BLACK SOLDIERS
How the Negro fought in every American war for a cause that was
not his and to gain for others a freedom which was not his own.
1. COLONIAL WARS
The day is past when historians glory in war. Rather, with all thoughtful
men, they deplore the barbarism of mankind which has made war so large a
part of human history. As long, however, as there are powerful men who
are determined to have their way by brute force, and as long as these
men can compel or persuade enough of their group, nation or race to
support them even to the limit of destruction, rape, theft and murder,
just so long these men will and must be opposed by force—moral force if
possible, physical force in the extreme. The world has undoubtedly come
to the place where it defends reluctantly such defensive war, but has no
words of excuse for offensive war, for the initiation of the program of
physical force.
There is, however, one further consideration: the man in the ranks
has usually little chance to decide whether the war is defensive or
offensive, righteous or wrong. He is called upon to put life and limb
in jeopardy. He responds, sometimes willingly with uplifted soul and
high resolve, persuaded that he is under Divine command; sometimes by
compulsion and by the iron of discipline. In all cases he has by every
nation been given credit; and certainly the man who voluntarily lays
down his life for a cause which he has been led to believe is righteous
deserves public esteem, although the world may weep at his ignorance and
blindness.
From the beginning America was involved in war because it was born in
a day of war. First, there were wars, mostly of aggression but partly
of self-defense, against the Indians. Then there was a series of wars
which were but colonial echoes of European brawls. Next the United States
fought to make itself independent of the economic suzerainty of England.
After that came the conquest of Mexico and the war for the Union which
resolved itself in a war against slavery, and finally the Spanish War and
the great World War.
In all these wars the Negro has taken part. He cannot be blamed for
them so far as they were unrighteous wars (and some of them were
unrighteous), because he was not a leader: he was for the most part a
common soldier in the ranks and did what he was told. Yet in the majority
of cases he was not compelled to fight. He used his own judgment and he
fought because he believed that by fighting for America he would gain
the respect of the land and personal and spiritual freedom. His problem
as a soldier was always peculiar: no matter for what America fought and
no matter for what her enemies fought, the American Negro always fought
for his own freedom and for the self-respect of his race. Whatever the
cause of war, therefore, his cause was peculiarly just. He appears,
therefore, in American wars always with double motive,—the desire to
oppose the so-called enemy of his country along with his fellow white
citizens, and before that, the motive of deserving well of those citizens
and securing justice for his folk. In this way he appears in the earliest
times fighting with the whites against the Indians as well as with the
Indians against the whites, and throughout the history of the West Indies
and Central America as well as the Southern United States we find here
and there groups of Negroes fighting with the whites. For instance: in
Louisiana early in the eighteenth century when Governor Perier took
office, the colony was very much afraid of a combination between the
Choctaw Indians and the fierce Banbara Negroes who had begun to make
common cause with them. To offset this, Perier armed a band of slaves in
1729 and sent them against the Indians. He says: “The Negroes executed
their mission with as much promptitude as secrecy.” Later, in 1730, the
Governor sent twenty white men and six Negroes to carry ammunition to the
Illinois settlement up the Mississippi River. Perier says fifteen Negroes
“in whose hands we had put weapons performed prodigies of valor. If the
blacks did not cost so much and if their labor was not so necessary to
the colony it would be better to turn them into soldiers and to dismiss
those we have who are so bad and so cowardly that they seem to have
been manufactured purposely for this colony.” But this policy of using
the Negroes against the Indians led the Indians to retaliate and seek
alliance with the blacks and in August 1730, the Natchez Indians and the
Chickshaws conspired with the Negroes to revolt. The head of the revolt,
Samba, with eight of his confederates was executed before the conspiracy
came to a head. In 1733, when Governor Bienville returned to power, he
had an army consisting of 544 white men and 45 Negroes, the latter with
free black officers.[71]
In the colonial wars which distracted America during the seventeenth and
early part of the eighteenth centuries the Negro took comparatively small
part because the institution of slavery was becoming more settled and
the masters were afraid to let their slaves fight. Notwithstanding this,
there were black freedmen who voted and were enrolled in the militia
and went to war, while some masters sent their slaves as laborers and
servants. As early as 1652 a law of Massachusetts as to the militia
required “Negro, Scotchmen and Indians” to enroll in the militia.
Afterward the policy was changed and Negroes and Indians were excluded
but Negroes often acted as sentinels at meeting-house doors. At other
times slaves ran away and enlisted as soldiers or as sailors, thus often
gaining their liberty. The New York _Gazette_ in 1760 advertises for a
slave who is suspected of having enlisted “in the provincial service.” In
1763 the Boston _Evening Post_ was looking for a Negro who “was a soldier
last summer.” One mulatto in 1746 is advertised for in the Pennsylvania
_Gazette_. He had threatened to go to the French and Indians and fight
for them. And in the Maryland _Gazette_, 1755, gentlemen are warned that
their slaves may run away to the French and Indians.[72]
2. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
The estimates of the Negro soldiers who fought on the American side of
the Revolutionary War vary from four to six thousand, or one out of every
50 or 60 of the colonial troops.
On August 24, 1778, the following report was made of Negroes in the
Revolutionary Army:[73]
Sick On
Brigades Present Absent Command Total
North Carolina 42 10 6 58
Woodford 36 3 1 40
Muhlenburg 64 26 8 98
Smallwood 20 3 1 24
2nd Maryland 43 15 2 60
Wayne 2 .. .. 2
2nd Pennsylvania 33 1 1 35
Clinton 33 2 4 62
Parsons 117 12 19 148
Huntington 56 2 4 62
Nixon 26 .. 1 27
Paterson 64 13 12 89
Late Learned 34 4 8 46
Poor 16 7 4 27
---- ---- ---- ----
Total 586 98 71 755
Alex. Scammell, _Adj. Gen._
This report does not include Negro soldiers enlisted in Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire and other States not mentioned nor
does it include those who were in the army at both earlier and later
dates. Other records prove that Negroes served in as many as 18 brigades.
It was a Negro who in a sense began the actual fighting. In 1750 William
Brown of Framingham, Mass., advertised three times for “A Molatto Fellow
about 27 Years of Age, named _Crispas_, 6 Feet 2 Inches high, short
Curl’d Hair.” This runaway slave was the same Crispus Attucks who in
1779 led a mob on the 5th of March against the British soldiers in the
celebrated “Boston Massacre.”
Much has been said about the importance and lack of importance of this
so-called “Boston Massacre.” Whatever the verdict of history may be,
there is no doubt that the incident loomed large in the eyes of the
colonists. Distinguished men were orators on the 5th of March for years
after, until that date was succeeded by the 4th of July. Daniel Webster
in his great Bunker Hill oration said: “From that moment we may date the
severance of the British Empire.”
Possibly these men exaggerated the actual importance of a street brawl
between citizens and soldiers, led by a runaway slave; but there is no
doubt that the colonists, who fought for independence from England,
thought this occasion of tremendous importance and were nerved to great
effort because of it.
Livermore says: “The presence of the British soldiers in King Street
excited the patriotic indignation of the people. The whole community was
stirred, and sage counsellors were deliberating and writing and talking
about the public grievances. But it was not for the ‘wise and prudent’ to
be first to act against the encroachments of arbitrary power. ‘A motley
rabble of saucy boys, Negroes and mulattoes, Irish Teagues and outlandish
Jack tars,’ (as John Adams described them in his plea in defense of the
soldiers) could not restrain their emotion or stop to enquire if what
they _must do_ was according to the letter of the law. Led by Crispus
Attucks, the mulatto slave, and shouting, ‘The way to get rid of these
soldiers is to attack the main guard; strike at the root; this is the
nest’; with more valor than discretion they rushed to King Street and
were fired upon by Captain Preston’s company. Crispus Attucks was the
first to fall; he and Samuel Gray and Jonas Caldwell were killed on
the spot. Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr were mortally wounded. The
excitement which followed was intense. The bells of the town were rung.
An impromptu town meeting was held and an immense assembly gathered.
Three days after, on the 8th, a public funeral of the Martyrs took place.
The shops in Boston were closed and all the bells of Boston and the
neighboring towns were rung. It is said that a greater number of persons
assembled on this occasion than ever before gathered on this continent
for a similar purpose. The body of Crispus Attucks, the mulatto, had been
placed in Faneuil Hall with that of Caldwell, both being strangers in the
city. Maverick was buried from his mother’s house in Union Street, and
Gray from his brother’s in Royal Exchange Lane. The four hearses formed
a junction in King Street and then the procession marched in columns six
deep, with a long file of coaches belonging to the most distinguished
citizens, to the Middle Burying Ground, where the four victims were
deposited in one grave over which a stone was placed with the inscription:
‘Long as in Freedom’s cause the wise contend,
Dear to your country shall your fame extend;
While to the world the lettered stone shall tell
Where Caldwell, Attucks, Gray and Maverick fell.’
“The anniversary of this event was publicly commemorated in
Boston by an oration and other exercises every year until our
National Independence was achieved, when the Fourth of July
was substituted for the Fifth of March as the more proper day
for a general celebration. Not only was the event commemorated
but the martyrs who then gave up their lives were remembered
and honored.”[74]
The relation of the Negro to the Revolutionary War was peculiar. If his
services were used by the Colonists this would be an excuse for the
English to use the Indians and to emancipate the slaves. If he were not
used not only was this source of strength to the small loyal armies
neglected but there still remained the danger that the English would bid
for the services of Negroes. At first then the free Negro went quite
naturally into the army as he had for the most part been recognized as
liable to military service. Then Congress hesitated and ordered that
no Negroes be enlisted. Immediately there appeared the determination
of the Negroes, whether deliberately arrived at or by the more or less
unconscious development of thought under the circumstances, to give their
services to the side which promised them freedom and decent treatment.
When therefore Governor Dunmore of Virginia and English generals like
Cornwallis and Clinton made a bid for the services of Negroes, coupled
with promises of freedom, they got considerable numbers and in the case
of Dunmore one Negro unit fought a pitched battle against the Colonists.
The Continental Congress took up the question of Negroes in the Army
in September, 1775. A committee consisting of Lynch, Lee and Adams
reported a letter which they had drafted to Washington. Rutledge of South
Carolina moved that Washington be instructed to discharge all Negroes
whether slave or free from the army, but this was defeated. October 8th
Washington and other generals in council of war, agreed unanimously
that slaves should be rejected and a large majority declared that they
refuse free Negroes. October 18th, the question came up again before the
committee consisting of Benjamin Franklin, General Washington, certain
deputies, governors and others. This council agreed that Negroes should
be rejected and Washington issued orders to this effect November 12th,
1775. Meantime, however, Dunmore’s proclamation came and his later
success in raising a black regiment which greatly disturbed Washington.
In July, 1776, the British had 200 Negro soldiers on Long Island and
later two regiments of Negroes were raised by the British in North
Carolina. The South lost thousands of Negroes through the British. In
Georgia a corps of fugitives calling themselves the “King of England
Soldiers” kept attacking on both sides of the Savannah River even after
the Revolution and many feared a general insurrection of slaves.
The colonists soon began to change their attitude. Late in 1775,
Washington reversed his decision and ordered his recruiting officers
to accept free Negroes who had already served in the army and laid the
matter before the Continental Congress. The Committee recommended that
these Negroes be reenlisted but no others. Various leaders advised that
it would be better to enlist the slaves, among them Samuel Hopkins,
Alexander Hamilton, General Greene, James Madison. Even John Laurens of
South Carolina tried to make the South accept the proposition.[75]
Thus Negroes again were received into the American army and from that
time on they played important rôles. They had already distinguished
themselves in individual cases at Bunker Hill. For instance, fourteen
white officers sent the following statement to the Massachusetts
Legislature on December 5, 1775: “The subscribers beg leave to report to
your Honorable House (which we do in justice to the character of so brave
a man) that under our own observation we declare that a Negro man named
Salem Poor, of Colonel Frye’s regiment, Captain Ames’ company, in the
late battle at Charlestown, behaved like an experienced officer as well
as an excellent soldier. To set forth particulars of his conduct would
be tedious. We only beg leave to say, in the person of this said Negro,
centers a brave and gallant soldier. The reward due to so great and
distinguished a character we submit to the Congress.”[76]
They afterward fought desperately in Long Island and at the battle of
Monmouth. Foreign travellers continually note the presence of Negroes in
the American army.
Less known however is the help which the black republic of Haiti offered
to the struggling Colonists. In December 1778 Savannah was captured
by the British, and Americans were in despair until the French fleet
appeared on the coast of Georgia in September 1779. The fleet offered to
help recapture Savannah. It had on board 1900 French troops of whom 800
were black Haitian volunteers. Among these volunteers were Christophe,
afterward king of Haiti, Rigaud, André, Lambert and others. They were a
significant and faithful band which began by helping freedom in America,
then turned and through the French revolution freed Haiti and finally
helped in the emancipation of South America. The French troops landed
below the city with the Americans at their right and together they made
an attack. American and French flags were planted on the British outposts
but their bearers were killed and a general retreat was finally ordered.
Seven hundred and sixty Frenchmen and 312 Americans were killed and
wounded. As the army began to retreat the British general attacked the
rear, determined to annihilate the Americans. It was then that the black
and mulatto freedmen from Haiti under the command of Viscount de Fontages
made the charge on the English and saved the retreating Americans. They
returned to Haiti to prepare eventually to make that country the second
one in America which threw off the domination of Europe.[77]
Some idea of the number of Negro soldiers can be had by reference to
documents mentioning the action of the States. Rhode Island raised
a regiment of slaves, and Governor Cooke said that it was generally
thought that at least 300 would enlist. Four companies were finally
formed there at a cost of over £10,000. Most of the 629 slaves in New
Hampshire enlisted and many of the 15,000 slaves in New York. Connecticut
had Negroes in her regiments and also a regiment of colored soldiers.
Maryland sought in 1781 to raise 750 Negro troops. Massachusetts had
colored troops in her various units from 72 towns in that State. “In view
of these numerous facts it is safe to conclude that there were at least
4,000 Negro soldiers scattered throughout the Continental Army.”[78]
In a debate in Congress in 1820 two men, one from the North and one
from the South, gave the verdict of that time on the value of the Negro
in the Revolutionary War. William Eustis of Massachusetts said: “The
war over and peace restored, these men returned to their respective
States, and who could have said to them on their return to civil life
after having shed their blood in common with the whites in the defense
of the liberties of the country, ‘You are not to participate in the
rights secured by the struggle or in the liberty for which you have been
fighting?’ Certainly no white man in Massachusetts.”
Charles Pinckney of South Carolina said: that the Negroes, “then were, as
they still are, as valuable a part of our population to the Union as any
other equal number of inhabitants. They were in numerous instances the
pioneers and, in all, the laborers of your armies. To their hands were
owing the erection of the greatest part of the fortifications raised for
the protection of our country; some of which, particularly Fort Moultrie,
gave at that early period of the inexperience and untried valor of our
citizens, immortality to American arms: and, in the Northern States
numerous bodies of them were enrolled into and fought by the sides of the
whites, the battles of the Revolution.”[79]
In 1779 in the war between Spain and Great Britain, the Spanish Governor
of Louisiana, Galvez, had in his army which he led against the British,
numbers of blacks and mulattoes who he said “behaved on all occasions
with as much valor and generosity as the whites.”[80]
3. THE WAR OF 1812
In the War of 1812 the Negro appeared not only as soldier but
particularly as sailor and in the dispute concerning the impressment
of American sailors which was one of the causes of the war, Negro
sailors repeatedly figured as seized by England and claimed as American
citizens by America for whose rights the nation was apparently ready to
go to war. For instance, on the Chesapeake were three Negro sailors
whom the British claimed but whom the Americans declared were American
citizens,—Ware, Martin and Strachen. As Bryant says: “The citizenship
of Negroes was sought and defended by England and America at this time
but a little later it was denied by the United States Supreme Court that
Negroes could be citizens.” On demand two of these Negroes were returned
to America by the British government; the other one died in England.
Negroes fought under Perry and Macdonough. On the high seas Negroes were
fighting. Nathaniel Shaler, captain of a privateer, wrote to his agent in
New York in 1813:
“Before I could get our light sails on and almost before I could
turn around, I was under the guns, not of a transport but of a large
frigate! And not more than a quarter of a mile from her.... Her first
broadside killed two men and wounded six others.... My officers conducted
themselves in a way that would have done honor to a more permanent
service.... The name of one of my poor fellows who was killed ought to be
registered in the book of fame, and remembered with reverence as long as
bravery is considered a virtue. He was a black man by the name of John
Johnson.... When America has such tars, she has little to fear from the
tyrants of the ocean.”[81]
A few Negroes were in the northern armies. A Congressman said in 1828: “I
myself saw a battalion of them—as fine martial looking men as I ever saw
attached to the northern army in the last war (1812) on its march from
Plattsburg to Sacketts Harbor where they did service for the country with
credit to New York and honor to themselves.”[82]
But it was in the South that they furnished the most spectacular instance
of participation in this war. Governor Claiborne appealed to General
Jackson to use colored soldiers. “These men, Sir, for the most part,
sustain good characters. Many of them have extensive connections and much
property to defend, and all seem attached to arms. The mode of acting
toward them at the present crisis, is an inquiry of importance. If we
give them not our confidence, the enemy will be encouraged to intrigue
and corrupt them.”[83]
September 21, 1814, Jackson issued a spirited appeal to the free Negroes
of Louisiana: “Through a mistaken policy, you have heretofore been
deprived of a participation in the glorious struggle for national rights
in which our country is engaged. This no longer shall exist.
“As sons of freedom, you are now called upon to defend our most
inestimable blessing. As Americans, your country looks with confidence to
her adopted children for a valorous support as a faithful return for the
advantages enjoyed under her mild and equitable government. As fathers,
husbands and brothers, you are summoned to rally around the standard of
the Eagle, to defend all which is dear in existence.... In the sincerity
of a soldier and the language of truth I address you.”[84]
He promised them the same bounty as whites and they were to have colored
non-commissioned officers. There was some attempt to have Jackson tone
down this appeal and say less of “equality,” but he refused to change his
first draft.
The news of this proclamation created great surprise in the North but not
much criticism. Indeed, things were going too badly for the Americans.
The Capitol at Washington had been burned, the State of Maine was in
British hands, enlistment had stopped and Northern States like New York
were already arming Negroes. The Louisiana legislature, a month after
Jackson’s proclamation, passed an act authorizing two regiments of “men
of color” by voluntary enlistment. Slaves were allowed to enlist and were
publicly manumitted for their services. There were 3200 white and 430
colored soldiers in the battle of New Orleans. The first battalion of 280
Negroes was commanded by a white planter, La Coste; a second battalion
of 150 was raised by Captain J. B. Savary, a colored man, from the San
Dominican refugees, and commanded by Major Daquin who was probably a
quadroon.
Besides these soldiers slaves were used in throwing up the famous cotton
bale ramparts, which saved the city, and this was the idea of a black
slave from Africa, who had seen the same thing done at home. Colored men
were used to reconnoitre, and the slave trader Lafitte brought a mixed
band of white and black fighters to help. Curiously enough there were
also Negroes on the other side, Great Britain having imported a regiment
from the West Indies which was at the head of the attacking column moving
against Jackson’s right, together with an Irish regiment. Conceive this
astounding anomaly!
The American Negro soldiers were stationed very near Jackson and his
staff. Jackson himself in an address to the soldiers after the battle,
complimenting the “embodied militia,” said:
“To the Men of Color.—Soldiers! From the shores of Mobile I collected
you to arms,—I invited you to share in the perils and to divide the
glory of your white countrymen. I expected much from you; for I was not
uninformed of those qualities which must render you so formidable to an
invading foe. I knew that you could endure hunger and thirst and all the
hardships of war. I knew that you loved the land of your nativity and
that, like ourselves, you had to defend all that is most dear to man. But
you surpass my hopes. I have found in you, united to these qualities,
that noble enthusiasm which impels to great deeds.”[85]
In the celebration of the victory which followed in the great public
square, the Place d’Armes, now Jackson Square, the colored troops shared
the glory and the wounded prisoners were met by colored nurses.[86]
4. THE CIVIL WAR
There were a few Negroes in the Mexican War but they went mostly as
body servants to white officers and there were probably no soldiers and
certainly no distinct Negro organizations. The Negro, therefore, shares
little of the blood guilt of that unhallowed raid for slave soil.
At the time of the Civil War when the call came for volunteers free
Negroes everywhere offered their services to the Northern States and
everywhere their services were declined. Indeed, it was almost looked
upon as insolence that they should offer to fight in this “white man’s
war.” Not only was the war to be fought by white men but desperate effort
was made to cling to the technical fact that this was a war to save the
Union and not a war against slavery. Federal officials and northern
army officers made effort to reassure the South that they were not
abolitionists and that they were not going to touch slavery.[87]
Meantime there began to crystallize the demand that the real object of
the war be made the abolition of slavery and that the slaves and colored
men in general be allowed to fight for freedom.
This met bitter opposition. The New York _Herald_ voiced this August
5, 1862. “The efforts of those who love the Negro more than the Union
to induce the President to swerve from his established policy are
unavailing. He will neither be persuaded by promises nor intimidated
by threats. Today he was called upon by two United States Senators
and rather peremptorily requested to accept the services of two Negro
regiments. They were flatly and unequivocally rejected. The President
did not appreciate the necessity of employing the Negroes to fight the
battles of the country and take the positions which the white men of
the nation, the voters, and sons of patriotic sires, should be proud to
occupy; there were employments in which the Negroes of rebel masters
might well be engaged, but he was not willing to place them upon an
equality with our volunteers who had left home and family and lucrative
occupations to defend the Union and the Constitution while there were
volunteers or militia enough in the loyal States to maintain the
Government without resort to this expedient. If the loyal people were not
satisfied with the policy he had adopted, he was willing to leave the
administration to other hands. One of the Senators was impudent enough to
tell the President he wished to God he would resign.”
In the spring of 1862 General Hunter was sent into South Carolina
with less than 11,000 men and charged with the duty of holding the
whole seacoast of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. He asked for
re-enforcement but was told frankly from Washington, “Not a man from the
North can be spared.” The only way to guard the position was to keep
long lines of entrenchment thrown up against the enemy. General Hunter
calmly announced his intention of forming a Negro regiment to help him.
They were to be paid as laborers by the quartermaster but he expected
eventually to have them recognized as soldiers by the government. At
first he could find no officers. They were shocked at being asked to
command “niggers.” Even non-commissioned officers were difficult to find.
But eventually the regiment was formed and became an object of great
curiosity when on parade. Reports of the first South Carolina infantry
were sent to Washington but there was no reply. Then suddenly the matter
came up in Congress and Hunter was ordered to explain whether he had
enlisted fugitive slaves and upon what authority. Hunter immediately sent
a sharp reply:
“To the first question, therefore, I reply: That no regiment of ‘fugitive
slaves’ has been, or is being, organized in this department. There is,
however, a fine regiment of loyal persons whose late masters are fugitive
rebels—men who everywhere fly before the appearance of the National flag,
leaving their loyal and unhappy servants behind them, to shift as best
they can for themselves. So far, indeed, are the loyal persons composing
the regiment from seeking to evade the presence of their late owners,
that they are now one and all endeavoring with commendable zeal to
acquire the drill and discipline requisite to place them in a position
to go in full and effective pursuit of their fugacious and traitorous
proprietors.
“The experiment of arming the blacks, so far as I have made it, has been
a complete and even marvellous success. They are sober, docile, attentive
and enthusiastic, displaying great natural capacities in acquiring the
duties of the soldier. They are now eager beyond all things to take the
field and be led into action; and it is the unanimous opinion of the
officers who have had charge of them, that in the peculiarities of this
climate and country, they will prove invaluable auxiliaries, fully equal
to the similar regiments so long and so successfully used by the British
authorities in the West India Islands.
“In conclusion, I would say, it is my hope—there appearing no possibility
of other reinforcements, owing to the exigencies of the campaign in
the peninsula—to have organized by the end of next fall and to be able
to present to the government from 48,000 to 50,000 of these hardy and
devoted soldiers.”[88]
The reply was read in Congress amid laughter despite the indignation of
the Kentucky Congressman who instituted the inquiry.
Protests now came from the South but no answer was forthcoming and
despite all the agitation the regiment remained until at last Hunter was
officially ordered to raise 50,000 black laborers of whom 5,000 might be
armed and dressed as soldiers.
Horace Greeley stated the case clearly August 20, 1862 in his “Prayer of
Twenty Million”:[89]
“On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, there is not one
disinterested, determined, intelligent champion of the Union cause who
does not feel that all attempts to put down the rebellion and at the
same time uphold its inciting cause are preposterous and futile—that
the rebellion if crushed out tomorrow would be renewed within a year if
slavery were left in full vigor—that army officers who remain to this day
devoted to slavery can at best be but half-way loyal to the Union—and
that every hour of deference to slavery is an hour of added and deepened
peril to the Union....
“I close as I began, with the statement that what an immense majority
of the loyal millions of your countrymen require of you is a frank,
declared, unqualified, ungrudging execution of the laws of the land, more
especially of the Confiscation Act. That Act gives freedom to the slaves
of rebels coming within our lines or whom those lines may at any time
enclose,—we ask you to render it due obedience by publicly requiring all
your subordinates to recognize and obey it. The rebels are everywhere
using the late anti-Negro riots in the North—as they have long used your
officers’ treatment of Negroes in the South—to convince the slaves that
they have nothing to hope from a Union success—that we mean in that case
to sell them into bitter bondage to defray the cost of the war. Let them
impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant and credulous
bondsmen, and the Union will never be restored—never. We cannot conquer
ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against us, powerfully
aided by northern sympathizers and European allies. We must have scouts,
guides, spies, cooks, teamsters, diggers and choppers from the blacks of
the South—whether we allow them to fight for us or not—or we shall be
baffled and repelled.”
A month later, September 22, Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation. He had considered this step before and his
final decision was caused, first, by a growing realization of the immense
task that lay before the Union armies and, secondly, by the fear that
Europe was going to recognize the Confederacy, since she saw as between
North and South little difference in attitude toward slavery.
The effect of the step was undoubtedly decisive for ultimate victory,
although at first it spread dismay. Six of the Northern States went
Democratic in the fall elections and elsewhere the Republicans lost
heavily. In the army some officers resigned and others threatened to
because “The war for the Union was changed into a war for the Negro.”
In the South men like Beauregard urged the raising of the “Black Flag”
while Jefferson Davis in his third annual message wrote: “We may well
leave it to the instincts of that common humanity which a beneficent
Creator has implanted in the breasts of our fellowmen of all countries to
pass judgment on a measure by which several millions of human beings of
an inferior race, peaceful and contented laborers in their sphere, are
doomed to extermination.”[90]
With emancipation foreshadowed the full recognition of the Negro soldier
was inevitable. In September 1862 came a black Infantry Regiment from
Louisiana and later a regiment of heavy artillery and by the end of
1862 four Negro regiments had enlisted. Immediately after the signing
of the Emancipation Proclamation came the Kansas Colored volunteers and
the famous 54th Massachusetts Regiment. A Bureau was established in
Washington to handle the colored enlistments and before the end of the
war 178,975 Negroes had enlisted.
“In the Department [of War] 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.”[91]
General orders covering the enlistment of Negro troops were sent out from
the War Department October 13, 1863. The Union League in New York city
raised 2,000 black soldiers in 45 days, although no bounty was offered
them and no protection promised their families. The regiment had a
triumphal march through the city and a daily paper stated: “In the month
of July last the homes of these people were burned and pillaged by an
infuriated political mob; they and their families were hunted down and
murdered in the public streets of this city; and the force and majesty
of the law were powerless to protect them. Seven brief months have passed
and a thousand of these despised and persecuted men marched through the
city in the garb of the United States soldiers, in vindication of their
own manhood and with the approval of a countless multitude—in effect
saving from inevitable and distasteful conscription the same number of
those who hunted their persons and destroyed their homes during those
days of humiliation and disgrace. This is noble vengeance—a vengeance
taught by Him who commanded, ‘Love them that hate you; do good to them
that persecute you.’”
The enlistment of Negroes caused difficulty and friction among the
white troops. In South Carolina General Gilmore had to forbid the white
troops using Negro troops for menial service in cleaning up the camps.
Black soldiers in uniform often had their uniforms stripped off by white
soldiers.
“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 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 _à la_ Adam come into the barracks out of the
streets.”[92] 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
Negro regiment stationed there.
Then, too, there was contemptible discrimination in pay. While white
soldiers received $13 a month and clothing, Negro soldiers, by act of
Congress, were given $10 a month with $3 deducted for clothing, leaving
only $7 a month as actual pay. This was only remedied when the 54th
Massachusetts Infantry refused all pay for a year until it should be
treated as other regiments. The State of Massachusetts made up the
difference between the $7 and $13 to disabled soldiers until June 16,
1864, when the government finally made the Negroes’ pay equal to that of
the whites.
On the Confederate side there was a movement to use Negro soldiers
fostered by Judah Benjamin, General Lee and others. In 1861 a Negro
company from Nashville offered its services to the Confederate states and
free Negroes of Memphis were authorized by the Committee of Safety to
organize a volunteer company. Companies of free Negroes were raised in
New Orleans,—“Very well drilled and comfortably uniformed.” In Richmond
colored troops were also raised in the last days. Few if any of these
saw actual service. Plantation hands from Alabama built the redoubts
at Charleston, and Negroes worked as teamsters and helpers throughout
the South. In February, 1864, the Confederate congress provided for the
impressment of 20,000 slaves for menial service, and President Davis
suggested that the number be doubled and that they be emancipated at
the end of their service. Before the war started local authorities
had in many cases enrolled free Negroes as soldiers and some of these
remained in the service of the Confederacy. The adjutant general of
the Louisiana militia issued an order which said “the Governor and the
Commander-in-Chief, relying implicitly upon the loyalty of the free
colored population of the city and State, for the protection of their
homes, their property and for southern rights, from the population of
a ruthless invader, and believing that the military organization which
existed prior to February 15, 1862, and elicited praise and respect for
the patriotic motives which prompted it, should exist for and during the
war, calls upon them to maintain their organization and hold themselves
prepared for such orders as may be transmitted to them.” These native
guards did not leave the city when the Confederates did and explained to
General Butler that they dared not refuse to work with the Confederates
and that they hoped by their service to gain greater equality with
the whites and that they would be glad now to join the Union forces.
Two weeks after the fall of Sumter colored volunteers passed through
Georgia on their way to Virginia. There were 16 or more companies. In
November, 1861, a regiment of 1,400 free colored men were in the line of
march at New Orleans. The idea of calling the Negroes grew as the power
of the Confederacy waned and the idea of emancipation as compensation
spread. President Davis said “Should the alternative ever be presented
of subjugation or of the employment of slaves as soldiers there seems no
reason to doubt what should be our decision.”
There was, of course, much difference of opinion. General Cobb said “If
slaves make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong,” while
a Georgian replied “Some say that Negroes will not fight, I say they
will fight. They fought at Ocean Pond, Honey Hill and other places.”
General Lee, in January ’64, gave as his opinion that they should employ
them without delay. “I believe with proper regulations they may be made
efficient soldiers.” He continued, “Our chief aim should be to secure
their fidelity. There have been formidable armies composed of men having
no interest in the cause for which they fought beyond their pay or the
hope of plunder. But it is certain that the surest foundation upon which
the fidelity of an army can rest, especially in a service which imposes
hardships and privations, is the personal interest of the soldier in the
issue of the contest. Such an interest we can give our Negroes by giving
immediate freedom to all who enlist, and freedom at the end of the war to
the families of those who discharge their duties faithfully (whether they
survive or not), together with the privilege of residing at the South. To
this might be added a bounty for faithful service.”
Finally, March 13, 1865, it was directed that slaves be enrolled in the
Confederate army, each state to furnish its quota of 300,000. Recruiting
officers were appointed, but before the plan could be carried out Lee and
Johnson surrendered.[93]
The central fact which we forget in these days is that the real question
in the minds of most white people in the United States in 1863 was
whether or not the Negro really would fight. The generation then living
had never heard of the Negro in the Revolution and in the War of 1812,
much less of his struggles and insurrections before. From 1820 down to
the time of the war a determined and far-reaching propaganda had led most
men to believe in the natural inferiority, cowardice and degradation of
the Negro race. We have already seen Abraham Lincoln suggest that if arms
were put into the hands of the Negro soldier it might be simply a method
of arming the rebels. The New York _Times_ discussed the matter soberly,
defending the right to employ Negroes but suggesting four grounds which
might make it inexpedient; that Negroes would not fight, that prejudice
was so strong that whites would not fight with them, that no free Negroes
would volunteer and that slaves could not be gotten hold of and that the
use of Negroes would exasperate the South. “The very best thing that can
be done under existing circumstances, in our judgment, is to possess our
souls in patience while the experiment is being tried. The problem will
probably speedily solve itself—much more speedily than heated discussion
or harsh criminations can solve it.”
This was in February 16, 1863. It was not long before the results of
using Negro troops began to be reported and we find the _Times_ saying
editorially on the 31st of July: “Negro soldiers have now been in
battle at Port Hudson and at Milliken’s Bend in Louisiana; at Helena
in Arkansas, at Morris Island in South Carolina, and at or near Fort
Gibson in the Indian Territory. In two of these instances they assaulted
fortified positions and led the assault; in two they fought on the
defensive, and in one they attacked rebel infantry. In all of them
they acted in conjunction with white troops and under command of white
officers. In some instances they acted with distinguished bravery, and in
all they acted as well as could be expected of raw troops.”
On the 11th of February, 1863, the news columns of the _Times_ were still
more enthusiastic. “It will not need many such reports as this—and there
have been several before it—to shake our inveterate Saxon prejudice
against the capacity and courage of Negro troops. Everybody knows
that they were used in the Revolution, and in the last war with Great
Britain fought side by side with white troops, and won equal praises
from Washington and Jackson. It is shown also that black sailors are on
equal terms with their white comrades. If on the sea, why not on the
land? No officer who has commanded black troops has yet reported against
them. They are tried in the most unfavorable and difficult circumstances,
but never fail. When shall we learn to use the full strength of the
formidable ally who is only waiting for a summons to rally under the flag
of the Union? Colonel Higginson says: ‘No officer in this regiment now
doubts that the successful prosecution of this war lies in the unlimited
employment of black troops.’ The remark is true in a military sense, and
it has a still deeper political significance.
“When General Hunter has scattered 50,000 muskets among the Negroes of
the Carolinas, and General Butler has organized the 100,000 or 200,000
blacks for whom he may perhaps shortly carry arms to New Orleans, the
possibility of restoring the Union as it was, with slavery again its
dormant power, will be seen to have finally passed away. The Negro is
indeed the key to success.”
The Negroes began to fight and fight hard; but their own and peculiar
characteristics stood out even in the blood of war. A Pennsylvania
Major wrote home: “I find that these colored men learn everything that
pertains to the duties of a soldier much faster than any white soldiers
I have ever seen.... They are willing, obedient, and cheerful; move with
agility, and are full of music.”[94]
Certain battles, carnivals of blood, stand out and despite their horror
must not be forgotten. One of the earliest encounters was the terrible
massacre at Fort Pillow, April 18, 1863. The fort was held with a
garrison of 557 men, of whom 262 were colored soldiers of the 6th United
States Heavy Artillery. The Union commander refused to surrender.
“Upon receiving the refusal of Major Booth to capitulate, Forrest gave
a signal and his troops made a frantic charge upon the fort. It was
received gallantly and resisted stubbornly, but there was no use of
fighting. In ten minutes the enemy, assaulting the fort in the centre,
and striking it on the flanks, swept in. The Federal troops surrendered;
but an indiscriminate massacre followed. Men were shot down in their
tracks; pinioned to the ground with bayonet and sabre. Some were clubbed
to death while dying of wounds; others were made to get down upon their
knees, in which condition they were shot to death. Some were burned
alive, having been fastened into the buildings, while still others were
nailed against the houses, tortured and then burned to a crisp.”[95]
May 27, 1863, came the battle of Port Hudson. “Hearing the firing
apparently more fierce and continuous to the right than anywhere else,
I turned in that direction, past the sugar house of Colonel Chambers,
where I had slept, and advanced to near the pontoon bridge across the Big
Sandy Bayou, which the Negro regiments had erected, and where they were
fighting most desperately. I had seen these brave and hitherto despised
fellows the day before as I rode along the lines, and I had seen General
Banks acknowledge their respectful salute as he would have done that of
any white troops; but still the question was—with too many—‘Will they
fight?’
“General Dwight, at least, must have had the idea, not only that they
were men, but something more than men, from the terrific test to which
he put their valor. Before any impression had been made upon the
earthworks of the enemy, and in full face of the batteries belching forth
their 62-pounders, these devoted people rushed forward to encounter
grape, canister, shell, and musketry, with no artillery but two small
howitzers—that seemed mere popguns to their adversaries—and no reserve
whatever.
“Their force consisted of the 1st Louisiana Native Guards (with colored
field officers) under Lieutenant-Colonel Bassett, and the 3d Louisiana
Native Guards, Colonel Nelson (with white field officers), the whole
under command of the latter officer.
“On going into action they were 1,080 strong, and formed into four lines,
Lieutenant-Colonel Bassett, 1st Louisiana, forming the first line, and
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Finnegas the second. When ordered to charge up
the works, they did so with the skill and nerve of old veterans (black
people, be it remembered who had never been in action before). Oh, but
the fire from the rebel guns was so terrible upon the unprotected masses,
that the first few shots mowed them down like grass and so continued.
“Colonel Bassett being driven back, Colonel Finnegas took his place,
and his men being similarly cut to pieces, Lieutenant-Colonel Bassett
reformed and recommenced; and thus these brave people went in from
morning until 3:30 P.M., under the most hideous carnage that men ever
had to withstand, and that very few white ones would have had nerve to
encounter, even if ordered to.
“During this time, they rallied, and were ordered to make six distinct
charges, losing 37 killed, and 155 wounded, and 116 missing,—the
majority, if not all, of these being, in all probability, now lying dead
on the gory field, and without the rites of sepulture; for when, by flag
of truce, our forces in other directions were permitted to reclaim their
dead, the benefit, through some neglect, was not extended to these black
regiments.
“The deeds of heroism performed by these colored men were such as the
proudest white men might emulate. Their colors are torn to pieces by
shot and literally bespattered by blood and brains. The color-sergeant
of the 1st Louisiana, on being mortally wounded, hugged the colors to
his breast, when a struggle ensued between the two color-corporals on
each side of him, as to who should have the honor of bearing the sacred
standard, and during this generous contention one was seriously wounded.
One black lieutenant actually mounted the enemy’s works three or four
times, and in one charge the assaulting party came within fifty paces of
them. Indeed, if only ordinarily supported by artillery and reserve, no
one can convince us that they would not have opened a passage through the
enemy’s works.
“Captain Callioux of the 1st Louisiana, a man so black that he actually
prided himself upon his blackness, died the death of a hero, leading on
his men in the thickest of the fight.”[96]
In July 13, 1863, came the draft riot in New York when the daily papers
told the people that they were called upon to fight the battles of
“niggers and abolitionists,” when the governor did nothing but “request”
the rioters to await the report of his demand that the President suspend
the draft. Meantime the city was given over to rapine and murder,
property destroyed, Negroes killed and the colored orphans’ asylum burned
to the ground and property robbed and pillaged.
At that very time in South Carolina black soldiers were preparing to take
Fort Wagner, their greatest battle. It will be noted that continually
Negroes were called upon to rescue lost causes, many times as a sort of
deliberate test of their courage. Fort Wagner was a case in point. The
story may be told from two points of view, that of the white Unionist and
that of the Confederate. The Union account says:
“The signal given, our forces advanced rapidly towards the fort, while
our mortars in the rear tossed their bombs over their heads. The 54th
Massachusetts (a Negro Regiment) led the attack, supported by the 6th
Connecticut, 48th New York, 3rd New Hampshire, 76th Pennsylvania, and
the 9th Maine Regiments.... The silent and shattered walls of Wagner
all at once burst forth into a blinding sheet of vivid light, as though
they had suddenly been transformed by some magic power into the living,
seething crater of a volcano! Down came the whirlwind of destruction
along the beach with the swiftness of lightning! How fearfully the
hissing shot, the shrieking bombs, the whistling bars of iron, and the
whispering bullet struck and crushed through the dense masses of our
brave men! I never shall forget the terrible sound of that awful blast of
death, which swept down, shattered or dead, a thousand of our men. Not
a shot had missed its aim. Every bolt of steel, every globe of iron and
lead, tasted of human blood....
“In a moment the column recovered itself, like a gallant ship at sea when
buried for an instant under the immense wave.
“The ditch is reached; a thousand men leap into it, clamber up the
shattered ramparts, and grapple with the foe, which yields and falls back
to the rear of the fort. Our men swarm over the walls, bayoneting the
desperate rebel cannoneers. Hurrah! the fort is ours!
“But now came another blinding blast from concealed guns in the rear of
the fort, and our men went down by scores.... The struggle is terrific.
Our supports hurry up to the aid of their comrades, but as they reach the
ramparts they fire a volley which strikes down many of our men. Fatal
mistake! Our men rally once more; but, in spite of an heroic resistance,
they are forced back again to the edge of the ditch. Here the brave Shaw,
with scores of his black warriors, went down, fighting desperately.”
When asking for the body of Colonel Shaw, a confederate major said: “We
have buried him with his niggers.”
The Confederate account is equally eloquent.
“The carnage was frightful. It is believed the Federals lost more men on
that eventful night than twice the entire strength of the Confederate
garrison.... According to the statement of Chaplain Dennison the
assaulting columns, in two brigades, commanded by General Strong and
Colonel Putnam (the division under General Seymour), consisted of the
54th Massachusetts, 3rd and 7th New Hampshire, 6th Connecticut and 100th
New York, with a reserve brigade commanded by General Stephenson. One of
the assaulting regiments was composed of Negroes (the 54th Massachusetts)
and to it was assigned the honor of leading the white columns to the
charge. It was a dearly purchased compliment. Their Colonel (Shaw) was
killed upon the parapet and the regiment almost annihilated, although
the Confederates in the darkness could not tell the color of their
assailants.”[97]
At last it was seen that Negro troops could do more than useless or
helpless or impossible tasks, and in the siege of Petersburg they were
put to important work. When the general attack was ordered on the 16th of
June, 1864, a division of black troops was used. The Secretary of War,
Stanton himself, saw them and said:
“The hardest fighting was done by the black troops. The forts they
stormed were the worst of all. After the affair was over General Smith
went to thank them, and tell them he was proud of their courage and dash.
He says they cannot be exceeded as soldiers, and that hereafter he will
send them in a difficult place as readily as the best white troops.”[98]
It was planned to send the colored troops under Burnside against the
enemy after the great mine was exploded. Inspecting officers reported to
Burnside that the black division was fitted for this perilous work. The
white division which was sent made a fiasco of it. Then, after all had
been lost Burnside was ready to send in his black division and though
they charged again and again they were repulsed and the Union lost over
4,000 men killed, wounded and captured.
All the officers of the colored troops in the Civil War were not white.
From the first there were many colored non-commissioned officers, and
the Louisiana regiments raised under Butler had 66 colored officers,
including one Major and 27 Captains, besides the full quota of
non-commissioned colored officers. In the Massachusetts colored troops
there were 10 commissioned Negro officers and 3 among the Kansas troop.
Among these officers was a Lieutenant-Colonel Reed of North Carolina,
who was killed in battle. In Kansas there was Captain H. F. Douglas, and
in other United States’ volunteer regiments were Major M. H. Delaney
and Captain O. S. B. Wall; Dr. A. T. Augusta, surgeon, was brevetted
Lieutenant-Colonel. The losses of Negro troops in the Civil War, killed,
wounded and missing has been placed at 68,178.
Such was the service of the Negro in the Civil War. Men say that the
nation gave them freedom, but the verdict of history is written on the
Shaw monument at the head of Boston Common:
THE WHITE OFFICERS
Taking Life and Honor in their Hands—Cast their lot with
Men of a Despised Race Unproved in War—and Risked Death as
Inciters of a Servile Insurrection if Taken Prisoners, Besides
Encountering all the Common Perils of Camp, March, and Battle.
THE BLACK RANK AND FILE
Volunteered when Disaster Clouded the Union Cause—Served
without Pay for Eighteen Months till Given that of White
Troops—Faced Threatened Enslavement if Captured—Were Brave in
Action—Patient under Dangerous and Heavy Labors and Cheerful
amid Hardships and Privations.
TOGETHER
They Gave to the Nation Undying Proof that Americans of African
Descent Possess the Pride, Courage, and Devotion of the Patriot
Soldier—One Hundred and Eighty Thousand Such Americans Enlisted
Under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII-MDCCCLXV.
5. THE WAR IN CUBA
In the Spanish-American War four Negro regiments were among the first
to be ordered to the front. They were the regular army regiments, 24th
and 25th Infantry, and the 9th and 10th Cavalry. President McKinley
recommended that new regiments of regular army troops be formed among
Negroes but Congress took no action. Colored troops with colored officers
were formed as follows: The 3rd North Carolina, the 8th Illinois, the 9th
Battalion, Ohio and the 23rd Kansas. Regiments known as the Immunes,
being immune to Yellow fever, were formed with colored lieutenants and
white captains and field officers, and called the 7th, 8th, 9th and
10th United States Volunteers. In addition to those there were the
6th Virginia with colored lieutenants and the 3rd Alabama with white
officers. Indiana had two companies attached to the 8th Immunes. None
of the Negro volunteer companies reached the front in time to take part
in battle. The 8th Illinois formed a part of the Army of Occupation and
was noted for its policing and cleaning up of Santiago. Colonel John R.
Marshall, commanding the 8th Illinois, and Major Charles Young, a regular
army commander, both colored, were in charge of the battalion.
The colored regular army regiments took a brilliant part in the war.
The first regiment ordered to the front was the 24th Infantry. Negro
soldiers were in the battles around Santiago. The Tenth Cavalry made an
effective attack at Las Quasimas and at El Caney on July 1 they saved
Roosevelt’s Rough Riders from annihilation. The 24th Infantry volunteered
in the Yellow fever epidemic and cleaned the camp in one day. _Review of
Reviews_ says: “One of the most gratifying incidents of the Spanish War
has been the enthusiasm that the colored regiments of the regular army
have aroused throughout the whole country. Their fighting at Santiago
was magnificent. The Negro soldiers showed excellent discipline, the
highest qualities of personal bravery, very superior physical endurance,
unfailing good temper, and the most generous disposition toward all
comrades-in-arms, whether white or black. Roosevelt’s Rough Riders have
come back singing the praises of the colored troops. There is not a
dissenting voice in the chorus of praise.... Men who can fight for their
country as did these colored troops ought to have their full share of
gratitude and honor.”
6. CARRIZAL
In 1916 the United States sent a punitive expedition under General
Pershing into Mexico in pursuit of the Villa forces which had raided
Columbus, New Mexico. Two Negro regiments, the 10th Cavalry and the 24th
Infantry, were a part of his expedition. On June 21, Troop C and K of
the 10th Cavalry were ambushed at Carrizal by some 700 Mexican soldiers.
Although outnumbered almost ten to one, these black soldiers dismounted
in the face of a withering machine-gun fire, deployed, charged the
Mexicans and killed their commander.
This handful of men fought on until, of the three officers commanding
them, two were killed and one was badly wounded. Seventeen of the men
were killed and twenty-three were made prisoners. One of the many
outstanding heroes of this memorable engagement was Peter Bigstaff, who
fought to the last beside his commander, Lieutenant Adair. A Southern
white man, with no love for blacks, wrote:
“The black trooper might have faltered and fled a dozen times, saving
his own life and leaving Adair to fight alone. But it never seemed to
occur to him. He was a comrade to the last blow. When Adair’s broken
revolver fell from his hand the black trooper pressed another into it,
and together, shouting in defiance, they thinned the swooping circle of
overwhelming odds before them.
“The black man fought in the deadly shambles side by side with the white
man, following always, fighting always as his lieutenant fought.
“And finally, when Adair, literally shot to pieces, fell in his tracks,
his last command to his black trooper was to leave him and save his life.
Even then the heroic Negro paused in the midst of that Hell of carnage
for a final service to his officer. Bearing a charmed life, he had
fought his way out. He saw that Adair had fallen with his head in the
water. With superb loyalty the black trooper turned and went back to the
maelstrom of death, lifted the head of his superior, leaned him against a
tree and left him there dead with dignity when it was impossible to serve
any more.
“There is not a finer piece of soldierly devotion and heroic comradeship
in the history of modern warfare than that of Henry Adair and the black
trooper who fought by him at Carrizal.”[99]
7. THE WORLD WAR
Finally we come to the World War the history of which is not yet written.
At first and until the United States entered the war the Negro figured
as a laborer and a great exodus took place from the South as we have
already noted. Some effort was made to keep the Negro from the draft but
finally he was called and although constituting less than a tenth of the
population he furnished 13% of the soldiers called to the colors. The
registry for the draft had insulting color discriminations and determined
effort was made to confine Negroes to stevedore and labor regiments under
white officers. Most of the Negro draftees were thus sent to the Service
of Supplies where they were largely under illiterate whites and suffered
greatly. Finally a camp for training Negro officers was established and
nearly 700 Negroes commissioned, none of them, however, above the rank of
captain; Charles Young, the highest ranking Negro graduate of West Point
and one of the best officers in the army was kept from the front, because
being already a colonel with a distinguished record he would surely have
become a general if sent to France.
Two Negro divisions were planned, the 92nd and the 93rd. The 93rd was to
be composed of the Negro National Guard regiments all of whom had some
and one all Negro officers. The latter division was never organized as
a complete division but four of its regiments were sent to France and
encountered bitter discrimination from the Americans on account of their
Negro officers. They were eventually brigaded with the French and saw
some of the hardest fighting of the war in the final drive toward Sedan.
They were cited in General Orders as follows by General Goybet:[100]
“In transmitting to you with legitimate pride the thanks and
congratulations of the General Garnier Duplessis, allow me, my
dear friends of all ranks, Americans and French, to thank you
from the bottom of my heart as a chief and a soldier for the
expression of gratitude for the glory which you have lent our
good 157th Division. I had full confidence in you but you have
surpassed my hopes.
“During these nine days of hard fighting you have progressed
nine kilometers through powerful organized defenses, taken
nearly 600 prisoners, 15 guns of different calibers, 20
minnewerfers, and nearly 150 machine guns, secured an enormous
amount of engineering material, an important supply of
artillery ammunition, brought down by your fire three enemy
aeroplanes.
“Your troops have been admirable in their attack. You must be
proud of the courage of your officers and men; and I consider
it an honor to have them under my command.
“The bravery and dash of your regiment won the admiration of
the 2nd Moroccan Division who are themselves versed in warfare.
Thanks to you, during those hard days, the Division was at all
times in advance of all other divisions of the Army Corps. I am
sending you all my thanks and beg you to transmit them to your
subordinates.
“I called on your wounded. Their morale is higher than any
praise.
GOYBET.”
The 92nd Division encountered difficulties in organization and was never
assembled as a Division until it arrived in France. There it was finally
gotten in shape and took a small part in the Argonne offensive and in the
fight just preceding the armistice. Their Commanding General said:[101]
“Five months ago today the 92nd Division landed in France.
“After seven weeks of training, it took over a sector in the front line,
and since that time some portion of the Division has been practically
continuously under fire.
“It participated in the last battle of the war with creditable success,
continuously pressing the attack against highly organized defensive
works. It advanced successfully on the first day of the battle,
attaining its objectives and capturing prisoners. This in the face of
determined opposition by an alert enemy, and against rifle, machine-gun
and artillery fire. The issue of the second day’s battle was rendered
indecisive by the order to cease firing at eleven A.M.—when the armistice
became effective.”
With the small chance thus afforded Negro troops nevertheless made a
splendid record and especially those under Negro officers. If they had
had larger opportunity and less organized prejudice they would have
done much more. Perhaps their greatest credit is from the fact that
they withstood so bravely and uncomplainingly the barrage of hatred
and offensive prejudice aimed against them. The young Negro officers
especially made a splendid record as to thinking, guiding leaders of an
oppressed group.
Thus has the black man defended America from the beginning to the World
War. To him our independence from Europe and slavery is in no small
degree due.