Editing David Hunter (section)

====Controversy over enlistment of ex-slaves====
Undeterred by the president's reluctance and intent on extending freedom to potential black soldiers, Hunter again flouted orders from the federal government. He enlisted ex-slaves as soldiers from occupied districts in South Carolina without permission from the War Department.<ref>Berlin et al., 56</ref> He formed the first such Union Army regiment, the 1st South Carolina (African Descent).<ref>The famous [[54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry|54th Massachusetts]] was the first black regiment raised in a Northern state.</ref> He was initially ordered to disband it, but eventually got approval from Congress for his action. This action incensed pro-slavery border state politicians, and Representative [[Charles A. Wickliffe]] (D-KY) sponsored a resolution demanding a response.

Hunter sent a defiant letter on June 23, 1862, to Congress, reminding them of his authority as a commanding officer in a war zone:

{{Blockquote|. . . I reply that no regiment of "Fugitive Slaves" has been, or is being organized in this Department.  There is, however, a fine regiment of persons whose late masters are "Fugitive Rebels"--men who everywhere fly before the appearance of the National Flag, leaving their servants behind them to shift as best they can for themselves.  . . . So far, indeed, are the loyal persons composing this regiment from seeking to avoid the presence of their late owners, that they are now, one and all, working with remarkable industry to place themselves in a position to go in full and effective pursuit of their fugacious and traitorous proprietors.  . . . the instructions given to Brig. Gen. T. W. Sherman by the Hon. Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, and turned over to me by succession for my guidance,--do distinctly authorize me to employ all loyal persons offering their services in defence of the Union and for the suppression of this Rebellion in any manner I might see fit.  . . . In conclusion I would say it is my hope,--there appearing no possibility of other reinforcements owing to the exigencies of the Campaign in the Peninsula,--to have organized by the end of next Fall, and to be able to present to the Government, from forty eight to fifty thousand of these hardy and devoted soldiers."<ref>Berlin et al, pp. 56–59</ref>}}

While the increasingly abolitionist Republicans in Congress were amused by the order, border state pro-slavery politicians, such as Wickliffe and [[Robert Mallory]] (D), were not.  Mallory described the scene in Congress following the reading of the order as follows:

{{Blockquote|The scene was one of which I think this House should forever be ashamed . . . A spectator in the gallery would have supposed we were witnessing here the performance of a buffoon or of a low farce actor upon the stage . . . The reading was received with loud applause and boisterous manifestations of approbation by the Republican members of the House . . . It was a scene, in my opinion, disgraceful to the American Congress.<ref>Miller, Edward A. (1997) ''Lincoln's Abolitionist General: The Biography of David Hunter''. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. p. 106. {{ISBN|1-57003-110-X}}.</ref>}}

The War Department eventually forced Hunter to abandon this scheme, but the government nonetheless soon took action to expand the enlistment of black men as military laborers.  Congress approved the [[Confiscation Act of 1862]], which effectively freed all blacks working within the armed forces by forbidding Union soldiers to aid in the return of fugitive slaves.<ref>Berlin et al., pp. 59–60</ref>

In 1863, Hunter wrote a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis protesting against the Confederate army's brutal mistreatment of captured black U.S. soldiers. He attacked the Confederates' claims to be fighting for freedom, listing the abuses they committed against human beings under slavery :

{{Blockquote|You say you are fighting for liberty. Yes you are fighting for liberty: liberty to keep four millions of your fellow-beings in ignorance and degradation;–liberty to separate parents and children, husband and wife, brother and sister;–liberty to steal the products of their labor, exacted with many a cruel lash and bitter tear;–liberty to seduce their wives and daughters, and to sell your own children into bondage;–liberty to kill these children with impunity, when the murder cannot be proven by one of pure white blood. This is the kind of liberty–the liberty to do wrong–which Satan, Chief of the fallen Angels, was contending for when he was cast into Hell.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jc8VCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA59|pages=59–61|title=The Smart Culture: Society, Intelligence, and Law|first=Robert L.|last=Hayman|date=August 2000|publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-3534-3|quote=You say you are fighting for liberty. Yes you are fighting for liberty: liberty to keep four millions of your fellow-beings in ignorance and degradation;–liberty to separate parents and children, husband and wife, brother and sister;–liberty to steal the products of their labor, exacted with many a cruel lash and bitter tear;–liberty to seduce their wives and daughters, and to sell your own children into bondage;–liberty to kill these children with impunity, when the murder cannot be proven by one of pure white blood. This is the kind of liberty–the liberty to do wrong–which Satan, Chief of the fallen Angels, was contending for when he was cast into Hell.|access-date=March 30, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://civilwartalk.com/threads/hunting-fugitive-rebels.73295/|title=Runaway Masters|date=June 22, 2012|access-date=March 30, 2016|work=The New York Times|location=New York|last=Crofts|first=Daniel W.}}</ref>}}