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Chapter 1: recruiting.
At the close of the year 1862, the military situation was discouraging to the supporters of the
Federal Government.
We had been repulsed at
Fredericksburg and at
Vicksburg, and at tremendous cost had fought the
battle of Stone River.
Some sixty-five thousand troops would be discharged during the ensuing
summer and
fall.
Volunteering was at a standstill.
On the other hand, the
Confederates, having filled their ranks, were never better fitted for conflict.
Politically, the opposition had grown formidable, while the so-called ‘peace-faction’ was strong, and active for mediation.
In consequence of the situation, the arming of negroes, first determined upon in October, 1862, was fully adopted as a military measure; and
President Lincoln, on Jan. 1, 1863, issued the
Emancipation Proclamation.
In September, 1862,
General Butler began organizing the Louisiana Native Guards from free negroes.
General Saxton, in the Department of the South, formed the First South Carolina from contrabands in October of the same year.
Col. James Williams, in the summer of 1862,