On the night of January 2, 1864 most
of the Army of Tennessee's ranking generals met at army headquarters in Dalton, Georgia.
The purpose of the meeting, although most did not know it at the time, was to hear Major
General Patrick Cleburne's proposal for using slaves in the Confederate army. Those in
attendance at this meeting, besides Cleburne, were General Joseph E. Johnston, who had
replaced Braxton Bragg as commander of the army one week earlier, Lieutenant General
William J. Hardee, Major Generals William H.T. Walker, Alexander Stewart, Thomas Hindman,
and Carter Stevenson, Brigadier Generals Patton Anderson and William Bate.
After the presentation by Cleburne there was
some discussion and the proposal was soundly rejected. Johnston called an end to the
meeting and refused to forward the proposal to Richmond on the grounds, later speculated
to be, that "in tenor it was more political than military." After the meeting,
Johnston wrote Davis reporting the condition of the army and in that correspondence
proposed a plan of his own for introducing negros into the army.
However, for reasons of his own, Walker
contacted his superior, Hindman, informing him of his intentions of forwarding the
proposal to the War Department. He was firmly rebuked by Hindman. Then, with
the tacit approval of Stewart and Bate, attempted to send it to the War Department with
Johnston's endorsement. Johnston refused "for reasons satisfactory to himself."
Walker then circumvented the chain of command and wrote directly to President Davis. Davis
responded by requesting that the paper written by Cleburne be suppressed.
The preceding are the facts, without
interjecting 20th century opinions into 19th century actions, as I
know them. I have gathered as much information as I could documenting this incident and
provided it below. You will find Cleburne's original proposal, as it appears in the
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, the series of correspondence
resulting from the meeting, also from the Official Records, and some articles extracted
from the "Southern Historical Society Papers" that speak to the incident.
As I have previously stated, I have not
interjected opinion into the actual incident, however, it is my firm conviction that
Cleburne's actions, given the mood of the Confederacy at the time, may very well have cost
him promotion to higher command.
