CHAPTER XX.

DISBANDMENT OF REBEL MILITIA.-ABOLITION OF WHIPPING AND PEONAGE.

Mr. Wilson's Joint Resolution to disband rebel Militia.-Remarks of Mr. Buckalew, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Lane.-Mr. Hendrick's motion to strike out, agreed to.-Remarks of Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Hendricks, Mr. Willey.-Subject incorporated with Appropriation Bill.-Passage of the Bill. Concurrence of the House.-Mr. Wilson's Joint Resolution to abolish corporeal punishment.-Reported from Judiciary Committee.— General Sickles' order revoked by the President.-The subject reported from Military Committee in a Bill to increase pay of Army Officers.Motion of Mr. Hendricks to strike out, agreed to-Inserted as an amendment to appropriation bill and passed.-Mr. Wilson's Bill to strike out the word "white" from the Militia Laws.-Its passage.-Mr. Sumner's Resolution respecting Peonage.-Mr. Wilson's Bill.-Remarks of Mr. Davis, Mr. Lane, Mr. Doolittle and Mr. Buckalew.-Passage of the Bill.-Proclamation of the Governor of New Mexico.

In the Senate, on the 19th of February, 1866, Mr. Wilson introduced a Joint Resolution providing that the militia forces organized or in service in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas, should be forthwith disbanded, and that the further organization, arming or calling into service of the militia forces in those States should be prohibited until authorized by Congress. The resolution was

referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and reported by Mr. Wilson on the 1st day of March, without amendment. No action having been taken upon the resolution, it was incorporated into the bill for the temporary increase of the pay of the officers of the army, which was taken up at the next session. On the 19th of February, it was taken up for consideration, and Mr. Buckalew of Pennsylvania desired some explanation of the provision disbanding the militia forces in the rebel States. Mr. Wilson replied, that military organizations had been made in some of the States; that these organizations were generally officered by men who had distinguished themselves in the rebellion; that some of them wore the gray and did not carry the flag. Mr. Buckalew had heard no sufficient reason for the enactment of this general, sweeping provision for the disbandment of the military forces in the rebel States. Mr. Lane of Indiana thought these local militia organizations were not in harmony with the government or the union sentiment of the country, or likely to promote peace. At the suggestion of Mr. Hendricks, the section was stricken out of the bill. On the 26th, Mr. Wilson moved to amend the army appropriation bill by inserting the provision for the disbandment of militia forces in the States lately in rebellion. Mr. Fessenden desired an explanation. why the amendment should be put upon the appropriation bill. Mr. Wilson stated that these organizations had been used in some parts of the country

to disarm portions of the people. Those organizations were completely rebel, in the men composing them and in the spirit by which they were animated. Mr. Willey would be willing to favor discriminating legislation to regulate the use of arms by the people of the South, but he was opposed to so sweeping an enactment. Mr. Hendricks thought that the measure was one of great importance and that it ought to be presented as a distinct and separate bill, and not proposed as an amendment to an appropriation bill. Mr. Wilson replied that it was reported in the army bill and stricken out on the suggestion of the Senator from Indiana. He was forced to yield then, but would not yield now, as he did not mean that the rebels should be armed. further debated by Mr. Hendricks, Mr. Willey, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Lane, and agreed to;-Yeas 33, nays 11. The House concurred and it became a law.

It was

In the Senate, on the 20th of December, 1866, Mr. Wilson introduced a Joint Resolution authorizing the President to prevent the infliction of corporeal punishment in the States lately in rebellion. It declared that the practice of inflicting corporeal punishment for offences against laws was barbarous in character and degrading in influence, and that the freedmen in their helplessness were liable to be subjected to that degrading punishment; and that the President be authorized and instructed to direct the officers of the army and navy and of the Freed

men's Bureau to prevent the infliction of such punishments. The resolution was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and reported by Mr. Trumbull on the 7th day of February in a new draft. General Sickles commanding the department of North and South Carolina had issued an order prohibiting whipping as a punishment for offences against the laws. The President on the representation of some of the civil officers of those States had revoked the order. The object of the resolution was to put an end to a mode of punishment barbarizing in its tendencies and which was especially oppressive to the freedmen.

On the 12th day of February, 1867, Mr. Wilson reported from the Committee on Military Affairs a bill to temporarily increase the pay of the officers of the army, the eleventh section of which provided that whipping should be prohibited in the States lately in rebellion. Pending the consideration of the bill, on the 19th of February, Mr. Hendricks of Indiana proposed to strike out that section, and it was so stricken out; but on the 26th of February, it was inserted in the army appropriation bill, was concurred in by the House and became the law of the land.

On the 12th of February, 1867, Mr. Wilson from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported the bill to provide for the temporary increase of the pay of the officers of the army. It was provided in the bill that the act, "more effectually to provide for the

national defence by establishing a uniform militia throughout the United States," approved May 8, 1792, and the acts amendatory thereof, be amended by striking out the word "white." The bill passed and the word "white" was stricken from the militia laws, so that colored persons become a part of the militia of the United States.

In the Senate on the 3d of January, 1867, Mr. Sumner submitted a resolution that the Committee on the Judiciary be directed to consider if any leg. islation was needed to prevent the system of peonage in New Mexico, and to prohibit the employment of the army in surrendering persons claimed as peons, After debate in which Mr. Sumner, Mr. Conness, and Mr. Trumbull participated, the resolution was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

On the 26th of January, Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts introduced a bill to abolish and forever prohibit the system of peonage in the Territory of New Mexico and other parts of the United States, which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, and on the 28th, reported from the committee by Mr. Wilson with an amendment. On the 19th of February, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of the bill, and on motion of Mr. Wilson, all after the enacting clause was stricken out, and a substitute proposed, providing that the holding of any person in peonage should be abolished, and any laws or usages of the Territory of New Mexico or of any other Territory or State which had estab