Justice Long Delayed

[Steve]

(06-18-2023 07:55 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  The slaves of the South could have been informed of their freedom long before but Frederick Douglass refused a military commission as a Major to inform slaves in the South that they had been granted their freedom. Douglass was perfectly willing to let his own sons risk life and limb as members of the Massachusetts 54th (as I recall) but he was not willing to risk his own life to inform the slaves of the South of their freedom. Should not those black warriors who served and fought for the Union and the freedom of all slaves be especially honored today?

That's not accurate. In 1863, Douglass went to Washington and met with both Lincoln and Stanton to advocate for equal treatment for Black soldiers. During his meeting with Stanton, Stanton surprised Douglass by offering him a commission to become an officer in the Army and using him to recruit escaped/freed slaves in the Mississippi Valley into enlisting in the Union Army. Douglass agreed to the proposal and told Stanton to send his commission to his home in Rochester in a couple of weeks. The commission never arrived and Douglass wrote to the War Department that he had not received his commission yet. The War Department responded by sending this letter:



But they didn't send a commission to Douglass along with the letter, so obviously he didn't go.