In the early spring of 1864, there was a great deal said in the Southern journals and much action had in the rebel army respecting the capture and treatment of Negro soldiers. The "Richmond Examiner" contained an account of the battle of Newbern, North Carolina, in which the writer seemed to gloat over the fact that a captured Negro had been hung after he had surrendered. It came to the knowledge of Gen. Peck, commanding the army of the District of North Carolina, when the following correspondence took place:
"Headquarters of the Army and District of }
"North Carolina, Newbern, North }
"Carolina, Feb. 11, 1864. }"Major-General Pickett, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, "Confederate Army, Petersburg.
"General: I have the honor to inclose a slip cut from the Richmond 'Examiner,' February eighth, 1864. It is styled 'The Advance on Newbern,' and appears to have been extracted from the Petersburg 'Register,' a paper published in the city where your headquarters are located.
"Your attention is particularly invited to that paragraph which states 'that Colonel Shaw was shot dead by a negro soldier from the other side of the river, which he was spanning with a pontoon bridge, and that the negro was watched, followed, taken, and hanged after the action at Thomasville.
"'The Advance on Newbern.—The Petersburg "Register" gives the following additional facts of the advance on Newbern: Our army, according to the report of passengers arriving from Weldon, has fallen back to a point sixteen miles west of Newbern. The reason assigned for this retrograde movement was that Newbern could not be taken by us without a loss on our part which would find no equivalent in its capture, as the place was stronger than we had anticipated. Yet, in spite of this, we are sure that the expedition will result in good to our cause. Our forces are in a situation to get large supplies from a country still abundant, to prevent raids on points westward, and keep tories in check, and hang them when caught.
"'From a private, who was one of the guard that brought the batch of prisoners through, we learn that Colonel Shaw was shot dead by a negro soldier from the other side of the river, which he was spanning with a pontoon bridge. The negro was watched, followed, taken, and hanged after the action at Thomasville. It is stated that when our troops entered Thomasville, a number of the enemy took shelter in the houses and fired upon them. The Yankees were ordered to surrender, but refused, whereupon our men set fire to the houses, and their occupants got, bodily, a taste in this world of the flames eternal.'
"The Government of the United States has wisely seen fit to enlist many thousand colored citizens to aid in putting down the rebellion, and has placed them on the same footing in all respects as her white troops.
. . . . . . . . .
"Believing that this atrocity has been perpetrated without your knowledge, and that you will take prompt steps to disavow this violation of the usages of war, and to bring the offenders to justice, I shall refrain from executing a rebel soldier until I learn your action in the premises.
"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"John J. Peck,
"Major-General."
Reply of General Pickett.
"Headquarters of the Department of North }
"Carolina, Petersburg, Virginia, February 16, 1864. }"Major-General John J. Peck, U. S. A., Commanding at Newbern:
"General: Your communication of the eleventh of February is received. I have the honor to state in reply, that the paragraph from a newspaper inclosed therein, is not only without foundation in fact, but so ridiculous that I should scarcely have supposed it worthy of consideration; but I would respectfully inform you that had I caught any negro, who had killed either officer, soldier, or citizen of the Confederate States, I should have caused him to be immediately executed.
"To your threat expressed in the following extract from your communication, namely: 'Believing that this atrocity has been perpetrated without your knowledge, and that you will take prompt steps to disavow this violation of the usages of war, and to bring the offenders to justice, I shall refrain from executing a rebel soldier until I learn of your action in the premises,' I have merely to say that I have in my hands and subject to my orders, captured in the recent operations in this department, some four hundred and fifty officers and men of the United States army, and for every man you hang I will hang ten of the United States army.
"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"J. E. Pickett,
"Major-General Commanding."[113]
As already indicated, some of the Southern journals did not endorse the extreme hardships and cruelties to which the rebels subjected the captured Colored men. During the month of July, 1863, quite a number of Colored soldiers had fallen into the hands of the enemy on Morris and James islands. The rebels did not only refuse to exchange them as prisoners of war, but treated them most cruelly.
On this very important subject, in reply to some strictures of the Charleston "Mercury" (made under misapprehension), the Chief of Staff of General Beauregard addressed to that journal the following letter:
"Headquarters, Department of S. C., Ga., and Fla., }
"Charleston, S. C., August 12, 1863. }"Colonel R. B. Rhett, Jr., Editor of 'Mercury':
"In the 'Mercury' of this date you appear to have written under a misapprehension of the facts connected with the present status of the negroes captured in arms on Morris and James Islands, which permit me to state as follows:
"The Proclamation of the President, dated December twenty-fourth, 1862, directed that all negro slaves captured in arms should be at once delivered over to the executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to the laws of said States.
"An informal application was made by the State authorities for the negroes captured in this vicinity; but as none of them, it appeared, had been slaves of citizens of South Carolina, they were not turned over to the civil authority, for at the moment there was no official information at these headquarters of the Act of Congress by which 'all negroes and mulattoes, who shall be engaged in war, or be taken in arms against the confederate States, or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the confederate States,' were directed to be turned over to the authorities of 'State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt with according to the present or future laws of such State or States.'
"On the twenty-first of July, however, the Commanding General telegraphed to the Secretary of War for instructions as to the disposition to be made of the negroes captured on Morris and James Islands, and on the twenty-second received a reply that they must be turned over to the State authorities, by virtue of the joint resolutions of Congress in question.
"Accordingly, on the twenty-ninth July, as soon as a copy of the resolution or act was received, his Excellency Governor Bonham was informed that the negroes captured were held subject to his orders, to be dealt with according to the laws of South Carolina.
"On the same day (twenty-ninth July) Governor Bonham requested that they should be retained in military custody until he could make arrangements to dispose of them; and in that custody they still remain, awaiting the orders of the State authorities.
"Respectfully, your obedient servant,
"Thomas Jordan,
"Chief of Staff."
The Proclamation of Jefferson Davis, referred to in the second paragraph of Mr. Jordan's letter, had declared Gen. Butler "a felon, an outlaw, and an enemy of mankind." It recited his hanging of Mumford; the neglect of the Federal Government to explain or disapprove the act; the imprisonment of non-combatants; Butler's woman order; his sequestration of estates in Western Louisiana; and the inciting to insurrection and arming of slaves. Mr. Davis directed any Confederate officer who should capture Gen. Butler to hang him immediately and without trial. Mr. Davis's proclamation is given here, as history is bound to hold him personally responsible for the cruelties practised upon Negro soldiers captured by the rebels from that time till the close of the war.
"First. That all commissioned officers in the command of said Benjamin F. Butler be declared not entitled to be considered as soldiers engaged in honorable warfare, but as robbers and criminals, deserving death; and that they and each of them be, whenever captured, reserved for execution.
"Second. That the private soldiers and non-commissioned officers in the army of said Butler be considered as only the instruments used for the commission of crimes perpetrated by his orders, and not as free agents; that they, therefore, be treated, when captured as prisoners of war, with kindness and humanity, and be sent home on the usual parole that they will in no manner aid or serve the United States in any capacity during the continuance of this war, unless duly exchanged.
"Third. That all negro slaves captured in arms be at once delivered over to the executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to the laws of said States.
"Fourth. That the like orders be executed in all cases with respect to all commissioned officers of the United States, when found serving in company with said slaves in insurrection against the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy.
"[Signed and sealed at Richmond, Dec. 23, 1862.]
"Jefferson Davis."
The ghastly horrors of Fort Pillow stand alone in the wide field of war cruelties. The affair demands great fortitude in the historian who would truthfully give a narrative of such bloody, sickening detail.