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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC07308 |
| From Archive Folder | Unassociated Civil War Documents 1864 |
| Title | Joseph Couthouy to David Dixon Porter |
| Date | 6 January 1864 |
| Author | Couthouy, Joseph Pitty (1808-1864) |
| Recipient | Porter, David Dixon |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Couthouy, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant commanding the U.S.S. Chillicothe, expresses his mortification at seeing the U.S.S. Osage, a ship formerly under his command, listed as having failed to comply with General Order No. 31, which required monthly reports of contrabands. Informs Navy Rear Admiral Porter that no list of contrabands was sent after August 1863 because Couthouy had been "instructed that freed blacks, regularly enlisting in the Naval Service of the United States, ceased thereupon, to be regarded as 'Contrabands.'" States that Lieutenant Commander Frank M. Ramsay, Commanding the District of the Mississippi River, upheld the decision, confirming that enlisted African Americans were not contraband. Requests Porter's instructions regarding the status of free enlisted African Americans. Writes from aboard the U.S.S. Chillicothe. A note along the side states that the letter was forwarded to Ramsay. Includes an autograph note on back in Porter's hand: "No lists required when the Negroes are shipped." Likely written while on the Red River in Louisiana. |
| Subjects | Civil War Military History Union General Union Forces Navy Contrabands Slavery African American History African American Troops Freemen Muster Rolls and Returns |
| People | Couthouy, Joseph Pitty (1808-1864) Porter, David Dixon (1813-1891) Ramsay, Frank M. (fl. 1864-1865) |
| Place written | s.l. |
| Theme | The American Civil War; African Americans; Slavery & Abolition; Naval & Maritime |
| Sub-collection | Papers and Images of the American Civil War |
| Additional Information | Couthouy was recognized for his studies of conchology and invertebrate palaeontology. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |