rbidden. In Richmond,
General Halleck ordered that no marriages be performed unless the bride,
the groom, and the officiating clergyman took the oath of allegiance.
He explained this as a measure taken to prevent "the propagation of
legitimate rebels."

The wearing of Confederate uniforms was forbidden by military order, but
by May 1865, few soldiers possessed regulation uniforms. In Tennessee
the State also imposed fines upon *wear wearers of the uniform. In
the vicinity of military posts, buttons and marks of rank were usually
ordered removed and the gray clothes dyed with some other color. General
Lee, for example, had the buttons on his coat covered with cloth. But
frequently the Federal commander, after issuing the orders, paid no more
attention to the matter and such conflicts as arose on account of the
uniform were usually caused by officious enlisted men and the Negro
troops. Whitelaw Reid relates the following incident:

"Nothing was more touching, in all that I saw in Savannah, than the
almost painful effort of the rebels, from generals down to privates,
to conduct themselves so as to evince respect for our soldiers, and to
bring no severer punishment upon the city than it had already received.
There was a brutal scene at the hotel, where a drunken sergeant, with
a pair of tailor's shears, insisted on cutting the buttons from the
uniform of an elegant gray-headed old brigadier, who had just come in
from Johnston's army; but he bore himself modestly and very handsomely
through it. His staff was composed of fine-looking, stalwart fellows,
evidently gentlemen, who appeared intensely mortified at such treatment.
They had no clothes except their rebel uniforms, and had, as yet, had no
time to procure others, but they avoided disturbances and submitted to
what they might, with some propriety, and with the general approval of
our officers, have resented."

The Negro troops, even at their best, were everywhere considered
offensive by the native whites. General Grant, indeed, urged that only
white troops be used to garrison the interior. But the Negro soldier,
impudent by reason of his new freedom, his new uniform, and his new gun,
was more than Southern temper could tranquilly bear, and race conflicts
were frequent. A New Orleans newspaper thus states the Southern point
of view: "Our citizens who had been accustomed to meet and treat the
Negroes only as respectful servants, were mortified, pained, and shocked
to en