order of their
masters. Congress was not long in seeing the suicidal tendency of such
a policy, and on the 6th of August, 1861, passed "An Act to Confiscate
Property Used for Insurrectionary Purposes." Notwithstanding this act,
General McClellan and other officers still clung to the obsolete
doctrine of "the sacredness of slave property." His conduct finally
called forth the following letter from the Secretary of State:

"CONTRABANDS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

"DEPARTMENT OF STATE, }
"WASHINGTON CITY, December 4, 1861. }

"_To Major-General George B. McClellan, Washington_:

"GENERAL: I am directed by the President to call your attention
to the following subject:

"Persons claimed to be held to service or labor under the laws of
the State of Virginia, and actually employed in hostile service
against the Government of the United States, frequently escape
from the lines of the enemy's forces and are received within the
lines of the Army of the Potomac. This Department understands
that such persons, afterward coming into the city of Washington,
are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon presumption,
arising from color, that they are fugitives from service or
labor.

"By the fourth section of the act of Congress, approved August 6,
1861, entitled 'An Act to Confiscate Property Used for
Insurrectionary Purposes,' such hostile employment is made a full
and sufficient answer to any further claim to service or labor.
Persons thus employed and escaping are received into the military
protection of the United States, and their arrest as fugitives
from service or labor should be immediately followed by the
military arrest of the parties making the seizure.

"Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the
City of Washington and to the Marshal of the District of
Columbia, that any collision between the civil and military
authorities may be avoided.

"I am, General, your very obedient,
"WM. H. SEWARD."

It was now 1862. The dark war clouds were growing thicker. The Union
army had won but few victories; our troops had to fight a tropical
climate, the forces of nature, and an arrogant, jubilant, and
victorious