The Black Phalanx Part 11

The taste with which the negro soldiers arranged their quarters often prompted officers of white regiments to borrow a detail to clean and beautify the quarters of their commands. An occurrence of this kind came very near causing trouble on Morris Island, S.C. The matter was brought to the commanding General's attention and he immediately issued this order:

DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, HEADQUARTERS IN THE FIELD.

GENERAL ORDERS, _Morris Island, S.C._, Sept. 17th, 1863.

No. 77.

1. It has come to the knowledge of the Brig. Gen. Commanding that detachments of colored troops, detailed for fatigue duty, have been employed in one instance at least, to prepare camps and perform menial duty for white troops. Such use of these details is unauthorized and improper, and is hereafter expressly prohibited. Commanding Officers of colored regiments are directed to report promptly, to the Headquarters, any violations of this order which may come to their knowledge.

BY ORDER OF GEN. Q. A. GILLMORE,

OFFICIAL: ED. W. SMITH, _a.s.st. Adjt. Gen'l._

_ISRAEL Z. SEALEY, Capt. 47th N.Y. Vols., Act. a.s.st. Adjt. General._

The Southern troops generally made no objection to cleaning the quarters of their white allies, but when a detail from the 54th Ma.s.s. Reg't., on its way to the front, was re-detailed for that purpose, they refused to obey. The detail was placed under arrest. When this information reached the regiment it was only by releasing the prisoners that a turbulent spirit was quieted. There were about ten thousand negro troops in and about Morris Island at that time, and they quickly sneezed at the 54th's snuff. The negro barbers in this department had been refusing to shave and to cut the hair of negro soldiers in common with the whites.

Corporal Kelley of the 54th Ma.s.s. Regiment, who had been refused a shave at a shop located near one of the brigade Headquarters, went there one evening accompanied by a number of the members of Company C. The men gathered around the barber's place of business, which rested upon posts a little up from the ground; the negro barbers were seated in their chairs resting from their labors and listening to the concert, which it was customary for a band to give each evening. As the last strains of music were being delivered, one side of the barber shop was lifted high and then suddenly dropped; it came down with a crash making a wreck of the building and its contents, except the barbers, who escaped unhurt, but who never made their appearance again. The episode resulted in the issuing of an order forbidding discrimination on account of color.

The Was.h.i.+ngton authorities established recruiting stations throughout the South. Of the difficulties under which recruiting officers labored some idea may be formed by reading the following, written by the historian of the 7th Regiment:

"The position of recruiting officer for colored troops was by no means a sinecure; on the contrary, it was attended with hards.h.i.+ps, annoyances and difficulties without number.

Moving about from place to place; often on scant rations, and always without transportation, save what could be pressed into service; sleeping in barns, out-houses, public buildings,--wherever shelter could be found, and meeting from the people everywhere opposition and dislike. To have been an officer of colored troops was of itself sufficient to ostracize, and when, in addition, one had to take from them their slaves, dislike became absolute hatred. There were, of course, exceptions, and doubtless every officer engaged on this disagreeable duty can bear testimony to receiving at times a hospitality as generous as it was unexpected, even from people whom duty compelled them to despoil. But this was always from "_union men_," for it must be confessed that a large proportion of the property-holders on both the eastern and western sh.o.r.es of the Chesapeake were as deeply in sympathy with the rebellion as their brethren over the Virginia border.

"Perhaps the most disagreeable feature of this recruiting duty was that Gen. Birney (Supt. of recruiting of negro troops in Maryland) seldom saw fit to give his subordinates anything but _verbal_ instructions. Officers were ordered to open recruiting stations; to raid through the country, carrying off slaves from under the eyes of their masters; to press horses for their own use and that of their men, and teams and vehicles for purposes of transportation; to take forage when needed; to occupy buildings and appropriate fuel; in short, to do a hundred things they had really no legal right to do, and had they been called upon, as was likely to happen at any time, for the authority under which they were acting, they would have had nothing to show but their commissions; and if, in carrying out these verbal instructions from their chief, they had become involved in serious difficulty, they had little reason to suppose that they would be sustained by him.

"When it is remembered that slavery was at that time still a recognized inst.i.tution, and that the duty of a recruiting officer often required him to literally strip a plantation of its field hands, and that, too, at a time of the year when the crops were being gathered, it is perhaps to be wondered that the bitter feelings of the slave-owners did not often find vent in open resistence and actual violence.

That this delicate and disagreeable duty was performed in a manner to avoid serious difficulty certainly speaks well for the prudence and good judgment of the officers and men engaged in it.

"The usual method of proceeding was, upon reaching a designated point, to occupy the most desirable public building, dwelling-house, warehouse, or barn found vacant, and with this as a rendezvous, small parties were sent into the surrounding country, visiting each plantation within a radius of twenty or thirty miles. The parties, sometimes under charge of an officer, usually consisted of a non-commissioned officer and ten or twelve men.

"In these journeys through the country the recruiting officer often met with strange experiences. Recruits were taken wherever found, and as their earthly possessions usually consisted of but what they wore upon their backs, they required no time to settle their affairs. The laborer in the field would throw down his hoe or quit his plow and march away with the guard, leaving his late owner looking after him in speechless amazement. On one occasion the writer met a planter on the road, followed by two of his slaves, each driving a loaded wagon. The usual questions were asked and the whilom slaves joined the recruiting party, leaving their teams and late master standing in the highway. At another time a negro was met with a horse and wagon. Having expressed his desire to "'list," he turned his horse's head toward home, and marched away in the opposite direction.

"On one occasion the writer visited a large plantation near Capeville, Va., and calling upon the proprietor asked him to call in his slaves. He complied without a word, and when they came and were asked if they wished to enlist, replied that they did, and fell into the ranks with the guard. As they started away the old man turned to me, and with tears in his eyes, said, "Will you take them all? Here I am, an old man; I cannot work; my crops are ungathered; my negroes have all enlisted or run away, and what am I to do?" A hard question, truly. Another officer was called upon by a gentleman with this question, "You have taken all my able-bodied men for soldiers, the others have run away, and only the women and children are left;--what do you propose to do with them?" Another hard question.

"At another time, when the _Balloon_ was lying at the mouth of the Pocomoke, accompanied by Lieut. Brown and with a boat's crew, we pulled up the river to the plantation of a Mrs. D., a noted rebel sympathizer. We were met, as we expected, with the most violent abuse from the fair proprietoress, which was redoubled when three of her best slaves, each of whom had probably been worth a couple of thousand dollars in _ante-bellum_ days, took their bundles and marched off to the boat. We bade the lady farewell, and pushed off amid the shouts and screams of a score of negro women and children, and the tears and execrations of the widow.

"To ill.u.s.trate the unreasonable orders Gen. Birney was sometimes in the habit of giving to officers engaged under him on recruiting service, the writer well remembers being placed by him, at Pungoteague, Va., in charge of some 200 recruits he had forcibly taken from an officer recruiting under Col. Nelson's orders, and receiving from him (Gen.

Birney) the most positive orders under no circ.u.mstances to allow Col. Nelson to get possession of them,--Col. Nelson's steamer was hourly expected--and that I should be held personally responsible that they were put on board his own steamer, and this when I had neither men nor muskets to enforce the order. Fortunately (for myself) Gen. Birney's steamer arrived first and the men were safely put on board.

Some days later, Lieut. Brown, who was then in charge of the same station, had a squad of recruits taken from him by Col.

Nelson, in retaliation.

"Many a hap-hazard journey was undertaken in search of recruits and recruiting stations. On one occasion an officer was ordered by Gen. Birney to take station at a town(?) not many miles from Port Tobacco, on the Potomac. After two days' careful search he discovered that the town he was in search of had been a post-office twenty years before, but then consisted of one house, uninhabited and uninhabitable, with not another within the circuit of five miles."

When the Government decided to arm the negroes and ordered the organization of a hundred regiments, it was with great difficulty the equipment department met the requisitions. It necessitated a departure from the accustomed uniform material for volunteers, and helped to arouse the animosity of the white troops. Instead of the coa.r.s.e material issued at first, the Phalanx was clothed in a fine blue-black dress coat for the infantry, and a superb dark blue jacket for the artillery and cavalry, all neatly trimmed with bra.s.s b.u.t.tons and white, red and yellow cord, representing the arm of service; heavy sky blue pantaloons, and a flannel cap, or high crown black felt hat or _chapeau_ with a black feather looped upon the right side and fastened with a bra.s.s eagle. For the infantry and for the cavalry two swords crossed; for the artillery two cannons on the front of the _chapeau_ crossed, with the letters of the company, and number of the regiment to which the soldier belonged.

On the caps these insignias were worn on the top of the crown. The uniform of the Phalanx put the threadbare clothes of the white veterans in sad contrast, and was the cause of many a black soldier being badly treated by his white comrades.[18]

At the outbreak of the Rebellion, the pay of soldiers (volunteers) was the same as soldiers of the regular army, by law, $13 per month. The soldiers of the Phalanx enlisted under the same law and regulations as did the white volunteers, as to pay and term of service, but the Secretary of War, after a few regiments were in the field, decided, and so ordered, that negro troops should be paid ten dollars per month. The instructions given to General Saxton on the 25th day of August, 1862, had stated that the pay would be the same as that of the other troops:

"In view of the small force under your command, and the inability of the Government at the present time to increase it, in order to guard the plantations and settlements occupied by the United States, from invasion, and to protect the inhabitants thereof from captivity and murder by the enemy, you are also authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and receive into the service of the United States, such number of volunteers of African descent as you may deem expedient, not exceeding five thousand, and may detail officers to instruct them in military drill, discipline and duty, and to command them. _The persons so received into service, and their officers, to be ent.i.tled to, and receive, the same pay and rations as are allowed, by law, to volunteers in the service._"

As to the white officers they were paid in full, but the privates and non-commissioned officers were allowed but $10 per month, three of which were deducted on account of clothing. In several instances the paymaster not having received special instructions to that effect, disregarded the general orders, and paid the negro soldiers in full, like other volunteers; but the order was generally recognized, though many of the regiments refused to receive the $7 per month, which was particularly the case of regiments from the Northern States. The order at one time in the Department of the Gulf, came very near causing a mutiny among the troops, because white troops, and conscripts at that, and those who had done provost duty about the cities, were paid $16 per month,--Congress having raised the pay,--while the Phalanx regiments in the field and fortifications were offered $7. The dissatisfaction was so strongly manifested as to cause twelve members of the Phalanx to lose their lives, which were not the only ones lost by the bad faith on the part of the Government. However, in no instance did the Phalanx refuse to do its duty when called upon, and at the sound of the long roll, though the black flag was raised against them, and many of their families were suffering at home, their patriotic ardor never abated in the least. At the North, provisions were made by the States to relieve the families of the brave men. Ma.s.sachusetts sent paymasters to make good the promises of the Government, but the deficiency was rejected. Her regiments, although a year without pay, refused to accept, and demanded full pay from the Government. The loyal people of the country, at public meetings and the press,[19] severely criticised the Government, while the patriotic black men continued to pour out their blood and to give their lives for liberty and the Union.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SCENE AT NEW BERNE, N. C.

Enthusiasm of the Blacks at the prospect of their being allowed to enlist as U.S. Soldiers.]

The matter being one for Congress to adjust, Henry Wilson, of Ma.s.sachusetts, on the 8th of Jan. 1864, introduced in the Senate of the United States, a bill to promote enlistments in the army, and in this measure justice to the black soldiers was proposed. After months of debate, it was finally pa.s.sed; not only placing the Phalanx soldiers on a footing with all other troops, but made free, the mothers, wives and children of the n.o.ble black troops.

The fight of the Phalanx for equal pay and allowance with the white troops, was a long one. The friends of the black soldiers in Congress fought it, however, to the successful issue. Senator Wilson, of Ma.s.sachusetts, took the lead in the matter in the Senate, as he did in the amending of the enrolling acts, and the act calling out the militia, whereby negroes were enrolled.

In the winter of '64 Gen. Butler began the organization of the Army of the James and the enlistment of negro troops. A camp was established near Fortress Monroe, where a great many men enlisted. The Secretary of War gave permission to the several Northern States to send agents South, and to enlist negroes to fill up their quotas of troops needed. Large bounties were then being paid and many a negro received as much as $500 to enlist; while many who went as subst.i.tutes received even more than that. The recruiting officers or rather agents from the different States established their headquarters largely within Gen. Butlers departments, where negro volunteers were frequently secured at a much less price than the regular bounty offered, the agent putting into his own pocket the difference, which often amounted to $200 or even $400 on a single recruit. To correct this wrong, Gen. Butler issued the following order:

HEADQUARTERS DEP'T. VIRGINIA & NORTH CAROLINA,

GENERAL ORDERS, IN THE FIELD, Va., _August 4th, 1864._ No. 90.

With all the guards which the utmost vigilance and care have thrown around the recruitment of white soldiers, it is a fact, as lamentable as true, that a large portion of the recruits have been swindled of part, if not all, of their bounties. Can it be hoped that the colored man will be better able to protect himself from the infinite ingenuity of fraud than the white?

Therefore, to provide for the families of the colored recruits enlisted in this Department--to relieve the United States, as far as may be, from the burden of supporting the families,--and to insure that at least a portion of the bounty paid to the negro shall be received for his use and that of his family;

_It is ordered_: I--That upon the enlistment of any negro recruit into the service of the United States for three (3) years, by any State agent or other person not enlisting recruits under the direct authority of the War Department, a sum of one hundred (100) dollars, or one-third (1/3) of the sum agreed to be paid as bounty, shall be paid if the amount exceeds three times that sum, into the hands of the Superintendent of Recruiting, or an officer to be designated by him, and in the same proportion for any less time; and no Mustering Officer will give any certificate or voucher for any negro recruit mustered into the service of the United States, so that he may be credited to the quota of any State, or as a subst.i.tute, until a certificate is filed with him that the amount called for by this order has been paid, to the satisfaction of the Superintendent of Recruiting of the district wherein the recruit was enlisted; but the mustering officer will, in default of such payment, certify upon the roll that the recruit is not to be credited to the quota of any State, or as a subst.i.tute.

II--The amount as paid to the Superintendent of Recruiting shall be turned over, on the last day of each month, to the Superintendent of Negro Affairs, to be expended in aid of the families of negro soldiers in this Department. The certificates filed with Commissary of Musters will be returned to said Superintendent of Negro Affairs, on the first day of every month, so that the Superintendent may vouch for the accounts of the Superintendent of Recruiting, for the amounts received by him.

And the Superintendent of Negro Affairs will account monthly to the Financial Agent of this Department for the amounts received and expended by him.

III--As there are unfilled colored Regiments in this Department sufficient to receive all the negro recruits therein, no negro male person above the age of sixteen (16) years, shall be taken out or attempted to be taken out of this Department, either as a recruit, as officer's servant, or otherwise, in any manner whatever, without a pa.s.s from these Head Quarters. Any officer, Master of Transportation, Provost Marshal, or person, who shall aid, a.s.sist or permit any male negro of the age of sixteen (16) years or upwards, to go out of this Department, in contravention of this order, will be punished, on conviction thereof before the Provost Court, by not less than six (6) months imprisonment at hard labor, under the Superintendent of Prison Labor, at Norfolk, and if this offence is committed by or with the connivance of any Master of Steamboat, Schooner, or other vessel, the steamboat or other vessel shall be seized and sold, and the proceeds be paid to the Superintendent of Negro Affairs, for the use of the dest.i.tute negroes supported by the Government.

By command of Major General B. F. BUTLER:

_R. S. DAVIS, Major and a.s.st. Adjt. General._

OFFICIAL: H. T. SCHROEDER, Lt. & A. A. A. Gen'l.

OFFICIAL: WM. M. PRATT, Lt. & Aide-de-Camp.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MUSTERING INTO SERVICE

Phalanx soldiers taking the oath of allegiance to the United States.]

The chief result of Butler's order was the establishment of the Freedmens' Savings Bank. At the close of the war, there were in the hands of the Superintendent of Negro Affairs, eight thousand dollars unclaimed bounties, belonging, the most of it without doubt, to _dead men_; it was placed in a bank at Norfolk, Va. This sum served as a nucleus for the Freedmens' Bank, which, after gathering large sums of the Freedmens' money, collapsed suddenly.

At Camp Hamilton several regiments were organized, including two of cavalry. The general enlistment ordered by the War Department was pushed most actively and with great results, till more than one hundred and seventy-eight thousand, by the records, were enlisted into the army.

The opposition to negro soldiers did not cease with many of the Union generals even after the Government at Was.h.i.+ngton issued its mandate for their enlistment and impressment, and notwithstanding that the many thousands in the service, with their display of gallantry, dash and courage, as exhibited at Port Hudson, Milliken's Bend, Wagner, and in a hundred other battles, had astonished and aroused the civilized world.

In view of all this, and, even more strangely, in the face of the Fort Pillow butchery, General Sherman wrote to the Was.h.i.+ngton authorities, in September, 1864, protesting against negro troops being organized in his department. If Whitelaw Reid's "Ohio in the War," is to be relied upon, Sherman's treatment of the negroes in his march to the sea was a counterpart of the Fort Pillow ma.s.sacre. His opposition was in keeping with that of the authorities of his state,[20] notwithstanding it has credited to its quota of troops during the war 5,092 negroes, but one regiment was raised in the State, out of a negro population of 36,673 by the canvas of 1860.

According to the statistics on file in the Adjutant General's office, the States are accredited with the following number of negroes who served in the army during the Rebellion:

ALABAMA, 2,969 LOUISIANA, 24,052 NEW HAMPs.h.i.+RE, 125 Ma.s.sACHUSETTS, 3,966 CONNECTICUT, 1,764 NEW JERSEY, 1,185 DELAWARE, 954 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 3,269 NORTH CAROLINA, 5,035 SOUTH CAROLINA, 5,462 FLORIDA, 1,044 TENNESSEE, 20,133 MICHIGAN, 1,387 INDIANA, 1,537 MISSOURI, 8,344 IOWA, 440 KANSAS, 2,080 COLORADO TERRITORY, 95 MISSISSIPPI, 17,869 MAINE, 104 VERMONT, 120 RHODE ISLAND, 1,837 NEW YORK, 4,125 PENNSYLVANIA, 8,612 MARYLAND, 8,718 VIRGINIA, 5,723 WEST VIRGINIA, 196 GEORGIA, 3,486 ARKANSAS, 5,526 KENTUCKY, 23,703 OHIO, 5,092 ILLINOIS, 1,811 MINNESOTA, 104 WISCONSIN, 165 TEXAS, 47 NOT ACCOUNTED FOR, 5,896