Major General Quotes
This is a very important quotation historically. There are a few historians and many politicians who claim that the rebellion of the South in the Civil War was motivated by a number of principles having little or nothing to do with slavery, while most historians have found that slavery was the only major issue. This quote further supports that view. This is the only Union General Officer would be executed if captured by the South. What crimes did he perform to warrant such exceptional treatment? He issued an order Emancipating the Slaves of the Southern Department of which he was the Commanding General. See {619331} . Lincoln quickly countermanded the order, but the act of freeing slaves was to the Southern government so heinous that it deserved the death penalty.
The British were about to attack New Orleans in the War of 1812 with an invasion force of their best professional soldiers. The Americans needed all the help they could get and Claiborne and the Military commander, General Andrew Jackson, came up with this idea to try and get the pirates and smugglers pardoned if they would fight against the British. They did and General Jackson with his augmented army routed the British in the last battle of the war. (It was actually fought after the war was over, but the word that the peace treaty had been signed had not yet reached either side.)
