_The Colored Men of Iowa--Hard Fight Near White River--The Men of
Kansas--Enthusiasm for the War--Fight at Butler--Battle of Cabin
Creek--Battle of Honey Springs--The Battle of Poison Springs--Battle at
the Sabine River--Battle of Boykin's Mill with Poem--Incidents of the
War._
I have said nothing yet about the far western frontier, and the
enlistments that took place far away between the Mississippi river and
the Rocky Mountains. There were not many colored people in those States
and territories at that time, but the few who were there acted with the
greatest enthusiasm, and came joyously up to the rescue of the Union and
liberty. Although all colored men were free in those parts, they most
willingly laid down the plough and other implements of husbandry, left
their sweethearts, their wives and families, and all that they held
dearest, with wonderful zeal and alacrity, and marched to the field even
with the utmost joy, "to help of the Lord against the mighty." Of course
the Western frontier was not the only part of the Union where such
devotion for the Union and liberty was shown. It was the very same
everywhere. Even in the old slave States, when the recruiting sergeants
came along, and asked the slaves if they would like to go to the war and
fight for Uncle Sam, to a man they answered yes. Thus the recruiting
went rapidly on wherever colored volunteers could be found. Poor Uncle
Sam was in great need of men, and these brave recruits were gathered
together at places appointed for drill, in all the various branches of
the art of war, and they learned with great willingness and with great
rapidity also. With so much enthusiasm and fire, is it any wonder that
colored troops did so well in the war, and with their strong, brawny,
willing arms so mightily helped to knock down the South? It is no wonder
at all!
Yes, poor Uncle Sam was in great need of assistance about the time of
Lincoln's proclamation of freedom, for these terrible and clever rebels
had not only destroyed our white troops by tens of thousands, but they
had at the same time thinned out some thousands of the black soldiers
also. Lincoln kept calling for more troops, for a very great many more,
indeed, and black and white men came up to the national call like
heroes.
It was not until August, 1863, when the men of Iowa arose, hurried
through their drill, and marched to the front. They gathered at first at
St. Louis, where Mrs. I. N. Triplet presented one of the regiments with
a beautiful silk national flag, on behalf of the ladies of Iowa, and of
the city of Muscatine. That beautiful flag was carried all through the
war, and was brought home again to Iowa, in the midst of great
congratulations.
In January, 1864, this regiment was ordered to report to Helena,
Arkansas, and lent a hand in a number of small engagements, where they
took numbers of prisoners. But the most serious fight in which they were
engaged took place in the following July, near the White river, where
they attacked a force of the rebels twice as numerous as themselves.
This fight was most desperate, though the rebels lost three men to our
one. Most of our own officers were killed or wounded; night was coming
on apace, and still we held out--yea! fought like lions hour after hour.
At last a body of white Union soldiers coming to our aid, burst through
the rebel ranks with loud cheering, and our poor fellows, who were so
hard pressed, cheered loudly in return. Still the arrival of these
re-enforcements did not turn the battle into a Union victory, but they
enabled us to retreat from the field in good order. Later on in the day,
more colored re-enforcements from Helena arrived, but too late to make
any changes in the situation. It was well for us, however, to save all
the men we could, because the rebel soldiers and the rebel population on
these western States and territories seldom missed an opportunity to
murder every colored soldier who fell alive into their hands. Still we
cared nothing for their "black flag," but fought ten times harder than
before, and thus we helped on the downfall of slavery!
The State of Kansas was the very first State in the entire Union to make
a commencement in recruiting and drilling regiments of colored men to
put down the great rebellion. Kansas was only admitted into the Union as
a free State on the 29th of January, 1861. It was her admission as such
that transferred the slave-holder's rebellion from Kansas to South
Carolina, and the other seceding States. In other words, the rebellion
began in Kansas, and the scene was simply shifted upon Lincoln's
election. But the Republican men of Kansas arose with unbounded alacrity
and enthusiasm, and in a short time had 20,000 men in the field, some of
whom were regiments of colored men, who did yeoman's service in the
West. And not only in Kansas, but in every other section of the Union,
colored men showed a great deal of principle in the way in which they
came up to the rescue of the nation; came up with horse, foot and
artillery! As Deborah says in her song of victory (Judges, 5 chapter,
verse 18): "Zabulun and Naphtali were a people that jeopardized their
lives unto the death in the high place of the field." The first fight in
which the colored troops of Kansas were engaged took place near Butler.
There were about two hundred and twenty-five men in all, and they were
attacked by about five hundred Confederates. This is supposed to have
been the very first engagement in the war between colored soldiers and
the rebels, and the rebels were defeated with considerable loss. The
date of the engagement was the 28th of October, 1862. The next morning a
few recruits came up and joined their comrades in the pursuit of the
secessionists, but failed to overtake them. The work of recruiting,
drilling and disciplining the regiments still went on, till at last they
were so efficient in the various arms of the service that they were
second to none. Soon after this a foraging party of forty-five of our
men were attacked by three hundred Confederates, and half of them killed
or captured in a short time.
This regiment, which was lead by the gallant Colonel Williams, remained
in camp at Baxter Springs till the 27th of June, 1863, when it marched
for Fort Gibson, in connection with a large supply train from Fort Scott
en route to the former place. The Colonel was led to believe that they
would be attacked in the neighborhood of Cabin Creek. He made haste, and
gathered all his men together, about eight hundred in all. Upon arriving
at Cabin Creek the rebels in great force under General Cooper met him
there, but our men were unable to cross the stream on account of a
shower of rain, which had swollen its waters too high for infantry to
get over. When the morning came, by the aid of those who had come up in
the night, the whole effective force was now raised to 1,200 men, which
embraced some cavalry, a few Indians, and four pieces of artillery.
Being well lead on by their officers, these 1,200 men made a most heroic
attack on the vastly-superior rebel force, and after two hours' hard
fighting, vanquished them completely, killing and wounding one hundred
men, and taking eight prisoners. We had eight killed and twenty-five
wounded on our side. The road was now open, and our men proceeded with
the train to Fort Gibson, where they arrived on the 5th of July, 1863.
It was on the morning of the 17th of July when our small force under
command of General Blunt, left Fort Gibson, and moved upon the enemy,
6,000 strong, who were commanded by General Cooper. We found the latter
encamped at Honey Springs, twenty miles south of Fort Gibson. After a
desperate combat of two hours, the rebels were totally defeated with a
loss of four hundred men killed and wounded, and one hundred prisoners.
After this the Kansas City troops returned to Fort Gibson, where they
remained till September, when they moved out again against General
Cooper and his forces, who fled at their approach. We followed them for
one hundred miles, but as they still continued to keep ahead of us, we
returned and encamped at Fort Davis, a former Confederate fort on the
Arkansas River.
The troops marched and counter-marched till the month of March, 1864,
when they joined Union General Steele's forces, and marched against the
enemy, who were posted on the west side of Prairie d'Ane, within
twenty-five miles of Washington. As we came up, the enemy fled before
us, and we occupied their works without having to fight for them!
Indeed, a good deal of the warfare on the western frontier was nothing
but marching and counter-marching; coming to blows now and then, in
which we were mainly successful, for the rebels often preferred to fly
before us!
It was curious to note at the time how what appeared to be very
frivolous circumstances led to pitched battles and the most serious
results. Letters from newspaper correspondents, and private letters as
well, made this quite clear. Private letters to friends were often more
clear and explicit than the more general and profuse war correspondence.
[Illustration: _A RELIC OF SLAVERY DAYS_]
Col. Williams informs us that he arrived at Camden on the 16th of April,
1864, but on the following day, the 17th, started with five hundred men
of the First Colorado, two hundred cavalry detailed from the Second,
Sixth and Fourteenth Kansas regiments, and one section of the Second
Indiana Battery, with a train for the purpose of loading forage and
provisions at a point twenty miles west of Camden, on the Washington
road. On the 17th he reached the place, and succeeded in loading about
two-thirds of his train, which consisted of two hundred wagons; the rest
of the wagons were loaded next morning as they passed along. At a point
fourteen miles west of Camden, the advance encountered a small force of
the enemy, who retreated down the road after some slight skirmishing,
but did in such a manner as to convince the Colonel that it was a mere
feint to cover other movements, or else to draw his command into ambush,
as had already been done at Olustee, in Florida. The troops advanced
with caution for about a mile and a-half to a place called Poison
Springs, and here they came upon the skirmish lines of the enemy in a
thickly-timbered region. Our troops drove in their skirmish lines, and
discovered that the rebels were there in force. Indeed it was
ascertained afterwards that there were about ten thousand of them, and
their intention seemed to have been to eat us all up alive! To me it is
a most astonishing thing to even think that our small force, not more
than 1,000 men, should venture to contest a "field" of 10,000 rebels;
but so it was, not only at the battle of Poison Springs, but such
attacks were made again and again over the entire seat of war. Surely
the colored troops must have had the hearts of lions, and a most
tremendous amount of self-confidence even to look in the face of such
odds!
The enemy, with ten pieces of artillery, now opened the fight, six in
front and four on the right flank. (They had twelve cannon altogether,
but commenced the engagement with ten). We had to fight hard, yes, most
desperately, and lost many a brave man, either killed or wounded. Col.
Williams still fought on and on, making the best disposition possible of
his little force. We were only able to use two of our light cannon at
any one time, on account of the difficult nature of the thickly-timbered
land. The Colonel was ever hoping that re-enforcements would come up to
his aid from Camden, and relieve the train loaded of two hundred wagons,
and save our little army, but no relief ever came. Thus the battle went
on from 10 A. M. till 2 P. M., during which the rebels made one charge
after another, but were always repulsed after the most desperate
fighting. The loud roaring and yelling of the rebels at Poison Springs
even exceeded the noise of the fire-arms used upon that occasion. We had
ninety-two killed, ninety-seven wounded, and one hundred and six
missing--in all two hundred and ninety-five. The enemy probably lost
more than we did. As no re-enforcements arrived by 2 P.M., it was
decided to abandon our entire train, and work our way through the woods
as best we could to Camden, where those who remained arrived at 11 P.M.
on the day of the battle. Col. Williams named this tremendous fight the
Battle of Poison Springs, from a spring of that name in the
neighborhood. This was one of the very hardest fights of all that took
place in the West. No one but a fool would now ask the ridiculous
question, "Will colored men fight?"--because here we see a force of a
thousand colored men or less fighting most desperately for four hours
with ten times their own numbers. This was as good as the 10,000 Greeks
under Miltiades, at Marathon. The Greeks did not one whit better than
our troops at Poison Springs.
But the success of the troops already raised in Kansas fired the hearts
of other devoted men to lend a hand in the battle for the Union and
liberty. In June, 1863, another regiment was organized at Fort Scott,
and the regimental organization of the same was completed at Fort Smith,
Arkansas. The regiment went into camp on the Poteau river, about two
miles south of Fort Smith. The work of drill and discipline was here
carried on till the regiment was in splendid condition for the field.
On the 24th of March, 1864, the regiment left Fort Smith, and set out on
the Camden expedition, forming a part of Col. Williams' brigade of
General Thayer's division. This division united with that under
Major-General Steele on the Little Missouri river, after which they all
moved on together against the rebels in the direction of the Red river.
The rebels under Generals Price, Smith and Taylor having defeated Union
General Banks at the Red river, Major-General Steele retreated eastward
to Camden, a distance of about sixty miles. During the retreat the
regiment had several skirmishes with the enemy, and quite distinguished
themselves.
On the 29th of April, 1864, the rebel cavalry came up with the rear of
the Union forces at the Saline river, and skirmishing continued until
night came on. A pontoon bridge had been flung over the river, and all
the Union soldiers had already crossed except some artillery and two
brigades of infantry, which included the Second Kansas Colored Regiment.
We had six regiments in all on our side. The rebels came close up to our
forces, and waited for the dawn of day to begin the battle. Union
General Rice, of Iowa, formed his brigade in the centre; the Twelfth
Kansas Infantry, under General Hayes, was on the left, and the Second
Kansas Colored Regiment, under Colonel Crawford, was on the right. There
were also two pieces of artillery on the Union side.
As soon as it was light enough, the opposing forces drew nearer one
another, and the battle commenced in dead earnest. The crash of musketry
was terrific. The rebels strove again and again to break through our
thin lines, but the Union forces stood their ground with firmness,
repelling every onset of the rebels till re-enforcements came back over
the pontoon bridge to our aid. The rebels, who had in vain attempted for
three long hours to break down the colored men of Kansas, next brought a
battery of artillery to bear upon them, and opened fire. When Col.
Crawford saw this, he ordered the brave young men to charge upon the
guns with the bayonet, and led the charge himself. All the gun-carriage
horses were killed but two; the gunners were killed, wounded or had
fled; the intrepid and heroic Kansas colored boys took possession of the
rebel battery, and brought them over to our side! Truly, this was a
brave deed! (Zabulun and Naphtali were a people who jeopardized their
lives unto the death upon the high places of the field). When the Second
Kansas returned with the rebel guns, the officers and men, in the midst
of the battle, gave them a glorious salute, waving their swords in the
air, and tossing up their caps on the points of their bayonets, whilst
our devoted braves smiled with pleasure. After this successful capture
of the guns, the Second Kansas was moved into the centre of the line; a
charge by the entire Union forces was made along the whole line, and now
the rebels everywhere gave away, and the victory was complete. The
Second Kansas was the first to begin the battle, and they were the last
to leave the field.
Thus the war went along the Western frontier. There were no great
battles, as was the case in the East. But here was plenty to do for all
that, and it was done well. There were at times great hardships to
endure--long, weary marches, cold, and the want of all things; but such
is the life of the soldier, and such is war. We must take the rough with
the smooth. Upon the whole, the Western men fought bravely and
successfully, and mightily helped to pull down the rebellion.
The present generation have very little idea of the excitement that
prevailed all over the country during the long war. Where all our
regiments did so well--indeed, covered themselves with honor--it would
be ridiculous to make any distinction, and place one before another. But
I may at least make a selection at random, and single out the 54th
Regiment of Massachusetts, in March, 1863, who fought with unsurpassed
valor until the close of the war--yea, after the close of the war! I
followed the career of that devoted regiment as if I had been one of the
brave fellows! Well, how they did fight, to be sure! They fought at
James Island, at Fort Wagner, at Olustee, at Honey Hill, and at Boykin's
Mill, after the war was over, because they had not heard that Lee had
surrendered!
This Boykin's Mill was a few miles from Camden, South Carolina. The
Fifty-fourth Regiment had fought every step of the way from Georgetown
to Camden, and the rebels made a last desperate, but unsuccessful stand
at Boykin's Mill. It was a splendid place for the defense, as there was
no other way of approaching it except by a narrow embankment about two
hundred yards long, where only one man could walk at a time. The rebels
had torn up the planks of the bridge over the mill-race, thus compelling
the men of the Fifty-fourth to cross over on the timbers and cross-ties,
and all this under a fatal fire of musketry, which swept the embankment
and the bridge, and made it little better than a "forlorn hope" to pass
over. But the Fifty-fourth did not falter. They had fought at Olustee
and Fort Wagner, so they charged over the dreadful way in single file.
The first men to advance were all shot down, but the rest of their
comrades advanced over their prostrate bodies, till the enemy became so
panic-stricken at the sight that they gave up the fight, abandoned their
position at the mill, and fled. There seems to have been a poet in the
regiment--Mr. Henry A. Monroe, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who was
the drummer-boy of Company C, of the Fifty-Fourth. He thus describes the
fight at Boykin's Mill:
One wailing bugle note--then at the break of day,
With martial step and gay the army takes the way
From Camden Town.
There lay along the path, defending native land,
A daring, desperate band entrenched on either hand
In ambuscade.
A low and dark ravine beneath a rugged hill,
Where stood the Boykin Mill spanning the creek, whose rill
Flows dark and deep.
Only a narrow bank where one can scarcely tread;
Thick branches meet o'erhead; across the mill-pond's bed
A bridge up-torn.
One single sharp report:--A hundred muskets peal,--
A wild triumphant yell, as back the army fell
Stunned, bleeding, faint.
As when some mighty rock, obstructs the torrent's course;
After the moment's pause, 'twill rush with greater force,
Resistless on.
A moment's pause, and then our leader from his post,
Viewing the stricken host, cried, "Comrades!--all is lost
If now we fail!"
Forming in single file, they gaze with bated breath;
Around,--before,--beneath,--on every hand, stern death
His visage showed.
"Forward!"--They quickly spring with leveled bayonet;
Each eye is firmly set upon that pathway, wet
With crimson gore.
That Balaklava dash!--Right through the leaden hail,
O'er dyke and timbers frail, with heart that never fail
They boldly charge.
Facing the scathing fire without a halt or break,
Save when with moan or shriek in the blood-mingled creek
The wounded fall.
What could resist that charge?--Above the battle's roar
There swells a deafening cheer, telling to far and near,
The Mill is won!
Anecdotes of deeds of bravery and devotion kept cropping up all through
the war. During the early part of the war on the Lower Mississippi, a
former slave assisted in bringing in a lot of prisoners, and he himself
actually drove his former owner before him into the Union camp! "Old
Master" assumed bullying airs to induce him to let him escape, but the
soldier pointed his gun at him repeatedly, saying, "Go on, sir, or I'll
shoot!" So he brought him into the camp, all radiant with smiles, and
who can blame him for smiling at such a time as this?
At Marion, Tennessee, there were many incidents of personal bravery, of
which this was one. A colored soldier had got a tree stump close to the
rebel line, and in spite of all efforts to dislodge him, he still stuck
to his post, and picked off their men. The rebels charged on the stump,
but when the Union line saw the movement they concentrated their fire on
the advancing men, and drove them back. Then there followed long and
loud cheering for that brave and lonely soldier, who still stuck to his
stump and kept firing away with a regularity that was truly wonderful.
The stump was riddled with bullets, but he still stuck to it, although
at times he was nearer to the rebel lines than to the Union ones.
A great many war incidents were recorded in the annals of the fighting
in Mississippi between Union General Sturgis and the rebels there under
General Forrest. Here are a few of them. A corporal in one of the
colored regiments was ordered to surrender. He allowed his would-be
captor to come up close to him, when he struck him down with the butt
end of his gun. Whilst the regiment was fighting in a ditch, and the
order came to retreat, the color-bearer threw out the flag, intending to
jump out and get it, but the rebels made a rush for it, and in the
struggle one of our men knocked down with his gun the rebel who had the
flag, and caught it and ran. A rebel, with an oath, ordered one of our
men to surrender. He thought the rebel's gun was loaded, and dropped his
own gun; but when he saw his enemy commence loading, our colored soldier
made a sudden spring for his own gun, and struck the rebel dead. One of
our captains was surrounded by about a dozen of the enemy, when he was
seen by one of our own men, who called several of his companions to his
side, when they rushed forward together and fired, killed several of the
rebels, and rescued their captain at once. A rebel came up to one of our
men, and said, "Come, my good fellow; go with me, and wait on me." In a
second our Union soldier shot his would-be master dead. Once when our
men made a charge on the enemy they rushed forward with the cry,
"Remember Fort Pillow!" when the rebels called back to them and said,
"Lee's men killed no prisoners!" One of our men in a charge threw his
antagonist to the ground, and pinned him fast there, but when he tried
to withdraw his bayonet it came off the gun, and as he was very busy
just at that time, he left it behind him, still transfixed to the
ground. Another soldier killed a rebel by striking him with the butt end
of his gun; the gun broke, and as he was unwilling to stop his work just
then, he kept on loading, and fired three times before he could get a
better gun. The first time, as he was not very cautious, the rebound of
his gun cut his lip badly. When the troops were in the ditch, three
rebels came upon one man and ordered him to surrender. But as his gun
was loaded he shot one of them and bayoneted the other; but forgetting
in his haste that he could bayonet the third he turned the butt end of
his gun and knocked him down. (The above are a few incidents culled from
the annals of the fighting done by our men in Northern Mississippi.)
A great many good stories have been related in connection with the Army
of the Cumberland. Here is one that refers to an incident when that army
was in Tennessee. Early one morning, as a company of white soldiers were
about to resume their march, a Kentucky lieutenant rode up to the
commanding officer, saluted, and said he had some runaway slaves under
his charge, whom he had arrested for the purpose of sending them back to
their masters; but as he had been ordered away from there just then, he
turned them over to this officer in command. (At that time rewards could
be claimed for returning fugitive slaves to their masters). So the
officer took charge of them, and purposely assuming a stern air and
manner, which he did not feel at all, he said:
"Where are you going?"
"Going to the Yankee army."
"What for?"
"We want to be free."
"All right; you are free now; go where you wish!"
And their warm thanks gave great joy to the officer.
The same officer relates another incident for the purpose of showing the
humor of the colored soldier. A spent ball had struck one of our men on
the side of the head, passed under the scalp, and making nearly a
circuit of the skull, came out on the other side. His comrades merrily
declared, when the ball struck him it sang out, "Too thick!" and then
merrily passed on.
Here is another incident that happened, which I think is very diverting,
even amidst the horrors of war. An officer was riding at the head of his
column, and the men were swinging along "arms at will," when they spied
General George H. Thomas and his staff approaching. Without orders, at
once they brought their arms to "right shoulder shift," took the step,
and striking up their favorite tune of "John Brown," whistled it with
most admirable effect while they were passing the general, who was
greatly amused and pleased at the incident.
There was a private soldier who during an engagement had taken his
position up a tree as a sharpshooter, when he had his right arm broken
by a ball. The captain called out to him, "You had better come down from
there, go to the rear, and find the surgeon."
"Oh, no, Captain," he replied; "I can fire with my left arm!"
And so he did.
When General Thomas rode over the field, after the battle of Nashville,
and saw the bodies of colored men side by side with the foremost of
white men, and upon the very ramparts and works of the Confederates, he
turned to his staff and said:
"Gentlemen, the question is settled; Negroes will fight!"
And thus I might go on, adding incident to incident, and that without
end. Where a war was being carried on all the way from the Potomac to
the Rio Grande, it must needs have been that thousands of such incidents
were taking place every day.