Depopulation

[atlantis]

Did either side consider removing the slave population during the war. Example did the union consider sending the slaves west to break CS economy, did the CS sensing defeat ever consider expelling the slave population. There is a world history of forced population removal to achieve specific goals and I am curious if there are records of either side in US civil war contemplating such a policy.

 

[bdtex]

Did either side consider removing the slave population during the war. Example did the union consider sending the slaves west to break CS economy, did the CS sensing defeat ever consider expelling the slave population. There is a world history of forced population removal to achieve specific goals and I am curious if there are records of either side in US civil war contemplating such a policy.

Many Louisiana slaveholders left Louisiana and took their slaves with them to Texas. Union forces in Louisiana were freeing them and either conscripting them or putting them in holding camps.

 

[Booner]

Gen. Ewing in Missouri and his gen. Order #2 allowed slaves to either join the union army or be "removed" to Kansas if they should desire either

His gen order #11 removed all of the rural population from 3 1/2 counties on the western border alongside Kansas. The farms were then burned.

 

[leftyhunter]

Did either side consider removing the slave population during the war. Example did the union consider sending the slaves west to break CS economy, did the CS sensing defeat ever consider expelling the slave population. There is a world history of forced population removal to achieve specific goals and I am curious if there are records of either side in US civil war contemplating such a policy.

Moving slaves simply did not make sense for the Union

Gen. Ewing in Missouri and his gen. Order #2 allowed slaves to either join the union army or be "removed" to Kansas if they should desire either

His gen order #11 removed all of the rura

Of course to be fair and balanced CSA guerrillas did depopulate much of Northern Ark of Unionist families. Depopulation is a widely used COIN technique which I mentioned in my thread "Compare and Contrast Union vs Confederate counter-guerrilla operations.
@atlantis it did not make sense to depopulate slaves or move them around. Slaves where used to build fortfications just like the CSA used them. They could also work in plantations and grow cotton for the Union war effort. Plus they could be recruited as mentioned into the USCT.
Leftyhunter

 

[AndyHall]

Many Louisiana slaveholders left Louisiana and took their slaves with them to Texas. Union forces in Louisiana were freeing them and either conscripting them or putting them in holding camps.

And to follow on what @bdtex said, in 1862 and leading up to the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863, Federal forces in Louisiana and southern Mississippi were actively pressing to remove enslaved persons from area plantations, either into the Union employment or into relocation areas. The goal was to get them and their labor out of the hands of the Confederates. As Don Frazier said at a presentation a few months back, "if you were black in Louisiana in 1862 or 1863, one way or another you were on the move."

 

[Booner]

Moving slaves simply did not make sense for the Union

No one ever said Ewing had much sense. Correction- at least I never said Ewing made much sense.

 

[leftyhunter]

No one ever said Ewing had much sense. Correction- at least I never said Ewing made much sense.

Actually Special Order #11 made a lot of sense because by making a free fire zone it's easier to keep guerrillas out of a given area. Free fire zones were used by Col. Harrison in Northern Ark and definitely used by the U.S> in Vietnam and other nations have used it as well. Order #11 was not given a fair chance to work because it was only used for a year but arguably it cut back on insurgents using the area. I will have to do some research on it. Was it unfair to the people of the area? Maybe yes maybe no it depends on whom one asks.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

No one ever said Ewing had much sense. Correction- at least I never said Ewing made much sense.

Actually Ewing was not in command in areas that had a lot of slaves. Gen. Butler however was and he made good use of them.
Leftyhunter

 

[Booner]

Actually Special Order #11 made a lot of sense because by making a free fire zone it's easier to keep guerrillas out of a given area. Free fire zones were used by Col. Harrison in Northern Ark and definitely used by the U.S> in Vietnam and other nations have used it as well. Order #11 was not given a fair chance to work because it was only used for a year but arguably it cut back on insurgents using the area. I will have to do some research on it. Was it unfair to the people of the area? Maybe yes maybe no it depends on whom one asks.
Leftyhunter

I think the order was made out of desperation as he hadn't been doing a good job of controlling guerrilla operations. Theres ample evidence that he had been considering issuing the order for some time and then the Lawrence raid occured and Lane forced the issue.
It really didn't have as good effect as he was looking for. Guerrillas still used the area until the fall before they left for texas, and the next summer guerrilla operations moved into the central portion of the state in anticipation of Prices Raid. And there was so much negative response to the order by members of the Fed. Gov. too. Ewing was moved out 3 months later and the new commander recinded the order. By then the damage had already been done to the civilians though. 20,000 square miles of nothing but desolation.

 

[Sid J.]

Did either side consider removing the slave population during the war. Example did the union consider sending the slaves west to break CS economy, did the CS sensing defeat ever consider expelling the slave population. There is a world history of forced population removal to achieve specific goals and I am curious if there are records of either side in US civil war contemplating such a policy.

It wasn't generally done by policy, but there was substantial relocation of the slave population during the course of the war. Slave owners, acting as individuals moved slaves away from advancing Union forces. Others have already mentioned movements from to Texas from the Mississippi Valley, but slaves were also moved inland from Federal incursions on the east coast (Port Royal SC, New Bern NC, Jacksonville FL etc).

Another large scale movement was of slaves crossing union lines, often to "contraband" camps at places such as Alexandria VA, Corinth MS, or Grand Junction TN. This traffic increased greatly as the Union transitioned away from enforcement of fugitive slave laws and to emancipation. This would be policy changes that encouraged some slaves to remove themselves.

There some coastal operations where the Union was actively removing slaves from their masters, for example the Combahee Raid, which brought off hundreds of slaves.

Another example would be in May/June 1862, when much of the manpower from the Union Department of the South was transferred to Virginia. Gen Hunter needed pull back his lines, so he evacuated Edisto and James Island, but he brought many of the slaves from those islands back to Saint Helena and Hilton Head.