(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) An 1863 letter describing the union army’s forced impressment of

(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) An 1863 letter describing the union army’s forced impressment of African Americans. Autograph Letter Signed as "Hume" to friend Jeff C. Anderson in military service in Marion, AL. 2 pages, 10 x 8 inches; minor edge wear. Chattanooga, TN, 3 August 1863 This Confederate soldier passed on the account of a friend named Will White from their hometown in Huntsville, Alabama: "He said the Yankees took off a great many of the Negroes and nearly all the stock in the country, and all the corn, fodder, and provisions they could steal. They surrounded the Negro church on Sunday evening after the Negroes got in, and conscripted them as they came out, taking all from 18 to 45. They sent out squads of cavalry through the country and forced the Negroes to go with them. They drove them off like we would a drove of hogs. . . . Alcuin Eason and the Martins lost every Negro man they had on their places. . . . There is nothing more of interest from Huntsville." Bear in mind that this is a Confederate account, and that the newly recruited soldiers may not have been as reluctant to join the Union Army as this letter suggests.