tionable may have
escaped in the course of my letter, and accept the assurance of
filial love, and respect of
Your
JOHN LAURENS]

If, however, it be objected that the arming of Negroes by the Rebels was
exceptional and local, and, that otherwise, the Rebels always used their
volunteer or impressed Negro forces in work upon fortifications and
other unarmed Military Works, and never proposed using them in the clash
of arms, as armed soldiers against armed White men, the contrary is
easily proven.

In a message to the Rebel Congress, November 7, 1864, Jefferson Davis
himself, while dissenting at that time from the policy, advanced by
many, of "a general levy and arming of the Slaves, for the duty of
soldiers," none the less declared that "should the alternative ever be
presented of subjugation, or of the employment of the Slave as a
soldier, there seems no reason to doubt what should then be our
decision."

In the meantime, however, he recommended the employment of forty
thousand Slaves as pioneer and engineer laborers, on the ground that
"even this limited number, by their preparatory training in intermediate
duties Would form a more valuable reserve force in case of urgency, than
threefold their number suddenly called from field labor; while a fresh
levy could, to a certain extent, supply their places in the special
service" of pioneer and engineer work; and he undertook to justify the
inconsistency between his present recommendation, and his past attitude,
by declaring that "A broad, moral distinction exists between the use of
Slaves as soldiers in defense of their homes, and the incitement of the
same persons to insurrection against their masters, for," said he, "the
one is justifiable, if necessary; the other is iniquitous and unworthy
of a civilized people."

So also, while a Bill for the arming of Slaves was pending before the
Rebel Congress early in 1865, General Robert E. Lee wrote, February
18th, from the Headquarters of the Rebel Armies, to Hon. E. Barksdale,
of the Rebel House of Representatives, a communication, in which, after
acknowledging the receipt of a letter from him of February 12th, "with
reference to the employment of Negroes as soldiers," he said: "I think
the Measure not only expedient but necessary * * * in my opinion, the
Negroes, under proper circumstances, will make efficient soldiers. * *
* I think those who are employed,