Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/447

Rh as examples of a large number which constantly arose and required immediate solution:

The &quot;Savannah,&quot; a small schooner, was the first to sail June 3rd, under a Confederate commission as a privateer, and being soon captured by the U. S. brig &quot;Perry,&quot; its crew were put in irons as pirates. Mr. Davis made an immediate demand that they should be treated as prisoners of war, stating to President Lincoln that &quot;if driven to the terrible necessity of retaliation by your execution of the officers and crew of the Savannah, that retaliation shall be extended so far as shall be requisite to secure the abandonment of a practice unknown to the warfare of civilized man.&quot; European nations agreed with the views held by President Davis, and by this course in the case of the &quot; Savannah,&quot;as well as of the &quot; Jefferson Davis,&quot; the United States government was compelled to respect the belligerency of the Confederate States.

Another troublesome question concerned the negroes in Federal lines. Immediately after the invasion of Virginia many negroes escaped from their owners into the Federal camps,—an occurrence which raised in General Butler’s opinion, &quot;questions of very considerable importance, both in a military and political aspect.&quot; Since these negroes would come into his lines, General Butler determined &quot;until better advised, as these men were very serviceable, and he had great need of labor in his quartermaster s department, to avail himself of their services.&quot; He accordingly resolved to receipt for them as he would &quot;for any other property of a private citizen which the exigencies of the service seemed to require. Another question raised by Maj. Carey in an interview with General Butler was the transit of persons and families northward from Virginia, which General Butler also settled by declining to permit their removal through the blockade on the ground that these families should be kept in Virginia as hostage for the good behavior of the