THE FIRST CALL FOR TROOPS.--RENDITION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY THE ARMY.--COL. TYLER'S ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA.--GENERAL ISAAC R. SHERWOOD'S ACCOUNT OF AN ATTEMPT TO SECURE A FUGITIVE SLAVE IN HIS CHARGE.--COL. STEEDMAN REFUSES TO HAVE HIS CAMP SEARCHED FOR FUGITIVE SLAVES, BY ORDER FROM GEN. FRY.--LETTER FROM GEN. BUELL IN DEFENCE OF THE REBELS IN THE SOUTH.--ORDERS ISSUED BY GENERALS HOOKER, WILLIAMS, AND OTHERS, IN REGARD TO HARBORING FUGITIVE SLAVES IN UNION CAMPS.--OBSERVATION CONCERNING SLAVERY FROM THE "ARMY OF THE POTOMAC."--GEN. BUTLER'S LETTER TO GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT.--IT IS ANSWERED BY THE SECRETARY OF WAR.--HORACE GREELEY'S LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT.--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S REPLY.--GEN. JOHN C. FREMONT, COMMANDER OF THE UNION ARMY IN MISSOURI, ISSUES A PROCLAMATION EMANCIPATING SLAVES IN HIS DISTRICT.--IT IS DISAPPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT.--EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION BY GEN. HUNTER.--IT IS RESCINDED BY THE PRESIDENT.--SLAVERY AND UNION JOINED IN A DESPERATE STRUGGLE. When the war clouds broke over the country and hostilities began, the North counted the Negro on the outside of the issue. The Federal Government planted itself upon the policy of the "defence of the free States,"--pursued a defensive rather than an offensive policy. And, whenever the Negro was mentioned, the leaders of the political parties and the Union army declared that it was "_a white mans war_." The first call for three months' troops indicated that the authorities at Washington felt confident that the "trouble" would not last long. The call was issued on the 15th of April, 1861, and provided for the raising of 75,000 troops. It was charged by the President that certain States had been guilty of forming "combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings," and then he proceeded to state: "The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date."[75]