DK - The American Civil War

THE ROLE OF BLACK TROOPS

Barbarities were not uncommon; the
most notorious were those committed
at Fort Pillow, a Union garrison on the
Tennessee side of the Mississippi River.
On the afternoon of April 12, 1864
Confederate cavalry commanded by
Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford
Forrest “shot down, bayoneted, and put
to the sword in cold blood” hundreds of

black soldiers as they tried to surrender.

In response to the massacre, black

Federal volunteers adopted “Remember

Fort Pillow” as their battle cry and

thereafter sometimes engaged in their

own excesses when dealing with

apprehended Confederates.

Whether in a state-raised regiment,

such as the famous 54th Massachusetts,

or in one of the 166 regiments of the

United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.),

soldiers in a black regiment inverted the

two principal Union war goals compared

to their white comrades: they fought to

free their people first, and preserve the

Union second. As Frederick Douglass

said, “The iron gate of our prison stands

half open. One gallant rush from the

North will fling it wide open, while four

millions of our brothers and sisters shall

march out into liberty.”

White attitudes

The first black volunteers were infused

with a profound sense of purpose,

which steadied them as a series of

challenges were flung their way from

within their own army. First, many

white soldiers disliked the idea of

arming blacks, and some flatly refused

to serve near them. Theodore Upson of

the 100th Illinois wrote that “none of

our soldiers seem to like the idea of

arming the Negroes. Our boys say this

is a white man’s war and the Negro has

no business in it.” Recent immigrants to

the North took a different tack. As one

Irish journalist explained: “I’ll let

Sambo be murthered instead of meself

on any day of the year.”

Official discrimination

It took demonstrated bravery on the

battlefield for such racial stereotypes

and prejudice to subside. By the war’s

end, most white Federal troops still

viewed their black comrades somewhat

askance, but few questioned their value

and devotion to the Union cause.

However, black troops still had to deal

with bureaucratized discrimination.

At first, black privates received $12

a month, the same as white soldiers,

but in June 1863, the War Department

announced that henceforth they would

only receive $10, and be

required to pay $3 of

that toward a clothing

allowance. In June

1864, this cruel disparity

was remedied, but

lasting damage had been

done to black morale.

Never redressed was

the apparent unfairness

of disallowing black

officers, with very rare

exceptions. In all the

black regiments that

served in the war, there

were only 32 black

officers—and most were chaplains and

surgeons. A special school to train

officer candidates for black regiments

opened in Philadelphia in late 1863,

but its only graduates were white.

Routine work

Black regiments were often detailed

to mundane second-line duties, such

as digging trenches, clearing trees,

guarding railroads, and protecting

communication lines. Even after black

valor was proven by the assault on Port

Hudson on May 27, 1863, where the

bravery of black regiments first came to

the Northern public’s attention, troops

rarely saw action proportional to their

numbers in the Union armies.

When black units were called on to

fight in a decisive action, such as at the

Battle of the Crater, it was often under

adverse conditions that made high

casualty rates likely. This fact disgruntled

many people in the ranks, leading to

recruitment difficulties later. Even so,

African-Americans made up 12 percent

of Union soldiers by the end of the war.

A BLACK WAR VETERAN

Despite their impressive combat record,

discrimination against black soldiers

continued through 1865, and beyond in

the postwar U.S. Army.

FINAL GLORY AND FINAL INSULT

The Union 25th Corps was almost completely

composed of black regiments and had the

honor of being the first to enter Richmond when

the Confederate capital was captured in April

1865. The next month, as the two Union armies
      marched in triumph in the Grand Review in
      Washington, not a single black unit was
      among them.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO VICTORY

By the end of the war, 186,000 black

soldiers—119,000 of them former slaves—had

fought for the Union. Black troops earned 21

Medals of Honor and had suffered over 68,000

casualties, an astonishing rate of loss.

AFTER

Battle of Milliken’s Bend
On June 7, 1863 a small Union force was attacked by
1,500 Texans at Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana. The bravery
of the African-Americans fighting that day earned them
new respect, paving the way for black enlistment.

UNION OFFICER (1812–85)

The first black field-grade officer in the

history of the U.S. Army, Delany had

been a prewar abolitionist and was among

the first three black men accepted to study

medicine at Harvard. During the war he

helped recruit thousands for the U.S.C.T.

Lincoln was impressed with him when

they met in 1865, calling him a “most

extraordinary and intelligent man.” He

was commissioned a major two weeks

later, the highest rank attained by an

African-American during the war.

MAJOR MARTIN DELANY

“Whatever Negroes can ... do as

soldiers, leaves just so much

less for white soldiers to do.”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO ILLINOIS POLITICIAN JAMES C. CONKLING, AUGUST 26, 1863