Was this man a Confederate Traitor?

[ForeverFree]

The correct term (for Hubbard Pryor) would be a Black Confederate Traitor or Confederate Turncoat.

This man was named Hubbard Pryor. He was a runaway slave from Tennessee who enlisted in the Union army. He was born in what became a Confederate state, and lived in the South his entire life, as I understand it.

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Question: Is this man a Confederate traitor?

A key to answering the question, I think, is to determine if Hubbard was ever a Confederate citizen, or was a prospective or potential Confederate citizen. Wikipedia has an entry about citizenship which includes the following:

Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law of a state that bestows on that person (called a citizen) the rights and privileges of citizenship. Such rights and privileges include the right to vote, work and live in the country and the right to return to the country, besides other rights. A citizen may also be subject to certain duties, such as a duty to serve in the military. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless.

Factors determining citizenship

A person can be a citizen for several reasons. Usually citizenship of the place of birth is automatic; in other cases an application may be required.
​

• • Parents are citizens (jus sanguinis). If one or both of a person's parents are citizens of a given state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well. [a] Formerly this might only have applied through the paternal line, but sex equality became common since the late twentieth century. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity, and is related to the concept of a nation state common in Europe. Where jus sanguinis holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. States normally[citation needed] limit the right to citizenship by descent to a certain number of generations born outside the state.[clarification needed] This form of citizenship is common in civil law countries.

• • Born within a country (jus soli). Most people are automatically citizens of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in England where those who were born within the realm were subjects of the monarch (a concept pre-dating citizenship), and is common in common law countries.

In many cases both jus solis and jus sanguinis hold; citizenship either by place or parentage (or of course both).​

• • Naturalization. States normally grant citizenship to people who have entered the country legally and been granted leave to stay, or been granted political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. In some countries naturalization is subject to conditions which may include passing a test demonstrating reasonable knowledge of the language or way of life of the host country, good conduct (no serious criminal record), swearing allegiance to their new state or its ruler, and renouncing their prior citizenship. Some states allow dual citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to renounce any other citizenship.

• • Excluded categories. In the past there have been exclusions on entitlement to citizenship on grounds such as skin color, ethnicity, sex, and free status (not being a slave). Most of these exclusions no longer apply in most places.

Wikipedia has another entry about United States citizenship, which talks about the rights, duties, and benefits of American citizenship; this is an excerpt:

Relation of citizenship
Citizenship is the legal status of membership in the United States. Citizens have the right to live and work without fear of deportation. The activities associated with citizenship typically include duties and privileges.

Duties​

• • Jury duty is only imposed upon citizens. Jury duty may be considered the "sole differential obligation" between non-citizens and citizens; the federal and state courts "uniformly exclude non-citizens from jury pools today, and with the exception of a few states in the past, this has always been the case.[6]

• • Military participation is not currently required in the United States, but a policy of conscription of men has been in place at various times (both in war and in peace) in American history, most recently during the Vietnam War. Currently, the United States armed forces are a professional all-volunteer force, although both male U.S. citizens and male non-citizen permanent residents are required to register with the Selective Service System and may be called up in the event of a future draft. Johns Hopkins University political scientist Benjamin Ginsberg writes, "The professional military has limited the need for citizen soldiers."[2]

• • Taxes In the United States today, everyone except those whose income is derived from tax exempt revenue (Subchapter N, Section 861 of the U.S. Tax Code) is required to pay taxes, and this has been the case for many years. The U.S. requires that aliens who are present in the United States, including non-immigrants and illegal immigrants, for more than 180 days must file tax returns.[7] American citizens are subject to federal income tax on worldwide income regardless of their country of residence.[8]

The issue of negro citizenship in America had actually been adjudicated prior to the war. The Dred Scott case decision ruled decisively that negroes (enslaved or free) were not citizens of the United States. However, negroes were citizens of their home states, and the states could establish rights benefits and duties for black residents if they so chose; although those rights, benefits and duties did not follow the negro when he left the state. The 14th Amendment was passed in part to provide citizenship rights to slaves and their children (by stating that anyone born in the United States was a citizen).

It seems to me to be an open and shut case that Hubbard Pryor the slave was not a citizen of the Confederacy nor a potential/prospective citizen of the CSA. He was a resident of a Confederate States. But he had no privileges as a Confederate citizen, no duties as a Confederate citizen. He was property, and property didn't have rights. Any duty he owed was to his master. Clearly, he was disloyal to his master by fleeing bondage and then joining the Union army. But he was not a "Confederate traitor" by any means.

- Alan

 

[brass napoleon]

Well, this is a no-brainer for me. I don't consider anyone who was born in the United States, and who fought for the United States in the Civil War, to be a traitor of any kind. And even if I did, I would not consider Hubbard Pryor to be a traitor to the Confederacy, because to the Confederacy he was just a "thing", with "no rights that a white man was bound to respect".

 

[cash]

Well, this is a no-brainer for me. I don't consider anyone who was born in the United States, and who fought for the United States in the Civil War, to be a traitor of any kind. And even if I did, I would not consider Hubbard Pryor to be a traitor to the Confederacy, because to the Confederacy he was just a "thing", with "no rights that a white man was bound to respect".

I agree completely, and I can think of nothing I can add to this to make it any clearer.

 

[John Winn]

I'm with Major Brass. He was not a citizen of the CSA (or the USA for that matter) and I cannot see why anyone would consider running away from slavery to be traitorous (well, except for slave owners I suppose).

 

[diane]

N B Forrest considered any black, northern, southern, free or slave, who operated against the Confederacy in any capacity - even being a free black born in the north working for a northern civilian - to be a traitor to the South. That pretty much leaves the only loyal black person to be one down on the old plantation still picking cotton. I don't think he was by any means alone in that way of thinking.

p s
I voted no. No way was Mr Hubbard Pryor a traitor to anybody.

 

[101combatvet]

What timeframe did he escape and from what area of Tennessee?

 

[Carronade]

Come to think of it, is there any indication that the Confederates would have considered someone like Pryor a traitor? The only Confederate policy I've seen is that blacks captured in Union service would be "returned" to slavery - whether or not they had originally been slaves. This was consistent with the idea of slaves as property, on a par with recovering a horse the Union army had taken and used for a time. As others have noted, treason implies things like citizenship and free will which they would not attribute to a slave.

In the heat of battle, or its immediate aftermath, captured blacks might be shot out of hand, but that would hardly constitute a judicial determination that they were traitors or that they were legally capable of committing treason. I expect a sober assessment even by Confederate authorities would be that they were not - they were just slaves.

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

This man was named Hubbard Pryor. He was a runaway slave from Tennessee who enlisted in the Union army. He was born in what became a Confederate state, and lived in the South his entire life, as I understand it.

Expired Image Removed

Question: Is this man a Confederate traitor?

A key to answering the question, I think, is to determine if Hubbard was ever a Confederate citizen, or was a prospective or potential Confederate citizen. Wikipedia has an entry about citizenship which includes the following:

Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law of a state that bestows on that person (called a citizen) the rights and privileges of citizenship. Such rights and privileges include the right to vote, work and live in the country and the right to return to the country, besides other rights. A citizen may also be subject to certain duties, such as a duty to serve in the military. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless.

Factors determining citizenship

A person can be a citizen for several reasons. Usually citizenship of the place of birth is automatic; in other cases an application may be required.
​

• • Parents are citizens (jus sanguinis). If one or both of a person's parents are citizens of a given state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well. [a] Formerly this might only have applied through the paternal line, but sex equality became common since the late twentieth century. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity, and is related to the concept of a nation state common in Europe. Where jus sanguinis holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. States normally[citation needed] limit the right to citizenship by descent to a certain number of generations born outside the state.[clarification needed] This form of citizenship is common in civil law countries.

• • Born within a country (jus soli). Most people are automatically citizens of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in England where those who were born within the realm were subjects of the monarch (a concept pre-dating citizenship), and is common in common law countries.

In many cases both jus solis and jus sanguinis hold; citizenship either by place or parentage (or of course both).​

• • Naturalization. States normally grant citizenship to people who have entered the country legally and been granted leave to stay, or been granted political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. In some countries naturalization is subject to conditions which may include passing a test demonstrating reasonable knowledge of the language or way of life of the host country, good conduct (no serious criminal record), swearing allegiance to their new state or its ruler, and renouncing their prior citizenship. Some states allow dual citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to renounce any other citizenship.

• • Excluded categories. In the past there have been exclusions on entitlement to citizenship on grounds such as skin color, ethnicity, sex, and free status (not being a slave). Most of these exclusions no longer apply in most places.

Wikipedia has another entry about United States citizenship, which talks about the rights, duties, and benefits of American citizenship; this is an excerpt:

Relation of citizenship
Citizenship is the legal status of membership in the United States. Citizens have the right to live and work without fear of deportation. The activities associated with citizenship typically include duties and privileges.

Duties​

• • Jury duty is only imposed upon citizens. Jury duty may be considered the "sole differential obligation" between non-citizens and citizens; the federal and state courts "uniformly exclude non-citizens from jury pools today, and with the exception of a few states in the past, this has always been the case.[6]

• • Military participation is not currently required in the United States, but a policy of conscription of men has been in place at various times (both in war and in peace) in American history, most recently during the Vietnam War. Currently, the United States armed forces are a professional all-volunteer force, although both male U.S. citizens and male non-citizen permanent residents are required to register with the Selective Service System and may be called up in the event of a future draft. Johns Hopkins University political scientist Benjamin Ginsberg writes, "The professional military has limited the need for citizen soldiers."[2]

• • Taxes In the United States today, everyone except those whose income is derived from tax exempt revenue (Subchapter N, Section 861 of the U.S. Tax Code) is required to pay taxes, and this has been the case for many years. The U.S. requires that aliens who are present in the United States, including non-immigrants and illegal immigrants, for more than 180 days must file tax returns.[7] American citizens are subject to federal income tax on worldwide income regardless of their country of residence.[8]

The issue of negro citizenship in America had actually been adjudicated prior to the war. The Dred Scott case decision ruled decisively that negroes (enslaved or free) were not citizens of the United States. However, negroes were citizens of their home states, and the states could establish rights benefits and duties for black residents if they so chose; although those rights, benefits and duties did not follow the negro when he left the state. The 14th Amendment was passed in part to provide citizenship rights to slaves and their children (by stating that anyone born in the United States was a citizen).

It seems to me to be an open and shut case that Hubbard Pryor the slave was not a citizen of the Confederacy nor a potential/prospective citizen of the CSA. He was a resident of a Confederate States. But he had no privileges as a Confederate citizen, no duties as a Confederate citizen. He was property, and property didn't have rights. Any duty he owed was to his master. Clearly, he was disloyal to his master by fleeing bondage and then joining the Union army. But he was not a "Confederate traitor" by any means.

- Alan

He was a Soldier in Company A Forty-fourth U. S. Colored Troops. Enough said !



Organized at Chattanooga, Tenn., April 7, 1864. Attached to District of Chattanooga,
Dept. of the Cumberland, to November, 1864. Unattached, District of the Etowah, Dept.
of the Cumberland, to December, 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, District of the Etowah, Dept.
of the Cumberland, to January, 1865. Unattached, District of the Etowah, to March, 1865.
1st Colored Brigade, Dept. of the Cumberland, to July, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division,
District of East Tennessee, July, 1865. Dept. of the Cumberland and Dept. of Georgia to
April, 1866.

SERVICE.-Post and garrison duty at Chattanooga, Tenn., till November, 1864. Action at
Dalton, Ga., October 13, 1864. Battle of Nashville, Tenn., December 15-16. Pursuit of
Hood to the Tennessee River December 17-28. Post and garrison duty at Chattanooga, Tenn.,
in District of East Tennessee, and in the Dept. of Georgia till April, 1866.
Mustered out April 30, 1866.


Frederick A. Dyer "A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion" vol. 3

**********************************************************************

Nashville, TN after battle report:

Report of Col. Lewis Johnson, Forty-fourth U. S. Colored Troops, of
operations December 2-3, 1864.

HDQRS. FORTY-FOURTH U. S. COLORED INFANTRY,
Nashville, Tenn., December 4, 1864.
LIEUT.: I have the honor to submit the following report of the affair
which occurred on the 24d and 3d instant, at Stockade No. 2, on Mill
Creek (Chattanooga and Nashville Railroad), between the troops temporarily
under my command and the enemy under Gen. Forrest:

At 8 a. m. the train containing the Forty-fourth U. S. Colored Infantry and
Companies A and D of the Fourteenth U. S. Colored Infantry left
Murfreesborough and arrived at the bridge over Mill Creek, guarded by
Block-house No. 2, at about 11 a. m., when suddenly a battery opened
upon the train, nearly all of which was upon the trestle bridge. The
locomotive and first car were struck and several of the men injured. I
immediately got my command off the train and moved it up to the stockade,
which I supposed was evacuated, but, on my arrival there, found it occupied
by a detachment of the One hundred and fifteenth Ohio Volunteers,
commanded by Lieut. Harter. As the block-house was full, and three
batteries were shelling us terribly, and a heavy musketry fire commenced
from all sides, I formed my men around the house and then pushed a
portion up a hill on the east side of the fort, which entirely commanded it,
and from where the heaviest fire was kept up. Unable to carry the crest of
the hill I kept the men on the side of it,
and had logs and stumps of trees converted into a breast-work. This position
afforded them much shelter, and they held it against several assaults of the
enemy. The batteries, which continued their fire, injured the block-house
constantly; they had to change position a dozen times, being silenced by our
musketry. At about 5 p. m. the enemy managed to establish a battery on the
hill which I spoke above, and it was this battery which did more harm than
all the rest. It knocked the lookout of the stockade to pieces, and also the
roof, which caved in at several places. The shots fired by it struck the house
every time, and a number penetrated it; one shell, exploding inside, killed
the railroad conductor, who had sought shelter in the house, and wounded
several of the garrison. It was now dark and the artillery fire ceased, but
musketry was still kept up. I drew the command back to the block-house,
and left a strong skirmish line at the position which we had occupied during
the day. As my ammunition was nearly exhausted (the men who came off the
train only had forty rounds), and I expected an assault, I stopped all firing
in order to reserve the tour rounds I had left per man for the last effort. The
firing was kept up until 3 a. m. of the 3d, but not answered by my men.
My position was quite desperate, and when I took into consideration that my
stock of ammunition was almost expended, the stockade so much used up
that a few shots would have knocked it down, and having lost one-third of
the men, I resolved to abandon the stockade and fight my way to Nashville.
I knew that should the place be surrendered or taken by assault a butchery
would follow, and I also knew that re-enforcements would have been sent
to me if it had been possible to send them. I therefore left the block-house
at 3,30 a. m., and, contrary to my expectations, got through the rebel lines
without much trouble. I arrived at Nashville about daylight.

In addition to the above I have to state that I left Surg J. T. Strong,
Forty-fourth U. S. Colored Infantry, and Chaplain Railsback, Forty-fourth
U. S. Colored Infantry, in the block-house to take care of the wounded men.

The soldiers and officers of the different commands behaved well and steady
during the entire fight, and especially during the retreat; every man did his
duty; not a shot was fired, but silently they marched, determined to die
rather than be taken prisoners.

The forces engaged numbered as follows: Forty-fourth U. S. Colored
Infantry, 227 muskets; Companies A and D, Fourteenth U. S. Colored
Infantry, 80 muskets; detachment One hundred and fifteenth Ohio
Volunteers, 25 muskets; total, 332 muskets.

The losses are:


Command. Killed. Wounded. Missing. Total.
O EM O EM O EM O EM A
44th U. S. Colored Infantry............ .. 8 .. 35 2 37 2 80 82
Companies A and D, 14th U. S. Infantry. .. 2 .. 5 .. 18 .. 25 25
Detachment 115th Ohio Volunteers....... .. 2 .. 6 .. .. .. 8 8
Total............................. .. 12 .. 46 2 55 2 113 115

O=Officers. EM=Enlisted men. A=Aggregate.


I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,

L. JOHNON,
Col., Cmdg.

Lieut. JOHN E. CLELLAND, Acting Assistant Adjutant-Gen.

Source: Official Records
PAGE 540-93 KY., SW. VA., TENN., MISS., ALA., AND N. GA. [CHAP. LVII.

 

[KeyserSoze]

No, he was an American patriot who fought for his country.

 

[KeyserSoze]

Come to think of it, is there any indication that the Confederates would have considered someone like Pryor a traitor?

Considering the odd-ball defition of treason that Southern states sometimes used nothing would surprise me. Virginia convicted John Brown of treason against the Commonwealth despite the fact that Brown wasn't born there, wasn't living there, and had never lived there.

 

[Bonny Blue Flag]

Here we go again....(sigh)

--BBF

 

[Littlestown]

What timeframe did he escape and from what area of Tennessee?

I found another source - http://www.nps.gov/chch/forkids/tradingcards.htm - that states that Hubbard Pryor escaped from a Georgia plantation and made his way to Chattanooga.

NPS trading card states:
Hubbard PryorFrom Slave to Soldier


In 1864, a young slave ran away from a Georgia plantation, making his way to Union occupied Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hubbard Pryor entered the city in ragged clothes, yet was determined to fight for the freedom of those remaining in bondage. He was one of the first African Americans to enlist in the 44th US Colored Infantry.


His service record

Andy Hall has done some research on what happened to Pvt. Pryor, but, I was unable to access the link. Maybe Andy will get on here and share his findings.

 

[101combatvet]

Here we go again....(sigh)

--BBF

Black Yankee thread.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Unlike the "other" kind, these men are thoroughly documented in large numbers.

 

[godofredus]

Frederick Douglass was denied a passport on the grounds that he was not a U.S. Citizen - this was in 1860, post Taney.
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From the correspondence of N.B.Forrest:

I regard captured negroes as I do other captured property and not as captured soldiers, but as to how regarded by my Government and the disposition which has been and will hereafter be made of them, I respectfully refer you through the proper channel to the authorities at Richmond. It is not the policy nor the interest of the South to destroy the negro--on the contrary, to preserve and protect him--and all who have surrendered to us have received kind and humane treatment.

HEADQUARTERS FORREST'S CAVALRY,
Tupelo, June 25 [23], 1864.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/forrestcorrespondence.htm

There was, of course, some conflict here with state statute law that regard U.S.C.T. as revolting slaves and treated as other revolting slaves - executed. See the Second Creek revolt during the war. I believe Jefferson Davis said something accordingly.

But of course, within the meaning of Taney (Dred Scott) and U.S. law, as well as CSA law, this man was not regarded as a traitor to anything.

If you want some more nickle knowledge, I've been working on the life of James Harvey, the last USCT in Illinois - died in Sept 1945. He lived in Kentucky and ran away from his owner to join the USCT at Camp Nelson, Kentucky.
Now remember Kentucky did NOT join the CSA. After the war Harvey's former owner filed a claim with the Southern Claims Commission but I was unable (so far) to find out if he was compensated.

 

[28thNewYork]

The term "traitor" does not apply to this man.

 

[RobertP]

Black Yankee thread.

Straw man thread if there ever was one.
To be accurate the man was a foreigner in service of the United States as he was not considered a citizen of either country before or during the war.

 

[gem]

He was a traitor to the south.

However, he can't be a confederate traitor as he was never a confederate.

 

[ForeverFree]

Black Yankee thread.

Whatever we can say about Hubbard, we can say this: he was NOT a Black Yankee. He grew up in the South, he died in the South as far as I know... the South was his home.

- Alan

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Whatever we can say about Hubbard, we can say this: he was NOT a Black Yankee. He grew up in the South, he died in the South as far as I know... the South was his home.

- Alan

Don't take that comment seriously; it's an attempt to trivialize and marginalize your point.