Edwin M. Stanton to Abraham Lincoln, Thursday, May 05, 1864 (Opinion on Fort Pillow massacre)

From Edwin M. Stanton to Abraham Lincoln1, May 5, 1864

Washington City,

May 5th 1864

Sir:

Upon the question propounded to my consideration by you, I have the honor to submit the following opinion:

First: That of the rebel officers now held as prisoners by the United States, there should be selected by lot a number equal to the number of persons ascertained to have been massacred at Fort Pillow, who should be immediately placed in close confinement as hostages, to await such further action as may be determined.

Second: That Generals Forrest and Chalmers,2 and all officers and men known, or who may hereafter be ascertained to have been concerned in the massacre of Fort Pillow, be excluded by the Presidents Special Order, from the benefit of his amnesty, and also that they by his order be exempted from all privilege of exchange or other rights as prisoners of war, and shall, if they fall into our hands, be subjected to trial, and such punishment as may be awarded for their barbarous and inhuman violation of the laws of war towards the officers and soldiers of the United States at Fort Pillow.

Third: That the rebel authorities at Richmond be notified that the prisoners so selected, are held as hostages, for the delivery up of Generals Forrest and Chalmers and those concerned in the massacre at Fort Pillow, or to answer in their stead, and that in case of their non delivery within a reasonable time, to be specified in the notice, such measures will be taken in reference to the hostages by way of retributory punishment for the massacre at Fort Pillow, as are justified by the laws of civilized warfare.

Fourth: That after the lapse of a reasonable time, for the delivery up of Forrest, Chalmers, and those concerned in the massacre, the President proceed to take against the hostages above selected, such measures as may, under the state of things then existing, be essential for the protection of union soldiers from such savage barbarities as were practised at Fort Pillow, and threatened at other places, and to compel the rebels to observe the laws of civilized warfare in respect to the soldiers and officers in the United States service.

Fifth: That the practise of releasing without exchange or equivalent, rebel prisoners taken in battle, be discontinued, and no such privilege or immunity be extended to rebels, while our prisoners are undergoing ferocious barbarity, or the more horrible death of starvation. Sixth: That precisely the same rations and treatment, be from henceforth practised in reference to the whole number of rebel officers, remaining in our hands, that are practised against either soldiers or officers in our service, held by the rebels.

My reasons for selecting the officers instead of privates, for retaliatory punishment, are: First, because the rebels have selected white officers of colored regiments, and excluded them from the benefit of the laws of war, for no other reason than that they command special troops, and that having thus discriminated against the officers of the United States service, their officers should be held responsible for the discrimination, and Second, because it is known that a large portion of the privates in the rebel Army are forced there by conscription, and are held in arms by terror, and rigorous punishment from their own officers. The whole weight of retaliatory punishment therefore, should in my opinion be made to fall upon the officers of the rebel army, more especially as they alone are the class whose feelings are at all regarded in the rebel states, or who can have any interest or influence in bringing about more humane conduct on the part of the rebel authorities.

A serious objection against the release of prisoners or war who apply to be enlarged, is that they belong to influential families, who through representatives in Congress, and other influential persons, are enabled to make interest with the government. They are the class who, instead of receiving indulgence, ought, in my opinion, to be made to feel the heaviest burthens of the war brought upon them by their own crimes.3

I have the honor to be

Very respectfully

Your Obedient Servant

Edwin M Stanton

Secretary of War.

[Note 1 Lincoln convened a meeting of his cabinet on May 3 and requested each member to submit a written opinion that recommended a course of action for the government to take in response to the massacre of black soldiers at Fort Pillow, Tennessee on April 12. See Lincoln to William H. Seward, May 3, 1864 and Lincoln to Cabinet, May 3, 1864.]

[Note 2 Nathan Bedford Forrest and James R. Chalmers]

[Note 3 At a cabinet meeting on May 6, each member read his opinion on the case and after receiving this advice, Lincoln began to draft a set of instructions for Stanton to implement in response to the massacre. Apparently Lincoln became distracted by other matters, such as Grant's campaign against Lee and these instructions were neither completed nor submitted to the War Department. For the written opinions of the cabinet, see Edward Bates to Lincoln, May 4, 1864; William H. Seward to Lincoln, May 5, 1864; Gideon Welles to Lincoln, May 5, 1864; Montgomery Blair to Lincoln, May 6, 1864; Salmon P. Chase to Lincoln, May 6, 1864; and John P. Usher to Lincoln, May 6, 1864. For Lincoln's unfinished instructions to Stanton, see Collected Works, VII, 345-46. For an account of the May 6 cabinet meeting, see Howard K. Beale ed. Diary of Gideon Welles (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1960), Vol. 2, 24-25.]

Source: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Transcribed and Annotated by the Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College. Galesburg, Illinois.