CHAPTER X

BULL RUN--THE CONFISCATION ACT

Trumbull makes an excursion with Senator Grimes to the battle of Bull Run--Is caught by the retreating Union army and driven back to Washington--His account of the panic and stampede says, "It was the most shameful rout you can conceive of"--Sends a telegram to Mrs. Trumbull, but the authorities suppress it--Consternation at the Capital--General Frémont's doings at St. Louis--His military order of emancipation--Lincoln considers it premature and revokes it--Correspondence between Trumbull and M. Carey Lea, of Philadelphia--Cameron follows Frémont's example in his first Annual Report--Sends report to the newspapers without the President's knowledge--Lincoln directs him to recall it and strike out the part relating to slavery--General David Hunter issues an order freeing all slaves in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida--The President revokes it--Trumbull reports a bill from the Senate Judiciary Committee to confiscate the property of rebels and to give freedom to all of their slaves--Collamer opposes confiscation as both unconstitutional and impolitic--He offers an amendment to substitute judicial process for military confiscation--Collamer's views prevail--The President objected, however, to the forfeiture of real estate beyond the lifetime of the owner--This was the first bill passed by Congress dealing a heavy blow at slavery 165