Legislative Timeline

Compiled from nelson1946 and martinez2013, but not a comprehensive timeline. Mississippi, South Carolina, and Florida had legislation not included on this timeline. Other states, like Georgia, passed temporary impressment laws for particular projects, and several passed laws to protest Confederate statutes and impose penalties for illegal impressments..

Texas

In his February 1863 address to the legislature, Francis Lubbock informed the House and Senate that Confederate and state authorities might “require the labor of adult male slaves on public works of defense. I would, therefore, most respectfully suggest that a law be passed to enable the government to command this species of labor when necessary.”¹

Controversies surrounding some of Magruder’s impressment policies in northeast Texas reached Governor Pendleton Murrah in early 1864.

Because Murrah was from Marshall, he received at least one private letter from a local friend, R. R. Haynes, in January 1864, informing him of how much the city had changed now that it was overrun by government functionaries, detached officers, and refugees. The same letter mentions “a low grumbling” in the area on account of Magruder’s slave impressment order for the fortification of Austin, especially since similar orders have already been issued to fortify Shreveport, complete the road of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, etc.²

Another writer from Jefferson told Murrah that he believed that conscription, together with slave impressment, was depleting the labor force needed to get crops out of the field to supply soldiers and families. He believed that the military should have relied more heavily on the impressment of Refugeed Slaves and left those who were performing productive labor behind.³

In a letter sent on January 13, 1864, in compliance with General Orders No. 138, John Bankhead Magruder replied to some of these concerns by stating that “no one more than myself can be impressed with the importance & necessity of giving the agricultural interest an opportunity for raising crops during the ensuing season & I have endeavoured to so direct impressments of negroes as to give planters & farmers an ample opportunity of supplying all the wants of the citizens & the Army,” but he is also concerned about the need for labor to build fortifications.⁴ He also explains why he singled out Fort Bend, Brazoria, and Matagorda counties for especially deep impressments designed to leave only one able-bodied adult male slave on each plantation.

Murrah, however, was not entirely placated by Magruder, as shown in a lengthy January 17 reply. While he admitted that “much must be conceded to your judgment, as to the number of slaves actually needed for work upon the fortifications,” he presented Magruder with figures on the slave population that, in his mind, necessitated a smaller impress, especially considering the great distances impressed laborers were to be transported. He also warns Magruder about the effect that impressments are having on the “public mind.”⁵ According to martinez2013, however, these complaints from the public about impressment, paired with complaints on planters’ behalf by state governors, were not exclusive to Texas and may not indicate firm resistance to impressment.

Louisiana

For a letter that seems to be about the sickness among some slaves who have been impressed for labor, see this one from William Lourd to John C. Moore.

Also, OR contains reports of about 5,000 to 7,000 slaves working to fortify Shreveport in late 1863/early 1864.