Decree no. 3,371 of 7 January 1865 organized volunteer battalions for the war against Paraguay. The call to arms unfolded within a slaveholding empire: military service offered some enslaved men a...
Decree no. 3,725-A of 6 November 1866 ordered that enslaved people owned by the state (the “Nation”) and designated as fit for army service be freed for that service; it extended the same benefit to...
In a petition dated 25 October 1887, the Clube Militar asked Princess Regent Isabel not to use the Army to pursue people escaping slavery. The request challenged the military’s role in enforcing...
