Correspondence Concerning Contrabands.
Contrabands continue to flock through the Yankee lines, many of them securing work in the service of the United States. Union men as well as Secessionists have been the losers, as will be seen from the following correspondence. Headq'rs Aquia Creek, Va., June 27, 1862.
Sir
--I have your letter of the 24th Inst., stating that you have a negro man at this place, thirty-seven years of age, passing by the name of Charles Waters, and that unless you have the negro or his equivalent in money you will bring the matter before Congress.
I have no knowledge as to the person you refer to. Contrabands are under the especial charge of Lieut. Ross, Acting Assistant Quartermaster.
It the man is here and desires to return to you, or if you should come here, and, without threats or violence, induce him to return, I will neither offer nor suffer any resistance.
My duty here is simply to enforce the Constitution and laws, as construed by the early fathers, and in obedience to my superior officers. Sir
Very respectfully,
Geo H. Biddle,
Col. 95th Reg't N. Y. State Vol. Inf., com. Post. Thomas A. Miller, Esq., Charles co., Md.
Geo H. Biddle,
Col. 95th Reg't N. Y. State Vol. Inf., com. Post. Thomas A. Miller, Esq., Charles co., Md.
--Colonel Biddle refers me to you in the matter of runaway negroes I will esteem it a favor to be furnished with a certificate, endorsed by the Colonel, of the fact of my negro man, who calls himself Charles Waters, being at Aquia creek, in Government employ. Col. B. says he has no knowledge of this fact. The negro's name is on your record of contrabands as my property. Messrs. Childs, Adams, and Mitchell, who visited Aquia creek some short time since to see after negroes of their own, inform me of this fact. They also talked with this negro, who was employed in unloading bo Col. Biddle closes his letter to me by saying, ‘"I am simply here to enforce the Constitution and laws."’ In this State the receiving or employing runaway negroes is called harboring, and is a penal offence. I have yet to learn that the statutes of Maryland are violative of the Constitution. There is no man in Maryland more loyal than I, or who has encountered more odium for defending the Government, My loyalty here has been regarded as of the most ultra kind, in proof of which I can refer to every prominent Union man in the State. I stood by Hicks, holding a commission as one of his aids. I have also the same position on the staff of our present Union Governor, Mr. Bradford. I can also refer to Gen. Hooker, with whom I am well acquainted, and who knows my antecedents. The negro man left for no provocation. His wife and children are at Aquia creek, and he left me on their account. I am informed by Colonel B. that if I come over and can induce this negro to return with me he will see there is no interference. I am not willing to consult this negro at all in a matter of this sort. He is my property, my money paid for him, and if the Government requires a regiment of soldiers to stand between me and my just rights, I can only say I must submit — I am but an individual. It is not the value of the property that so much concerns me; it is the principle it involves.--Are we of the border States to be taxed to furnish rations to our own negroes. If officers in the army can't catch slaves for their lawful owners, how is it they can catch them for themselves or for the Government? If you order this man and his family from your post, they will be likely to come home. Maryland negroes, I presume, don't come home. Maryland negroes, I presume, don't come under the head of contrabands.
