171. NEGROES AS CONTRABAND

The avowed policy of waging the war for the Union and not against slavery raised the problem as to whether fugitive slaves coming to the Federal camps should be returned to their masters. Many officers with Democratic antecedents were careful to do so. General B. F. Butler, a Massachusetts lawyer and politician, met the issue as described in the following incident occurring near Fortress Monroe in Virginia in May, 1861. Thenceforth "contraband" was a slang term for negro. B. F. Butler, Butler's Book, pp. 256-258, Boston, 1892.

ON the day after my arrival at the fort, May 23, three negroes were reported coming in a boat from Sewall's Point, where the enemy was building a battery. Thinking that some information as to that work might be got from them, I had them before me. I learned that they were employed on the battery at the Point, which as yet was a trifling affair. There were only two guns there, though the work was laid out to be much larger and to be heavily mounted with guns captured from the navy-yard. The negroes said they belonged to Colonel Mallory, who commanded the Virginia troops around Hampton, and that he was now making preparation to take all his negroes to Florida soon, and that not wanting to go away from home they had escaped to the fort. I directed that they should be fed and set at work.

On the next day I was notified by an officer in charge of the picket line next Hampton that an officer bearing a flag of truce desired to be admitted to the fort to see me. As I did not wish to allow officers of the enemy to come inside the fort just then and see us piling up sand bags to protect the weak points there, I directed the bearer of the flag to be informed that I would be at the picket line in the course of an hour. Accompanied by two gentlemen of my staff, Major Fay and Captain Haggerty, neither now living, I rode out to the picket line and met the flag of truce there. It was under charge of Major Carey, who introduced himself, at the same time pleasantly calling to mind that we last met at the Charleston convention...

"I am informed," said Major Carey," that three negroes belonging to Colonel Mallory have escaped within your lines. I am Colonel Mallory's agent and have charge of his property. What do you mean to do with those negroes?

"I intend to hold them," said I.

Do you mean, then, to set aside your constitutional obligation to return them? "

"I mean to take Virginia at her word, as declared in the ordinance of secession passed yesterday. I am under no constitutional obligations to a foreign country, which Virginia now claims to be."

"But you say we cannot secede," he answered, “and so you cannot consistently detain the negroes."

"But you say you have seceded, so you cannot consistently claim them. I shall hold these negroes as contraband of war, since they are engaged in the construction of your battery and are claimed as your property. The question is simply whether they shall be used for or against the Government of the United States. Yet, though I greatly need the labor which has providentially come to my hands, if Colonel Mallory will come into the fort and take the oath of allegiance to the United States, he shall have his negroes, and I will endeavor to hire them from him.”

"Colonel Mallory is absent," was Major Carey's answer.

We courteously parted. On the way back, the correctness of my law was discussed by Major Haggerty, who was, for a young man, a very good lawyer. He said that he doubted somewhat upon the law, and asked me if I knew of that proposition having been laid down in any treatise on international law.

"Not the precise proposition," said I; "but the precise principle is familiar law. Property of whatever nature, used or capable of being used for warlike purposes, and especially when being so used, may be captured and held either on sea or on shore as property contraband of war. Whether there may be a property in human beings is a question upon which some of us might doubt, but the rebels cannot take the negative. At any rate, Haggerty, it is a good enough reason to stop the rebels' mouths with, especially as I should have held these negroes anyway."

172. CAUSES AND PURPOSES OF THE WAR

At the outset, the support of Democrats and old Whigs in the Northern and border states could only be assured by emphasizing the fact that the war was waged to save the Union and not to extirpate slavery. The following resolution, framed by John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, passed both Houses by July 25.

House Journal, 37 Congress, I session, 1861, p. 123.

MR. CRITTENDEN submitted the following resolution, viz.: Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the

United States, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the southern States, now in arms against the constitutional government, and in arms around the capital; that in this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole. country; that this war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.

The question then recurring on the demand for the previous question, it was seconded and the main question ordered to be put.

A division of the question being demanded by Mr. Burnett, The question was first put on agreeing to the first branch of the resolution,..

And it was decided in the affirmative,

(Yeas
Nays

121

2

The second branch of the resolution having been read,..

The question was put, Will the House agree thereto?

And it was decided in the affirmative,

(Yeas
Nays

...

117 2

So the second branch of the said resolution was agreed to.

173. THE FIRST LEGAL TENDER ACT

The sudden crisis in the task of financing the Civil War on February 25, 1862, led to the desperate device of authorizing the issue of $150,000,000 in legal tender notes without any specific provision for their redemption. Subsequent issues were authorized July 11, January 17, 1863, and March 3, 1863. As the "greenbacks" they were an

important part of the monetary program in the days following the Civil War. Some $346,000,000 of them are still a part of our currency. Statutes at Large of the United States, Vol. 12, Part 2, Public Laws, pp. 345-348.

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue, on the credit of the United States, one hundred and fifty millions of dollars of United States notes, not bearing interest, payable to bearer, at the Treasury of the United States, and of such denominations as he may deem expedient, not less than five dollars each:.. such notes herein authorized shall be receivable in payment of all taxes,.. debts, and demands of every kind due to the United States, except duties on imports, and of all claims and demands against the United States of every kind whatsoever, except for interest upon bonds and notes, which shall be paid in coin, and shall also be lawful money and a legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, within the United States, except duties on imports and interest as aforesaid. And any holders of said United States notes depositing any sum not less than fifty dollars, or some multiple of fifty dollars, with the Treasurer of the United States,.. shall receive in exchange there for,.. an equal amount of bonds of the United States, coupon or registered,.. bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, and redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty years from the date thereof. And such United States notes shall be received the same as coin, at their par value, in payment for any loans that may be hereafter sold or negotiated by the Secretary of the Treasury, and may be re-issued from time to time as the exigencies of the public interests shall require.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That all duties on imported goods shall be paid in coin, or in notes payable on demand heretofore authorized to be issued and by law receivable in payment of public dues, and the coin so paid shall be set apart as a special fund, and shall be applied as follows:

First. To the payment in coin of the interest on the bonds and notes of the United States.

Second. To the purchase or payment of one per centum of the entire debt of the United States, to be made within each fiscal year after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, which is to be set apart as a sinking fund, and the interest of which shall in like manner

be applied to the purchase or payment of the public debt as the Secretary of the Treasury shall from time to time direct.

Third. The residue thereof to be paid into the Treasury of the United States.

APPROVED, February 25, 1862.

174. THE HOMESTEAD ACT

Passed May 20, 1862. See also No. 131.

Statutes at Large of the United States, Vol. 12, pp. 392-393.

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such,.. and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one-quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands, . . to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed:..

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person applying for the benefit of this act shall,.. make affidavit before the said register or receiver that he or she is the head of a family, or is twenty-one years or more of age, or shall have performed service in the army or navy of the United States, and that he has never borne arms against the Government of the United States or given aid and comfort to its enemies, and that such application is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and upon filing the said affidavit with the register or receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified: Provided, however, That no certificate shall be given or patent issued there for until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry; .. shall prove by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately