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Title: The Negro as a soldier
Author: Fleetwood, Christian A.
Language: English
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THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER
WRITTEN BY
Christian A. Fleetwood,
_Late Sergeant-Major 4th U. S. Colored Troops_,
FOR
THE NEGRO CONGRESS,
AT THE
Cotton States and International Exposition, Atlanta, Ga.,
November 11 to November 23, 1895.
──────────
PUBLISHED BY PROF. GEO. WM. COOK.
──────────
WASHINGTON, D. C.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY PRINT.
1895.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
COTTON STATES AND INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION, Atlanta, Ga., 1895.
COMMISSION FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COLORED EXHIBIT.
Jesse Lawson, Chief Commissioner.
Edward E. Cooper, Vice Chairman,
Thomas L. Jones,
W. S. Montgomery,
James H. Meriwether,
Joseph H. Stewart,
Henry E. Baker, Treasurer,
A. F. Hilyer,
Geo. Wm. Cook,
Col. Nathan Toomer,
J. E. Johnson, Secretary.
_Ladies’ Auxiliary Committee._
────
Mrs. B. K. Bruce, President,
Mrs. J. T. Layton, 1st Vice Pres.,
Mrs. A. F. Hilyer, 2d Vice Pres.,
Mrs. Jesse Lawson, Secretary,
Mrs. Charles R. Douglass, Treas.
_Men’s Auxiliary Committee._
────
David A. Clark, Chairman.
OFFICE OF THE COMMISSION,
Room 4, 609 F Street, Northwest,
Washington, D. C. August 5, 1895.
Major C. A. FLEETWOOD.
Dear Sir:—At a meeting of the Committee for the District of Columbia on
National Negro Congresses at the Atlanta Exposition, held this day, you
were appointed a speaker to represent the District on the subject,
“Military.”
Will you kindly favor us with an early notice of your acceptance?
Very respectfully,
WALTER H. BROOKS, Chairman,
W. J. HOWARD,
EDWARD H. LIPSCOMBE, Sec._Committee_.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER.
────
IN THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
For sixteen hundred years prior to the war between Great Britain and the
Colonies, the pages of history bear no record of the Negro as a soldier.
Tracing his separate history in the Revolutionary War, is a task of much
difficulty, for the reason that while individual instances of valor and
patriotism abound there were so few separate bodies of Negro troops,
that no separate record appears to have been made. The simple fact is
that the fathers as a rule enlisted men both for the Army and Navy, just
as now, is only continued by the Navy, that is to say, they were
assigned wherever needed, without regard to race or color. Varner’s
Rhode Island Battalion appears to have been the only large aggregation
of Negroes in this war, though Connecticut, New York, and New Hampshire
each furnished one separate company in addition to individuals scattered
through their other organizations, so that ere the close of the war,
there were very few brigades, regiments, or companies in which the Negro
was not in evidence.
The free Negro appears to have gone in from the beginning without
attracting or calling out special comment. Later, as men grew scarcer
and necessity more pressing, slaves were taken in also, and then the
trouble began. Those who held slaves did not care to lose them in this
way. Others who had not, did not think it just the thing in a war for
avowed freedom to place an actual slave in the ranks to fight. Some did
not want the Negro, bond or free, to take part as a soldier in the
struggle. So that in May, 1775, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety
voted that thereafter only free men should be enlisted. In July, Gen.
Gates issued an order prohibiting further enlistments of Negroes, but
saying nothing of those already in the service.
In October, a council of war, presided over by Gen. Washington,
comprising three Major Generals and six Brigadier Generals, voted
unanimously against the enlistment of slaves, and by a decided majority
against further enlistments of Negroes. Ten days later in a conference
held at Cambridge, Mass., participated in by Gen. Washington, Benj.
Franklin, Benj. Harrison, Thos. Lynch, and the deputy governors of
Connecticut and Rhode Island, the same action was taken.
On the 7th November, 1775, Earl Dundore, commanding the forces of His
Majesty the King, issued a proclamation offering freedom and equal pay
to all slaves who would join his armies as soldiers. It did not take the
colonists long to find out their mistake, although Gen. Washington, in
accordance with the expressed will of his officers and of the Committee
of Safety, did on the 17th Nov., 1775, issue a proclamation forbidding
the further enlistment of Negroes. Less than two months later, that is
to say on the 30th Dec., 1775, he issued a second proclamation again
authorizing the enlistment of free Negroes. He advised Congress of his
action, and stated that he would recall it if so directed. But he was
not. The splendid service rendered by the Negro and the great and
pressing need of men were such, that although the opposition continued
from some sections, it was not thereafter strong enough to get
recognition. So the Negroes went and came much as did other men.
In all the events of the war, from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, they bore an
honorable part. The history of the doings of the armies is their
history, as in everything they took part and did their share. Their
total enlistment was about 3,000 men. A very fair percentage for the
then population. I might instance the killing of Major Pitcairn, at
Bunker Hill, by Peter Salem, and of Major Montgomery at Fort Griswold by
Jordan Freeman. The part they took in the capture of Major-General
Prescott at Newport; their gallant defense of Colonel Greene, their
beloved commander, when he was surprised and murdered at Croton River,
May 13, 1781, when it was only after the last of his faithful guards had
been shot and cut down that he was reached; or at the battle of Rhode
Island, when a battalion of 400 Negroes withstood three separate and
distinct charges from 1,500 Hessians under Count Donop, and beat them
back with such tremendous loss that Count Donop at once applied for an
exchange, fearing that his men would kill him if he went into battle
with them again, for having exposed them to such slaughter; and many
other instances that are of record. The letter following, written Dec.
5, 1775, explains itself;
_To the Honorable General Court of the Massachusetts Bay._
The subscribers beg leave to report to your Honorable House
(which we do in justice to the character of so brave a man),
that under our own observation we declare that a Negro Man named
Salem Poor, of Col. Frye’s Regiment, Cap. Ames’ Company, in the
late battle at Charleston, behaved like an experienced officer
as well as an excellent soldier. To set forth particulars of his
conduct would be tedious. We would only beg to say, in the
person of this Negro centers a brave and gallant soldier. The
reward due to so great and distinguished a character, we submit
to Congress.
JONA. BREWER, Col.
THOMAS NIXON, Lt. Col.
JOSEPH BAKER, Lieut.
JONAS RICHARDSON, Capt.
EBENEZER VARNUM, 2 Lt.
WILLIAM SMITH, Capt.
RICHARD WELSH, Lieut.
WM. PRESCOTT, Col.
EPHM. COREY, Lieut.
JOSHUA ROW, Lieut.
ELIPHALETT BODWELL, Sergt.
WM. HUDSON BALLARD, Capt.
JOHN MORTON, Sergt.
This is a splendid and well attested tribute to a gallant and worthy
Negro. There were many such, but, beyond receiving and reading no action
was taken thereon by Congress. There is no lack of incidents and the
temptation to quote many of them is great, but the time allotted me is
too brief for extended mention and I must bring this branch of my
subject to a close. It is in evidence that while so many Negroes were
offering their lives a willing sacrifice for the country, in some
sections the officers of the Continental Forces received their bounty
and pay in Negroes, “grown” and “small,” instead of “dollars” and
“cents.” Fighting for _Liberty_ and taking pay in _Slaves_!
When the war was over the free men returned to meet their same
difficulties; the slaves were caught when possible and reenslaved by
their former masters. In Boston a few years later we find a party of
black patriots of the Revolution mobbed on Boston Common while
celebrating the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.
The captain of a vessel trading along the coast tells of a Negro who had
fought in the war and been distinguished for bravery and soldierly
conduct. He was reclaimed and reenslaved by his master after the war,
and served him faithfully until old age rendered him useless. The master
then brought the poor old slave to this captain and asked him to take
him along on his trip and try to sell him. The captain hated to sell a
man who had fought for his country, but finally agreed, took the poor
old man to Mobile, and sold him for $100 to a man who put him to
attending a chicken coop. His former master continued to draw the old
slave’s pension as a soldier, in the Revolution, until he died.
THE WAR OF 1812.
The war of 1812 was mainly fought upon the water, and in the American
navy at that time the Negro stood in the ratio of about one to six. We
find record of complaint by Commodore Perry at the beginning because of
the large number of Negroes sent him, but later the highest tribute to
their bravery and efficiency. Capt. Shaler, of the armed brig General
Thompson, writing of an engagement between his vessel and a British
frigate, says:
“The name of one of my poor fellows, who was killed, ought to be
registered in the book of fame, and remembered as long as bravery is a
virtue. He was a black man, by name John Johnson. A twenty-four pound
shot struck him in the hip, and took away all the lower part of his
body. In this state the poor brave fellow lay on the deck, and several
times exclaimed to his shipmates: ‘Fire away, my boys; no haul a color
down!’ Another black man, by the name of John Davis, who was struck in
much the same manner, repeatedly requested to be thrown overboard,
saying that he was only in the way of others.”
I know of nothing finer in history than these.
As before, the Negro was not universally welcomed to the ranks of the
American army; but later continued reverses and a lack of enthusiasm in
enlistments made it necessary to seek his aid, and from Mobile, Ala., on
September 21, 1814, General Jackson issued a stirring call to the free
colored people of Louisiana for aid. It began thus:
“Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been deprived of a
participation in the glorious struggle for national rights in which our
country is engaged. This no longer shall exist.”
In a remarkably short period, two battalions were raised, under Majors
LaCaste and Savary, which did splendid service in the battle of New
Orleans. New York enrolled two battalions, and sent them to Sacketts
Harbor. Pennsylvania enrolled twenty-four hundred, and sent them to
Gray’s Ferry at the capture of Washington, to prepare for the invading
column. Another battalion also was raised, armed, equipped and ready to
start to the front, when peace was declared.
Let us hear the testimony of that original democrat, General Jackson.
Under the date of Dec. 18, 1814, he writes as follows:
“To the men of color, soldiers: From the shores of Mobile I called you
to arms. I invited you to share in the perils and to divide the glory of
your white countrymen. I expected much from you; for I was not
uninformed of those qualities which must render you so formidable to an
invading foe. I knew you could endure hunger and thirst, and all the
hardships of war. I knew that you loved the land of your nativity, and
that, like ourselves, you had to defend all that is most dear to man.
But you surpass my hopes. I have found in you, united to those
qualities, that noble enthusiasm that impels to great deeds.
“Soldiers: The President of the United States shall be informed of your
conduct on the present occasion, and the voice of the representatives of
the American nation shall applaud your valor, as your general now
praises your ardor. The enemy is near. His sails cover the lakes, but
the brave are united, and if he finds us contending among ourselves, it
will be for the prize of valor, and fame its noblest reward.”
In one of the actions of this war, a charging column of the American
army was repulsed and thrown into great disorder. A Negro private,
seeing the disaster, sprang upon a horse, and by heroic effort rallied
the troops, led them back upon a second charge, and completely routed
the enemy. He was rewarded by General Jackson with the honorary title of
Major. Under the laws he could not commission him.
When the war was over, this gallant man returned to his home in
Nashville, Tenn., where he lived for years afterward, highly respected
by its citizens of all races.
At the age of seventy years, this black hero was obliged, _in
self-defense_, to strike a white ruffian, who had assaulted him. Under
the laws of the State he was arrested and given nine and thirty lashes
on his bare back. It broke his heart, and Major Jeffreys died.
THE WAR FOR THE UNION.
It seems a little singular that in the tremendous struggle between the
States in 1861-1865, the south should have been the first to take steps
toward the enlistment of Negroes. Yet such is the fact. Two weeks after
the fall of Fort Sumter, the “Charleston Mercury” records the passing
through Augusta of several companies of the 3rd and 4th Georgia Regt.,
and of sixteen well-drilled companies _and one Negro company_ from
Nashville, Tenn.
“The Memphis Avalanche” and “The Memphis Appeal” of May 9, 10, and 11,
1861, give notice of the appointment by the “Committee of Safety” of a
committee of three persons “to organize a volunteer company composed of
our patriotic freemen of color of the city of Memphis, for the service
of our common defense.”
A telegram from New Orleans dated November 23, 1861, notes the review by
Gov. Moore of over 28,000 troops, and that one regiment comprised
“_1,400 colored men_.” “The New Orleans Picayune,” referring to a review
held February 9, 1862, says: “We must also pay a deserved compliment to
the companies of free colored men, all very well drilled and comfortably
equipped.”
It is a little odd, too, that in the evacuation of New Orleans a little
later, in April, 1862, all of the troops succeeded in getting away
except the Negroes. They “got left.”
It is not in the line of this paper to speculate upon what would have
been the result of the war had the South kept up this policy, enlisted
the freemen, and emancipated the enlisting slaves and their families.
The immense addition to their fighting force, the quick recognition of
them by Great Britain, to which slavery was the greatest bar, and the
fact that the heart of the Negro was with the South but for slavery, and
the case stands clear. But the primary successes of the South closed its
eyes to its only chance of salvation, while at the same time the eyes of
the North were opened.
In 1865, the South saw, and endeavored to remedy its error. On March 9,
1865, the Confederate Congress passed a bill, recommended by Gen. Lee,
authorizing the enlistment of 200,000 Negroes; but it was then too late.
The North came slowly and reluctantly to recognize the Negro as a factor
for good in the war. “This is a white man’s war,” met the Negroes at
every step of their first efforts to gain admission to the armies of the
Union.
To General David Hunter more than to any other one man, is due the
credit for the successful entry upon the stage of the Negro as a soldier
in this war.
In the spring of 1862, he raised and equipped a regiment of Negroes in
South Carolina, and when the fact became known in Washington and
throughout the country, such a storm was raised about the ears of the
administration that they gracefully stood aside and left the brave
general to fight his enemies in the front and rear as best he might. He
was quite capable to do both, as it proved.
On the 9th of June, 1862, Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, introduced a
resolution in the House of Representatives, which was passed, calling
upon the Secretary of War for information as to the fact of these
enlistments and by what authority this matter was done.
The Secretary of War replied under date June 14, 1862, disavowing any
official knowledge of such a regiment and denying that any authority had
been given therefor. He referred the resolution to Gen. Hunter. His
reply is one of the best things of the war. I quote it entire.
Headquarters, Department of the South,
Port Royal, S. C., June 23, 1862.
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War,
Washington.
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a
communication from the Adjutant-General of the Army, dated June
16, 1862, requesting me to furnish you with the information
necessary to answer certain resolutions introduced in the House
of Representatives June 9, 1862, on motion of the Hon. Mr.
Wickliffe, of Kentucky, their substance being to inquire: First,
whether I had organized, or was organizing, a regiment of
fugitive slaves in this department; Second, whether any
authority had been given to me from the War Department for such
organization; and Third, whether I had been furnished by order
of the War Department with clothing, uniforms, arms, equipments,
etc., for such a force.
Only having received the letter conveying the inquiries at a
late hour on Saturday night, I urge forward my answer in time
for the steamer sailing to-day (Monday), this haste preventing
me from entering as minutely as I could wish upon many points of
detail, such as the paramount importance of the subject calls
for. But in view of the near termination of the present session
of Congress, and the widespread interest which must have been
awakened by Mr. Wickliffe’s resolution, I prefer sending even
this imperfect answer to waiting the period necessary for the
collection of fuller and more comprehensive data.
To the first question, therefore, I reply that no regiment of
“fugitive slaves” has been or is organized in this department.
There is, however, a fine regiment of persons whose late masters
are “fugitive rebels,” men who everywhere fly before the
appearance of the national flag, leaving their servants behind
them to shift as best they can for themselves. So far, indeed,
are the loyal persons composing this regiment from seeking to
avoid the presence of their late owners that they are now, one
and all, working with remarkable industry to place themselves in
a position to go in full and effective pursuit of their
fugacious and traitorous proprietors.
To the second question, I have the honor to answer, that the
instructions given to Brig.-General W. T. Sherman by the Hon.
Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, and turned over to me by
succession for my guidance, do distinctly authorize me to employ
all loyal persons offering their services in defense of the
Union and for the suppression of this rebellion in any manner I
might see fit, or that the circumstances might call for. There
is no restriction as to the character or color of the persons
who might be employed, or the nature of the employment; whether
civil or military, in which their services should be used. I
conclude, therefore, that I have been authorized, to enlist
“fugitive slaves” as soldiers, could any be found in this
department.
No such characters have, however, yet appeared within our most
advanced pickets, the loyal slaves everywhere remaining on their
plantations to welcome us, and supply us with food, labor and
information. It is the masters who have, in every instance, been
the “fugitives”—running away from loyal slaves as well as loyal
soldiers, and whom we have only partially been able to
see—chiefly their heads over ramparts, or, rifle in hand,
dodging behind trees, in the extreme distance. In the absence of
any “fugitive master” law, the deserted slaves would be wholly
without remedy, had not the crime of treason given them the
right to pursue, capture, and bring back those persons of whose
protection they have been thus suddenly bereft.
To the third interrogatory, it is my painful duty to reply, that
I never have received any specific authority for issues of
clothing, uniforms, arms, equipments, etc., to the troops in
question. My general instructions from Mr. Cameron, to employ
them in any manner I might find necessary, and the military
exigencies of the department and the country being my only, but,
in my judgment, sufficient justification. Neither have I had any
specific authority for supplying these persons with shovels,
spades and pickaxes when employing them as laborers, nor with
boats and oars when using them as lightermen; but these are not
points included in Mr. Wickliffe’s resolution. To me it seemed
that liberty to employ men in any particular capacity implied
with it liberty also to supply them with the necessary tools;
and acting under this faith I have clothed, equipped and armed
the only loyal regiment yet raised in South Carolina.
I must say in vindication of my conduct that had it not been for
the many other diversified and imperative claims on my time, a
much more satisfactory result might have been hoped for; and
that, in place of only one, as at present, at least five or six
well-drilled, brave, and thoroughly acclimated regiments should
by this time have been added to the loyal forces of the Union.
The experiment of arming the blacks, so far as I have made it,
has been a complete and even marvellous success. They are sober,
docile, attentive, and enthusiastic, displaying great natural
capacities for acquiring the duties of a soldier. They are eager
beyond all things to take the field and be led into action; and
it is the unanimous opinion of the officers who have had charge
of them, that in the peculiarities of this climate and country,
they will prove invaluable auxiliaries, fully equal to the
similar regiments so long and successfully used by the British
authorities in the West Indies.
In conclusion I would say it is my hope, there appearing to be
no possibility of other reinforcements owing to the exigencies
of the campaign in the peninsular, to have organized by the end
of next fall and to be able to present to the Government from
forty-eight to fifty thousand of these hardy and devoted
soldiers.
Trusting that this letter may form part of your answer to Mr.
Wickliffe’s resolution.
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient
servant,
D. HUNTER,
_Major General Commanding_.
The reading of this famous document in the House brought out such a
storm of laughter, from both friends and foes that further action was
impossible. The Hon. Sunset Cox speaking of the matter some years later
said: “I tell you that letter from Hunter spoiled the prettiest speech I
had ever thought of making. I had been delighted with Wickliffe’s
motion, and thought the reply to it would furnish us with first-rate
democratic thunder for the next election. I made up my mind to sail in
on Hunter’s answer no matter what it was—the moment it came, and to be
even more humorously, successful in its delivery and reception than I
was in my speech against war-horse Gurley of Ohio. Well you see, man
proposes, but Providence orders otherwise. When the clerk announced the
receipt of the letter, and that he was about to read it, I caught the
Speaker’s eye, and was booked for the first speech against your Negro
experiment. The first sentence being formal and official was very well;
but at the second the House began to grin, and at the third, there was
not a man on the floor, except Father Wickliffe, of Kentucky, perhaps,
who was not convulsed with laughter. Even my own risibles I found to be
affected, and before the document was concluded, I motioned to the
Speaker that he might give the floor to whom he pleased, as my desire to
distinguish myself in that particular tilt was over.”
The beginning of 1863, saw the opening of the doors to the Negro in
every direction. General Lorenzo Thomas went in person to the valley of
the Mississippi to supervise it there. Massachusetts was authorized to
fill its quota with Negroes. The States of Maryland, Missouri, Delaware
and Tennessee were thrown open by order of the War Department, and all
slaves enlisting therefrom declared free. Ohio, Connecticut,
Pennsylvania and New York joined the band and sent the stalwart black
boy in blue to the front singing, “Give us a flag, all free, without a
slave.” For two years the fierce and determined opposition had kept them
out, but now the bars were down and they came pouring in. Some one said
he cared not who made the laws of a people if he could make their songs.
A better exemplification of this would be difficult to find than is the
song written by “Miles O’Reilly” (Col. Halpine), of the old 10th Army
Corps. I cannot resist the temptation to quote it here. With General
Hunter’s letter and this song to quote from, the episode was closed:
Some say it is a burning shame to make the Naygurs fight,
An’ that the trade o’ being kilt belongs but to the white:
But as for me, upon me sowl, so liberal are we here,
I’ll let Sambo be murthered, in place of meself, on every day of the
year.
On every day of the year, boys, and every hour in the day,
The right to be kilt I’ll divide wid him, and divil a word I’ll say.
In battles wild commotion I shouldn’t at all object,
If Sambo’s body should stop a ball that was coming for me direct,
An’ the prod of a southern bayonet, so liberal are we here,
I’ll resign and let Sambo take it, on every day in the year,
On every day in the year, boys, an’ wid none of your nasty pride,
All right in a southern bagnet prod, wid Sambo I’ll divide.
The men who object to Sambo, should take his place and fight,
An’ it is betther to have a Naygur’s hue, than a liver that’s weak
an’ white,
Though Sambo’s black as the ace of spades, his finger a thryger can
pull,
An’ his eye runs straight on the barrel sight from under its thatch
of wool,
So hear me all, boys, darlin, don’t think I’m tipping you chaff,
The right to be kilt, I’ll divide with him, an’ give him the largest
half.
It took three years of war to place the enlisted Negro upon the same
ground as the enlisted white man as to pay and emoluments; _perhaps_ six
years of war might have given him shoulder-straps, but the war ended
without authorization of law for that step. At first they were received,
under an act of Congress that allowed each one, without regard to rank,
ten dollars per month, three dollars thereof to be retained for clothing
and equipments. I think it was in May, ’64, when the act was passed
equalizing the pay, but not opening the doors to promotion.
Under an act of the Confederate Congress, making it a crime punishable
with death for any white person to train any Negro or mulatto to arms,
or aid them in any military enterprise, and devoting the Negro caught
under arms to the tender mercies of the “present or future laws of the
State” in which caught, a large number of _promotions_ were made by the
way of a rope and a tree along the first year of the Negro’s service (I
can even recall one instance as late as April 1865, though it had been
long before then generally discontinued).
What the Negro did, how he did it, and where, it would take volumes to
properly record, I can however give but briefest mention to a few of the
many evidences of his fitness for the duties of the war, and his aid to
the cause of the Union.
The first fighting done by organized Negro troops appears to have been
done by Company A, First South Carolina Negro Regiment, at St. Helena
Island, November 3-10, 1862, while participating in an expedition along
the coast of Georgia and Florida under Lt.-Col. O. T. Beard, of the
Forty-eighth New York Infantry, who says in his report:—
“The colored men fought with astonishing coolness and bravery. I found
them all I could desire, more than I had hoped. They behaved gloriously,
and deserve all praise.”
The testimony thus inaugurated runs like a cord of gold through the web
and woof of the history of the Negro as a soldier from that date to
their final charge, the last made at Clover Hill, Va., April 9, 1865.
Necessarily the first actions in which the Negro bore a part commanded
most attention. Friends and enemies were looking eagerly to see how they
would acquit themselves, and so it comes to pass that the names of Fort
Wagner, Olustee, Millikens Bend, Port Hudson and Fort Pillow are as
familiar as Bull Run, Antietam, Shiloh and Gettysburg, and while those
first experiences were mostly severe reverses, they were by that very
fact splendid exemplifiers of the truth that the Negroes, could be
relied upon to fight under the most adverse circumstances, against any
odds, and could not be discouraged.
Let us glance for a moment at Port Hudson, La., in May, 1863, assaulted
by General Banks with a force of which the First and Second Regiments,
Louisiana Native Guards, formed a part. When starting upon their
desperate mission, Colonel Stafford of the First Regiment in turning
over the regimental colors to the color guard, made a brief and
patriotic address, closing in the words:
“Color Guard: Protect, defend, die for, but do not surrender these
colors.” The gallant flag-sergeant, Plancianos, taking them replied:
“Colonel: I will bring back these colors to you in honor, or report to
God the reason why.”
Six times with desperate valor they charged over ground where success
was hopeless, a deep bayou between them and the works of the enemy at
the point of attack rendered it impossible to reach them, yet strange to
say, six times they were ordered forward and six times they went to
useless death, until swept back by the blazing breath of shot and shell
before which nothing living could stand. Here fell the gallant Captain
Cailloux, black as the ace of spades; refusing to leave the field though
his arm had been shattered by a bullet he returned to the charge until
killed by a shell.
A soldier limping painfully to the front was halted and asked where he
was going, he replied; “I am shot bad in de leg, and dey want me to go
to de hospital, but I guess I can give ’em a little more yet.”
The colors came back but crimsoned with the blood of the gallant
Plancianos, who reported to God from that bloody field.
Shall we glance from this to Millikens Bend, La., in January, 1863,
garrisoned by the Ninth and Eleventh Louisiana and the First
Mississippi, all Negroes, and about one hundred and sixty of the
twenty-third Iowa (white), about eleven hundred fighting men in all.
Attacked by a force of six Confederate regiments, crushed out of their
works by sheer weight of numbers, borne down toward the levee, fighting
every step of the way, hand to hand, clubbed musket, bayonets and
swords, from three a. m. to twelve, noon, when a Union gun-boat came to
the rescue and shelled the desperate foe back to the woods, with a total
loss to the defenders of 437 men, two-fifths of their strength.
Shall we turn with sadness to Fort Wagner, S. C., in July, 1863, when
the Fifty-fourth Mass. won its deathless fame, and its grand young
commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, passed into the temple of
immortality. After a march of all day, under a burning sun, and all
night through a tempest of wind and rain, drenched, exhausted, hungry,
they wheel into line, without a murmur for that awful charge, that dance
of death, the struggle against hopeless odds, and the shattered remnants
were hurled back as from the mouth of hell, leaving the dead bodies of
their young commander and his noble followers to be buried in a common
grave. Its total loss was about one-third of its strength.
Here it was that the gallant Flag-sergeant Carney, though grievously
wounded, bore back his flag to safety, and fell fainting and exhausted
with loss of blood, saying, “Boys, the old flag never touched the
ground!” Or another glance, at ill-starred Olustee, where the gallant
8th U. S. C. T. lost 87 killed of its effective fighting force, the
largest loss in any one colored regiment in any one action of the war.
And so on, by Fort Pillow, which let us pass in merciful silence, and to
Honey Hill, S. C., perhaps the last desperate fight in the far south, in
which the 32nd, 35th and 102nd U. S. C. T. and the 54th and 55th Mass.
Inf. won fresh and fadeless laurels for splendid fighting against
hopeless odds and insurmountable difficulties, and then to Nashville,
Tennessee, with its recorded loss of 84 killed in the effectives of the
13th U. S. C. T.
These were all brilliant actions, and they covered the actors with and
reflected upon the race a blaze of glory. But it was in the armies of
the James and of the Potomac that the true metal of the Negro as a
soldier rang out its clearest notes amid the tremendous diapasons that
rolled back and forth between the embattled hosts. Here was war indeed,
upon its grandest scale, and in all its infinite variety. The tireless
march under burning sun, chilling frosts and driven tempests, the lonely
vigil of the picket under starless skies, the rush and roar of countless
“hosts to battle driven” in the mad charge and the victorious shout that
pursued the fleeing foe; the grim determination that held its line of
defenses with set teeth, blood-shot eye and strained muscle beating back
charge after charge of the foe; the patient labor in trench and mine, on
hill and in valley, swamp and jungle, with disease adding its horrors to
the decimation of shot and shell.
Here the Negro stood in the full glare of the greatest search light,
part and parcel of the grandest armies ever mustered upon this
continent, competing side by side with the best and bravest of the Union
army against the flower of the Confederacy, the best and bravest of
Lee’s army, and losing nothing in the contrast. Never again while time
lasts will the doubt arise as in 1861, “Will the Negro fight?” As a
problem, it has been solved, as a question it has been answered, and as
a fact it is as established as the eternal hills. It was they who rang
up the curtain upon the last act of the bloody tragedy at Petersburg,
Va., June 15, 1864, and they who rang it down at Clover Hill, Va., April
9, 1865. They were one of the strong fingers upon the mighty hand that
grasped the giant’s throat at Petersburg and never flexed until the
breath went out at Appomattox. In this period it would take page on page
to recount their deeds of valor and their glorious victories.
See them on the 15th of June, 1864, carrying the outpost at Baylor’s
field in early morning, and all that long, hot, summer day advancing, a
few yards at a time, then lying down to escape the fire from the works,
but still gradually creeping nearer and nearer, until, just as the sun
went down, they swept like a tornado over the works and started upon a
race for the city, close at the heels of the flying foe, until
mistakenly ordered back. Of this day’s experience Gen. Badeau writes:
“No worse strain on the nerves of troops is possible, for it is harder
to remain quiet under cannon fire, even though comparatively harmless,
than to advance against a storm of musketry.” General W. F. “Baldy”
Smith, speaking of their conduct, says: “No nobler effort has been put
forth to-day, and no greater success achieved than that of the colored
troops.”
In his order of the day he says:
“To the colored troops comprising the Division of General Hinks, the
general commanding would call the attention of his command. With the
veterans of the Eighteenth corps, they have stormed the works of the
enemy and carried them, taking guns and prisoners, and in the whole
affair they have displayed all the qualities of good soldiers.”
Or, again, at the terrible mine explosion of July 30, 1864, on the
Petersburg line, and at the fearful slaughter of September 29, 1864, at
New Market Heights and Fort Harrison. On this last date in the Fourth U.
S. Col. Troops, out of a color guard of twelve men, but one came off the
field on his own feet. The gallant Flag-sergeant Hilton, the last to
fall, cried out as he went down, “Boys, save the colors;” and they were
saved.
After the magnificent fighting of this last date, under date of Oct. 11,
1864, Maj.-General B. F. Butler issued an order, a portion of which I
quote, as follows:
“Of the colored soldiers of the third divisions of the 18th and 10th
Corps and the officers who led them, the general commanding desires to
make special mention. In the charge on the enemy’s works by the colored
division of the 18th Corps at New Market, better men were never better
led, better officers never led better men. A few more such gallant
charges and to command colored troops will be the post of honor in the
American armies. The colored soldiers, by coolness, steadiness,
determined courage and dash, have silenced every cavil of the doubters
of their soldierly capacity, and drawn tokens of admiration from their
enemies, have brought their late masters even to the consideration of
the question whether they will not employ as soldiers the hitherto
despised race.”
Some ten or more years later, in Congress, in the midst of a speech
advocating the giving of civil rights to the Negro, Gen. Butler said,
referring to this incident:
“There, in a space not wider than the clerk’s desk, and three hundred
yards long, lay the dead bodies of 543 of my colored comrades, slain in
the defense of their country, who had laid down their lives to uphold
its flag and its honor, as a willing sacrifice. And as I rode along,
guiding my horse this way and that, lest he should profane with his
hoofs what seemed to me the sacred dead, and as I looked at their
bronzed faces upturned in the shining sun, as if in mute appeal against
the wrongs of the country for which they had given their lives, and
whose flag had been to them a flag of stripes, in which no star of glory
had ever shone for them—feeling I had wronged them in the past, and
believing what was the future duty of my country to them—I swore to
myself a solemn oath: ‘May my right hand forget its cunning, and my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if ever I fail to defend the
rights of the men who have given their blood for me and my country this
day and for their race forever.’ And, God helping me, I will keep that
oath.”
Or another instance: when under Butler first and Terry later, driven by
storms and tempestous seas to powerful Fort Fisher, cooperating with our
gallant Navy in its capture, and thence starting on the long march that
led through Wilmington, and on to Goldsboro, N. C., where Johnson’s
army, the last large force of the Confederacy in the field, was caught
between the forces under Terry and the forces under Howard; and the war
as such was ended with his surrender, April 26, 1865.
A little of statistics, and I will close.
The total number of colored soldiers in this last war was 178,975, and
the number of deaths 36,847.
Of enlistments the United States made 96,337, and the several States
79,638.
Enlistments were divided as follows:
Alabama 2,969
Louisiana 24,052
New Hampshire 125
Massachusetts 3,966
Connecticut 1,764
New Jersey 1,185
Delaware 954
Dist. of Columbia 3,269
North Carolina 5,035
South Carolina 5,462
Florida 1,044
Tennessee 20,133
Michigan 1,387
Indiana 1,537
Missouri 8,344
Iowa 440
Kansas 2,080
Colorado Ter. 95
Mississippi 17,869
Maine 104
Vermont 120
Rhode Island 1,837
New York 4,125
Pennsylvania 8,612
Maryland 8,718
Virginia 5,723
West Virginia 196
Georgia 3,486
Arkansas 5,526
Kentucky 23,703
Ohio 5,092
Illinois 1,811
Minnesota 104
Wisconsin 165
Texas 47
Miscellaneous 5,896
The completed organizations were as follows:
138 regiments of infantry.
6 regiments of cavalry.
14 regiments of heavy artillery.
1 regiments of light artillery.
On 449 occasions their blood was spilled.
These are a few of the regiments having the largest number of men killed
in any one engagement.
The 8th U. S. C. T., at Olustee, 87 killed.
The 13th U. S. C. T., at Nashville, 84 killed.
The 23rd U. S. C. T., at Petersburg, 81 killed.
The 7th U. S. C. T., at Fort Gilmore, 68 killed.
The 5th U. S. C. T., at Chaffin’s Farm 63 killed.
The 6th U. S. C. T., at Chaffin’s Farm 61 killed.
The 54th Mass. Inf., at Fort Wagner, 58 killed.
The regiments having more than fifty men killed during their period of
service are as follows:
Seventy-ninth U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 183
Eighth U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 115
Fourth U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 102
Thirteenth U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 86
Seventh U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 84
Twenty-third U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 82
Sixth U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 79
Fifth U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 77
Twenty-second U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 70
First U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 67
Forty-ninth U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 59
Sometimes a comparison will illustrate better than figures alone. I give
a single instance: Every one has heard of the charge of the Light
Brigade, at Balaklava. I will put beside it a Black Brigade of about the
same number of men.
Here they are:
Duncan’s Brigade, comprising the Fourth and Sixth Regiments at
New Market Heights, Had 683 Lost 365 Percent 53.7
Light Brigade, Balaklava, Had -673 Lost 247 percent 36.7
──── ──── ────
Excess in Duncan’s Brigade, 10 118 17
Sanford B. Hunt, M. D., late surgeon of U. S. Volunteers, made an
exhaustive research into the capacity of the Negro as a soldier. As to
his—
1. Aptitude for drill.
2. Capacity for marching.
3. Endurance of fatigue and hunger.
4. Powers of digestion and assimilation.
5. Immunity from or liability to disabling diseases.
All of which points are treated with great detail, and summed up as
follows:
“For the purposes of the soldier he has all the physical
characteristics required, his temperament adapts him to camp
life, and his morale conduces to discipline. He is also brave
and steady in action. In all subsequent wars the country will
rely largely upon its Negro population as a part of its military
power.”
Under the act of Congress passed July 12, 1862, the President of the
United States was authorized to have prepared, with suitable emblematic
devices, Medals of Honor to be presented in the name of the Congress to
such soldiers as should most distinguish themselves by their gallantry
in action and other soldierly qualities. So chary has the Government
been in their issue that the award has not reached two thousand among
the three millions of volunteers and regulars in the Army and Navy. So
that these medals are more rare than the “Victoria Cross” of England,
the “Iron Cross” of Germany, or the “Cross of the Legion of Honor” of
France.
I copy the list of those issued to Negro soldiers as they stand upon the
records, that is, in the numerical order of the regiments to which the
recipients belonged. It will be therefore understood that this order
does not indicate priority of time or degree of excellence.
Christian A. Fleetwood, Sergeant-Major, Fourth U. S. C. T.
Alfred B. Hilton, Color Sergeant, Fourth U. S. C. T.
Charles Veal, Corporal, Fourth U. S. C. T.
Milton M Holland, Sergeant-Major, Fifth U. S. C. T.
James Brownson, First Sergeant, Fifth U. S. C. T.
Powhatan Beatty, First Sergeant, Fifth U. S. C. T.
Robert Finn, First Sergeant, Fifth U. S. C. T.
Thomas R. Hawkins, Sergeant-Major, Sixth U. S. C. T.
Alexander Kelly, First Sergeant, Sixth U. S. C. T.
Samuel Gilchrist, Sergeant, Thirty-sixth U. S. C. T.
William Davis, Sergeant, Thirty-sixth U. S. C. T.
Miles James, Corporal, Thirty-sixth U. S. C. T.
James Gardner, Private, Thirty-sixth U. S. C. T.
Edward Ratcliffe, First Sergeant, Thirty-eighth U. S. C. T.
James Harris, Sergeant, Thirty-eighth U. S. C. T.
William Barnes, Private, Thirty-eighth U. S. C. T.
Decatur Dorsey, Sergeant, Thirty-ninth U. S. C. T.
After each war, of 1776, of 1812, and of 1861, history repeats itself in
the absolute effacement of remembrance of the gallant deeds done for the
country by its brave black defenders and in their relegation to outer
darkness.
History further repeats itself in the fact that in every war so far
known to this country, the first blood, and, in some cases, the last
also, has been shed by the faithful Negro, and this in spite of all the
years of bondage and oppression, and of wrongs unspeakable. Under the
sun there has nothing been known in the history of any people more
marvellous than these facts!
Oh, to the living few,
Comrades, be just, be true.
Hail them as heroes tried,
Fight with them side by side;
Never in field or tent,
Scorn the Black Regiment.
It is but a little thing to ask, they could ask no less: _be just_; but,
oh, the shame of it for those who need be asked!
There is no need for panegyric, for sounding phrases or rounded periods.
The simple story is eloquent with all that is necessary to make the
heart swell with pride. In the hour allotted me to fill, it is possible
only to indicate in skeleton the worth of the Negro as a soldier. If
this brief sketch should awaken even a few to interest in his
achievements, and one be found willing and fitted to write the history
that is their due, that writer shall achieve immortality.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that:
was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
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