A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Section 1 (of 3) of Volume 10.
History
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Section 1 (of 3) of Volume 10.
Presidents -- United States; United States -- History -- Sources; United States -- Politics and government
_Ordered by the President_, That the chief of the bureau for
organizing colored troops shall establish recruiting stations at
convenient places within said States and give public notice thereof,
and be governed by the following regulations:
First. None but able-bodied persons shall be enlisted.
Second. The State and county in which the enlistments are made shall be
credited with the recruits enlisted.
Third. All persons enlisted into the military service shall forever
thereafter be free.
Fourth. Free persons, and slaves with the written consent of their
owners, and slaves belonging to those who have been engaged in or given
aid and comfort to the rebellion may be now enlisted, the owners who
have not been engaged in or given aid to the rebellion being entitled to
receive compensation as hereafter provided.
Fifth. If within thirty days from the date of opening enlistments,
notice thereof and of the recruiting stations being published, a
sufficient number of the description of persons aforesaid to meet the
exigencies of the service shall not be enlisted, then enlistments may be
made of slaves without requiring consent of their owners; but they may
receive compensation as herein provided for owners offering their slaves
for enlistment.
Sixth. Any citizen of said States who shall offer his or her slave for
enlistment into the military service shall if such slave be accepted
receive from the recruiting officer a certificate thereof and become
entitled to compensation for the service or labor of said slave, not
exceeding the sum of $300, upon filing a valid deed of manumission and
of release and making satisfactory proof of title; and the recruiting
officer shall furnish to any claimant a descriptive list of any person
enlisted and claimed under oath to be his or her slave, and allow anyone
claiming under oath that his or her slave has been enlisted without his
or her consent the privilege of inspecting the enlisted men for the
purpose of identification.
Seventh. A board of three persons shall be appointed by the President,
to whom the rolls and recruiting lists shall be furnished for public
information, and on demand exhibited to any person claiming that his or
her slave has been enlisted against his or her will.
Eighth. If any person shall within ten days after the filing of said
rolls make a claim for the service of any person so enlisted, the board
shall proceed to examine the proofs of title, and if valid shall award
just compensation, not exceeding $300, for each slave enlisted belonging
to the claimant, and upon the claimant's filing a valid deed of
manumission and release of service the board shall give the claimant a
certificate of the sum awarded, which on presentation shall be paid by
the chief of the bureau.
Ninth. All enlistments of colored troops in the State of Maryland
otherwise than in accordance with these regulations are forbidden.
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