Part 14
§ 8. _And be it farther enacted_, That the "school farms" in the parish of Saint Helena, South Carolina, shall be sold, subject to any leases of the same, by the said tax commissioners, at public auction, on or before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, at not less than ten dollars per acre; and the lots in the city of Port Royal, as laid down by the said tax commissioners, and the lots and houses in the town of Beaufort, which are still held in like manner, shall be sold at public auction; and the proceeds of said sales, after paying expenses of the surveys and sales, shall be invested in United States bonds, the interest of which shall be appropriated, under the direction of the Commissioner, to the support of schools, without distinction of color or race, on the islands in the parishes of Saint Helena and Saint Luke.
§ 9. _And be it further enacted_, That the assistant commissioners for South Carolina and Georgia are hereby authorized to examine all claims to lands in their respective States which are claimed under the provisions of General Sherman's special field order, and to give each person having a valid claim a warrant upon the direct tax commissioners for South Carolina for twenty acres of land, and the said direct tax commissioners shall issue to every person, or to his or her heirs, but in no case to any assigns, presenting such warrant, a lease of twenty acres of land, as provided for in section 7, for the term of six years; but at any time thereafter, upon the payment of a sum not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents per acre, the person holding such lease shall be entitled to a certificate of sale of said tract of twenty acres from the direct tax commissioner or such officer as may be authorized to issue the same; but no warrant shall be held valid longer than two years after the issue of the same.
§ 10. _And be it further enacted_, That the direct tax commissioners for South Carolina are hereby authorized and required at the earliest day practicable to survey the lands designated in section 7 into lots of twenty acres each, with proper metes and bounds distinctly marked, so that the several tracts shall be convenient in form, and as near as practicable have an average of fertility and woodland; and the expense of such surveys shall be paid from the proceeds of the sales of said lands, or, if sooner required, out of any moneys received for other lands on these islands, sold by the United States for taxes, and now in the hands of the direct tax commissioners.
§ 11. _And be it further enacted_, That restoration of lands occupied by freedmen under General Sherman's field order, dated at Savannah, Georgia, January sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, shall not be made until after the crops of the present year shall have been gathered by the occupants of said lands, nor until a fair compensation shall have been made to them by the former owners of such lands or their legal representatives for all improvements or betterments erected or constructed thereon, and after due notice of the same being done shall have been given by the assistant commissioner.
§ 12. _And be it further enacted_, That the Commissioner shall have power to seize, hold, use, lease, or sell all buildings and tenements, and any lands appertaining to the same, or otherwise, formerly held under color of title by the late so-called Confederate States, and not heretofore disposed of by the United States, and any buildings or lands held in trust for the same by any person or persons, and to use the same or appropriate the proceeds derived therefrom to the education of the freed people; and whenever the bureau shall cease to exist, such of said so-called Confederate States as shall have made provision for the education of their citizens without distinction of color shall receive the sum remaining unexpended of such sales or rentals, which shall be distributed among said States for educational purposes in proportion to their population.
§ 13. _And be it further enacted_, That the Commissioner of this bureau shall at all times co-operate with private benevolent associations of citizens in aid of freedmen, and with agents and teachers, duly accredited and appointed by them, and shall hire or provide by lease buildings for purposes of education whenever such associations shall, without cost to the government, provide suitable teachers and means of instructions; and he shall furnish such protection as may be required for the safe conduct of such schools.
§ 14. _And be it further enacted_, That in every State or district where the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and until the same shall be fully restored, and in every State or district whose constitutional relations to the government have been practically discontinued by the rebellion, and until such State shall have been restored in such relations, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United States, the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings concerning personal liberty, personal security, and the acquisition, enjoyment, and disposition of estate, real and personal, including the constitutional right to bear arms, shall be secured to and enjoyed by all the citizens of such State or district without respect to race or color, or previous condition of slavery. And whenever in either of said States or districts the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and until the same shall be fully restored, and until such State shall have been restored in its constitutional relations to the government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United States, the President shall, through the Commissioner and the officers of the bureau, and under such rules and regulations as the President, through the Secretary of War, shall prescribe, extend military protection and have military jurisdiction over all cases and questions concerning the free enjoyment of such immunities and rights, and no penalty or punishment for any violation of law shall be imposed or permitted because of race or color, or previous condition of slavery, other or greater than the penalty or punishment to which white persons may be liable by law for the like offence. But the jurisdiction conferred by this section upon the officers of the bureau shall not exist in any State where the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has not been interrupted by the rebellion, and shall cease in every State when the courts of the State and of the United States are not disturbed in the peaceable course of justice, and after such State shall be fully restored in its constitutional relations to the government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United States.
§ 15. _And be it further enacted_, That all officers, agents, and employés of this bureau, before entering upon the duties of their office, shall take the oath prescribed in the first section of the act to which this is an amendment; and all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
SCHUYLER COLFAX,
_Speaker of the House of Representatives_.
LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER,
_President of Senate pro tempore_.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UNITED STATES,
_July_ 16, 1866.
The President of the United States having returned to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, the bill entitled "An act to continue in force and to amend 'An act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees,' and for other purposes," with his objections thereto, the House of Representatives proceeded, in pursuance of the Constitution to reconsider the same; and
_Resolved_, That the said bill pass, two-thirds of the House of Representatives agreeing to pass the same.
Attest: EDWARD MCPHERSON,
_Clerk House of Representatives of the United States._
IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
_July 16, 1866._
The Senate having proceeded, in pursuance of the Constitution, to reconsider the bill entitled "An act to continue in force and to amend 'An act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees,' and for other purposes," returned to the House of Representatives by the President of the United States, with his objections, and sent by the House of Representatives to the Senate with the message of the President returning the bill--
_Resolved_, That the bill do pass, two-thirds of the Senate agreeing to pass the same.
Attest: J.W. FORNEY,
_Secretary of the Senate of the United States._
PROVOST MARSHAL-GENERAL'S REPORT.
SHOWING THE NUMBER OF MEN ENLISTED, NUMBER OF KILLED, WOUNDED, AND DEATHS FROM DISEASE, DURING THE REBELLION.
WASHINGTON, D.C., Friday, April 27, 1866.
The following is a condensed summary of the results of the operations of this bureau, from its organization to the close of the war.
1. By means of a full and exact enrollment of all persons liable to conscription, under the law of March 3 and its amendments, a complete exhibit of the military resources of the loyal States, in men, was made, showing an aggregate number of 2,254,063, not including 1,000,516 soldiers actually under arms, when hostilities ceased.
2. One million one hundred and twenty thousand six hundred and twenty-one men were raised, at an average cost (on account of recruitment exclusive of bounties,) of $9.84 per man, while the cost of recruiting of 1,356,593 raised prior to the organization of the Bureau was $34.01 per man. A saving of over seventy cents on the dollar in the cost of raising troops was thus effected under this Bureau, notwithstanding the increase in the price of subsistence, transportation, rents, &c., during the last two years of the war. (Item: The number above given does not embrace the naval credits allowed under the eighth section of the act of July 4, 1864, nor credits for drafted men who paid commutation, the recruits for the regular army, nor the credits allowed by the Adjutant-General subsequent to May 25, 1865, for men raised prior to that date.)
3. Seventy-six thousand five hundred and twenty-six deserters were arrested and returned to the army. The vigilance and energy of the officers of the Bureau, in this line of the business, put an effectual check to the wide-spread evil of desertion, which, at one time, impaired so seriously the numerical strength and efficiency of the army.
4. The quotas of men furnished by the various parts of the country were equalized, and a proportionate share of military service secured from each, thus removing the very serious inequality of recruitment, which had arisen during the first two years of the war, and which, when the bureau was organized, had become an almost insuperable obstacle to the further progress of raising troops.
5. Records were completed showing minutely the physical condition of 1,014,776 of the men examined, and tables of great scientific and professional value have been compiled from this data.
6. The casualties in the entire military force of the nation during the war of the rebellion, as shown by the official muster-rolls and monthly returns, have been compiled with, in part, this result:
KILLED IN ACTION OR DIED OF WOUNDS WHILE IN SERVICE.
Commissioned officers 5,221 Enlisted men 90,868
DIED FROM DISEASE OR ACCIDENT.
Commissioned officers 2,321 Enlisted men 182,329 -------- Total loss in service 280,739
These figures have been carefully compiled from the complete official file of muster-rolls and monthly returns, but yet entire accuracy is not claimed for them, as errors and omissions to some extent doubtless prevailed in the rolls and returns. Deaths (from wounds or disease contracted in service) which occurred after the men left the army are not included in these figures.
7. The system of recruitment established by the Bureau, under the laws of Congress, if permanently adopted, (with such improvement as experience may suggest,) will be capable of maintaining the numerical strength and improving the character of the army in time of peace, or of promptly and economically rendering available the National forces to any required extent in time of war.
THE UNITED STATES ARMY DURING THE GREAT CIVIL WAR OF 1861-65.
The following statement shows the number of men furnished by each State:
+-----------------+-----------------+--------------- | Men furnished | Aggregate No. | Aggregate | under Act of | of men | No. of men | April 15, 1861, | furnish'd under | furnish'd STATES. | for 75,000 | all calls. | reduced to | militia for | | the 3 years' | for 3 months. | | standard. ---------------------+-----------------+-----------------+--------------- Maine | 771 | 71,745 | 56,595 New Hampshire | 779 | 34,605 | 30,827 Vermont | 782 | 35,246 | 29,052 Massachusetts | 3,736 | 151,785 | 123,844 Rhode Island | 3,147 | 23,711 | 17,878 Connecticut | 2,402 | 57,270 | 50,514 New York | 13,906 | 464,156 | 381,696 New Jersey | 3,123 | 79,511 | 55,785 Pennsylvania | 20,175 | 366,326 | 267,558 Delaware | 775 | 13,651 | 10,303 Maryland | ... | 49,731 | 40,692 West Virginia | 900 | 32,003 | 27,653 District of Columbia | 4,720 | 16,872 | 11,506 Ohio | 12,357 | 317,133 | 237,976 Indiana | 4,686 | 195,147 | 152,283 Illinois | 4,820 | 258,217 | 212,694 Michigan | 781 | 90,119 | 80,865 Wisconsin | 817 | 96,118 | 78,985 Minnesota | 930 | 25,034 | 19,675 Iowa | 968 | 75,860 | 68,182 Missouri | 10,501 | 108,773 | 86,192 Kentucky | ... | 78,540 | 70,348 Kansas | 650 | 20,097 | 18,654 Tennessee | ... | 12,077 | 12,077 Arkansas | ... | ... | ... North Carolina | ... | ... | ... California | ... | 7,451 | 7,451 Nevada | ... | 216 | 216 Oregon | ... | 617 | 581 Washington Ter'ty | ... | 895 | 895 Nebraska | ... | 1,279 | 380 Colorado | ... | 1,762 | 1,762 Dakota | ... | 181 | 181 New Mexico | 1,510 | 2,395 | 1,011 | ------ | --------- | --------- Total | 93,326 | 2,688,523 | 2,154,311 ---------------------+-----------------+-----------------+---------------
HISTORY OF THE FLAG.
BY A DISTINGUISHED HISTORIAN.
Men, in the aggregate, demand something besides abstract ideas and principles. Hence the desire for symbols--something visible to the eye and that appeals to the senses. Every nation has a flag that represents the country--every army a common banner, which, to the soldier, stands for that army. It speaks to him in the din of battle, cheers him in the long and tedious march, and pleads with him on the disastrous retreat.
Standards were originally carried on a pole or lance. It matters little what they may be, for the symbol is the same.
In ancient times the Hebrew tribes had each its own standard--that of Ephraim, for instance, was a steer; of Benjamin, a wolf. Among the Greeks, the Athenians had an owl, and the Thebans a sphynx. The standard of Romulus was a bundle of hay tied to a pole, afterwards a human hand, and finally an eagle. Eagles were at first made of wood, then of silver, with thunderbolts of gold. Under Cæsar they were all gold, without thunderbolts, and were carried on a long pike. The Germans formerly fastened a streamer to a lance, which the duke carried in front of the army. Russia and Austria adopted the double headed eagle. The ancient national flag of England, all know, was the banner of St. George, a white field with a red cross. This was at first used in the Colonies, but several changes were afterwards made.
Of course, when they separated from the mother country, it was necessary to have a distinct flag of their own, and the Continental Congress appointed Dr. Franklin, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Harrison, a committee to take the subject into consideration. They repaired to the American army, a little over 9,000 strong, then assembled at Cambridge, and after due consideration, adopted one composed of seven white and seven red stripes, with the red and white crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, conjoined on a blue field in the corner, and named it "The Great Union Flag." The crosses of St. George and St. Andrew were retained to show the willingness of the colonies to return to their allegiance to the British crown, if their rights were secured. This flag was first hoisted on the first day of January, 1776. In the meantime, the various colonies had adopted distinctive badges, so that the different bodies of troops, that flocked to the army, had each its own banner. In Connecticut, each regiment had its own peculiar standard, on which were represented the arms of the colony, with the motto, "Qui transtulit sustinet"--(he who transplanted us will sustain us.) The one that Putnam gave to the breeze on Prospect Hill on the 18th of July, 1775, was a red flag, with this motto on one side, and on the other, the words inscribed, "An appeal to Heaven." That of the floating batteries was a white ground with the same "Appeal to Heaven" upon it. It is supposed that at Bunker Hill our troops carried a red flag, with a pine tree on a white field in the corner. The first flag in South Carolina was blue, with a crescent in the corner, and received its first baptism under Moultrie. In 1776, Col. Gadsen presented to Congress a flag to be used by the navy, which consisted of a rattle-snake on a yellow ground, with thirteen rattles, and coiled to strike. The motto was, "Don't tread on me." "The Great Union Flag," as described above, without the crosses, and sometimes with the rattle-snake and motto, "Don't tread on me," was used as a naval flag, and called the "Continental Flag."
As the war progressed, different regiments and corps adopted peculiar flags, by which they were designated. The troops which Patrick Henry raised and called the "Culpepper Minute Men," had a banner with a rattle-snake on it, and the mottoes, "Don't tread on me," and "Liberty or death," together with their name. Morgan's celebrated riflemen, called the "Morgan Rifles," not only had a peculiar uniform, but a flag of their own, on which was inscribed, "XI. Virginia Regiment," and the words, "Morgan's Rifle Corps." On it was also the date, 1776, surrounded by a wreath of laurel. Wherever this banner floated, the soldiers knew that deadly work was being done.
When the gallant Pulaski was raising a body of cavalry, in Baltimore, the nuns of Bethlehem sent him a banner of crimson silk, with emblems on it, wrought by their own hands. That of Washington's Life Guard was made of white silk, with various devices upon it, and the motto, "Conquer or die."
It doubtless always will be customary in this country, during a war, for different regiments to have flags presented to them with various devices upon them. It was so during the recent war, but as the stars and stripes supplant them all, so in our revolutionary struggle, the "Great Union Flag," which was raised in Cambridge, took the place of all others and became the flag of the American army.
But in 1777, Congress, on the 19th day of June, passed the following resolution: "_Resolved_, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, that the union be thirteen stars, white, in a blue field, representing a new constellation." A constellation, however, could not well be represented on a flag, and so it was changed into a circle of stars, to represent harmony and union. Red is supposed to represent courage, white, integrity of purpose, and blue, steadfastness, love, and faith. This flag, however, was not used till the following autumn, and waved first over the memorable battle field of Saratoga.
Thus our flag was born, which to-day is known, respected, and feared round the entire globe. In 1794 it received a slight modification, evidently growing out of the intention at that time of Congress to add a new stripe with every additional State that came into the Union, for it passed that year the following resolution: "_Resolved_, That from and after the 1st day of May, Anno Domini 1795, the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white. That the union be fifteen stars, white, in a blue field." In 1818, it was by another resolution of Congress, changed back into thirteen stripes, with twenty-one stars, in which it was provided that a new star should be added to the union on the admission of each new State. That resolution has never been rescinded, till now thirty-six stars blaze on our banner. The symbol of our nationality, the record of our glory, it has become dear to the heart of the people. On the sea and on the land its history has been one to swell the heart with pride. The most beautiful flag in the world in its appearance, it is stained by no disgrace, for it has triumphed in every struggle. Through three wars it bore us on to victory, and in this last terrible struggle against treason, though baptized in the blood of its own children, not a star has been effaced, and it still waves over a united nation.
Whenever the "Star-Spangled Banner" is sung, the spontaneous outburst of the vast masses, as the chorus is reached, shows what a hold that flag has on the popular heart. It not only represents our nationality, but it is the _people's_ flag. It led them on to freedom--it does something more than appeal to their pride as a symbol of national greatness--it appeals to their affections as a friend of their dearest rights. We cannot better close this short history of our flag than by appending the following stirring poem of Drake:
WHEN freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robes of night, And set the stars of glory there! She mingled with its gorgeous dyes The milky baldric of the skies, And striped its pure celestial white With streakings of the morning light; Then, from his mansion in the sun, She called her eagle-bearer down, And gave into his mighty hand The symbol of her chosen land!