So also, while a Bill for the arming of Slaves was pending before the Rebel Congress early in 1865, General Robert E. Lee wrote, February 18th, from the Headquarters of the Rebel Armies, to Hon. E. Barksdale, of the Rebel House of Representatives, a communication, in which, after acknowledging the receipt of a letter from him of February 12th, "with reference to the employment of Negroes as soldiers," he said: "I think the Measure not only expedient but necessary * * * in my opinion, the Negroes, under proper circumstances, will make efficient soldiers. * * * I think those who are employed, should be freed. It would be neither just nor wise, in my opinion, to require them to remain as Slaves"—thus, not only approving the employment of Black Slaves as soldiers, to fight White Union men, but justifying their Emancipation as a reward for Military service. And, a few days afterward, that Rebel Congress passed a Bill authorizing Jefferson Davis to take into the Rebel Army as many Negro Slaves "as he may deem expedient, for and during the War, to perform Military service in whatever capacity he may direct," and at the same time authorizing General Lee to organize them as other "troops" are organized.
[This Negro soldier Bill, according to McPherson's Appendix, p. 611-612, passed both Houses, and was in these words:
A Bill to increase the Military Forces of the Confederate States.
"The Congress of the Confederate States of America do Enact, That in order to provide additional forces to repel invasion, maintain the rightful possession of the Confederate States, secure their Independence and preserve their Institutions, the President be and he is hereby authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of Slaves the services of such number of able-bodied Negro men as he may deem expedient for and during the War, to perform Military service in whatever capacity he may direct.
"SEC. 2.—That the General-in-Chief be authorized to organize the said Slaves into companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, and to be commanded by such officers as the President may appoint.
"SEC. 3.—That, while employed in the Service, the said troops shall receive the same rations, clothing, and compensation as are allowed to other troops in the same branch of the Service.
"SEC. 4.—That if, under the previous sections of this Act, the President shall not be able to raise a sufficient number of troops to prosecute the War successfully and maintain the Sovereignty of the States, and the Independence of the Confederate States, then he is hereby authorized to call on each State, whenever he thinks it expedient, for her quota of 300,000 troops, in addition to those subject to Military service, under existing laws, or so many thereof as the President may deem necessary, to be raised from such classes of the population, irrespective of color, in each State, as the proper authorities thereof may determine: Provided, that not more than 25 per cent. of the male Slaves, between the ages of 18 and 45, in any State, shall be called for under the provisions of this Act.
"SEC. 5.—That nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize a change in the relation of said Slaves.">[
CHAPTER XXII.
FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.
After President Lincoln had issued his Proclamation of Emancipation, the friends of Freedom clearly perceived—and none of them more clearly than himself that until the incorporation of that great Act into the Constitution of the United States itself, there could be no real assurance of safety to the liberties of the emancipated; that unless this were done there would be left, even after the suppression of the Rebellion, a living spark of dissension which might at any time again be fanned into the flames of Civil War.
Hence, at all proper times, Mr. Lincoln favored and even urged Congressional action upon the subject. It was not, however, until the following year that definite action may be said to have commenced in Congress toward that end; and, as Congress was slow, he found it necessary to say in his third Annual Message: "while I remain in my present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation; nor shall I return to Slavery any person who is Free by the terms of that Proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress."
Meantime, however, occurred the series of glorious Union victories in the West, ending with the surrender to Grant's triumphant Forces on the 4th of July, 1863, of Vicksburg—"the Gibraltar of the West"—with its Garrison, Army, and enormous quantities of arms and munitions of war; thus closing a brilliant and successful Campaign with a blow which literally "broke the back" of the Rebellion; while, almost simultaneously, July 1-3, the Union Forces of the East, under Meade, gained the great victory of Gettysburg, and, driving the hosts of Lee from Pennsylvania, put a second and final end to Rebel invasion of Northern soil; gaining it, on ground dedicated by President Lincoln, before that year had closed—as a place of sepulture for the Patriot-soldiers who there had fallen in a brief, touching and immortal Address, which every American child should learn by heart, and every American adult ponder deeply, as embodying the very essence of true Republicanism.
[President Lincoln's Address, when the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa., was dedicated Nov. 19, 1863, was in these memorable words:
"Fourscore and seven years ago, our Fathers brought forth upon this continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that Nation, or any Nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
"We are met on a great battlefield of that War. We have come here to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that Nation might live.
"It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
"But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract.
"The World will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.
"It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have, thus far, so nobly advanced.
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that Cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom; and that Government of the People, by the People, and for the People, shall not perish front the Earth.">[