The
recruiting officer, in the first year of the
enlistment of negroes, did not have a
pleasant service to perform. At New
Orleans there was no trouble in recruiting
the regiments organized under Butler's
command, for, beside the free negroes, the
slave population for miles around were eager
to enlist, believing that with the United
States army uniform on, they would be safe
in their escape from "ole master and the
rebs." And then the action of the
confederate authorities in arming the free
negroes lent a stimulent and gave an
ambition to the whole slave population to be
soldiers. Could arms have been
obtained, a half a dozen regiments could
have been organized in sixty days just as
rapidly as were three. Quite early in
1862, while the negroes in New Orleans were
being enrolled in the Confederate service,
under Gov. Moore's
proclamation, in separate and distinct
organizations from the whites, the Indians
and negroes were enlisting in the Union
service, on the frontier, in the same
company and regiments, with white officers
to command them. In the "Kansas Home
Guard," comprising two regiments of Indians,
were over 400 negroes, and these troops were
under Custer, Blunt and
Herron. They held Fort Gibson
twenty months against the assaults of the
enemy. Two thousand five hundred
negroes served in the Federal army from the
Indian Nations, and these, in all
probability, are a part of 5,896 "not
accounted for" on
the Adjutant General's rolls.
Quite a different state of things existed in South Caro-
[Pg. 112]
lina; rumors were early afloat, when
recruiting began, that the government
officers were gathering up the negroes to
ship away to Cuba, Africa and the West
Indies. These reports for a long time
hindered the enlistment very much.
Then there was no large city for contrabands
to congregate in; besides they had no way
of traveling from island to island except on
government vessels. Before the
Proclamation of freedom was issued, the city
of Washing ton, with Virginia and Maryland
as additional territory to recruit from,
afforded an officer a better field to
operate in than any other point except New
Orleans. The conduct of the Government
in revoking Gen. Fremont's
Proclamation, and of McClellan's with
the Army of the Potomac, in catching and
returning escaped slaves, also had a
tendency for some time to keep back even the
free negroes of Virginia and Maryland.
But this class of people never enlisted to
any great numbers, either before or after
1863,
and there finally came to be a general want
of spirit with them, while with the slave
class there was a ready enthusiasm to
enlist. Senator Wilson,
of Massachusetts, was Chairman of the
Committee of Military Affairs, and reported
from that committee on the 8th of July 1862,
a bill authorizing the arming of negroes as
a part of the army. The bill finally
passed both houses and received the approval
of the President on the 17th of July, 1862.
The battle for its success is as worthy of
record as any fought by the Phalanx.
The debate was characterized by eloquence
and deep feeling on both sides. Says
an account of the proceedings in Henry
Wilson's "Anti-slavery Measures of
Congress:
"Mr. Sherman (Rep.) of Ohio said, "The
question arises, whether the people of the
United States, struggling for national
existence, should not employ these blacks
for the maintenance of the Government.
The policy heretofore pursued by the
officers of the United States has been to
repel this class of people from our lines,
to refuse their services. They would
have made the best spies; and yet they have
been driven from our lines."—"I tell the
President," said Mr. Fessenden (Rep.)
of Maine, " from my place here as a senator,
I tell the generals of our army, they must
reverse their practices and their course of
proceeding on this subject. * * I advise it
here from my place,—treat your enemies as
[Pg. 113]
[Pg. 114] - BLANK
[Pg. 115]
enemies, as the worst of enemies, and avail
yourselves like men of every power which God
has placed in your hands to accomplish your
purpose within the rules of civilized
warfare." Mr. Rice, (war
Dem.) of Minnesota, declared that "not many
days can pass before the people of the
United States North must decide upon one of
two questions: we have either to acknowledge
the Southern Confederacy as a free and
independent nation, and that speedily; or we
have as speedily to resolve to use all the
means given us by the Almighty to prosecute
this war to a successful termination.
The necessity for action has arisen.
To hesitate is worse than criminal.
Mr. Wilson said, "The
senator from Delaware, as he is accustomed
to do, speaks boldly and decidedly against
the proposition. He asks if American
soldiers will fight if we organize colored
men for military purposes. Did not
American soldiers fight at Bunker Hill with
negroes in the ranks, one of whom shot down
Major Pitcairn as he mounted
the works? Did not American soldiers
fight at Red Bank with a black regiment from
your own State, sir? (Mr. Anthony
in the chair.) Did they not fight on
the battle-field of Rhode Island with that
black
regiment, one of the best and bravest that
ever trod the soil of this continent?
Did not American soldiers fight at Fort
Griswold with black men? Did they not
fight with black men in almost every
battle-field of the Revolution? Did
not the men of Kentucky and Tennessee,
standing on the lines of New Orleans, under
the eye of Andrew Jackson,
fight with colored battalions whom he had
summoned to the field, and whom he thanked
publicly for their gallantry in hurling back
a British foe? It is all talk, idle
talk, to say that the volunteers who are
fighting the battles of this country are
governed by any such narrow prejudice or
bigotry. These prejudices are the
results of the. teachings of demagogues and
politicians, who have for years undertaken
to delude and deceive the American people,
and to demean and degrade them."
Mr. Grimes had expressed his views a few
weeks before, and desired a vote separately
on each of these sections. Mr.
Davis declared that he was utterly
opposed, and should ever be opposed, to
placing arms in the hands of negroes, and
putting them into the army. Mr.
Rice wished "to know if Gen.
Washington did not put arms into the
hands of negroes, and if Gen.
Jackson did not, and if the senator has
ever condemned either of those patriots for
doing so." "I deny," replied Mr.
Davis, "that, in the Revolutionary
War, there ever was any considerable
organization of negroes. I deny,'
that, in the war of 1812, there was ever any
organization of negro slaves. * * * In my
own State, I have no doubt that there are
from eighty to a hundred thousand slaves
that belong to disloyal men. You
propose to place arms in the hands of the
men and boys, or such of them as are able to
handle arms, and to manumit the whole mass,
men, women, and children, and leave them
among us. Do you expect us to give our
sanction and our approval to these things?
No, no! We would regard their authors
as our worst enemies; and there is no
foreign despotism that could come to our
rescue, that we would not joyously embrace,
before we would submit to any
[Pg. 116]
such condition of things as that. But,
before we had invoked this foreign
despotism, we would arm every man and boy
that we have in the land, and we would meet
you in a death-struggle, to overthrow
together 6uch an oppression and our
oppressors." Mr. Rice
remarked in reply to Mr. Davis,
"The rebels hesitate at nothing. There
are no means that God or the Devil has given
them that they do not use. The
honorable senator said that the negroes
might be useful in loading and swabbing and
firing cannon. If that be the case,
may not some of them be useful in loading,
swabbing, and firing the musket?"
On the 10th of February, 1864, Mr. Stevens
(Republican) of Pennsylvania, in the House
of Representatives, moved an amendment to
the Enrollment Act. Says the same
authority before quoted:
The Enrollment Bill was referred to a
Conference Committee, consisting of Mr.
Wilson of Massachusetts, Mr.
Nesmet of Oregon, and Mr.
Grimes of Iowa, on the part of the
Senate; and Mr. Schenck of
Ohio, Mr. Deming of
Connecticut, and Mr. Kernan of
New York, on the part of the House. In
the Conference Committee, Mr.
Wilson stated that he never could assent
to the amendment, unless the drafted slaves
were made free on being mustered into the
service of the United States. Mr.
Grimes sustained that position; and the
House committee assented to it. The
House amendment was then modified so as to
read, "That all able bodied male colored
persons between the ages of twenty and
forty-five years, whether citizens or not,
resident in the United States, shall be
enrolled according to the provisions of this
act, and of the act to which this is an
amendment, and form part of the national
forces; and, when a slave of a loyal master
shall be drafted and mustered into the
service of the United States, his master
shall have a certificate thereof; and there
upon such slave shall be free; and the
bounty of a hundred dollars, now payable by
law for each drafted man, shall be paid to
the person to whom such drafted person was
owing service or labor at the time of his
muster into the service of the United
States. The Secretary of War shall
appoint a commission in each of the slave
States represented in Congress, charged to
award, to each loyal person to whom a
colored volunteer may owe service, a just
compensation, not exceeding three hundred
dollars, for each such colored volunteer,
payable out of the fund derived from
commutation; and every such colored
volunteer, on being mustered into the
service, shall be free."
The report of the Conference Committee was agreed to;
and it was enacted that every slave, whether
a drafted man or a volunteer, shall be free
on being mustered into the military service
of the United States, not by the act Of the
master, but by the authority of the Federal
Government."
When Gen. Banks took command of the Gulf
Department, Dec. 1862, he very soon after
found the negro
[Pg. 117]
HEADQUARTERS OF VINCENT COLLYER, SUPT. OF
THE POOR AT NEWBERNE, N. C.
Distributing clothing, captured from the
Confederates, to the free negroes.
[Pg. 118] - BLANK
[Pg. 119]
troops an indispensable quantity to the
success of his expeditions; consequently he
laid aside his prejudice, and endeavored to
out Herod Gen. Lorenzo
Thomas, Adjutant General of the
Army,—who in March had been dispatched on a
military inspection tour through the armies
of the West and the Mississippi Valley, and
also to organize a number of negro
regiments*— by issuing in May the following
order:
---------------
* GENERAL: - The exigencies of the service
require that an inspection should be made of
the Armies, military posts and military
operations in the West; you will therefore
make arrangements immediately to perform
that service. Without entering into
any minute details, I beg you to direct your
attention to the following subjects of
investigation:
First. On arriving at Cairo, you will make a careful
examination of the military condition of
that post, in the various branches of
service, and report to this Department, the
result of your investigation, suggesting
whatever in your opinion, the service may
require. You will observe particularly
the condition of that class of population
known as contrabands; the manner in which
they are received, provided for and treated
by the military authorities, and give such
directions to the Commissary and
Quartermaster Departments, and to the
officers commanding, as shall, in your judge
-
[Pg. 120]
His plan of organization is here given, but it was
never fully consummated:
GENERAL ORDERS
No. 47. |
} |
Corps d'Afrique.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
19th ARMY CORPS.
Before Port Hudson, June 6th,
1863. |
I. - The regiments of infantry of
the Corps d'Afrique, authorized by
General Orders No. 44, current
series, will consist of ten
companies each, having the following
minimum organization:
1 Captain, 1 First Lieutenant, 1 Second Lieutenant, 1
First Sergeant, 4 Sergeants, 4
Corporals, 2 Buglers, 40 Privates.
To the above may be added hereafter, at the discretion
of the Commanding General, four
corporals and forty-two privates;
thus increasing the strength to the
maximum fixed by law for a company
of infantry.
The regimental organization will be that fixed by law
for a regiment of infantry.
II. - The Commissary and Assistant Commissaries of
Musters will muster the Second
Lieutenant into service as soon as
he is commissioned; the First
Lieutenant when thirty men are
enlisted; and the Captain when the
minimum organization is completed.
III. - The First, Second, Third and Fourth Regiments of
Louisiana Native Guards will
hereafter he known as the First,
Second, Third and Fourth Regiments
of Infantry of the Corps d'Afrique.
IV. - The regiments of colored troops in process of
organization in the district of
Pensacola will be known as the Fifth
Regiment of Infantry of the Corps
d'Afrique.
V. - The regiments now being raised under the direction
of Brigadier General Daniel
Ullman, and at present known as
the First, Second, Third, Fourth and
Fifth Regiments of Ullman's
Brigade, will be respectively
designated as teh Sixth, Seventh,
Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Regiments of
Industry of the Corps d'Afrique.
VI. - The First Regiment of Louisiana Engineers,
Colonel Justin Hodge, will
hereafter be known as the First
Regiment of Engineers of the Corps
d'Afrique.
BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS: |
OFFICIAL: |
|
RICHARD B. IRWIN
Assistant Adjutant General
NATHANIEL BURBANK, Acting
Assistant Adjutant General |
General Banks' treatment of the negroes was so
very different from that which they
had received from Gen. Butler,
- displacing the negro officers of
the first three regiments organized,
- that it rather checkmated
recruiting, so much so that he found
it necessary to resort to the
---------------
ment, be necessary to secure to them
humane and proper treatment, in
respect to food, clothing,
compensation for their service, and
whatever is necessary to enable them
to support themselves, and to
furnish useful service in any
capacity to the Government.
Second. You will make similar observation at
Columbus, Memphis and other posts in
your progress to the Headquarters of
General Grant's Army.
Third. The President desires that you should
confer freely with Major General
Grant, and the officers with
whom you may have communication, and
explain to them the importance
attached by the Government to the
use of the colored population
emancipated by the President's
Proclamation, and particularly for
the organization of their labor and
military strength. You will
cause it to be understood that no
officer in the United States service
is regarded as in the discharge of
his duties under the Acts of
Congress, the President's
Proclamation, and orders of this
Department, who fails to employ to
the utmost extent, the aid and
co-operation of the loyal colored
population in performing the labor
incident to military operations, and
also in performing the duties of
soldiers under proper organization,
and that any obstacle thrown in the
way of these ends, is regarded by
the President as a violation of the
Acts of Congress, and the declared
purposes of the Government in using
every means to bring the war to an
end
Fourth. - You will ascertain what military officers are
willing to take command of colored
troops; ascertain their
qualifications for that purpose, and
if troops can be raised or
organized, you will, so far a can be
done without prejudice to the
service, relieve officers and
privates from the service in which
they are engaged, to receive
commissions such as they may be
qualified to exercise in the
organization of brigades, regiments
and companies of colored troops.
You are authorized in this
connection, to issue in the name of
this department, letters of
appointment for field and company
officers, and to organize such
troops for military service to the
utmost extent to which they can be
obtained in accordance with the
rules and regulations of the
service. You will see, more
over, and expressly enjoin upon the
various staff departments of the
service, that such troops are to be
provided with supplied upon the
requisition of the proper officers,
and in the same manner as other
troops in the service.
*
* *
* * |
BRIG. GEN. L. THOMAS,
Adjut. Gen'l. U. S. Army |
|
Very
Respectfully Your Obedient Servant,
EDWARD M. STANTON,
Sec. of
War. |
---------------
ment, be necessary to secure to them humane
and proper treatment, in respect to food,
clothing, compensation for their service,
and whatever is necessary to enable them to
support themselves, and to furnish useful
service in any capacity to the Government.
Second. You will make similar observation at
Columbus, Memphis and other posts in your
progress to the headquarters of General
Grant's Army.
Third. The President desires that you should
confer freely with Major General
Grant, and the officers with whom you
may have communication, and explain to them
the importance attached by the Government to
the use of the colored population
emancipated by the President's Proclamation,
and particularly for the organization of
their labor and military strength. You
will cause it to be understood that no
officer in the United States service is
regarded ,w in the discharge of his duties
under the Acts of Congress, the President's
Proclamation, and orders of this Department,
who fails to employ to the utmost extent,
the aid and co-operation of the loyal
colored population in performing the labor
incident to military operations, and also in
performing the duties of soldiers under
proper organization, and that any obstacle
thrown in the way of these ends, is regarded
by the President as a violation of the Acts
of Congress, and the declared purposes of
the Government in using every means to bring
the war to an end.
Fourth. You will ascertain what military officers
are willing to take command of colored
troops; ascertain their qualifications
for that purpose, and if troops can be
raised and organized, you will, so far as
can be done without prejudice to the
service, relieve officers and privates from
the service in which they are engaged, to
receive commissions such as they may be
qualified to exercise in the organization of
brigades, regiments and companies of colored
troops. You are authorized in this
connection, to issue in the name of this
department, letters of appointment for field
and company officers, and to organize such
troops for military service to the utmost
extent to which they can be obtained in
accordance with the rules and regulations of
the service. You will see, more over,
and expressly enjoin upon the various staff
departments of the service, that such troops
are to be provided with supplies upon the
requisition of the proper officers, and in
the same manner as other troops in the
service.
*
*
*
*
*
*
Very Respectfully Your Obedient Servant,
EDWARD M. STANTON,
Sec. of War.
Brig. Gen. L. Thomas,
Adjt. Gen'l U. S. Army
[Pg. 121] - BLANK
[Pg. 122]
PROVOST GUARD SECURING CONSCRIPTS.
Compelling all able-bodied men to join the
army.
[Pg. 123]
provost guard to fill up regiments, as the
following order indicates:
Commission of Enrollment.
GENERAL ORDERS
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
No. 64}
New Orleans, August, 29, 1863.
I,
Colonel JOHN S. CLARK, Major B. RUSH
PLUMLY and Colonel GEORGE H. HANKS,
are hereby appointed a Commission to
regulate the Enrollment, Recruiting and
Employment and Education of persons of
color. All questions concerning the
enlistment of troops for the Corps d'Afrique,
the regulation of labor, or the government
and education of negroes, will be referred
to the decision of this commission,
subject to the approval of the Commanding
General of the Department.
II. No enlistments for the Corps d'Afrique will
be authorized or permitted, except under
regulations approved by this Commission.
III. The Provost Marshal General will cause to be
enrolled all able-bodied men of color in
accordance with the Law of Conscription, and
such number as may be required for military
defence of the Department, equally
apportioned to the different parishes, will
be enlisted for the military service under
such regulations as the Commission may
adopt. Certificates of exemption will
be furnished to those not enlisted,
protecting them from arrest or other
interference except the crime.
IV. Soldiers of the Corps d'Afrique will not
be allowed to leave their camps, or to
wander through the parishes, except upon
written permission, or in the company of
their officers.
V. Unemployed persons of color, vagrants and camp
loafers, will be arrested and employed upon
the public works, by the Provost Marshal's
Department, without other pay than their
rations and clothing.
VI. Arrests of persons, and seizures of property, will
not be made by colored soldiers, nor will
they be charged with the custody of persons
or property, except when under the command,
and accompanied by duly authorized officers.
VII. Any injury or wrong done to the family of
any soldier, on account of his being engaged
in military service, will be summarily
punished.
VIII. As far a practicable, the labor of persons
not adapted to military service will be
provided in substitution for that of
enlisted men.
XI. All regulations hitherto established for the
government of negroes, not inconsistent
herewith, will be enforced by the Provost
Marshals of the different parishes, under
the direction of the Provost Marshal
General.
BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS:
RICHARD B. IRWIN,
Assistant Adjutant General.
In
the department, the actual number of negroes
enlisted was never known, from the fact that
a practice prevailed of putting a live negro
in a dead one's place. For instant, if
a company on picket or scouting lost ten
men, the officer would immediately put ten
new men in their places and have them answer
to the dead men's names. I learn from
very reliable sources that this was done in
Virginia, also in Missouri and Tennessee.
If the exact number of men could be
ascertained, instead of 180,000, it would
doubtless be in the neighborhood of 220,000
who entered the ranks of the army. An
order was issued which aimed to correct the
habit and to prevent the drawing, by
collusion, of the dead men's pay.
The date of the first organization of colored troops is
a question of dispute, but it seems as if
the question might be settled, either by the
records of the War Department or the
personal knowledge of those interested.
Of course the muster of a regiment or
company is the record
[Pg. 124]
of the War Department, but the muster by no
means dates the organization of the troops.*
For example, a colonel may have been
commissioned July, 1862, and yet the muster
of his regiment may be September, 1862, and
even later, by two months, as is the case in
more than one instance. It is just as
fair to take the date of a soldier's
enlistment as the date of the organization
of a regiment, as that of the date of the
order detailing an officer to recruit as the
date of the colonel's commission. The
writer's discharge from the Second Reg't.
Louisiana Native Guards credits him as
enlisting on the 1st day of September, 1862;
at this date the 1st Reg't. La. N. G. was in
the first, in November the Second Regiment
took the field, so that the date of the
organization of the first regiment of
colored troops was in September, 1862.
Col. Higginson, say in his volume:
"Except the
Louisiana soldiers mentioned, - of whom no
detailed reports have, I think, been
published, - my regiment was unquestionably
the first mustered into the service of the
United States; the first company mustered
bearing date, Nov. 7, 1862, and the others
following in quick succession."
Save the regiments recruited in Arkansas, South
Carolina and New Orleans during the year
1862, nothing was done towards increasing
the negro army, but in January 1863, when
the policy of the Government was changed and
the Emancipation Proclamation foreshadowed
the employment of negroes in the armed
service, an activity
---------------
*Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson in an appendix
to his "Army Life in a Black Regiment,"
gives some account of the organization of
negro troops, from which is condensed the
following:
"It is well known that the first systematic attempt to
organize colored troops during the war of
the rebellion was the so-called "Hunter
Regiment." The officer originally
detailed to recruit for this purpose was
Sergeant C. T. Trowbridge, of New York
Volunteer Engineers (Col. Sorrell.)
His detail was dated May 7, 1862, S. O. 84,
Dept. South.
"The second regiment in order of muster was the First
Kansas Colored, dating from Jan. 13, 1863.
The first enlistment in the Kansas regiment
goes back to Aug. 6, 1862; while the
earliest technical date of enlistment in may
regiment was Oct. 19, 1862, although, as was
stated above, one company really dated its
organization back to May, 1862. My
muster as Colonel dates back to Nov. 10,
1862, several months earlier than any other
of which I am aware, among colored
regiments, exept that of Col. Stafford,
(First Louisiana Native Guards,) Sept. 27,
1862. Colonel Williams, of the
First Kansas Colored, was mustered as Lt.
Colonel on Jan. 13, 1863; as Col. Mar.
8, 1863. These dates I have (with the
other facts relating to the regiment) from
Col. R. J. Hinton, the first officer
detailed to recruit it.
"The first detachment of the Second South Carolina
Volunteers (Col. Montgomery) went into camp
at Port Royal Island, Feb. 23, 1863,
numbering one hundred and twenty men.
I do not known the date of his muster; it
was somewhat delayed, but was probably dated
back to about that time.
"Recruiting for the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts
(colored) began on Feb. 9, 1863, and the
first squad went into camp at Readville,
Massachusetts, on Feb. 21, 1863, numbering
twenty-five men. Col. Shaw's
commission - and probably his muster - was
dated Apr. 17, 1863. (Report of
Adjutant General of Massachusetts for 1863,
pp. 896-899.) These were the earliest
colored regiments, so far as I know."
[Pg. 125]
such as had not been witnessed since the
beginning of the war became apparent.
May officers without commands, and some
with, but who sought promotion, were eager
to be allowed to organize a regiment, a
battalion or a brigade of negro troops.
Mr. Lincoln found it necessary in
less than six months after issuing his
Proclamation of Freedom, to put the whole
matter of negro soldiers into the hands of a
board.* Ambition, as ambition will,
smothered many a white man's prejudice and
caused more than one West Pointer to forget
his political education. This order
was issued.:
ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, D. C., January 13th,
1883.
BRIGADIER GENERAL D. ULLMAN, Washington, D.
C.
SIR: - By direction of the Secretary of War you are
hereby authorized to raise a Brigade of
(four regiments) of Louisiana Volunteer
Infantry, to be recruited in that State to
serve for three yeas or during the War.
Each regiment of said Brigade will be organized as
prescribed in General Orders No. 126, series
of 1862, from this office.
The recruitment will be conducted in accordance with
the rules of the service, and the orders of
the War Department, and by the said
department all appointments of officers will
be made.
All musters will be made in strict conformity to
Paragraph 86 Revised Mustering Regulations
of 1862.
I am, Very Respectfully Your Obedient
Servant,
THOMAS M. VINCENT,
Asst. Adjt. Gen'l.
____________
* GENERAL ORDERS,
No. 143. |
} |
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S
OFFICE,
Washington,
May 22, 1863. |
I. - A bureau is
established in the Adjutant General's Office
for the record of all matters relating to
the organization of Colored Troops. An
officer will be assigned to the charge of
the Bureau, with such number of clerks
as may be designated by the Adjutant
General.
II. - Three or more field officers will be detailed as
Inspectors to supervise the organization of
colored troops at such points as may be
indicated by the War Department in the
Northern and Western States.
III. - Boards will be convened at such posts as may be
decided upon by the War Department to
examine applicants for commissions to
command colored troops, who, on application
to the Adjutant General, may receive
authority to present themselves to the board
for examination.
IV - No persons shall be allowed to recruit for colored
troops except specially authorized by the
War Department; and no such authority will
be given to persons who have not been
examined and passed by a board; or will such
authority be given any one person to raise
more than one regiment.
V. - The reports of Boards will specify the grade of
commission for which each candidate is fit,
and authority to recruit will be given in
accordance. Commissions will be issued
from the Adjutant General's Office when the
prescribed number of men is ready for muster
into service.
VI. - Colored troops may be accepted by companies, to
be afterwards consolidated in battalions and
regiments by the Adjutant General. The
regiments will be numbered seriatim,
in the order in which they are raised, the
numbers to be determined by the Adjutant
General. They will be designated: "--
Regiment of U. S. Colored Troops."
VII. - Recruiting stations and depots will be
established by the 'Adjutant General as
circumstances shall require, and officers
will be detailed to muster and inspect the
troops.
VIII. - The non-commissioned officers of colored troops
may be selected and appointed from the best
men of their number in the usual mode of
appointing non-commissioned officers.
Meritorious commissioned officers will be
entitled to promotion to higher rank of they
prove themselves equal to it.
IX. - All personal applications for appointments in
colored regiments, or for information
concerning them, must be made to the Chief
of the Bureau, to the care of the Adjutant
General.
BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:
E. D. TOWNSEND,
Asst. Adjt. General,
[Pg. 126]
ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, D. C., March 24, 1863.
BRIG. GENERAL ULLMAN, Washington, D.
C.
GENERAL: - By direction of Secretary of War, you are
hereby authorized to raise a Battalion (six
companies) of Louisiana Volunteer Infantry
to be used for scouting purposes, to be
recruited in that State, and to serve for
three years or during the war.
The said force will be organized as prescribed in
Paragraph 83, Mustering Regulations.
The recruitment will be conducted in accordance with
the rules of the service, and the orders of
the War Department, and by the said
Department all appointments of officers will
be made.
All musters will be made in accordance with the orders
given in reference to the troops authorized
by the instructions from this office of Jan.
13, 1863.
I am, General Very Respectfully Your
Obedient Servant,
THOMAS M. VINCENT,
Asst. Adjt. General.
In
furtherance of the order General Ullman
proceeded to New Orleans and assumed command
of seven thousand troops already organized.
It was said that he had arranged 500 white
officers in command of the troops in
Louisiana.
In October thereafter General Banks issued the
following order, which fully explains
itself:
* GENERAL ORDERS,
No. 77 |
} |
Recruiting for the Corps d' Afrique.
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE
GULF.
New Orleans, October 27,
1863. |
I. All persons of Color coming within the
lines of the army, or following the army
when in the field, other than those employed
in the Staff Department of the army, or as
servants of officers entitled by the
Regulations to have servants, or cooks, will
be placed in charge of and provided for by
the several Provost Marshals of the
Parishes, or if the army be on the march, or
in the field, by the Provost Marshal of the
Army.
II. The several Provost Marshals of the Parishes
and of the Army will promptly forward to the
nearest recruiting depot all able bodied
males for service in the Corps d'Afrique.
III. Recruits will be received for the Corps
d'Afrique of all able bodied men from
sections of the country not occupied by our
forces, and beyond our lines, without regard
to the enrollment provided for in General
Orders No. 64 and 70, from these
Headquarters.
IV. Instructions will be given by the President
of the Commission of Enrollment to the
Superintendent of REcruiting, to govern in
all matters of detail relating to
recruiting, and officers will be held to a
strict accountability for the faithful
observance of existing orders and such
instructions; but no officer will be
authorized to recruit beyond the lines
without first having his order approved by
the officer commanding the nearest post, or
the officer commanding the Army in the
Field, who will render such assistance as
may be necessary to make the recruiting
service effective.
BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS:
G. NORMAN LIEBER,
Act. Asst. Adjt. Gen'l.
At the North where negroes had been
refused admission to the army, the
President's Proclamation was hailed with
delight. Gov. Andrew, of
Massachusetts, at once began the
organization of the
54th Regiment of this State,
composed entirely of negroes, and on the
28th of May the regiment being ready to take
the field, embarked for South Carolina.
Other Northern States followed.
Pennsylvania established Camp Wm. Penn, from
which several regiments took their
departure, while Connecticut and Rhode
Island both sent a regiment.
The taste with which the negro soldiers arranged their
quarters often prompted officers of white
regiments to
[Pg. 127]
NEW RECRUITS TAKING CARS FOR CAMP
[Pg. 128] - BLANK
[Pg. 129]
borrow a detail to clean and beautify the
quarters of their commands. An
occurrence of this kind came very near
causing trouble on Morris Island, S. C.
The matter was brought to the commanding
General's attention and he immediately
issued this order:
DEPARTMENT
OF THE SOUTH, HEADQUARTERS IN THE FIELD
Morris Island, S.
C., Sept. 17th, 1863.
GENERAL
ORDERS, No. 77}
I. It has
come to the knowledge of the Brig. Gen.
Commanding that detachments of colored
troops, detailed for fatigue duty, have been
employed in one instance at least, to
prepare camps and perform menial duty for
white troops. Such use of these
details in unauthorized and improper, and is
hereafter expressly prohibited.
Commanding Officers of colored regiments are
directed to report promptly, to the
Headquarters, any violations of this order
which may come to their knowledge.
BY ORDER OF GEN. Q. A. GILLMORE,
OFFICIAL:
ED. W. SMITH, Asst. Adjt. Gen'l.
ISRAEL Z. SEALEY, Copt. 47th N. Y. Vols..
Act. Asst. Adjt. General.
The
Southern troops generally made no objection
to cleaning the quarters of their white
allies, but when a detail from the 54th
Mass. Reg't., on its way to the front, was
re-detailed for that purpose, they refused
to obey. The detail was placed under
arrest. When this information reached
the regiment it was only by releasing the
prisoners that a turbulent spirit was
quieted. There were about ten thousand
negro troops in and about Morris Island at
that time, and they quickly sneezed at the
54th 's snuff. The negro barbers in
this department had been refusing to shave
and to cut the hair of negro soldiers
in common with the whites. Corporal
Kelley of the 54th Mass. Regiment,
who had been refused a shave at a shop
located near one of the brigade
headquarters, went there one evening
accompanied by a. number of the members of
Company C. The men gathered around the
barber's place of business, which rested
upon posts a little up from the ground; the
negro barbers were seated in their chairs
resting from their labors and listening to
the concert, which it was customary for a
band to give each evening. As the last
strains of music were being delivered, one
side of the barber shop was lifted high and
then suddenly dropped; it came down with a
crash making a wreck of the building and its
contents, except the barbers, who escaped
unhurt, but who never made their appearance
again. The episode resulted in the
issuing of an order
forbidding discrimination on account of
color.
[Pg. 130]
The Washington authorities established recruiting
stations throughout the South. Of the
difficulties under which recruiting officers
labored some idea may be formed by reading
the following, written by the historian of
the 7th Regiment:
"The position of recruiting officer for
colored troops was by no means a sinecure;
on the contrary, it was attended with
hardships, annoyances and difficulties
without number. Moving about from
place to place; often on scant rations, and
always without transportation, save what
could be pressed into service; sleeping in
barns, out-houses, public buildings, -
wherever shelter could be found, and meeting
from the people everywhere opposition and
dislike. To have been an officer of
colored troops was of itself sufficient to
ostracize, and when, in addition, one had to
take from them their slaves, dislike became
absolute hatred. There were, of
course, exceptions, and doubtless every
officer engaged on this disagreeable duty
can bear testimony to receiving at times a
hospitality as generous as it was
unexpected, even from people whom duty
compelled them to despoil. But this
was always from "union men," for it
must be confessed that a large proportion of
the property-holders on both the eastern and
western shores of the Chesapeake were as
deeply in sympathy with the rebellion as
their brethren over the Virginia border.
"Perhaps the most disagreeable feature of this
recruiting duty was that Gen. Birney
(Supt. of recruiting of negro troops in
Maryland) seldom saw fit to give his
subordinates anything but verbal
instructions. Officers were ordered to
open recruiting stations; to raid through
the country, carrying off slaves from under
the eyes of their masters; to press horses
for their own use and that of their men, and
teams and vehicles for purposes of
transportation; to take forage when needed;
to occupy buildings and appropriate fuel; in
short, to do a hundred things they had
really no legal right to do, and had they
been called upon, as was likely to happen at
any time, for the authority under which they
were acting, they would have had nothing to
show but their commissions; and if, in
carrying out these verbal instructions from
their chief, they had become involved in
serious difficulty, they had little reason
to suppose that they would be sustained by
him.
"When it is remembered that slavery was at that time
still a recognized institution, and that the
duty of a recruiting officer often required
him to literally strip a plantation of its
field hands, and that, too, at a time of the
year when the crops were being gathered, it
is perhaps to be wondered that the bitter
feelings of the slave-owners did not often
find vent in open resistance and actual
violence. That this delicate and
disagreeable duty was performed in a manner
to avoid serious difficulty certainly speaks
well for the prudence and good judgment of
the officers and men engaged in it.
"The usual method of proceeding was, upon reaching a
designated point, to occupy the most
desirable public building, dwelling-house,
ware-
[Pg. 131]
parties were sent into the surrounding
country, visiting each plantation within a raidus
of twenty or thirty miles. The
parties, sometimes under charge of an
officer, usually consisted of a
non-commissioned officer and ten or twelve
men.
"In these journeys through the country the recruiting
officer often met with strange experiences.
Recruits were taken wherever found, and as
their earthly possessions usually consisted
of but what they wore upon their backs, they
required no time to settle their affairs.
The laborer in the field would throw down
his hoe or quit his plow and march away with
the guard, leaving his late owner looking
after him in speechless amazement. On
one occasion the writer met a planter on the
road, followed by two of his slaves, each
driving a loaded wagon. The usual
questions were asked and the whilom slaves
joined the recruiting party, leaving their
teams and late master standing in the
highway. At another time a negro was
met with a horse and wagon. Having
expressed his desire to "'list," he turned
his horse's head toward home, and marched
away in the opposite direction.
"On one occasion the writer visited a large plantation
near Capeville, Va., and calling upon the
proprietor asked him to call in his slaves.
He complied without a word, and when they
came and were asked if they wished to
enlist, replied that they did, and fell into
the ranks with the guard. As they
started away the old man turned to me, and
with tears in his eyes, said, "Will you take
them all? Here I am, an old man; I
cannot work; my crops are ungathered; my
negroes have all enlisted or run away, and
what am I to do? A hard question,
truly. Another officer was called upon
by a gentleman with this question, "You have
taken all my able-bodied men for soldiers,
the others have run away, and only the women
and children are left; - what do you propose
to do with them?" Another hard question.
"At another time, when the Balloon was lying at the
mouth of the Pocomoke, accompanied by
Lieut. Brown and with a boat's
crew, we pulled up the river to the
plantation of a Mrs. D., a noted
rebel sympathizer. We were met, as we
expected, with the most violent abuse from
the fair proprietoress, which was redoubled
when three of her best slaves, each of whom
had probably been worth a couple of thousand
dollars in ante-bellum days, took their
bundles and marched off to the boat.
We bade the lady farewell, and pushed off
amid the shouts and screams of a score of
negro women and children, and the tears and
execrations of the widow.
"To illustrate the unreasonable orders Gen.
Birney was sometimes in the habit of
giving to officers engaged under him on
recruiting service, the writer well
remembers being placed by him, at
Pungateague, Va., in charge of some 200
recruits he had forcibly taken from an
officer recruiting under Col.
Nelson's orders, and receiving from him
(Gen. Birney) the most
positive orders under no circumstances to
allow Col. Nelson to get
possession of them, - Col.
Nelson's steamer was hourly expected -
and
[Pg. 132]
that I should be held personally responsible
that they were put on board his own steamer,
and this when I had neither men nor muskets
to enforce to order. Fortunately (for
myself) Gen. Birney's steamer arrived
first and the men were safely put on board.
Some days later, Lieut. Brown, who
was then in charge of the same station, had
a squad of recruits taken from him by
Col. Nelson, in retaliation.
"Many a hap-hazard journey was undertaken in search of
recruits and recruiting stations. On
one occasion an officer was ordered by
Gen. Birney to take station at a town(?)
not many miles from Port Tobacco, on the
Potomac. After two days' careful
search he discovered that the town he was in
search of had been a post-office twenty
years before, but then consisted of one
house, uninhabited and uninhabitable, with
not another within the circuit of five
miles."
When the Government decided to arm the negroes and
ordered the organization of a hundred
regiments, it was with great difficulty the
equipment dpartent met the requisitions.
It necessitated a departure from the
accustomed uniform material for volunteers,
and helped to arouse the animosity of the
white troops. Instead of the coarse
material issued at first, the Phalanx was
clothed in a fine blue-black dress coat for
the infantry, and a superb dark blue jacket
for the artillery and cavalry, all neatly
trimmed with brass buttons and white, red
and yellow cord, representing the arm of
service; heavy sky blue pantaloons, and a
flannel cap, or high crown black flelt hat
or Chapeau with a black feather
looped upon the right side and fastened with
a brass eagle. For the infantry and
for the cavalry two swords crossed; for the
artillery two cannons on the front of the
chapeau crossed, with the letters of the
company, and number of the regiment to which
the soldier belonged. On the caps
these insignias were worn on the top of the
crown. The uniform of the Phalanx put
the threadbare clothes of the white veterans
in sad contrast, and was the cause of many
of the white veterans in sad contrast, and
was the cause of many a black soldier being
badly treated by his white comrades.*
---------------
* I attempted to pass Jackson Square in
New Orleans one day in my uniform, when I
was met by two white soldiers of the 24th
Conn. They halted me and then ordered
me to undress. I refused, when they
seized me and began to tear my coat off.
I resisted, but to no good purpose; a half a
dozen others came up and began to assist.
I recognized a sergeant in the crowd, an old
shipmate on board of a New Bedford, Mass.,
Whaler; he came to my rescue, my clothing
was restored and I was let go. It was
nothing strange to see a black soldier a
la Adam come into the barracks out of
the streets. This conduct led to the
killing of a portion of a boat's crew of the
U. S. Gunboat Jackson, at Ship
Island, Miss., by members of a Phalanx
regiment stationed there.
[Pg. 133]
At the outbreak of the Rebellion, the pay of soldiers
(volunteers) was the same as soldiers of the
regular army, by law, $13 per month.
The soldiers of the Phalanx enlisted under
the same law and regulations as did the
white volunteers, as to pay and term of
service, but the Secretary of War, after a
few regiments were in the field, decided,
and so ordered, that negro troops should be
paid ten dollars per month. The
instructions given to General Saxton
on the 25th day of August, 1862, had stated
that the pay would be the same as that of
the other troops:
"In
view of the small force under your command,
and the inability of the Government at the
present time to increase it, in order to
guard the plantations and settlements
occupied by the United States, from
invasion, and to protect the inhabitants
thereof from captivity and murder by the
enemy, you are also authorized to arm,
uniform, equip, and receive into the service
of the United States, such number of
volunteers of African descent as you may
deem expedient, not exceeding five thousand,
and may detail officers to instruct them in
military drill, discipline and duty, and to
command them.
The persons so
received into service, and their officers,
to be entitled to, and received, the same
pay and rations as re allowed, by law, to
volunteers in the service."
As
to the white officers they were paid in
full, but the privates and non-commissioned
officers were allowed but $10 per month,
three of which were deducted on account of
clothing. In several instances the
paymaster not having received special
instructions to that effect, disregarded the
general orders, and paid the negro soldiers
in full, like other volunteers; but the
order was generally recognized, though many
of the regiments refused to receive the $7
per month, which was particularly the case
of regiments from the Northern States.
The order at one time in the Department of
the Gulf, came very near causing a mutiny
among the troops, because white troops, and
conscripts at that, and those who had done
provost duty about the cities, were paid $16
per month, - Congress having raised the pay,
- while the Phalanx regiments in the field
and fortifications were offered $7.
The dissatisfaction was so strongly
manifested as to cause twelve members of the
Phalanx to lose their lives, which were not
the only ones lost by the bad faith on the
part of the Govern-
[Pg. 134]
ment. However, in no instance did the
Phalanx refuse to do its duty when called
upon, and at the sound of the long roll,
though the black flag was raised against
them, and many of their families were
suffering at home, their patriotic ardor
never abated in the least. At the
North, provisions were made by the States to
relieve the families of the brave men.
Massachusetts sent paymasters to make good
the promises of the Government, but the
deficiency was rejected. Her
regiments, although a year without pay,
refused to accept, and demanded full pay
from the Government. The loyal people
of the country, at public meetings and the
press,* severely criticized the
---------------
*
The injustice done the Phalanx, in
discriminating between the Northern and
Southern negro, may be clearly seen by the
following letters:
"NEW VICTORIES AND OLD WRONGS. - To the Editors of
the Evening Post: On the 2d
of July, at James Island, S. C., a battery
was taken by three regiments, under the
following circumstances:
"The regiments were the One Hundred and Third New York
(white), the Thirty-Third United States
(formerly First South Carolina Volunteers),
and the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, the two
last being colored. They marched at
one A. M., by the flank, in the above order,
hoping to surprise the battery. As
usual the rebels were prepared for them, and
opened upon them as they were deep in one of
those almost impassable Southern marshes.
The One Hundred and Third New York, which
had previously been in twenty battles, was
thrown into confusion; the Thirty-Third
United States did better, being behind; the
Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts being in the rear,
did better still. All three formed in
line, when Colonel Hartwell,
commanding the brigade, gave the order to
retreat. The officer commanding the
Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, either
misunderstanding the order, or hearing it
countermanded, ordered his regiment to
charge. This order was at once
repeated by Major Trowbridge,
commanding the Thirty-Third United States,
and by the commander of the One Hundred and
Third New York, so that the three regiments
reached the fort in reversed order.
The color-bearers of the Thirty-Third United
States and of the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts
had a race to be first in, the latter
winning. The One Hundred and Third New
York entered the battery immediately after.
"These colored regiments are two of the five which were
enlisted in South Carolina and
Massachusetts, under the written pledge of
the War Department that they should have the
same pay and allowances as white soldiers.
That pledge has been deliberately broken by
the War Department, or by Congress, or by
both, except as to the short period, since
last New Year's Day. Every one of
those killed in this action from these two
colored regiments - under a fire before
which the veterans of twenty battles
recoiled - died defrauded by the
Government of nearly one-half of his petty
pay.
"Mr.
Fessenden, who defeated in the Senate of
the Treasury. Was the economy of
saving six dollars per man worth to the
Treasury the ignominy of the repudiation?
"Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, on his triumphal
return to his constituents, used to them
this language: 'He had no doubt
whatever as to the final result of the
present contest between liberty and slavery.
The only doubt he had was whether the nation
had yet been satisfactorily chastised for
their cruel oppression of a harmless and
long-suffering race.' Inasmuch as it
was Mr. Stevens himself who induced
the House of Representatives, most
unexpectedly to all, to defeat the senate
bill for the fulfillment of the national
contract with these soldiers, I should think
he had excellent reasons for the doubt.
Very respectfully,
T. W. HIGGINSON.
July 10, 1864.
Col. 1st S. C.
Vols. (now 33d U. S.)
-----
"To the Editor of the New York Tribune:
No one can possibly be so weary of reading
of the wrongs done by Government toward the
colored soldiers as I am of writing about
them. This is y only excuse for
intruding on your columns again.
By an order of the War Department, dated Aug. 1, 1864,
it is at length ruled that colored soldiers
shall be paid the full pay of soldiers from
date of enlistment, provided they were free
on Apr. 19, 1861, - not otherwise; and this
distinction is to be noted on the pay-rolls.
In other words, if one half of a company
escaped from slavery on April 18, 1861, they
are to be paid thirteen dollars per mouth
and allowed three dollars and a half per
month for clothing. If the other half
were delayed two days, they receive seven
dollars per month and are allowed three
dollars per month for precisely the same
[Pg. 135]
SCENE AT NEW BERNE, N. C.
Enthusiasm of the Blacks at the prospect of
their being allowed to enlist as U. S.
Soldiers.
[Pg. 136] - BLANK
[Pg. 137]
Government, while the patriotic black men
continued to pour out their blood and to
give their lives for liberty and
the Union.
The matter being one for Congress to adjust, Henry
Wilson, of Massachusetts, on the 8th of
Jan. 1864, introduced in the Senate of the
United States, a bill to promote enlistments
in the army, and in this measure justice to
the black soldiers was proposed. After
months of debate, it was finally passed;
not only placing the Phalanx soldiers on a
footing with all other troops, but made
free, the mothers, wives and children of the
noble black troops.
The fight of the Phalanx for equal pay and allowance
with the white troops, was a long one.
The friends of the black soldiers in
Congress fought it, however, to the
successful issue. Senator
Wilson, of Massachusetts, took the lead
in the matter in the Senate, as he did in
the amend-
articles of
clothing. If one of the former class
is made first sergeant, his pay is put up to
twenty-one dollars per month; but if he
escaped two days later, his pay is still
estimated at seven dollars.
"' It had not occurred to me that, anything could make
the pay-rolls of these regiments more
complicated than at present, or the men more
rationally discontented. I had not the
ingenuity to imagine such an order.
Yet it is no doubt in accordance with the
spirit, if not with the letter, of the final
bill which was adopted by Congress under the
lead of Mr. Thaddeus
Stevens.
"The ground taken by Mr. Stevens
apparently was that the country might honor
ably save a few dollars by docking the
promised pay of those colored soldiers whom
the war had made free. But the
Government should have thought of this
before it made the contract with these men
and received their services. When
the War Department instructed Brigadier-General
Saxton, August 25, 1862, to raise
five regiments of negroes in South Carolina,
it was known very well that the men so
enlisted had only recently gained their
freedom. But the instructions said:
'The persons so received into service, and
their officers, to be entitled to and
receive the same pay and rations as are
allowed by law to volunteers in the
service.' Of this passage Mr.
Solicitor Whiting wrote to me:
'I have no hesitation in saying that the
faith of the Government was thereby pledged
to every officer and soldier enlisted under
that call.' Where is that
faith of the Government now?
"The men who enlisted under the pledge were volunteers,
every one; they did not get their freedom by
enlisting; they had It already. They
enlisted to serve the Government, trusting
In its honor. Now the nation turns upon them
and says: Your part of the contract is
fulfilled; we have had your services.
If you can show that you had previously been
free for a certain length of time, we will
fulfil the other side of the contract.
If not, we repudiate it. Help
yourselves, if you can.
"In other words, a freedman (since April 19. 1861) has
no rights which a white man to bound to
respect. He is incapable of making a
contract. No man is bound by a
contract made with him. Any employer,
following the example of the United States
Government, may make with him a written
agreement, receive his services, and then
withhold the wages. He has no motive
to honest industry, or to honesty of any
kind. He is virtually a slave, and
nothing else, to the end of time.
"Under this order, the greater part of the
Massachusetts colored regiments will get
their pay at last, and be able to take their
wives mid children out of the almshouses, to
which, as Governor Andrew
informs us, the gracious charity of the
nation has consigned so many. For so
much I am grateful. Hut toward my regiment,
which had been in service and under fire,
months before a Northern colored soldier was
recruited, the policy of repudiation has at
last been officially adopted.
There is no alternative for the officers of
South Carolina regiments but to wait for
another session of Congress, and meanwhile,
if necessary, net as executioners for these
soldiers who, like Sergeant Walker,
refuse to fulfil their share of a
contract where the Government has openly
repudiated the other share. If a
year's discussion, however, has at length
secured the arrears of pay for the Northern
colored regiments, possibly two years may
secure it for the Southern.
T. W. HIGGINSON,
August 12, 1864.
Col 1st S. C.
Vols. (now 33d U. S.)
[Pg. 138]
ing of the enrolling acts, and the act
calling out the militia, whereby negroes
were enrolled.
In the winter of '04 Gen. Butler began the organization
of the Army of the James and the enlistment
of negro troops. A camp was
established near Fortress Monroe, where a
great many men enlisted. The Secretary
of War gave permission to the several
Northern States to send agents South, and to
enlist negroes to fill up their quotas of
troops needed. Large bounties were
then being paid and many a negro received as
much as $500 to enlist; while many who went
as substitutes received even more than that.
The recruiting officers or rather agents
from the different States established their
headquarters largely within Gen.
Butlers departments, where negro
volunteers were frequently secured at a much
less price than the regular bounty offered,
the agent putting into his own pocket the
difference, which often amounted to $200 or
even $400 on a single recruit. To
correct this "wrong, Gen. Butler
issued the following order:
GENERAL ORDERS,
No. 90 |
} |
HEADQUARTERS, DEP'T. VIRGINIA &
NORTH CAROLINA,
IN THE FIELD, VA., August 4th,
1864. |
With all the guards which the utmost
vigilance and care have thrown around the
recruitment of white soldiers, it is a fact,
as lamentable as true, that a large portion
of the recruits have been swindled of part,
if not all, of their bounties. Can it
be hoped that the colored man will be better
able to protect himself from the infinite
ingenuity of fraud than the white?
Therefore, to provide for the families of the colored
recruits enlisted in this Department - to
relieve the United States, as far as may be,
from the burden of supporting the families,
- and to insure that at least a portion of
the bounty paid to the negro shall be
received for his use and that of his family;
It is ordered: I - That upon the
enlistment of any negro recruit into the
service of the United States for three (3)
years, by any State agent or other person
not enlisting recruits under the direct
authority of the War Department, a sum of
one hundred (100) dollars, or one-third
(1/3) of the sum agreed to be paid as
bounty, shall be paid if the amount exceeds
three times that sum, into the hands of the
Superintendent of Recruiting, or an officer
to be designated by him, and in the same
proportion for any less time; and no
Mustering Officer will give any certificate
or voucher for any negro recruit mustered
into the service of the United States, so
that he may be credited to the quota of any
State, or as a substitute, until a
certificate is filed with him that the
amount called for by this order has been
paid, to the satisfaction of the
Superintendent of Recruiting of the district
wherein the recruit was enlisted; but the
mustering officer will, in default of such
payment, certify upon the roll that the
recruit is not to be credited to the quota
of any State, of as a substitute.
II - The amount as paid to the Superintendent of
Recruiting shall be turned over, on the last
day of each month, to the Superintendent of
Negro Affairs, to be expended in aid of the
families of negro soldiers in this
Department. The certificates filed
with Commissary of Musters will be returned
to said Superintendents of Negro Affairs, on
the first day of every month, so that the
Superintendent may vouch for the accounts of
the Superintendents of Recruiting, for the
amounts received by him.
And the Superintendent of Negro Affairs will account
monthly to the Financial Agent of this
Department for the amounts received and
expended by him.
III - As there are unfilled colored Regiments in this
Department sufficient to receive all the
negro recruits therein, no negro male person
above the age of sixteen (16) years, shall
be taken out or attempted to be taken out of
this Department, either as a recruit, as
officer's servant, or otherwise, in any
manner whatever, without a pass from these
Head Quarters. Any officer, Master of
Transportation, Provost Marshal, or person,
[Pg. 139]
MUSTERING INTO SERVICE
Phalanx soldiers taking the oath of
allegiance to the United States.
[Pg. 140] - BLANK
[Pg. 141]
who shall aid, assist or
permit any male negro of the age of sixteen
(16) years or upwards, to go out of this
Department, in contravention of this order,
will be punished, on conviction thereof
before the Provost Court, by not less than
six (6) months imprisonment at hard labor,
under the Superintendent of Prison Labor, at
Norfolk, and if this offence is committed by
or with the connivance of any Master of
Steamboat, Schooner, or other vessel, the
steamboat or other vessel shall be seized
and sold, and the proceeds be paid to the
Superintendent of Negro Affairs, for the use
of the destitute negroes supported by the
Government.
By command of Major General B. F. Butler:
R. S. DAVIS, Major and Asst.
Adjt. General.
OFFICIAL: H. T. SCHROEDER, Lt. & A. A.
A. Gen'l.
OFFICIAL: WM. M. PRATT, Lt. &
Aide-de-Camp.
The
chief result of Butler's order was
the establishment of the Freedmen's Savings
Bank. At the close of the war, there
were in the hands of the Superintendent of
Negro Affairs, eight thousand dollars
unclaimed bounties, belonging, the most of
it without doubt, to dead men; it was
placed in a bank at Norfolk, Va. This
sum served as a nucleus for the Freedman's
Bank, which, after gathering large sums of
the Freedmens' money, collapsed suddenly.
At Camp Hamilton several regiments were organized,
including two of cavalry. The general
enlistment ordered by the War Department was
pushed most actively and with great results,
till more than one hundred and seventy-eight
thousand, by the records, were enlisted into
the army.
The opposition to negro soldiers did not cease with
many of the Union generals even after the
Government at Washington issued its mandate
for their enlistment and impressment, and
notwithstanding that the many thousands in
the service, with their display of
gallantry, dash and courage, as exhibited at
Port Hudson, Milliken's Bend, Wagner, and in
a hundred other battles, had astonished and
aroused the civilized world. In view
of all this, and, even more strangely, in
the face of the Fort Pillow butchery,
General Sherman wrote to the Washington
authorities, in September, 1864, protesting
against negro troops being organized in his
department. If Whitelaw Reid's
"Ohio in the War," is to be relied upon,
Sherman's treatment of the negroes in
his march to the sea was a counterpart of
the Fort Pillow massacre. His
opposition was in keeping with that of the
authorities of his state,* notwithstanding
it has credited to its quota
---------------
*
"It has been said that one negro regiment
was raised in 1863. More ought to have
been secured; let it never be said that it
was the fault of the colored men them-
[Pg. 142]
of troops during the war 5,092 negroes, but
one regiment was raised in the State, out of
a negro population of 36,673 by the canvas
of 1860.
According to the statistics on file in the Adjutant
General's office, the States are accredited
with the following number of negroes who
served in the army during the Rebellion:
The
losses these troops sustained from sickness,
wounds, killed in battle and other
casualties incident to war, was 68,178.
The aggregate negro population in the U. S. in 1860 was
4,449,201, of which 3,950, 531 were slaves.
selves that they were not.
"At the first call for troops in 1861, Governor
Dennison was asked if he would accept
negro volunteers. In deference to a
sentiment then almost universal, not less
than to the explicit regulations of the
Government, he replied that he could not.
When the Emancipation Proclamation changed
the status of negroes so completely, and the
Government began to accept their services,
they resumed their applications to the State
authorities. Governor Tod still
discouraged them. He had previously
committed himself, in repelling the
opportunities of their leaders, to the
theory that it would be contrary to our
laws, and without warrant either in their
spirit or letter, to accept them, even under
calls for militia. He now did all he
could to transfer such as wished to enlist
to the Massachusetts regiments.
"The Adjutant-General, in his report for 1863,
professed his inability to say why
Massachusetts should be permitted to make
Ohio a recruiting -ground for filling her
quotas. If he had looked into the
correspondence which the Governor gave to
the public in connection with his message,
he would have found out. As early as
May 11th the Governor said, in a letter to
Hon. Wm. Porter, of Millon, Ohio:
'I do not propose to raise any colored
troops. Those now being recruited in
this State are recruited by authority from
Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts.
"A few days later he wrote to Hon. John M. Langston:
'As it was uncertain what number of colored
men could be promptly raised in Ohio.
I have advised and still do advise, that
those disposed to enter the service promptly
join the Massachusetes regiments.
* *
* Having requested
the Governor of Massachusetts to organize
the colored men from Ohio into separate
companies, so far as practicable, and also
to keep me fully advised of the names, age,
and place of residence of each, Ohio will
have the full benefit of all enlistments
from the State, and the recruits themselves
the benefit of the State Associations to the
same extent nearly as if organized into the
State regiment.' And to persons
proposing to recruit said companies he wrote
that all commissions would be issued by the
Governor of Massachusetts. In this
course he had the sanction if not the
original suggestion of the Secretary of War.
Afterward his applications for authority to
raise an Ohio regiment were for sometime
refused, but finally he secured it, and the
One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh was the quick
result. Unfortunately it was numbered
the Fifth United States Colored. The
result of all this was that Ohio received
credit for little over a third of her
colored citizens who volunteered for the
war." - Reid's Ohio in the War, Vol. I,
p. 176.
[Pg. 143]
PHALANX SOLDIERS ORGANIZING AND DRILLING
[Pg. 144] - BLANK
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