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Army Life in a Black Regiment

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




The city was still there for us, at any rate; though none knew what
perils might be concealed behind those quiet buildings. Yet there were
children playing on the wharves; careless men, here and there, lounged
down to look at us, hands in pockets; a few women came to their doors,
and gazed listlessly upon us, shading their eyes with their hands. We
drew momently nearer, in silence and with breathless attention. The
gunners were at their posts, and the men in line. It was eight
o'clock. We were now directly opposite the town: yet no sign of
danger was seen; not a rifle-shot was heard; not a shell rose hissing
in the air. The Uncas rounded to, and dropped anchor in the stream; by
previous agreement, I steamed to an upper pier of the town, Colonel
Montgomery to a lower one; the little boat-howitzers were run out upon
the wharves, and presently to the angles of the chief streets; and the
pretty town was our own without a shot. In spite of our detention, the
surprise had been complete, and not a soul in Jacksonville had dreamed
of our coming.

The day passed quickly, in eager preparations for defence; the people
could or would give us no definite information about the Rebel camp,
which was, however, known to be near, and our force did not permit our
going out to surprise it. The night following was the most anxious I
ever spent. We were all tired out; the companies were under arms, in
various parts of the town, to be ready for an attack at any moment. My
temporary quarters were beneath the loveliest grove of linden-trees,
and as I reclined, half-dozing, the mocking-birds sang all night like
nightingales,--their notes seeming to trickle down through the sweet
air from amid the blossoming boughs. Day brought relief and the sense
of due possession, and we could see what we had won.

Jacksonville was now a United States post again: the only post on the
main-land in the Department of the South. Before the war it had three
or four thousand inhabitants, and a rapidly growing lumber-trade, for
which abundant facilities were evidently provided. The wharves were
capacious, and the blocks of brick warehouses along the lower street
were utterly unlike anything we had yet seen in that region, as were
the neatness and thrift everywhere visible. It had been built up by
Northern enterprise, and much of the property was owned by loyal men.
It had been a great resort for invalids, though the Rebels had burned
the large hotel which once accommodated them. Mills had also been
burned; but the dwelling-houses were almost all in good condition. The
quarters for the men were admirable; and I took official possession of
the handsome brick house of Colonel Sunder-land, the established
head-quarters through every occupation, whose accommodating flag-staff
had literally and repeatedly changed its colors. The seceded Colonel,
reputed author of the State ordinance of Secession, was a New-Yorker
by birth, and we found his law-card, issued when in practice in
Easton, Washington County, New York. He certainly had good taste in
planning the inside of a house, though time had impaired its
condition. There was a neat office with ample bookcases and no books,
a billiard-table with no balls, gas-fixtures without gas, and a
bathing-room without water. There was a separate building for
servants' quarters, and a kitchen with every convenience, even to a
few jars of lingering pickles. On the whole, there was an air of
substance and comfort about the town, quite alien from the picturesque
decadence of Beaufort.

The town rose gradually from the river, and was bounded on the rear by a
long, sluggish creek, beyond which lay a stretch of woods, affording an
excellent covert for the enemy, but without great facilities for attack,
as there were but two or three fords and bridges. This brook could
easily be held against a small force, but could at any time and at
almost any point be readily crossed by a large one. North of the town
the land rose a little, between the river and the sources of the brook,
and then sank to a plain, which had been partially cleared by a previous
garrison. For so small a force as ours, however, this clearing must be
extended nearer to the town; otherwise our lines would be too long for
our numbers.

This deficiency in numbers at once became a source of serious anxiety.
While planning the expedition, it had seemed so important to get the men
a foothold in Florida that I was willing to risk everything for it. But
this important post once in our possession, it began to show some
analogies to the proverbial elephant in the lottery. To hold it
permanently with nine hundred men was not, perhaps, impossible, with the
aid of a gunboat (I had left many of my own regiment sick and on duty in
Beaufort, and Colonel Montgomery had as yet less than one hundred and
fifty); but to hold it, and also to make forays up the river, certainly
required a larger number. We came in part to recruit, but had found
scarcely an able-bodied negro in the city; all had been removed farther
up, and we must certainly contrive to follow them. I was very unwilling
to have, as yet, any white troops under my command, with the blacks.
Finally, however, being informed by Judge S. of a conversation with
Colonel Hawley, commanding at Fernandina, in which the latter had
offered to send four companies and a light battery to swell our force,
--in view of the aid given to his position by this more advanced post, I
decided to authorize the energetic Judge to go back to Fernandina and
renew the negotiation, as the John Adams must go thither at any rate for
coal.

Meanwhile all definite display of our force was avoided; dress-parades
were omitted; the companies were so distributed as to tell for the
utmost; and judicious use was made, here and there, of empty tents.
The gunboats and transports moved impressively up and down the river,
from time to time. The disposition of pickets was varied each night to
perplex the enemy, and some advantage taken of his distrust, which
might be assumed as equalling our own. The citizens were duly
impressed by our supply of ammunition, which was really enormous, and
all these things soon took effect. A loyal woman, who came into town,
said that the Rebel scouts, stopping at her house, reported that there
were "sixteen hundred negroes all over the woods, and the town full of
them besides." "It was of no use to go in. General Finnegan had driven
them into a bad place once, and should not do it again." "They had
lost their captain and their best surgeon in the first skirmish, and
if the Savannah people wanted the negroes driven away, they might come
and do it themselves." Unfortunately, we knew that they could easily
come from Savannah at any time, as there was railroad communication
nearly all the way; and every time we heard the steam-whistle, the men
were convinced of their arrival. Thus we never could approach to any
certainty as to their numbers, while they could observe, from the
bluffs, every steamboat that ascended the river.

To render our weak force still more available, we barricaded the
approaches to the chief streets by constructing barriers or felling
trees. It went to my heart to sacrifice, for this purpose, several of my
beautiful lindens; but it was no time for aesthetics. As the giants lay
on the ground, still scenting the air with their abundant bloom, I used
to rein up my horse and watch the children playing hide-and-seek amongst
their branches, or some quiet cow grazing at the foliage. Nothing
impresses the mind in war like some occasional object or association
that belongs apparently to peace alone.

Among all these solicitudes, it was a great thing that one particular
anxiety vanished in a day. On the former expedition the men were upon
trial as to their courage; now they were to endure another test, as to
their demeanor as victors. Here were five hundred citizens, nearly all
white, at the mercy of their former slaves. To some of these whites it
was the last crowning humiliation, and they were, or professed to be,
in perpetual fear. On the other hand, the most intelligent and
lady-like woman I saw, the wife of a Rebel captain, rather surprised
me by saying that it seemed pleasanter to have these men stationed
there, whom they had known all their lives, and who had generally
borne a good character, than to be in the power of entire strangers.
Certainly the men deserved the confidence, for there was scarcely an
exception to their good behavior. I think they thoroughly felt that
their honor and dignity were concerned in the matter, and took too
much pride in their character as soldiers,--to say nothing of higher
motives,--to tarnish it by any misdeeds. They watched their officers
vigilantly and even suspiciously, to detect any disposition towards
compromise; and so long as we pursued a just course it was evident
that they could be relied on. Yet the spot was pointed out to me where
two of our leading men had seen their brothers hanged by Lynch law;
many of them had private wrongs to avenge; and they all had utter
disbelief in all pretended loyalty, especially on the part of the
women.

One citizen alone was brought to me in a sort of escort of honor by
Corporal Prince Lambkin,--one of the color-guard, and one of our ablest
men,--the same who had once made a speech in camp, reminding his hearers
that they had lived under the American flag for eighteen hundred and
sixty-two years, and ought to live and die under it. Corporal Lambkin
now introduced his man, a German, with the highest compliment in his
power, "He hab true colored-man heart." Surrounded by mean, cajoling,
insinuating white men and women who were all that and worse, I was quite
ready to appreciate the quality he thus proclaimed. A colored-man heart,
in the Rebel States, is a fair synonyme for a loyal heart, and it is
about the only such synonyme. In this case, I found afterwards that the
man in question, a small grocer, had been an object of suspicion to the
whites from his readiness to lend money to the negroes, or sell to them
on credit; in which, perhaps, there may have been some mixture of
self-interest with benevolence.

I resort to a note-book of that period, well thumbed and pocket-worn,
which sometimes received a fragment of the day's experience.


"March 16, 1863.

"Of course, droll things are constantly occurring. Every white man,
woman, and child is flattering, seductive, and professes Union
sentiment; every black ditto believes that every white ditto is a
scoundrel, and ought to be shot, but for good order and military
discipline. The Provost Marshal and I steer between them as blandly as
we can. Such scenes as succeed each other! Rush of indignant Africans.
A white man, in woman's clothes, has been seen to enter a certain
house,--undoubtedly a spy. Further evidence discloses the Roman
Catholic priest, a peaceful little Frenchman, in his professional
apparel.--Anxious female enters. Some sentinel has shot her cow by
mistake for a Rebel. The United States cannot think of paying the
desired thirty dollars. Let her go to the Post-Quartermaster and
select a cow from his herd. If there is none to suit her (and, indeed,
not one of them gave a drop of milk,--neither did hers), let her wait
till the next lot comes in,--that is all.--Yesterday's operations gave
the following total yield: Thirty 'contrabands,' eighteen horses,
eleven cattle, ten saddles and bridles, and one new army-wagon. At
this rate we shall soon be self-supporting _cavalry_.

"Where complaints are made of the soldiers, it almost always turns out
that the women have insulted them most grossly, swearing at them, and
the like. One unpleasant old Dutch woman came in, bursting with wrath,
and told the whole narrative of her blameless life, diversified with
sobs:--

"'Last January I ran off two of my black people from St. Mary's to
Fernandina,' (sob,)--'then I moved down there myself, and at Lake City
I lost six women and a boy,' (sob,)--'then I stopped at Baldwin for
one of the wenches to be confined,' (sob,)--'then I brought them all
here to live in a Christian country' (sob, sob). "Then the blockheads'
[blockades, that is, gunboats] 'came, and they all ran off with the
blockheads,' (sob, sob, sob,) 'and left me, an old lady of forty-six,
obliged to work for a living.' (Chaos of sobs, without cessation.)

"But when I found what the old sinner had said to the soldiers I rather
wondered at their self-control in not throttling her."

Meanwhile skirmishing went on daily in the outskirts of the town. There
was a fight on the very first day, when our men killed, as before
hinted, a Rebel surgeon, which was oddly metamorphosed in the Southern
newspapers into their killing one of ours, which certainly never
happened. Every day, after this, they appeared in small mounted squads
in the neighborhood, and exchanged shots with our pickets, to which the
gunboats would contribute their louder share, their aim being rather
embarrassed by the woods and hills. We made reconnoissances, too, to
learn the country in different directions, and were apt to be fired upon
during these. Along the farther side of what we called the "Debatable
Land" there was a line of cottages, hardly superior to negro huts, and
almost all empty, where the Rebel pickets resorted, and from whose
windows they fired. By degrees all these nests were broken up and
destroyed, though it cost some trouble to do it, and the hottest
skirmishing usually took place around them.

Among these little affairs was one which we called "Company K's
Skirmish," because it brought out the fact that this company, which was
composed entirely of South Carolina men, and had never shone in drill or
discipline, stood near the head of the regiment for coolness and
courage,--the defect of discipline showing itself only in their extreme
unwillingness to halt when once let loose. It was at this time that the
small comedy of the Goose occurred,--an anecdote which Wendell Phillips
has since made his own.

One of the advancing line of skirmishers, usually an active fellow
enough, was observed to move clumsily and irregularly. It soon
appeared that he had encountered a fine specimen of the domestic
goose, which had surrendered at discretion. Not wishing to lose it, he
could yet find no way to hold it but between his legs; and so he went
on, loading, firing, advancing, halting, always with the goose
writhing and struggling and hissing in this natural pair of stocks.
Both happily came off unwounded, and retired in good order at the
signal, or some time after it; but I have hardly a cooler thing to put
on record.

Meanwhile, another fellow left the field less exultingly; for, after a
thoroughly courageous share in the skirmish, he came blubbering to his
captain, and said,--"Cappen, make Caesar gib me my cane." It seemed
that, during some interval of the fighting, he had helped himself to an
armful of Rebel sugar-cane, such as they all delighted in chewing. The
Roman hero, during another pause, had confiscated the treasure; whence
these tears of the returning warrior. I never could accustom myself to
these extraordinary interminglings of manly and childish attributes.

Our most untiring scout during this period was the chaplain of my
regiment,--the most restless and daring spirit we had, and now exulting
in full liberty of action. He it was who was daily permitted to stray
singly where no other officer would have been allowed to go, so
irresistible was his appeal, "You know I am only a chaplain." Methinks I
see our regimental saint, with pistols in belt and a Ballard rifle slung
on shoulder, putting spurs to his steed, and cantering away down some
questionable wood-path, or returning with some tale of Rebel haunt
discovered, or store of foraging. He would track an enemy like an
Indian, or exhort him, when apprehended, like an early Christian. Some
of our devout soldiers shook their heads sometimes over the chaplain's
little eccentricities. "Woffor Mr. Chapman made a preacher for?" said
one of them, as usual transforming his title into a patronymic. "He's
_de fightingest more Yankee_ I eber see in all my days."

And the criticism was very natural, though they could not deny that,
when the hour for Sunday service came, Mr. F. commanded the respect and
attention of all. That hour never came, however, on our first Sunday in
Jacksonville; we were too busy and the men too scattered; so the
chaplain made his accustomed foray beyond the lines instead.

"Is it not Sunday?" slyly asked an unregenerate lieutenant. "Nay," quoth
his Reverence, waxing fervid; "it is the Day of Judgment"

This reminds me of a raid up the river, conducted by one of our senior
captains, an enthusiast whose gray beard and prophetic manner always
took me back to the Fifth-Monarchy men. He was most successful that day,
bringing back horses, cattle, provisions, and prisoners; and one of the
latter complained bitterly to me of being held, stating that Captain R.
had promised him speedy liberty. But that doughty official spurned the
imputation of such weak blandishments, in this day of triumphant
retribution.

"Promise him!" said he, "I promised him nothing but the Day of Judgment
and Periods of Damnation!"

Often since have I rolled beneath my tongue this savory and solemn
sentence, and I do not believe that since the days of the Long
Parliament there has been a more resounding anathema.

In Colonel Montgomery's hands these up-river raids reached the dignity
of a fine art. His conceptions of foraging were rather more Western and
liberal than mine, and on these excursions he fully indemnified himself
for any undue abstinence demanded of him when in camp. I remember being
on the wharf, with some naval officers, when he came down from his first
trip. The steamer seemed an animated hen-coop. Live poultry hung from
the foremast shrouds, dead ones from the mainmast, geese hissed from the
binnacle, a pig paced the quarter-deck, and a duck's wings were seen
fluttering from a line which was wont to sustain duck trousers. The
naval heroes, mindful of their own short rations, and taking high views
of one's duties in a conquered country, looked at me reproachfully, as
who should say, "Shall these things be?" In a moment or two the
returning foragers had landed.

"Captain ----," said Montgomery, courteously, "would you allow me to
send a remarkably fine turkey for your use on board ship?"

"Lieutenant ----," said Major Corwin, "may I ask your acceptance of a
pair of ducks for your mess?"

Never did I behold more cordial relations between army and navy than
sprang into existence at those sentences. So true it is, as Charles
Lamb says, that a single present of game may diffuse kindly sentiments
through a whole community. These little trips were called "rest";
there was no other rest during those ten days. An immense amount of
picket and fatigue duty had to be done. Two redoubts were to be built
to command the Northern Valley; all the intervening grove, which now
afforded lurking-ground for a daring enemy, must be cleared away; and
a few houses must be reluctantly razed for the same purpose. The fort
on the left was named Fort Higginson, and that built by my own
regiment, in return, Fort Montgomery. The former was necessarily a
hasty work, and is now, I believe, in ruins; the latter was far more
elaborately constructed, on lines well traced by the Fourth New
Hampshire during the previous occupation. It did great credit to
Captain Trowbridge, of my regiment (formerly of the New York Volunteer
Engineers), who had charge of its construction.

How like a dream seems now that period of daily skirmishes and nightly
watchfulness! The fatigue was so constant that the days hurried by. I
felt the need of some occasional change of ideas, and having just
received from the North Mr. Brook's beautiful translation of Jean
Paul's "Titan," I used to retire to my bedroom for some ten minutes
every afternoon, and read a chapter or two. It was more refreshing
than a nap, and will always be to me one of the most fascinating books
in the world, with this added association. After all, what concerned
me was not so much the fear of an attempt to drive us out and retake
the city,--for that would be against the whole policy of the Rebels in
that region,--as of an effort to fulfil their threats and burn it, by
some nocturnal dash. The most valuable buildings belonged to Union
men, and the upper part of the town, built chiefly of resinous pine,
was combustible to the last degree. In case of fire, if the wind blew
towards the river, we might lose steamers and all. I remember
regulating my degree of disrobing by the direction of the wind; if it
blew from the river, it was safe to make one's self quite comfortable;
if otherwise, it was best to conform to Suwarrow's idea of luxury, and
take off one spur.

So passed our busy life for ten days. There were no tidings of
reinforcements, and I hardly knew whether I wished for them,--or
rather, I desired them as a choice of evils; for our men were giving
out from overwork, and the recruiting excursions, for which we had
mainly come, were hardly possible. At the utmost, I had asked for the
addition of four companies and a light battery. Judge of my surprise
when two infantry regiments successively arrived! I must resort to a
scrap from the diary. Perhaps diaries are apt to be thought tedious;
but I would rather read a page of one, whatever the events described,
than any more deliberate narrative,--it gives glimpses so much more
real and vivid.


"HEAD-QUARTERS, JACKSONVILLE,

March 20, 1863, Midnight.

"For the last twenty-four hours we have been sending women and children
out of town, in answer to a demand by flag of truce, with a threat of
bombardment. [N. B. I advised them not to go, and the majority declined
doing so.] It was designed, no doubt, to intimidate; and in our
ignorance of the force actually outside, we have had to recognize the
possibility of danger, and work hard at our defences. At any time, by
going into the outskirts, we can have a skirmish, which is nothing but
fun; but when night closes in over a small and weary garrison, there
sometimes steals into my mind, like a chill, that most sickening of all
sensations, the anxiety of a commander. This was the night generally set
for an attack, if any, though I am pretty well satisfied that they have
not strength to dare it, and the worst they could probably do is to burn
the town. But to-night, instead of enemies, appear friends,--our devoted
civic ally, Judge S., and a whole Connecticut regiment, the Sixth, under
Major Meeker; and though the latter are aground, twelve miles below, yet
they enable one to breathe more freely. I only wish they were black; but
now I have to show, not only that blacks can fight, but that they and
white soldiers can act in harmony together."

That evening the enemy came up for a reconnoissance, in the deepest
darkness, and there were alarms all night. The next day the Sixth
Connecticut got afloat, and came up the river; and two days after, to
my continued amazement, arrived a part of the Eighth Maine, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Twichell. This increased my command to four
regiments, or parts of regiments, half white and half black.
Skirmishing had almost ceased,--our defences being tolerably complete,
and looking from without much more effective than they really were. We
were safe from any attack by a small force, and hoped that the enemy
could not spare a large one from Charleston or Savannah. All looked
bright without, and gave leisure for some small anxieties within.

It was the first time in the war (so far as I know) that white and black
soldiers had served together on regular duty. Jealousy was still felt
towards even the officers of colored regiments, and any difficult
contingency would be apt to bring it out. The white soldiers, just from
ship-board, felt a natural desire to stray about the town; and no attack
from an enemy would be so disastrous as the slightest collision between
them and the black provost-guard. I shudder, even now, to think of the
train of consequences, bearing on the whole course of subsequent
national events, which one such mishap might then have produced. It is
almost impossible for us now to remember in what a delicate balance then
hung the whole question of negro enlistments, and consequently of
Slavery. Fortunately for my own serenity, I had great faith in the
intrinsic power of military discipline, and also knew that a common
service would soon produce mutual respect among good soldiers; and so it
proved. But the first twelve hours of this mixed command were to me a
more anxious period than any outward alarms had created.

Let us resort to the note-book again.

"JACKSONVILLE, March 22, 1863.

"It is Sunday; the bell is ringing for church, and Rev. Mr. F., from
Beaufort, is to preach. This afternoon our good quartermaster
establishes a Sunday-school for our little colony of 'contrabands,' now
numbering seventy.

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