Frederick Douglass to George L. Stearns, August 12, 1863
FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO GEORGE L. STEARNS
Phila[delphia, Pa.] 12 Aug[ust] 1863[.]
Maj Geo. L STEARNS.
DEAR SIR.
According to your request I paid a flying visit to Washington.1Stearns suggested that Douglass visit Washington to talk to federal officials about reports of Confederate mistreatment of black Union army prisoners captured at Fort Wagner in South Carolina, since such accounts, if true, would hamper recruiting efforts. Charles E. Heller, Portrait of an Abolitionist: A Biography of George Luther Stearns, 1809-1867 (Westport, Conn., 1996), 156-57. I spent the entire day (Monday) in calling upon the Heads of Depts there and other influential persons[.] I had the good fortune, early in the morning after reaching there, of meeting with Senator Pomeroy2Samuel S. Pomeroy. who at once offered to accompany me and facilitate my mission. First I called on Secty Stanton3Edwin M. Stanton.
at the War Department who kindly granted me an interview of about thirty minutes which must be considered a special privalege in sum of the many pressing demands upon his time and attention. His manner was cold and business like throughout but earnest.
I at once gave him in brief my theory of the elements of negro charac-
ter which should be had in view of all measures for raising colored troops. I told him that the negro was the victim of two extreme opinions. One claimed for him too much and the other too little. That it was a mistake to regard him either as an angel or a demon. He is simply a man and should be dealt with purely as such. That a certain percentage of negroes were brave and others cowardly. That a part were ambitious and aspiring and another part quite otherwise and that the theory in practice of Government in raising colored troops should conform to these essential facts. The Secty instantly inquired in what respect the present conditions of colored enlistments conflicted with the views I had expressed. I answered “In the unequal pay accorded to colored soldiers and in the fact that no incentive was given to the ambition of colored soldiers and that the regulations confined them to the dead level of privates or non-commissioned officers[.] In answer the Secty went into an interesting history of the whole subject of the employment of Colored Troops briefly mentioning some
of the difficulties and prejudices to be surmounted Gave a history of the bill drawn up by himself giving equal pay, the same rations, the same uniforms, and equipments, to colored troops as to White, and spoke with much apparent regret. [T]his his bill, though passed in the House was defeated in the Senate on what he considered quite an insufficient reason alleging that the President already possessed necessary powers to employ colored troops.4On 25 August 1862, Secretary Stanton promised black soldiers standard army pay in his War Department authorization for the enrollment of African American troops. But section 15 of the Militia Act of 17 July 1862 stated that black recruits would be paid $10 a month, with $3 withheld for clothing. Black recruits thus received a monthly paycheck of $7, compared with $13 for white Union soldiers. In his 1863 annual report, Stanton urged Congress to correct these racial pay inequities. The discrepancy was partially rectified on 15 June 1864 when Congress passed an act that equalized the pay of black and white soldiers and authorized retroactive pay for black soldiers. But this bill applied only to black soldiers who could prove that they were not enslaved from 19 April 1861, and therefore did not apply to many black soldiers recruited from the South. It was not until 3 March 1865 that section 5 of the Enrollment Act allowed for pay to be issued in arrears to black troops recruited from the enslaved population. George P. Sanger, ed., The Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, December 5, 1859, to March 3, 1863 (Boston, 1863), 12:599; George P. Sanger, ed., The Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, December 1863, to December, 1865 (Boston, 1866), 13:129, 488; OR, ser. 1, 14:377 (1885); Berlin, Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, ser. 2, 21; Blight, Frederick Douglass’ Civil War, 161-63; Cornish, Sable Arm, 184-85, 189, 192-95. I told Mr Stanton that I held it to be the duty of Colored men to fight for the Government even though they should be offered but subsistance and arms considering that we had a cause quite independent of pay or place. But he quickly responded “that he was in favor of giving the same pay to black as to white soldiers and also of making merit the criterion of promotion further stating his readiness to grant commissions to any reported to him by their superior officers for their capacity or bravery.[“] The conclusion of our conversation was, That
From the War Office I went directly to the White House Saw for the first time the President of the United States.6
On 10 August 1863, after his interview with Secretary Stanton, Senator Pomeroy escorted Douglass to the Executive Mansion, where, after a brief wait, he was ushered into the president’s private upstairs office. He outlined his concerns about African American troops to Lincoln, whom he found receptive to his ideas. L. Diane Barnes, Frederick Douglass: Reformer and Statesman (New York, 2013), 94-95; Blight, Frederick Douglass’ Civil War, 168-69. Was received cordially and saw at a glance the justice of the popular estimate of his qualities expressed in the [press] in Honest to the name of Abraham Lincoln.7Abraham Lincoln gained the epithet “Honest” before beginning his political career. As a lawyer, Lincoln held himself to the highest standards of honesty and truthfulness. Often referred to as the lawyer who could not lie, he quickly became known as “Honest Abe” or “Honest Old Abe.” As Lincoln gained political fame, some of his advisors believed that the descriptor “Honest” was colorless and could negatively affect his chances of getting elected. Nevertheless, Lincoln was known as “Honest Abe” for the rest of his life. David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York, 1995), 149, 244-45 I have never seen a more transparent countenance There was not the slightest shadow of embarrassment after the first moment. The drift of my communication to the President, except that I thanked him for extending Equal protection to Colored Prisoners of War, was much the same as that to the Secty of War. I desired only to say so much as to furnish a text for a discourse from Mr Lincoln himself. In this I was quite successful for the President instantly upon my ceasing to speak proceeded with an
earnestness and fluency of which I had not suspected him, to vindicate his policy respecting the whole slavery question and especially that in reference to employing colored troops. I need not here repeat his views[.] One remark, however, of his was of much significance[.] He said he had frequently been charged with tardiness, hesitation and the like, especially in regard to issuing his retaliatory proclamation. But had he sooner would that proclamation such was the state of public popular prejudice that an outcry would have been raised against the measure[.] It would be said “Ah! We thought it would come to this. White men were to be killed for negroes.[“] His general view was that the battles in which negroes had distinguished themselves for bravery and general good conduct was the necessary preparation of the public mind for his proclamation. But the best thing said by the President was “I have been charged with vacillation even by so good a man as
With Great Respect and Regard
Your Ol' Servant.
FREDK DOUGLASS
ALS: Abraham Barker Manuscripts, PHi.