652 



NEW OKLEANS. 



and female, in his department, to renew their 

 allegiance to the United States Government, 

 under pain of fine and imprisonment at hard 

 labor, and at the same time to submit a return 

 of the amount of their real and personal 

 property. The native population consequently 

 flocked en masse to register their allegiance, 

 and within, a comparatively short time upward 

 of 60,000 persons had complied with the order. 

 Soon afterward an order was issued prohibiting 

 all persons in New Orleans holding moneys or 

 other property in trust for persons in or sym- 

 pathizing with the Confederate service ; or from 

 paying over the same without an order from 

 the military headquarters, under penalty of 

 having to refund a similar amount to the United 

 States ; and on Oct. 22 the relief commission, 

 whose labors had been regularly prosecuted 

 since the previous May, was directed to supply 

 no family where there was an able-bodied male 

 member over 18 and under 45 years of age, 

 who was either not employed, or had not en- 

 listed in the United States army. 



The month of November was distinguished 

 by a further series of orders. The most import- 

 ant of these was one, framed in accordance with 

 the provisions of the confiscation act of July, 

 1862, declaring sequestered all the property in 

 the district called La Fourche, on the west side 

 of the Mississippi, and all in that part of the State 

 lying east of the Mississippi, except the parishes 

 of Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines. 

 "Within these portions of the State sales or trans- 

 fers of property were prohibited, and a com- 

 mission was appointed to take possession of the 

 districts in question, under whose direction the 

 sugar plantations were worked in the absence of 

 their owners, and the property of disloyal per- 

 sons inventoried and sold for the benefit of the 

 Government. From these sales, which contin- 

 ued until the middle of December, considerable 

 sums were realized. Another order suppressed 

 distilleries and other manufactories of intoxi- 

 cating liquors; another announced that any 

 officer, found drinking intoxicating liquors in 

 any public drinking place, would be recommend- 

 ed to the President for dismissal from the ser- 

 vice ; and a third prohibited the arrest of any 

 slave unless known to be owned by a Union citi- 

 zen, or the imprisonment of a slave unless his 

 expenses should be prepaid, the slave to be re- 

 leased when the money was exhausted. Gen. 

 Butler also ordered a list of slaves confined in 

 the police jail in the month of November to be 

 published, and all whose jail fees were not paid 

 within ten days to be discharged, adding: 

 " This is the course taken in all countries with 

 debtors confined by creditors, and slaves have 

 not such commercial value in New Orleans as 

 to justify their being held and fed by the city, 

 relying upon any supposed lien upon the slave." 



A prominent feature in the history of this 

 month was a Union meeting, held on the 15th, 

 which was terminated by a grand torchlight 

 procession through the principal streets. On 

 the same day the " National Advocate " news- 



paper, established a few months previous, by 

 Jacob Barker, and suppressed by order of Gen. 

 Butler, for an improper publication, was al- 

 lowed to be resumed, the editor having made 

 a public apology. On December 3, in com- 

 pliance with an order from Gen. Shepley, the 

 military governor of Louisiana, an election for 

 members of Congress was held, at which Ben- 

 jamin F. Flanders and Michael Hahn were 

 chosen to represent the first and second dis- 

 tricts of the State, the elective franchise being 

 accorded to all citizens who had taken the oath 

 of allegiance. 



The next event of importance was the ar- 

 rival, on the evening of December 14, of Gen. 

 Banks, who had been appointed to supersede 

 Gen. Butler in command of the Department of 

 the Gulf. The news excited surprise among all 

 classes, and not a few of those opposed to the 

 restoration of the national supremacy were 

 sorry to part with an officer who, if obnoxious 

 from his zeal in the discharge of his duties, had 

 brought unexampled order and security to the 

 city. A meeting of the two generals took 

 place on the 15th, at which Gen. Butler ten- 

 dered a cordial welcome to his successor, as- 

 suring him that the troops would render a 

 cheerful obedience to his orders, and, on the 

 16th, General Banks issued a general order as- 

 suming command of the Department of the 

 Gulf and of the State of Texas. Another or- 

 der required all military and civil officers in the 

 department to report to him, and a third sus- 

 pended all public sales of property on account 

 of the United States until further orders. On 

 the 15th, Gen. Butler took leave of the troops 

 lately under his command, alluding in glowing 

 terms to their success in the field, to the resto- 

 ration of order and quiet to New Orleans, to the 

 feeding of starving wives and children of ene- 

 mies, and stating that the expedition had cost 

 the Government less by four fifths than any 

 other. He said that the speaking of the word 

 "farewell" was the only sorrowful thought he 

 had, and commended them to their new com- 

 mander as one worthy of their esteem. The 

 following address to the people of New Orleans 

 was issued on the succeeding day : 



Citizens of New Orleans : It may not be inappro- 

 priate, as it is not inopportune in occasion, that there 

 should be addressed to you a few words at parting, by 

 one whose name is to be hereafter indissolubly con- 

 nected with your city. I shall speak in no bitterness, 

 because I am not conscious of a single personal ani- 

 mosity. Commanding the Army of the Gulf, I found 

 you captured, but not surrendered; conquered, but not 

 orderly ; relieved from the presence of an army, but 

 incapable of taking care of yourselves. So far from 

 it, you had called upon a foreign legion to protect you 

 from yourselves. I restored order, punished crime, 

 opened commerce, brought provisions to your starving 

 people, reformed your currency, and gave you quiet 

 protection, such as you had not enjoyed for many 

 years. While doing this, my soldiers were subjected 

 to obloquy, reproach, and insult. And now, speaking 

 to you, who know the truth, I here declare that who- 

 ever has quietly remained about his business, affording 

 neither aid nor comfort to the enemies of the United 

 States, has never been interfered with by the soldiers 



