That I am not mistaken in the facts on which I found this argument is apparent from a letter which I hold in my hand, written by one of these soldiers, now on Morris Island. I content myself with a brief extract.
“In the month of February, 1863, Governor John A. Andrew announced that he had permission from the War Department to raise a regiment of infantry to be composed of men of color. Enlisting began immediately, and the fifty-fourth regiment was filled to overflowing in three months. The only inducement he offered to these men was an acknowledgment of their manhood; for he promised that the United States Government would treat them, in every particular, the same as other volunteer regiments from the State of Massachusetts.”
Mr. Lane. Will the Senator pardon me a moment just there?
Mr. Sumner. Certainly.
Mr. Lane. They were to be treated in every respect as the volunteer troops from Massachusetts. Will the Senator contend that the commissioned officers of colored regiments might be drawn from the colored troops themselves, after the passage of the law of 1862? Was not that a disparity? Was that treating them like other troops?
Mr. Sumner. Of course the order is applicable simply to the enlisted men. It is not applicable to the officers.
The letter goes on to say,—
“The enlistment rolls signed by these men bound them to obey the President,” &c.
How?