New Market Heights, Had 683 Lost 365 Percent 53.7
Light Brigade, Balaklava, Had -673 Lost 247 percent 36.7
──── ──── ────
Excess in Duncan’s Brigade, 10 118 17
Sanford B. Hunt, M. D., late surgeon of U. S. Volunteers, made an
exhaustive research into the capacity of the Negro as a soldier. As to
his—
1. Aptitude for drill.
2. Capacity for marching.
3. Endurance of fatigue and hunger.
4. Powers of digestion and assimilation.
5. Immunity from or liability to disabling diseases.
All of which points are treated with great detail, and summed up as
follows:
“For the purposes of the soldier he has all the physical
characteristics required, his temperament adapts him to camp
life, and his morale conduces to discipline. He is also brave
and steady in action. In all subsequent wars the country will
rely largely upon its Negro population as a part of its military
power.”
Under the act of Congress passed July 12, 1862, the President of the
United States was authorized to have prepared, with suitable emblematic
devices, Medals of Honor to be presented in the name of the Congress to
such soldiers as should most distinguish themselves by their gallantry
in action and other soldierly qualities. So chary has the Government
been in their issue that the award has not reached two thousand among
the three millions of volunteers and regulars in the Army and Navy. So
that these medals are more rare than the “Victoria Cross” of England,
the “Iron Cross” of Germany, or the “Cross of the Legion of Honor” of
France.
I copy the list of those issued to Negro soldiers as they stand upon the
records, that is, in the numerical order of the regiments to which the
recipients belonged. It will be therefore understood that this order
does not indicate priority of time or degree of excellence.
Christian A. Fleetwood, Sergeant-Major, Fourth U. S. C. T.
Alfred B. Hilton, Color Sergeant, Fourth U. S. C. T.
Charles Veal, Corporal, Fourth U. S. C. T.
Milton M Holland, Sergeant-Major, Fifth U. S. C. T.
James Brownson, First Sergeant, Fifth U. S. C. T.
Powhatan Beatty, First Sergeant, Fifth U. S. C. T.
Robert Finn, First Sergeant, Fifth U. S. C. T.
Thomas R. Hawkins, Sergeant-Major, Sixth U. S. C. T.
Alexander Kelly, First Sergeant, Sixth U. S. C. T.
Samuel Gilchrist, Sergeant, Thirty-sixth U. S. C. T.
William Davis, Sergeant, Thirty-sixth U. S. C. T.
Miles James, Corporal, Thirty-sixth U. S. C. T.
James Gardner, Private, Thirty-sixth U. S. C. T.
Edward Ratcliffe, First Sergeant, Thirty-eighth U. S. C. T.
James Harris, Sergeant, Thirty-eighth U. S. C. T.
William Barnes, Private, Thirty-eighth U. S. C. T.
Decatur Dorsey, Sergeant, Thirty-ninth U. S. C. T.
After each war, of 1776, of 1812, and of 1861, history repeats itself in
the absolute effacement of remembrance of the gallant deeds done for the
country by its brave black defenders and in their relegation to outer
darkness.
History further repeats itself in the fact that in every war so far
known to this country, the first blood, and, in some cases, the last
also, has been shed by the faithful Negro, and this in spite of all the
years of bondage and oppression, and of wrongs unspeakable. Under the
sun there has nothing been known in the history of any people more
marvellous than these facts!
Oh, to the living few,
Comrades, be just, be true.
Hail them as heroes tried,
Fight with them side by side;
Never in field or tent,
Scorn the Black Regiment.
It is but a little thing to ask, they could ask no less: _be just_; but,
oh, the shame of it for those who need be asked!
There is no need for panegyric, for sounding phrases or rounded periods.
The simple story is eloquent with all that is necessary to make the
heart swell with pride. In the hour allotted me to fill, it is possible
only to indicate in skeleton the worth of the Negro as a soldier. If
this brief sketch should awaken even a few to interest in his
achievements, and one be found willing and fitted to write the history
that is their due, that writer shall achieve immortality.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that:
was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).