colored volunteer, payable out of the fund derived from commutations; and every such colored volunteer on being mustered into service shall be free. And in all cases where men of color have been heretofore enlisted, or have volunteered in the military service of the United States, all the provisions of this act, so far as the payment of bounty and compensation are provided, shall be equally applicable as to those who may be hereafter recruited. But men of color, drafted or enlisted, or who may volunteer into the military service, while they shall be credited on the quotas of the several States or subdivisions of States wherein they are respectively drafted, enlisted, or shall volunteer, shall not be assigned as State troops, but shall be mustered into regiments or companies as United States Colored Troops."

It will be observed that the able-bodied male colored persons were thenceforward to form part of the national forces. But it was provided, in the case of a slave being drafted, that the one hundred dollars bounty then allowed to drafted men should be paid to his master; and where a slave entered the service as a volunteer, instead of receiving the bounty which was allowed to other recruits, the master was entitled to receive a compensation from the government, not to exceed three hundred dollars. It was further provided that men of color drafted or enlisted should "be credited upon the quotas of the several States or subdivisions of States."

A fair construction of this statute authorizes the payment of one hundred dollars bounty to free colored men who might be drafted; and in lieu of bounty to the slave it gave him his freedom, while his master, if loyal, received a compensation for the loss of his services.

Up to this time, and until the passage of the act entitled "An act making appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending the thirtieth (30th) day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-five (1865,) and for other purposes," approved June 15, 1864,* there was no law providing for the payment of bounty to colored volunteers, either free or slave, and the pay of colored troops still remained at ten dollars ($10) per month, as fixed by the act of July 17,

1862.

The act just cited provides "that all persons of color who have been or may be mustered into the military service of the United States shall receive the same uniform, clothing, arms, equipments, camp equipage, rations, medical and hospital attendance, pay and emoluments, other than bounty, as other soldiers of the regular or volunteer forces of the United States of like arm of the service, from and after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-four (1864;) and that every person of color who shall hereafter be mustered into the service shall receive such sums in bounty as the President shall order in the different States and parts of the United States, not exceeding one hundred dollars."

This section placed colored troops on an equal footing with white troops in all respects touching pay and allowances, but withheld the bounty as hitherto, except in such amount as the President might order, not to exceed one hundred dollars.

The third section provided "that all persons enlisted and mustered into service as volunteers under the call dated October seventeenth (17th,) eighteen hundred and sixty-three (1863,) for three hundred thousand (300,000) volunteers, who were, at the time of enlistment, actually enrolled and subject to draft in the State in which they volunteered, shall receive from the United States the same amount of bounty without regard to color."

This section was practically inoperative for the reason that but few colored persons were enrolled, drafted or credited on the call of October 17, 1863. The Îaw directing the enrolment of colored men was not passed until February 24, 1864, and the colored men raised by draft or voluntary enlistment prior to this

date were credited to the call of February 1, 1864, (which was being filled when the law directing the enrolment and draft of colored men was passed,) and to the subsequent calls.

The fourth section provided "that all persons of color who were free on the nineteenth (19th) day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one (1861,) and have been enlisted and mustered into the military service of the United States, shall, from the time of their enlistment, be entitled to receive the pay, bounty, and clothing allowed to such persons by the laws existing at the time of their enlistment. And the Attorney General of the United States is hereby authorized to determine any question of law arising under this provision. And if the Attorney General aforesaid shall determine that any of such enlisted persons are entitled to receive any pay, bounty, or clothing in addition to what they have already received, the Secretary of War shall make all necessary regulations." In conformity with this section the Secretary of War ordered as follows:

["Circular No. 60.]

"WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,

"Washington, August 1, 1864.

"In pursuance of section four of the act of Congress making appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending thirtieth (30th) June, eighteen hundred and sixty-five (1865,) and for other purposes, approved June fifteenth (15th,) eighteen hundred and sixty-four (1864,) all officers commanding regiments, batteries, and independent companies of colored troops will immediately make a thorough investigation and individual examination of the men belonging to their commands who were enlisted prior to January first (1st,) eighteen hundred and sixty-four (1864,) with a view to ascertaining who of them were free men on or before April nineteenth (19th,) eighteen hundred and sixty-one (1861;) the fact of freedom to be determined in each case on the statement of the soldier, under oath, taken in connexion with the most reliable information that can be obtained from other sources. And when, in view of all the facts in each case, commanding officers are of the opinion that any enlisted men of their commands were free on the date aforesaid, they will, upon the next muster rolls, enter the following remark opposite the names of such soldiers, viz: Free on or before April nineteenth (19th,) eighteen hundred and sixty-one (1861,') and such soldiers shall be mustered for pay accordingly. Such muster shall be authority for the pay department to pay such soldiers, from the time of their entry into service to the first (1st) day of January, eighteen hundred and sixtyfour (1864,) the difference between the pay received by them as soldiers under their present enlistments and the full pay allowed by law at the same period to white soldiers.

"By order of the Secretary of War:

"E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General." An act approved July 4, 1864,* provided "that the President of the United States may, at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for any number of men as volunteers, for the respective terms of one, two, and three years, for military service; and any such volunteer, or in case of draft, as hereinafter provided, any substitute, shall be credited to the town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a county not so subdivided, towards the quota of which he may have volunteered or engaged as a substitute; and every volunteer who is accepted and mustered into the service for a term of one year, unless sooner discharged, shall receive, and be paid by the United States, a bounty of one hundred dollars ($100;) and if for a term of two years, unless sooner discharged, * See Appendix, Doc. 35.

5—P. G.

a bounty of two hundred dollars ($200;) and if for a term of three years, unless sooner discharged, a bounty of three hundred dollars ($300;) one-third of which bounty shall be paid to the soldier at the time of his being mustered into the service, one-third at the expiration of one-half of his term of service, and one-third at the expiration of his term of service. And in case of his death while in service, the residue of his bounty unpaid shall be paid to his widow, if he shall have left a widow; if not, to his children; or if there be none, to his mother, if she be a widow."

This section authorized the payment of like bounty to all persons enlisting, omitting the distinction hitherto observed in regard to colored troops, and was evidently intended to allow the same amount to both classes, and bounties were paid accordingly.

Section three provides "that it shall be lawful for the executive of any of the States to send recruiting agents into any of the States declared to be in rebellion, except the States of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Louisiana, to recruit volunteers under any call under the provisions of this act, who shall be credited to the State, and to the respective subdivisions thereof, which may procure the enlistment," but was repealed by the act of March 3d, 1865.*

Section fourteen of an act* approved July 4, 1864, provided "that the widows and children of colored soldiers who have been, or who may be hereafter, killed, or who have died, or may hereafter die, of wounds received in battle, or who have died, or may hereafter die, of disease contracted in the military service of the United States and in the line of duty, shall be entitled to receive the pensions now provided by law, without other proof of marriage than that the parties had habitually recognized each other as man and wife, and lived together as such, for a definite period next preceding the soldier's enlistment, not less than two years, to be shown by the affidavits of credible witnesses: Provided, however, That such widow and children are free persons: Provided further, That if such parties resided in any State in which their marriage may have been legally solemnized, the usual evidence shall be required."

Section five of an act approved March 3, 1865,* provided "that all persons of color who were enlisted and mustered into the military service of the United States in South Carolina by and under the direction of Major General Hunter and Brigadier General Saxton, in pursuance of the authority from the Secretary of War, dated August twenty-fifth (25th,) eighteen hundred and sixty-two (1862,) "that the persons so received into service, and their officers, to be entitled to and receive the same pay and rations as are allowed by law to other volunteers in the service;" and in every case where it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of War that any regiment of colored troops has been mustered into the service of the United States under any assurance by the President or the Secretary of War that the non-commissioned officers and privates of such regiments should be paid the same as other troops of the same arm of the service, they shall, from the date of their enlistment, receive the same pay and allowances as are allowed by law to other volunteers in the military service; and the Secretary of War shall make all necessary regulations to cause payment to be made in accordance herewith."

Section twenty-two provided "that the third section of the act entitled "An act (further) to regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," approved July fourth (4th,) eighteen hundred and sixty-four (1864,) be, and the same is hereby, repealed."

The foregoing embraces the entire legislation and the most important executive orders touching the relation of colored men to the military service.

The classes of colored persons who received bounty under the foregoing laws, and the amounts respectively paid to them, are shown by the following order of the Paymaster General, viz:

"PAYMASTER GENERAL'S Office,

"Washington, D. C., May 26, 1865.

"Bounties to Colored Troops.

"1. All persons of color who have been enlisted and mustered into the service of the United States, and are mustered on the rolls as 'free on or before April 19, 1861,' are entitled to bounty as follows, viz:

"If enlisted prior to October 24, 1863, one hundred dollars ($100.)

"If enlisted in an old organization after October 24, 1863, and prior to April 1, 1864, three hundred dollars ($300.)

“If enlisted in a new organization after December 24, 1863, and prior to April 1, 1864, three hundred dollars ($300.)

"If enlisted between April 1, 1864, and July 17, 1864, inclusive, one hundred dollars ($100.)

"2. All persons of color enlisted and mustered into service under the President's call for three hundred thousand (300,000) volunteers, dated October 17, 1863, who were at the time of enlistment enrolled and subject to draft in the State where enlisted, are entitled to bounty, as follows, viz:

“Enlisted in any organization of colored troops between October 17 and October 24, 1863, one hundred dollars ($100.)

66

Enlisted in an old organization after October 24, 1863, and prior to April 1, 1864, three hundred dollars ($300.)

"Enlisted in a new organization after December 24, 1863, and prior to April 1, 1864, three hundred dollars ($300)

"Remark to be entered on the muster roll: the — enrolment district of the State of

Enrolled and subject to draft in at time of enlistment.'

3. All enlistments of colored men after July 18, 1864, for one, two, or three years, entitle them to bounty of one hundred dollars ($100,) two hundred dollars ($200,) and three hundred dollars ($300,) respectively.

"4. Colored soldiers who have been, or hereafter shall be, discharged by reason of wounds received in battle, on skirmish, or picket, or in action, or in the line of duty, and who are otherwise entitled under existing laws to bounty, are entitled to receive the same bounty as if they had served out the full term of enlist

ment.

"5. All persons of color drafted under the act of March 3, 1863, and prior to September 5, 1864, and their substitutes, are entitled to a bounty of one hundred dollars ($100,) provided 'they serve two full years. They have also the same pay and allowance as white soldiers.

"6. Under section two, act of June 15, 1864, no bounty was ordered by the President for persons of color who should enlist between that date and July 19, 1864, unless free April 19, 1861.

"7. For colored persons, when discharged, the final papers should contain the same data for bounty as was required to elucidate their claims upon the musterrolls. Paymasters, when they can consistently do so, should aid in conveying information on this point to all interested.

"B. W. BRICE, Paymaster General."

The following brief outline of the recruitment of colored persons is taken mainly from the reports and records of the "Bureau for Colored Troops," and is inserted here in connexion with the foregoing recapitulation of the laws and orders on the subject.

The acceptance of colored men as soldiers in the service of the United States began in Louisiana by the muster-in, on the 27th of September, 1862, of the first Louisana native guards, subsequently designated seventy-third regiment United States Colored Troops.

Four other regiments were raised in that military department and mustered in prior to March 7, 1863, two of them before the 1st of January, 1863.

The efforts made in the early summer of 1862 to raise colored troops in South Carolina did not result in the muster of an organization until January 31, 1863, when the first South Carolina volunteers, subsequently designated thirty-third United States Colored Troops, was mustered into the service as soldiers.

Three other regiments were mustered in in that department prior to July 1, 1863.

In April, 1863, a régiment was completed in Kansas, called the first Kansas volunteers, subsequently designated seventy-ninth United States Colored Troops; another regiment then in process of organization was some time after completed.

Early in the spring of 1863 the organization of colored troops was commenced in the Mississippi valley, under the personal supervision of the Adjutant General of the army. His first regiment was mustered into service on the 1st of May, 1863, as the "first Arkansas Volunteers of African descent," afterwards designated "Forty-Sixth regiment United States Colored Troops." Five other regiments raised in like manner were mustered in prior to June 30, 1863.

The fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth regiments of Massachusetts Volunteers were colored troops. They were organized in Massachusetts, and were mustered into service between March 30 and June 22, 1863. They were organized, officered, &c., by the State authorities, like other regiments of volunteers, and so continued until mustered out.

The foregoing colored troops were raised prior to the commencement of the operations of the "Bureau for Colored Troops," which was created by General Orders No. 143,* dated May 22, 1863.

Under the immediate supervision of that bureau, a regiment, designated the first United States Colored Troops was mustered into service in the District of Columbia on the 30th of June, 1863, and simultaneously with this a regi ment was mustered in in North Carolina.

At this period, June, 1863, the recruitment of colored troops was going on all over the country, and so continued until stopped by orders on April 29, 1865, in consequence of no more troops being required.

With the exception of the two Massachusetts regiments above mentioned, the military organizations composed of colored men were mustered directly into the service of the United States, and were organized and officered by officers acting under the authority of the United States, and not of any particular State.

Since March 27, 1865, all appointments of officers for these troops have been made exclusively by the War Department, and after an examination by a board of officers. Prior to that time the Adjutant General of the army, in the Mississippi valley, made appointments, in the name of the Secretary of War, to the regiments which he organized; and department commanders made, subject to the approval of the President, provisional appointments to the regiments organized by them.

The recruitment of men of color by draft and substitution was exclusively under the control of this bureau, but their recruitment as volunteers was mainly under the "Bureau for Colored Troops" especially established for that purpose. To present together the entire results of these operations, which, however, were produced in the main by the action of the "Bureau for Colored Troops," the following extract is made from the report of the chief of that bureau :

"On the 15th of July, 1865, the date on which the last organization of colored troops was mustered in, there were in the service of the United States one hundred and twenty regiments of infantry, numbering in the aggregate.. 98,938 Twelve regiments of heavy artillery. 15,662