of southern statesmen, declared that it "owed to itself, and to the principles it ever held sacred, to disavow any such wanton, cruel, and unjustifiable warfare;" which it further denounced as "revolting to humanity and repugnant to the sentiments and usages of the civilized world."

I shall now remark that these violations of long and thoroughly established laws of war may be chiefly attributed to the species of persons employed by your predecessor in command in these expeditions, and should have been anticipated in view of the lessons of history; that is, negroes, for the most part, either fugitive slaves, or who had been carried away from their masters' plantations. So apparent are the atrocious consequences which have ever resulted from the employment of a merciless, servile race as soldiers, that Napoleon, when invading Russian, refused to receive or employ against the Russian Government and army the Russian serfs, who, were are told, were ready on all sides to flock to his standard if he would enfranchise them. He was actuated, he declared, by a horror of the inevitable consequences which would result from a servile war. This course one of your authors, Abbott, contrasts to the prejudice of Great Britain in the war of 1812 with the United States, in the course of which were employe" the tomahawk and the scalping-knife of the savage" by some British commanders.

In conclusion, it is my duty to inquire whether the acts which resulted in the burning of the defenseless villages of Darien and Bluffton, and the ravages on the Combahee, are regarded by you as legitimate measures of war, which you will feel authorized to resort to hereafter.

I inclose two newspaper accounts,* copied from the journals of the United States, giving relations of the transactions in question.

Respectfully, general, your obedient servant,

G. T. BEAUREGARD,

General, Commanding.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE SOUTH, Numbers 391.
Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., July 4, 1863.

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III. Brigadier General George C. Strong, with that portion of his command consisting of the Forty-eighth New York, Third New Hampshire, Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, Ninth Maine, Independent Battalion New York Volunteers, and Brayton's battery, will immediately proceed to Folly Island. On his arrival there he will consult with General Vogdes as to the best locality for his encampment, keeping in view to have his men screened from the view of the enemy.

IV. The following temporary disposition will be made of the troops on Folly and adjacent islands after the arrival of General Strong's brigade:

The Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania, Thirty-ninth Illinois, Sixty-second Ohio, Sixty-seventh Ohio, One hundredth New York, Fourth New Hampshire, Independent Battalion New York Volunteers [Enfants Perdus], and the detachments of Third New York Artillery, Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, and First Massachusetts Cavalry will constitute a brigade under General Vogdes.

The battalion of Seventh Connecticut, Third New Hampshire,

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*Not found.

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