There was a time not long since when the serious consideration of a
question like this would have met with little favor. We remember seeing,
in this city of New York, one genial October day, not very many years
ago, a small company of negro soldiers. They were marching in Canal
street, not in Broadway, and seemed to fear molestation even there. The
writer was a schoolboy then, cadet in a military school (one of the
first established of those excellent institutions), and had, of course,
a particular interest in all military matters. So he stopped to look
upon these black soldiers--marching with all the more pride (as it
seemed to him) because they marched under the floating folds of the
stars and stripes. His boy's heart was stirred by the spectacle, and
full of a big emotion; but the fashion of the times overpowered the
generous impulse, and he treated the negro soldiers with contempt.
This was in the palmy days of the old _régime_. The stifling of that
generous impulse was one of the glories of the old _régime_. Not a
decade of years went by, and the writer stood again in the streets of
New York city, and saw another sight of negro soldiers. It was, indeed,
and in all respects, another sight. This time the black men marched in
Broadway; this time they feared no molestation. It was a balmy day in
spring, and God's sunshine glistened gladly from the bright bayonets of
United States black soldiers. What a spectacle it was! There marched the
retributive justice of the nation--'carrying the flag and keeping step
to the music of the Union.' That march was a march of triumph, and its
sublime watchword was: 'LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE AND
INSEPARABLE!'
What a marvellous change in public opinion! Now, negro companies are
treated with respect, negro regiments are honored; because we honor the
defenders of our national ensign, which is the representative and symbol
of our national life. The men who joined so gallantly in the assault on
Port Hudson; who fell so nobly at Milliken's Bend, in repelling the
attack of men whose blackness was not, like theirs, of the outside skin,
but of a blacker, deeper dye, the blackness of treason in their inner
hearts; the men whose blood drenched the sands of Morris Island, and
made South Carolina more a sacred soil than it had ever been before,
because it was blood poured out in defence of the nation's honor, and to
wash out the stain of Carolina's dishonor; these men cannot be contemned
now. They have shown themselves noble men. They have made for themselves
a place in American history, along with their fathers at New Orleans,
and their grandfathers under Washington. And the rebel epitaph of the
brave Colonel Shaw, who led them unflinchingly against the iron hail of
Wagner, is no reproach, but a badge of honor: 'We have buried him under
his niggers.'
Since that memorable assault, another State has witnessed the patriotic
gallantry of these despised 'niggers;' and in the first Virginia
campaign of Lieutenant-General Grant, negroes have borne an honorable
part. There is a division of them attached to the old ninth corps, under
Burnside, in the present organization of the Army of the Potomac. While
that noble army was fighting the battles of the Wilderness, this
division was holding the fords of the Rapid Ann. When Grant swung his
base away from the river, after the disaster to his right wing, and
moved upon Lee's flank, the ninth corps, with its negro division, held
an honorable post in the marching column; and at Spottsylvania Court
House the correspondents tell us how, with the war cry of Fort Pillow in
their mouths, these 'niggers' rushed valiantly to the assault, and
elicited the highest praise for their steadiness and courage. Not less
honorable is the record of the negro troops attached to the coöperating
Army of the Peninsula. The three extracts from official despatches,
which follow, show what the record is.
May 5th, General Butler telegraphs to Secretary Stanton: 'We have seized
Wilson's Wharf Landing. A brigade of Wild's colored troops are there. At
Powhatan Landing two regiments of the same brigade have landed.'
May 9th, General Butler telegraphs from Bermuda Landing: 'Our operations
may be summed up in a few words. With seventeen hundred cavalry we have
advanced up the Peninsula, forced the Chickahominy, and have safely
brought them to our present position. These are colored cavalry, and are
now holding position as our advance toward Richmond.'
May 25th, the War Department announced, in a bulletin, that 'General
Butler, in a despatch dated at headquarters in the field, at seven
o'clock this morning, reports that Major-General Fitzhugh Lee, lately
promoted, made, with cavalry, infantry, and artillery, an attack upon my
post at Wilson's Wharf, north side of James River, below Fort Powhatan,
garrisoned by two regiments, all negro troops, Brigadier-General Wild
commanding, and was handsomely repulsed. Before the attack, Lee sent a
flag, stating that he had force enough to take the place, demanding its
surrender, and in that case the garrison should be turned over to the
authorities at Richmond as prisoners of war(!); but if this proposition
was rejected, he would not be answerable for the consequences when he
took the place. General Wild replied: 'We will try that.' Reinforcements
were at once sent, but the fight was over before their arrival.'
It has been not unfrequently said that negroes were cowards and would
not fight. The best answer that can be made to that charge is the
official order, hereto annexed, of General 'Baldy' Smith. It will be
remembered that Grant had just accomplished the transfer of his army
from the swamps of the Chickahominy to the south side of the James
River, and had immediately thereupon attacked the earthworks in front of
Petersburg. The time was June--a month later than the official
despatches from Butler already quoted:
'_To the Eighteenth Army Corps_:
'The General commanding desires to express to his command his
appreciation of the soldierly qualities which have been displayed
during the campaign of the last seventeen days. Within that time
they have been constantly called upon to undergo all the hardships
of the soldier's life, and be exposed to all of its dangers.
'Marches under a hot sun have ended in severe battles, and, after
the battle, watchful nights in the trenches gallantly taken from
the enemy.
'But the crowning point of the honor they are entitled to has been
won since the morning of the 15th instant, when a series of
earthworks on most commanding positions and of formidable strength
have been carried, with all the guns and materials of war of the
enemy, including prisoners and colors. The works have all been
held, and the trophies remain in our hands.
'This victory is all the more important to us as the troops never
have been regularly organized in camps where time has been given
them to learn the discipline necessary to a well-organized _corps
d'armée_, but they had been hastily concentrated and suddenly
summoned to take part in the trying campaign of our country's
being. Such honor as they have won will remain imperishable.
'_To the colored troops comprising the division of General Hinks,
the General commanding would call the attention of his command_.
With the veterans of the Eighteenth Corps they have stormed the
works of the enemy and carried them, taking guns and prisoners, and
_in the whole affair they have displayed all the qualities of good
soldiers_.
'By command of
'W. F. SMITH, Major-General.
'WM. RUSSELL, JR.,
'Assistant Adjt.-General.
'Official: SOLON A. CARTER,
'Captain and A. A. A.-G.'
It may be added that 'Baldy' Smith has never been known as being
particularly partial to the use of negro troops. He is reported to have
said, after the assault on Petersburg, that the war was virtually ended,
because the negroes had now shown that they could fight, and so it was
only a question of time.
The man is not to be envied who can contemptuously disregard this
record. And while we give unstinted honor to the heroes whose valor has
made the Army of the Potomac immortal in history, and made its campaign
of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania a campaign of glory, let us not
forget that negro troops in that army, and in other armies in the same
campaign, have borne their part faithfully, and deserve well of the
republic. Nor let us forget the damning atrocities at Fort Pillow, where
black men in United States uniform were massacred in cold blood, because
they were willing rather to die freemen with their white comrades of the
United States army, than live slaves to rebel masters:[D] thus
vindicating their claim to freedom, and reflecting upon our country's
flag the especial honor which such determined bravery has ever been
awarded among men--reminding us of the Three Hundred at Thermopylæ, and
the Old Guard at Waterloo, disdaining to surrender.
So strange are the events of history! So mysterious is the plan of
Providence, choosing now, as in the days of the apostle Paul, 'base
things of the world, and things which are despised, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to nought things that are!' What a stinging
example of time's revenges, to be sure, that negroes should have a part
in bringing to nought the rebellion of negro-holders! that they should
be found fighting for the very Government whose power had aided to keep
them in bondage to these negro-holders! In face of such facts, will any
one impiously declare that fate, or blind chance, rules the affairs of
men!
We might well pause at this point to consider the philosophy of
revolutions. It would be an interesting study to investigate the
efficient or radical causes of these singular phenomena of God's
providence--these crises in history, when 'the fountains of the great
deep are broken up,' and the experience of centuries is crowded into the
limits of a single year, and we see the old landmarks all swept away
before the overwhelming tides of a new era. Then it is that precedents
avail us nothing, and we are driven to lay hold of those principles of
justice and right which are alone eternal. For in the storm and wreck of
revolution those principles are our sure beacon lights, shining on, like
the stars, forever. Thus philosophizing, the question would be: Have
revolutions a fixed law? Is there a recurring sequence in the mighty
'logic of events,' that will enable us to define a formula for the
revolutions of systems in society? So science has demonstrated a law for
the revolutions and changes of systems of worlds in infinite space. Or,
are the revolutions of history, like the volcanic disturbances of our
planet earth, in a sort, abnormal? They seem to come, like the _deus ex
machina_ of the Roman poet, to cut the Gordian knots that perplex
statesmen and bewilder nations. The affairs of men get so tangled up
sometimes, that to prevent anarchy and chaos, God sends revolutions,
which sweep away the effete institutions and old, worn-out systems, to
replace them with new and living systems. And thus there is a perpetual
genesis, or new creation, of the world. Let any one read Carlyle's vivid
description of the badness of the eighteenth century, 'bad in that bad
way as never century before was, till the French Revolution came and put
an end to it,' and he will understand something of this question of
revolutions. It suggests the old scholastic dispute of the free agency
of man, and looks as though, granting that freedom, it were, after all,
too great a gift for us. For history seems to teach, as its one grand
lesson, confirming, as always, the revelation in Christ, that men cannot
take care of themselves; and that God leaves them to their own ways long
enough to satisfy them that human agency is inadequate to solve the
question of reform, and then, when the times are ripe, He takes the
reins into His own hand, and starts society anew. It is the patient
process of education by centuries, or by ages--only to be made perfect
in the millennial age. So it is that the world moves. It moves by the
free agency of man, kept in its balance by the guiding hand of God.