Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 58

9. William H. Wadsworth, Speech of Hon. William H. Wadsworth, of Kentucky, on the Enlistment of Negro Soldiers; Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 30, 1863 (Washington, DC: n.p., 1863). (8 p.)

Speech objecting to the passage of a bill that would allow the enlistment of African Americans as soldiers in the Union army. “It [the bill] is a confession, sir, of the desperate and hopeless situation of the country. It acknowledges to American and the world that we have failed.”