CHAPTER LI

BEAUFORT.--CAMPAIGN PLANNED AGAINST CHARLESTON

After the action of Port Royal Ferry, General Stevens continued to hold Beaufort and the neighboring islands for five months, without the occurrence of any military event of importance, chiefly occupied in thoroughly drilling and disciplining his troops. Lieutenant Abraham Cottrell, of the 8th Michigan, was added to the staff as aide. A battalion of the 1st Massachusetts cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel H.B. Sargent, was added to his command; also another section of Battery E of the 3d artillery, Captain A.P. Rockwell's Connecticut light battery, and a company of Serrell's New York engineers, under Captain Alfred F. Sears, with a pontoon bridge equipment. His attention, moreover, was largely taken up with other matters, not military, but growing out of the peculiar conditions there. He caused the public library, which has already been mentioned, with several fine private libraries added to it, to be put in order, restored to the shelves and catalogued, and thrown open for the use of the troops. Corporal Joseph Matthews, Joseph Hall, and George Lispenard, of Company E of the Highlanders, were busy at this work for several months. He intended that the library, thus preserved, should be cared for and kept in the town where it belonged, and restored to the inhabitants when they resumed their allegiance and returned to their homes. But one day the treasury agent, Colonel William H. Reynolds, presented himself, and demanded the books as captured rebel property, to be sold for the benefit of the government,--a demand which General Stevens indignantly and peremptorily rejected. A month later the agent again appeared with a formal demand from the Secretary of the Treasury for the library, indorsed by General Sherman with an order to give them up. Even then General Stevens suspended the order, and wrote a strong protest to General Sherman, setting forth the vandal character of the proposed action, and urging him to represent the matter in its true light to the government, and secure the revocation of the order. But General Sherman was unwilling to take such a responsibility, and there was no alternative but to give up the books.

General Stevens disapproved the action of the government in sending such treasury agents into the field, with independent authority to gather up cotton and other property, as meddling with military operations, encroaching on the authority of military commanders, and opening the door for dishonest or over-zealous agents to plunder private property. Such work, he declared, should be done by the army through the quartermaster's department, and the captured property then turned over to the Treasury Department.

Apprehensive that the numerous negroes within his lines might become vagrant and burdensome unless brought under control and made self-supporting, General Sherman issued an elaborate order, providing for teaching them the elementary branches, and inducing them to plant crops. The latter requirement General Stevens heartily approved, but he seriously doubted the propriety of the former, and wrote General Sherman, pointing out that to educate the blacks and raise hopes of freedom in their breast would make their condition doubly hard in case, on the suppression of the rebellion, they had to return to their masters, and that the order, manifestly looking to freeing the slaves, might alienate the support of the border States from the Union cause. This view now seems reactionary, but it should be borne in mind that the great mass of Union soldiers sprang to arms, not to free the slaves, but to preserve the Union. Lincoln himself guided his course by the same view of not alienating the border States, withholding his emancipation proclamation until the progress of public opinion made it expedient. Writes General Sherman in reply:--

"After all, my dear general, the government will do as it sees best in this matter. My order can be reversed at its pleasure. But, of myself, it would be doing some violence to my own views of duty to make the change you desire in the system therein indicated. But allow me to express to you my warmest thanks for the thoughtful and considerate manner in which you have done me the honor to write. Although we may differ in our views in one or two points,--both admitted to be delicate ones,--it will not permit any change of my exalted opinion of your talents and your personal character."

But the generals were only wasting time in discussing the negro problem, for by the next steamer, early in March, there descended on the Department of the South, like the locusts on Egypt, a swarm of treasury agents and humanitarians, male and female, all zealously bent on educating and elevating the "freedmen," as they immediately dubbed the blacks. The irreverent young officers styled these good people the "Gideonites," and were disposed to make all manner of fun of them; but among the number were persons of the highest respectability and purest motives, and they undoubtedly accomplished some good. They met with a cold and ungracious reception from General Sherman, who declared that their coming was uncalled for and entirely premature, and incontinently packed them off to Beaufort to the care of General Stevens, thus washing his hands of them.

The latter treated them with the utmost courtesy and kindness, assigned them good quarters in town, and detailed a capable and gentlemanly young officer, Lieutenant H.G. Belcher, of the 8th Michigan, to see to their comfort and needs. He not only gave them every facility and assistance in his power in their care of the blacks, but took a real interest in their mission, talked and advised with the chiefs, and exerted a decided and salutary influence in modifying some of their crude and extravagant ideas, and bringing them down to judicious and practicable measures. It is a curious fact that in several instances he had to curb the attempts of some of the more zealous, who strove to work the blacks harder than their old masters did. Always frank and outspoken in his opinions, and differing widely from many of the views of these visitors, General Stevens impressed them with his sincere and earnest sense of duty, and won their gratitude and goodwill. Hon. Edward L. Pierce, the biographer of Sumner, who was the chief agent, thus acknowledged their feelings and obligations toward General Stevens:--

"General Stevens was an officer with whom subordination was a controlling duty. The order for sending able-bodied negroes to Hilton Head to be armed imposed on him an uncongenial service, but he performed it faithfully and with dispatch, and even aided in the selection of the officers to drill them. His preconceived opinions, although he desired them humane treatment, were understood to be unfavorable to an effort at the present time to raise them to intelligent citizenship; but to the industrial and educational movement to that end he offered no opposition, but gave to it in good faith his official protection and aid, and the special agent of the Treasury Department, who was charged with its direction, never asked facilities which he denied, often more being granted than was requested. The better part of the territory to which that movement applied was under his command, and its friends will gratefully remember him for his personal courtesies and honorable coöperation."

Mrs. Stevens also arrived on the same steamer to visit her husband, with her youngest daughter, Kate, a beautiful and engaging little girl of ten, and remained nearly a month. Their visit was a great solace to General Stevens, and the last time he was to see them.

The Washington ladies, Mrs. Johnson and Miss Donelson, their neighbors and warm friends for four years, came with the Gideonites, actuated by benevolence. Other visitors were Mr. Caverly, whom General Stevens had met in Washington, and his beautiful young wife. He was in the last stages of consumption, and the general had him taken into his own quarters and carefully nursed and cared for until his death. Hon. John M. Forbes, of Milton, Mass., and his wife, whose son, William H. Forbes, was an officer of the 1st Massachusetts cavalry, then at Beaufort, also visited there that winter; and Hon. W.J.A. Fuller, of New York, an eminent lawyer, and brother to Captain Charles A. Fuller, was another visitor.

During all this time General Stevens was chiefly engaged in training and disciplining his command. Besides company and battalion drills in the forenoon, brigade drills were had four afternoons a week, usually in some extensive cotton-field below the town, and occasionally these drills were varied by movements through timber, bridging and crossing streams, or overcoming other obstacles, the three arms being exercised to act in concert. There was no other brigade in the armies on either side that was put through such a complete and thorough course of brigade drill as General Stevens gave his command at Beaufort. Schools of instruction for officers and for non-commissioned officers were also vigorously kept up. The picketing of the widely extended and exposed points on the islands involved a line twenty-five miles in extent, and was a severe task on the troops. An entire regiment was required for this duty, and was changed every ten days. To insure the vigilance of the pickets, General Stevens organized a system of nightly inspections by members of his staff and other officers specially sent out from Beaufort, in addition to the grand rounds and inspections by their own officers. Besides the staff officers already mentioned, Lieutenant Benjamin R. Lyons, of the 50th Pennsylvania, and Lieutenant A. Cottrell, of the 8th Michigan, were detailed as aides, and Captain Charles A. Fuller took the place of Captain Lilly as quartermaster, the latter being court-martialed and cashiered.

A fine mansion in the edge of town, in the midst of a luxuriant semi-tropical garden, with the negro quarters and kitchens in detached buildings, served as headquarters. On the open space on one side, brigade guard-mounting was held every morning to the martial and inspiring music of the Highlanders' band. This was one of the finest bands in the service, or, indeed, in the country. It had been long established in New York, and was maintained with indefatigable zeal and industry by Lieutenant William Robertson, the band-master.

Thus well occupied with drills, dress parades, guard-mountings, picketing, and study, in that beautiful region and delightful winter climate, profusely supplied with fresh beef, poultry, and sweet potatoes, in addition to the ample regular ration, the troops greatly enjoyed their sojourn at Beaufort, while they rapidly gained soldierly discipline and efficiency. In April a detachment of two hundred and fifty of the 8th Michigan escorted Lieutenant James H. Wilson on a reconnoissance to Wilmington Island, on the Savannah River, and in a very creditable action defeated and drove an entire rebel regiment, the 13th Georgia, suffering, however, a loss of forty-two killed and wounded.

The following letters from General Stevens to his wife give interesting sketches of this period:--

BEAUFORT, S.C., February 16, 1861.

MY DEAR WIFE,--I am devoting my energies to perfecting the discipline of my brigade. All the regiments are now in very respectable drill,--one in very superior drill. For five weeks I have had brigade drills, an average of four per week. In this week they will have been instructed in all the evolutions of the line. Hazard is very expert both at battalion and brigade drill, and he can drill a brigade much better than any of my colonels. Then I have a regiment doing picket duty on the island. I relieve it every ten days, so each regiment has been thoroughly instructed in picket and outpost duty. I have here the second battalion of the 1st Massachusetts cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Sargent. It is finely officered, and is a splendid body of men. I have also a Connecticut light battery of six guns. It will, however, take months to make this battery efficient. For the last three weeks I have had regimental schools for officers and non-commissioned officers. They are doing well, and both officers and non-commissioned officers take great interest in them. Hazard's health is excellent. He takes very great interest in everything, is full of life and energy, very industrious, studies carefully his tactics, regulations, etc. He is making a very superior officer indeed; is a very efficient adjutant-general. My aides, Captain Lusk and Lieutenant Cottrell, are good men.

April 17.... I have endeavored to do all I could with propriety to facilitate everything which tended to the improvement of the condition of the negroes. Many of the people here, both men and women, understand pretty well the circumstances of the case, and are getting to take practical views of the subject.

April 21.... Mrs. Johnson and Miss Donelson leave day after to-morrow on the Atlantic. We shall send for them and see that they are comfortably taken on the ship. Two officers of my brigade return at the same time on leave of absence, in whose special charge I will place them.

The 8th Michigan regiment had a very brilliant affair last Wednesday. Whilst about two hundred and sixty of the regiment under their colonel (Fenton) were reconnoitring Wilmington Island, they were attacked by a full regiment (the Georgia 13th), eight hundred strong. After a desperate conflict of nearly two hours our men whipped them, drove them off the ground, pursued them for a mile, and then carefully and leisurely held the field for five hours. All our dead and wounded and every particle of baggage were brought off. We lost two officers and ten men killed, and thirty men wounded,--a very heavy loss, being one fifth of the entire command. On Friday and Saturday we buried the dead. The services were very affecting. The regiment returned on Saturday afternoon, and the whole brigade turned out to receive them. We had invited the ladies from the Pope plantation to come to Beaufort on Friday to attend a concert given by the Highlanders on Friday evening. Mrs. Johnson, Miss Donelson, and Miss Ward came over. They returned on Saturday evening. We had the burial of the dead, the concert, and the reception while they were here. We entertained them at the house, and they really enjoyed their visit. Indeed, Mrs. J. and Miss D. have found it rather lonely on Ladies' Island, and I thought, in view of old acquaintance' sake and their kind and excellent natures, that we ought to do something to give them a little change.

May 24. We have had a sad household the last few days. Mr. Caverly has been sinking gradually since Wednesday morning, and died this morning at one o'clock. He was exceedingly patient and resigned, and very grateful for the attentions he had received here. I am very thankful I did not hesitate, in his enfeebled condition, insisting upon his coming to my house. His wife has borne herself with great fortitude and courage throughout. Lieutenant Pratt, of the Massachusetts cavalry, is going home on leave of absence, and will take charge of Mrs. Caverly.

May 18. Above is a view of the steamer Planter, a dispatch boat of General Ripley in Charleston harbor, which was run off by the pilot Robert and the black crew last week. It is a very remarkable affair, and makes quite a hero of Robert. She was tied up at the wharf close to Ripley's office. Yet he slipped out of the harbor unobserved, and gave the steamer up to our blockading fleet. The Planter lay at Beaufort from Thursday morning to this morning. She was run off on Tuesday, May 13.

The following to Mr. Fuller gives General Stevens's views on the proper war policy, and the severity of the contest yet to be fought. It was at this time that the government, rendered over-confident by Western successes, stopped recruiting. It will be seen how exactly he read the military situation:--

BEAUFORT, S.C., March 15, 1862.

MY DEAR SIR,-- ... At this moment every effort should be made to keep our ranks full by enlistments. We are only at the beginning of the hard fights. Our men will fall in battle, and die in the hospitals. The best troops rapidly melt away in aggressive movements. We must take nothing for granted except the determination on the part of the South to make a stern and protracted resistance. The great point is to open the Mississippi down to the Gulf, and this can be done by driving our forces southward in Tennessee, and farther south into Alabama and Mississippi. This should be combined with a great movement from the Gulf. The Mississippi River in our control, everything westward will fall by vigorous, rapid, comparatively short movements. We must husband our men and resources. We, if we don't look out, will find our victorious march stayed in mid-course by the melting away of our attacking columns, not kept full in consequence of a too great dissemination of our force.

At this time General Stevens wrote Professor Bache a memoir, to be laid before the President, giving his views of the military policy and operations to be undertaken. Dr. Lusk, who, as his aide, copied the letter from the rough draft, declares that he urged the very movements that were afterwards adopted, and was greatly impressed with the ability and prophetic foresight of the memoir. Unfortunately, no copy of it has been found.

HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, E.C., BEAUFORT, S.C., February 25, 1862.

W.J.A. FULLER, ESQ.,

_My dear Sir_,--I hope not the least suggestion will be made in any quarter in relation to placing me in command of the expeditionary corps of General Sherman. I am induced to write you in relation to it, because I have learned from a reliable source that it is being spoken of in some influential quarters in Massachusetts. General Sherman has treated me with marked kindness and consideration, and I feel that I would be acting badly towards him if I did not express decidedly my views and feelings in regard to the matter. It would be, however, sheer affectation on my part to say that I did not desire a separate command. I of course most earnestly desire one, but not at the expense of a friend, or with injustice to any one.

The advanced position of General Stevens's command was a constant threat to the Charleston and Savannah Railroad, justly regarded by the enemy as the vital line of communication between the two cities. The railroad crossed the many rivers which empty along this part of the coast by long pile or trestle bridges of hard Southern pine, full of pitch, and exceedingly combustible. In thirty miles it thus crossed, going north from Savannah, the Coosawhatchie, Tulifiny, Broad, Pocotaligo, Combahee, and Ashepoo rivers, with six miles of bridges in the aggregate, and at Pocotaligo, the centre of this stretch, was only eight miles distant from Port Royal Ferry and the Union lines. So important was the preservation of this railroad regarded by General Robert E. Lee, the Confederate commander, and so probable did he deem our advance in this direction, that he made his headquarters at Coosawhatchie, posted strong detachments with guns and intrenchments at the bridges, and supported them with considerable bodies of troops at central points, all under General J.C. Pemberton, with headquarters at Pocotaligo. And that officer, on succeeding Lee in command of South Carolina and Georgia in March, remained at the same place, and continued the same attitude of watchful defense.

General Stevens early fixed his eye upon these bridges as affording the most feasible way of breaking up the railroad. He was eager to cross swords with Lee and confident, more than once remarking that he could beat "Bob Lee,"--that he felt himself more than a match for him. From negro refugees he learned that the enemy held them in force, but nothing sufficiently definite and reliable to be of much value. Anxious to gain exact and full information of the bridges, the enemy, and his dispositions, and of the roads and nature of the country, he offered the task to Captain Elliott, of the Highlanders, who undertook it with alacrity. During January, February, and March, this intrepid officer made trip after trip within the enemy's lines, explored the whole region, and examined every bridge between the Coosawhatchie and the Ashepoo, located the enemy's posts, ascertained their forces, intrenchments, guns, etc., and gleaned much information in regard to the roads, approaches, and country. On these scouts Captain Elliott went in uniform. He would start at night in a small canoe with a trusty negro guide, paddle noiselessly up one of the rivers until within the enemy's lines, then land and pursue his explorations on foot. By day he usually lay hid in the swamps or pine woods. The service was not only fraught with danger, but extremely arduous, involving every hardship of cold, hunger, and exposure. It was so well performed that it is doubtful if the Confederate commander himself was much better informed as to the state of things within his lines than was his opponent. No whisper of suspicion of Captain Elliott's scouts was suffered to get out; and although his long and frequent absences on special duty excited comment, all knowledge of them was confined to himself, General Stevens, and the assistant adjutant-general of the brigade.

In the latter part of February General Stevens sent Captain Ralph Ely, of the 8th Michigan, with four officers and twenty-two men, in boats on a reconnoissance up the Combahee River. Captain Ely performed this duty with skill and success, was gone three days, and went entirely around some of the enemy's posts without revealing his presence to them.

With the thorough knowledge of the enemy's defenses he had so carefully gained, General Stevens conceived the plan of moving suddenly by land and water upon the railroad, breaking it up irremediably by destroying every bridge for thirty miles, thus cutting the communication between the cities and threatening both, and then rapidly to countermarch the whole force to the ferry, Beaufort, or Broad River, embark on transports, and, reinforced by every available man of Sherman's command, to strike for Charleston by the inner waterways of the North Edisto, Wadmalaw, and Stono, thus completely turning the heavy harbor and sea defenses which protected the city against a front attack.

He worked out the details of this movement against the railroad with great pains, knowing that he would have it to execute. He counted largely upon the flotilla of launches and flatboats, by means of which he would be enabled to throw strong forces up the rivers, and cut off and isolate every position and bridge in turn. Port Royal Ferry had demonstrated the practicability of thus moving troops by water, and had given them the idea. He had plenty of flats, great numbers of negroes trained to the oar, and there was no lack of good boatmen among the soldiers.

The largest part of the attacking force was to be thrown directly on the railroad, moving simultaneously in two columns, one overland from Port Royal Ferry via Garden's Corners, the other ascending Broad and Pocotaligo rivers in flatboats, supported by naval launches and light-draught gunboats. Strong detachments were boldly to press the enemy's posts on the Coosawhatchie and Tulifiny, and be ready to join in the attack upon them later by the main force. A picked detachment was to ascend the Combahee in boats, carry the enemy's posts on that river and on the Ashepoo, and destroy the railroad bridges, and then, proceeding along the railroad, join and coöperate with the main column in destroying the bridge over the Pocotaligo, when the united force were to press southward down the railroad towards Savannah, sweeping everything clear beyond the Coosawhatchie, and leaving the railroad in smoking ruins for thirty miles.

In connection with the siege of Pulaski, General Sherman desired to operate against Savannah. He complained that a combined movement in force upon that city planned by him in January was balked by the refusal of the navy to coöperate. Later, he was ordered by McClellan to abandon the design. Naturally impatient of delay, and anxious to achieve some success, he was ripe for new undertakings. As the fall of Pulaski was evidently impending, General Stevens unfolded his plan to General Sherman, and the two officers, in several long and confidential conferences, discussed it fully. General Sherman decided to adopt and carry it out as soon as the fall of Pulaski should free his whole force for the operation. Commodore Dupont also heartily entered into the plan, and was ready to give it all requisite naval support. Moreover, he proposed making a strong naval demonstration on Bull Bay, north of Charleston, in order still further to distract the enemy at the critical time.

The objective point to be seized as the key to Charleston--the turning-point of the campaign--was known as Church Flats, situated on the stream extending from the Wadmalaw to the Stono River. From this point a good road led to Charleston, fourteen miles distant. The gunboats could approach within two miles of it. The movement of Sherman's entire force was to be so combined and timed that every effective man--Wright from Florida, Viele from Pulaski, Williams from Hilton Head, and Stevens's flying column fresh from their attack on the railroad, leaving ruined bridges and a beaten, disconcerted enemy behind it--was to be transported by water and thrown upon Church Flats. True, the point was fortified and garrisoned, but the navy would cover the landing, and afford support in case of repulse. A successful dash might take Charleston at a blow. Or, if a foothold only were gained, the army could force its way by the Stono, turn all the defenses on James Island and the harbor, and reduce or destroy the city from the banks of the Ashley. This movement was taking the enemy by the throat. The subsequent attacks on the sea front were taking the bull by the horns, and met the usual fate of that performance.

Fort Pulaski fell April 11. With due allowance for preparation and delays, the railroad should have been destroyed and our army in possession of Church Flats by May 1. What means of defense had the enemy at this juncture? Lee had been sent to Virginia, and during the six weeks succeeding his departure Pemberton was stripped of regiment after regiment, dispatched to Richmond or to Corinth. About April 20 he withdrew all troops except the cavalry between the Ashepoo and Oketie for the defense of the two cities. "This," he reports, "will leave the line of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad with no other protection than what the cavalry companies can afford, which is altogether insufficient." At this time also he moved his headquarters from Pocotaligo to Charleston, and abandoned the defenses of Georgetown north of Charleston, removing the guns therefrom for the protection of the latter.

Only four thousand men, under Colonel P.H. Colquitt, 46th Georgia, guarded the long and exposed line south of the Ashepoo clear to Savannah. Colquitt's headquarters, with his own regiment and two field batteries, were at Pocotaligo; the remainder of his force was scattered along the road.

There were no obstructions yet planted in the Stono, except possibly at Church Flats, where, as late as April 29, Pemberton orders Evans, "Sink the obstructions at Church Flats immediately." The line of defenses across James Island was not commenced. The guns with which it was afterwards armed were in the exposed, advanced batteries on Cole and Battery islands, and must have been abandoned there.

The returns of Pemberton's forces for May 11, 1862, give the effective force in his department:--

Georgia 9,172 South Carolina 18,514 ------ Total 27,686

The South Carolina troops were disposed as follows:--

Charleston defenses, Brigadier-General Ripley 9750 James Island to the Ashepoo, Brigadier-General Evans 4883 Ashepoo to Savannah, Colonel Colquitt 3881

General Stevens's movement on the railroad, if successful, would effectually break up Colquitt's command, and prevent succor reaching the threatened point at Charleston from the troops at and about Savannah for at least a week, most probably two weeks; for they would have to be sent around by way of Augusta, Ga., and by this route the rail was not continuous, there being a gap of over forty miles.

Consequently Pemberton's available force to resist the proposed movement would be reduced to Ripley's and Evans's commands, which mustered,--

Infantry 10,477 Artillery 3,032 Cavalry 1,133 ------ Total 14,642

Counting out the garrisons of the forts and batteries about the city and harbor, and on James, Cole, and Battery islands, it is clear that Pemberton could not possibly have concentrated over six or seven thousand troops to meet Sherman's advance on the Stono. In all probability he would not have had half that number at the critical point in time; for the vigor of the attack on the railroad, sweeping southward, would surely have impressed him that Savannah was in danger, causing him perhaps to hurry part of his troops to the relief of that city via Augusta, while Dupont's demonstration on Bull Bay would have still further distracted his attention from the real point of attack until too late.

Returns of the Union forces for April 30 show present for duty some 17,000, as follows:--

Brigadier-General Viele, Daufuskie, Bird and Jones islands 3077 Brigadier-General Stevens, Beaufort 3881 Brigadier-General Wright, Edisto and Otter islands 3623 Brigadier-General Q.A. Gilmore, Fort Pulaski, Tybee, and Cockspur 2139 Colonel Robert Williams, Hilton Head 2987 Fernandina and St. Augustine, Florida 1194 Fort Seward, South Carolina, 92, and department commander and staff, 16 108 ------ Total 16,988

An effective force of 10,000 could have been formed from these troops and thrown upon the Stono. Sherman was a good and resolute soldier; his troops were in fine condition, and full of pluck and confidence. With Stevens and Wright to lead them, and the navy at his back, he would almost certainly have achieved success.[16]

But this promising movement was nipped in the bud by the untimely and unexpected arrival of Major-General David Hunter to supersede Sherman. Brigadier-General H.W. Benham accompanied Hunter as a kind of second in command. In fact, both officers were _enfants terribles_, whom the administration exiled to South Carolina to get rid of. Hunter had just been relieved from commanding in Missouri for an act of insubordination in issuing an emancipation proclamation in defiance of orders; and Benham, fresh from skirmishes in West Virginia, was in Washington, claiming everything in the way of credit, and loudly importuning the government for high command, when they were ordered to South Carolina.

Sherman turned over the command of the department, and sailed north on the 8th of April. Three days later Pulaski fell after a day and a half's bombardment, and Benham made haste to claim the credit of the achievement due to Sherman and Gilmore.

General Hunter divided his department into the Northern and Southern Districts, and gave Benham the command of the former, comprising South Carolina, Georgia, and part of Florida, and nearly all the troops. About the middle of April General Wright returned from Florida with the greater part of his brigade, and took post on Edisto Island.

Hunter, a sincere, earnest, and patriotic man, was absorbed in the political and humanitarian aspects of the great struggle. He lost no time in issuing another emancipation proclamation. "Martial law and slavery," so ran this unique document, "in a free country are altogether incompatible; the persons heretofore held as slaves are therefore declared forever free." The same day he issued the following order to the commanding officers of the several posts and islands: "Sir, you will send immediately to these headquarters, under guard, all able-bodied negroes capable of bearing arms within your lines." The six hundred forlorn and frightened darkeys, who next day were loaded on a steamer at Beaufort and shipped to Hilton Head, must have been sadly puzzled over their new-found forever freedom. But Hunter soon solved all doubts by throwing them into camp with uniforms on their backs, arms in their hands, white officers to drill them, black preachers to exhort them, and a cordon of white soldiers sentineling their camp to make sure they did not run away. Thus was raised the first negro regiment. Hunter, having proclaimed them free, felt no scruples in making them fight for freedom.

General Stevens, after obeying the order with a promptness altogether unexpected by General Hunter, and for which he was totally unprepared, remonstrated against it in a letter to General Benham, his immediate commander:--

"1. There is very little material for soldiers in the able-bodied men of color in this department. I have not yet been able to find a single man who would venture alone inside the enemy's lines, although I have diligently sought to find such a man. Occasionally a negro has been used to accompany white men. They have great fear of the prowess of their masters, and of white men generally. They have the strongest local and domestic attachments, which make them very reluctant to leave their homes.

"2: They can be used to very great advantage in connection with and for the menial duties of the military service, and also as adjuncts of existing organizations; thus, as quartermasters' employees, doing all kinds of labor, from mechanical to the merest drudgery work. As boatmen, also, and as laborers on the defensive works, as guides and scouts, they can render most effective service, and should be employed _as adjuncts of existing organizations_. In fixed batteries they could do the heavy work, moving the guns, and carrying the shot and shell. In engineering operations they could do the heavy labor, even some of the hard lifting and carrying in managing the pontoon equipage. Thus I conceive a great use can be made of the blacks in our military operations in devolving upon them the menial duties, and as strictly subordinate to existing organizations."

These were precisely the views as to raising negro troops expressed not long afterwards by the distinguished general, W.T. Sherman.

The remonstrance seems to have had some effect, for General Hunter telegraphed, and afterwards wrote, General Stevens to say to the negroes that they were sent for to receive their free papers, and would have a chance to volunteer, if they wished, and that those who did not wish to remain would be sent back to their homes. In fact, the regiment was disbanded not long afterwards.

Another cause of anxiety to General Stevens was the delay of the Senate in confirming his appointment as brigadier-general. The confirmation was held up by Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, chairman of the Military Committee, in consequence of numerous anonymous letters to him and other senators, written from the Department of the South, charging that General Stevens was unsound on the slavery question. But when General Sherman reached Washington and indignantly refuted these slanders, described the able handling of his troops at Port Royal Ferry, and the fine condition to which he had brought his brigade; and Messrs. Pierce, French, and Suydam, the treasury agents, abolitionists themselves, bore willing witness to his patriotic spirit and the ungrudging assistance he had given them,--Wilson assented to the confirmation. Senators Fessenden, John P. Hale, Rice, Nesmith, and others strongly stood up for him, and on April 12 it was made without further delay.

NOTE.--Admiral Dupont's fleet-captain, Charles Henry Davis, in a letter written soon after the naval victory at Port Royal, declares that the true way of attacking Charleston is "by lines of water communication from St. Helena Sound; and, if you will observe, South Edisto, North Edisto, and Stono rivers and inlets afford the means of lateral support to an army moving towards Charleston by vessels of the navy," etc. _Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral_, p. 174.

On the arrival of the new commanders, the admiral, waiving rank in order to expedite matters, consented to put himself in official communication with General Benham; but he soon had occasion to call General Hunter's attention to the tone and character of one of Benham's letters, and to withdraw the concession.

In a subsequent letter to Hunter the admiral remarks: "I have, however, to take exception to the attempt of General Benham to attribute his inability to meet his own arrangements to any shortcomings on my part." _Official Dispatches of Admiral Dupont_, pp. 172-183.

FOOTNOTES:

[16] The author was General Stevens's chief of staff, and was confidentially informed and employed by him in all the details of this plan of campaign against Charleston, and of the scouts by Captain Elliott and others. Since the war he has gone over the whole matter with General Thomas W. Sherman, who expressed the utmost confidence in the proposed movement, and his lasting regret that he was deprived of the opportunity of carrying it out.