| Location | Baltimore, Maryland/Salisbury, MD |
|---|---|
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Names Mentioned | Major General Lewis Wallace, E. M. Stanton |
| Date | December 11, 1864 |
| Document Title | 152 Commander of the Middle Department and 8th Army Corps to the Secretary of War |
| Document Description | Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace to Hon. E. M. Stanton, 11 Dec. 1864, vol. 243, pp.376-77, Telegrams Received by the Secretary of War, Telegrams Collected by the Office of the Secretary of War (Bound), RG 107 [L-328]. Major General Lewis Wallace forwards a telegram from General Henry H. Lockwood to Edwin McMasters Stanton, the U.S. Secretary of War. Lockwood gives brief information about the practice of apprenticing out formerly enslaved children and young adults following Marylandâs banning of slavery under the 1864 Maryland Constitution, pointing out that this practice subverts the âhumaneâ purpose of the law. (From The Wartime Genesis of Free Labor, 528.) |
| Transcription | Baltimore Md Dec 11 1864 Hon E M Stanton On my return last evening recd the following telegram from Gen Lockwood which explains itself. "Salisbury Md Dec 10 To Maj Gen Wallace. Just arrived here from below. Find a telegram from Lt Mulliken saying that orders have gone to me Cambridge countermanding my instructions so far as relates to the negroes. Presuming that this refers to the subject of the recent apprenticeship in these counties I beg leave to submit a few remarks. It is impossible to convey to you by telegraph any idea of the hundreds of abuses that have come to my Knowledge of this system I have Knowledge of cases where lads of sixteen (16) and eighteen (18) have been bound out and then hired to their fathers who are prosperous farmers for ten (10) & twelve (12) dollars a month. both you & I are put in false position here by stopping short now. I dont think that any one (I) can visit these counties as I have done without seeing the importance of stopping the whole sale perversion of what is designed to be a humane law I will leave for Cambridge tomorrow & desire to hear from you by telegraph tonight (signed) Gen Lockwood Lew Wallace |
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[Author (if known)], Documents from the Freedmen and Southern Society Project, [Date (if known)], Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva’s Black History, Nabb Research Center, Salisbury University.
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