FKEEDMEN OF THE SOUTH. 



427 



these topics on the 30th of June, 1863. As may 

 be inferred from the language of the President's 

 proclamation, it was at first expected that the 

 colored soldiers would be employed almost ex- 

 clusively in post and garrison duty. Emer- 

 gencies, however, soon occurred in which it was 

 found necessary to bring them into the field, 

 and even when but partially disciplined they 

 acquitted themselves so well as to elicit the 

 commendations of the generals in command, 

 and to cause their being placed in several in- 

 stances in the lead in assaulting columns. At 

 Milliken's Bend, on the 6th of June, the Con- 

 federates made an attack in large force, but 

 were repulsed with heavy loss by the deter- 

 mined bravery of the colored troops. At the 

 second assault on Port Hudson, June 14th, the 

 colored troops under Gen. Paine led the forlorn 

 hope, and amid fearful slaughter planted the 

 Union flag on the parapet, and when their com- 

 mander was terribly wounded and had fallen in 

 front of the enemy's works, and the^ entire as- 

 saulting force had returned to their lines, near- 

 ly half a mile from the Confederate works, on 

 the call for volunteers to bring off the wound- 

 ed general under the terrific fire of the Con- 

 federate batteries, when no white soldiers vol- 

 unteered, sixteen soldiers from the colored 

 regiments stepped out and moved forward in 

 squads of four, and succeeded in bearing him 

 to the Union lines, though fourteen of the six- 

 teen paid the forfeit of their daring with their 

 "~.ves. 



At Fort Wagner, Morris Island, in the De- 

 _artment of the South, at the assault of the 

 18th of July, the colored regiments, under the 

 command of Gen. George C. Strong, fought 

 with great bravery ; the 54th Massachusetts 

 (colored) leading in the assault, and losing 

 their gallant colonel, B. G. Shaw, and most 

 of their officers, and nearly two hundred of 

 their men. At Helena, Ark., on the 4th of 

 July, and on other occasions, they have also 

 acquitted themselves with honor. The officers 

 say that they will follow their officers, even in 

 charges or assaults of great peril, far more 

 readily than white soldiers, but when deprived 

 their commanders would not in general 

 ;ht independently so well as those troops who 

 ,ve had more education. Their camps are 

 nerally in better order, and the men pay 

 ore regard to neatness and order in their own 

 ess than most white soldiers. They endure 

 e exposure to the climate and the privations 

 of the camp much better than whites, and the 

 rate of mortality among them is much lower 

 than among the white troops. 



The Emancipation Proclamation and the em- 

 ployment by the United States Government of 

 the emancipated negroes as soldiers, as might 

 have been expected, furnished occasion for 

 violent denunciation to the Confederate au- 

 thorities. In his message to the Confederate 

 Congress, Jan. 12th, 1863, Mr. Jefferson Davis 

 .made use of the following language in refer- 

 ence to it: " The public journals of the North 



havo been received, containing a proclama- 

 tion, dated on the first day of the present 

 month, signed by the President of the United 

 States, in which he orders and declares all 

 slaves within ten of the States of the Con- 

 federacy to be free, except such as are found 

 within certain districts now occupied in part 

 by the armed forces of the enemy. We may 

 well leave it to the instincts of that common 

 humanity which a beneficent Creator has im- 

 planted in the breasts of our fellow-men of all 

 countries, to pass judgment on a measure by 

 which several millions of human beings of an 

 inferior race peaceful and contented laborers 

 in their sphere are doomed to extermination, 

 while at the same time they are encouraged to 

 a general assassination of their masters by the 

 insidious recommendation ' to abstain from vio- 

 lence unless in necessary self-defence.' Our 

 own detestation of those who have attempted 

 the most execrable measure recorded in the 

 history of guilty man, is tempered by profound 

 contempt for the impotent rage which it dis- 

 closes. So far as regards the action of this 

 Government on such criminals as may attempt 

 its execution, I confine myself to informing you 

 that I shall unless in your wisdom you deem 

 some other course more expedient deliver to 

 the several State authorities all commissioned 

 officers of the United States that may here- 

 after be captured by our forces in any of the 

 States embraced in the proclamation, that they 

 may be dealt with in accordance with the laws 

 of those States providing for the punishment 

 of criminals engaged in exciting such insurrec- 

 tion." (See PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.) 



Mr. Davis subsequently found it advisable 

 to recede from the execution of this threat, 

 but in no case have the officers in com- 

 mand of colored troops, or the colored soldiers 

 themselves when taken prisoners, been ex- 

 changed, and there has been reason for appre- 

 hension that the freedmen soldiers when cap- 

 tured have been either killed or remanded to 

 slavery. The evidence tending to this conclu- 

 sion was collected by Major-Gen. E. A. Hitch- 

 cock, the Commissioner of Exchanges, and laid 

 before the Government, and the following 

 general order was issued in consequence : 



General Order, No. 252. 



WAB DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENIRAI/S OFFICE, I 

 "WASHINGTON, D. C., July Slst, 1S63. J 



The following order of the President is published, 

 for the information and government of all concerned : 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July BOth, 1863. 



It is the duty of every Government to give protec- 

 tion to its citizens, of whatever class, color or condi- 

 tion, and especially to those who are duly organized as 

 soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and 

 the usages and customs of war, as carried on by civil- 

 ized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the 

 treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To 

 sell or enslave any captured person on account of_ hia 

 color, and for no. offence against the laws of war,_is a 

 relapse into barbarism, and a crime against the civili- 

 zation of the age. 



The Government of the United States will give the 

 same protection to all its soldiers, and if the enemy 





