It is 1863. The Civil War has dragged on much longer than either side had anticipated. Mounting casualties and decreasing volunteers mean that it is becoming difficult for President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton to keep the Union Army adequately staffed. The Emancipation Proclamation issued on January 1, 1863, which declared free all slaves living in areas currently in rebellion, and changing attitudes of white Americans have opened up the possibility of enlisting black soldiers. Lincoln and Stanton have dispatched Colonel William Birney, son of famed abolitionist James Birney, to Baltimore to recruit African American men to serve in the Union army. Birney is determined to use his authority however he can to end slavery in Maryland. You are ordered to Birney's recruitment office on Camden Street to serve as his adjutant and advisor. Should Birney begin recruiting [[free black men]] or [[slaves]]? That sounds like a good way to get started. [[Begin recruiting]] among the free black population of Baltimore and the surrounding farmland. Recruiting soldiers from the enslaved population will be tricky. It's important to keep public sentiment in Maryland supportive of the Union (or at least to keep disloyalty under control.) Slave holders consider their enslaved workers "property." Although in a time of war, private property is sometimes confiscated, President Lincoln is leery interfering with slave ownership in the border states. One option would be to [[compensate slave holders]] for the enlistment of their slaves. You've also been informed that Maryland slave holders have been incarcerating their slaves in slave pens and jails as a way to safeguard them against loss from either confiscation or escape. This practice is especially popular among Confederate supporters. Many of the masters of jailed slaves are away serving in the Rebel army. Will you begin your recruitment efforts by freeing these slaves from [[jail]]?Maryland judge Hugh L. Bond writes a letter to Secretary Stanton on August 15, 1863 complaining that Col. Birney's recruitment tactics are favoring slaveholders, most of whom are disloyal to the Union. "To take away from the State the hearty, strong & able free blacks who now do the manual labor on the farms of the seven comparitively free counties of the State, and in the City of Baltimore, will leave those sections of the State without labor, or else compel them, the most loyal sections of the State, to hire Slave labor," Judge Bond charges. "This at once gives a new value to the institution which no loyal man desires should be permanent, and which it has been both hoped and conceded the war would destroy..." But the judge doesn't just make his appeal to [[Washington ->Baltimore Sun]]. Your team of military recruiters are sent out throughout the state encouraging free black men to enlist in the Army. They are bogged down dealing with fugitive slaves who want to serve or are seeking asylum with the Union troops. You receive news that between 40 and 70 men are heading to a rendezvous point in Frederick, Maryland. They want to sign up. Most of them are free men, although it is likely that there are fugitives among them. You don't have any available recruiting agents to meet them. What do you do? Hire a [[civilian]] agent to sign them up OR send word that the men must come to [[Baltimore]] to enlist?Your civilian agent, J. P. Creager, is arrested by local authorities for illegal recruiting efforts. The War Department refuses Col. Birney's request to intervene because the use of civilian recruiting agents was not authorized. [[Next -> Creager's letter]] It turns out that more than 100 men were ready to enlist. They were unable to make it to Baltimore and the recruitment opportunity is lost. Colonel Birney finds your counsel unreliable and requests that you be relieved of duty. You are reassigned to the front. While serving in the Army of the Potomac, you receive mortal wounds in May 1864 in the Battle of the Wilderness. [[Try again ->Colonel Birney Needs Men]]General Robert Schenk, commander of the 8th Army Corps, has issued Special Order 202 to Col. Birney, authorizing the liberation of all slaves held in Camlin's Slave Pen on Pratt Street whose owners are Rebels or Rebel sympathizers. You are horrified at what you find there. In an uncovered, brick-paved yard, 60 men, women, and children are held, many of them shackled together. Most of them have been incarcerated for over a year. Two are infants born while their mothers were in prison. All of the 26 men are anxious to enlist. You determine that all are owned by disloyal masters. After freeing them from their shackles, you arrange for all to be taken to the [[Recruiting Office]] on Camden Street for enlistment. Now Marylanders on the Eastern Shore are angry at your team's recruitment efforts. Your recruitment agent in Centreville, Queen Anne's County, writes a letter to Secretary Stanton complaining that the strategy is putting too great a burden on loyal Marylanders while favoring the disloyal slave holders. "By taking away the free colored men, you take away the labour from the very men who are doing their utmost to sustain the Government, and give every advantage to the men who oppose the Government. It ought not to be so. In nearly every case between master and slave, the slave is the only loyal man and anxious to fight for the country, but is prohibited from doing so." This letter to the Secretary of War from one of Col. Birney's subordinates criticizing your decision is embarrassing. But the situation on the Eastern Shore is getting [[worse]]. Sounds like a good idea. There's just one problem. To placate incensed slave holders, including Maryland Governor Augustus Bradford, President Lincoln is insisting that the recruitment of slaves has not been authorized. Governor Bradford travels to Washington to entreat President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton to halt slave enlistment. He asks his fellow Marylander Montgomery Blair, the U.S. Postmaster, to intercede on his behalf with the President as well. In response to the pressure, Lincoln orders a [[halt]] to slave enlistment.Public sentiment against your recruitment efforts has gotten so bad that Secretary Stanton fears that the state's loyalty to the Union is threatened. Your team is unable to meet recruitment targets for the Colored Troops based on your advice. Col. Birney is dissatisfied with your service and asked that you be transferred. While serving in the Army of the Potomac, you are mortally wounded in May 1864 at the Battle of the Wilderness. [[Try again ->Colonel Birney Needs Men]] There is great celebration in the streets as the families and friends of those who had been held in jail hear of their release and come out to meet them. The military issues a statement that the release of the women and children was a mistake. All those released in error should be returned to their owners immediately. However, no provisions are made to find the released prisoners and the matter quickly fades from public attention. Col. Birney is chastized for overstepping his authority. He stands firm that his actions were appropriate and continues his recruiting efforts. Word of your team's efforts are spreading throughout Maryland. More and more recruits want to sign up; there is great excitement in the black population. But resisistance from white Marylanders is increasing. Your recruiters in the field report fears of violence. Do you [[reduce your efforts]] to calm public sentiment or send [[armed black troops]] to support your recruiters?Trouble is brewing. The men who were so enthusiastic to enlist when you arrived are now resisting. They don't want to sign up until their fellow prisoners are released. They are threatening to walk out of the recruiting office unless the women and children are set free. What do you do? Do you advise Col. Birney to return to the slave pen and set the women and children [[free]]? OR Do you tell the men that there is nothing you can do and [[continue]] with their enlistment?Your team is unable to meet its recruitment goals. Col. Birney finds your counsel unreliable and request that you be relieved of duty. You are reassigned to the front. While serving in the Army of the Potomac, you receive mortal wounds in the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864. [[Try again ->Colonel Birney Needs Men]]A group of slave owners from Southern Maryland write to U.S. Senator Reverdy Johnson accusing your recruitment agents and the black soldiers who accompany them of harrassment and plunder. They claim your team is threatening men who don't want to enlist and abducting slaves against their will. Do you advise Col. Birney to [[reduce your efforts]] at recruitment, continue efforts but [[without armed black troops ->remove]] as support, OR [[defend the actions]] of the recruitment agents? The situation is deteriorating fast. All but 2 of the men refuse to enlist and walk out of the recruiting office. In the streets, they are met by a multitude of the free black population of Baltimore who are demanding the release of the prisoners still held in Camlin's Slave Pen. The publicity about the fiasco is a black mark against Col. Birney's efforts. He finds your counsel unreliable and request that you be relieved of duty. You are reassigned to the front. While serving in the Army of the Potomac, you receive mortal wounds in May 1864 the Battle of the Wilderness. [[Try again ->Colonel Birney Needs Men]]The freeze doesn't last long. Secretary Stanton convinces the President that slave enlistment is crucial to the war effort. Lincoln issues the following response: "To recruiting free negroes, no objection. To recruiting slaves of disloyal owners, no objection. To recruiting slaves of loyal owners, with their consent, no objection. To recruiting slaves of loyal owners without consent, objection, unless the necessity is urgent. To conducting offensively, while recruiting, and of carrying away slaves not suitable for recruits, [[objection]]." Lieutenant White, one of your recruiting agents, is murdered in Charles County while attempting to enlist two men enslaved by a disloyal master. John Sothoron and his son had been active in supporting and recruiting for the Confederate Army. They confronted White in the fields where he was speaking with the potential recruits and shot him in the chest. White died instantly. Your recruiting agents implore you to reinstate the armed guards to ensure their safety. You advise Col. Birney to advocate for a rigorous slave compensation [[program]]. Lincoln and Stanton issue General Order No. 329 to provide guidelines for recruitment in Maryland. Slave enlistment continues. a three-member board is established to process claims for payment of a bounty to slave holders. The enslaved recruit received his freedom upon completion of service. Col. Birney continues his recruitment efforts as public support for slavery wanes. The Maryland legislature decides to add [[support]] for your team's efforts.Maryland lawmakers pass legislation adding state compensation to the federal bounty paid to slave holders for the enrollment of their slaves in the military. Compliant slaveholders may be paid a bounty of as much three hundred dollars. That is considerably more than the current market value of slaves. Slave holders in Maryland now tend to support enlistment of slaves because they can realize a financial gain by collecting the bounty. The stage is set for the final [[death blow to slavery]].Colonel Birney is transferred to the battlefront in early 1864 to command some of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) he has recruited. Colonel Samuel Bowman takes over the recruiting efforts but faces even bigger challenges. Black enlistment is declining as potential recruits become increasingly dissatisfied with unequal pay and are worried about their families. Based on your counsel, Col. Bowman implements creative recruitment tactics that include partnerships with black clergymen to promote enlistment and mass meetings to rally support. Still, the number of black volunteers from Maryland continues to decline. Col. Bowman is accused of abducting enlistees against their will, a charge he vehemently denies. In November 1864, Maryland abolishes slavery. Some of the credit for the shift in public opinion against slavery, and the unsustainable financial situation for Maryland slaveholders, can be attributed to your efforts and the work of all the members of the Maryland Black Recruitment office. Well done! [[Credits]]Creager writes from the Frederick jail on August 19, 1863 to say that slaveholders who have fled the state to enlist in the Rebel Army have incarcerated their slaves for safekeeping in the jail while they are away. The enslaved men are eager to join the Union Army. A note to Creager, wrapped in a hankerchief with a stone in it, and tossed it into his cell window, reads: "Sir, I have the honor to inform you that they a lot of Boys in hear that wants to enlist and go in the Army and they would make good soldiers and they all appear to want to go and fight, and be very glad to go, and if you will take them you will oblige the signers." Eight signatures follow. You can't help Creager, but how should you advise Birney about recruiting? Should your team release slaves from [[jail]]? OR To placate slaveholders who still support the Union, should you [[only enlist free recruits]]?But what should be done with the women and children? You are unable to determine the loyalty status of all but three of their masters. Do you set them all [[free]] OR Leave the women and children imprisoned [[where they are]] until their owners can be investigated?Colonel Birney takes your advice and vigorously defends his actions. He denies all of the charges against him. He accuses the slave holders of reckless staements and calls them "unscrupulous." In addition, Colonel Birney levels [[serious charges]] against the slave holders from Southern Maryland. In a letter to his superiors regarding the charges that he took slaves by force, Birney countered: "Slaveholders have frequently offered me their slaves, provided I would take them by force. I have uniformly declined having any thing to do with forcing them, although if the slaveholders had brought the men to me, I should have taken them... "Nine owners out of ten will insist upon it that their slaves are much attached to them and would not leave them unless enticed or forced away. My conviction is that this is a delusion. I have yet to see a slave of this kind. If their families could be cared for or taken with them, the whole slave population of Maryland would make its exodus to Washington." The truth is that slave holding was becoming financially untenable and many Maryland slave owners were [[looking for ways]] to get rid of their slaves and make some money in the process. The issuance of General Order 329 by the President sets up a system of payment to slave owners for the enlistment of their slaves. Slave enlistment continues. a three-member board is established to process claims for payment of a bounty to slave holders. The enslaved recruit received his freedom upon completion of service. To placate the white Marylanders incensed by your team's recruitment tactics, the Maryland legislature enhances to the federal bounty [[program ->support]].On September 7, 1863, an article about Judge Bond's letter is printed on the front page of the *Baltimore Sun* under the headline "Proposition to Enlist Slaves in Maryland." Maryland supporters of the Union are angry at Col. Birney for focusing his efforts only among free men. Many are insisting that slaveholders share in the burden of the war. Will your team [[stay the course]] OR begin recruiting efforts of [[slaves]]? The last part of Lincoln's response reads: "To conducting offensively, while recruiting, and of carrying away slaves not suitable for recruits, objection." This item refers to the practice of supporting and protecting the recruiting agents with soldiers from the U.S. Colored Troops. The sight of black men in uniform with guns is upsetting white Marylanders. Based on this guidance from the president, do you advise Col. Birney to continue using [[armed black troops]] for recruiting? Or Do you suggest that he [[remove]] armed support. Belt, Edward W. “States Attorney of Prince Georges County to the Governor of Maryland,” March 15, 1864, *Freedom, A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 216-217. Berlin, Ira, Joseph P. Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland, Editors. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Birney, William. "Endorsement by the Superintendent of Maryland Black Recruitment to the Bureau of Colored Troops." January 28, 1864 *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 215-216. ---. "Superintendent of Maryland Black Recruitment to the Bureau of Colored Troops, Enclosing a Write by a Justice of the Peace." August 26, 1863. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 206-207. ---. "Superintendent of Maryland Black Recruitment to the Headquarters of the Middle Department and 8th Army Corp." Telegram. July 27, 1863. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 198-200 Blassingame, John W. "The Recruitment of Colored Troops in Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri, 1863-1865." *The Historian* 29, no. 4 (Autumn 1967): 533-45. --- . "The Recruitment of Negro Troops in Maryland." *Maryland Historical Magazine* 58, no. 1 (1963): 20-29. Bond, Hugh L. "Baltimore Judge to the Secretary of War." August 15, 1863. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation: 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 200-203. Bowman, S. M. "Superintendent of Maryland Black Recruitment to the Bureau of Colored Troops." June 22, 1864. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 223-226. ---. "Superintendent of Maryland Black Recruitment to the Headquarters of the Middle Department." May 11, 1864. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. 222-223. Bradford, A. W. "Governor of Maryland to the U. S. Postmaster General." September 11, 1863. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. 208-210 Chambers, William t. "Eastern Shore Recruiting Agent to the Secretary of War." August 22, 1863. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. 205-206. Creager, J. P. "Civilian Recruiting Agent to the Superintendent of Maryland Black Recruitment." August 19, 1863. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation: 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 203-205. Dobak, William A. *Freedom By the Sword: The U. S. Colored Troops, 1862-1867*. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2011. Geary, James W. *We Need Men: The Union Draft in the Civil War*. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1991. "LOCAL MATTERS." *Baltimore Sun*. October 23, 1863, 1. "LOCAL MATTERS: Excitement Among the Colored People--Slave Prisons Visited by the Military Authorities." *Baltimore Sun*. July 28, 1863, 1. "Maryland Legislature." *Baltimore Sun*. January 12, 1864, 1. "Proposition to Enlist Slaves in Maryland." *Baltimore Sun*. September 7, 1863, 1. Schenck, Robt. C. "Commander of the Middle Department and 8th Army Corps to the President." July 4, 1863. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation: 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 197-198. Stanton, Edwin M. and Abraham Lincoln. “Secretary of War to the President and a Memorandum by the President.” *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 211-213. Tydings, Henry. "Maryland Slave Owner to the Headquarters of the Post of Annapolis." May 28, 1864.*Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 221-222. Wagant, Charles W. "The Army Versus Maryland Slavery: 1862-1864." *Civil War History* 10, no. 2 (June 1964): 141-148. "Western Shore Slaveholders to a U. S. Senator from Maryland and Endorsement by the Superintendent of Maryland Black Recruitment." October 28, 1863. *Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867*. The Black Military Experience, II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982: 213-215. You're finding it difficult to recruit enough volunteers using your current strategies. Free men are worried about leaving their families behind. White employers don't want to lose their work force and are threatening laborers with retaliation if they enlist. Do you [[continue recruiting free men]] OR begin enlisting [[slaves]]? The farms of free black men are being vandalized by white landowners who want to frighten the potential recruits away from enlisting. Families are evicted by their landlords if the men try to sign up for Army service. One man, John Singer, was arrested on his way to Baltimore to enlist. The trumped-up charge accused Singer of abandoning his contract to work for his white employer before his term of service was complete. Employers are using desperate measures to keep from losing their labor force to military service. Is it time to begin recruiting [[slaves]]? Or Do you advise Col. Birney to [[ignore]] the deteriorating situation and ony enlist free black men?