A history of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865. Preceded by a review of the military services of negros in ancient and modern times

Front matter

A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION 18G1-18G5 PliECEDED BY A REVIEW OF THE MILITARY SERVICES OF NEGROES IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES BY AL GEOEGE W. WILLIAMS, LL.D. COLONEL AND LATE JUDGE ADVOCATE IN THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA" LONDON SAMFSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, A RIVINGTON <it. gunsran's *louse FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1887 Copyright, 1887, by Harper & Brothers All rights reserved. To THE NEGRO SOLDIERS WHO HEROICALLY SERVED THEIR COUNTRY IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION THIS RECORD OF THEIR VALOR JJs Jnscribeb BY THEIR COMRADE IN ARMS THE AUTHOR

Preface

. I have undertaken to write a military history of Negro troops in the War of the Rebellion. I have written only of the military services of Negro troops ; and I have used the generic word Negro because, while many mulattoes were in the service, the Negroes preponderated to an overwhelming degree. In writing of the remote past, the historian has the ben efit of the sifting and winnowing to which time subjects historical data ; but in writing of events within living memory it requires both fortitude and skill to resist the insidious influence of interested friends and actors, to sep arate error from truth with an even and steady hand, to master the sources of historical information — to know where the material is, to collect and classify it, although scattered through an almost endless maze of books, newspapers, diaries, pamphlets, etc. — and to avoid partisan feeling and maintain a spirit of judicial candor.

How far I have succeeded is left to the considerate judgment of the reader. Myself a soldier in the volunteer and regular army of the United States, in infantry and cavalry, an officer of artillery in the Republican forces of the Mexican army, and recently an officer of the Sixth Regiment of Massa chusetts Volunteer Militia, I may claim some military ex perience. I participated in many of the battles herein described, including some of the most severe conflicts of Negro troops with the enemy in Virginia. But I have re-

PREFACE.

. X lied very little on personal knowledge, preferring always to follow the official record. For years an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, I have heard with deep interest, at camp-fires and encampments, many narratives of the heroic conduct of Negro soldiers, but my enthusiasm has never led me away from the record. I have been intrusted with the journals and orderly - books of officers from the rank of lieutenant to that of major-general, and have been person ally acquainted with six major-generals who at one time or another commanded Negro troops. The data upon which I have relied for the historical trustworthiness of this work are divisible into two classes, official and unofficial. The official class contains the following documents : " Official Records of the War of the Rebellion," edited by Lieutenant-colonel Robert N Scott ; Confederate Of ficial Records; Army and Navy Official Gazette; Con gressional Record and Congressional Globe; Journal of the Confederate Congress; Executive Documents of the several States ; Official Despatches of the War Depart ment ; manuscript information furnished me by the Secre tary of War, through the courtesy of the Adjutant-general of the army ; manuscript information furnished by the Adjutant-generals of the several States ; manuscript infor mation furnished by war offices of foreign governments through their ambassadors in Washington ; and orderly books of general officers who commanded Negro troops in the field.

The unofficial class contains the following material : " The Rebellion Record," edited by Frank Moore ; the annuals of the "American Encyclopædia" for the period of the War ; the principal histories of the War, including the works of Pollard, Stephens, and Davis for the Confed-

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. XI eracy ; " The Campaigns of the Civil War " — entire series — published by the Messrs. Scribner ; " The Army of the Potomac," by John Swinton ; the History of the War, by the Comte de Paris ; Grant's Military History, by Gener al Adam Badeau ; the Proceedings of the Society of the Army of the Potomac and of the Army of the Cumber land; the Soldiers' and Sailors' Historical Society pub lications of Rhode Island ; Townshend's War Library ; numerous books published by Confederate and Union officers ; pamphlets, patriotic speeches, and the files of the Boston Journal, the New York Herald, World, Times, and Tribune, and many other newspapers, both Confeder ate and Union. I have availed myself of as much of this material as could advantageously be used in writing a popular history, and have been careful to make due acknowledgment to my authorities.

I am under deep obligations to the Hon. Ainsworth R. Spofford, the librarian of the Library of Congress, for his kindness in placing before me his large manuscript collec tions, from which I have derived valuable facts. I am happy to return thanks to the Secretary of War and the Adjutant-general of the army for access to sources of in formation. General Drum is an indefatigable worker, and with his excellent method he will soon place the records of the War Department in a most convenient and accessible shape. I found Colonel Robert N. Scott, who is in charge of the publication of the War records, a most genial and ac commodating gentleman. I have enjoyed and appreciated his literary sympathy, and have profited by his wide, va ried, and accurate knowledge of the records. I cheerfully acknowledge receipt of personal information from Major generals B. F. Butler, A. L. Chetlain, James B. Steedman, Thomas J. Morgan, Daniel Ullmann, David Hunter, Majors

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. XII William C. Manning and Luis F. Emilio, and many other officers. Of the officers who led the movement to employ Negroes as soldiers or commanded them in battle, the following are still living : Saxton, Terry, Butler, Ullmann, Hinks, Banks, Morgan, Doubleday, Wild, Ferrero, Ames, Thomas, Jackson, Auger, Andrews, and Birney ; while Phelps, Weitzel, Ord, Burnside, Hunter, Steedman, D. B. Birney, and Draper are dead. Of these twenty-four, nine were graduates of West Point. And that noble spirit — another Sidney — Adjutant -general Lorenzo Thomas, has entered into his well-earned rest ; while Stanton, who was always firm in the conviction that the Negro was capable as a soldier, and the venerable General Casey, who wrote a system of tactics for these troops, are also dead. These names, of the living as well as the dead, with others not mentioned here, will always be held in grateful remem brance by the Negro race.

I judged it proper to give a summary of the military services of Negro soldiers in ancient and modern times, and thus to bring together in one work the necessary facts to understand their military capacity. The chapter on Negro soldiers in ancient times I have prepared with great pains, after carefully weighing all the evidence I could obtain. In the chapter on Negro soldiers in modern times I have sought, with succinct brevity, to glean the essential facts of the Negro's military services throughout modern Eu rope, without overshadowing or detracting from his record in the late Rebellion. I personally examined the fields on which Negroes fought in Mexico ; and while in Eng land, Germany, and France, I heard from those who had led them in conflicts, and from those who had contended with their valor, but one story of their matchless courage. The Germans have not forgotten the Negro's desperate

PREFACE.

. XIII fighting, and the French will always remember that in their army in 1S70 he was "the bravest of the brave." I have told the story of the Negro's exploits in Hayti from the record, and I have gone for my facts to French men as well as to Englishmen, to foe as well as to friend. In recording what he did in the war of the Revolution, I have gone to the orderly - books in the State House at Boston, the Department of State, and the Library of Congress at Washington, D. C. ; I have examined the de scriptive lists of the army under Washington and Ward at Cambridge, Massachusetts. I have found it necessary, in the interest of history and science, to prick some bubbles of alleged history, and to correct the record. Negro soldiers were not in the battle of Red Bank, as many school histories declare ; nor were the free Negroes of the colonies enrolled as a part of the established militia.

They en tered many of the companies in the towns, but not with the approval of either public sentiment or law ; it was by tacit consent of local authorities against provincial inhibi tion. On the other hand, justice, in many instances, has been denied the Negro soldier of the war of the Revolution, as in the case of the Rhode Island regiment. I have neverthe less kept to the record, hewing to the line, regardless of the direction the flying chips take. The part enacted by the Negro soldier in the war of the Rebellion is the romance of North American history. It was midnight and noonday without a space between ; from the Egyptian darkness of bondage to the lurid glare of civil war; from clanking chains to clashing arms; from passive submission to the cruel curse of slavery to the brill iant aggressiveness of a free soldier; from a chattel to a person ; from the shame of degradation to the glory of military exaltation ; and from deep obscurity to fame and

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. martial immortality. No one in this era of fraternity and Christian civilization will grudge the Negro soldier these simple annals of his trials and triumphs in a holy struggle for human liberty. Whatever praise is bestowed upon his noble acts will be sincerely appreciated, whether from for mer foes or comrades in arms. For by withholding just praise they are not enriched, nor by giving are they there by impoverished. Nor will the reader find reason for complaint at the spirit of the historian. I have spoken plainly, it is true, but I have not extenuated nor set down aught in malice. My language is not plainer than the truth, my philippic is not more cruel than the crimes exposed, my rhetoric is not more fiery than the trials through which these black troops passed, nor my conclusions without warrant of truth or justification of evidence.

I trust that Congress will adopt my suggestion and name the park in front of Howard University for the brave and beautiful young colonel, Robert Gould Shaw, and there erect a monument to the Negro soldiers who fell in the service of their country. It would be a deserved and fitting tribute to the valor of the Negro soldier, and would have a beneficent influence upon the entire people for all time to come. I commit this story of the Negro's martial prowess to my countrymen, regardless of section or race, creed or par ty; entertaining the belief that neither sectional malice nor party rancor can ever obliterate a record that is now, happily in the progress of events, not only the proud and priceless heritage of a race, but the glory of a nation. _ w n „ George W. Williams. Etonia, Washington, D. C, July 31, 1886. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Introductory

: NEGRO SOLDIERS IN ANCIENT TIMES. The Negro appears in the military history of Egypt for tbe first time in the Inscriptions of Una, who was crown-bearer, or Secretary of State, under King Pepi during the Sixth Dynasty.1 Down to this time the Egyptian Empire had enjoyed comparative quiet, but the Sixth Dy nasty clearly marks the beginning of the military epoch. A large army had always been in existence in Egypt, but it was seldom called into the field. The military class always ranked high, coming next in order to the priest hood,3 and was divided into two distinct parts. Herod- 1 The Inscription of Una was found by M. Mariette, and subse quently placed in the Museum of Boulaq, at Cairo. It was translated by the late Vicomte Em de Rouge — " Recherches sur les Monuments : Six Premieres Dynasties," 4to, p. 117, and following, pi. 7, 8.

Paris, 1866; Brugsch-Bey, " Histoire d'Egypte," 8vo, p. 70, and following. Leipzig, 1875. * The Egyptians were famous for classes ; and in order to show the important position of the soldiers the subjoined table is given. The otus estimates the strength of the Egyptian army at 410,000.' On an average of five persons to a family, his figures would bring the military class up to 2,050,000. But Diodorus places the strength of the army at 692,000." The same family average brings these figures up to 3,460,000. This constituted the entire military class. The two great divisions of the army were the Hermotybies and Calasiries. The latter were archers, and inhabited the cantons of Thebes, Bubastis, Aphthis, Tanis, Mendes, Sebennytus, Athribis, Pharbæthus, Thmuis, Onuphis, Anysis, and Myecphoris. With the single exception of Thebes, these districts all lay within the Delta.

These Calasiries numbered about 250,000. The Hermotybies were not so numerous, and inhabited only six cantons : Busiris, Sais, Papremis, Prosopitis, and Natho, also in the region of the Delta, with Chemmis, which was in Upper Egypt. These troops were spearmen and chariot-riders, and numbered about 160,000. The population of Egypt (3000 b.c.) was about 7,500,000. The army, when on war footing, was about one-fourth the population ; but after it was recruited, the archers or infantry were disbanded and sent into agricultural districts. But the largest em pires of modern Europe, with five times the population of Egypt, find a standing army of 400,000 or 500,000 men an enormous burden. An army of large proportions evidence in favor of the position of the soldiers is absolute. The Negroes must have obtained great favor as soldiers. ' Herodotus, book it, pp. 165, 166. » Diodorus, book i., p. 54.

Classes of Herodotus. Classes of Plato. Classes of Diodorns. 1. Priests. 2. Soldiers. 3. Cow-herds. 4. Swine-herds. 5. Traders. 6. Boatmen. 7. Interpreters. 1. Priests. 2. Soldiers. 3. Herdsmen. 4. Husbandmen. 5. Artificers. 6. Hunters. 1. Priests. 2. Soldiers. 3. Herdsmen. 4. Husbandmen. 5. Artificers. was always necessary under the Egyptian monarchy, and a cheap army became a matter of grave concern. At a period unknown to history prior to the Sixth Dynasty, the Negro tribes to the south of King Pepi be came tributary to the Egyptian Empire. In the second year of Pepi's reign he put his army into the field, and his troops were successful against the Mentu.1 Elated with this success, he turned his victorious arms against the Amu and Herusha, two peaceable tribes inhabiting the desert to the east of Lower Egypt.

The King en countered stout fighting from these children of the des ert, and fearing their vengeful spirit, collected and drilled a numerous army. The nucleus of his army was from the native Egyptians in the north ; but he soon turned his at tention to the Negro tribes to the south, from among which he secured thousands of black levies. " His Majesty made soldiers of numerous ten thousands in the land of the \k South. . . . The Negroes from Nam, the Negroes from Aman, the Negroes from Uauat, the Negroes from Kau, the Negroes from the land of Takam. His Majesty placed me at head of that army," ' says Una. It was natural that, having honored these Negroes with the Egyptian uniform, King Pepi should place Egyptian officers over them. It does not follow either that the Negroes were degraded, or that there were none of their number capable of a command.

The high and important position of the Egyptian army, the severe requirements of its drill and discipline, and the exalted social position of the men who were appointed by his Majesty as officers in this vast Negro army, are creditable to the rank and file. The " nomarchs, the chancellors, the sole friends of 4 Birch's "Ancient Egypt," p. 52. 2 "Records of the Past," vol. ii., pp. 4, 5. the palace, the superintendents, the rulers of the nomes of the North and South, the friends, superintendents of gold, the superintendent of the priests of the South and North, the superintendents of the register and at the head officers of the South and the land of the North, and of the cities, [drilled] the Negroes of these lands." ' These Negroes evidently had won a reputation for soldierly qualities, else they would not have been recruited for service in the Egyptian army.

If this contingent were a "wild and disorderly crew,"2 as Professor Rawlinson as serts, why were they not enslaved and sent into the Delta to perform agricultural labor ? No modern writer on an cient Egypt has a stronger claim upon the confidence and respect of the student of history than Professor Bawlinson, and it is from his own works that this argument is derived. Several things are patent. The eleventh chapter of the first volume of "Ancient Egypt" gives a minute and graphic account of the constitution of the Egyptian army. He deals with its social rank, its divisions, numbers, weap ons, and drill. Thus we are led to regard superior physical qualifications and high intelligence as necessary to se cure admission to the Egyptian army. The professor will no doubt concede that the captor in Eastern wars had a right in fee-simple to his captive.

He could dispose of his labor, sell him, or take his life. Professor Rawlinson says, " In war many cruel and barbarous customs prevailed. Captives were either reduced to slavery or put to death."3 This is strong and conclusive. These Negroes could not have been captives. Professor Rawlinson must find an ex planation, however, for the employment of tens of thousands of Negroes by King Pepi. 1 " Records of the Past," vol. ii., p. 5. ' "Ancient Egypt," vol. ii., p. 108. 3 Ibid., vol. ii., p. 372. He says, " It is remarkable that we find the negro races of the South already subdued, without any previous notice in any of the Egyptian remains of the time or circum stances of their subjugation. . . . We find the negroes already obedient subjects of Pepi when they are first men tioned as coming into contact with him ; and his enlistment of them as soldiers to fight his battles would seem to im ply that their subjugation had not been very recent.

It is necessary to suppose that some monarch of the Fourth or Fifth Dynasty had made them Egyptian subjects, without leaving behind him any record of the fact, or, at any rate, without leaving any record that has escaped destruction." ' But such an inference disregards the custom universal in ancient times of reducing subjugated nations or tribes to slavery.3 Yet there is no reference to the enslavement of Negroes up to this time, nor are they depicted as cap tives in the monuments or pictures connected with the military campaigns of the five preceding dynasties. If these Negroes were a "wild and disorderly crew," why should " nomarchs and chancellors, the sole friends of the palace," aspire to commissions as their officers ? Evident ly because their valor and prowess were well known, and it was esteemed an honor to lead them in battle.

And this conclusion is borne out by the deportment of these troops in the campaigns through which they subsequently passed. When the work of drilling this vast Negro army was completed, it was moved into the enemy's country. The precise location of the country invaded is not certain. Some Egyptologists locate it in Syria, and others think it was in Arabia Petræa. The latest researches indicate the region about Lake Menzaleh. In any case, the country 1 "Ancient Egypt," vol. ii., p. 110. 2 Kurd's "Laws of Bondage and Freedom." was distant and the marching difficult. It must have been an inspiring spectacle to behold a large and imposing army of Negroes, officered and drilled by the most accomplished native Egyptians, marching out from the imperial metrop olis ! These troops went out from the imperial presence to battle for a venerable government whose potency the Orient had long ago felt and acknowledged.

The black army must have felt the enthusiasm of the occasion. These black soldiers spoke another language, were from another land, and had felt the influence of another and widely different civilization. No doubt the Nile and the Delta had resounded with the exploits of the veterans that formed the strength of this Negro army, and new perils and new glories awaited them. Five battles were fought during this campaign, in all of which the Negro troops were victorious. Una, the historian of the campaign, furnishes the following account : " The warriors came and destroyed the land of the He rusha, and returned fortunately home; and they came again, and took possession of the land of the Herusha, and returned fortunately home; and they came and demol ished the fortresses of the Herusha, and returned fortunately home ; and they cut down the vines and fig-trees, and returned fortunately home ; and they set fire to the houses, and returned fortunately home ; and they killed the chief men by tens of thousands, and returned fortunately home.

And the warriors brought back with them a great number of living captives, which pleased the King more than all the rest. Five times did the King send me out to set things right in the land of the Herusha, and to subdue their revolt by force ; each time I acted so that the King was pleased with me." ' 1 Vicomtede Rouge's " Recherches, " p. 125. It would seem that after so thorough a campaign, in which fields, forts, and houses were destroyed, in addition to the frightful slaughter the Herusha sustained, there would be no necessity for a renewal of hostilities. But an other expedition was made by water. Una says, " Safe ly to Takhisa I sailed again in boats with this force. I subdued this country from the extreme frontier on the North of the land of Herusha." ' The troops were landed, and the fighting was pushed with vigor and skill.

The enemy was defeated and subdued to the extreme border towards the North. This had not been a constructive period ; but now that a successful war had been waged against King Pepi's enemies, the Negro troops were recalled, and arts and archi tecture revived. What became of this enormous Negro army is not known. It appears suddenly upon the page of Egyptian history, achieves signal success for the an cient empire, and then disappears from view. This may or may not have been the first time Negroes were largely employed as soldiers by the Egyptians. Like many an other important event, the record of an earlier employ ment of troops of this character may have perished. The military paintings connected with the campaigns of the Egyptians during the Eighteenth Dynasty represent Negro soldiers as numerous.

They formed the strength of the army of Shishak, king of Egypt, in 971 B.C., when that intrepid monarch marched against Rehoboam. King Shishak's tomb was opened in 1849, and his depicted army, including an exact representation of the genuine Negro race, in color, physiognomy, and hair. Negroes were also found in large numbers in the armies under Sesostris and Xerxes. 1 "Records of the Past," vol. ii., p. 6. There is ample and trustworthy evidence of the stable national government and high social organization attained by the Negro tribes in the East before the Christian era. Mr. Wilkinson, the famous Egyptologist, opened a remarkable Theban tomb, and in 1840 Harris and Gliddon made a very careful examination of it. It abounds in Negro scenes, one of which is described as follows : " A negress, apparently a princess, arrives at Thebes, drawn in a plaustrum by a pair of humped oxen — the driver and groom being red-colored Egyptians, and, one might almost infer, eunuchs.

Following her are multitudes of negroes and Nubians, bringing tribute from the upper country, as well as black slaves of both sexes and all ages, among which are some red children, whose fathers were Egyptians. The cause of her advent seems to have been to make offering in this tomb of a 'royal son of Ke Sh- Amunoph,' who may have been her husband." ' It is evident that the Negro government whose representative this princess was maintained a military establish ment. During the reign of Rameses III., a Negro king appears at the head of fourteen captured princes in the sculptures of Medinet-Abou.3 From about three thousand years before the Christian era, until the birth and establishment of Christianity, there is an unbroken chain of historical evidence of the military employment of Negroes.

Christianity came breathing its spirit of hope and charity into the dead and empty for malisms of the period, and the clash of arms was succeeded by the fierce controversial spirit of the theologians. The dreadful carnage of war did not cease, but the thea- 1 "Types of Mankind," p. 262. 1854. 2 Brugsch-Bey's " Hist. d'Egypte," vol. i., pp. 150, 151. tre of strife was transferred from the Orient to the Occi dent. The Eastern world had fought its way to the front line of martial fame. Its colossal civilization had risen gradually through centuries of painful effort. It had reached the danger-line ; and then the effulgent morning of its primal glory was succeeded by the gloaming of its barbarous and costly wars, and yet later by the starless night of its irreparable decay. Christianity turned her radiant face to the West, and all behind her was darkness, silence, and death.

For more than sixteen hundred years the Negro's hands were empty of his weapons. Western and north-western Europe were the scene of the struggle for Christian civilization. The Negro was not needed in such a struggle, in such a climate. During all these centuries no facile pen traces the history of the Negro nations in the East. They were left entirely to themselves for sixteen centuries. The problems propounded by Chris tianity — discovery, empire, letters, and liberty — could well dispense with the remorseless military audacity of the Negro.

Chapter II. Negro Soldiers In Modern Times

• It was about fifteen centuries from the time the Negro disappeared from the page of the world's history until his reappearance. The Gospel of Peace had rendered the po tent arms of his victorious warfare impotent and obsolete. The spirit of geography and discovery which thrilled the continents in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries revived interest in the Negro. But it was interest/br him and not interest in him. Spain and Portugal, France and Italy, Germany and England, either by discovery or conquest, had extended their landed domains. The great distances of the new possessions from the seat of these European empires gave rise to problems of vast meaning and diffi cult of solution. The contiguity of these great States rendered necessary enormous standing armies to watch each other at all times, and this state of affairs made labor dear and laborers scarce.

The distant possessions, at a time when steam was unknown, could be reached only by officials or the opulent. Avarice and necessity seized upon Caucasian convicts and Negro slaves to solve the labor problem in North America. During the three hundred years in which the Latin, Germanic, and English speaking races were engaged in robbing Africa of Negroes for the nefarious traffic in hu man flesh, the Negro was a non-combatant. He not only did not fight, he scarcely ever offered a protest. To him war was a lost art, and the word resistance had no place in his scanty vocabulary. Three centuries of servitude to the dominant races of the world were not without their lessons to the docile Negro. From the dark night of sav agehood he moved into the gray dawn of civilization. He occasionally felt the influence of some great impulse towards humanity, and was doubtless conscious, to a certain degree, of the great civilizing forces that were turning the flood-tides in the affairs of the nations he was serving.

The tendencies towards republican government in France, and the struggle for independence in America, like a great magnetic current, electrified the Negro's heart, and the old love of valor and liberty went singing through his soul. In his place upon the cotton, rice, and tobacco plantations of the British colonies in North America, he heard the sullen complaint of Americans against magisterial au tocracy and parliamentary encroachments ; and from his insular home in the Antilles he heard the low reverbera tion of the French Revolution, and later, the shock of em battled arms. Here in America he aided the colonies to achieve independent autonomy ; there in the Antilles he fought his way to freedom through the veteran ranks of Spanish and French soldiery, and made his way to self government over the avarice and personal ambition of slave-holding planters.

In the vast system of militia and " minute-men " that guarded the young colonies in America against the savage depredations of the aborigines, the Negro bore an honorable part.1 In the southern colonies he was assigned to fa tigue duty chiefly, although compelled "to train" with his company. In Massachusetts he was found upon the foremost wave of popular indignation at the quartering of 1 Palfrey's " History of New England," vol. ii., p. 30, note. soldiers upon the colonists ; and " the shot that was heard around the world" felled the stalwart form of the patriot Negro, Crispus Attucks.1 When the Revolutionary war began, the Negro was alert. Ministerial and Continental authorities appealed to his courage as a man and his valor as a soldier. He was found under the standards of both armies ; but his idiosyncratic instinct led him into sympa thy with the American cause.