General David Hunter's Letter about Arming the Slaves

Latest update: 1 August 2024 - gmc

United States Major General David Hunter was an abolitionist - and he was in need of troops to help solidify the Union's occupation of the Port Royal area. He had approximately 16,000 troops but his estimates of Confederate forces in Savannah, Charleston and Augusta that might challenge his foot-hold exceeded 60,000. (Actually the Confederate number was about 1/3 of Hunter's estimate). He asked for more troops but no additional troops were forthcoming from Washington, DC. Under the circumstances, General Hunter looked around and saw a potential force right here in Beaufort District to help defend the Union. Thousands of able Black men who had escaped into Union lines or who had been left behind by their former owners could be welcomed into the Army - or so he believed.

Let's just say that he got himself in a bit of political hot water - which he seems to have welcomed -- when he decided to organize a unit of Black men. The records indicate that he expected about 2000 Black men to enlist. Hunter did not ask permission from his superiors; Hunter did not wait to ask the former enslaved men if they wanted to join the Army - and very few did. On May 9, 1862 - again without asking for input from his superiors or subordinate officers or the treasury employees overseeing the work forces on the abandoned plantations - Hunter ordered a roundup of all Black men aged 18 to 45 currently in the area.

On May 12th, 1862 - rather ironically the day before Robert Smalls made his daring escape with The Planter - about 500 Black men were loaded on the Mattano bound for Hilton Head Island where some ran off afraid that this was just one stop along a journey to Cuba where they would be re-enslaved.

Northern newspapers had the story within a few more days and were almost unanimously opposed to Hunter's actions.

President Abraham Lincoln distanced his administration from Hunter's actions on May 19th:

I, Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, proclaim and declare, that the government of the United States, had no knowledge, information, or belief, of an intention on the part of General Hunter to issue such a proclamation; nor has it any authentic information that the document is genuine. And, further, that neither General Hunter, nor any other commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of the United States, to make proclamations declaring the slaves of any State free; and that the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether genuine or false, is altogether void.

Hunter's actions also raised questions in Congress. Led by Representative Charles Anderson Wickliffe of Kentucky (a border state that allowed slavery throughout the Civil War but remained in the United States), the House resolved to investigate the matter of arming fugitive slaves in South Carolina by instructing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to get prompt answers from General Hunter.

Hunter received Stanton's letter late on the night of June 21, 1862. With the help of his aide Lt. Charles Graham Halpine, an Irishman who became a reform politician, a newspaperman, and publicist in New York before his enlistment in the 69th New York, Hunter composed his answers to the three questions posed by Congress in "haste" over the weekend in order to get his response on the Arago departing for the north the next morning:

1. Whether I had organized or was organizing a regiment of "fugitive slaves" in this department

2. Whether any authority had been  given to me from the War Department for such organization; and

3. Whether I had been furnished by order of the War Department with clothing, uniforms, arms, equipments, &c., for such a force     

Hunter and Halpine crafted the answers carefully while at the same time pushing forward their hope that the Union does indeed enlist "from forty-eight to fifty thousand of these hardy and devoted soldiers" for its defense.  

Though the answer to question 1 was "No," Hunter explains that "There is, however, a fine regiment of persons whose late masters are 'fugitive rebels' - ... So far, indeed, are the loyal persons composing this regiment from seeking to avoid the presence of their late owners, that they are now, one and all, working with remarkable industry to place themselves in a position to go in full and effective pursuit of their fugacious and traitorous proprietors." 

Hunter answered "Yes" to question 2 explaining that as his instructions had come by succession through General T.W. Sherman from the then Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, to "employ all loyal persons offering their services in defense of the Union" with no restrictions as to "character or color of the persons to be employed" he had done so. 

Hunter hedged his answer to question 3 with a "No, but" explanation. Though "I never have received any specific authority for issues of clothing, uniforms, arms, equipments, and so forth, to the troops in question... To me, it seemed that liberty to employ men in any particular capacity implied with it liberty, also to supply them with the necessary tools; and acting upon this faith I have clothed, equipped, and armed the only loyal regiment yet raised in South Carolina."  

In the penultimate paragraph of his letter, Hunter proclaims that "The experiment of arming the blacks, so far as I have made it, has been a complete and even marvellous success. They are sober, docile, attentive, and enthusiastic; displaying great natural capacities for acquiring the duties of the soldier. They are eager, beyond all things, to take the field and be led into action; and it is the unanimous opinion of the officers who have had charge of them, that, in the peculiarities of this climate and country, they will prove invaluable auxiliaries -- fully equal to the similar regiments so long and successfully used by the British authorities in the West India islands." 

Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton forwarded General Hunter's letter answering Kentucky's Representative Charles Anderson Wickliffe questions about "arming South Carolina volunteers - fugitive slaves" to Congress on 2 July 1862 without comment. Stanton writes that he asked General Hunter to respond - and that General Hunter did so "furnishing information as to his action touching the various matters indicated in the resolution."

We have an original copy of this document from the 37th Congress, 2d session in the Research Room but you can read a digital version online on the Black Freedom website.

You can come to the Research Room to read Lincoln's Abolitionist General : The Biography of David Hunter by Edward A. Miller Jr. or you can borrow it from one of the branch libraries.

Though President Lincoln issued a mild rebuke regarding Hunter's actions, Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued a death sentence for his former army friend. Hunter was transferred shortly thereafter to a series of temporary assignments. He burned down parts of the Virginia Military Institute during the Shenandoah Campaign in June 1864. After Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theater, he served as an honor guard during the President's funeral and burial rites. Hunter would be president of military commission trying the conspirators who aided and abetted Edwin Wilkes Booth. He retired from the Army in 1866. He died 20 years later in Washington, DC and is buried in Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, New Jersey.

Source of Images: The illustrated prints above are cataloged as BDC PRINT 14. The images appeared in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 7, 1862.