During the last two years of the war, but more especially under the last two calls for troops, the desire to escape the draft was so great in some localities that the necessity of providing suitable re-enforcements for the armies was subordinated to the simple object of filling quotas. Through the fraud and deceit of persons engaged in this nominal re-enforcement of the army, substitutes and recruits, morally, mentally, and physically unfit for the service, were credited, and then had to be discharged without performing any duty, thus contributing to the necessity for new calls. The forgery of enlistment papers was resorted to, and the preparation of papers for fictitious credits, of a character less criminal, though as injurious to the army, by depriving it of recruits, was practiced with success in many places. Committees of citizens, selected and instructed to "fill the quota" of their respective localities, conscientiously anxious, perhaps, to satisfy their fellowcitizens and relieve them from the draft, apparently lost sight of the wants of the service, and devoted themselves to securing credits to the exclusion of enlisting men. This is illustrated by the official report of the committee which was selected by the people of the city and county of New York to represent and act for them in this matter, and which continued in operation for two years. In discussing their proceedings under the call of July 18, 1864, for troops then needed to strengthen the armies in the field, they say, (page 231:) "We obtained what few men we could by enlistments, but lent our best efforts to filling our quota by other means. * Prior to July the subject of crediting men enlisted into the navy since the rebellion and up to February 24, 1864, had been broached in Congress. Your committee saw in this a means to fill the quota under the present call, (July 18, 1864.) Having been advised that Congress was likely in some way to authorize these credits, your committee determined to be forehanded, and, in anticipation of the passage of the law allowing such credits, they commenced the labor of accumulating the necessary evidence on which to base the claim for New York county, should such a law pass." "It was deemed important to keep this matter quiet until we were fully prepared to make our claim, backed up with the necessary documentary evidence, not only because we desired to prevent efforts on the part of other localities to rob us of our rights, but for the reason that we wished all doubtful points as to the construction of the law to be settled on the application of some locality other than New York, whose claim on this behalf could not be so large, but the principle of settlement in which case would of necessity equally apply to us. In view of the very unfair manner in which we believed we had been treated in an application for a revision of the enrolment, we feared that New York had little to expect of the government officials in the way of aid in filling our quota," &c. Again, the labors of certain parties to procure recruits for Hancock's corps are depreciated by this committee, when compared with its method of filling quotas. The committee says: "As we were trying only to fill our quota, and they cared nothing for the quota, but only for the 2d army corps, it is by no means singular that the county reaped little benefit from their operations." It was thus that this committee put itself on record as having been engaged in filling quotas when the army waited for recruits. As New York city and county made frequent complaints to you of unfair treatment on the part of this office, I beg, in justice to this bureau, to introduce two other extracts from the official report of this committee. The committee claimed, under the call of July 18, 1864, over twenty-six thousand (26,000) credits, prepared as shown above, for naval enlistments said to have been made prior to February 24, 1864. Through the action of a commission appointed to investigate the matter, nineteen thousand four hundred and seventy-seven credits were allowed and went in reduction of the number of men expected and needed from the county of New York. About six thousand (6,000) of the twenty-six thousand (26,000) naval credits claimed were assigned by the commission to Brooklyn. In commenting on this, the committee says: "In all the injustice of which New York had to complain in the matter of the last call and the enrolment, in no respect has so great an outrage been committed upon us as was by this commission, when" "they allowed Brooklyn to step in and carry off six thousand (6,000) men" (credits) "belonging to us." This being the greatest cause New York had for complaint, it is submitted that the others must have been slight indeed. They probably arose from the action of the bureau, correctly attributed to it by the committee in the following extract, made as a complaint, though in reality a compliment: 66 * * * It did really seem as if the Provost Marshal General's department was determined that, with every change of law, they would establish the rule which would draw the largest number of men," &c. Under the calls of July 18, 1864, and December 19, 1864, the true quotas of New York county, determined as the quotas of other places, were 42,152, viz: Quota under call of July 18, 1864, 21,133. Of this number, the county furnished by enlistments but And by draft... Making a total of only.... 2, 585 843 3, 428 The balance being made up by naval credits reported by commission. Quota under call of December 19, 1864, 21,019. On account of complaints made, the President reduced this to 15,762. Of this number, the county furnished by enlistments.. And by draft.... Making a total of.............. 4, 229 790 5, 019 A very large proportion of the enlistments were "bounty-jumpers," of no value, but rather a positive injury to the service. PART IV. COLORED MEN AND THEIR RELATION TO THE MILITARY SERVICE, AS ESTABLISHED BY LAWS AND ORDERS DURING THE LATE WAR, AND THEIR RECRUITMENT AS SOLDIERS. At the commencement of the rebellion, April 15, 1861, the army was composed exclusively of white troops. The regulations of the army governing the recruiting service (par. 1299) provided that "any free white male person above the age of eighteen," &c., "might be enlisted." Negro slavery existed in fifteen (15) States of the Union, and fugitive slaves escaping from one State to another were delivered up on claim of their owners. The first legislation by Congress directly affecting colored persons was the act approved March 13, 1862.* It prohibited all officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor was claimed to be due, and provided that any officer found guilty by a courtmartial of violating this article should be dismissed from the service. This was followed by an act,t approved July 17, 1862, the twelfth section of which authorized the President to receive into the service of the United States, for the purpose of constructing intrenchments, or performing camp duty, or any other labor, or any military or naval service for which they were found competent, persons of African descent, and provided that such persons should be enrolled and organized, under such regulations, not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws, as the President might prescribe. The thirteenth section of this act directs" that when ary man or boy of African descent, who, by the laws of any State, shall owe service or labor to any person who, during the present rebellion, has levied war or has borne arms against the United States, or adhered to their enemies by giving them aid and comfort, shall render any such service as is provided for in this act, he, his mother, and his wife and children shall forever thereafter be free, any law, usage, or custom whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, That the mother, wife, and children of such man or boy of African descent shall not be made free by the operation of this act except where such mother, wife, or children owe service or labor to some person who, during the present rebellion, has borne arms against the United States, or adhered to their enemies by giving them aid and comfort." The fourteenth section provides that "the expenses incurred to carry this act into effect shall be paid out of the general appropriation for the army and navy." The fifteenth section directs that "all persons who have been, or who shall be hereafter, enrolled in the service of the United States under this act, shall receive the pay and rations now allowed by law to soldiers according to their respective grades: Provided, That persons of African descent who, under this law, shall be employed, shall receive ten dollars ($10) per month and one ration, three dollars ($3) of which monthly pay may be in clothing." The amount of pay allowed to infantry soldiers (white) at the passage of this act was thirteen dollars ($13) per month, and an allowance in clothing of three dollars and fifty cents ($3 50) per month, and one ration each. The act entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes,' approved July 17, 1862,* provides that whoever shall commit treason 'shall suffer death" and all his slaves be "declared free." 66 Section nine provides "that all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army, and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the government of the United States, and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by rebel forces, and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves." Section ten provides "that no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service." Section eleven declares "that the President of the United States is authorized to employ as many persons of African descent as he may deem necessary and proper for the suppression of this rebellion, and for this purpose he may organize See Appendix, Doc. 35. and use them in such manner as he may judge best for the public welfare." And by the latter section the authority of the President to receive into the service persons of African descent is extended, giving him authority to employ as many of this class of persons as he might deem necessary for the suppression of the rebellion. The pay of this class of persons, as fixed by the twelfth section of the preceding act, was not changed. Section twelve declares "that the President of the United States is hereby authorized to make provision for the transportation, colonization, and settlement, in some tropical country beyond the limits of the United States, of such persons of the African race, made free by the provisions of this act, as may be willing to emigrate, having first obtained the consent of the government of said country to their protection and settlement within the same, with all the rights and privileges of freemen." Under the authority conferred by the two preceding acts of Congress the President, on the 22d day of July, issued the following order: First. Ordered, "That military commanders within the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, in an orderly manner, seize and use any property, real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several commands as supplies, or for other military purposes, and that while property may be destroyed for proper military objects, none shall be destroyed in wantonness or malice." Second. "That military and naval commanders shall employ as laborers, within and from said States, so many persons of African descent as can be advantageously used for military and naval purposes, giving them reasonable wages for their labor." Third. "That as to both property and persons of African descent, accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and such persons shall have come, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in proper cases, and the several departments of this government shall attend to perform their appropriate parts toward the execution of these orders." On the 22d day of September, 1862, the President issued a proclamation* announcing: First. That it was his purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits." Second. "That the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, should be continued." Third. "That on the first day of January following, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, should be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom." Fourth. "That the Executive would, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, should then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, should on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State should have participated, should, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof were not then in rebellion against the United States." On the first day of January, 1863, the immortal decree of emancipation* proclaimed freedom to the blacks of all the States declared in rebellion, with the exception of certain parishes in Louisiana. By an act approved March 3, 1863, it is provided as follows:† "That cooks shall be detailed, in turn, from the privates of each company of troops in the service of the United States, at the rate of one cook for each company numbering less than thirty (30) men, and two cooks for each company numbering over thirty (30) men, who shall serve ten (10) days each. "That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause to be enlisted, for each cook, two under-cooks of African descent, who shall receive for their full compensation ten dollars ($10) per month and one ration per day, three dollars ($3) of said monthly pay being in clothing.” On the 30th of July, 1863, the President ordered as follows: "EXECUTIVE MANSION, "Washington, July 30, 1863. "It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations, and the usages and customs of war, as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person on account of his color, and for no offence against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism and a crime against the civilization of the age. "The government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers; and if the enemy shall sell or enslave any one because of his color, the offence shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our possession. "It is therefore ordered that, for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN." The act of February 24, 1864,‡ amendatory of the enrolment act, section twenty-four, provided That all able-bodied male colored persons between the ages of twenty and forty-five years, resident in the United States, shall be enrolled according to the provisions of this act and of the act to which this is an amendment, and form part of the national forces; and when a slave of a loyal master shall be drafted and mustered into the service of the United States, his master shall have a certificate thereof; and thereupon such slave shall be free, and the bounty of one hundred dollars, now payable by law for each drafted man, shall be paid to the person to whom such drafted person was owing service or labor at the time of his muster into the service of the United States. The Secretary of War shall appoint a commission in each of the slave States represented in Congress, charged to award each loyal person to whom a colored volunteer may owe service a just compensation, not exceeding three hundred dollars for each such *See Appendix, Doc. 36. |