A new Article of War forbids the military to return escaped slaves to their former owners

More than one hundred Articles of War, set by Congress, governed the conduct of the nation's armed forces.  Reacting to recent developments, Congress added an additional article prohibiting Army and Navy officers from using the troops under them "for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due."  The penalty for violating this article was set as dismissal from the service.  (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
"Titles and Abstracts of Public Laws,"  The National Almanac and Annual Record for the year 1863 (Philadelphia, PA: George W. Childs, 1863), 249.
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Type
    Lawmaking/Litigating
    How to Cite This Page: "A new Article of War forbids the military to return escaped slaves to their former owners," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/38949.