General Johnston wrote in Jan. 1864, "A law authorizing the Government to take negroes for all the duties out of the ranks for which soldiers are now detailed, giving the slave a portion of the pay and punishing the master for not returning him if he deserts, would enable us to keep them in the service. This is the opinion of seven or eight ranking officers present. My experience in Mississippi was that impressed negroes run away whenever it is possible, and are frequently encouraged by their masters to do so, and I never knew one to be returned by his master."

David