RECRUITING AND ORGANIZING.
The recruiting officer, in the first year of the enlistment of negroes,
did not have a pleasant service to perform. At New Orleans there was no
trouble in recruiting the regiments organized under Butler's command,
for, beside the free negroes, the slave population for miles around were
eager to enlist, believing that with the United States army uniform on,
they would be safe in their escape from "ole master and the rebs." And
then the action of the confederate authorities in arming the free
negroes lent a stimulant and gave an ambition to the whole slave
population to be soldiers. Could arms have been obtained, a half a dozen
regiments could have been organized in sixty days just as rapidly as
were three. Quite early in 1862, while the negroes in New Orleans were
being enrolled in the Confederate service, under Gov. Moore's
proclamation, in separate and distinct organizations from the whites,
the Indians and negroes were enlisting in the Union service, on the
frontier, in the same company and regiments, with white officers to
command them. In the "Kansas Home Guard," comprising two regiments of
Indians, were over 400 negroes, and these troops were under Custer,
Blunt and Herron. They held Fort Gibson twenty months against the
assaults of the enemy. Two thousand five hundred negroes served in the
Federal army from the Indian Nations, and these, in all probability, are
a part of 5,896 "not accounted for" on the Adjutant General's rolls.
Quite a different state of things existed in South Carolina; rumors
were early afloat, when recruiting began, that the government officers
were gathering up the negroes to ship away to Cuba, Africa and the West
Indies. These reports for a long time hindered the enlistment very much.
Then there was no large city for contrabands to congregate in; besides
they had no way of traveling from island to island except on government
vessels. Before the Proclamation of freedom was issued, the city of
Washington, with Virginia and Maryland as additional territory to
recruit from, afforded an officer a better field to operate in than any
other point except New Orleans. The conduct of the Government in
revoking Gen. Fremont's Proclamation, and of McClellan's with the Army
of the Potomac, in catching and returning escaped slaves, also had a
tendency for some time to keep back even the free negroes of Virginia
and Maryland. But this class of people never enlisted to any great
numbers, either before or after 1863, and there finally came to be a
general want of spirit with them, while with the slave class there was a
ready enthusiasm to enlist. Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, was
Chairman of the Committee of Military Affairs, and reported from that
committee on the 8th of July 1862, a bill authorizing the arming of
negroes as a part of the army. The bill finally passed both houses and
received the approval of the President on the 17th of July, 1862. The
battle for its success is as worthy of record as any fought by the
Phalanx. The debate was characterized by eloquence and deep feeling on
both sides. Says an account of the proceedings in Henry Wilson's
"Anti-slavery Measures of Congress":
[Illustration: TEAMSTER OF THE ARMY]
"Mr. Sherman (Rep.) of Ohio said, "The question arises,
whether the people of the United States, struggling for
national existence, should not employ these blacks for the
maintenance of the Government. The policy heretofore pursued
by the officers of the United States has been to repel this
class of people from our lines, to refuse their services.
They would have made the best spies; and yet they have been
driven from our lines."--"I tell the President," said Mr.
Fessenden (Rep.) of Maine, "from my place here as a senator,
I tell the generals of our army, they must reverse their
practices and their course of proceeding on this subject. *
* * I advise it here from my place,--treat your enemies as
enemies, as the worst of enemies, and avail yourselves like
men of every power which God has placed in your hands to
accomplish your purpose within the rules of civilized
warfare." Mr. Rice, (war Dem.) of Minnesota, declared that
"not many days can pass before the people of the United
States North must decide upon one of two questions: we have
either to acknowledge the Southern Confederacy as a free and
independent nation, and that speedily; or we have as
speedily to resolve to use all the means given us by the
Almighty to prosecute this war to a successful termination.
The necessity for action has arisen. To hesitate is worse
than criminal. Mr. Wilson said, "The senator from Delaware,
as he is accustomed to do, speaks boldly and decidedly
against the proposition. He asks if American soldiers will
fight if we organize colored men for military purposes. Did
not American soldiers fight at Bunker Hill with negroes in
the ranks, one of whom shot down Major Pitcairn as he
mounted the works? Did not American soldiers fight at Red
Bank with a black regiment from your own State, sir? (Mr.
Anthony in the chair.) Did they not fight on the
battle-field of Rhode Island with that black regiment, one
of the best and bravest that ever trod the soil of this
continent? Did not American soldiers fight at Fort Griswold
with black men? Did they not fight with black men in almost
every battle-field of the Revolution? Did not the men of
Kentucky and Tennessee, standing on the lines of New
Orleans, under the eye of Andrew Jackson, fight with colored
battalions whom he had summoned to the field, and whom he
thanked publicly for their gallantry in hurling back a
British foe? It is all talk, idle talk, to say that the
volunteers who are fighting the battles of this country are
governed by any such narrow prejudice or bigotry. These
prejudices are the results of the teachings of demagogues
and politicians, who have for years undertaken to delude and
deceive the American people, and to demean and degrade
them."
Mr. Grimes had expressed his views a few weeks before, and
desired a vote separately on each of these sections. Mr.
Davis declared that he was utterly opposed, and should ever
be opposed, to placing arms in the hands of negroes, and
putting them into the army. Mr. Rice wished "to know if Gen.
Washington did not put arms into the hands of negroes, and
if Gen. Jackson did not, and if the senator has ever
condemned either of those patriots for doing so." "I deny,"
replied Mr. Davis, "that, in the Revolutionary War, there
ever was any considerable organization of negroes. I deny,
that, in the war of 1812, there was ever any organization of
negro slaves. * * * In my own State, I have no doubt that
there are from eighty to a hundred thousand slaves that
belong to disloyal men. You propose to place arms in the
hands of the men and boys, or such of them as are able to
handle arms, and to manumit the whole mass, men, women, and
children, and leave them among us. Do you expect us to give
our sanction and our approval to these things? No, no! We
would regard their authors as our worst enemies; and there
is no foreign despotism that could come to our rescue, that
we would not joyously embrace, before we would submit to
any such condition of things as that. But, before we had
invoked this foreign despotism, we would arm every man and
boy that we have in the land, and we would meet you in a
death-struggle, to overthrow together such an oppression and
our oppressors." Mr. Rice remarked in reply to Mr. Davis,
"The rebels hesitate at nothing. There are no means that God
or the Devil has given them that they do not use. The
honorable senator said that the negroes might be useful in
loading and swabbing and firing cannon. If that be the case,
may not some of them be useful in loading, swabbing, and
firing the musket?"
On the 10th of February, 1864, Mr. Stevens (Republican) of Pennsylvania,
in the House of Representatives, moved an amendment to the Enrollment
Act. Says the same authority before quoted:
The Enrollment Bill was referred to a Conference Committee,
consisting of Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts, Mr. Nesmet of
Oregon, and Mr. Grimes of Iowa, on the part of the Senate;
and Mr. Schenck of Ohio, Mr. Deming of Connecticut, and Mr.
Kernan of New York, on the part of the House. In the
Conference Committee, Mr. Wilson stated that he never could
assent to the amendment, unless the drafted slaves were made
free on being mustered into the service of the United
States. Mr. Grimes sustained that position; and the House
committee assented to it. The House amendment was then
modified so as to read, "That all able-bodied male colored
persons between the ages of twenty and forty-five years,
whether citizens or not, resident in the United States,
shall be enrolled according to the provisions of this act,
and of the act to which this is an amendment, and form part
of the national forces; and, when a slave of a loyal master
shall be drafted and mustered into the service of the United
States, his master shall have a certificate thereof; and
thereupon such slave shall be free; and the bounty of a
hundred dollars, now payable by law for each drafted man,
shall be paid to the person to whom such drafted person was
owing service or labor at the time of his muster into the
service of the United States. The Secretary of War shall
appoint a commission in each of the slave States represented
in Congress, charged to award, to each loyal person to whom
a colored volunteer may owe service, a just compensation,
not exceeding three hundred dollars, for each such colored
volunteer, payable out of the fund derived from commutation;
and every such colored volunteer, on being mustered into the
service, shall be free."
"The report of the Conference Committee was agreed to; and
it was enacted that every slave, whether a drafted man or a
volunteer, shall be free on being mustered into the military
service of the United States, not by the act of the master,
but by the authority of the Federal Government."
[Illustration: HEADQUARTERS OF VINCENT COLLYER, SUPT. OF THE POOR AT
NEWBERNE N. C. Distributing clothing, captured from the Confederates, to
the free negroes.]
When Gen. Banks took command of the Gulf Department, Dec. 1862, he very
soon after found the negro troops an indispensable quantity to the
success of his expeditions; consequently he laid aside his prejudice,
and endeavored to out-Herod Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant General of the
Army,--who in March had been dispatched on a military inspection tour
through the armies of the West and the Mississippi Valley, and also to
organize a number of negro regiments[15]--by issuing in May the
following order:
GENERAL ORDERS}
No. 40.}
_Corps d'Afrique._
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF.
19TH ARMY CORPS,
_Opelousas_, May 1, 1863.
The Major General commanding the Department proposes the
organization of a corps d'armee of colored troops, to be
designated as the "Corps d'Afrique." It will consist
ultimately of eighteen regiments, representing all
arms--Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry, organized in three
Divisions of three Brigades each, with appropriate corps of
Engineers and flying Hospitals for each Division.
Appropriate uniforms, and the graduation of pay to
correspond with value of services, will be hereafter
awarded.
In the field, the efficiency of every corps depends upon the
influence of its officers upon the troops engaged, and the
practicable limits of one direct command is generally
estimated at one thousand men. The most eminent military
historians and commanders, among others Thiers and Chambray,
express the opinion, upon a full review of the elements of
military power, that the valor of the soldier is rather
acquired than natural. Nations whose individual heroism in
undisputed, have failed as soldiers in the field. The
European and American continents exhibit instances of this
character, and the military prowess of every nation may be
estimated by the centuries it has devoted to military
contest, or the traditional passion of its people for
military glory. With a race unaccustomed to military
service, much more depends on the immediate influence of
officers upon individual members, than with those that have
acquired more or less of warlike habits and spirit by
centuries of contest. It is deemed best, therefore, in the
organization of the Corps d'Afrique, to limit the regiments
to the smallest number of men consistent with efficient
service in the field, in order to secure the most thorough
instruction and discipline, and the largest influence of the
officers over the troops. At first they will be limited to
five hundred men. The average of American regiments is less
than that number.
_The Commanding General desires to detail for temporary or
permanent duty the best officers of the army, for the
organization, instruction and discipline of this corps._
With their aid, he is confident that the corps will render
important service to the Government. It is not established
upon any dogma of equality or other theory, but as a
practical and sensible matter of business. The Government
makes use of mules, horses, uneducated and educated white
men, in the defense of its institutions. Why should not the
negro contribute whatever is in his power for the cause in
which he is as deeply interested as other men? We may
properly demand from him whatever service he can render. The
chief defect in organizations of this character has arisen
from incorrect ideas of the officers in command. Their
discipline has been lax, and in some cases the conduct of
the regiments unsatisfactory and discreditable.
Controversies unnecessary and injurious to the service have
arisen between them and other troops. The organization
proposed will reconcile and avoid many of these troubles.
Officers and soldiers will consider the exigencies of the
service in this Department, and the absolute necessity of
appropriating every element of power to the support of the
Government. The prejudices or opinions of men are in nowise
involved. The co-operation and active support of all
officers and men, and the nomination of fit men from the
ranks, and from the lists of non-commissioned and
commissioned officers, are respectfully solicited from the
Generals commanding the respective Divisions.
BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS:
RICHARD B. IRWIN,
_Assistant Adjutant General._
WAR DEPARTMENT,
_Washington City_, March 25th, 1803.
His plan of organization is here given, but it was never fully
consummated:
GENERAL ORDERS}
No. 47}
Corps d'Afrique.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF.
19TH ARMY CORPS,
_Before Port Hudson_, June 6th, 1863.
I.--The regiments of infantry of the Corps d'Afrique,
authorized by General Orders No. 44, current series, will
consist of ten companies each, having the following minimum
organization:
1 Captain, 1 First Lieutenant, 1 Second Lieutenant, 1 First
Sergeant, 4 Sergeants, 4 Corporals, 2 Buglers, 40 Privates.
To the above may be added hereafter, at the discretion of
the Commanding General, four corporals and forty-two
privates; thus increasing the strength to the maximum fixed
by law for a company of infantry.
The regimental organization will be that fixed by law for a
regiment of infantry.
II.--The Commissary and Assistant Commissaries of Musters
will muster the Second Lieutenant into service as soon as he
is commissioned; the First Lieutenant when thirty men are
enlisted; and the Captain when the minimum organization is
completed.
III.--The First, Second, Third and Fourth Regiments of
Louisiana Native Guards will hereafter be known as the
First, Second, Third and Fourth Regiments of Infantry of the
Corps d'Afrique.
IV.--The regiment of colored troops in process of
organization in the district of Pensacola will be known as
the Fifth Regiment of Infantry of the Corps d'Afrique.
V.--The regiments now being raised under the direction of
Brigadier General Daniel Ullman, and at present known as the
First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Regiments of Ullman's
Brigade, will be respectively designated as the Sixth,
Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Regiments of Infantry of
the Corps d'Afrique.
VI.--The First Regiment of Louisiana Engineers, Colonel
Justin Hodge, will hereafter be known as the First Regiment
of Engineers of the Corps d'Afrique.
BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS:
RICHARD B. IRWIN,
_Assistant Adjutant General._
OFFICIAL:
_NATHANIEL BURBANK, Acting Assistant Adjutant General._
General Banks' treatment of the negroes was so very different from that
which they had received from Gen. Butler,--displacing the negro officers
of the first three regiments organized,--that it rather checkmated
recruiting, so much so that he found it necessary to resort to the
provost guard to fill up regiments, as the following order indicates:
[Illustration: PROVOST GUARD SECURING CONSCRIPTS. Compelling all
able-bodied men to join the army.]
Commission of Enrollment.
GENERAL ORDERS HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
No. 64. _New Orleans_, August 29, 1863.
I. Colonel JOHN S. CLARK, Major B. RUSH PLUMLY and Colonel
GEORGE H. HANKS, are hereby appointed a Commission to
regulate the Enrollment, Recruiting and Employment and
Education of persons of color. All questions concerning the
enlistment of troops for the Corps d'Afrique, the regulation
of labor, or the government and education of negroes, will
be referred to the decision of this commission, subject to
the approval of the Commanding General of the Department.
II. No enlistments for the Corps d'Afrique will be
authorized or permitted, except under regulations approved
by this Commission.
III. _The Provost Marshal General will cause to be enrolled
all able-bodied men of color in accordance with the Law of
Conscription, and such number as may be required for the
military defence of the Department, equally apportioned to
the different parishes, will be enlisted for the military
service under such regulations as the Commission may adopt.
Certificates of exemption will be furnished to those not
enlisted, protecting them from arrest or other interference,
except for crime._
IV. Soldiers of the Corps d'Afrique will not be allowed to
leave their camps, or to wander through the parishes, except
upon written permission, or in the company of their
officers.
V. Unemployed persons of color, vagrants and camp loafers,
will be arrested and employed upon the public works, by the
Provost Marshal's Department, without other pay than their
rations and clothing.
VI. Arrests of persons, and seizures of property, will not
be made by colored soldiers, nor will they be charged with
the custody of persons or property, except when under the
command, and accompanied by duly authorized officers.
VII. Any injury or wrong done to the family of any soldier,
on account of his being engaged in military service, will be
summarily punished.
VIII. As far as practicable, the labor of persons not
adapted to military service will be provided in substitution
for that of enlisted men.
IX. All regulations hitherto established for the government
of negroes, not inconsistent herewith, will be enforced by
the Provost Marshals of the different parishes, under the
direction of the Provost Marshal General.
BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS:
RICHARD B. IRWIN,
_Assistant Adjutant General._
In the department the actual number of negroes enlisted was never known,
from the fact that a practice prevailed of putting a live negro in a
dead one's place. For instance, if a company on picket or scouting lost
ten men, the officer would immediately put ten new men in their places
and have them answer to the dead men's names. I learn from very reliable
sources that this was done in Virginia, also in Missouri and Tennessee.
If the exact number of men could be ascertained, instead of 180,000 it
would doubtless be in the neighborhood of 220,000 who entered the ranks
of the army. An order was issued which aimed to correct the habit and to
prevent the drawing, by collusion, of the dead men's pay.
The date of the first organization of colored troops is a question of
dispute, but it seems as if the question might be settled, either by the
records of the War Department or the personal knowledge of those
interested. Of course the muster of a regiment or company is the record
of the War Department, but the muster by no means dates the organization
of the troops.[16] For example, a colonel may have been commissioned
July, 1862, and yet the muster of his regiment may be September 1862,
and even later, by two months, as is the case in more than one instance.
It is just as fair to take the date of a soldier's enlistment as the
date of the organization of a regiment, as that of the date of the order
detailing an officer to recruit as the date of the colonel's commission.
The writer's discharge from the Second Reg't. Louisiana Native Guards
credits him as enlisting on the 1st day of September, 1862; at this date
the 1st Reg't. La. N. G. was in the field, in November the Second
Regiment took the field, so that the date of the organization of the
first regiment of colored troops was in September, 1862. Col. Higginson,
says in his volume:
"Except the Louisiana soldiers mentioned,--of whom no
detailed reports have, I think, been published,--my regiment
was unquestionably the first mustered into the service of
the United States; the first company mustered bearing date,
November 7, 1862, and the others following in quick
succession."
Save the regiments recruited in Kansas, South Carolina and New Orleans
during the year 1862, nothing was done towards increasing the negro
army, but in January 1863, when the policy of the Government was changed
and the Emancipation Proclamation foreshadowed the employment of negroes
in the armed service, an activity such as had not been witnessed since
the beginning of the war became apparent. Many officers without
commands, and some with, but who sought promotion, were eager to be
allowed to organize a regiment, a battalion or a brigade of negro
troops. Mr. Lincoln found it necessary in less than six months after
issuing his Proclamation of Freedom, to put the whole matter of negro
soldiers into the hands of a board.[17] Ambition, as ambition will,
smothered many a white man's prejudice and caused more than one West
Pointer to forget his political education. This order was issued:
ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, D. C._, January 13th, 1863.
BRIGADIER GENERAL D. ULLMAN, Washington, D. C.
SIR:--By direction of the Secretary of War you are hereby
authorized to raise a Brigade of (four regiments) of
Louisiana Volunteer Infantry, to be recruited in that State
to serve for three years or during the War.
Each regiment of said Brigade will be organized as
prescribed in General orders No. 126, series of 1862, from
this office.
The recruitment will be conducted in accordance with the
rules of the service, and the orders of the War Department,
and by the said department all appointments of officers will
be made.
All musters will be made in strict conformity to Paragraph
86 Revised Mustering Regulations of 1862.
I am, Very Respectfully Your Obedient Servant,
THOMAS M. VINCENT, _Asst. Adjt. Gen'l._
ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, D. C._, March 24, 1863.
BRIG. GENERAL ULLMAN, Washington, D. C.
GENERAL:--By direction of the Secretary of War, you are
hereby authorized to raise a Battalion (six companies) of
Louisiana Volunteer Infantry to be used for scouting
purposes, to be recruited in that State, and to serve for
three years or during the war.
The said force will be organized as prescribed in Paragraph
83, Mustering Regulations.
The recruitment will be conducted in accordance with the
rules of the service, and the orders of the War Department,
and by the said Department all appointments of officers will
be made.
All musters will be made in accordance with the orders given
in reference to the troops authorized by the instructions
from this office of January 13, 1863.
I am, General Very Respectfully Your Obedient Servant,
THOMAS M. VINCENT, _Asst. Adjt. General._
In furtherance of the order General Ullman proceeded to New Orleans and
assumed command of seven thousand troops already organized. It was said
that he had arranged to place 500 white officers in command of the
troops in Louisiana.
In October thereafter General Banks issued the following order, which
fully explains itself:
Recruiting for the Corps d'Afrique.
GENERAL ORDERS HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF.
No. 77. _New Orleans_, October 27, 1863.
I. All persons of Color coming within the lines of the army,
or following the army when in the field, other than those
employed in the Staff Department of the army, or as servants
of officers entitled by the Regulations to have servants, or
cooks, will be placed in charge of and provided for by the
several Provost Marshals of the Parishes, or if the army be
on the march, or in the field, by the Provost Marshal of the
Army.
II. The several Provost Marshals of the Parishes and of the
Army will promptly forward to the nearest recruiting depot
all able bodied males for service in the Corps d'Afrique.
III. Recruits will be received for the Corps d'Afrique of
all able bodied men from sections of the country not
occupied by our forces, and beyond our lines, without regard
to the enrollment provided for in General Orders No. 64 and
70, from these Headquarters.
IV. Instructions will be given by the President of the
Commission of Enrollment to the Superintendent of
Recruiting, to govern in all matters of detail relating to
recruiting, and officers will be held to a strict
accountability for the faithful observance of existing
orders and such instructions; but no officer will be
authorized to recruit beyond the lines without first having
his order approved by the officer commanding the nearest
post, or the officer commanding the Army in the Field, who
will render such assistance as may be necessary to make the
recruiting service effective.
BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS:
G. NORMAN LIEBER, _Act. Asst. Adjt. Gen'l._
At the North where negroes had been refused admission to the army, the
President's Proclamation was hailed with delight. Gov. Andrew, of
Massachusetts, at once began the organization of the 54th Regiment of
his State, composed entirely of negroes, and on the 28th of May the
regiment being ready to take the field, embarked for South Carolina.
Other Northern States followed. Pennsylvania established Camp Wm. Penn,
from which several regiments took their departure, while Connecticut and
Rhode Island both sent a regiment.
[Illustration: NEW RECRUITS TAKING CARS FOR CAMP.]
The taste with which the negro soldiers arranged their quarters often
prompted officers of white regiments to borrow a detail to clean and
beautify the quarters of their commands. An occurrence of this kind came
very near causing trouble on Morris Island, S.C. The matter was brought
to the commanding General's attention and he immediately issued this
order:
DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, HEADQUARTERS IN THE FIELD.
GENERAL ORDERS, _Morris Island, S.C._, Sept. 17th, 1863.
No. 77.
1. It has come to the knowledge of the Brig. Gen. Commanding
that detachments of colored troops, detailed for fatigue
duty, have been employed in one instance at least, to
prepare camps and perform menial duty for white troops. Such
use of these details is unauthorized and improper, and is
hereafter expressly prohibited. Commanding Officers of
colored regiments are directed to report promptly, to the
Headquarters, any violations of this order which may come to
their knowledge.
BY ORDER OF GEN. Q. A. GILLMORE,
OFFICIAL: ED. W. SMITH, _Asst. Adjt. Gen'l._
_ISRAEL Z. SEALEY, Capt. 47th N.Y. Vols.,
Act. Asst. Adjt. General._
The Southern troops generally made no objection to cleaning the quarters
of their white allies, but when a detail from the 54th Mass. Reg't., on
its way to the front, was re-detailed for that purpose, they refused to
obey. The detail was placed under arrest. When this information reached
the regiment it was only by releasing the prisoners that a turbulent
spirit was quieted. There were about ten thousand negro troops in and
about Morris Island at that time, and they quickly sneezed at the 54th's
snuff. The negro barbers in this department had been refusing to shave
and to cut the hair of negro soldiers in common with the whites.
Corporal Kelley of the 54th Mass. Regiment, who had been refused a shave
at a shop located near one of the brigade Headquarters, went there one
evening accompanied by a number of the members of Company C. The men
gathered around the barber's place of business, which rested upon posts
a little up from the ground; the negro barbers were seated in their
chairs resting from their labors and listening to the concert, which it
was customary for a band to give each evening. As the last strains of
music were being delivered, one side of the barber shop was lifted high
and then suddenly dropped; it came down with a crash making a wreck of
the building and its contents, except the barbers, who escaped unhurt,
but who never made their appearance again. The episode resulted in the
issuing of an order forbidding discrimination on account of color.
The Washington authorities established recruiting stations throughout
the South. Of the difficulties under which recruiting officers labored
some idea may be formed by reading the following, written by the
historian of the 7th Regiment:
"The position of recruiting officer for colored troops was
by no means a sinecure; on the contrary, it was attended
with hardships, annoyances and difficulties without number.
Moving about from place to place; often on scant rations,
and always without transportation, save what could be
pressed into service; sleeping in barns, out-houses, public
buildings,--wherever shelter could be found, and meeting
from the people everywhere opposition and dislike. To have
been an officer of colored troops was of itself sufficient
to ostracize, and when, in addition, one had to take from
them their slaves, dislike became absolute hatred. There
were, of course, exceptions, and doubtless every officer
engaged on this disagreeable duty can bear testimony to
receiving at times a hospitality as generous as it was
unexpected, even from people whom duty compelled them to
despoil. But this was always from "_union men_," for it must
be confessed that a large proportion of the property-holders
on both the eastern and western shores of the Chesapeake
were as deeply in sympathy with the rebellion as their
brethren over the Virginia border.
"Perhaps the most disagreeable feature of this recruiting
duty was that Gen. Birney (Supt. of recruiting of negro
troops in Maryland) seldom saw fit to give his subordinates
anything but _verbal_ instructions. Officers were ordered to
open recruiting stations; to raid through the country,
carrying off slaves from under the eyes of their masters; to
press horses for their own use and that of their men, and
teams and vehicles for purposes of transportation; to take
forage when needed; to occupy buildings and appropriate
fuel; in short, to do a hundred things they had really no
legal right to do, and had they been called upon, as was
likely to happen at any time, for the authority under which
they were acting, they would have had nothing to show but
their commissions; and if, in carrying out these verbal
instructions from their chief, they had become involved in
serious difficulty, they had little reason to suppose that
they would be sustained by him.
"When it is remembered that slavery was at that time still a
recognized institution, and that the duty of a recruiting
officer often required him to literally strip a plantation
of its field hands, and that, too, at a time of the year
when the crops were being gathered, it is perhaps to be
wondered that the bitter feelings of the slave-owners did
not often find vent in open resistence and actual violence.
That this delicate and disagreeable duty was performed in a
manner to avoid serious difficulty certainly speaks well for
the prudence and good judgment of the officers and men
engaged in it.
"The usual method of proceeding was, upon reaching a
designated point, to occupy the most desirable public
building, dwelling-house, warehouse, or barn found vacant,
and with this as a rendezvous, small parties were sent into
the surrounding country, visiting each plantation within a
radius of twenty or thirty miles. The parties, sometimes
under charge of an officer, usually consisted of a
non-commissioned officer and ten or twelve men.
"In these journeys through the country the recruiting
officer often met with strange experiences. Recruits were
taken wherever found, and as their earthly possessions
usually consisted of but what they wore upon their backs,
they required no time to settle their affairs. The laborer
in the field would throw down his hoe or quit his plow and
march away with the guard, leaving his late owner looking
after him in speechless amazement. On one occasion the
writer met a planter on the road, followed by two of his
slaves, each driving a loaded wagon. The usual questions
were asked and the whilom slaves joined the recruiting
party, leaving their teams and late master standing in the
highway. At another time a negro was met with a horse and
wagon. Having expressed his desire to "'list," he turned his
horse's head toward home, and marched away in the opposite
direction.
"On one occasion the writer visited a large plantation near
Capeville, Va., and calling upon the proprietor asked him to
call in his slaves. He complied without a word, and when
they came and were asked if they wished to enlist, replied
that they did, and fell into the ranks with the guard. As
they started away the old man turned to me, and with tears
in his eyes, said, "Will you take them all? Here I am, an
old man; I cannot work; my crops are ungathered; my negroes
have all enlisted or run away, and what am I to do?" A hard
question, truly. Another officer was called upon by a
gentleman with this question, "You have taken all my
able-bodied men for soldiers, the others have run away, and
only the women and children are left;--what do you propose
to do with them?" Another hard question.
"At another time, when the _Balloon_ was lying at the mouth
of the Pocomoke, accompanied by Lieut. Brown and with a
boat's crew, we pulled up the river to the plantation of a
Mrs. D., a noted rebel sympathizer. We were met, as we
expected, with the most violent abuse from the fair
proprietoress, which was redoubled when three of her best
slaves, each of whom had probably been worth a couple of
thousand dollars in _ante-bellum_ days, took their bundles
and marched off to the boat. We bade the lady farewell, and
pushed off amid the shouts and screams of a score of negro
women and children, and the tears and execrations of the
widow.
"To illustrate the unreasonable orders Gen. Birney was
sometimes in the habit of giving to officers engaged under
him on recruiting service, the writer well remembers being
placed by him, at Pungoteague, Va., in charge of some 200
recruits he had forcibly taken from an officer recruiting
under Col. Nelson's orders, and receiving from him (Gen.
Birney) the most positive orders under no circumstances to
allow Col. Nelson to get possession of them,--Col. Nelson's
steamer was hourly expected--and that I should be held
personally responsible that they were put on board his own
steamer, and this when I had neither men nor muskets to
enforce the order. Fortunately (for myself) Gen. Birney's
steamer arrived first and the men were safely put on board.
Some days later, Lieut. Brown, who was then in charge of the
same station, had a squad of recruits taken from him by Col.
Nelson, in retaliation.
"Many a hap-hazard journey was undertaken in search of
recruits and recruiting stations. On one occasion an officer
was ordered by Gen. Birney to take station at a town(?) not
many miles from Port Tobacco, on the Potomac. After two
days' careful search he discovered that the town he was in
search of had been a post-office twenty years before, but
then consisted of one house, uninhabited and uninhabitable,
with not another within the circuit of five miles."
When the Government decided to arm the negroes and ordered the
organization of a hundred regiments, it was with great difficulty the
equipment department met the requisitions. It necessitated a departure
from the accustomed uniform material for volunteers, and helped to
arouse the animosity of the white troops. Instead of the coarse material
issued at first, the Phalanx was clothed in a fine blue-black dress coat
for the infantry, and a superb dark blue jacket for the artillery and
cavalry, all neatly trimmed with brass buttons and white, red and yellow
cord, representing the arm of service; heavy sky blue pantaloons, and a
flannel cap, or high crown black felt hat or _chapeau_ with a black
feather looped upon the right side and fastened with a brass eagle. For
the infantry and for the cavalry two swords crossed; for the artillery
two cannons on the front of the _chapeau_ crossed, with the letters of
the company, and number of the regiment to which the soldier belonged.
On the caps these insignias were worn on the top of the crown. The
uniform of the Phalanx put the threadbare clothes of the white veterans
in sad contrast, and was the cause of many a black soldier being badly
treated by his white comrades.[18]
At the outbreak of the Rebellion, the pay of soldiers (volunteers) was
the same as soldiers of the regular army, by law, $13 per month. The
soldiers of the Phalanx enlisted under the same law and regulations as
did the white volunteers, as to pay and term of service, but the
Secretary of War, after a few regiments were in the field, decided, and
so ordered, that negro troops should be paid ten dollars per month. The
instructions given to General Saxton on the 25th day of August, 1862,
had stated that the pay would be the same as that of the other troops:
"In view of the small force under your command, and the
inability of the Government at the present time to increase
it, in order to guard the plantations and settlements
occupied by the United States, from invasion, and to protect
the inhabitants thereof from captivity and murder by the
enemy, you are also authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and
receive into the service of the United States, such number
of volunteers of African descent as you may deem expedient,
not exceeding five thousand, and may detail officers to
instruct them in military drill, discipline and duty, and to
command them. _The persons so received into service, and
their officers, to be entitled to, and receive, the same pay
and rations as are allowed, by law, to volunteers in the
service._"
As to the white officers they were paid in full, but the privates and
non-commissioned officers were allowed but $10 per month, three of which
were deducted on account of clothing. In several instances the paymaster
not having received special instructions to that effect, disregarded the
general orders, and paid the negro soldiers in full, like other
volunteers; but the order was generally recognized, though many of the
regiments refused to receive the $7 per month, which was particularly
the case of regiments from the Northern States. The order at one time in
the Department of the Gulf, came very near causing a mutiny among the
troops, because white troops, and conscripts at that, and those who had
done provost duty about the cities, were paid $16 per month,--Congress
having raised the pay,--while the Phalanx regiments in the field and
fortifications were offered $7. The dissatisfaction was so strongly
manifested as to cause twelve members of the Phalanx to lose their
lives, which were not the only ones lost by the bad faith on the part of
the Government. However, in no instance did the Phalanx refuse to do
its duty when called upon, and at the sound of the long roll, though the
black flag was raised against them, and many of their families were
suffering at home, their patriotic ardor never abated in the least. At
the North, provisions were made by the States to relieve the families of
the brave men. Massachusetts sent paymasters to make good the promises
of the Government, but the deficiency was rejected. Her regiments,
although a year without pay, refused to accept, and demanded full pay
from the Government. The loyal people of the country, at public meetings
and the press,[19] severely criticised the Government, while the
patriotic black men continued to pour out their blood and to give their
lives for liberty and the Union.
[Illustration: SCENE AT NEW BERNE, N. C.
Enthusiasm of the Blacks at the prospect of their being allowed to
enlist as U.S. Soldiers.]
The matter being one for Congress to adjust, Henry Wilson, of
Massachusetts, on the 8th of Jan. 1864, introduced in the Senate of the
United States, a bill to promote enlistments in the army, and in this
measure justice to the black soldiers was proposed. After months of
debate, it was finally passed; not only placing the Phalanx soldiers on
a footing with all other troops, but made free, the mothers, wives and
children of the noble black troops.
The fight of the Phalanx for equal pay and allowance with the white
troops, was a long one. The friends of the black soldiers in Congress
fought it, however, to the successful issue. Senator Wilson, of
Massachusetts, took the lead in the matter in the Senate, as he did in
the amending of the enrolling acts, and the act calling out the
militia, whereby negroes were enrolled.
In the winter of '64 Gen. Butler began the organization of the Army of
the James and the enlistment of negro troops. A camp was established
near Fortress Monroe, where a great many men enlisted. The Secretary of
War gave permission to the several Northern States to send agents South,
and to enlist negroes to fill up their quotas of troops needed. Large
bounties were then being paid and many a negro received as much as $500
to enlist; while many who went as substitutes received even more than
that. The recruiting officers or rather agents from the different States
established their headquarters largely within Gen. Butlers departments,
where negro volunteers were frequently secured at a much less price than
the regular bounty offered, the agent putting into his own pocket the
difference, which often amounted to $200 or even $400 on a single
recruit. To correct this wrong, Gen. Butler issued the following order:
HEADQUARTERS DEP'T. VIRGINIA & NORTH CAROLINA,
GENERAL ORDERS, IN THE FIELD, Va., _August 4th, 1864._
No. 90.
With all the guards which the utmost vigilance and care have
thrown around the recruitment of white soldiers, it is a
fact, as lamentable as true, that a large portion of the
recruits have been swindled of part, if not all, of their
bounties. Can it be hoped that the colored man will be
better able to protect himself from the infinite ingenuity
of fraud than the white?
Therefore, to provide for the families of the colored
recruits enlisted in this Department--to relieve the United
States, as far as may be, from the burden of supporting the
families,--and to insure that at least a portion of the
bounty paid to the negro shall be received for his use and
that of his family;
_It is ordered_: I--That upon the enlistment of any negro
recruit into the service of the United States for three (3)
years, by any State agent or other person not enlisting
recruits under the direct authority of the War Department, a
sum of one hundred (100) dollars, or one-third (1/3) of the
sum agreed to be paid as bounty, shall be paid if the amount
exceeds three times that sum, into the hands of the
Superintendent of Recruiting, or an officer to be designated
by him, and in the same proportion for any less time; and no
Mustering Officer will give any certificate or voucher for
any negro recruit mustered into the service of the United
States, so that he may be credited to the quota of any
State, or as a substitute, until a certificate is filed with
him that the amount called for by this order has been paid,
to the satisfaction of the Superintendent of Recruiting of
the district wherein the recruit was enlisted; but the
mustering officer will, in default of such payment, certify
upon the roll that the recruit is not to be credited to the
quota of any State, or as a substitute.
II--The amount as paid to the Superintendent of Recruiting
shall be turned over, on the last day of each month, to the
Superintendent of Negro Affairs, to be expended in aid of
the families of negro soldiers in this Department. The
certificates filed with Commissary of Musters will be
returned to said Superintendent of Negro Affairs, on the
first day of every month, so that the Superintendent may
vouch for the accounts of the Superintendent of Recruiting,
for the amounts received by him.
And the Superintendent of Negro Affairs will account monthly
to the Financial Agent of this Department for the amounts
received and expended by him.
III--As there are unfilled colored Regiments in this
Department sufficient to receive all the negro recruits
therein, no negro male person above the age of sixteen (16)
years, shall be taken out or attempted to be taken out of
this Department, either as a recruit, as officer's servant,
or otherwise, in any manner whatever, without a pass from
these Head Quarters. Any officer, Master of Transportation,
Provost Marshal, or person, who shall aid, assist or permit
any male negro of the age of sixteen (16) years or upwards,
to go out of this Department, in contravention of this
order, will be punished, on conviction thereof before the
Provost Court, by not less than six (6) months imprisonment
at hard labor, under the Superintendent of Prison Labor, at
Norfolk, and if this offence is committed by or with the
connivance of any Master of Steamboat, Schooner, or other
vessel, the steamboat or other vessel shall be seized and
sold, and the proceeds be paid to the Superintendent of
Negro Affairs, for the use of the destitute negroes
supported by the Government.
By command of Major General B. F. BUTLER:
_R. S. DAVIS, Major and Asst. Adjt. General._
OFFICIAL: H. T. SCHROEDER, Lt. & A. A. A. Gen'l.
OFFICIAL: WM. M. PRATT, Lt. & Aide-de-Camp.
[Illustration: MUSTERING INTO SERVICE
Phalanx soldiers taking the oath of allegiance to the United States.]
The chief result of Butler's order was the establishment of the
Freedmens' Savings Bank. At the close of the war, there were in the
hands of the Superintendent of Negro Affairs, eight thousand dollars
unclaimed bounties, belonging, the most of it without doubt, to _dead
men_; it was placed in a bank at Norfolk, Va. This sum served as a
nucleus for the Freedmens' Bank, which, after gathering large sums of
the Freedmens' money, collapsed suddenly.
At Camp Hamilton several regiments were organized, including two of
cavalry. The general enlistment ordered by the War Department was pushed
most actively and with great results, till more than one hundred and
seventy-eight thousand, by the records, were enlisted into the army.
The opposition to negro soldiers did not cease with many of the Union
generals even after the Government at Washington issued its mandate for
their enlistment and impressment, and notwithstanding that the many
thousands in the service, with their display of gallantry, dash and
courage, as exhibited at Port Hudson, Milliken's Bend, Wagner, and in a
hundred other battles, had astonished and aroused the civilized world.
In view of all this, and, even more strangely, in the face of the Fort
Pillow butchery, General Sherman wrote to the Washington authorities, in
September, 1864, protesting against negro troops being organized in his
department. If Whitelaw Reid's "Ohio in the War," is to be relied upon,
Sherman's treatment of the negroes in his march to the sea was a
counterpart of the Fort Pillow massacre. His opposition was in keeping
with that of the authorities of his state,[20] notwithstanding it has
credited to its quota of troops during the war 5,092 negroes, but one
regiment was raised in the State, out of a negro population of 36,673 by
the canvas of 1860.
According to the statistics on file in the Adjutant General's office,
the States are accredited with the following number of negroes who
served in the army during the Rebellion:
ALABAMA, 2,969
LOUISIANA, 24,052
NEW HAMPSHIRE, 125
MASSACHUSETTS, 3,966
CONNECTICUT, 1,764
NEW JERSEY, 1,185
DELAWARE, 954
DISTRICT 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 TERRITORY, 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
NOT ACCOUNTED FOR, 5,896
TOTAL, 178,975.
The losses these troops sustained from sickness, wounds, killed in
battle and other casualties incident to war, was 68,178.
The aggregate negro population in the U. S. in 1860 was 4,449,201, of
which 3,950,531 were slaves.
[Illustration: PHALANX SOLDIERS ORGANIZING AND DRILLING.]
FOOTNOTES:
[15] General:--The exigencies of the service require that an inspection
should be made of the Armies, military posts and military operations in
the West; you will therefore make arrangements immediately to perform
that service. Without entering into any minute details, I beg to direct
your attention to the following subjects of investigation:
First. On arriving at Cairo, you will make a careful examination of the
military condition of that post, in the various branches of service, and
report to this Department, the result of your investigation, suggesting
whatever in your opinion, the service may require. You will observe
particularly the condition of that class of population known as
contrabands; the manner in which they are received, provided for and
treated by the military authorities, and give such directions to the
Commissary and Quartermaster Departments, and to the officers
commanding, as shall, in your judgement, be necessary to secure to them
humane and proper treatment, in respect to food, clothing, compensation
for their service, and whatever is necessary to enable them to support
themselves, and to furnish useful service in any capacity to the
Government.
Second. You will make similar observation at Columbus, Memphis and other
posts in your progress to the Headquarters of General Grant's Army.
Third. The President desires that you should confer freely with Major
General Grant, and the officers with whom you may have communication,
and explain to them the importance attached by the Government to the use
of the colored population emancipated by the President's Proclamation,
and particularly for the organization of their labor and military
strength. You will cause it to be understood that no officer in the
United States service is regarded as in the discharge of his duties
under the Acts of Congress, the President's Proclamation, and orders of
this Department, who fails to employ to the utmost extent, the aid and
co-operation of the loyal colored population in performing the labor
incident to military operations, and also in performing the duties of
soldiers under proper organization, and that any obstacle thrown in the
way of these ends, is regarded by the President as a violation of the
Acts of Congress, and the declared purposes of the Government in using
every means to bring the war to an end.
Fourth. You will ascertain what military officers are willing to take
command of colored troops; ascertain their qualifications for that
purpose, and if troops can be raised and organized, you will, so far as
can be done without prejudice to the service, relieve officers and
privates from the service in which they are engaged, to receive
commissions such as they may be qualified to exercise in the
organization of brigades, regiments and companies of colored troops. You
are authorized in this connection, to issue in the name of this
department, letters of appointment for field and company officers, and
to organize such troops for military service to the utmost extent to
which they can be obtained in accordance with the rules and regulations
of the service. You will see, more over, and expressly enjoin upon the
various staff departments of the service, that such troops are to be
provided with supplies upon the requisition of the proper officers, and
in the same manner as other troops in the service.
* * * * *
Very Respectfully Your Obedient Servant,
EDWARD M. STANTON, _Sec. of War._
BRIG. GEN. L. THOMAS,
Adjt. Gen'l. U.S. Army.
[16] Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson in an appendix to his "Army Life in
a Black Regiment," gives some account of the organization of negro
troops, from which is condensed the following:
"It is well known that the first systematic attempt to organize colored
troops during the war of the rebellion was the so-called "Hunter
Regiment." The officer originally detailed to recruit for this purpose
was Sergeant C. T. Trowbridge, of the New York Volunteer Engineers (Col.
Serrell.) His detail was dated May 7, 1862, S. O. 84, Dept. South.
"The second regiment in order of muster was the First Kansas Colored,
dating from January 13, 1863. The first enlistment in the Kansas
regiment goes back to August 6, 1862; while the earliest technical date
of enlistment in my regiment was October 19, 1862, although, as was
stated above, one company really dated its organization back to May,
1862. My muster as Colonel dates back to November 10, 1862, several
months earlier than any other of which I am aware, among colored
regiments, except that of Col. Stafford, (First Louisiana Native
Guards,) Sept. 27, 1862. Colonel Williams, of the First Kansas Colored,
was mustered as Lt. Colonel on Jan. 13, 1863; as Col., March 8, 1863.
These dates I have (with the other facts relating to the regiment) from
Col. R. J. Hinton, the first officer detailed to recruit it.
"The first detachment of the Second South Carolina Volunteers (Col.
Montgomery) went into camp at Port Royal Island, February 23, 1863,
numbering one hundred and twenty men. I do not know the date of his
muster; it was somewhat delayed, but was probably dated back to about
that time.
"Recruiting for the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts (colored) began on
February 9, 1863, and the first squad went into camp at Readville,
Massachusetts, on February 21, 1863, numbering twenty-five men. Col.
Shaw's commission--and probably his muster--was dated April 17, 1863.
(Report of Adjutant General of Massachusetts for 1863, pp. 896-899.)
These were the earliest colored regiments, so far as I know."
[17]
GENERAL ORDERS} WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
No. 143. } _Washington_, May 22, 1863.
I.--A Bureau is established in the Adjutant General's Office for the
record of all matters relating to the organization of Colored Troops. An
officer will be assigned to the charge of the Bureau, with such number
of clerks as may be designated by the Adjutant General.
II.--Three or more field officers will be detailed as Inspectors to
supervise the organization of colored troops at such points as may be
indicated by the War Department in the Northern and Western States.
III.--Boards will be convened at such posts as may be decided upon by
the War Department to examine applicants for commissions to command
colored troops, who, on application to the Adjutant General, may receive
authority to present themselves to the board for examination.
IV--No persons shall be allowed to recruit for colored troops except
specially authorized by the War Department; and no such authority will
be given to persons who have not been examined and passed by a board;
nor will such authority be given any one person to raise more than one
regiment.
V.--The reports of Boards will specify the grade of commission for which
each candidate is fit, and authority to recruit will be given in
accordance. Commissions will be issued from the Adjutant General's
Office when the prescribed number of men is ready for muster into
service.
VI.--Colored troops may be accepted by companies, to be afterwards
consolidated in battalions and regiments by the Adjutant General. The
regiments will be numbered _seriatim_, in the order in which they are
raised, the numbers to be determined by the Adjutant General. They will
be designated: "---- Regiment of U. S. Colored Troops."
VII.--Recruiting stations and depots will be established by the Adjutant
General as circumstances shall require, and officers will be detailed to
muster and inspect the troops.
VIII.--The non-commissioned officers of colored troops may be selected
and appointed from the best men of their number in the usual mode of
appointing non-commissioned officers. Meritorious commissioned officers
will be entitled to promotion to higher rank if they prove themselves
equal to it.
IX.--All personal applications for appointments in colored regiments, or
for information concerning them, must be made to the Chief of the
Bureau; all written communications should be addressed to the Chief of
the Bureau, to the care of the Adjutant General.
BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:
E. D. TOWNSEND. _Asst. Adjt. General._
[18] I attempted to pass Jackson Square in New Orleans one day in my
uniform, when I was met by two white soldiers of the 24th Conn. They
halted me and then ordered me to undress. I refused, when they seized me
and began to tear my coat off. I resisted, but to no good purpose; a
half a dozen others came up and began to assist. I recognized a sergeant
in the crowd, an old shipmate on board of a New Bedford, Mass., Whaler;
he came to my rescue, my clothing was restored and I was let go. It was
nothing strange to see a black soldier _a la Adam_ come into the
barracks out of the streets. This conduct led to the killing of a
portion of a boat's crew of the U. S. Gunboat _Jackson_, at Ship Island,
Miss., by members of a Phalanx regiment stationed there.
[19] The injustice done the Phalanx, in discriminating between the
Northern and Southern negro, may be clearly seen by the following
letters:
"NEW VICTORIES AND OLD WRONGS.--_To the Editors of the Evening Post_: On
the 2d of July, at James Island, S. C., a battery was taken by three
regiments, under the following circumstances:
"The regiments were the One Hundred and Third New York (white), the
Thirty-Third United States (formerly First South Carolina Volunteers),
and the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, the two last being colored. They
marched at one A. M., by the flank, in the above order, hoping to
surprise the battery. As usual the rebels were prepared for them, and
opened upon them as they were deep in one of those almost impassable
Southern marshes. The One Hundred and Third New York, which had
previously been in twenty battles, was thrown into confusion; the
Thirty-Third United States did better, being behind; the Fifty-Fifth
Massachusetts being in the rear, did better still. All three formed in
line, when Colonel Hartwell, commanding the brigade, gave the order to
retreat. The officer commanding the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, either
misunderstanding the order, or hearing it countermanded, ordered his
regiment to charge. This order was at once repeated by Major Trowbridge,
commanding the Thirty-Third United States, and by the commander of the
One Hundred and Third New York, so that the three regiments reached the
fort in reversed order. The color-bearers of the Thirty-Third United
States and of the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts had a race to be first in,
the latter winning. The One Hundred and Third New York entered the
battery immediately after.
"These colored regiments are two of the five which were enlisted in
South Carolina and Massachusetts, under the written pledge of the War
Department that they should have the same pay and allowances as white
soldiers. That pledge has been deliberately broken by the War
Department, or by Congress, or by both, except as to the short period,
since last New Year's Day. Every one of those killed in this action from
these two colored regiments--under a fire before which the veterans of
twenty battles recoiled--_died defrauded by the Government of nearly
one-half of his petty pay_.
"Mr. Fessenden, who defeated in the Senate the bill for the fulfillment
of the contract with these soldiers, is now Secretary of the Treasury.
Was the economy of saving six dollars per man worth to the Treasury the
ignominy of the repudiation?
"Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, on his triumphal return to his
constituents, used to them this language: 'He had no doubt whatever as
to the final result of the present contest between liberty and slavery.
The only doubt he had was whether the nation had yet been satisfactorily
chastised for their cruel oppression of a harmless and long-suffering
race.' Inasmuch as it was Mr. Stevens himself who induced the House of
Representatives, most unexpectedly to all, to defeat the Senate bill for
the fulfilment of the national contract with these soldiers, I should
think he had excellent reasons for the doubt.
Very respectfully, T. W. HIGGINSON,
July 10, 1864. _Col. 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d U. S.)_
* * * * *
"_To the Editor of the New York Tribune_: No one can possibly be so
weary of reading of the wrongs done by Government toward the colored
soldiers as I am of writing about them. This is my only excuse for
intruding on your columns again.
"By an order of the War Department, dated Aug 1, 1864, it is at length
ruled that colored soldiers shall be paid the full pay of soldiers from
date of enlistment, provided they were free on April 19, 1861,--not
otherwise; and this distinction is to be noted on the pay-rolls. In
other words, if one half of a company escaped from slavery on April 18,
1861, they are to be paid thirteen dollars per month and allowed three
dollars and a half per month for clothing. If the other half were
delayed two days, they receive seven dollars per month and are allowed
three dollars per month for precisely the same articles of clothing. If
one of the former class is made first sergeant, his pay is put up to
twenty-one dollars per month; but if he escaped two days later, his pay
is still estimated at seven dollars.
"It had not occurred to me that anything could make the pay-rolls of
these regiments more complicated than at present, or the men more
rationally discontented. I had not the ingenuity to imagine such an
order. Yet it is no doubt in accordance with the spirit, if not with the
letter, of the final bill which was adopted by Congress under the lead
of Mr. Thaddeus Stevens.
"The ground taken by Mr. Stevens apparently was that the country might
honorably save a few dollars by docking the promised pay of those
colored soldiers whom the war had made free. _But the Government should
have thought of this before it made the contract with these men and
received their services._ When the War Department instructed
Brigadier-General Saxton, August 25, 1862, to raise five regiments of
negroes in South Carolina, it was known very well that the men so
enlisted had only recently gained their freedom. But the instructions
said: 'The persons so received into service, and their officers, to be
entitled to and receive the same pay and rations as are allowed by law
to volunteers in the service.' Of this passage Mr. Solicitor Whiting
wrote to me: 'I have no hesitation in saying that the faith of the
Government was thereby pledged to every officer and soldier enlisted
under that call.' Where is that faith of the Government now?
"The men who enlisted under the pledge were volunteers, every one; they
did not get their freedom by enlisting; they had it already. They
enlisted to serve the Government, trusting in its honor. Now the nation
turns upon them and says: Your part of the contract is fulfilled; we
have had your services. If you can show that you had previously been
free for a certain length of time, we will fulfil the other side of the
contract. If not, we repudiate it. Help yourselves, if you can.
"In other words, a freedman (since April 19, 1861) has no rights which a
white man is bound to respect. He is incapable of making a contract. No
man is bound by a contract made with him. Any employer, following the
example of the United States Government, may make with him a written
agreement, receive his services, and then withhold the wages. He has no
motive to honest industry, or to honesty of any kind. He is virtually a
slave, and nothing else, to the end of time.
"Under this order, the greater part of the Massachusetts colored
regiments will get their pay at last, and be able to take their wives
and children out of the almshouses, to which, as Governor Andrew informs
us, the gracious charity of the nation has consigned so many. For so
much I am grateful. But toward my regiment, which had been in service
and under fire, months before a Northern colored soldier was recruited,
the policy of repudiation has at last been officially adopted. There is
no alternative for the officers of South Carolina regiments but to wait
for another session of Congress, and meanwhile, if necessary, act as
executioners for these soldiers who, like Sergeant Walker, refuse to
fulfil their share of a contract where the Government has openly
repudiated the other share. If a year's discussion, however, has at
length secured the arrears of pay for the Northern colored regiments,
possibly two years may secure it for the Southern.
"T. W. HIGGINSON,
"August 12, 1864. _Col. 1st S. C. Vols., (now 33d U. S.)_"
[20] "It has been said that one negro regiment was raised in 1863. More
ought to have been secured; let it never be said that it was the fault
of the colored men themselves that they were not.
"At the first call for troops in 1861, Governor Dennison was asked if he
would accept negro volunteers. In deference to a sentiment then almost
universal, not less than to the explicit regulations of the Government,
he replied that he could not. When the Emancipation Proclamation changed
the status of negroes so completely, and the Government began to accept
their services, they resumed their applications to the State
authorities. Governor Tod still discouraged them. He had previously
committed himself, in repelling the opportunities of their leaders, to
the theory that it would be contrary to our laws, and without warrant
either in their spirit or letter, to accept them, even under calls for
militia. He now did all he could to transfer such as wished to enlist,
to the Massachusetts regiments.
"The Adjutant-General, in his report for 1863, professed his inability
to say why Massachusetts should be permitted to make Ohio a
recruiting-ground for filling her quotas. If he had looked into the
correspondence which the Governor gave to the public in connection with
his message, he would have found out. As early as May 11th the Governor
said, in a letter to Hon. Wm. Porter, of Millon, Ohio: 'I do not propose
to raise any colored troops. Those now being recruited in this State are
recruited by authority from Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts.'
"A few days later he wrote to Hon. John M. Langston: 'As it was
uncertain what number of colored men could be promptly raised in Ohio. I
have advised and still do advise, that those disposed to enter the
service promptly join the Massachusetts regiments. * * * Having
requested the Governor of Massachusetts to organize the colored men from
Ohio into separate companies, so far as practicable, and also to keep me
fully advised of the names, age, and place of residence of each, Ohio
will have the full benefit of all enlistments from the State, and the
recruits themselves the benefit of the State Associations to the same
extent nearly as if organized into a State regiment.' And to persons
proposing to recruit said companies he wrote that all commissions would
be issued by the Governor of Massachusetts. In this course he had the
sanction if not the original suggestion of the Secretary of War.
Afterward his applications for authority to raise an Ohio regiment were
for sometime refused, but finally he secured it, and the One Hundred and
Twenty-Seventh was the quick result. Unfortunately it was numbered the
Fifth United States Colored. The result of all this was that Ohio
received credit for little over a third of her colored citizens who
volunteered for the war."--_Reid's Ohio in the War, Vol. I, p. 176._