| Location | Fort McHenry, Maryland |
|---|---|
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Names Mentioned | – |
| Date | October 12, 1861 |
| Document Title | Commander of the Department of Pennsylvania to a Maryland Slaveholder; and Commander of the Department of Pennsylvania to the Commander at Annapolis, Maryland |
| Document Description | Correspondence from the Commander of the Department of Pennsylvania, 1861 (from The Destruction of Slavery, pages 350-351) |
| Transcription |
Fort McHenry [Md.] 12. Oct. 1861 Sir. When I took command of this Department, being anxious to avoid all difficulty in regard, to slaves I directed that no negroes should be permitted to enter our encampments except as laborers or servants, and then only with the consent of their masters if they were not free. It was in obeying this order that Col. Morse directed your boy, who had found his way into the Naval School, to be sent out of it. I am Satisfied the Colonel had no other desire but to avoid the very difficulty that has now occurred. The error was originally in permitting the boy to enter the lines at all, and this it seems had been done by the Soldiers before the Colonel was aware of It. – I have given directions to Colonel Morse, as you request, to ascertain, if possible, by the most Searching examination whether his officers or Soldiers are harboring the boy or have aided in his concealment or escape; I am very desirous to avoid all cause of complaint on the part of the citizens of Maryland in regard to any Interference with their rights to property especially to Slaves, knowing how sensitive they are on this subject; and I can assure you that no effort will be spared on my part to discover and redress any alleged violation of those, rights. - I am very respectfully Yours. {John A. Dix} Baltimore, Md. 14th Oct. 1861 Colonel You will please ascertain by the most searching inquiries among your Officers and men whether the colored boy belonging to Mr. Richardson has been harbored within your lines since he was sent out by your order, and whether he is still within them. – My order was not to allow fugitive slaves to within the encampments at all. - The difficulty in this case arises from his having been allowed to enter yours. The owner now Seeks to hold you responsible for not giving him up when you knew he was a slave. I wish the matter put on such ground as to exonerate us from all responsibility, and it is for this reason that I direct the inquiries above Stated. – Hereafter no fugitive slave should be allowed to come within your lines at all. But if he comes within them without your knowledge and the owner calls for him while he is actually in your possession or under your control he should be surrendered, on such call or demand. We may decline to receive them, and this is what I wished; but if we do receive them, we cannot decline to surrender. - Respectfully Yours, John A. Dix Maj. Genl. [John A. Dix] to S. R. Richardson Esq., 12 Oct. 1861, vol. 27 8AC, pp. 357-58, Letters Sent, ser. 2327, Dept. of PA, RG 393 Pt. 1 [C-4153); Maj. Genl. John A. Dix to Col. A. Morse, 14 Oct. 1861, Letters Received, ser. 4882, Post Naval Academy Annapolis, RG 393 Pt. 2 No. 315 [C-4120). Although a notation on Dix's letter to the post commander at Annapolis indicates that the latter replied on October 15, 1861 , no letter of that date appears in the letters-sent volumes of the post. Dix's order has not been found, but in early August 1861 he had informed Secretary of War Simon Cameron of his policy "that we have nothing to do with slaves; that we are neither negro-stealers nor negro-catchers, and that we should send them away if they came to us." Dix believed fugitives in Maryland "should be treated precisely as it would be if we were in the occupation of Virginia. We would not meddle with the slaves even of seccessionists." (Official Records, ser. 2, vol. I, p. 763.) In response, Cameron had referred Dix to his own letter of August 8, 1861, to General Benjamin F. Butler, commander of the Department of Virginia (see above, doc. IC), in which Cameron had suggested that fugitives from both loyal and secessionist masters be accepted. Within Union lines. (Simon Cameron to Major General John A. Dix, 3 Sept. r861, vol. 46, pp. 25-26, Letters Sent, RG 107 [L-315).) Dix issued orders and correspondence regarding Maryland affairs through the fall of 1861, although the Maryland portion of his Department of Pennsylvania had been merged, unbeknownst to him, into another department in late August. (See above, doc. 5n.) |
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[Author (if known)], Documents from the Freedmen and Southern Society Project, [Date (if known)], Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva’s Black History, Nabb Research Center, Salisbury University.
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