132 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



as requested by the Senate. No reports from Hon. 

 John Covode have been received by the President. 

 The attention of the Senate is invited to the accom- 

 panying report of Lieutenant-Gen. Grant, who recent- 

 ly made a tour of inspection through several of the 

 States whose inhabitants participated in the rebel- 

 lion. ANDREW JOHNSON. 



Mr. Cowan : " I ask that the report of Gen- 

 eral Grant be read." 



The President pro tempore : " If there be no 

 objection, that report will be read." 



The Secretary read as follows : 



HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF TUB UNITED STATES, I 

 WASHINGTON, D. C., December 18, 1865. ) 



SIR: In reply to your note of the 16th instant, re- 

 questing a report from me giving such information as 

 I may be possessed of, coming within the scope of the 

 inquiries made by the Senate of the United States in 

 their resolution of the 12th instant, I have the honor 

 to submit the following: 



With your approval, and also that of the honorable 

 Secretary of War, I left Washington city on the 2Yth 

 of last month for the purpose of making a tour of in- 

 spection through some of the Southern States, or 

 States lately in rebellion, and to see what changes 

 were necessary to be made in the disposition of the 

 military forces of the country ; how these forces 

 could be reduced and expenses curtailed, etc., and to 

 learn, as far as possible, the feelings and intentions 

 of the citizens of those States toward the General 

 Government. 



The State of Virginia being so accessible to Wash- 

 ington city, and information from this quarter there- 

 fore being readily obtained, I hastened through the 

 State without conversing or meeting with any of its 

 citizens. In Raleigh, North Carolina, I spent one 

 day; in Charleston, South Carolina, two days ; Savan- 

 nah and Augusta, Georgia, each one day. Both in 

 travelling and while stopping, I saw much and con- 

 versed freely with the citizens of those States, as well 

 as with officers of the army wh.o have been stationed 

 among them. The following are the conclusions come 

 to by me : 



I am satisfied that the mass of thinking men of the 

 South accept the present situation of affairs in good 

 faith. The questions which have heretofore divided 

 the sentiments of the people of the two sections 

 slavery and States rights, or the right of a State to 

 secede from the Union they regard as having been 

 settled forever by the highest tribunal, arms, that 

 man can resort to. I was pleased to learn from the 

 leading men whom I met, that they not only ac- 

 cepted the decision arrived at as final, but that now, 

 when the smoke of battle has cleared away and time 

 has been given for reflection, this decision has been 

 a fortunate one for the whole country, they receiving 

 like benefits from it with those who opposed them in 

 the field and in council. 



Four years of war, during which law was executed 

 only at the point of the bayonet throughout the 

 States in rebellion, have left the people possibly in a 

 condition not to yield that ready obedience to civil 

 authority the American people have generally been 

 in the habit of yielding. This would render the pres- 

 ence of small garrisons throughout those States neces- 

 sary until such time as labor returns to its proper 

 channels, and civil authority is fully established. I 

 did not meet any one, either those holding places 

 under tho Government or citizens of the Southern 

 States, who think it practicable to withdraw the mil- 

 itary from the South at present. The white and the 

 black mutually require the protection of the General 

 Government. 



There is such universal acquiescence in the au- 

 thority of the General Government throughout the 

 portions of country visited by me. that the mere pres- 

 ence of a military force, without regard to numbers, 

 is sufficient to maintain order. The good of the coun- 



try and economy require that the force kept in Ihe 

 interior where there are many freedmen (elsewhere 

 in the Southern States than at forts upon the sea- 

 coast no force is necessary) should all be whito 

 troops. The reasons for this are obvious, without 

 mentioning many of them. The presence of black 

 troops, lately slaves, demoralizes labor both by their 

 advice and by furnishing in their camps a resort for 

 the freedmen for long distances around. White 

 troops generally excite no opposition, and therefore 

 a small number of them can maintain order in a given 

 district. Colored troops must be kept in bodies s_uf- 

 ficient to defend themselves. It is not the thinking 

 men who would use violence toward any class of 

 troops sent among them by the General Government, 

 but the ignorant in some cases might ; and the late 

 slave seems to be imbued with the idea that the prop- 

 erty of his late master should by right belong to him, 

 or at least should have no protection from the colored 

 soldier. There is danger of collisions being brought 

 on by such causes. 



My observations lead me to the conclusion that the 

 citizens of the Southern States are anxious to return 

 to self-government within the Union as soon as pos- 

 sible; that while reconstructing they want and re- 

 quire protection from the Government; that they_ are 

 in earnest in wishing to do what they think is required 

 by the Government, not humiliating to them as cit- 

 izens, and that if such a course was pointed out they 

 would pursue it in good faith. It is to be regretted 

 that there cannot be a greater commingling at this 

 time between the citizens of the two sections, and 

 particularly of those intrusted with the law-making 

 power. 



I did not give the operations of the Freedmen' s Bu- 

 reau that attention I would have done if more time 

 had been at my disposal. Conversations on the sub- 

 ject, however, with officers connected with the bu- 

 reau lead me to think that in some of the States its 

 affairs have not been conducted with good judgment 

 or economy, and that the belief widely spread among 

 the freedmen of the Southern States, that the laads of 

 their former owners will, at least in part, be divided 

 among them, has come from the agents of this bureau. 

 This belief is seriously interfering with the willing- 

 ness of the freedmen to make contracts for the coming 

 year. In some form the Freedmen's Bureau is an 

 absolute necessity until civil law is established and 

 enforced, securing to the freedmen their rights and 

 full protection. At present, however, it is independ- 

 ent of the military establishment of the country, and 

 seems to be operated by the different agents of the 

 bureau according to their individual notions. Every- 

 where General Howard, the able head of the bureau, 

 made friends by the just and fair instructions and 

 advice he gave ; but the complaint in South Carolina 

 was that when he left, things went on as before. 

 Many, perhaps the majority, of the agents of the 

 Freedmen's Bureau advise the freedmen that by their 

 own industry they must expect to live. To this end 

 they endeavor to secure employment for them, and 

 to see that both contracting parties comply with their 

 engagements. In some instances, I am sorry to say, 

 the freedman's mind does not seem to be disabused 

 of the idea that a freedman has the right to live with- 

 out care or provision for the future. The effect of the 

 belief in division of lands is idleness and accumula- 

 tion in camps, towns, and cities. In such cases I 

 think it will be found that vice and disease will tend 

 to the extermination or great reduction of the colored 

 race. It cannot be expected that the opinions held 

 by men at the South for years can be changed in a 

 day, and therefore the freedmen require for a few 

 years not only laws to protect them, but the fostering 

 care of those who will give them good counsel and in 

 whom they can rely. 



The Freedmen's Bureau, being separated from the 

 military establishment of the country, requires all the 

 expense of a separate organization. One does not 

 necessarily know what the other is doing, or what 



