Peninsula, to have organized by the end of next fall, and to be able to present the government from forty-eight thousand to fifty thousand of these hardy and devoted soldiers. Trusting that this letter may form part of your answer to Mr. Wickliffe's resolution, I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant, D. HUNTER, Major-General Commanding. General Hunter's 1st South Carolina regiment, as the new organization was called, though commenced with every fair prospect of success, was suffered to languish for want of necessary support from the proper officials. Clothing and supplies were detained, and no authority to pay the men being given, after being kept together for four months the regiment was disbanded-in due time to be revived, and, with others in the department, to perform efficient service. Public opinion, or rather the policy of the government, advanced slowly towards measures which, in a few months-as the war was prolonged--came to be accepted as a matter of course. It was generally perceived that the necessities of the war would require the employment of the negro. Much was written in favor of the matter. The annals of the War of the Revolution, and of the War of 1812, were ransacked for examples, and satisfactory precedents were readily found in the emancipation of slaves who fought in the battle of Rhode Island in 1778, and in the New Orleans campaign of General Jackson. The physical capacity of the negro was duly estimated, and calculations were made of his probable courage in the field. Practical commanders were eager for his services. General Phelps was drilling him at New Orleans as General Butler did afterwards; General Lane, in Kansas, was 587 calling for a force, which presently proved its value in contests with the guerrillas of that region. General Lewis Wallace, in a speech at a war meeting in Cincinnati, at the end of July, demonstrated the economical fitness of turning the negro to account with a musket in his hand, and urged his employment as a relief to our overtasked armies. General Turchin, in August, at Huntsville, Alabama, advocated the same policy. The colored men of Cleveland offered their services a second time to General Todd in Ohio, in August, and were for the time refused. Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, had no scruples in the matter, and Governor Andrew, on the new call for 300,000 militia, ordered the colored population of Massachusetts to be included in the enrollment. Though Congress before its adjournment had authorized the President to receive "persons of African descent for any military or naval service for which they may be found competent," there was, nevertheless, an undefined impression of hostility to their employment; there were doubts of the military availability of the negro mingled with social prejudices, especially with a portion of the soldiers in the service, and a general disinclination, while any hope of peace remained, to precipitate a step which, though it might promote the certainties, would at the same time increase the horrors of war. Military movements in the Southern department were limited by the smallness of the force at General Hunter's command mostly to defensive operations. An attempt was made, however, in June in the direction of Charleston. Gradual approaches in this quarter along the coast had been made by various naval reconnoissances, and by the occupation of Edisto Island under General Sherman's command. In May, circumstances appeared favorable for an attack upon Charleston. The information brought by the pilot Small, of the state of the forti |