Primary Black Confederate Documents CSA Law

[jgoodguy]

War of the Rebellion: Serial 127 Page 1079 CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES.
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Approved April 21, 1862.

A BILL [AN ACT] for the enlistment of cooks in the Army.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That hereafter is shall be [the] duty of the captain or commanding officer of his company to enlist four cooks for the use of his company, whose duty is shall be to cook for such company-taking charge of the supplies, utensils and other things furnished thereof, and safely keep
the same, subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the War Department or the colonel of the regiment to which such company may be attached:

[SEC. 2.] Be it further enacted, That the cooks so directed to be enlisted, may be white or black, free or slave persons: Provided, however, That no slave shall be so enlisted, without the written consent of his owner. And such cooks shall be enlisted as such only, and put on the muster-roll and paid at the time and place the company may or shall be paid off, $20 per month to the chief or head cook, and $15 per month for each of the assistant cooks, together with the same allowance for clothing or the same commutation thereof that may be allowed to the rank and file of the company.

Approved April 21, 1862.

 

[jgoodguy]

Impressment of negros
Confederate War Department, Bureau of Conscription, Circular No. 36,
December 12, 1564. Off. Reds. Reb., Series IV, Vol. III, p. 933.
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[jgoodguy]

A bill to be entitled An act to increase the efficiency of the army by the employment of free negroes and slaves in certain capacities
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[jgoodguy]

General order 32.
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War of the Rebellion: Serial 129 Page 0207 CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES.
GENERAL ORDERS,
ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 32. Richmond, March 11, 1864.

I. The act of Congress relative to the employment of free negroes and slaves in certain capacities and the instructions of the War
Department relative to its execution are published for the information of those concerned:

AN ACT to increase the efficiency of the Army by the employment of free negroes and slaves in certain capacities.

Whereas the efficiency of the Army is greatly diminished by the withdrawal from the ranks of able-bodied soldiers to act as teamsters, and in various other capacities in which free negroes and slaves might be advantageously employed: Therefore,

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That all male free negroes and other free persons of color, not including those who are free under the treaty of Paris of eighteen hundred and three, or under the treaty of Paris of eighteen hundred and three, or under the treaty with Spain of eighteen and nineteen, resident in the Confederate States, between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, shall be held liable to perform such duties with the Army, or in connection with the military defenses of the country, in the way of work upon fortifications or in Government works for the production or preparation of material of war, or in military hospitals, as the Secretary of War or the commanding general of the Trans-Mississippi Department may, from time to time, prescribe, and while engaged in the performance of such duties shall receive rations and clothing and compensation at the rate of eleven dollars a month, under such rules and regulations as the said Secretary may establish: Provided, That the Secretary of War or the commanding general of the Trans-Mississippi Department, with the approval of the President, may exempt from the operations of this act such free negroes as the interests of the country may require should be exempted, or such as he may think proper to exempt, on grounds of justice, equity, or necessity.

SEC. 2. That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to employ for duties similar to those indicated in the preceding section of this act, as many male negro slaves, not to exceed twenty thousand, as in his judgment, the wants of the service may require, furnishing them, while so employed with proper rations and clothing, under rules and regulations to be established by him, and paying to the owners of said slaves such wages as may be agreed upon with said owners for their use and service, and in the event of the loss of any slaves while so employed, by the act of the enemy, or by escape to the enemy, or by death inflicted by the enemy, or by disease contracted while in any service required of said slaves, then the owners of the same shall be entitled to receive the full value of such slaves to be ascertained by agreement or by appraisement, under the law regulating impressments, to be paid under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may establish.

SEC. 3. That when the Secretary of War shall be unable to procure the service of slaves in any military department in sufficient numbers for the necessities of the Department, upon the terms and conditions set forth in the preceding section, then he is hereby authorized to impress the services of as many male slaves, not to exceed twenty thousand, as may be required from time to time, to discharge the duties indicated in the first section of this act, according to laws regulating the impressment of slaves in other cases: Provided, That slaves so impressed shall, while employed, receive the same rations and clothing, in kind and quantity, as slaves regularly hired from their owners; and, in the event of their loss, shall be paid for in the same manner and under thablished by the said impressment laws: Provided, That if the owner have but one male slave between the age of eighteen and fifty, he shall not be impressed against the will of said owner: Provided further, That free negroes shall be first impressed, and if there should be a deficiency, it shall be supplied by the impressment of slaves according to the foregoing provisions: Provided further, That in making the impressment, not more than one of every five male slaves between the ages of eighteen and forty-five shall be taken from any power, care being taken to allow in each case a credit for all slaves who may have been already impressed under this act, and who are still in service, or have died or been lost while service. And all impressments under this act shall be taken in equal ratio from all owners in the same locality, city, county or district.

THOMAS S. BOCOCK,

Speaker House of Representatives.

R. M. T. HUNTER,

President pro tem. of the Senate.

Approved February 17, 1864.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.