| Chase to Stanton May 21, 1862 Issues on Recruitment for Hunter's Regiment War of the Rebellion Records |
| Treasury Department, May 21, 1862 Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War: Dear Sir: I send you the Port Royal papers, embracing, first, report of Mr. Pierce; second, circular of General Stevens to superintendents of plantations; thrid, letter of General Stevens to Mr. Pierce; fourth, circular of Mr. Pierce to Superintendents; fifth (and sixth), letter(s) of Mr. Pierce to Major-General Hunter; sixth (seventh), statement of Superintendent Phillips as to same. All the papers are worth reading and are important to a correct view of the state of things on the island. The report of Mr. Pierce is a brief summary of the whole, and will, I think, impress you with a high opinion of his discretion and capacity. Yours, truly, S. P. Chase Abstract of correspondence and other papers in relation to the order of Major-General Hunter for arming able-bodied negroes. This abstract refers to the papers in their natural order; that is, in the order of events. No. 2--This paper is a short circular dated Beaufort, S. C., May 11, 1862, signed by Assistant Adjutant-General Stevens stating that in accordance with an order of General Hunter, the agents and overseers of plantations must send to Beaufort on the following morning every able-bodied negro between the ages of fifteen and forty-five years capable of bearing arms. No. 3---This is a letter accompanying the above circular, from the aforesaid Assistant Adjutant-General Stevens, addressed to Edward L. Pierce, special agent of the Treasury Department, requesting him to have the circular distributed among the several agents, with instructions to pay the greatest attention to the enforcement of the order. No. 4 is a circular or note from Ed. L. Pierce, dated "Pope's Plantation, May 11, 1862," communicating the contents of the circular of General Stevens in relation to General Hunter's order, and stating that this order is to be respected and obeyed by superintendents of plantations. No. 5 is a letter of considerable length addressed to Major-General Hunter by E. L. Pierce, dated May 11, 1862, deprecating in urgent language the mischievous effects likely to result from efforts to execute this order, showing how it would conflict with the designs and purposes of the Treasury Department, which had taken charge and supervision of these plantations, having the support and countenance in such design of the President and the War Department. Mr. Pierce says: With the week closing yesterday (May 10) the planting of the crops has substantially closed. Some 6,000 or 8,000 acres, by a rough estimate, have been planted. the corn, vegetables, and cotton are up and growing. the season of cultivating has come, and without proper cultivation the crops planted will come to nothing, and the money expended by Governemnt, as well as the labor, will be useless. All the hands, with few exceptions, now on the plantations are useful for the cultivation of the growing crops, and only a few can be taken from them without substantial injury. Under these circumstances it is proposed to take from the plantations all able-bodied men between eighteen and forty-five, leaving only women and children and old or sick men to cultivate the crops. There is no exception even for the plowman or the forman.*** But the order has other than financial and industrial results. The cultivation of the plantations was a social experiement which it was important to make. It is a new and delicate one and entitled to a fair trial. The conscription of these laborers will at once arrest it and disorganize and defeat an enterprise thus hopefully begun. The writer proceeds to deplore, to General Hunter, the probable effect upon the minds of these negroes in transporting them, without their consent and against their will, to Hilton Head, to organize them as recruits; states that they are ignorant, suspicious, and sensitive; that they have not acquired such confidence in white men, nor so far recovered the manhood which two centuries of bondage have rooted out, as to realize that they have a country to fight for. He avers also that these forced enlistments will give color to the assurances of their masters that it was the purpose of the Union troops to take them to cuba. He concludes this letter by stating that while he yields obedience to the order, he had felt compelled to state in what manner it appeared to him to conflict with the policy of the Government and the duties with which he had been charged. Nos. 7 and 8 are communications from two superintendents of plantations describing the manner of mustering the negroes and the scenes of distress and weeping and wailing which occurred on the separation of these negroes from their families. One of the superintendents, Mr. Wells, says: This conscription, together with the manner of its execution, has created a suspicion that the Government has not at heart the interest of the negroes it professed to have, and many of them sighed yesterday for the "old fetters" as being better than the "new liberty." No. 6 is another letter from Mr. Pierce to General Hunter, also describing the scenes last referred to and showing generally the disquieting effect of this order upon the negro population. Mr. Pierce says: The superintendents aided in the execution of this order with moral influence and physical assistance, some of them walking many miles in the night to guide the soldiers, but they all expressed great sorrow at what has been done and feel that the hold which they have been slowly and getting on their people has been lessened. No. 1 is a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury by Mr. Pierce, the agent of the Treasury Department, recapitulating all the circumstances relating to his knowledge of and connection with this order and circumstantially detailing what transpired in an interview with General Hunter on the subject. No. 9 is a letter from the Treasury Department transmitting all these documents to the War Department for consideration, and calling attention especially to the report of Mr. Pierce (No. 1), dated May 12, 1862. |
| Edwin M. Staton, Secretary of War |
| Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of Treasury |
| Brig-General David Hunter, Head of the Department of the South |