“And retaliation will be our practice now . . .”
ca. 1861 - 1865
After President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the U.S. Army began recruiting black men in earnest. The Confederate government regarded captured black soldiers as fugitive slaves, not prisoners of war. It threatened to execute or sell them into slavery. This broadside reassured potential black recruits that the U.S. Government would treat all of its troops as soldiers<&ndash>and retaliate in the event of Confederate mistreatment of black U.S. soldiers.
National Archives, Records of the Adjutant Generals Office
