headquarters."

In the spring of 1862, Gen. Thos. Williams, in the Department of the
Gulf, issued the following order[79]:

"In consequence of the demoralizing and disorganizing tendencies
to the troops of harboring runaway negroes, it is hereby ordered
that the respective commanders of the camps and garrisons of the
several regiments, 2d brigade, turn all such fugitives in their
camps or garrisons out beyond the limits of their respective
guards and sentinels.

"By order of
"Brig.-Gen. T. WILLIAMS."[80]

In a letter dated "Headquarters Army of the Potomac, July 7, 1862,"
Major-Gen. Geo. B. McClellan made the following observations
concerning slavery:

"This Rebellion has assumed the character of a war; as such it
should be regarded; and it should be conducted upon the highest
principles known to Christian civilization. It should not be a
war looking to the subjugation of the people of any State, in any
event. It should not be at all a war upon populations, but
against armed forces and political organizations. Neither
confiscation of property, political executions of persons,
territorial organization of States, nor forcible abolition of
slavery should be contemplated for a moment."

But the drift of the sentiment of the army was in the direction of
compromise with the slavery question. Nearly every statesman at
Washington--in the White House and in the Congress--and nearly every
officer in the army regarded the Negro question as purely political
and not military. That it was a problem hard of solution no one could
doubt. Hundreds of loyal Negroes, upon the orders of general
officers, were turned away from the Union lines, while those who had
gotten on the inside were driven forth to the cruel vengeance of rebel
masters. Who could solve the problem? Major-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler
banished the politician, and became the loyal, patriotic _soldier_! In
the month of May, 1861, during the time Gen. Butler commanded the
Union forces at Fortress Monroe, three slaves made good their escape
into his lines. They stated that they were owned by Col. Mallory, of
the Confederate forces in the front; that he was about to send them to
the North Carolina seaboard to work on rebel fortifications; and that
the fortifications were intended to bar that coast against the Union
arms. Hav