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 PRINTED IN U.SA 
 
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 THE NEGRO ilSflSOLDIER 
 
 WRITTBN BY 
 
 Clirl^tlan A. Fleetwood, 
 
 ZaU Sergeant-Major 4th U. S. Colored Troops^ 
 FOR 
 
 THE NEGRO CONGRESS, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 Cotton State$ and International Bxpo$itlon^ 
 Atlanta, Ga., 
 
 "-J ^"'j 
 
 November 11 to November 23, 1895,. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY PROF. GEO. WM. COOK> 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 HOWARD UNIVERSITY PRINT. 
 1895. 
 
Cotton Statics and IntbrnationAi, Exposition, 
 
 Atlanta, Ga., 1895. 
 
 commission for The district of Columbia coi<orEd exhibit. 
 
 Jesse Lawson, Chief Commissioner. 
 
 Edward E. Cooper, Vice Chairman, 
 
 Thomas L. Jones, 
 
 W. S. Montgomery, 
 
 James H. Meriwether, 
 
 Joseph H. Stewart, 
 
 Henry E. Baker, Treasurer, 
 
 A. F. Hilyer, 
 
 Geo. Wm. Cook, 
 
 Col. Nathan Toomer, 
 
 J. E. Johnson, Secretary. 
 
 Ladies' Auxiliary Committee. 
 
 Mrs. B. K. Brace, President, 
 Mrs. J. T. Ivayton, ist Vice Pres., 
 Mrs. A. F. Hilyer, 2d Vice Pres., 
 Mrs. Jesse Lawson, Secretary, 
 Mrs. Charles R. Douglass, Treas. 
 
 Men's Auxiliary 
 David A. Clark, Chairman, 
 
 Office of the Commission, 
 
 Room 4, 609 P Street, Northwest, 
 
 Washington, D. C. August 5, 1895. 
 Major C. A. Fi<EETwooD. 
 
 Dear Sir: — At a meeting of the Committee for the District of Columbia j 
 on National Negro Congresses at the Atlanta Exposition, held this day, you 
 were appointed a speaker to represent the District on the subject, "Mili- 
 tary." 
 
 Will you kindly favor us with an early notice of your acceptance ? 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 WAi,TER H. Brooks, Chairman 
 
 W. J. Howard, 
 
 Edward H. Lipscombe, Sec. 
 
 Committee. 
 
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 IN THE "WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 For sixteen hundred years prior to the war between Great Etitain 
 and the Colonies, the pages of history bear no record "of the Negro 
 as a soldier. Tracing his separate history in the Revolutionary 
 War, is a task of much difficulty, for the reason that while individual 
 instances of valor and patriotism abound there were so few separate 
 bodies of Negro troops, that no separate record appears to have been 
 made. The simple fact is that the fathers as a rule enlisted men 
 both for the Army and Navy, just as now, is only continued by the 
 Navy, that is to say, they were assigned wherever needed, without 
 regard to race or color. Vamer's Rhode Island Battalion appears 
 to have been the only large aggregation of Negroes in this war, 
 though Connecticut, New York, and New Hampshire each furnished 
 one separate company in addition to individuals scattered through 
 their other organizations, so that ere the close of the war, there 
 were very few brigades, regiments, or companies in which the Negro 
 was not in evidence. 
 
 The free Negro appears to have gone in from the beginning with- 
 out attracting or calling out special comment. Later, as men grew 
 scarcer and necessity more pressing, slaves were taken in also, and 
 then the trouble began. Those who held slaves did not care to lose 
 them in this way. Others who had not, did notthink it just the thing 
 in a war for avowed freedom to place an actual slave in the ranks to 
 fight. Some did not want the Negro, bond or free, to take part as 
 a soldier in the struggle. So that in May, 1775, the Massachusetts 
 Committee of Safety voted that thereafter only free men should be 
 enlisted. In July, Gen. Gates issued an order prohibiting further 
 enlistments of Negroes, but saying nothing of those already in the 
 service. 
 
 In October, a council of war, presided over by Gen. Washington, 
 comprising three Major Generals and six Brigadier Generals, voted 
 unanimously against the enlistment of slaves, and by a decided ma- 
 jority against further enlistments of Negroes. Ten days later in a con- 
 ference held at Cambridge, Mass., participated in by Gen. Washing- 
 
2 THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 ton, Benj. Franklin, Benj. Harrison, Thos. Lynch, and the deputy 
 governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island, the same action was 
 taken. 
 
 On the 7th November, 1775, Earl Dundore, commanding the forces 
 of His Majest3' the King, issued a proclamation offering freedom and 
 equal pay to all slaves who would join his armies as soldiers. It did 
 not take the the colonists long to find out their mistake, although Gen. 
 Washington, in accordance with the expressed will of his of&cers and 
 of the Committee of Safety, did on the 17th Nov., 1775, issue a proc- 
 lamation forbidding the further enlistment of Negroes. Less than two 
 months later, that is to say on the 30th Dec, 1 775, he issued a second 
 proclamation again authorizing the enlistment of free Negroes He 
 advised Congress of his action, and stated that he would recall it if 
 so directed. But he was not. The splendid service rendered by 
 the Negro and the great and pressing need of men were such, that 
 although the opposition continued from some sections, it was not 
 thereafter strong enough to get recognition . So the Negroes went 
 and came much as did other men. 
 
 In all the events of the war, from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, 
 they bore an honorable part. The history of the doings of the 
 armies is their history, as in everything they took part and did 
 their share. Their total enlistment was about 3,000 men. Avery 
 fair percentage for the then population. I might instance the 
 killing of Major Pitcairn, at Bunker Hill, by Peter Salem, and of 
 Major Montgomer}' at Fort Griswold by Jordan Freeman. The part 
 they took in the capture of Major-General Pre.scott at Newport; 
 their gallant defense of Colonel Greene, their beloved commander, 
 whenhe was surprised and murdered at Croton River, May 13, 1781, 
 when it was only after the last of his faithful guards had been shot 
 and cut down that he was reached; or at the battle of Rhode Island, 
 when a battalion of 400 Negroes withstood three separate and distinct 
 charges from 1,500 Hessians under Count Donop, and beat them back 
 with such tremendous loss that Count Donop at once applied for an 
 exchange, fearing that his men would kill him if he went into battle 
 with them again, for having exposed them to such slaughter; and 
 many other instances that are of record. The letter following, writ- 
 ten Dec, 5, 1775, explains itself; 
 To the Honorable General Court of the Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 The subscribers beg leave to report to your Honorable House 
 which we do in justice to the character of so brave a man), that 
 
THB NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 3 
 
 under our own observation we declare that a Negro Man named 
 Salem Poor, of Col. Frye's Regiment, Cap. Ames' Company, in tlie 
 late battle at Charleston, behaved like an experienced officer as 
 well as an excellent soldier. To set forth particulars of his conduct 
 would be tedious. We would only beg to say, in the person of this 
 Negro centers a brave and gallant soldier. The reward due to so 
 great and distinguished a character, we submit to Congress. 
 JoNA. Brewer, Col. Wm. Pr^scoTT, Col. 
 
 Thomas Nixon, L.t. Col. Ephm. Corey, Lieut. 
 
 Joseph BAker, Lieut. JoSHuA Row, Lieut. 
 
 Jonas Richardson, Capt. EwphAi^E'PT BodwEi,i„ Sergt.. 
 
 EbeneZ-ER Vajrnum, 2 Lt. Wm. Hudson Bai,i,ard, Capt. 
 
 WiLwAM Smith Capt. John Morton, Sergt. 
 
 Richard Wei<sh, Lieut. 
 
 This is a splendid and well attested tribute to a gallant and worthy 
 Negro. There were many such, but, beyond receiving and read- 
 ing no action was taken thereon by Congress. There is no lack of 
 incidents and the temptation to quote many of them is great, but the 
 time allotted me is too brief for extended mention and I must bring 
 this branch of my subject to a close. It is in evidence that while 
 so many Negroes were offering their lives a willing sacrifice for the 
 country, in some sections the officers of the Continental Forces re- 
 ceived their bounty and pay in Negroes, "grown" and "small," in- 
 stead of "dollars" and "cents." Fighting for Liberty and taking 
 pay in Slaves! 
 
 When the war was over the free men returned to meet their same 
 difficulties ; the slaves were caught when possible and reenslaved by 
 their former masters. In Boston a few years later we find a party of 
 black patriots of the Revolution mobbed on Boston Common while 
 celebrating the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. 
 
 The captain of a vessel trading along the coast tells of a Negro 
 who had fought in the war and been distinguished for bravery and 
 soldierly conduct. He was reclaimed and reenslaved by his master 
 after the war, and served him faithfully until old age rendered kim 
 useless. The master then brought the poor old slave to this- cap- 
 tain and asked him to take him along on his trip and try to sell him. 
 The captain hated to sell a man who had fought for his country^ 
 but finally agreed, took the poor old man to Mobile, and sold him 
 for ^100 to a man who put him to attending a chicken coop. His 
 former master continued to draw the old slave's pension as a soldier, 
 in the Revolution, until he died. 
 
4 THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 THE WAR OF l8l2. 
 
 The war of 1812 was mainly fought upon the water, and in the 
 American navy at that time the Negro stood in the ratio of about 
 one to six. We find record of complaint by Commodore Perry at 
 the beginning because of the large number of Negroes sent him, 
 but later the highest tribute to their bravery and efficiency. Capt. 
 Shaler, of the armed brig General Thompson, writing of an engage 
 ment between his Vessel and a British frigate, says : 
 
 "The name of one of my poor fellows, who was killed, ought to 
 to be registered in the book of fame, and remembered as long as 
 bravery is a virtue. He was a black man, by name John Johnson. 
 A twenty-four pound shot struck him in the hip, and took away all 
 the lower part of his body. In this state the poor brave fellow lay 
 on the deck, and several times exclaimed to his shipmates : 'Fire 
 away, my boys; no haul a color down!' Another black man, by 
 the name of John Davis, who was struck in much the same manner, 
 repeatedly requested to be thrown overboard, saying that he was 
 only in the way of others." 
 
 I know of nothing finer in history than these. 
 
 As before, the Negro was not universallj-^ welcomed to the ranks 
 of the American army; but later continued reverses and a lack of 
 enthusiasm in enlistments made it necessary to seek his aid, and 
 from Mobile, Ala., on September 21, 1814, General Jackson issued 
 a stirring call to the free colored people of I^ouisiana for aid. It , 
 began thus: 
 
 "Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been deprived 
 of a participation in the glorious struggle for national rights in which 
 our country is engaged. This no longer shall exist." 
 
 In a remarkably short period, two battalions were raised, under 
 Majors I^aCaste and Savary, which did splendid service in the 
 battle of New Orleans. New York enrolled two battalions, and 
 sent them to Sacketts Harbor. Pennsylvania enrolled twenty-four 
 hundred, and sent them to Gray's Ferry at the capture of Wash- 
 ton, to prepare for the invading column. Another battalion also 
 was raised, armed, equipped and ready to start to the front, when 
 peace was declared. 
 
 Let us hear the testimony of that original democrat. General 
 Jackson. Under the date of Dec. 18, 18 14, he writes as follows: 
 
 "To the men of color, soldiers : From the shores of Mobile I 
 called you to arms. I invited you to share in the perils and to 
 
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 5 
 
 divide the glory of your white countrymen. I expected much 
 from you; for I was not uninformed of those qualities which must 
 render you so formidable to an invading foe. I knew you could 
 endure hunger and thirst, and all the hardships of war. I knew that 
 you loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves, you 
 had to defend all that is most dear to man. But you surpass my 
 hopes. I have found in you, united to those qualities, that noble 
 enthusiasm that impels to great deeds, 
 
 "Soldiers : The President of the United States shall be informed 
 of your conduct on the present occasion, and the voice of the repre- 
 sentatives of the American nation shall applaud your valor, as your 
 general now praises your ardor. The enemy is near. His sails 
 cover the lakes, but the brave are united, and if he finds us con- 
 tending among ourselves, it will be for the prize of valor, and fame 
 its noblest reward." 
 
 Tn one of the actions of this war, a charging column of the Amer- 
 ican army was repulsed and thrown into great disorder. A Negro 
 private, seeing the disaster, sprang, upon a horse, and by heroic 
 effort rallied the troops, led them back upon a second charge;, and 
 completely routed the enemy. He was rewarded by General Jack- 
 son with the honorary title of Major. Under the laws he could not 
 commission him. 
 
 When the war was over, this gallant man returned to his home 
 in Nashville, Tenn., where he lived for years afterward, highly 
 respected by its citizens of all races. 
 
 At the age of seventy years, this black hero was obliged, in self- 
 defense, to strike a white ruffian, who had assaulted him. Under 
 the laws of the State he was arrested and' given nine and thirty 
 lashes on his bare back. It broke his heart, and Major Jefireys 
 died. 
 
 THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 
 It seems a Uttle singular that in the tremendous struggle between 
 the States in 1861-1865, the south should have been the first to take 
 steps toward the enlistment of Negroes. Yet such is the fact. Two 
 weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter, the "Charleston Mercury" 
 records the passing through Augusta of several companies of the 
 the 3rd and 4th Georgia Regt., and of sixteen well-drilled com- 
 panies and one Negro company from Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 "The Memphis Avalanche", and "The Memphis Appeal" of 
 
6 THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 May 9, lo, and ii, 1861, give notice of the appointment by the 
 "Committee of Safety" of a committee of three persons "to organ- 
 ize a volunteer company composed of our patriotic freemen of color 
 of the city of Memphis, for the service of our common defense." 
 
 A telegram firom New Orleans dated November 23, 186 1, notes 
 the review by Gov. Moore of over 28,000 troops, and that one regi- 
 ment comprised " 1 ,400 colored men." "The New Orleans Pica- 
 yune, " referring to a review held February 9, 1862, says: "We 
 must also pay a deserved compliment to the companies of free 
 colored men, all very well drilled and comfortably equipped." 
 
 It is a little odd, too, that in the evacuation of New Orleans a 
 little later, in April, 1862, all of the troops succeeded in getting 
 away except the Negroes. They "got left." 
 
 It is not in the line of this paper to speculate upon what would 
 have been the result of the war had the South kept up this policy, 
 enlisted the freemen, and emancipated the enlisting slaves and 
 their families. The immense addition to their fighting force, the 
 quick recognition of them by Great Britain, to which slavery was 
 the greatest bar, and the fact that the heart of the Negro was with 
 the South but for slavery, and the case stands clear. But the 
 primary successes of the South closed its eyes to its only chance of 
 salvation, while at the same time the eyes of the North were opened. 
 
 In 1865, the South saw, and endeavored to remedy its error. On 
 March 9, 1865, the Confederate Congress passed a bill, recommended 
 by Gen. Lee, authorizing the enlistment of 200,000 Negroes; but it 
 was then too late. 
 
 The North came slowly and reluctantly to recognize the Negro as 
 a factor for good in the war. "This is a white man's war, ' ' met the 
 Negroes at every step of their first efforts to gain admission to the 
 armies of the Union. 
 
 To General David Hunter more than to any other one man, is due 
 the credit for the successful entry upon the stage of the Negro as a 
 soldier in this war. 
 
 In the spring of 1862, he raised and equipped a regiment of 
 1 Negroes in South Carolina, and when the fact became known in 
 Washington and throughout the country, such a storm was raised 
 about the ears of the administration that they gracefully stood 
 aside and left the brave general to fight his enemies in the front and 
 rear as best he might. He was quite capable to do both, as it 
 proved. 
 
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 7 
 
 On the 9th of June, 1862, Mr. WicklifFe, of Kentucky, introduced 
 a resolution in the House of Representatives, which was passed, 
 calling upon the Secretary of War for information as to the fact of 
 these enlistments and by what authority this matter was done. . 
 
 The Secretary of War replied under date June 14, 1862, disavow- 
 ing any official knowledge of such a regiment and denying that any 
 authority had been given therefor. He referred the resolution to 
 Gen. Hunter' His reply is one of the best things of the war, I 
 quote it entire. 
 
 Headquarters, Department of the South, 
 
 Port Royal, S. C, June 23, 1862. 
 Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, 
 
 Washington. 
 
 Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a communi- 
 cation from the Adjutant-General of the Army, dated June 16, 1862, 
 requesting me to furnish you with the information necessary to 
 answer certain resolutions introduced in the House of Representa- 
 tives June 9, 1862, on motion of the Hon. Mr. WicklifFe, of Ken- 
 tucky, their substance being to inquire : First, whether I had 
 organized, or was organizing, a regiment of fugitive slaves in this 
 department; Second, whether any authority had been given to me 
 from the War Department for such organization; and Third, 
 whether I had been furnished by order of the War Department 
 with clothing, uniforms, arms, equipments, etc., for such a force. 
 
 Only having received the letter conveying the inquiries at a late 
 hour on Saturday night, I urge forward my answer in time for the 
 steamer sailing to-day (Monday), this haste preventing me from 
 entering as minutely as I could wish upon many points of detail, 
 such as the paramount importance of the subject calls for. But in 
 view of the near termination of the present session of Congress, 
 and the widespread interest which must have been awakened by 
 Mr. WicklifFe 's resolution, I prefer sending even this imperfect 
 answer to waiting the period necessary for the collection of fuller 
 and more comprehensive data. 
 
 To the first question, therefore, I reply that no regiment of "fugi- 
 tive slaves" has been or is organized in this department. There is, 
 however, a fine regiment of persons whose late masters are "fugi- 
 tive rebels," men who everywhere fly before the appearance of the 
 national flag, leaving their servants behind them to shift as best 
 they can for themselves. So far, indeed, are the loyal persona. 
 
8 THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 composing this regiment from seeking to avoid the presence of 
 their late owners that they are now, one and all, working with 
 remarkable industry to place themselves in a position to go in full 
 and effective pursuit of their fugacious and traitorous proprietors. 
 To the second question, I have the honor to answer, that the 
 instructions given to Brig. -General W. T. Sherman by the Hon. 
 Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, and turned over to me by 
 succession for my guidance, do distinctly authorize me to employ all 
 loyal persons offering their services in defense of the Union and for 
 the suppression of this rebellion in any manner I might see fit, or 
 that the circumstances might call for. There is no restriction as to 
 the character or color of the persons who might be employed, or the 
 nature of the employment; whether civil or military, in which their 
 services should be used. I conclude, therefore, that I have been 
 authorized, to enlist "fugitive slaves" as soldiers, could any be found 
 in this department. 
 
 No such characters have, however, yet appeared within our most 
 advanced pickets, the loyal slaves everywhere remaining on their 
 plantations to welcome us, and supply us with food, labor and infor- 
 mation. It is the masters who have, in every instance, been the 
 "fugitives" — running away from loyal slaves as well as loyal sol- 
 diers, and whom we have only partially been able to see — chiefly 
 their heads over ramparts, or, rifle in hand, dodging behind trees, 
 in the extreme distance, In the absence of any "fugitive master" 
 law, the deserted slaves would be wholly without remedy, had not 
 the crime of treason given them the right to pursue, capture, and 
 bring back those persons of whose protection they have been thus 
 suddenly bereft. 
 
 To the third interrogatory, it is my painful duty to reply, that I 
 never have received any specific authority for issues of clothing, 
 uniforms, arms, equipments, etc., to the troops in question. My 
 general instructions from Mr. Cameron, to employ them in any man- 
 ner I might find necessary, and the military exigencies of the 
 department and the country being my only, but, in my judgment, 
 sufiicient justification. Neither have I had any specific authority 
 for supplying these persons with shovels, spades and pickaxes 
 when employing them as laborers, nor with boats and oars when using 
 them as lightermen; but these are not points included in Mr. Wick- 
 liffe's resolution. To me it seemed that liberty to employ men in 
 any particular capacity implied with it liberty also to supply them 
 
THE NKGRO AS A SOI^DIEE. 9 
 
 with tbe necessary tools; and acting under this faith I have clothed, 
 equipped and armed the only loyal regiment yet raised in South 
 Carolina. 
 
 I must say in vindication of my conduct that had it not been for 
 the many other diversiiSed and' imperative claims on my time, a 
 much more satisfactory result might have been hoped for; and that^ 
 in place of only one, as at present, at least five or six well-(lrilled, 
 brave, and thoroughly acclimated regiments should by this time 
 have been added to the loyal forces of the Union. 
 
 The experiment of arming the blacks, so far as I have made it, 
 has been a complete and even marvellous success. They are sober, 
 docile, attentive, and enthusiastic, displaying great natural capaci- 
 ties for acquiring the duties of a soldier. They are eager beyond 
 all things to take the field and be led into action; and it is the 
 unanimous opinion of the of&cers who have had charge of them, that 
 in the peculiarities of this climate and country, they will prove 
 invaluable auxiliaries, fully equal to the similar regiments so long 
 and successfully used by the British authorities in the West Indies. 
 
 In conclusion I would say it is my hope, there appearing to be no 
 possibility of other reinforcements owing to the exigencies of the 
 campaign in the peninsular, to have organized by the end of next 
 fall and to be able to present to the Government from forty-eight 
 to fifty thousand of these hardy and devoted soldiers. 
 
 Trusting that this letter may form part of your answer to- Mr. 
 "Wickliife's resolution- 
 
 I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 D. Hunter, 
 Major General Commanding. 
 
 The reading of this famous document in the House brought out 
 such a storm of laughter, from both friends, and foes that further ac- 
 tion was impossible. The Hon. Sunset Cox speaking of the matter 
 some years later said : "I tell you that letter from Hunter spoiled 
 the prettiest speech I had ever thought of making. I had been de- 
 lighted with WicklifFe's motion, and thought the reply to it would 
 furnish us with first-rate democratic thunder for the next election. 
 I made up my mind to sail in on Hunter's answer no matter what 
 ' it was— the moment it came, and to be even more humorously suc- 
 cessful in its delivery and reception than I was in my speech 
 against war-horse Gurley of Ohio. Well you see, man proposes, 
 but Providence orders otherwise. When the clerk announced the 
 
lo THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 receipt of the letter, and that he was about to read it, I caught the 
 Speaker's eye, and was booked for the first speech against your 
 Negro experiment. The first sentence being formal and official 
 was very well ; but at the second the House began to grin, and at the 
 third, there was not a man on the floor, except Father Wickliffe, of 
 Kentucky, perhaps, who was not convulsed with laughter. Even 
 my own risibles I found to be affected, and before the document 
 was concluded, 1 motioned to the Speaker that he might give the 
 floor to whom he pleased, as my desire to distinguish myself in 
 in that particular tilt was over." 
 
 The beginning of 1863, saw the opening of the doors to the Ne- 
 gro in every direction. General Lorenzo Thomas went in person 
 to the valley of the Mississippi to supervise it there. Massachusetts 
 was authorized to fill its quota with Negroes. The States of Mary- 
 land, Missouri, Delaware and Tennesee were thrown open by order 
 of the War Department, and all slaves enlisting therefrom declared 
 free Ohio, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New York joined the 
 band and sent the stalwart black boy in blue to the front singing, 
 "Give us a flag, all free, without a slave." Eor two years the 
 fierce and determined opposition had kept them out, but now the 
 bars were down and they came pouring in. Some one said he cared 
 not who made the laws of a people if he could make their songs. A 
 better exemplification of this would be difficult to find than is the 
 song written by "Miles O'Reilly" (Col. Halpine), of the old loth 
 Army Corps. I cannot resist the temptation to quote it here. 
 With General Hunter's letter and this song to quote from, the epi- 
 sode was closed: 
 
 Some say it is a burning shame to make the Naygurs fight, 
 
 An' that the trade o' being kilt belongs but to the white: 
 But as for me, upon me sowl, so liberal are we here, 
 
 I'll let Sambo be murthered, in place of meself, on every day of the year. 
 On every day of the year, boys, and every hour in the day, 
 
 The right to be kilt I'll divide wid him, and divil a word I'll say. 
 
 In battles wild commotion I shouldn't at all object. 
 
 If Sambo's body should stop a ball that was coming for me direct, 
 
 An' the prod of a southern bayonet, so liberal are we here, 
 I'll resign and let Sambo take it, on every day in the year, 
 
 On every day in the year, boys, an' wid none of your nasty pride. 
 All right in a southern bagnet prod, wid Sambo I'll divide. 
 
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. II 
 
 The men who object to Sambo, should take his place and fight, 
 
 An' it is betther to have a Naygur's hue, than a liver that's weak an' white, 
 
 Though Sambo's black as the ace of spades, his finger a thryger can pull, 
 An' his eye runs straight on the barrel sight from under its thatch of wool, 
 
 So hear me all, boys, darlin, don't think I'm tipping you chaff, 
 The right to' be kilt, I'll divide with him, an' give him the largest half. 
 
 It took three years of war to place the enlisted Negro upon the 
 same ground as the enlisted white tpan as to pay and emoluments; 
 perhaps six years of war might have given him shoulder-straps, but 
 the war ended without authorization of law for that step. At first 
 they were received, under an act of Congress that allowed each 
 one, without regard to rank, ten dollars per month, three dollars 
 thereof to be retained for clothing and equipments. I think it was 
 in May, '64, when the act was passed equalizing the pay, but not 
 opening the doors to promotion. 
 
 Under an act of the Confederate Congress, making it a crime pun- 
 ishable with death for any white person to train any Negro or mu- 
 latto to arms, or aid them in any military enterprise, and devoting 
 the Negro caught under arms to the tender mercies of the "present 
 or future laws of the State" in which caught, a large number oi pro- 
 motions were made by the way of a rope and a tree along the first 
 year of the Negro's service (I can even recall one instance as late 
 as April 1865, though it had been long before then generally dis- 
 continued). 
 
 What the Negro did, how he did it, and where, it would take 
 volumes to properly record, I can however give but briefest men- 
 tion to a few of the many evidences of his fitness for the duties of 
 the war, and his aid to the cause of the Union. 
 
 The first fighting done by organized Negro troops appears to 
 have been done by Company A, First South Carolina Negro Regi- 
 ment, at St. Helena Island, November 3-10, 1862, while partici- 
 pating in an expedition along the coast of Georgia and Florida un- 
 der Ivt.-Col. O. T. Beard, of the Forty-eighth New York Infantry, 
 who says in his report: — 
 
 "The colored men fought with astonishing coolness and bravery. 
 I found them all I could desire, more than I had hoped. They be- 
 haved gloriously, and deserve all praise." 
 
 The testimony thus inaugurated runs like a cord of gold through 
 the web and woof of the history of the Negro as a soldier from that 
 date to their final charge, the last made at Clover Hill, Va., April 
 9, 1865,. 
 
X2 THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIEK. 
 
 Necessarily the first actions in which the Negro bore a part com- 
 manded most attention. Friends and enemies were looking eagerly 
 to see how they would acquit themselves, and so it comes to pass 
 that the names of Fort Wagner, Olustee, Millikens Beild, Port 
 Hudson and Fort Pillow are as familiar as Bull Run, Aiitietam, Shi- 
 loh and Gettysburg, and while those first experiences were mostly 
 severe reverses, they were by that very fact splendid exemplifiers 
 of the truth that the Negroes, could be relied upon to fight under 
 the most adverse circumstances, against any odds, and could not be 
 discouraged. 
 
 Let us glance for a moment at Port Hudson, La., in May, 1863, 
 assaulted by General Banks with a force of which the First and Se- 
 cond Regiments, Louisiana Native Guards, formed a part. When 
 starting upon their desperate mission. Colonel Stafford of the First 
 Regiment in turning over the regimental, colors to the color guard, 
 made a brief and patriotic address, closing in the words: 
 ' "Color Guard: Protect, defend, die for, but do not surrender 
 these colors. " The gallant flag -sergeant, Plancianos, taking them 
 replied: "Colonel: I will bring back these colors to you in honor, 
 or report to God the reason why." 
 
 Six times with desperate valor they charged over ground where 
 success was hopeless, a deep bayou between them and the works of 
 the enemy at the point of attack rendered it impossible to reach 
 them, yet strange to say, six times they were ordered forward and 
 six times they went to useless death, until swept back by the blaz- 
 ing breath of shot and shell before which nothing living could stand. 
 Here fell the gallant Captain Cailloux, black as the ace of spades; 
 refusing to leave the field though his arm had been shattered by a 
 bullet he returned to the charge until killed by a shell. 
 
 A soldier limping painfully to the front was halted and asked 
 where he was going, he replied; "I am shot bad in de leg, and dey 
 want me to go to de hospital, but I guess I can give 'em a little 
 more yet." 
 
 The colors came back but crimsoned with the blood of the gallant 
 Plancianos, who reported to God from that bloody field. 
 
 Shall we glance from this to Millikens Bend, La., in January, 1863, 
 garrisoned by the Ninth and Eleventh Louisiana and the First Mis- 
 sissippi, all Negroes, and about one hundred and sixty of the twenty- 
 third Iowa (white), about eleven hundred fighting men in all. At- 
 tacked by a force of six Confederate regiments, crushed out of their 
 
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 1 3 
 
 works by sheer weight of numbers, borne down toward the levee, 
 ' fighting every step of the way, hand to hand, clubbed musket, bay- 
 onets and swords, from three a. m. to twelve, noon, when a Union 
 gun-boat came to the rescue and shelled the desperate foe back 
 to the woods, with a total loss to the defenders of 437 men, two- 
 fifths of their strength.' 
 
 Shall we turn with sadness to Fort Wagner, S. C, in July, 1863" 
 when the Fifty-fourth Mass. won its deathless fame, and its grand 
 young commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, passed into the temple 
 of immortality. After a march of.all day, under a burning sun, and 
 all night through a tempest of wind and rain, drenched, exhausted, 
 hungry, they wheel into line, without a murmur for that awful 
 charge, that dance of death, the struggle against hopeless odds, and 
 the shattered remnants were hurled back as from the mouth of hell, 
 leaving the dead bodies of their young commander and his noble 
 followers to be buried in a common grave. Its total loss was about 
 one -third of its strength. 
 
 Here it was that the gallant Flag-sergeant Carney, though griev- 
 ously wounded, bore back his flag to safety, and fell fainting and 
 exhausted with loss of blood, saying, "Boys, the old flag never 
 touched the ground!" Or another glance, at ill-starred Olustee, 
 where the gallant 8th U. S. C. T. lost 87 killed of its effective 
 fighting force, the largest loss in any one colored regiment in any 
 one action of the war. And so on, by Fort Pillow, which let us 
 pass in merciful silence, and to Honey Hill, S. C, perhaps the last 
 desperate fight in the far south, in which the 32nd, 35th and 
 102nd U. S. C. T. and the 54th and ssth Mass. Inf. won fresh and 
 fadeless laurels for splendid fighting against hopeless odds and insur- 
 mountable difficulties, and then to Nashville, Tennessee, with its 
 recorded loss of 84 killed in the effectives of the 13th U. S. C. T. 
 
 These were all brilliant actions, and they covered the actorg^ 
 with and reflected upon the race a blaze of glory. But it was in 
 the armies of the James and .of the Potomac that the true metal of 
 the Negro as a soldier rang out its clearest notes amid the tremen- 
 dous diapasons that rolled back and forth between the embattled 
 hosts. Here was war indeed, upon its grandest scale, and in all its 
 infinite variety. The tireless march under burning sun, chilUng 
 frosts and driven tempests, the lonely vigil of the picket under star- 
 less skies, the rush and roar of countless "hosts to battle driven" in 
 the mad charge and the victorious shout that pursued the fleeing foej 
 
14 THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 the grim determination that held its line of defenses with set teeth, 
 blood-shot eye and strained muscle beating back charge after charge 
 of the foe ; the patient labor in trench and mine, on hill and in valley, 
 swamp and jungle, with disease adding its horrors to the decima- 
 tion of shot and shell. 
 
 Here the Negro stood in the full glare of the greatest search light, 
 part and parcel of the grandest armies ever mustered upon this conti- 
 nent, competing side by side with the best and bravest of the Union 
 army against the flower of the Confederacy, the best.and bravest of 
 Lee's army, and losing nothing in the contrast. Never again while 
 time lasts will the doubt arise as in 1861, "Will the Negro fight?" As 
 a problem, it has been solved, as a question it has been answered, and 
 as a fact it is as established as the eternal hills. It was they who 
 rang up the curtain upon the last act of the bloody tragedy at 
 Petersburg, Va., June 15, 1864, and they who rang it down at 
 Clover Hill, Va., April 9, 1865. They were one of the strong 
 fingers upon the mighty hand that grasped the giant's throat at 
 Petersburg and never flexed until the breath went out at Appo- 
 mattox- In this period it would take page on page to recount their 
 deeds of valor and their glorious victories. 
 
 See them on the isth of June, 1864, carrying the outpost at Bay- 
 lor's field in early morning, and all that long, hot, summer day 
 advancing, a few yards at a time, then lying down to escape the 
 fire from the works, but still gradually creeping nearer and nearer, 
 until, just as the sun went down, they swept like a tornado over the 
 works and started upon a race for the city, close at the heels of the 
 flying foe, until mistakenly ordered back. Of this day's experience 
 Gen. Badeau writes : "No worse strain on the nerves of troops is 
 possible, for it is harder to remain quiet under cannon fire, even 
 though comparatively harmless, than to advance against a storm of 
 musketry. " General W. P. "Baldy" Smith, speaking of their con- 
 duct, says : "No nobler effort has been put forth to-day, and no 
 greater success achieved than that of the colored troops." 
 
 In his order of the day he says : 
 
 "To the colored troops comprising the Division of General Hinks, 
 the general commanding would call the attention of his command. 
 With the veterans of the Eighteenth corps, they have stormed the 
 works of the enemy and carried them, taking guns and prisoners, 
 and in the whole affair they have displayed all the qualities of good 
 soldiers. ' ' 
 
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. I5 
 
 Or, again, at the terrible mine explosion of July 30, 1864, on the 
 Petersburg line, and at the fearful slaughter of September 29, 1864, 
 at New Market Heights and Fort Harrison. On this last date in Jhe 
 Fourth U. S. Col. Troops, out of a color-guard of twelve men, but one 
 came off the field on his own feet. The gallant Flag-sergeant Hilton, 
 the last to fall, cried out as he went down, "Boys, save the colors;" 
 and they were saved. 
 
 After the magnificent fighting of this lak date, under date of Oct. 
 II, 1864, Maj, -General B. F. Butler issued an order, a portion of 
 which I quote, as follows : 
 
 "Of the colored soldiers of the third divisions of the i8th and 
 loth Corps and the ofiBcers who led them, the general command- 
 ing desires to make special mention. In the charge on the enemy's 
 works by the colored division of the i8th Corps at New Market, 
 better men were never better led, better officers never led better 
 men. A few more such gallant charges and to command colored 
 troops will be the post of honor in the American armies. The col- 
 ored soldiers, by coolness, steadiness, determined courage and dash, 
 have silenced every cavil of the doubters of their soldierly capacity, 
 and drawn tokens of admiration from their enemies, have brought 
 their late masters even tb the consideration of the question whether 
 they will not employ as soldiers the hitherto despised race." 
 
 Some ten or more years later, in Congress, in the midst of a 
 speech advocating the giving of civil rights to the Negro, Gen. 
 Butler said, referring to this incident : 
 
 "There, in a space riot wider than the clerk's desk, and three 
 hundred yards long, lay the dead bodies of 543 of my colored com- 
 rades, slain in the defense of their country, who had laid down their 
 lives to uphold its flag and its honor, as a willing sacrifice. And as 
 I rode along, guiding my horse this way and that, lest he should 
 profane with his hoofs what seemed to me the sacred dead, and as I 
 looked at their bronzed faces upturned in the shining sun, as if in 
 mute appeal against the wrongs of the country for which they had 
 given their lives, and whose flag had been to them a flag of stripes, 
 in which no star of glory had ever shone for them.— feeling I had 
 wronged them in the past, and believing what was the future duty 
 of my country to them— I swore to myself a solemn oath : 'May 
 my right hand forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof 
 of my mouth, if ever I fail to defend the rights of the men who have 
 given their blood for me and my country this day and for their race 
 forever. And, God helping me, I will keep that oath." 
 
1 6 THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 Or another instance : when under Butler first and Terry later, 
 driven by storms and tempestous seas to powerful Fort Fisher, 
 cooperating with our gallant Navy in its capture, and thence start- 
 ing on the long march that led through Wilmington, and on to 
 Goldsboro, N. C, where Johnson's army, the last large force of the 
 Confederacy in the field, was caught between the forces under 
 Terry and the forces under Howard; and the war as such was ended 
 with his surrender, April 26, 1865. 
 
 A little of statistics, and I will close. 
 
 The total number of colored soldiers in this last war was 178,975, 
 and the number of deaths 36,847. 
 
 Of enlistments the United States made 96,337, and the several 
 States 79,638. 
 
 Fnlistments were divided as follows : 
 
 Alabama 
 
 2,969 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 17,869 
 
 Ivouisiana 
 
 24,052 
 
 Maine 
 
 104 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 125 
 
 Vermont 
 
 120 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 3,966 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 1.837 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 1,764 
 
 New York 
 
 4,125 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 i,i8s 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 8,612 
 
 Delaware 
 
 954 
 
 Maryland 
 
 8,7iS 
 
 Dist. of Columbia 
 
 3.269 
 
 Virginia 
 
 5,723 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 S>o35 
 
 West Virginia 
 
 196. 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 5.462 
 
 Georgia 
 
 3,486 
 
 Florida 
 
 1,044 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 5,526- 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 20,133 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 23,703 
 
 Michigan 
 
 1,387 
 
 Ohio 
 
 5,092 
 
 Indiana 
 
 1,537 
 
 Illinois 
 
 1,811 
 
 Missouri 
 
 8,344 
 
 Minnesota 
 
 104 
 
 Iowa 
 
 440 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 165 
 
 Kansas 
 
 2,080 
 
 Texas 
 
 47 
 
 Colorado Ter. 
 
 95 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 5,896- 
 
 The completed organizations 
 
 were as follows : 
 
 
 138 regiments of infantry. 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 cavalry. 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 heavy artillery, 
 light artillery. 
 
 
 On 449 occasions 
 
 i their blood 
 
 was spilled. 
 
 
 These are a few 
 
 of the regiments having, the 
 
 largest number of 
 
 men kUled in any ( 
 
 Dne engagement. 
 
 
THE! NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 The 8tli U. S. C. T., 
 13th 
 23rd 
 
 7th 
 
 Sth 
 
 6th 
 
 at Ohistee, 
 Nashville, 
 Petersburg, 
 Fort Gilmore, 
 Chaf&n's Farm 
 
 63 
 
 S4th Mass. Inf., Fort Wagner, 58 " 
 
 The regiments having more than fifty men killed during their 
 period of service are as follows: 
 
 Seventy-ninth U. S. C. T. Total Killed, 183 
 
 Eighth 
 
 Fourth 
 
 Thirteenth " 
 
 Seventh " " 84 
 
 Twenty-third " 
 
 Sixth 
 
 Fifth 
 
 Twenty -second " 
 
 First " ^' 67 
 
 Forty -ninth " 
 
 Sometimes a comparison will illustrate better than figures alone. 
 I give a single instance: Every one has heard of the charge of the 
 Light Brigade, at Balaklava. I will put beside it a Black Brigade 
 of about the same number of men. 
 
 Here they are: 
 Duncan 's Brigade, comprising the Fourth and Sixth Regiments at 
 New Market Heights, Had 683 Lost 365 Percent 53.7 
 
 Light Brigade, Balaklava, "- 673 " 247 " 36.7 
 
 Excess in Duncan's Brigade, 10 118 17 
 
 Sanford B. Hunt, M. D., late surgeon of U. S. Volunteers, 
 made an exhaustive research into the capacity of the Negro as a 
 soldier. As to his — 
 
 1. Aptitude for drill. 
 
 2. Capacity for marching. 
 
 3 . Endurance of fatigue and hunger. 
 
 4. Powers of digestion and assimilation. 
 
 5 . Immunity from or liabiUty to disabling diseases. 
 
 All of which points are treated with great detail, and summed up 
 as follows: 
 
1 8 THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 "For the purposes of the soldier he has all the physical charac- 
 teristics required, his temperament adapts him to camp life, and his 
 morale conduces to discipline. He is also brave and steady in 
 action. In all subsequent wars the country will rely largely upon 
 its Negro population as a part of its military power. ' ' 
 
 Under the act of Congress passed July 12, 1862, the President 
 of the United Stases was authorized to have prepared, with suitable 
 emblematic devices. Medals of Honor to be presented in the name of 
 the Congress to such soldiers as should most distinguish themselves 
 by their gallantry in action and other soldierly qualities. So chary 
 has the Government been in their issue that the award has not 
 reached two thousand among the three millions of volunteers and 
 regulars in the Army and Navy. So that these medals are more rare 
 than the "Victoria Cross" of England, the "Iron Cross" of Germany, 
 or the "Cross of the I^egion of Honor" of France. 
 
 I copy the list of those issued to Negro soldiers as they stand 
 upon the records, that is, in the numerical order of the regiments 
 to which the recipients belonged. It will be therefore understood 
 that this order does not indicate priority of time or degree 
 of excellence. 
 
 Sergeant Major, " 
 
 Color Sergeant, 
 
 Corporal, 
 
 Sergeant Major, 
 
 First Sergeant, 
 
 First Sergeant, 
 
 First Sergeant, 
 
 Sergeant Major, 
 
 First Sergeant, 
 
 Sergeant, 
 
 Sergeant, 
 
 Corporal, " ' 
 
 Private, " ' 
 
 First Sergeant, Thirty-eighth ' 
 
 Sergeant, " ' 
 
 Private, " ' 
 
 Sergeant, 
 After each war, &f 1776, of 1812, and of i 
 itself in the absolute effacement of remembrance of the gallant deeds 
 done for the country by its brave black defenders and in their rele- 
 gation to outer darkness. 
 
 Christian A. Fleetwood, 
 Alfred B. Hilton, 
 Charles Veal, 
 Milton M Holland, 
 James Brownson, 
 Powhatan Beatty, 
 Robert Pinn, 
 Thomas R. Hawkins, 
 Alexander Kelly, 
 Samuel Gilchrist, 
 William Davis, 
 Miles James, 
 James Gardner, 
 Edward RatcUffe, 
 James Harris, 
 William Barnes, 
 Decatur Dorsey, 
 
 Fourth U. S. C. T. 
 
 Fifth 
 
 Sixth 
 
 Thirty -sixth ' 
 
 Thirty-ninth " 
 
 history repeats 
 
the; nbgro as a soldier. 19 
 
 History further repeats itself in the fact that in every war so far 
 known to this country, the first blood, and, in some cases, the last 
 also, has been shed by the faithful Negro, and this in spite of all 
 the years of bondage and oppression, and of wrongs unspeakable. 
 Under the sun there has nothing been known in the history of any 
 people more marvellous than these facts! 
 Oh, to the living few, 
 
 Comrades, be just, be true. 
 Hail them as heroes tried, 
 
 Fight with them side by side; 
 Never in field or tent, 
 Scorn the Black Regiment. 
 
 It is but a little thing to ask, they could ask no less: be just; but, 
 oh, the shame of it for those who need be asked ! 
 
 There is no need for panegyric, for sounding phrases or rounded 
 periods. The simple story is eloquent with all that is necessary to 
 make the heart swell with pride. In the hour allotted me to fill, it 
 is possible only to indicate in skeleton the worth of the Negro as a 
 soldier. If this brief sketch should awaken even a few to interest 
 in his achievements, and one be found willing and fitted to write the 
 history that is their due, that writer shall achieve immortality. 
 
,<pi-;j.^