Joint Resolution on the Subject of Retaliation

Title

Joint Resolution on the Subject of Retaliation

Creator

Confederate Congress

Description

On May 1, 1863 the Confederate Congress, acting on the recommendations of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, passed a series of resolutions responding to the Emancipation Proclamation and the use of black soldiers in Union forces. They declared that the North’s use of black soldiers constituted the promotion of slave revolts—a capital offense in the South—and that officers of black regiments were to be executed and black soldiers were to be delivered to the state governments. The resolutions made little distinction between black soldiers who were escaped slaves and those who were not. On the battlefield the actions of Confederate soldiers toward their black opponents were even more harsh—most notoriously at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, where Confederate forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest killed hundreds of black soldiers after they had surrendered.

Source

Confederate Congress, Joint Resolution, May 1, 1863, in The Civil War: Opposing Viewpoints, ed. William Dudley (San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1995), 231-233.

Date

1863-05-1

Text

Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America (in response to the message of the President transmitted to Congress at the commencement of the present session), That, in the opinion of Congress, the commissioned officers of the enemy ought not be delivered to the authorities of the respective States, as suggested in the said message, but all captives taken by the Confederate forces ought to be dealt with and disposed of by the Confederate Government.

SEC. 2. That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamation of the President of the United States, dated, respectively, September 22, 1862, and January 1, 1863, and the other measures of the Government of the United States, and of its authorities, commanders, and forces, designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or to employ negroes in war against the Confederate States, or to overthrow the institution of African slavery, and bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the spirit of those usages which, in modern warfare, prevail among civilized nations; they may, therefore, be properly and lawfully repressed by retaliation.

SEC. 3. That in every case wherein, during the present war, any violation of the laws or usages of war among civilized nations shall be, or has been, done and perpetrated by those acting under the authority of the Government of the United States, on the persons or property of citizens of the Confederate States, or of those under the protection or in the land or naval service of the Confederate States, or of any State of the Confederacy, the President of the Confederate States is hereby authorized to cause full and ample retaliation to be made for every such violation, in such manner and to such extent as he may think proper.

SEC. 4. That every white person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as such, who, during the present war, shall command negroes or mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States, or who shall arm, train, or organize, or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military service against the Confederate States, or who shall voluntarily aid negroes or mulattoes in any military enterprise, attack, or conflict in such service, shall be deemed as inciting servile insurrection, and shall, if captured, be put to death, or be otherwise punished at the discretion of the court.

SEC. 5. Every person being a commissioned officer or acting as such, in the service of the enemy, who shall, during the present war excite, attempt to excite, or cause to be excited, a servile insurrection, or who shall incite or cause to be incited a slave to rebel, shall, if captured, be put to death, or be otherwise punished at the discretion of the court.

SEC. 6. Every person charged with an offense punishable under the preceding resolutions shall, during the present war, be tried before the military court attached to the army or corps by the troops of which he shall have been captured, or by such other military court as the President may direct, and in such manner and under such regulations as the President shall prescribe, and, after conviction, the President may commute the punishment in such manner and on such terms as he may deem proper.

SEC. 7. All negroes and mulattoes who shall be engaged in war, or be taken in arms against the Confederate States, or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States, shall, when captured in the Confederate States, be delivered to the authorities of the State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt with according to the present or future laws of such State or States.

Questions

  • Why did the Confederate Congress object to President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation?
  • What was the Confederate policy on black Union soldiers?
  • What protections did Confederates put in place to guard against potential abuses of the policy?
  • Why did the Confederacy adopt such a policy?