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The Ȋle a Vache Colonization Venture, 1862–1864

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Willis D. Boyd
Willis D. Boyd*
Affiliation:
Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana
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Extract

As the United States went into the second year of civil strife in 1862, Abraham Lincoln was under strong pressure to find some acceptable solution to the problem of the Negro. Though the Republican Party had made no emancipation pledges, and both President and Congress had denied any intention to interfere with established state institutions, conditions changed swiftly in the months that followed these disclaimers. It became increasingly awkward to allow each regional commander to handle the Negro refugees as he saw fit—returning the men and their families to their erstwhile owners, chasing them out of the camps, or holding them in labor battalions as “contraband of war.” Still more important was the dilemma caused by the Radicals both in and out of Congress who saw only a clear-cut case of right versus wrong, and who felt that victory would surely be forthcoming once the shackles of servitude had been cut off. Neither the unwillingness of Union Democrats to enter upon an abolitionist crusade, nor the administration's need to retain the support of border state slaveholders served to quiet their clamor. Accordingly, Lincoln was forced against his will into piecemeal and sometimes contradictory measures ending with his proclamation of January 1, 1863, when what he actually preferred was a long-range program of compensated emancipation that would include voluntary colonization of a large portion of the Negroes thus set free.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , July 1959 , pp. 45 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1959

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References

1 Nicolay, John George and Hay, John, eds., Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln (New York, 1905), 2, 174–176, 206–207, 227–228, V, 140–145Google Scholar; Sparks, Edwin E., ed., The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 [Illinois State History Library Collections] (Springfield, 1908), 3, 267, 303, 468, 471.Google Scholar

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3 Mitchell, James, Report on Colonization and Emigration (Washington, 1862), pp. 5–8 Google Scholar; see also Raymond, Henry J., The Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln (New York, 1865), pp. 504–508 Google Scholar; Nicolay, and Hay, , Works, 8, 1–9 Google Scholar; Sandburg, Carl, Abraham Lincoln: the War Years (New York, 1939), 1, 574 Google Scholar; Randall, James G., Lineoln the President (New York, 1945), 2, 137 Google Scholar; story also carried by the Baltimore Sun and the New York Times, Aug. 15, 1862.

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5 “Report of the Committee on Emancipation and Colonization,” House Report No. 148, 37th Congress, 2nd session.

6 Statutes at Large of the United States, XII, 378, 582. For debates on these and other measures, see Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2nd session, pp. 1303–1306, 1319, 1333.

7 Lincoln to Mitchell, Aug. 6, 1862, Correspondence Relating to James Mitchell and the office of Emigration (1862–1872), Slave Trade and Negro Colonization Papers, Department of the Interior (National Archives); Mitchell to Lincoln, April 18, 1862, ibid. For general background, see also Caleb B. Smith to Lincoln, May 9 and May 16, 1862, Letters Sent (1858-1872), Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

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10 Ibid., 1861–1862, pp. 881–906; Smith to Samuel C. Pomeroy, Oct. 7, 1862, Letters Sent, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; Pomeroy to John P. Usher, Feb. 4, 1864, Communications Relating to Pomeroy, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; Pomeroy to O. O. Browning, Feb. 5, 1867, ibid. Also see Scheips, Paul J., “Lincoln and the Chiriqui Colonization Project,” Journal of Negro History, 37 (1952), 418–453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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12 Translation of the contract between Kock and Haitian government authorities, dated August 8, 1862, ibid.

13 Smith to Kock, Sept. 6, 1862; Kock to Smith, Sept. 6, 1862, ibid.

14 Printed appeal to Lincoln, Oct. 1, 1862, ibid.

15 Kock to Mitchell, Nov. 1, 1862, ibid.

16 Mitchell to Lincoln, Nov. 6, 1862, ibid.; see also Mitchell, , Report on Colonization, pp. 20–24.Google Scholar

17 Rough draft of a contract drawn by Mitchell between the United States government and Bernard Kock, no date given, Communications Relating to île à Vache, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; final contract between Kock and Lincoln, Dec. 31, 1862, ibid.

18 Pomeroy to —, Nov. 2, 1862, Communications Relating to Pomeroy, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; Pomeroy to Lincoln, Dec. 1, 1862, ibid.

19 Crosfield, Joseph, Appeal on Behalf of Fugitives from Slavery in America (London, 1863).Google Scholar

20 Kock to Usher, Jan. 8, 1863, Communications Relating to île à Vache, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

21 W. C. Watts to R. Atkinson, Jan. 2, 1863; D. B. Flint to Usher, March 17, 1863; sworn statement of Daniel E. Merrick, Jan. 1, 1863; and Whidden to Seward, March 4, 1863, ibid.

22 Tuckerman to Usher, April 2, 1863, Correspondence Concerning the Claim of Forbes and Tuckerman (1863-1868), Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; E. Delafield Smith to Usher, April 9, 1863, ibid.; see also the formal contract with the United States government, April 6, 1863, endorsed by Lincoln, April 13, 1863, ibid.

23 Tuckerman to Usher, April 18, 1863, ibid.

24 List of Negroes emigrating to île à Vache, Communications Relating to île à Vache, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

25 Affidavit by Major General John Dix, May 6, 1863; George C. Ross to whom it may concern, July 1, 1863, ibid.

26 Forbes and Tuckerman to Usher, July 7, 1863, ibid.

27 Tuckerman to Usher, July 29, 1863, ibid.

28 Usher to Forbes and Tuckerman, July 7, 1863; id. to id., July 8, 1863, ibid.

29 James De Long to Henry Conrad, July 8, 1863, Correspondence and Reports Relating to D. C. Donnohue (1862–1864), Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

30 De Long to Conrad, July 27, 1863; also deposition by Tilton Cook, Master of the schooner, Clara Holmes, accompanying De Long, July 25, 1863, ibid.

31 Usher to Donnohue, Oct. 9, 1863; id. to id., Oct. 17, 1863, ibid.

32 Usher to Tuckerman, Oct. 19, 1863, Letters Sent, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

33 Allston Wilson to Usher, Oct. 31, 1863, Donnohue Correspondence, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

34 Ibid.

35 Tuckerman to Usher, Oct. 20, 1863, Communications Relating to île à Vache, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; see also Tuckerman to Seward, Oct. 17, 1863, ibid.

36 Leonard Jerome to Usher, Dec. 12, 1863; Usher to Jerome, Dec. 14, 1863, ibid.

37 Donnohue to Usher, Dec. 5, 1863; Donnohue Correspondence, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; id. to id., Dec. 6, 1863, ibid.

38 Donnohue to H. Kilbourn, Dec. 6, 1863; Donnohue to Usher, Jan. 3, 1864, ibid.

39 Donnohue to Usher, Jan. 4, 1864; id. to id., Jan., 1864; id. to id., Jan. 14, 1864; id. to id., Feb. 2, 1864, ibid.

40 Usher to Donnohue, Jan. 24, 1864, Letters Sent, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; Usher to Seward, Feb. 1, 1864; Usher to Donnohue, Feb. 2, 1864, ibid.

41 Donnohue to Usher, Feb. 19, 1864, Donnohue Correspondence, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; also depositions witnessed by James De Long, Jan. 28, 1864, ibid.

42 Usher to Donnohue, Feb. 2, 1864, Letters Sent, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

43 Donnohue to Usher, March 1, 1864, Donnohue Correspondence, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

44 Statutes at Large of the United States, XIII, 352. See also Usher to Lincoln, March 11, 1864, Letters Sent, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

45 Donnohue to Usher, March 26, 1864, Communications Relating to île à Vache, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

46 Usher to Tuckerman, April 4, 1864, ibid.

47 Tuckerman to Lincoln, Jan. 13, 1864, ibid.

48 Forbes and Tuckerman to Seward, Feb. 19, 1864, ibid.

49 Tuckerman to Usher, March 7, 1864; Tuckerman to Seward, March 17, 1864, ibid.

50 Defense arguments of Forbes and Tuckerman, April 18, 1864, Correspondence Concerning the Claim of Forbes and Tuckerman, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

51 Ibid.

52 De Long to Usher, April 3, 1863, Claim of U. S. Consul De Long for Support of Suffering Refugees from île à Vache, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; De Long to Seward, Oct. 3, 1863, ibid.; also a copy of the proposed contract in Miscellaneous Contracts and Agreements Pertaining to Colonization, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

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56 Usher to Tuckerman, no date, ibid.

57 Tuckerman to Seward, Sept. 26, 1865; id. to id., Oct. 2, 1865, ibid. See also Tuckerman, Charles, Statement of Circumstances Attending the Experiment of Colonization of Free Negroes on the Island of À Vache, Hayti, W. I. (Washington, 1864).Google Scholar

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59 Harlan to Tuckerman, Feb. 3, 1866, Letters Sent, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.

60 Tuckerman to Seward, June 7, 1866, Communications Relating to île à Vache, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers; Mercer to Browning, May 28, 1868, ibid.; De Long to Seward, May 29, 1866, Claim of De Long, Slave Trade and Colon. Papers.