| |
|
|
|
Harper's Weekly 10/04/1862
DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.
THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
Washington, Monday, September 22.
By the President of the United States of America:
A PROCLAMATION.
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States
of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare, that here-
after, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the ob-
ject of practically restoring the constitutional relation be-
tween the United States and the people thereof in which
States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed;
that it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress,
to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure
tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection
of all the Slave States so called, the people whereof may
not then be in rebellion against the United States, and
which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or there-
after may voluntarily adopt, the immediate or gradual
abolishment of Slavery within their respective limits; and
that the efforts to colonize persons of African descent with
their consent, upon the continent or elsewhere, with the
previously obtained consent of the Governments existing
there will be continued.
That on the first day of January, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all per-
sons held as slaves within any State, or any designated
part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebell-
ion against the United States shall be then, henceforward,
and forever, free; and the Executive Government of the
United States, including the military and naval authority
thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such
persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons,
or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their
actual freedom.
That the Executive will, on the first day of January
aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts
of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively,
shall then be in rebellion against the United States and
the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that
day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the
United States by members chosen thereto at elections
wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State
shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong
countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence
that such State and the people thereof have not been in
rebellion against the United States.
That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress
entitled “An act to make an additional article of war,”
approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words
and figure following:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the
following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war
for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be
obeyed and observed as such.
Article—All officers or persons in the military or naval service
of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces
under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugi-
tives from service or labor who may have escaped from any person
to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer
who shall be found guilty by a Court-Martial of violating this arti-
cle shall be dismissed from the service.
Section 2. And be it further enacted, that this act shall take effect
from and after its passage.
Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled,
“An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and
rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for
other purposes,” approved July 17, 1862, and which sec-
tions are in the words and figures following:
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted. That all slaves of persons who
shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of
the United States, or who shall, in any way give also comfort
thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the
lines of the army, and all slaves captured from such persons or de-
serted by them, and coming under the control of the Government of
the United States, and all slaves of such persons found on for being
within) any place occured by rebel forces and afterward occupied
by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captures of war
and shall be forever free of their servitude and not again held as
slaves.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any
State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any of the States,
shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his lib-
erty, except for crime or some offense against the laws, unless the
person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to
whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his
lawful owner, and has not been in arms against the United States in
the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto,
and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United
States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the
validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any
other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on
pain of being dismissed from the service.
And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons en-
gaged in the military and naval service of the United
States, to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respec-
tive spheres of service, the act and sections above recited.
And the Executive will in due time recommend that all
citizens of the United States who shall have remained
loyal thereto throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the res-
toration of the constitutional relation between the United
States and their respective States and people, if the rela-
tion shall have been suspended or disturbed), be compen-
sated for all losses by acts of the United States, including
the loss of slaves.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Twenty-second
day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of
the United States the eighty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President.
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
EXPULSION OF THE REBELS FROM MARYLAND.
Last week we announced that Jackson had recrossed
the Potomac, and that a great battle would probably be
fought on 17th. It was fought accordingly on that day,
near the little stream named Antietam, and resulted in a
victory for the Union troops. We give some details of the
battle, with several illustrations, on pages 632, 633, and
634. The day after the battle our army was busily en-
gaged in burying the dead and caring for the wounded on
both sides. Meanwhile, on 18th, the rebels succeeded in
crossing the river back into Virginia. By daylight on the
morning of 19th they had all got across, though General
Pleasanton with his cavalry harassed their rear, and took
many prisoners and stores. On the evening of 19th some
of our troops went forward on a reconnoissance, and crossed
the river at the ford near Shepherdstown. They were
stoutly resisted by the rebels, but succeeded in retiring to
the Maryland side, bringing four pieces of the rebel artil-
lery with them. On 20th another reconnoissance into
Virginia was made by General Barnes, with his own and
a portion of General Sykes's brigade. Shortly after our
troops had been placed in position the enemy emerged
from under the cover of woods with a line of infantry
nearly a mile long. Both forces soon engaged, when the
order was given to retire, which was done in good order,
the enemy following closely behind. When they came
within range fire was opened by twenty pieces of our ar-
tillery, posted on the Maryland bank, with such effect
that they were forced to retire out of reach. Their loss
must have been heavy, as the explosions of our shells were
seen to make large gaps in their ranks. Our loss in killed,
wounded, and prisoners was about one hundred and fifty.
The troops safely returned to Maryland, bringing their
wounded with them.
A RECONNOISSANCE TO THOROUGHFARE GAP.
A detachment of the 2d Pennsylvania cavalry made a
reconnoissance on 18th from Washington in the direction
of Thoroughfare Gap, and returned on 19th with 32 rebel
prisoners, and a number of wagons and ambulances on
their way to Richmond. The country around them was
clear of rebels and undefended. Three of the prisoners
belonged to the body-guard of the rebel General Ewell,
who narrowly escaped capture, having left only a short
time previous to the arrival of our cavalry. The General
was wounded, and is on his way back to Richmond.
THE REBELS FALLING BACK IN KENTUCKY.
The news from Cincinnati states that the rebels were
falling back from Florence, Kentucky, on 17th, and at last
accounts were between Demassville and Falmouth, hav-
ing destroyed the bridges on the Covington and Lexington
Railroad in their way. A scouting party of 53 of the 10th
Kentucky cavalry engaged 100 rebels near Florence on
17th, and killed five, wounded seven, and routed the re-
mainder. Our loss was one killed and one wounded.
It is supposed that Bragg, Kirby Smith, and H. Mar-
shall are uniting their forces.
THREATENED ATTACK ON LOUISVILLE
It is reported from Louisville that a portion of General
Buell's forces attacked and defeated Bragg's rear-guard at
Horse Cave on 18th, and that Bragg was reported subse-
quently to have moved the main body of his army across
the river southward from Munfordsville. It appears, how-
ever, by another dispatch from Louisville, that, instead of
moving southward, Bragg moved northward toward Louis-
ville, eluding General Buell, and getting several hours the
start of him. The greatest excitement existed in Louis-
ville in consequence, and General Nelson, who is in com-
mand there, immediately commenced preparations to de-
fend the city to the last, giving notice to the inhabitants
to be ready to remove the women and children at once.
Most of the stores were closed, and an attack was appre-
hended within forty-eight hours.
THE NEW ARMY CORPS.
The reorganized army corps are now commanded as
follows: 1st—Major-General Joseph Hooker, born in Massa-
chusetts, appointed from California; 2d—Major-General
Edwin V. Sumner, born in Massachusetts, appointed from
New York; 3d—Major-General Samuel P. Heintzelman,
born in Pennsylvania, appointed from the same State;
4th—Major-General Erasmus D. Keyes, born in Massa-
chusetts, appointed from Maine; 5th—Major-General Fitz
John Porter, born in New Hampshire, appointed from the
District of Columbia. 6th—Major-General William B.
Franklin, born in Pennsylvania, appointed from the same
State; 7th—Major-General John A. Dix, born in New
Hampshire, appointed from New york; 8th—Major-Gen-
eral John E. Wool, born in New York, appointed from
the same State; 9th—Major-General Ambrose E. Burn-
side, born in Indiana, appointed from Rhode Island; 10th
—Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchell, born in Kentucky,
appointed from New York; 11th—Major-General John
Sedgwick, born in Connecticut, appointed from the same
State; 12th—Major-General Franz Sigel, born in Ger-
many, appointed from Missouri.
ANOTHER CRUISE OF THE “ESSEX.”
The gun-boat Essex, Commodore Porter, has made an-
other expedition up the river. On reaching Natehez, the
Essex sent a boat's crew ashore for ice. This boat was
fired upon and several men were wounded, whereupon
Commodore Porter threw shot and shell into Natehez for
two hours and a half, when the town surrendered. Com-
ing down the river, the Commodore stopped at Bayou
Sara, a celebrated haunt of guerrillas, sent men ashore,
and burned all but two houses—so there's an end of Bayou
Sara. Further down the river, a battery of 34 guns
opened on the Essex, and a fierce battle, at not more than
80 feet distance, began, which lasted an hour. The rebel
battery was mounted with guns of very heavy calibre; but
that circumstance only sufficed to prove the remarkable
powers of resistance of the Essex. Her iron sides were
struck in a multitude of places with 10-inch and other
sized balls, the result in all cases being the same—a slight
indentation into the sides of the steamer, and then the
balls breaking into a thousand fragments and falling harm-
lessly into the water. The Essex commenced with the
upper gun and silenced them all, one after the other.
FAILURE OF THE REBEL EXPEDITION TO NEW
MEXICO.
We hear of the annihilation of the rebel force under
General Sibley in New Mexico. After the capture of Santa
Fé, some time since, the rebels started back toward El
Paso. We last heard of them at Fort Craig. Near Fort
Fillmore Sibley was caught between the New Mexican
troops under General Canby and the new troops from Cali-
fornia; result—a perfect smash of the rebels, who lost
horses, arms, cannon, stores, and sutler's trains, a great
many killed and wounded, and half their original force
taken prisoners. The survivors were so much exasper-
ated that they assassinated General Sibley and Colonel
Steele during their retreat. The Union forces, immedi-
ately after the fight, took possession of El Paso and Fort
Bliss, near by, and sent a detachment to Camp Quitman,
80 miles east of El Paso. Thereupon the Texans evacu-
ated Fort Davis, 200 miles east of El Paso, and all the
other forts in the extreme northwest of the State—Fort
Clark, 120 miles from San Antonio, now being the nearest
fort to El Paso held by the Texans.
A NAVAL OFFICER DISMISSED.
Navy Department, Sept. 20, 1862
Commander George Henry Preble, senior officer in com-
mand of the blockading force off Mobile, having been
guilty of neglect of duty in permitting the armed steamer
Oreto to run the blockade, thereby not only disregarding
Article 3d, Section 10th. of the Articles of War (which re-
quires an officer to do his utmost to overtake and capture
or destroy every vessel which it is his duty to encounter),
but omitting the plainest ordinary duty committed to an
officer, is, by order of the President, dismissed from the
naval service from this date. The commander of each
vessel of war, on the day after the receipt of this published
general order, will cause it to be read on the quarter-deck
at general muster, together with the accompanying reports,
and enter both upon the vessel's log.
Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy.
A STATEMENT FROM MRS. M`CLELLAN.
The following letter has been published:
To the Editor of the Hartford Courant:
At the dépót in New Haven I was introduced by my
friend Mr. W. to Mrs. M`Clellan. I found her to be an in-
telligent young woman, having with her a sweet infant,
which was almost smothered by the caresses of a number of
soldiers who had learned that she was a young M`Clellan.
On my way to this city, in the cars, through the politeness
of her aunt, Mrs. A., I enjoyed the pleasure of some con-
versation with her. She was very affable, and seemed to
take an interest in the fact that a nephew of mine, the
colonel of a New York regiment, who recently died of dis-
ease contracted before Richmond, was a class-mate at West
Point of her husband. She seemed much elated with the
recent news. She said that when her husband was ap-
pointed Major-General she was not much affected by it;
but now, that he has been restored to his command, and
had accomplished such a triumph, after all that had been
done to degrade him she acknowledged she felt proud. I
replied that she had a perfect right to feel so. She said
that her husband and undertaken this last service with
great reluctance, but it had been pressed upon him with
an assurance that he should not be interfered with. I re-
marked to her that at first I felt great confidence in her
husband, which afterward I had, to a certain extent, lost;
but that I had, previous to his last success, regained it.
She said the same observation had been made by others.
I told her I thought the General had not done justice to
himself, in not explaining to the public circumstances
which looked unfavorable to him. “Do you not think,”
said she, “that it was more patriotic in him to bear his
wrongs in silence, rather than to trouble the Government,
as some others have done, with demands for investigations
and courts-martial, when the delays caused by them would
be injurious to the country? The General,” she remarked,
“when the clouds covering him were of the darkest hue,
had faith that God would yet make him an instrument of
good to the cause of his country.”
MORE REBEL CHIVALRY.
A few days since one of Commodore Farragut's men was
tied to a tree and disemboweled by a party of Mississippians,
who captured him while wandering to the shore near the
gun-boats, in the neighborhood of Vicksburg. A party of
rebels recently visited a house on Pawpaw Island, ten miles
below Vicksburg, and demanded food for themselves in the
name of the Confederacy. The only occupant of the house
was an old woman eighty years of age, who gave them the
dinner they desired, but told them they were trying to
break up one of the best Governments in the world, and
that they could never form another as good. She begged
them to disperse and go to their homes, and cease to an
noy the people of the region around. The ruffians be-
came enraged at her words, and after numerous threats
against every friend of the Union, they delibe ately car-
ried her out of the house and hung her upon a tree before
her own door.
THE MAINE ELECTION.
Returns of the election for Governor in Maine have been
received from three hundred and eighty-four towns. The
result, as compared with the vote in the same towns last
year, is as follows:
1862.
1861.
Republican
42,913
53,316
War Democratic
6,738
19,818
Peace Democratic
30,466
18,072
|
|
