_Assault and Failure.--Who to Blame.--Heroic Conduct of the Blacks.--The
Mine.--Success at the Second Attack.--Death of a Gallant Negro.--A Black
Officer._
When the mining assault on Petersburg failed, with such fearful loss in
killed and wounded, the cry went through the land that it was owing
to the cowardice of the negro troops; but this falsehood was very soon
exploded. However, it will be well to state the facts connected with
the attempt. A writer in “The New-York Evening Post” gave the following
account of the preparation, attack, and failure, a few days alter it
occurred:--
“We have been continually notified for the last fortnight, that our
sappers were mining the enemy’s position. As soon as ready, our division
was to storm the works on its explosion. This rumor had spread so wide,
we had no faith in it. On the night of the 29th, we were in a position
on the extreme left. We were drawn in about nine, P.M., and marched to
Gen. Burnside’s headquarters, and closed in mass by division, left in
front. We there received official notice that the long-looked-for mine
was ready charged, and would be fired at daylight next morning. The plan
of storming was as follows: One division of white troops was to charge
the works immediately after the explosion, and carry the first and
second lines of rebel intrenchments. Our division was to follow
immediately, and push right into Petersburg, take the city, and be
supported by the remainder of the Ninth and the Twenty-eighth corps. We
were up bright and early, ready and eager for the struggle to commence.
I had been wishing for something of this sort to do for some time,
to gain the respect of the Army of the Potomac. You know their former
prejudices. At thirty minutes after five, the ball opened. The mine,
with some fifty pieces of artillery, went off almost instantaneously:
at the same time, the white troops, according to the plan, charged the
fort, which they carried, for there was nothing to oppose them; but they
did not succeed in carrying either of the lines of Intrenchments.
“We were held in rear until the development of the movement of the white
troops; but, on seeing the disaster which was about to occur, we were
pushed in by the flank (for we could go in in no other way to allow us
to get in position): so you see on this failure we had nothing to do but
gain by the flank. A charge in that manner has never proved successful,
to my knowledge: when it does, it is a surprise.
“Our men went forward with enthusiasm equal to any thing under different
circumstances; but, in going through the fort that had been blown up,
the passage was almost impeded by obstacles thrown up by the explosion.
At the same time, we were receiving a most deadly cross-fire from both
flanks. At this time, our Lieutenant-colonel (E. W. Ross) fell, shot
through the left leg, bravely leading the men. I immediately assumed
command, but only to hold it a few minutes, when I fell, struck by a
piece of shell in the side.
“Capt. Robinson, from Connecticut, then took command; and, from all we
can learn, he was killed. At this time, our first charge was somewhat
checked, and the men sought cover in the works. Again our charge was
made, but, like the former, unsuccessful. This was followed by the enemy
making a charge. Seeing the unorganized condition and the great loss of
officers, the men fell back to our own works. Yet a large number still
held the fort until two, p.m.; when the enemy charged again, and carried
it. That ended the great attempt to take Petersburg.
“It will be thus seen that the colored troops did not compose the first
assaulting, but the supporting column; and they were not ordered forward
until white troops in greater numbers had made a desperate effort to
carry the rebel works, and had failed. Then the colored troops were sent
in; moved over the broken ground, and up the slope, and within a short
distance of the parapet, in order, and with steady courage; but finally
broke and retreated under the same fire which just before had sent a
whole division of white regiments to the rightabout. If there be any
disgrace in that, it does not belong exclusively nor mainly to the
negroes. A second attack is far more perilous and unlikely to succeed
than a first; the enemy having been encouraged by the failure of the
first, and had time to concentrate his forces. And, in this case, there
seems to have been a fatal delay in ordering both the first and second
assault.”
An officer in the same engagement said,--
“In regard to the bravery of the colored troops, although I have been in
upwards of twenty battles, I never saw so many cases of gallantry. The
‘crater’ where we were halted, was a perfect slaughter-pen.
“Had not ‘some one blundered,’ but moved us up at daylight, instead of
eight o’clock, we should have been-crowned with success, instead of
being cut to pieces by a terrific enfilading fire, and finally forced
from the field in a panic. We had no trouble in rallying the troops, and
moving them into the rifle-pits; and, in one hour after the rout, I had
nearly as many men together as were left unhurt.
“I was never under such a terrific fire, and can hardly realize how any
escaped alive. Our loss was heavy. In the Twenty-eighth (colored), for
instance, commanded by Lieut.-Col. Russell (a Bostonian), he lost
seven officers out of eleven, and ninety-one men out of two hundred and
twenty-four; and the colonel himself was knocked over senseless, for a
few minutes, by a slight wound in the head: both his color-sergeants
and all his color-guard were killed. Col Bross, of the Twenty-ninth,
was killed outright, and nearly every one of his officers hit. This was
nearly equal to Bunker Hill. Col. Ross, of the Thirty-first, lost his
leg. The Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth (colored), all
charged over the works; climbing up an earthwork six feet high, then
down into a ditch, and up on the other side, all the time under the
severest fire in front and flank. Not being supported, of course the
storming-party fell back. I have seen white troops run faster than
these blacks did, when in not half so tight a place. Our brigade lost
thirty-six prisoners, all cut off after leaving the ‘crater.’ My faith
in colored troops is not abated one jot.”
Soon after the failure at Petersburg, the colored troops had a fair
opportunity, and nobly sustained their reputation gained on other
fields. At the battle of New-Market Heights, Va., the Tenth Army Corps,
under Major-Gen. Birney, met a superior number of the enemy, and had a
four-hours’ fight, Sept. 29, in which our men came off victorious. The
following order, issued on the 8th of October, needs no explanation:--
_“Headquarters, 3d Division, 18th Army Corps,_ _Before Richmond, Va.,
Oct. 7, 1864._
“_General Orders No. 103._
“_Officers and Soldiers of this Division_,--Major-Gen. D. B. Birney,
commanding the Tenth Army Corps, has desired me to express to you the
high satisfaction he felt at your good conduct while we were serving
with the Tenth Corps, Sept. 29 and 80, 1864, and with your gallantry in
storming New-Market Heights.
“I have delayed issuing this order, hoping for an opportunity to say
this to you in person.
“Accept, also, my own thanks for your gallantry on Sept. 29, and your
good conduct since. You have won the good opinion of the whole Army of
the James, and every one who knows your deeds.
“Let every officer and man, on all occasions, exert himself to increase
your present deserved reputation.
“_C. J. PAINE, Brigadier-General._
“_(Signed) S. A. CARTER, A. A. G._
“_Headquarters Tenth Army Corps,_ _Aug. 19, 1864._
“_Major-Gen. Butler commanding Department._
“The enemy attacked my lines in heavy force last night, and were
repulsed with great loss. In front of one colored regiment, eighty-two
dead bodies of the enemy are already counted. The colored troops behaved
handsomely, and are in fine spirits. The assault was in columns a
division strong, and would have carried any works not so well defended.
The enemy’s loss was at least one thousand.
“(Signed) Respectfully,
“_D. B. BIRNEY, Major-General_
“Seventy-five of our Black Virginia Cavalry were surrounded by three
regiments of rebel infantry, and gallantly cut through them; and an
orderly-sergeant killed with his sabre six of the enemy, and escaped
with the loss of an arm by grape-shot. He lies in an adjoining room, and
is slowly recovering.”
“Brave man, thy deeds shall fill the tramp of fame,
And wake responsive echoes far and wide,
And on contemners of thy race east shame;
For thou hast nobly with the noblest vied.
Thy deeds recall the charge at Balaklava,
Wherein six hundred were immortalized:
Not any hero of that charge was braver;
And thy great valor shall be recognized.
No wolf, pursued by hounds o’er hill and plain,
At last more savagely stands up at bay,
Finding past efforts to escape all vain,
Then cleaves through dying hounds his bloody way.
Thine was the task, amid war’s wild alarm,
The valor of thy race to vindicate:
Now admiration all true bosoms warm,
And places thee among the gallant great.
It thrills our hearts to think upon the strife
In which, surrounded by the rebel host,
Thou didst deal death for liberty and life,
And freedom win, although an arm was lost.
O lion-hearted hero! whose fierce sword
Made breathless thy oppressors, bravely bear
Thy sufferings; for our sympathies are poured
For thee, and gladly would relieve or share.”
At the second attack on Petersburg, the colored troops did nobly. A
correspondent of “The New-York Times” wrote as follows:--
“As everybody seems to have negro on the brain in the army, I may be
pardoned for again alluding to the colored troops in this letter. A
single day’s work has wiped out a mountain of prejudice, and fairly
turned the popular current of feeling in this army in favor of the
down-trodden race; and every one who has been with them on the field
has some story to relate of their gallant conduct in action, or their
humanity and social qualities. The capture of the fort before referred
to is related, among other things, in evidence of their manhood
and gallantry; taking prisoners in the exciting moment of actual
hand-to-hand fighting, in face of the Fort-Pillow and other
similar rebel atrocities perpetrated elsewhere, upon their colored
companions-in-arms as evidence of their humanity,--that they are really
something more than the stolid brutes, such as some people profess to
believe. But, next to bravery, one impromptu act of theirs has done
more than all else to remove a supposed natural prejudice against them.
Wounded officers of two different brigades in the Second Corps tell me,
that, when they relieved the colored troops in front Wednesday night,
their men had been out of rations all day, and were very hungry, as may
well be supposed. When this fact became known to the negroes, to use
the expressive language of a wounded officer, ‘They emptied their
haversacks, and gave the contents to our boys.’ The colored troops, I
have had opportunity to know, bear their honors meekly, as become men.
Hereafter, the vile oath and offensive epithet will not be blurted out
against the negro soldier, and in his presence, upon every favorable
opportunity, as has too generally heretofore been the practice. This
will be exclusively confined to the professional stragglers, who are
never at the front when danger is there.”
Sergt. Peter Hawkins, of the Thirty-first United States, exhibited
in the attack upon Petersburg marked abilities as a soldier. All the
officers of Company A being killed or wounded, he took command, and held
it for fourteen days. An eye-witness said,--
“He appointed men for guard and picket duty, made out his regular
morning report, issued rations, drilled his men, took them out on
dress-parade, or on fatigue-duty. Whatever important duty was devolved
upon him, he was the man to perform without murmuring. He is fully
competent to fill the office of a lieutenant or captain. He has clearly
proven on the field his unflinching courage and indomitable will.”