Freeing the Slaves: an Examination of Emancipation Military Policy
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FREEING THE SLAVES: AN EXAMINATION OF EMANCIPATION MILITARY POLICY AND THE ATTITUDES OF UNION OFFICERS IN THE WESTERN THEATER DURING THE CIVIL WAR by KRISTOPHER ALLEN TETERS GEORGE C. RABLE, COMMITTEE CHAIR LAWRENCE F. KOHL KARI FREDERICKSON ANDREW HUEBNER MARK GRIMSLEY A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the Graduate School of The University of Alabama TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 2012 Copyright Kristopher Allen Teters 2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the policies and attitudes of Union officers towards emancipation in the western theater during the Civil War. It looks at how both high-ranking and junior Federal officers carried out emancipation policy in the field and how this policy evolved over time. Alongside army policy this study discusses how western officers viewed emancipation, black troops, and race in general. It ultimately determines how much officers’ attitudes towards these issues changed as a result of the war. From the beginning of the war to the middle of 1862, Union armies in the West pursued a very inconsistent emancipation policy. When Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act in July 1862, army policy became much more consistent and emancipationist. Officers began to take in significant numbers of slaves and employ them in the army. After President Abraham Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, the army increased its liberation efforts and this continued until the war’s end. In fact, the army became the key instrument by which emancipation was implemented in the field. But always guiding these emancipation policies were military priorities. As much as they could, officers freed slaves for the army’s benefit, focusing on taking in able-bodied males who could be employed as laborers, pioneers, and soldiers. Western Union officers were practical liberators. The attitudes of western-theater officers towards emancipation and black troops reflected these policies. Most officers eventually came to support emancipation (at first there was significant opposition to the measure among officers), largely for practical reasons, believing it was necessary to win the war. Similarly, they supported the use of black troops because they ii could help the army with valuable manpower. So most officers saw both freeing the slaves and enlisting blacks as soldiers as simply ways to crush the rebellion rather than uplift an oppressed race. Reinforcing this general lack of sympathy for slaves were the deep racial prejudices of western officers. Officers viewed blacks as an inferior race and this did not change as a result of the war. These intense racial prejudices would have profound consequences for the postwar period. iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents for all their love and support. Without them none of this would have been possible. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ALPL Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois BGU Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio BHL University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan Chicago HS Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois Cincinnati HS Cincinnati Historical Society, Cincinnati, Ohio CWMC Civil War Miscellaneous Collection CWTIC Civil War Times Illustrated Collection FHS Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky HCWRTC Harrisburg Civil War Round Table Collection IHS Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, Indiana LC Library of Congress, Washington D. C. NWCorner CWRTC Northwest Corner Civil War Round Table Collection OHS Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio OR The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 vols. Washington D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1881-1901. RBHPC Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, Ohio USAMHI United States Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania WHS Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin WRHS Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of numerous people. First, I would like to thank my dissertation committee: Dr. George Rable, Dr. Lawrence Kohl, Dr. Kari Frederickson, Dr. Andrew Huebner, and Dr. Mark Grimsley. They all encouraged me with this project and provided constructive and useful feedback. In particular, my second reader, Dr. Lawrence Kohl, pushed me to reconsider some issues early on in this project and consistently helped make this dissertation a better product. I could not ask for a better advisor than Dr. George Rable. He was a constant source of encouragement and was always willing to kindly discuss my ideas about the project. His great insights, careful editing, and probing questions greatly improved every aspect of this dissertation. I feel very privileged to have worked with such a great scholar and good person. I am very grateful for the generous funding that I received for this project from the History Department and the Graduate School at the University of Alabama. I was given a Departmental Dissertation Fellowship, a Johnson Fellowship, and a Graduate Council Research Fellowship to help complete this dissertation. In addition, I received financial assistance from the Gary B. Mills Endowed Dissertation Support Fund and several travel awards. Several libraries and archives also provided grants and fellowships for this project. The Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky awarded me a very nice fellowship which enabled me to spend a productive week working with their great collections. I especially want to thank Mark Wetherington, A. Glenn Crothers, Mike Veach, and Jacob Lee for all their assistance vi at the Filson. I also received the Mark C. Stevens Fellowship at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. This generous fellowship allowed me to extensively mine the Bentley’s voluminous collections of Civil War letters which proved invaluable for this project. I am very grateful for the help of the Bentley’s excellent library staff, particularly Associate Director William Wallach. Lastly, I was very privileged to receive the General and Mrs. Matthew B. Ridgway Research Grant at the United States Army Military History Institute in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. As all Civil War historians know, the collections of soldiers’ letters and diaries at the USAMHI are extremely rich and extensive, and I was able to find loads of good material for my project during my two lengthy visits to the Institute. I would like to thank the Institute’s great staff for rolling out cart after cart of excellent archival collections. I would especially like to thank Dr. Richard Sommers for his excellent advice on what collections to examine. Additionally, Dr. Sommers kindly put me in contact with Dr. Mark Grimsley and even drove me to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to hear Dr. Grimsley give a great presentation. The morning after the presentation Dr. Grimsley graciously agreed to have breakfast with me in Carlisle, and we had an excellent discussion about academics and my topic. I feel very honored that Dr. Grimsley agreed to serve as the outside reader on my dissertation committee. I would also like to give a special thanks to Nan Card of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. Her knowledge and assistance helped make my time at the Hayes Center very productive. I also very much appreciate Ron and Mary Vanke’s kindness in allowing me to stay at their home while I researched at the Ohio Historical Society. My friends were a constant source of support and encouragement throughout this process. I especially want to thank my fellow graduate students and their families at the University of Alabama. I spent countless evenings enjoying good discussion and entertainment with Glenn vii Brasher, Jon Hooks, Kevin Windham, Christian and Corrin McWhirter, Michael and Heather Hoekstra, Joe and Lauren Danielson, and Justin and Brooke Turner. They all offered valuable moral support and advice during this project. I will always treasure their great friendship and all the memorable trips we have taken together. In particular, Glenn Brasher, who has just recently completed an excellent study of the Peninsula Campaign’s important influence on the emancipation debate in the North, spent hours discussing this project with me and never ceased to offer significant insights. He especially helped me with the intricacies of the Second Confiscation Act and ideas for the introduction. I will also always fondly remember the great times I spent in the TA office with John Mitcham, Jared Galloway, Colin Chapell, Megan Bever, Becky Bruce, Daniel Menestres, Charles Roberts, Christopher Swindle, Ryan Floyd, Matthew Downs, Dean Lawson, and Scott Suarez. In addition to my friends in Alabama, I would like to thank Chris Sevier and Katie Ditchen for their enduring friendship and support. I will also always be thankful to Dr. Lisa Stein Haven for her many years of friendship. Lisa has taught me innumerable lessons about the ways of academia and helped me so much over the years. This project would have never been completed without the unwavering support of my family. I am very pleased that my eighty-eight-year-old grandmother, Edith Jacobs, who was always so proud of me has lived to see this project come to fruition. I only wish that my grandfather, Lawrence Jacobs, who was just as proud had lived to see this day. My parents, Kenneth and Kathleen Teters, never lost faith in