Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

In the last post, I mentioned December 8, 1863, as being the date of Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.

This was a plan to reunite the country after the Union victory, which was looking more and more likely.  Large parts of the South were now  in Federal hands.

The Proclamation was divided into three main parts:

1.  Full pardon and restoration of property (except former slaves) to all engaged in the rebellion except for the highest Confederate officials and military leaders.

2.  New state governments could be formed when 10% of eligible voters has taken the Oath of Allegiance to the United States.

3.  Newly admitted Southern states would be encouraged to enact plans to deal with the freed slaves so long as their freedom was not compromised.

This was Lincoln seizing the initiative from Congress.

--Old SecAmnesty

Clara Gunby, Confederate Spy-- Part 1: "Death Before Submission"

From the September 14, 2013, Eastern (Maryland) Shore "Civil War Series: Meet Clara Gunby, a spy for the Confederacy" by Brice Stump.

"She was everything a woman of the Victorian era shouldn't have been: opinionated, independent, political and outspoken," said Aleta Davis.

Clara Gunby was also an activist.  When the Civil war came, she refused to show any respect for the Union and even went so far as to refuse to walk under any Union flags which were stretched out across Bridge (Main) Street in Salisbury, Maryland.

When Union soldiers spotted her doing this, they arrested her and sent her to Baltimore for a military trial.  Once there, she was told she would be released if she took the  Oath of Allegiance to the federal government as was required of so many others in Maryland's Shore Region.

She refused, saying, "Not I.  Death before submission."

--Old Secesh