Posted on 06/12/2003 5:58:28 AM PDT by Aurelius
Over the years I've heard many rail at the South for seceding from the 'glorious Union.' They claim that Jeff Davis and all Southerners were really nothing but traitors - and some of these people were born and raised in the South and should know better, but don't, thanks to their government school 'education.'
Frank Conner, in his excellent book The South Under Siege 1830-2000 deals in some detail with the question of Davis' alleged 'treason.' In referring to the Northern leaders he noted: "They believed the most logical means of justifying the North's war would be to have the federal government convict Davis of treason against the United States. Such a conviction must presuppose that the Confederate States could not have seceded from the Union; so convicting Davis would validate the war and make it morally legitimate."
Although this was the way the federal government planned to proceed, that prolific South-hater, Thaddeus Stevens, couldn't keep his mouth shut and he let the cat out of the bag. Stevens said: "The Southerners should be treated as a conquered alien enemy...This can be done without violence to the established principles only on the theory that the Southern states were severed from the Union and were an independent government de facto and an alien enemy to be dealt with according to the laws of war...No reform can be effected in the Southern States if they have never left the Union..." And, although he did not plainly say it, what Stevens really desired was that the Christian culture of the Old South be 'reformed' into something more compatible with his beliefs. No matter how you look at it, the feds tried to have it both ways - they claimed the South was in rebellion and had never been out of the Union, but then it had to do certain things to 'get back' into the Union it had never been out of. Strange, is it not, that the 'history' books never seem to pick up on this?
At any rate, the Northern government prepared to try President Davis for treason while it had him in prison. Mr. Conner has observed that: "The War Department presented its evidence for a treason trial against Davis to a famed jurist, Francis Lieber, for his analysis. Lieber pronounced 'Davis will not be found guilty and we shall stand there completely beaten'." According to Mr. Conner, U.S. Attorney General James Speed appointed a renowned attorney, John J. Clifford, as his chief prosecutor. Clifford, after studying the government's evidence against Davis, withdrew from the case. He said he had 'grave doubts' about it. Not to be undone, Speed then appointed Richard Henry Dana, a prominent maritime lawyer, to the case. Mr. Dana also withdrew. He said basically, that as long as the North had won a military victory over the South, they should just be satisfied with that. In other words - "you won the war, boys, so don't push your luck beyond that."
Mr. Conner tells us that: "In 1866 President Johnson appointed a new U.S. attorney general, Henry Stanburg. But Stanburg wouldn't touch the case either. Thus had spoken the North's best and brightest jurists re the legitimacy of the War of Northern Aggression - even though the Jefferson Davis case offered blinding fame to the prosecutor who could prove that the South had seceded unconstitutionally." None of these bright lights from the North would touch this case with a ten-foot pole. It's not that they were dumb, in fact the reverse is true. These men knew a dead horse when they saw it and were not about to climb aboard and attempt to ride it across the treacherous stream of illegal secession. They knew better. In fact, a Northerner from New York, Charles O'Connor, became the legal counsel for Jeff Davis - without charge. That, plus the celebrity jurists from the North that refused to touch the case, told the federal government that they really had no case against Davis or secession and that Davis was merely being held as a political prisoner.
Author Richard Street, writing in The Civil War back in the 1950s said exactly the same thing. Referring to Jeff Davis, Street wrote: "He was imprisoned after the war, was never brought to trial. The North didn't dare give him a trial, knowing that a trial would establish that secession was not unconstitutional, that there had been no 'rebellion' and that the South had got a raw deal." At one point the government intimated that it would be willing to offer Davis a pardon, should he ask for one. Davis refused that and he demanded that the government either give him a pardon or give him a trial, or admit that they had dealt unjustly with him. Mr. Street said: "He died 'unpardoned' by a government that was leery of giving him a public hearing." If Davis was as guilty as they claimed, why no trial???
Had the federal government had any possible chance to convict Davis and therefore declare secession unconstitutional they would have done so in a New York minute. The fact that they diddled around and finally released him without benefit of the trial he wanted proves that the North had no real case against secession. Over 600,000 boys, both North and South, were killed or maimed so the North could fight a war of conquest over something that the South did that was neither illegal or wrong. Yet they claim the moral high ground because the 'freed' the slaves, a farce at best.
Yes today. The issue of currency losing its value is inherently related to time and the value of paper currency today against gold, a value-retaining standard, is directly indicative of how far its fallen since initial introduction.
We were talking about the 1860s relative values.
And I am talking about Lincolnian monetary policy.
Surely there must be a Latin term for "ridiculously irrevelant".
Beyond a mundane direct translation, I'm not sure that any term of art would apply. Another term does come to mind though, that of flatus voci. And believe me, you are full of those.
"To secede from the Union and set up another government would cause war. If you go to war with the United States, you will never conquer her, as she has the money and the men. If she does not whip you by guns, powder, and steel, she will starve you to death. It will take the flower of the country-the young men."
"In the name of the constitution of Texas, which has been trampled upon, I refuse to take this oath (as governor of CSA Texas). I love Texas too well to bring civil strife and bloodshed upon her."
"I declare that civil war is inevitable and is near at hand. When it comes the descendants of the heros of Lexington and Bunker Hill will be found equal in patriotism, courage and heroic endurance with the descendants of the heroes of Cowpens and Yorktown. For this reason I predict the civil war which is now at hand will be stubborn and of long duration."
Unless you are referring to the comanches, there were hardly any people even living in west Texas as of 1860 much less siding with the unionists. The unionist factions in Texas were almost all concentrated around a few small Germanic communities in the inner hill country. They were a tiny fraction of the state's population and an even tinier fraction of the unionist southerners who fought for the north during the war.
'On a review of authorities, I am entirely satisfied that, by the rigor of the law of nations and of the common law, the sovereign of a nation may lawfully confiscate the debts of his enemy, during war, or by way of reprisal: and I will add, that I think this opinion fully confirmed by the judgement of the Supreme Court in Ware v. Hylton, 3, Dall. 199, where the doctrine was explicitly asserted by some of the judges, reluctantly admitted by others, and denied by none.'
Justice Story, Brown v. The United States, 8 Cranch 110 (1814)
But it wasn't just a Southern thing, the Radical Republicans repudiated the confederate debts via the 14th Amendment.
An article in the March 2, 1861 The Daily Picayune (New Orleans) says:
Washington, March 1 -- Correspondence received at the War Department shows that Gov. Houston was greatly instrumental in inducing Gen Twiggs to surrender the Government property in Texas to the authorities of that State.
I do. In fact, I volunteer with a group that studies the Underground Railroad and does historical and genealogical research on slaves and slavery. Only I don't consider their fascination with their heritage to represent "complaining and kvetching." My belief is that they, like anyone else, should feel interest and pride in the accomplishments of courageous ancestors.
What this country needs are fewer whiners and more positive doers.
Agreed. Since you don't know much about my life or what I accomplish every day--working at a regular job that does some good in the world, helping with the family business, raising two kids myself, rehabbing my house, doing volunteer work, writing professionally, training horses, and doing historical research--it's not clear that anyone can suggest I'm not what you term a "positive doer."
With all due respect to your ancestry just what is the return on all your involvement in your negative emotions?
From that statement I get the clear impression that no one ever denigrated your family, background, or sociocultural heritage, or tried to criminalize the observance of that heritage. What you may characterize as "negative emotion" on my part actually consists of an unrelenting pride in my background, and an effort to make sure that my children and extended family are aware that they have reason for pride instead of the shame northern society attempts to impose on them. Occasionally offering explanations to those who don't grasp the issues can also increase communication and understanding. That, I believe, is a worthy outcome for my efforts.
I do. In fact, I volunteer with a group that studies the Underground Railroad and does historical and genealogical research on slaves and slavery. Only I don't consider their fascination with their heritage to represent "complaining and kvetching." My belief is that they, like anyone else, should feel interest and pride in the accomplishments of courageous ancestors.
What this country needs are fewer whiners and more positive doers.
Agreed. Since you don't know much about my life or what I accomplish every day--working at a regular job that does some good in the world, helping with the family business, raising two kids myself, rehabbing my house, doing volunteer work, writing professionally, training horses, and doing historical research--it's not clear that anyone can suggest I'm not what you term a "positive doer."
With all due respect to your ancestry just what is the return on all your involvement in your negative emotions?
From that statement I get the clear impression that no one ever denigrated your family, background, or sociocultural heritage, or tried to criminalize the observance of that heritage. What you may characterize as "negative emotion" on my part actually consists of an unrelenting pride in my background, and an effort to make sure that my children and extended family are aware that they have reason for pride instead of the shame northern society attempts to impose on them. Occasionally offering explanations to those who don't grasp the issues can also increase communication and understanding. That, I believe, is a worthy outcome for my efforts.
...In remembering the many evidences which a portion of the Northern people have presented of their willingness to disregard their constitutional obligations and infringe upon the rights of their Southern brethren, I am not in the least surprised at the indignant responses now uttered by Southern men. It shows that if the time should come when we can no longer trust to the constitution for our rights, the people will not hesitate to maintain them....As the Chief Executive of the nation, he [Lincoln] will be sworn to support the constitution and execute the laws. His oath will bring him into conflict with the unconstitutional statutes enacted by his party in many of the states.
Elected by that party, it is but natural that the conservatism of the nation will watch his course with jealous care, and demand at his hands rigid enforcement of the Federal laws. Should he meet the same resistance which other Executives have met, it will be his duty to call to his aid the conservative masses of the country, and they will respond to the call. Should he falter or fail and allow the laws to be subverted, aid in oppressing the people of the South, he must be hurled from power.
…I need not assure you, that whenever the time shall come when we must choose between a loss of our constitutional rights and revolution, I shall choose the latter; and if I, who have led the people of Texas in stormy times of danger, hesitate to plunge into revolution now, it is not because I am ready to submit to Black Republican rule; but because I regard the constitution of my country and am determined to stand by it.
Mr. Lincoln has been constitutionally elected, and much as I deprecate his success, no alternative is left me but to yield to the constitution. The moment that instrument is violated by him, I will be foremost in demanding redress, and the last to abandon my ground.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Perhaps this letter explains his congratulations to Confederate General McGruder in 1863.
Between 1854 and 1860, Lincoln said publicly at least two times that America was made for the White people and "not for the Negroes."
At least eight times, he said publicly that he was opposed to equal rights for Blacks.
He said it at Ottawa:
I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which in my judgment will probably forever forbid their living together upon the fotting of perfect equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong, having the superior position. (CW 3:16)
He said it at Galesburg:
I have all the while maintained that inasmuch as there is a physical inequality between the white and black, that the blacks must remain inferior .... (Holzer 1993, 254)
He said it in Ohio. He said it in Wisconsin. He said it in Indiana. He said it everywhere:
We can not, then, make them equals. (CW 2:256)
Why couldn't "we" make "them" equals?
There was, Lincoln said, a strong feeling in White America against Black equality, and "MY OWN FEELINGS," he said, capitalizing the words, "WILL NOT ADMIT OF THIS..." (CW 3:79)
See Forced Into Glory, by Lerone Bennett, Jr., p. 211-212
When, in 1855, Lincoln's best friend, Joshua Speed, asked him to clarify his position on slavery, he said frankly, "I now do no more than oppose the extension of slavery, (CW 2:233, Lincoln's italics). Lincoln said this so often and so loud that it is astounding that some people, even some historians, claim to misunderstand him.
He said it in CAPITALS at Peoria, Illinois, on October 16, 1854:
I wish to MAKE and to KEEP the distinction between the EXISTING institution, and the EXTENSION of it, so broad, and so clear, that no honest man can misunderstand me, and no dishonest one, successfully misrepresent me. (CW 2:248)
That didn't deter honest and dishonest men -- then or now -- and he said it again at Bloomington, Illinois, on September 4, 1858:
We have no right to interfere with slavery in the States. We only want to restrict it to where it is." (CW 3:87)
He said it at Ottawa, Illinois, on August 21, 1858, at the first Lincoln-Douglas debate:
I will say here, while upon this subject, that I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it ixists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. (CW 3:16, italics added)
He said it at the second Lincoln-Douglas debate and the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth debate:
I expressly declared in my opening speech, that I had neither the inclincaiton to exercise, nor the belief in the existence of the right to interfere with the States of Kentucky or Virginia in doing as they pleased with slavery or any other existing institution. (CW 3:277)
Challenged again at the seventh and final debate, he said it again:
Now I have upon all occasions declared as strongly as Judge [Stephen] Douglas against the disposition to interfere with the existing institution of slavery. (CW 3:300)
He said it in Illinois.
He said it in Michigan.
He said it in Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan, Caonnecticut, Ohio, and New York.
He said it everywhere.
We must not disturb slavery in the states where it exists, because the constitution, and the pease of the country, both forbid us. (CW 3:435)
One has to feel sorry for Lincoln retrospectively and prospectively. For he declared it and, to use his work, "re-declared" it. He quoted himself and "re-quoted" himself. Yet honest and dishonest men -- then and now -- continued to misrepresent him, despite the fact that he said it a hundred times:
I have said a hundred times and I have no no inclination to take it back, that I believe there is no right, and ought to be no inclination in the people of the free States to enter into the slave States, and interfere with the question of slavery at all. I have said that always. (CW 2:492, italics added).
If he said it a hundred times, he said it a thousand times:
I have declared a thousand times, and now repeat that, in my opinion, neither the General government, no any other power outside of the slave states, can constitutionally or rightfully interfere with slaves or slavery where it already exists.. (CW 2:471)
Not only did he say it but he cited evidence to prove it.
He asserted positively, and proved conclusively by his former acts and speeches that he was not in favor of interfering with slavery in the States where it exists, nor ever had been. (CW 3:96)
See Forced Into Glory, by Lerone Bennett, Jr., p. 248-250.
This is a pivotal point, one that has been masked by thetoric and imperfect analysis. For to say, as Lincoln said a thousand times, that one is only opposed to the extension of slavery is to say a thousand times that one is not opposed to slavery where it existed. Based on this record and the words of his own mouth, we can say that the "great emancipator" was one of the major supporters of slavery in the United States for at least fifty-four of his fifty six years. See Forced Into Glory, by Lerone Bennett, Jr., p. 251.
CW = The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler, 11 vols. Rutgers, 1955
Say what you want about politicians, but the soldiers were soldiers. What you call backwards, dishonorable bums, outnumbered and outgunned, fought bravely and killed more of the other side than they lost. If they were all backwards, dishonorable bums, why is that?
[Walt] I was just reading last night about how Robert E. Lee, supposedly so unwilling to see Virginia coerced by the federal government, was very willling to see men coerced into the service of the insurgency. He supported the conscription act of 1862.
Read on, the Union conscripted slaves.
In Missouri, it was ordered that, "all able-bodied colored men, whether free or slaves, will be received into the service * * * The state and county in which the enlistments are made shall be credited with the recruits enlisted * * * the owner of each slave enlisted a just compensation for his services, not exceeding the sum of $300..."
Massa could take his slave down to the recruiting office and enlist him in the U.S. Army. He could get $300 now, or keep his slave until the end of the war and get nothing. As a bonus, the state and county was credited with the enlistment. That's one way to fill a quota. For every slave enlisted in such manner, a white man did not have to go.
The Springfield Republican, (Mass.), March, 1863 "Well, it is more than five months since the President announced his intention to proclaim emancipation, and two months since the proclamation was formally made, and the negroes still remain quietly on the Southern plantations. The rebel armies have not dispersed to hunt flying negroes, but are larger and stronger than ever before. The market prIce of negroes is at its highest -- the negroes within our lines show no passionate eagerness to fight, and even Gen. Hunter has been obliged to resort to forcible conscription to fill up his negro regiments, and that too, where the expedient of making negro soldiers has been longest in operation. Neither are the promises of the dreadful effect of the proclamation upon the people of the North realized. Gov. Andrew's 'swarms' do not throng the roads of Massachusetts, and volunteering has been at a stand still.
General W.T. Sherman: "When we reached Savannah we were beset by ravenous State Agents from Hilton Head, South Carolina, who enticed and carried away our servants and the corps of pioneers which we had organized, and which had done such excellent service. On one occasion my own aide-de-camp, Colonel Audenreid, found at least a hundred poor negroes shut up in a house and pen, waiting for the night, to be conveyed stealthily to Hilton Head. They appealed to him for protection alleging that they had been told that they must be soldiers; that 'Massa Lincoln' wanted them. I never denied the slaves a full opportunity for enlistment, but I did prohibit force to be used, for I knew that the State Agents were more influenced by the profit they derived from the large bounties than by any love of country or of the colored race."
Leland (Lincoln, p. 61, et seq.) quotes a soldier as saying, "I used to be opposed to having black troops, but when I was ten cart-loads of dead n-----s carried off the field yesterday I thought it better they should be killed than I." [Elision not in original]
http://www.ehistory.com/uscw/library/or/124/1034.cfm
Official Records, Series 3, Vol 3, Part 1 (Union Letters, Orders, Reports) p. 1034 et seq
GENERAL ORDERS, HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, Numbers 135.
Saint Louis, Mo., November 14, 1863.
Whereas the exigencies of the war require that colored troops should be recruited in the State of Missouri, the following regulations, having been approved and ordered by the President, will govern the recruiting service for colored troops in Missouri, viz:
I. All able-bodied colored men, whether free or slaves, will be received into the service, the loyal owners of slaves enlisted being entitled to receive compensation as hereinafter provided.
II. All persons enlisted into the service shall forever thereafter be free..
III. None but able-bodied persons shall be enlisted..
IV. The State and county in which the enlistments are made shall be credited with the recruits enlisted..
V. The owner of every slave recruited into the service shall receive from the recruiting officer a certificate to that effect, together witch a copy of the descriptive list of the person enlisted..
VI. A board of three persons is to be appointed by the President, to whom the rolls and recruiting lists shall be furnished, for public information, and on demand exhibited to any person claiming under oath that his or her slave has been enlisted, and that he or she has not received a certificate and descriptive list, as provided in paragraph V. Any such person shall also be permitted to inspect the recruits at any recruiting station, or at the general rendezvous, for the purpose of identification..
VII. If any person shall, within ten days after the filing of said rolls, make a claim for the service of any person so enlisted, the Boards shall proceed to examine the proof of title, and, if valid, shall give a certificate of enlistment and descriptive list, as provided in paragraph V..
VIII. The Board shall award to the owner of each slave enlisted a just compensation for his services, not exceeding the sum of $ 300, upon the presenting by said owner of the certificate of enlistment and filling a valid deed of manumission and of release, and making satisfactory proof of title. Provided: First. That no person who is or has been engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who has in any way given or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Government, shall be awarded any compensation for the services of any slaves enlisted into the service of the United States. Second. That no compensation shall be awarded for the services of any slave who has at any time during the present rebellion belonged to any person who has been in rebellion or given aid or comfort to the enemies of the Goverll claimants shall file with their claims an oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States..
IX. The Board shall give the claimant a certificate of the sum awarded, which, on presentation, will be paid by the chief of the Bureau for Organizing Colored Troops..
X. Enlistments will be made under the direction of the provost- marshal-general of the department, by the district and assistant provost-marshals, and by no other persons..
XI. Triplicate descriptive lists will be made out in every case upon printed forms to be furnished from the Provost-Marshal- General's Office. One copy to be sent by mail to the Provost- Marshal-General, another copy to be sent with the recruits to the rendezvous, and the third copy to be given to the owner of the person enlisted if said enlisted person be a slave. If the enlisted person be free or his owner unknown the third copy of the descriptive list will also be sent to the Provost-Marshal- General..
XII. Each provost-marshal shall keep a record of all enlistments made by him of the same form as the descriptive roll..
XIII. All recruits will be sent to Saint Louis in parties, in charge of an officer or non-commissioned officer, who will also have charge of their descriptive lists, and will be reported to the officer in charge of colored troops at the general rendezvous at Benton Barracks..
XIV. Colonel William A. Pile, Thirty-third Missouri Volunteers, is placed in charge of the colored recruits at Benton Barracks. He will organize them into companies and regiments, in accordance with existing orders, and present them to the commissary of musters at Benton Barracks for muster into service..
XV. The officers for these regiments are to be appointed by the Secretary of War, after examination by a board of officers now in session in Saint Louis. Applications for permission to appear before this board, accompanied by satisfactory certificates of loyalty and good character, will be approved by the commanding general and forwarded to the War Department..
XVI. The surgeon on duty at any post or station where enlistments may be made will examine all recruits that may be presented to him by the provost-marshal, and determine their fitness for military service. No person will be enlisted until he shall have passed a satisfactory examination, as prescribed by Army Regulations. The examining surgeon and recruiting officer will sign the proper certificate, attached to the descriptive list..
XVII. All district and other commanders are directed to afford the provost-marshals all facilities necessary to the successful and speedy prosecution of this recruiting service. Upon the requisition of provost-marshals the necessary officers and non- commissioned officers will be detailed to take charge of recruits at the several recruiting stations, and to conduct them to Saint Louis..
XVIII. Subsistence will be issued to recruits upon provision returns signed by the provost-marshals. Issuing commissaries will keep separate accounts of subsistence so issued and report the same to the chief commissary of the department. No other supplies will be issued to recruits until they reach the general rendezvous..
XIX. Transportation orders for parties of colored recruits signed by provost-marshals will be honored by the quartermaster's department, and respected by the officers of all railroads and steam-boats in this department..
By command of Major-General Schofield:.
O. D. GREENE,.
Assistant Adjutant-General.
=========
http://www.ehistory.com/uscw/library/or/125/0621.cfm.
Official Records, Series 3, vol 4, Part 1 (Union Letters, Orders, Reports). p. 621
GENERAL ORDERS,.
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, Numbers 119..
Hilton Head, S. C., August 16, 1864..
In view of the necessities of the military service, the want of recruits to complete the unfilled regiments in this department, the greater numbers of unemployed colored men and deserters hiding about to avoid labor or service, and in consideration of the large bounties now paid to volunteers by the Government, General Orders, Numbers 17, dated headquarters Department of the South, Hilton Head, S. C., March 6, 1863, is hereby amended to read as follows:
I. All able-bodied colored men between the ages of eighteen and fifty, within the military lines of the Department of the South, who have had an opportunity to enlist voluntarily and refused to do so, shall be drafted into the military service of the United States, to serve as non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the various regiments and batteries now being organized in the department.
II. Whenever any laborer shall be taken from any of the departments of the army their places shall be filled from those who are exempted by the surgeons as unfit for military duty by the superintendent of volunteer recruiting.
III. Deserters from regiments organized in this department who shall give themselves up on or before the 10th day of September, 1864, shall receive full pardon and be restored to duty.
IV. The owners or superintendents of plantations, and all other persons throughout the department not in the military service, are hereby authorized and required to arrest and deliver to the local provost-marshal of the nearest military post all deserters in their employ or loitering about their plantations, and if it be necessary for a guard to make the arrest, it shall be the duty of such person or persons knowing of the whereabouts of any deserter, or person by common reports called a deserter, to report the fact to the nearest military commander, and also to render him all assistance in his power to cause the arrest. Any person found guilty of violating this section shall be severely punished.
V. District provost-marshals are hereby directed to cause the arrest of all idle persons, and all persons within the military lines of their respective districts, either white to black, who have not proper and visible means to support, and to turn them over immediately to the general superintendent of volunteer recruiting service or his agents for conscription.
The Provost-Marshal-General and general superintendent of volunteer recruiting are charged with a strict enforcement of this order..
by command of Major General J. G. Foster: .
W. L. M. BURGER, .
Assistant Adjutant-General. .
http://www.ehistory.com/uscw/library/or/020/0466.cfm
Official Records, Series 1, vol 14, Part 1
pages 466-467
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,.
Hilton Head, S. C., June 9, 1863..
Colonel JAMES MONTGOMERY,.
Commanding Second S. C. Regiment, Saint Simon's Island: .
COLONEL: I have the honor of transmitting herewith a copy of General Orders, No. 100, of the War Department, current series, promulgating a system of "Instructions for the government of armies of the United States in the field," prepared by an eminent international and military jurist, Dr. Francis Lieber, revised by a board of high officers, and approved and established by the President of the United States.
To sections I, II, III of these instructions I beg to call your particular attention; not that in any manner I doubt the justice or generosity of your judgment, but for the reason that it is peculiarly important, in view of the questions which have heretofore surrounded the employment of colored troops in the armies of the United States, to give our enemies (foreign and domestic) as little ground as possible for alleging any violation of the laws and usages of civilized warfare as a palliation for these atrocities which are threatened against the men and officers of commands similar to your own. If, as is threatened by the rebel Congress, this war has eventually to degenerate into a barbarous and savage conflict, softened by none of the amenities and rights established by the wisdom and civilization of the world through successive centuries of struggle, it is of the first moment that the infamy of this deterioration should rest exclusively and without excuse upon the rebel Government. It will therefore be necessary for you to exercise the utmost strictness in insisting upon compliance with the instructions herewith sent, and you will avoid any devastation which does not strike immediately at the resources or material of the armed insurrection which we are now engaged in the task of suppressing.
All fugitives who come within our lines you will receive, welcome, and protect. Such of them as are able-bodied men you will at once enroll and arm as soldiers. You will take all horses and mules available for transportation to the enemy; also all cattle and other food which can be of service to our forces. As the rebel Government has laid all grain and produce under conscription, to be taken at will for the use of its armed adherents, you will be justified in destroying all stores of this kind which you shall not be able to remove; but the destruction of crops in the ground, which may not be fit for use until the rebellion is over, or which may when ripe be of service to the forces of our Government occupying the enemy's country, you will not engage in without mature consideration. This right of war, though unquestionable in certain extreme cases, is not to be slightly used, and if wantonly used might fall under that part of the instructions which prohibits devastation. All household furniture, libraries, churches, and hospitals you will of course spare.
That the wickedness and folly of the enemy may soon place us in a position where the immutable laws of self-defense and the stern necessity of retaliation will not only justify but enjoin every conceivable species of injury is only to be too clearly apprehended; but until such time shall have arrived, and until the proof, not merely of declarations or resolves but of acts, is unmistakable, it will be both right and wise to hold the troops under your command to the very strictest interpretation of the laws and usages of civilized warfare.
Expressing the highest confidence in your courage, skill, humanity, and discretion, I have the honor to be, colonel, very respectfully yours,
D. HUNTER, Major-General, Commanding.
Except in his own mind, and your own idolizing mind, Lincoln was not the Congress, or the Judiciary.
What he did was outside the power of the President.
Yeah, I know. I read your cut-n-paste quotes in your earlier post. But no, moving troops around Boston was not an act of war on the part of the British. Hostilities were initiated by the colonists themselves. The British government never declared a war, either. So by this anology you seem to be admitting that the south started the hostilities.
Lincoln's cabinet and military took him to task.
"The attempt to reinforce Sumter will provoke an attack and involve war. The very preparation for such an expedition will precipate war at that point. ~ William Seward ~
"There was not a man in the Cabinet that did not know that an attempt to reinforce Sumter would be the first blow of the war." ~ Gideon Welles ~
"Dissolution of the Union is better than a conflict. I will oppose any attempt to reinforce Sumter if it means war." ~ Salmon P. Chase ~
"They have placed an engineer officer at Fort Pickens to violate, as I consider, our agreement not to reinforce. I do not believe that we are entirely absolved from all agreement of January 29." ~ General Bragg ~
"It would be considered not only a declaration but an act of war; and would be resisted to the utmost."
"Both sides are faithfully observing the agreement (armistice) entered into by the United States Government and Mr. Mallory and Colonel Chase, which binds us not to reinforce Fort Pickens unless it shall be attacked or threatened. It binds them not to attack it unless we should attempt to reinforce it."
~ Capt. H.A. Adams, Commanding Naval Forces off Pensacola, April 1, 1861 ~
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