Xliv.
When the policy of the employment of
African troops was first being agitated, I prepared by request, the following historic statement on the subject which
Mr. Lincoln made use of in his discussions with his friends and advisers, and which, by the advice of
Mr. Sumner, was anonymously printed after it had passed his thorough revision.
He believed it would fortify his position in the Senate, and
Mr. Lincoln with his Cabinet.
The result justified those convictions.
Those who have declaimed loudest against the employment of negro troops have shown a lamentable amount of ignorance, and an equally lamentable lack of common sense.
They know as little of the military history and martial qualities of the African race as they do of their own duties as commanders.
All distinguished generals of modern times who have had opportunities to use negro soldiers, have uniformly applauded their subordination, bravery, and powers of endurance.
Washington solicited the military services of negroes in the Revolution, and rewarded them.
Jackson did the same in the War of 1812.
Under both those great captains the negro troops fought so well that they received unstinted praise.
Bancroft, in speaking of the battle of Bunker Hill (vol.
VII. p. 421, History of United States), says:—
‘Nor should history forget to record that as in the army at Cambridge, so also in this gallant band, the free negroes of the colony had their representatives.
For the right of free negroes to bear arms in the public defence was at that day as little disputed in New England as their
[419]
other rights.
They took their places, not in a separate corps, but in the ranks with the white men; and their names may be read on the pension-rolls of the country side by side with those of other soldiers of the Revolution.’
In the Memoir of Major Samuel Lawrence (by Rev. Dr. Lothrop, pp. 8, 9) the following passage occurs:—
‘At one time he commanded a company whose rank and file were all negroes, of whose courage, military discipline, and fidelity he always spoke with respect.
On one occasion, being out reconnoitring with this company, be got so far in advance of his command that he was surrounded and on the point of being made prisoner by the enemy.
The men, soon discovering his peril, rushed to his rescue, and fought with the most determined bravery till that rescue was effectually secured.’
When the Committee of Conference on the condition of the army agreed that negro soldiers should be rejected altogether, Washington, on the 31st of December, 1775, wrote from Cambridge to the President of Congress as follows:—
‘It has been represented to me that the free negroes who have served in this army are very much dissatisfied at being discarded.
As it is to be apprehended that they may seek employ in the ministerial army, I have presumed to depart from the resolution respecting them, and have given license for their being enlisted.
If this is disapproved of by Congress, I will put a stop to it.’—Sparks's Life of Washington, vol.
III., pp. 218, 219.
Congress sustained Washington in disregarding the resolution.
