| Location | Camp Stanton, Maryland |
|---|---|
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Names Mentioned | – |
| Date | January 28, 1864 |
| Document Title | General Birneyâs Response to a Complaint |
| Document Description | In this response, General Birney categorically denies that he has enlisted any black Marylanders against their will, regardless of their status as free or enslaved. He also refutes the claims of slave owners who insist that the people they enslaved would only enlist or leave if enticed or forced. (From Free At Last, 347-348) |
| Transcription | Camp Stanton [Md.], Jan. 28, 1864. No slaves whatever have been mustered by me against their will; and no free persons. Every person prior to muster has full opportunity to say whether or not he will enter the service or not. I do not keep my recruits under guard. Slaveholders have frequently offered me their slaves, provided I would take them by force. I have uniformly declined having any thing to do with forcing them, although if the slaveholders had brought the men to me, I should have taken them, the orders recognising their right to enlist them. Nine owners out of ten will insist upon it that their slaves are much attached to them and would not leave them unless enticed or forced away. My conviction is that this is a delusion. I have yet to see a slave of this kind. If their families could be cared for or taken with them, the whole slave population of Maryland would make its exodus to Washington. Wm Birney |
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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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