A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

Army Life in a Black Regiment

T >> Thomas Wentworth Higginson >> Army Life in a Black Regiment




And this late arrival on the scene affected not only the medical
supervision of the colored troops, but their opportunity for a career.
It is not my province to write their history, nor to vindicate them,
nor to follow them upon those larger fields compared with which the
adventures of my regiment appear but a partisan warfare. Yet this, at
least, may be said. The operations on the South Atlantic coast, which
long seemed a merely subordinate and incidental part of the great
contest, proved to be one of the final pivots on which it turned. All
now admit that the fate of the Confederacy was decided by Sherman's
march to the sea. Port Royal was the objective point to which he
marched, and he found the Department of the South, when he reached it,
held almost exclusively by colored troops. Next to the merit of those
who made the march was that of those who held open the door. That
service will always remain among the laurels of the black regiments.




Chapter 13
Conclusion


My personal forebodings proved to be correct, and so were the threats of
the surgeons. In May, 1864, I went home invalided, was compelled to
resign in October from the same cause, and never saw the First South
Carolina again. Nor did any one else see it under that appellation, for
about that time its name was changed to the Thirty-Third United States
Colored Troops, "a most vague and heartless baptism," as the man in the
story says. It was one of those instances of injudicious sacrifice of
_esprit de corps_ which were so frequent in our army. All the pride of
my men was centred in "de Fus' Souf"; the very words were a recognition
of the loyal South as against the disloyal. To make the matter worse, it
had been originally designed to apply the new numbering only to the new
regiments, and so the early numbers were all taken up before the older
regiments came in. The governors of States, by especial effort, saved
their colored troops from this chagrin; but we found here, as more than
once before, the disadvantage of having no governor to stand by us.
"It's a far cry to Loch Awe," said the Highland proverb. We knew to our
cost that it was a far cry to Washington in those days, unless an
officer left his duty and stayed there all the time.

In June, 1864, the regiment was ordered to Folly Island, and remained
there and on Cole's Island till the siege of Charleston was done. It
took part in the battle of Honey Hill, and in the capture of a fort on
James Island, of which Corporal Robert Vendross wrote triumphantly in a
letter, "When we took the pieces we found that we recapt our own pieces
back that we lost on Willtown Revear (River) and thank the Lord did not
lose but seven men out of our regiment."

In February, 1865, the regiment was ordered to Charleston to do provost
and guard duty, in March to Savannah, in June to Hamburg and Aiken, in
September to Charleston and its neighborhood, and was finally mustered
out of service--after being detained beyond its three years, so great was
the scarcity of troops--on the 9th of February, 1866. With dramatic
fitness this muster-out took place at Fort Wagner, above the graves of
Shaw and his men. I give in the Appendix the farewell address of
Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, who commanded the regiment from the time
I left it. Brevet Brigadier-General W. T. Bennett, of the One Hundred
and Second United States Colored Troops, who was assigned to the
command, never actually held it, being always in charge of a brigade.

The officers and men are scattered far and wide. One of our captains
was a member of the South Carolina Constitutional Convention, and is
now State Treasurer; three of our sergeants were in that Convention,
including Sergeant Prince Rivers; and he and Sergeant Henry Hayne are
still members of the State Legislature. Both in that State and hi
Florida the former members of the regiment are generally prospering,
so far as I can hear. The increased self-respect of army life fitted
them to do the duties of civil life. It is not in nature that the
jealousy of race should die out in this generation, but I trust they
will not see the fulfilment of Corporal Simon Cram's prediction. Simon
was one of the shrewdest old fellows in the regiment, and he said to
me once, as he was jogging out of Beaufort behind me, on the Shell
Road, "I'se goin' to leave de Souf, Cunnel, when de war is over. I'se
made up my mind dat dese yere Secesh will neber be cibilized in my
time."

The only member of the regiment whom I have seen since leaving it is a
young man, Cyrus Wiggins, who was brought off from the main-land in a
dug-out, in broad day, before the very eyes of the rebel pickets, by
Captain James S. Rogers, of my regiment. It was one of the most daring
acts I ever saw, and as it happened under my own observation I was glad
when the Captain took home with him this "captive of his bow and spear"
to be educated under his eye in Massachusetts. Cyrus has done credit to
his friends, and will be satisfied with nothing short of a
college-training at Howard University. I have letters from the men, very
quaint in handwriting and spelling; but he is the only one whom I have
seen. Some time I hope to revisit those scenes, and shall feel, no
doubt, like a bewildered Rip Van Winkle who once wore uniform.

We who served with the black troops have this peculiar satisfaction,
that, whatever dignity or sacredness the memories of the war may have to
others, they have more to us. In that contest all the ordinary ties of
patriotism were the same, of course, to us as to the rest; they had no
motives which we had not, as they have now no memories which are not
also ours. But the peculiar privilege of associating with an outcast
race, of training it to defend its rights and to perform its duties,
this was our especial meed. The vacillating policy of the Government
sometimes filled other officers with doubt and shame; until the negro
had justice, they were but defending liberty with one hand and crushing
it with the other. From this inconsistency we were free. Whatever the
Government did, we at least were working in the right direction. If
this was not recognized on our side of the lines, we knew that it was
admitted on the other. Fighting with ropes round our necks, denied the
ordinary courtesies of war till we ourselves compelled then: concession,
we could at least turn this outlawry into a compliment. We had touched
the pivot of the war. Whether this vast and dusky mass should prove the
weakness of the nation or its strength, must depend in great measure, we
knew, upon our efforts. Till the blacks were armed, there was no
guaranty of their freedom. It was their demeanor under arms that shamed
the nation into recognizing them as men.




APPENDIX


Appendix A

Roster of Officers

FIRST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS,

Afterwards Thirty-Third United States Colored Troops.

Colonels

T. W. HIGGINSON, 51st Mass. Vols., Nov. 10, 1862; Resigned,

Oct. 27, 1864. WM. T. BENNETT, 102d U. S. C. T., Dec. 18, 1864; Mustered out

with regiment

Lieutenant-Colonels

LIBERTY BILLINGS, Civil Life, Nov. 1, 1862; Dismissed by Examining
Board, July 28, 1863.

JOHN D. STRONG, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Resigned, Aug. 15, 1864.

CHAS. T. TROWBRIDGE, Promotion, Dec. 9, 1864; Mustered out, &c.

Majors

JOHN D. STRONG, Civil Life, Oct. 21, 1862; Lt-Col., July 28, 1863. CHAS.

T. TROWBRIDGE, Promotion, Aug. 11, 1863; Lt.-Col., Dec.
9, 1864.

H. A. WHTTNEY, Promotion, Dec. 9, 1864; Mustered out, &c.

Surgeons

SETH ROGERS, Civil Life, Dec. 2, 1862; Resigned, Dec. 21, 1863.

WM. B. CRANDALL, 29th Ct, June 8, 1864; Mustered out, &c.

Assistant Surgeons

J. M. HAWKS, Civil Life, Oct 20, 1862; Surgeon 3d S. C. Vols.,

Oct. 29, 1863.

THOS. T. MINOR, 7th Ct., Jan. 8, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 21, 1864.

E. S. STUARD, Civil Life, Sept. 4, 1865; Mustered out, &c.

Chaplain

JAS. H. FOWLER, Civil Life, Oct. 24, 1862; Mustered out, &c.

Captains

CHAS. T. TROWBRIDGE, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Oct. 13, 1862; Major,
Aug. 11, 1863.

WM. JAMES, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; Mustered out, &c.

W. J. RANDOLPH, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; Resigned, Jan. 29,
1864.

H. A. WHITNEY, 8th Me., Oct. 13, 1862; Major, Dec. 9, 1864.

ALEX. HEASLEY, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Killed at Augusta, Ga.,
Sept. 6, 1865.

GEORGE DOLLY, 8th Me., Nov. 1, 1862; Resigned, Oct. 30, 1863.

L. W. METCALF, 8th Me., Nov. 11, 1862; Mustered out, &c.

JAS. H. TONKING, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Nov. 17, 1862; Resigned, July
28, 1863.

JAS. S. ROGERS, 51st Mass., Dec. 6, 1862; Resigned, Oct. 20, 1863.

J. H. THIBADEAU, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Mustered out, &c.

GEORGE D. WALKER, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Resigned, Sept
1, 1864.

WM. H. DANILSON, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Major 128th
U. S. C. T., May, 1865 [now 1st Lt 40th U. S. Infantry].

WM. W. SAMPSON, Promotion, Nov. 5, 1863; Mustered out, &c.

JOHN M. THOMPSON, Promotion, Nov. 7, 1863; Mustered out, &c.
[Now 1st Lt. and Bvt Capt. 38th U. S. Infy.]

ABR. W. JACKSON, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Resigned, Aug. 15, 1865.

NILES G. PARKER, Promotion, Feb., 1865; Mustered out, &c.

CHAS. W. HOOPER, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Mustered out, &c.

E. C. MERMAM, Promotion, Sept., 1865; Resigned, Dec. 4, 1865.

E. W. ROBBINS, Promotion, Nov. 1, 1865; Mustered out, &c.

N. S. WHITE, Promotion, Nov. 18, 1865; Mustered out, &c.

First Lieutenants

G. W. DEWHURST (Adjutant), Civil Life, Oct 20, 1862; Resigned, Aug.
31, 1865.

J. M. BINOHAM (Quartermaster), Civil Life, Oct. 20, 1862; Died
from effect of exhaustion on a military expedition, July 20,
1863.

G. M. CHAMBERUN (Quartermaster), llth Mass. Battery, Aug.
29, 1863; Mustered out, &c.

GEO. D. WALKER, N. Y. VoL Eng., Oct 13,
1862; Captain, Aug. 11, 1863.

W. H. DANILSON, 48th N. Y., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, July 26,
1863.

J. H. THTBADEAU, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, Jan. 10, 1863.

EPHRAIM P. WHITE, 8th Me., Nov. 14, 1862; Resigned, March 9,
1864.

JAS. POMEROY, 100th Pa., Oct 13,1862; Resigned, Feb. 9, 1863.

JAS. F. JOHNSTON, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, March 26,
1863.

JESSE FISHER, 48th N. Y., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Jan. 26, 1863.

CHAS. I. DAVIS, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Feb. 28, 1863.

WM. STOCKDALE, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, May 2, 1863.

JAS. B. O'NEIL, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Resigned, May 2, 1863.

W. W. SAMPSON, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Captain, Oct 30,

1863. J. M. THOMPSON, Promotion, Jan. 27, 1863; Captain, Oct. 30,

1863. R. M. GASTON, Promotion, April 15, 1863; Killed at Coosaw
Ferry, S. C., May 27, 1863.

JAS. B. WEST, Promotion, Feb. 28, 1863; Resigned, June 14, 1865.

N. G. PARKER, Promotion, May 5, 1863; Captain, Feb., 1865.

W. H. HYDE, Promotion, May 5, 1863; Resigned, April 3, 1865.

HENRY A. STONE, 8th Me., June 26, 1863; Resigned, Dec. 16,
1864.

J. A. TROWBRTDGE, Promotion, Aug. 11, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 29,
1864.

A. W. JACKSON, Promotion, Aug. 26, 1863; Captain, April 30,
1864.

CHAS. E. PARKER, Promotion, Aug. 26, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 29,
1864.

CHAS. W. HOOPER, Promotion, Nov. 8, 1863; Captain, Sept., 1865.

E. C. MERRIAM, Promotion, Nov. 19, 1863; Captain, Sept., 1865.

HENRY A. BEACH, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Resigned, Sept 23,
1864.

E. W. ROBBINS, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Captain, Nov. 1,
1865.

ASA CHILD, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Mastered out, &c.

N. S. WHITE, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Captain, Nov. 18, 1865.

F. S. GOODRICH, Promotion, Oct., 1865; Mustered out, &c.

E. W. HYDE, Promotion, Oct 27, 1865; Mustered out, &c.

HENRY WOOD, Promotion, Nov., 1865; Mustered out, &c.



Second Lieutenants

J. A. TROWBMDGE, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Aug.
11, 1863.

JAS. B. O-NBIL, 1st U. S. Art'y, Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan. 10,
1863.

W. W. SAMPSON, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan 10, 1863.

J. M. THOMPSON, 7th N. H., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan. 27, 1863.

R. M. GASTON, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; First Lt, April 15, 1863.

W. H. HYDE, 6th Ct, Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, May 5, 1863.

JAS. B. WEST, 100th Pa., Oct. 13. 1862; First Lt, Feb. 28, 1863.

HARRY C. WEST, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Nov. 4,
1864.

E. C. MERRIAM, 8th Me., Nov. 17, 1862; First Lt., Nov. 19, 1863.

CHAS. E. PARKER, 8th Me., Nov. 17, 1862; First Lt, Aug. 26,
1863.

C. W. HOOPER, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Feb. 17, 1863; First Lt, April
15, 1863.

N. G. PARKER, 1st Mass. Cavalry, March, 1863; First Lt, May
5, 1863.

A. H. TIRRELL, 1st Mass. Cav., March 6, 1863; Resigned, July
22, 1863.

A. W. JACKSON, 8th Me., March 6, 1863; First Lt, Aug. 26, 1863.

HENRY A. BEACH, 48th N. Y., April 5, 1863; First Lt, April 30, 1864.

E. W. ROBBINS, 8th Me., April 5, 1863; First Lt, April 30, 1864.

A. B. BROWN, Civil Life, April 17, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 27, 1863.

F. M. GOULD, 3d R. I. Battery, June 1, 1863; Resigned, June 8, 1864.

ASA CHILD, 8th Me., Aug. 7, 1863; First Lt, Sept., 1865.

JEROME T. FDRMAN, 52d Pa., Aug. 30, 1863; Killed at Walhalla,
S. C., Aug. 26, 1865.

JOHN W. SELVAGE, 48th N. Y., Sept 10, 1863; First Lt. 36th
U. S. C. T., March, 1865.

MIRAND W. SAXTON, Civil Life, Nov. 19, 1863;
Captain 128th U. S. C. T., June 25, 1864 [now Second Lt 38th U. S. Infantry].

NELSON S. WHITE, Dec. 22, 1863; First Lt, Sept., 1865.

EDW. W. HYDE, Civil Life, May 4, 1864; First Lt, Oct. 27, 1865.

F. S. GOODRICH, 115th N. Y., May, 1864; First Lt., Oct., 1865.

B. H. MANNING, Aug. 11, 1864; Capt 128th U. S. C. T., March
17, 1865.

R. M. DAVIS, 4th Mass. Cavalry, Nov. 19, 1864; Capt. 104th
U. S. C. T., May 11, 1865.

HENRY WOOD, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Aug., 1865; First Lt, Nov., 1865.

JOHN M. SEAKLES, 1st N. Y. Mounted Rifles, June 15, 1865;
Mustered out, &c.




Appendix B
The First Black Soldiers


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 the New York Volunteer Engineers (Col.
Serrell). His detail was dated May 7, 1862, S. O. 84 Dept. South.

Enlistments came in very slowly, and no wonder. The white officers and
soldiers were generally opposed to the experiment, and filled the ears
of the negroes with the same tales which had been told them by their
masters,--that the Yankees really meant to sell them to Cuba, and the
like. The mildest threats were that they would be made to work without
pay (which turned out to be the case), and that they would be put in the
front rank in every battle. Nobody could assure them that they and their
families would be freed by the Government, if they fought for it, since
no such policy had been adopted. Nevertheless, they gradually enlisted,
the most efficient recruiting officer being Sergeant William Bronson, of
Company A, in my regiment, who always prided himself on this service,
and used to sign himself by the very original title, "No. 1, African
Foundations" in commemoration of his deeds.

By patience and tact these obstacles would in time have been overcome.
But before long, unfortunately, some of General Hunter's staff became
impatient, and induced him to take the position that the blacks _must_
enlist. Accordingly, squads of soldiers were sent to seize all the
able-bodied men on certain plantations, and bring them to the camp.
The immediate consequence was a renewal of the old suspicion, ending
in a widespread belief that they were to be sent to Cuba, as their
masters had predicted. The ultimate result was a habit of distrust,
discontent, and desertion, that it was almost impossible to surmount.
All the men who knew anything about General Hunter believed in him;
but they all knew that there were bad influences around him, and that
the Government had repudiated his promises. They had been kept four
months in service, and then had been dismissed without pay. That
having been the case, why should not the Government equally repudiate
General Saxton's promises or mine? As a matter of fact, the Govenment
did repudiate these pledges for years, though we had its own written
authority to give them. But that matter needs an appendix by itself.

The "Hunter Regiment" remained in camp on Hilton Head Island until the
beginning of August, 1862, kept constantly under drill, but much
demoralized by desertion. It was then disbanded, except one company.
That company, under command of Sergeant Trowbridge, then acting as
Captain, but not commissioned, was kept in service, and was sent (August
5, 1862) to garrison St. Simon's Island, on the coast of Georgia. On
this island (made famous by Mrs. Kemble's description) there were then
five hundred colored people, and not a single white man.

The black soldiers were sent down on the Ben De Ford, Captain Hallett.
On arriving, Trowbridge was at once informed by Commodore Goldsborough,
naval commander at that station, that there was a party of rebel
guerillas on the island, and was asked whether he would trust his
soldiers in pursuit of them. Trowbridge gladly assented; and the
Commodore added, "If you should capture them, it will be a great thing
for you."

They accordingly went on shore, and found that the colored men of the
island had already undertaken the enterprise. Twenty-five of them had
armed themselves, under the command of one of their own number, whose
name was John Brown. The second in command was Edward Gould, who was
afterwards a corporal in my own regiment The rebel party retreated
before these men, and drew them into a swamp. There was but one path,
and the negroes entered single file. The rebels lay behind a great
log, and fired upon them. John Brown, the leader, fell dead within six
feet of the log,--probably the first black man who fell under arms in
the war,--several other were wounded, and the band of raw recruits
retreated; as did also the rebels, in the opposite direction. This was
the first armed encounter, so far as I know, between the rebels and
their former slaves; and it is worth noticing that the attempt was a
spontaneous thing and not accompanied by any white man. The men were
not soldiers, nor in uniform, though some of them afterwards enlisted
in Trowbridge's company.

The father of this John Brown was afterwards a soldier in my regiment;
and, after his discharge for old age, was, for a time, my servant.
"Uncle York," as we called him, was as good a specimen of a saint as I
have ever met, and was quite the equal of Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom." He
was a fine-looking old man, with dignified and courtly manners, and his
gray head was a perfect benediction, as he sat with us on the platform
at our Sunday meetings. He fully believed, to his dying day, that the
"John Brown Song" related to his son, and to him only.

Trowbridge, after landing on the island, hunted the rebels all day with
his colored soldiers, and a posse of sailors. In one place, he found by
a creek a canoe, with a tar-kettle, and a fire burning; and it was
afterwards discovered that, at that very moment, the guerillas were hid
in a dense palmetto thicket, near by, and so eluded pursuit The rebel
leader was one Miles Hazard, who had a plantation on the island, and the
party escaped at last through the aid of his old slave, Henry, who found
them a boat One of my sergeants, Clarence Kennon, who had not then
escaped from slavery, was present when they reached the main-land; and
he described them as being tattered and dirty from head to foot, after
their efforts to escape their pursuers.

When the troops under my command occupied Jacksonville, Fla., in March
of the following year, we found at the railroad station, packed for
departure, a box of papers, some of them valuable. Among them was a
letter from this very Hazard to some friend, describing the perils of
that adventure, and saying, "If you wish to know hell before your time,
go to St Simon's and be hunted ten days by niggers."

I have heard Trowbridge say that not one of his men flinched; and they
seemed to take delight in the pursuit, though the weather was very hot,
and it was fearfully exhausting.

This was early in August; and the company remained two months at St
Simon's, doing picket duty within hearing of the rebel drums, though
not another scout ever ventured on the island, to their knowledge.
Every Saturday Trowbridge summoned the island people to drill with his
soldiers; and they came in hordes, men, women, and children, in every
imaginable garb, to the number of one hundred and fifty or two
hundred.

His own men were poorly clothed and hardly shod at all; and, as no new
supply of uniform was provided, they grew more and more ragged. They got
poor rations, and no pay; but they kept up their spirits. Every week or
so some of them would go on scouting excursions to the main-land; one
scout used to go regularly to his old mother's hut, and keep himself hid
under her bed, while she collected for him all the latest news of rebel
movements. This man never came back without bringing recruits with him.

At last the news came that Major-General Mitchell had come to relieve
General Hunter, and that Brigadier-General Saxton had gone North; and
Trowbridge went to Hilton Head in some anxiety to see if he and his men
were utterly forgotten. He prepared a report, showing the services and
claims of his men, and took it with him. This was early in October,
1862. The first person he met was Brigadier-General Saxton, who informed
him that he had authority to organize five thousand colored troops, and
that he (Trowbridge) should be senior captain of the first regiment

This was accordingly done; and Company A of the First South Carolina
could honestly claim to date its enlistment back to May, 1862, although
they never got pay for that period of their service, and their date of
muster was November, IS, 1862.

The above facts were written down from the narration of
Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, who may justly claim to have been the
first white officer to recruit and command colored troops in this war.
He was constantly in command of them from May 9, 1862, to February
9, 1866.

Except the Louisiana soldiers mentioned in the Introduction,--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 muster bearing date, November 7, 1862, and the others
following in quick succession.

The second regiment in order of muster was the "First Kansas Colored,"
dating from January 13, 1863. The first enlistment in the Kansas
regiment goes back to August 6, 1862; while the earliest technical
date of enlistment in my regiment was October 19, 1862, although, as
was stated above, one company really dated its organization back to
May, 1862. My muster as colonel dates back to November 10, 1862,
several months earlier than any other of which I am aware, among
colored regiments, except that of Colonel Stafford (First Louisiana
Native Guards), September 27, 1862. Colonel Williams, of the "First
Kansas Colored," was mustered as lieutenant-colonel on January 13,
1863; as colonel, March 8, 1863. These dates I have (with the other
facts relating to the regiment) from Colonel R. J. Hinton, the first
officer detailed to recruit it.

To sum up the above facts: my late regiment had unquestioned priority in
muster over all but the Louisiana regiments. It had priority over those
in the actual organization and term of service of one company. On the
other hand, the Kansas regiment had the priority in average date of
enlistment, according to the muster-rolls.

The first detachment of the Second South Carolina Volunteers (Colonel
Montgomery) went into camp at Port Royal Island, February 23, 1863,
numbering one hundred and twenty men. I do not know 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
February 9, 1863, and the first squad went into camp at Read-ville,
Massachusetts, on February 21, 1863, numbering twenty-five men. Colonel
Shaw's commission (and probably his muster) was dated April 17, 1863.
(Report of Adjutant-General of Massachusetts for 1863, pp. 896-899.)

These were the earliest colored regiments, so far as I know.




Appendix C
General Saxton's Instructions


[The following are the instructions under which my regiment was raised.
It will be seen how unequivocal were the provisions in respect to pay,
upon which so long and weary a contest was waged by our friends in
Congress, before the fulfilment of the contract could be secured.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON CITY, D. C.,
August 25, 1862.

GENERAL,
Your despatch of the 16th has this moment been received. It is
considered by the Department that the instructions given at the time of
your appointment were sufficient to enable you to do what you have now
requested authority for doing. But in order to place your authority
beyond all doubt, you are hereby authorized and instructed,

1st, To organize in any convenient organization, by squads, companies,
battalions, regiments, and brigades, or otherwise, colored persons of
African descent for volunteer laborers, to a number not exceeding fifty
thousand, and muster them into the service of the United States for the
term of the war, at a rate of compensation not exceeding five dollars
per month for common laborers, and eight dollars per month for
mechanical or skilled laborers, and assign them to the Quartermaster's
Department, to do and perform such laborer's duty as may be required
during the present war, and to be subject to the rules and articles of war.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.