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014 - Appendix · Army Life in a Black Regiment

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  Speaker 1: Appendix of Army Life in a Black Regiment. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by f NH. Army Life in a Black Regiment
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  Speaker 1: by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Appendix A Roster of officers first
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  Speaker 1: South Carolina Volunteers afterwards thirty third United States Colored Troops
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  Speaker 1: Colonels T. W. Higginson, fifty first Massachusetts November tenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty two. Resigned October twenty seventh, eighteen sixty four. W M. T.
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  Speaker 1: Bennett one hundred and second USCT December eighteenth, eighteen sixty four,
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  Speaker 1: mustered out with regiment. Lieutenant Colonels D. Billings Civil Life
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  Speaker 1: November one, eighteen sixty two. Dismissed by Examining Board July
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighth, eighteen sixty three. John D. Strong Promotion July
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighth, eighteen sixty three. Resigned August fifteenth, eighteen sixty four.
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  Speaker 1: Chas T. Troubridge Promotion December ninth, eighteen sixty four. Mustard
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  Speaker 1: oubt Majors. John D. Strong Civil Life October twenty first,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, Lieutenant colonel July twenty eighth, eighteen sixty three.
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  Speaker 1: Chas T. Trowbridge Promotion August eleventh, eighteen sixty three, Lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: colonel December ninth, eighteen sixty four. H. A. Whitney Promotion
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  Speaker 1: December ninth, eighteen sixty four. Mustard oubt Surgeons SETH. Rodgers
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  Speaker 1: Civil Life December second, eighteen sixty two. Resigned December twenty first,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. WMB Crandall twenty ninth, Connecticut, June eighth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. Mustard out. Assistant Surgeons J. M. Hawks
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  Speaker 1: Civil Life October twentieth, eighteen sixty two. Surgeon third South
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  Speaker 1: Carolina Volunteers October twenty ninth, eighteen sixty three. Foss T.
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  Speaker 1: Minor seventh, Connecticut, January eighth, eighteen sixty three, resigned. November
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  Speaker 1: twenty first, eighteen sixty four. E. S. Steward Civil Life,
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  Speaker 1: September fourth, eighteen sixty five. Mustered out. Chaplain Jess H.
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  Speaker 1: Fowler Civil Life, October twenty fourth, eighteen sixty two. Mustard out.
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  Speaker 1: Captains Chaz T. Trowbridge, New York Volunteer Engineers October thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two Major August eleventh, eighteen sixty three. W. M.
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  Speaker 1: James one hundredth Pennsylvania. October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two. Mustard
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  Speaker 1: Out W. J. Randolph one hundred Pennsylvania, October thirteenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty two, resigned, Many twenty ninth, eighteen sixty four. J. A. Whitney,
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  Speaker 1: eighth Maine. October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two, Major December ninth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. Alex Heasley one hundredth Pennsylvania, October thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two. Kilda Augusta, September sixth, eighteen sixty five.
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  Speaker 1: George Dolly eighth Maine, November one, eighteen sixty two, resigned.
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  Speaker 1: October thirtieth, eighteen sixty three. L. W. Metcalfe eighth Maine,
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  Speaker 1: November eleventh, eighteen sixty two, mustered oubt. JASS H. Tonkin,
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  Speaker 1: New York Volunteer Engineers November seventeenth, eighteen sixty two, resigned
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  Speaker 1: July twenty eighth, eighteen sixty three. JAS. S. Rogers, fifty first, Massachusetts,
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  Speaker 1: December sixth, eighteen sixty two, resigned October twentieth, eighteen sixty three. J. H.
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  Speaker 1: Thiberdou promotion January tenth, eighteen sixty three. Mustered out. George D.
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  Speaker 1: Walker promotion July twenty eighth, eighteen sixty three. Resigned September one,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. W MH. Danlinson promotion July twenty eighth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Major one hundred and twenty eighth U S. C. T.
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  Speaker 1: May eighteen sixty five, Now the first Lieutenant fortieth US Infantry.
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  Speaker 1: W M W. Sampson promotion November fifth, eighteen sixty three.
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  Speaker 1: Mustard out. John M. Thompson promotion November seventh, eighteen sixty three.
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  Speaker 1: Mustered out Now first Lieutenant and Brevick Captain thirty eighth
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  Speaker 1: U S Infantry. ABR W. Jackson promotion April thirtieth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty four. Resigned August fifteenth, eighteen sixty five. Niles G.
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  Speaker 1: Parker promotion February eighteen sixty five. Mustered out. Chaz W.
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  Speaker 1: Hooper promotion September eighteen sixty five. Mustard out. E. C.
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  Speaker 1: Mermon promotion September eighteen sixty five. Resigned December fourth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty five. E. C. Robbins promotion November first, eighteen sixty five.
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  Speaker 1: Mustered out. N. S. White promotion November eighteenth, eighteen sixty five.
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  Speaker 1: Mustered out. First Lieutenants. G. W. Dewhurst, Adjutant, Civil Life,
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  Speaker 1: October twentieth, eighteen sixty two. Resigned August thirty first, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty five. J. M. Byneham, Quartermaster, Civil Life. October twentieth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two. Died from effect of exhaustion on a
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  Speaker 1: military expedition. July twentieth, eighteen sixty three. G. M. Chamberain, Quartermaster,
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  Speaker 1: eleventh Massachusetts Battery. August twenty ninth, eighteen sixty three, mustered out. G. O. D. Walker,
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  Speaker 1: New York Volunteer Engineers, October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two, Captain
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  Speaker 1: August eleventh, eighteen sixty three. W. H. Danlinson, forty eighth
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  Speaker 1: New York. October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two. Captain July twenty sixth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. J. H. Thiberdou eighth Maine. October thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two. Captain January tenth, eighteen sixty three. Frey MP. E. White,
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  Speaker 1: eighth Maine. November fourteenth, eighteen sixty two. Resigned March ninth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. JASS Pomeroy, one hundredth Pennsylvania, October thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two. Resigned February ninth, eighteen sixty three. JASS F. Johnston,
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  Speaker 1: one hundredth Pennsylvania, October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two. Resigned March
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  Speaker 1: twenty sixth, eighteen sixty three. Jesse Fisher forty eighth New
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  Speaker 1: York October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two, resigned January twenty sixth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Chass I. Davis eighth Maine, October thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, resigned February twenty eighth, eighteen sixty three. W. M.
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  Speaker 1: Stockdale eighth May October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two, resigned May second,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. JASS B. O'Neill promotion January tenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty three, resigned May second, eighteen sixty three. W. W.
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  Speaker 1: Sampson promotion January tenth, eighteen sixty three, Captain October thirtieth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. J. M. Thompson promotion January twenty second,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Captain October thirtieth, eighteen sixty three. R. M.
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  Speaker 1: Gaston Promotion April fifteenth, eighteen sixty three. Killed at Cows four, Ferry, South, Carolina,
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  Speaker 1: May twenty seventh, eighteen sixty three. JASS B. West Promotion
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  Speaker 1: February twenty eighth, eighteen sixty three. Resigned January fourteenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty five. N G. Parker Promotion, May fifth, eighteen sixty three.
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  Speaker 1: Captain February eighteen sixty five. W. H. Hyde Promotion May fifth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Resigned April third, eighteen sixty five. Henry A.
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  Speaker 1: Stone eighth, Maine, January twenty sixth, eighteen sixty three, resigned
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  Speaker 1: December sixteenth, eighteen sixty four. J. A. Troubridge Promotion August eleventh,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Resigned November twenty ninth, eighteen sixty four. A. W.
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  Speaker 1: Jackson Promotion August twenty sixth, eighteen sixty three. Captain. April thirtieth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. Chas E. Parker Promotion August twenty sixth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Resigned November twenty ninth, eighteen sixty four.
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  Speaker 1: CHAS W. Hooper Promotion November eighth, eighteen sixty three. Captain
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  Speaker 1: September eighteen sixty five. E. C. Merriam Promotion November nineteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Captain September eighteen sixty five. Henry A.
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  Speaker 1: Beach Promotion April thirtieth, eighteen sixty four. Resigned September twenty third,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. E. W. Robbins Promotion April thirtieth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty four. Captain November one, eighteen sixty five. As A
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  Speaker 1: Child promotion September eighteen sixty five, mustered out. N. S.
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  Speaker 1: White promotion eighteen sixty five. Captain November eighteenth, eighteen sixty five. F. S.
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  Speaker 1: Goodrich Promotion October eighteen sixty five. Mustard out. E. W.
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  Speaker 1: Hyde Promotion October twenty seventh, eighteen sixty five. Mustered out.
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  Speaker 1: Henry Wood promotion November eighteen sixty five. Mustard out. Second
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenants J. A. Trowbridge, New York Volunteer Engineers, October thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, First Lieutenant, August eleventh, eighteen sixty three.
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  Speaker 1: JASS B. O'Neill, First US Artillery October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two.
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  Speaker 1: First Lieutenant January tenth, eighteen sixty three. W. W. Sampson
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  Speaker 1: eighth May October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two, First Lieutenant January tenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. J. M. Thompson seventh, New Hampshire, October thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two. First Lieutenant January twenty seventh, eighteen sixty three. R. M.
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  Speaker 1: Gaston hundreds, Pennsylvania. October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two. First Lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: April fifteenth, eighteen sixty three. W. H. Hyde sixth, Connecticut.
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  Speaker 1: October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two. First Lieutenant May fifth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty three. JASS B. West hundredth Pennsylvania, October thirteenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty two. First Lieutenant February twenty eighth, eighteen sixty three.
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  Speaker 1: Harry C. West one hundred, Pennsylvania, October thirteenth, eighteen sixty two.
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  Speaker 1: Resign November fourth, eighteen teen sixty four. E. C. Merriam,
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  Speaker 1: eighth Maine, November seventeenth, eighteen sixty two. First Lieutenant November nineteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Chas E. Parker, eighth Maine, November seventeenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, First Lieutenant August twenty sixth, eighteen sixty three. C. W. Hooper,
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  Speaker 1: New York Volunteer Engineers February seventeenth, eighteen sixty three, First
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant April fifteenth, eighteen sixty three. N. G. Parker, first
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  Speaker 1: Massachusetts Cavalry, March eighteen sixty three, First Lieutenant, May fifth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. A. H. Terrell, first Massachusetts Cavalry, March sixth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. Resigned July twenty second, eighteen sixty three. A. W.
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  Speaker 1: Jackson eighth Maine, March sixth, eighteen sixty three, First Lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: August twenty, sixth, eighteen sixty three. Henry A. Beach forty
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  Speaker 1: eighth New York April fifth, eighteen sixty three, First Lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: April thirtieth, eighteen sixty four. E. W. Robbins eighth Maine
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  Speaker 1: April fifth, eighteen sixty three, First Lieutenant April thirtieth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty four. A. B. Brown Civil Life April seventeenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty three, resigned November twenty seventh, eighteen sixty three. F. M. Gould,
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  Speaker 1: third Rhode Island Battery, January first, eighteen sixty three. Resigned
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  Speaker 1: June eighth, eighteen sixty four as a child eighth Maine,
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  Speaker 1: August seventh, eighteen sixty three. First Lieutenant September eighteen sixty five.
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  Speaker 1: Jerome T. Fordman, fifty second Pennsylvania, August thirtieth, eighteen sixty three,
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  Speaker 1: killed at Walahalla, South Carolina, August twenty sixth, eighteen sixty five.
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  Speaker 1: John W. Salvage forty eighth New York September tenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty three, First Lieutenant thirty sixth US Connecticut, March eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty five. Mirian W. Saxton, Civil Life, November nineteenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty three. Captain one hundred and twenty eighth US Connecticut,
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  Speaker 1: June twenty fifth, eighteen sixty four. Nown's second Lieutenant, thirty
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  Speaker 1: eighth U S. Infantry, Nelson S. White, December twenty second,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three, First Lieutenant September eighteen sixty five. ED. W. W. Hyde,
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  Speaker 1: Civil Life, May fourth, eighteen sixty four, First Lieutenant October
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  Speaker 1: twenty seventh, eighteen sixty five. F. S. Goodrich one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifteenth New York, May eighteen sixty four, First Lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: October eighteen sixty five. B. H. Manning August eleventh, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty four. Captain one hundred and twenty eighth U S. Connecticut,
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  Speaker 1: March seventeenth, eighteen sixty five. R. M. Davis fourth, Massachusetts,
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  Speaker 1: Cavalry November nineteenth, eighteen sixty four. Captain one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighth US Connecticut, March seventeenth, eighteen sixty five. Henry Wood,
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  Speaker 1: New York Volunteer Engineers, August eighteen sixty five, First Lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: November eighteen sixty five. John M. Segel's first New York
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  Speaker 1: Mounted Rifles June fifteenth, eighteen sixty five, mustered out Appendix
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  Speaker 1: B the first Black soldiers. It is well known that
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  Speaker 1: the first systematic attempt to organize colored troops during the
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  Speaker 1: War of the Rebellion was the so called Hunter Regiment.
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  Speaker 1: The officer originally detailed to recruit for this purpose was
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  Speaker 1: Sergeant C. T. Trowbridge of the New York Volunteer Engineers,
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Cerril. His detail was dated May seventh, eighteen sixty two,
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  Speaker 1: s eighty four. Department South. Enlistments came in very slowly,
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  Speaker 1: and no wonder the white officers and soldiers were generally
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  Speaker 1: opposed to the experiment and filled the ears of the
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  Speaker 1: negroes with the same tales which had been told them
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  Speaker 1: by their masters that the Yankees really meant to sell
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  Speaker 1: them to Cuba and the like. The Mardis threats were
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  Speaker 1: that they would be made to work without pay, which
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  Speaker 1: turned out to be the case, and that they would
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  Speaker 1: be put in the front rank in every battle. Nobody
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  Speaker 1: could assure them that they and their families would be
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  Speaker 1: freed by the government if they fought for it, since
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  Speaker 1: no such policy had been adopted. Nevertheless, they gradually enlisted,
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  Speaker 1: the most efficient recruiting officer being Sergeant William Bronson of
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  Speaker 1: Company A in my regiment, who always prided himself on
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  Speaker 1: this service and used to sign himself by the very
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  Speaker 1: original title number one African Foundations, in commemoration of his deeds.
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  Speaker 1: By patience and tact, these obstacles would in time have
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  Speaker 1: been overcome, But before long, unfortunately, some of General Hunter's
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  Speaker 1: staff became impatient and induced him to take the position
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  Speaker 1: that the Blacks must enlist. Accordingly, squads of soldiers were
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  Speaker 1: sent to caeesell all able bodied men of certain plantations
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  Speaker 1: and bring them to the camp. The immediate consequence was
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  Speaker 1: a renewal of the old suspicion, ending in a widespread
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  Speaker 1: belief that they were to be sent to Cuba as
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  Speaker 1: their masters had predicted. The ultimate result was a habit
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  Speaker 1: of distrust, discontent, and desertion. That it was almost impossible
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  Speaker 1: to surmount. All the men who knew anything about General
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  Speaker 1: Hunter believed in him, but they all knew that there
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  Speaker 1: were bad influences around him, and that the government had
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  Speaker 1: repudiated his promises. They had been kept four months in
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  Speaker 1: service and then had been dismissed without pay. That having
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  Speaker 1: been the case, why should not the government equally repudiate
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  Speaker 1: General Saxton's promises or mine. As a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 1: the government did repudiate these pledges for years, though we
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  Speaker 1: had its own written authority to give them. But that
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  Speaker 1: matter needs an appendix by itself. The Hunter Regiment remained
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  Speaker 1: in camp on hilton Head Island until the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: August eighteen sixty two, kept constantly under drill, but much
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  Speaker 1: demoralized by the desertion. It was then disbanded except one company.
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  Speaker 1: That company, under command of Sergeant Trowbridge, then acting as
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  Speaker 1: captain but not commissioned, was kept in service and was
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  Speaker 1: sent August fifth, eighteen sixty two, to garrison Saint Simon's
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  Speaker 1: Island on the coast of Georgia. On this island, made
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  Speaker 1: famous by Missus Kemble's description, there were then five hundred
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  Speaker 1: colored people and not a single white man. The black
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  Speaker 1: soldiers were sent down on the bendy Ford Captain Hallett.
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  Speaker 1: On arriving, Trowbridge was at once informed by Commodore Goldsborough,
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  Speaker 1: naval commander at that station, that there was a party
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  Speaker 1: of rebel guerrillas on the island, and was asked whether
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  Speaker 1: he would trust his soldiers in pursuit of them. Trowbridge
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  Speaker 1: gladly assented, and the commodore added, if you should capture them,
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  Speaker 1: it will be a great thing for you. They accordingly
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  Speaker 1: went on shore and found that the colored men of
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  Speaker 1: the island had already undertaken the enterprise. Twenty five of
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  Speaker 1: them had armed themselves, under command of one of their
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  Speaker 1: own number, whose name was John Brown. The second in
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  Speaker 1: command was Edward Gauld, who was afterwards a corporal in
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  Speaker 1: my own regiment. The rebel party retreated before these men
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  Speaker 1: and drew them into a swamp. There was but one path,
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  Speaker 1: and the negroes entered single file. The rebels lay behind
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  Speaker 1: a great log and fired upon them. John Brown, the leader,
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  Speaker 1: fell dead within six feet of the log, probably the
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  Speaker 1: first black man who fell under arms in the war.
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  Speaker 1: Several others were wounded, and the band of raw recruits retreated,
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  Speaker 1: as did also the rebels in the opposite direction. This
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  Speaker 1: was the first armed encounter so far as I know,
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  Speaker 1: between the rebels and their former slaves, and it is
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  Speaker 1: worth noticing that the attempt was a spontaneous thing and
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  Speaker 1: not accompanied by any white man. The men were not
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  Speaker 1: soldiers nor in uniform, though some of them afterwards enlisted
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  Speaker 1: in Trowbridge's company. The father of this John Brown was
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  Speaker 1: afterwards a soldier in my regiment, and after his discharge
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  Speaker 1: for old age, was for a time my servant. Uncle
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  Speaker 1: Yorke as we called him, was a good specimen of
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  Speaker 1: a saint as ever I met, and was quite the
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  Speaker 1: equal of Missus Stowell's uncle Tom. He was a fine
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  Speaker 1: looking old man, with dignified and courtly manners, and his
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  Speaker 1: gray head was a perfect benediction. As he sat with
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  Speaker 1: us on the platform at our Sunday meetings. He fully
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  Speaker 1: believed to his dying day that the John brownsong related
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  Speaker 1: to his son, and to him only. Trowbridge, after landing
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  Speaker 1: on the island, hunted the rebels all day with his
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: colored soldiers and a posse of sailors. In one place
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  Speaker 1: he found a creek and a canoe with a tar
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  Speaker 1: kettle and a fire burning, and it was afterwards discovered
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  Speaker 1: that at the very moment the guerrillas were hid in
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: a dense palmetto thicket near by, and so eluded pursuit.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: The rebel leader was one Miles Hazard, who had a
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  Speaker 1: plantation on the island, and the party escaped at last
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: through the aid of his old slave Henry, who found
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  Speaker 1: them a boat. One of my sergeants, Clarence Kennan, who
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  Speaker 1: had not then escaped from slavery, was present when they
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: reached the mainland, and he described them as being tattered
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: and dirty from head to foot, and there are efforts
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: to escape their pursuers. When the troops under my command
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: occupied Jacksonville, Florida, in March of the following year, we
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  Speaker 1: found at the railroad station, packed for departure, a box
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  Speaker 1: of papers, some of them valuable. Among them was a
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  Speaker 1: letter from this very Hazard to some friend, describing the
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  Speaker 1: perils of that adventure, and saying, if you wish to
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  Speaker 1: know hell before your time, go to Saint Simon's and
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: be hunted ten days by niggers. I have heard Trowbridge
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  Speaker 1: say that not one of his men flinched, and they
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  Speaker 1: seemed to take delight in the pursuit, though the weather
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: was very hot and it was fearfully exhausting. This was
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: early in August, and the company remained two months at
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  Speaker 1: Saint Simon's doing picket duty within hearing of the rebel drums,
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  Speaker 1: though not another scout ever ventured on the island to
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  Speaker 1: their knowledge. Every Saturday Trowbridge summoned the island people to
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  Speaker 1: drill with his soldiers, and they came in hordes, men,
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  Speaker 1: women and children in every imaginable garb, to the number
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  Speaker 1: of one hundred and fifty or two hundred. His own
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  Speaker 1: men were poorly clothed and hardly shod at all, and
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  Speaker 1: as no new supply of uniform was provided, they grew
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  Speaker 1: more and more ragged. They got poor rations and no pay,
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  Speaker 1: but they kept up their spirits. Every week or so,
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  Speaker 1: some of them would go on scouting excursions to the mainland.
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  Speaker 1: One scout used to go regularly to his old mother's
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: hut and keep himself hid under her bed while she
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: collected for him all the latest news of rebel movements.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: This man never came back without bringing recruits with him.
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  Speaker 1: At last, the news came that Major General Mitchell had
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: come to relieve General Hunter, and that Brigadier General Saxton
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  Speaker 1: had gone north, and Trowbridge went to hilton Head in
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: some anxiety to see if he and his men were
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  Speaker 1: utterly forgotten. He prepared a report showing the services and
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  Speaker 1: claims of his men and took it with him. This
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  Speaker 1: was early in October eighteen sixty two. The first person
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  Speaker 1: he met was Brigadier General Saxton, who informed him that
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  Speaker 1: he had authority to organize five thousand Colored troops and
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  Speaker 1: that he Trowbridge, should be senior captain of the first Regiment.
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  Speaker 1: This was accordingly done, and Company A of the First
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  Speaker 1: South Carolina could honestly claim to date its enlistment back
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  Speaker 1: to May eighteen sixty two, although they never got pay
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  Speaker 1: for that period of their service, and their date of
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  Speaker 1: muster is November eighteen sixty two. The above facts were
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: written down from the narration of Lieutenant Colonel Trowbridge, who
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: may justly claim to have been the first white officer
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: to recruit and command Colored troops in this war. He
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: was constantly in command of them from May ninth, eighteen
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: sixty two to February ninth, eighteen sixty six. Except the
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Louisiana soldiers mentioned in the introduction of whom no detailed
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: reports have I think been published. My regiment was unquestionably
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the first mustered into the service of the United States,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the first company mustered bearing date November seventh, eighteen sixty two,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: and the others following in quick succession. The second regiment
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: in order of muster was the First Kansas Colored, dating
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: from January thirteenth, eighteen sixty three. The first enlistment in
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: the Kansas Regiment goes back to August sixth, eighteen sixty two,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: while the earliest technical date of enlistment in my regiment
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: was October nineteenth, eighteen sixty two. Although as was stated above,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: one company really dated its organization back to May eighteen
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: sixty two, My muster as colonel dates back to November tenth,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, several months earlier than that of any
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: other of which I am aware, among colored regiments except
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: that of Colonel Stafford, first Louisiana Native Guards September twenty seventh,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two. Colonel Williams of the First Kansas Colored
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: was mustard as lieutenant colonel on January thirteenth, eighteen sixty three.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: As Colonel March eighth, eighteen sixty three. These dates I
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: have with the other facts relating to the regiment from
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Colonel R. J. Hinton, the first officer detailed to recruit it.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: To sum up the above facts, my late regiment had
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: unquestioned priority in the muster over all, but the Louisiana regiments.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: It had priority over those in the actual organization and
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: term of service of one company. On the other hand,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: the Kansas Regiment had the priority in average date of enlistment.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: According to the muster rolls, the first detachment of the
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: second South Carolina Volunteers, Colonel Montgomery, went into camp at
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Port Royal Island February twenty third, eighteen sixty three, numbering
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty men. I do not know the
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: date of this muster. It was somewhat delayed, but was
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: probably dated back to about that time. Recruiting for the
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: fifty fourth Massachusetts Coloured began on February ninth, eighteen sixty three,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: and the first squad were and in the camp Redville, Massachusetts,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: on February twenty first, eighteen sixty three, numbering twenty five men.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Colonel Shaw's commission and probably his muster, was dated April seventeenth,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three Report of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: for eighteen sixty three, Page eight nine six to eight
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: nine nine. These were the earliest coloured regiments so far
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: as I know. Appendix C. General Saxton's instructions. The following
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: of the instructions under which my regiment was raised, he
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: will be seen how unequivocal were the provisions in respect
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: to pay, upon which so long and weary a contest
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: was waged by our friends in Congress before fulfillment of
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: the contract could be secured. War Department, Washington City, d c.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: August twenty fifth, eighteen sixty two. General, your dispatch of
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the sixteenth has this moment been received. It is considered
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: by the Department that the u s instructions given at
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the time of your appointment was sufficient to enable you
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: to do what you have now requested authority for doing.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: But in order to place your authority beyond all doubt,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: you are hereby authorized and instructed first to organize in
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: any convenient organization by squads, companies, battalions, regiments and brigades,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: or otherwise colored persons of African descent, for volunteer labours
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: to a number not exceeding fifty thousand, and muster them
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: into the service of the United States for the term
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: of the war at a rate of compensation not exceeding
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: five dollars per month for common laborers and eight dollars
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: per month for mechanical or skilled laborers, and assign them
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: to the Quartermaster's Department to do and perform such labour's
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: duty as may be required during the present war, and
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: to be subject to the rules and articles of war. Second,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the laboring forces here in authorized, shall, under the order
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: of the General in Chief or of this Department, be
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: detailed by the Quartermaster General for laboring service with the
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Armies of the United States, And they shall be clothed
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: and subsisted after enrollment in the same manner as any
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: other person in the Quartermaster's service. Third, in view of
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the small force under your command and the inability of
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the Government at the present time to increase it, in
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: order to guard the plantations and settlements occupied by the
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: United States from invasion and protect the inhabitants thereof from
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: captivity under murder by the enemy, you are also authorized
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: to arm, uniform equip and receive into the service of
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: the United States such number of volunteers of African descent
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: as you may deem expedient not exceeding five thousand, and
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: may detail officers to instruct them in military drill, discipline,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: and duty, and to command them. The persons so received
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: into the service, and their officers to be entitled to
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: and receive the same pay and rations as are allowed
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: by law to volunteers in the service. Fourth, you will occupy,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: if possible, all the islands and plantations heretofore occupied by
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the government, and secure and harvest the crops, and cultivate
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: and improve the plantations. Fifth, the population of African descent
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: that cultivate the lands and perform the labour of the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: rebels constitute a large share of their military strength and
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: enable the White masters to fill the rebel armies and
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: wage a cruel and murderous war against the people of
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: the Northern States. By reducing the labouring strength of the rebels,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: their military power will be reduced. You are therefore authorized,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: by every means in your power, to withdraw from the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: enemy their labouring force and population, and to spare no
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: effort consistence with civilized warfare, to weaken, harass, and annoy them,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: and to establish the authority of the Government of the
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: United States. Within your department. Six, you may turn over
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: to the Navy any number of Coloured volunteers that may
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: be required for the naval service. Seven. By recent Act
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: of Congress, all men and boys rest into the service
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: of the United States who may have been the slaves
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: of rebel masters, are with their wives, mothers, and children
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: declared to be forever free. You and all in your command,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: will so treat and regard them Yours truly, Edwin M. Stanton,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Secretary of War, Brigadier General Saxton, Appendix D. The Struggle
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: for pay. The story of the attempt to cut down
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: the pay of the Colored troops is too long, too complicated,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: and too humiliating to be here narrated. In the case
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: of my regiment, there stood on record the direct pledge
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: of the War Department to General Saxton that their pay
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: should be the same as that of the whites. So
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: clear was this that our kind paymaster, Major W. J.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Wood of the New Jersey took upon himself the responsibility
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: of paying the price agreed upon for five months till
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: he was compelled by express orders to reduce it from
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: thirteen dollars per month to ten dollars, and from that
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: to seven dollars the pay quartermaster's men and day labourers.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: At the same time, the stoppages from the pay rolls
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: for the loss of all equipments and articles of clothing
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: remained the same as for all other soldiers, so that
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: it placed the men in the most painful and humiliating condition.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Many of them had families to provide for. Between the
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: actraw distress, the sense of wrong, the taunts of those
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: who had refused to enlist, from the fear of being cheated,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: and the doubt how much further the cheat might be carried,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: the poor fellows were goaded to the utmost. In the
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: third South Carolina Regiment, Sergeant William Walker was shot by
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: order of court martial for leading his company to stack
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: arms before their captain's tent on the avowed ground that
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: they were released from duty by the refusal of the
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: government to fulfill its share of the contract. The fear
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: of such tragedies spread a cloud of solicitude over every
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: camp of colored soldiers for more than a year, and
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: the following series of letters will show through what wearisome labours.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: The final all triumph of justice was secured in these labors,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: the chief credit must be given to my admirable Adjutant,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant G. W. Dewhurst. In the matter of bounty, justice
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: is not yet obtained. There is a discrimination against those
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: colored soldiers who were slaves on April nineteenth, eighteen sixty one.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Every officer who, through indolence or benevolent design, claimed on
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: his muster rolls that all his men had been free
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: on that day, secured for them the bounty. While every officer, who,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: like myself, obeyed orders and told the truth in each case,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: saw his men and their families suffer for it, as
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: I have done. A bill to abolish this distinction was
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: introduced by mister Wilson at the last session, but failed
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to pass the House. It is hoped that next winter
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: may remove this last vestige of the weary contest. To
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: show how persistently and for how long a period these
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: claims had to be urged on Congress, I reprint such
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: of my own printed letters on the subject as are
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: now in my possession. There are one or two of
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: which I have no copies. It was especially in the
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Senate that it was so difficult to get justice done,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: and our thanks will always be a special to Honorable
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Charles Sumner and Honorable Henry Wilson for their advocacy of
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: our simple rights. The records of those sessions will show
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: who advocated the fraud. To the editor of the New
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: York Tribune, Sir, no one can overstate the intense anxiety
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: with which the officers of colored regiments in this Department
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: are awaiting action from Congress in regard to arrears of
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: pay of their men. It is not a matter of
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: dollars and cents only. It is a question of common
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: honesty whether the United States Government has sufficient integrity for
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: the fulfillment of an explicit business contract. The public seems
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: to suppose that all required justice will be done by
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the passage of a bill equalizing the pay of all
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: soldiers for the future. But so far as my own
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: regiment is concerned, this is but half the question. My
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: men have been nearly sixteen months in the service, and
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: for them the immediate issue is the question of arrears.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: They understand the matter thoroughly, if the public do not.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Every one of them knows that he volunteered under an
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: explicit written assurance from the War Department that he should
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: have the pay of a white soldier. He knows that
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: for five months the regiment received that pay, after which
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: it was cut down from the promised thirteen dollars per
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: month to ten dollars for some reason to him inscrutable.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: He does not know, for I have not yet dared
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: to tell the men that the pay master has been
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: already reproved by the Pay Department for fulfilling even in
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: part the pledges of the War Department, that at the
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: next payment the ten dollars are to be further reduced
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: to seven, and that to crown the whole all the
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: previous overpay is to be again deducted or stopped from
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: the future wages, thus leaving them little more than a
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: dollar a month for six months to come, unless Congress interfere. Yet,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: so clear were the terms of the contract that mister
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Solicitor Whiting, having examined the original instructions from the War
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Department issued to Brigadier General Saxton Military Governor, admits to
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: me under date of December fourth, eighteen sixty three, that
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: the faith of the government was thereby pledged to every
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: officer and soldier enlisted under that call. He goes on
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: to express the generous confidence that the pledge will be
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: honorably fulfilled. I observe that every one at the north
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: seems to feel the same confidence, but that meanwhile the
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: pledge is unfulfilled. Nothing is said in Congress about fulfilling it.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: I have not seen even a proposition in Congress to
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: pay the colored soldiers from the date of enlistment that
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: same pay with white soldiers, And yet anything short of
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: that is an unequivocal breach of the contract so far
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: as this regiment is concerned. Meanwhile, the land sales are beginning,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: and there is danger of every foot of land being
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: sold from beneath my soldier's feet, because they have not
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: the petty sum which government first promised and then refused
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: to pay. The officer's pay comes promptly and fully enough.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: But this makes a position more embarrassing. For how are
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: we to explain to the men the mystery that government
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: can afford us one hundred or two dollars a month
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: and yet must keep back six of their poor thirteen
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: which was promised them. Does it not naturally suggest the
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: most cruel suspicions in regard to us. And yet nothing
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: but their childlike faith in their officers and in that
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: incarsonate's soul of honor. General Saxton has sustained their faith
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: or kept them patient. Thus far. There is nothing mean
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: or mercenary about these men in general. Convince them that
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: the government actually needs their money, and they would serve
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: it barefooted and on half rations, and without a dollar
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: for a time. But unfortunately they see white soldiers beside them,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: whom they know to be in no way their superiors
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: for any military service, receiving hundreds of dollars for re
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: enlisting for this impoverished government which can only pay seven
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: dollars out of thirteen to its black regiments. And they see,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: on the other hand, those colored men who refuse to
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: volunteer as soldiers, and who have found more honest paymasters
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: than the United States government, now exulting in well filled pockets,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: unable to buy the little homesteads the soldiers need, and
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: to turn the soldier's families into the streets. Is this
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: a school for self sacrificing patriotism? I should not thus
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: speak urgently were it not becoming manifest that there is
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: to be no promptness of action in Congress, even as
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: regards the future pay of colored soldiers, and that there
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: is a special danger of the whole matter of arrears
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: going by default. Should it be so, it will be
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: a repudiation more ungenerous than any which Jefferson Davis advocated
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: or Sidney Smith denounced. It will sully with dishonor or
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the nobleness of this opening page of history, and fix
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: upon the North a brand of meanness worse than either
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: Southerner or Englishman as yet dared to impute. The mere
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: delay in the fulfillment of this contract has already inflicted
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: untold suffering, has impaired discipline, has relaxed loyalty, and has
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: begun to implant a feeling of sullen distrust in the
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: very regiment whose early careers solved the problem of the nation,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: created a new army, and made a peaceful emancipation possible. T. W. Higginson,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Colonel commanding, First South Carolina Volunteers, Beaufort, s C. January
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: twenty second, eighteen sixty four, Headquarters, First South Carolina Volunteers, Beaufort,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: s C. Sunday, February fourteenth, eighteen sixty four. To the
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: editor of the New York Times, May I venture to
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: call your attention to the great and cruel injustice which
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: is impending over the brave men of this regiment. They
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: have been in military service for over a year, having
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: volunteered every man without a cent of bounty, on the
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: written pledge of the War Department that they should receive
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: the same pay and rations with white soldiers. This pledge
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: is contained in the written instructions of Brigadier General Saxton,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Military Governor, dated August twenty fifth, eighteen sixty two. Mister
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Solicitor Whiting, having examined these instructions, admits to me that
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: the faith of the government was thereby pledged to every
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: officer and soldier under that call. Surely, if this fact
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: were understood, every man in the nation would see that
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: the government is degraded by using for a year the
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: services of the brave soldiers and then repudiating the contract
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: under which they enlisted. This is what will be done
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: should mister Wilson's bill legalizing the back pay of the
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: army be defeated. We presume too much on the supposed
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: ignorance of these men. I have never yet found a
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: man in my regiment so stupid as to not know
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: when he was cheated. If fraud proceeds from the government
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: itself so much the worse, for this strikes at the
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: foundation of all rectitude, all honor, all obligation. Mister Senator
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: Fessenden said in the debate on mister Wilson's bill January fourth,
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: that the government was not bound by the unauthorized promises
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: of irresponsible recruiting officers. But is the government itself an
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: irresponsible recruiting officer? And if men have volunteered in good
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: faith on the ris assurances of the Secretary of War,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: is not Congress bound in all decency either to fulfill
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: those plagues or to disband the regiments. Mister Senator Doolittle
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: argued in the same debate that white soldiers should receive
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: higher pay than black ones because the families of the
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: latter were often supported by government. What an astounding statement
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: of fact is this? In the white regiments in which
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: I was formerly an officer, the Massachusetts fifty first nine
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: tenths of the soldier's families, in addition to the pay
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: and bounties, drew regularly their state aid. Among my black soldiers,
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: with half pay and not a bounty, not a family
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: receives any aid. Is there to be no limit, no
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: end to the injustice we heap upon this unfortunate people.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Cannot even the fact of their being in arms, for
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: the nation, liable to die any day in its defense
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: secure them. Ordinary justice is the nation so poor and
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: so utterly demoralized by its pauperism, that after it has
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: had the lives of these men, it must turn round
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: to filch six dollars of the monthly pay which the
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: Secretary of War promised to their widows. It is even so,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: if the excuses of mister Fressendon and mister Doolittle are
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: to be accepted by Congress and by the people, very respectively.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Your obedient Servant, T. W. Higginson, Colonel commanding First s C. Volunteers,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: New Victories and old wrongs to the editors of the
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Evening Post. On the second of July, at James Island,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: South Carolina, a battery was taken by three regiments under
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: the following circumstances. The regiments were the one hundred and
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: third New York White, the fifty third United States formerly
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: South Carolina Volunteers, and the fifty fifth Massachusetts, the two
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: last being colored. They marched as one a m by
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: the flank in the above order, hoping to surprise the battery.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: As usual, the rebels were prepared for them and opened
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: upon them as they were deep in one of those
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: almost impassable southern marshes. The one hundred third New York,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: which had previously been in twenty battles, was thrown into confusion.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: The thirty third United States did better, being behind, the
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: fifty fifth Massachusetts, being in the rear, did better still.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: All three formed in line. When Colonel Hartwell, commanding the brigade,
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: gave the order to retreat. The officer commanding the fifty
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: fifth Massachusetts, either misunderstanding the order or hearing it, countermanded
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: ordered his regiment to charge. This order was at once
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: repeated by Major Trowbridge, commanding the thirty third United States,
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: and by the commander of the one hundred and third
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: New York, so that the three regiments reached the fort
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: in reversed order. The color bearers of the thirty third
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: United States and of the fifty fifth Massachusetts had a
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: race to be the first in the latter, winning The
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: one hundred and third New York entered the battery immediately after.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: These colored regiments are two of the five which were
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: enlisted in South Carolina and Massachusetts, under the written pledge
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: of the War Department that they should have the same
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: pay and allowances as white soldiers. Pledge has been deliberately
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: broken by the War Department, or by Congress, or by both,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: except as to the short periods since New Year's Day,
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: every one of those killed in action from these two
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: colored regiments, under a fire before which the veterans of
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: twenty battles recoiled, died defrauded by the government of nearly
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: one half his petty pay. Mister Fessendon, who defeated in
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: the Senate the bill for the fulfillment of the contract
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: with these soldiers, is now Secretary of the Treasury. Was
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: the economy of saving six dollars per man worth to
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: the treasury the ignomy of the repudiation. Mister Stephens of Pennsylvania,
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: on his triumphal return to his constituents, used to them
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: this language. He had no doubt whatever as to the
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: final result of the present contest between liberty and slavery.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: The only doubt he had was whether the nation had
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: yet been satisfactorily chastised for their cruel oppression of a
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: harmless and long suffering race. Insomuch as it was mister
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: Stevens himself who induced the House of Representatives, most unexpectedly
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: to all, to defeat the sale bill for the fulfillment
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: of the national contract with these soldiers. I should think
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: he had excellent reasons for the doubt. Very respectfully, T. W. Higginson, Colonel,
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: first South Carolina Volunteers, now thirty third u S. July tenth,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four, to the Editor of the New York Tribune.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: No one can possibly be so weary of reading of
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: the wrongs done by the government towards the Colored soldiers
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: as am I of writing about them. This is my
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: only excuse for intruding upon your columns. Again. By an
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: Order of the War Department, dated first August eighteen sixty four,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: it is at length ruled that colored soldiers shall be
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: paid the full pay of soldiers from date of enlistment,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: provided they were free on April nineteenth, eighteen sixty one,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: not otherwise, and this distinction is to be noted on
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: the pay rolls. In other words, if one half of
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: a company escaped from slavery on April eighteenth, eighteen sixty one,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: they are to be paid thirteen dollars per month and
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: allowed three dollars and half per month for clothing. If
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: the other half were delayed two days, they received seven
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: dollars per month, and are allowed three dollars per month
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: for precisely the same articles of clothing. If one of
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: the former classes made for a sergeant, us pay is
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: put up to twenty one dollars per month, but if
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: he escaped two days later, his pay is estimated at
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: seven dollars. It had not occurred to me that anything
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: could make the pay rolls of these regiments more complicated
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: than at present, or the men more rationally discontented. I
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: had not the ingenuity to imagine such an order. Yet
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: it is, no doubt in accordance with the spirit, if
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: not with the letter, of the final Bill, which was
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: adopted by Congress under the lead of mister Taddeus Stephens.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: The ground taken by mister Stevens apparently was that the
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: country might honorably save a few dollars by docking the
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: promised pay of these colored soldiers, whom the war had
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: made free. But the government should have thought this through
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: before it made a contract with these men and received
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: their services. When the War or Department instructed Brigadier General
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: saxon August twenty fifth, eighteen sixty two, to raise five
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: regiments of Negroes in South Carolina. It was known very
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: well that the men so enlisted had only recently gained
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: their freedom. But the instruction said the person so received
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: into service, and their officers to be entitled to and
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: receive the same pay in rations as those are allowed
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: by law to volunteers in the service of this passage,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: mister Solicitor Whiting wrote to me, I have no hesitation
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: in saying that the faith of the government was thereby
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: pledged to every officer and soldier enlisted under that call.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: Where is that faith of the government now? The men
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: who enlisted under the pledge were volunteers, every one. They
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: did not get their freedom by enlisting. They had it
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: all ready. They enlisted to serve the government, trusting to
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: its honor. Now the nation turns upon them and says,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: your part of the contract is fulfilled. We have had
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: your services. If you can show that you had previously
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: been free for a certain length of time, we will
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: fulfill the use the other side of the contract. If not,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: we repudiate it. Help yourselves if you can, In other words,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: a freedman since April nineteen eighty sixty one has no
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: rights which a white man is bound to respect. He
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: is incapable of making a contract. No man is bound
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: by contract made with him. Any employer, following the example
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: of the United States Government, may make with him a
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: written agreement, receive his services, and then withhold the wages.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: He has no motive to honest industry, or to honesty
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: of any kind. He is virtually a slave and nothing
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: else to the end of time. Under this order, the
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: greater part of the Massachusetts Colored Regiments will get their
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: pay at last, and be able to take their wives
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: and children out of the almshouses, to which, as Governor
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: Andrew informs us, the gracious charity of the nation has
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: consigned so many for so much. I am grateful, but
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: towards my regiment, which has been in service and under
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: fire months before a Northern Colored soldier was recruited. The
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: policy of repudiation has at last been officially adopted. There
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: is no alternative to the officers of South Carolina regiments
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: but to wait for another session of Congress, and meanwhile,
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: if necessary, act as executioners for those soldiers who, like
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Walker refuse to fulfill their share of a contract
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: where the government has openly repudiated the other share. If
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: a year's discussion, however, has at length secured the arrears
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: of pay for the Northern Colored Regiments, possibly two years
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: may secure it for the Southern T. W. Higginson, Colonel,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: first South Carolina Volunteers, now thirty third US, August twelfth,
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. To the editor of the New York Tribune, Sir,
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: an impression seems to prevail in newspapers that their lately
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: published opinion of Attorney General Bates, dated in July last,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: at length secures justice to the Colored soldiers in respect
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: to whose arrears of pay. This impression is a mistake.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: That opinion does indeed show that there was never any
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: excuse for reals refusing them justice, but it does not
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: of itself secure justice to them. It logically covers the
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: whole ground, and was doubtless intended to do so. But
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: technically it can only apply to those soldiers who were
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: free at the commencement of the war, for it was
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: only about these that the Attorney General was officially consulted.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: Under this decision, the Northern Colored Regiments have already got
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: their arrears of pay, and those few members of the
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Southern regiments who were free on April nineteenth, eighteen sixty one.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: But in the South Carolina regiments, this only increases the
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: dissatisfaction among the remainder who volunteered under the same pledge
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: of full pay from the War Department, and who do
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: not see how the question of their status at some
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: antecedent period can effect an express contract. If in eighteen
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: sixty two they were free enough to make a bargain with,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: they were certainly free enough to claim its fulfillment. The
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: unfortunate decision of mister Solicitor Whiting under which all our
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: troubles are is indeed superseded by the reasoning of the
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Attorney General. But unhappily, this does not remedy the evil
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: which is already embodied in an Act of Congress making
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: the distinction between those who were and those who were
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: not free on April nineteenth, eighteen sixty one. The question
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: is whether those who were not free at the breaking
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: out of the war are still to be defrauded after
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: the Attorney General has shown that there is no excuse
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: for defrauding them. I call it defrauding, because it is
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: not a question of abstract justice, but of the fulfillment
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: of an express contract. I have never met with a man,
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: whatever might be his opinions as to the enlistment of
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: colored soldiers, who did not admit that if they had
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: volunteered under the direct pledge of full pay from the
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: War Department, they were entitled to every cent of it.
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: That these South Carolina regiments had such direct pledge is undoubted,
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: for it still exists in writing signed by the Secretary
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: of War and has never been disputed. It is therefore
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: the plain duty of common Ingress to repeal the law
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: which discriminates between different classes of coloured soldiers, or at
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: least to so modify it as to secure the fulfillment
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: of the actual contracts. Until this is done, the nation
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: is still disgraced. The few thousand dollars in question are
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: nothing compared with the absolute wrong done and the discredit
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: it has brought, both here and in Europe. Upon the
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: national name, T. W. Higginson, Late Colonel, first South Carolina Volunteers,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: now thirty third U S. Newport, Rhode Island, December eighth,
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four. Petition to the Honorable Senate and House
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled the undersign,
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: respectfully petitions for the repeal of so much of Section
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: four of the Act of Congress Making Appropriations for the Army,
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: and approved July fourth, eighteen sixty four, as makes a
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: distinction in respect to pay due between those Coloured soldiers
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: who were free on or before April nineteenth, eighteen sixty one,
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: and those who were not free until a later date,
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: or at least that there may be such legislation as
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: to secure the fulfillment of the pledges of full pay
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: from a date of enlistment made by direct authority of
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: the War Department to the Colored Soldiers of South Carolina,
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: on the faith of which pledges they enlisted. Thomas went
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: with Higginson, late Colonel, first South Carolina Volunteers, now thirty
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: third U S. Newport, Rhode Island, December ninth, eighteen sixty four.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: Appendix E. Farewell Address of Lieutenant Colonel Troutbridge, Headquarters, thirty
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: third United States Colored Troops, Late first South Carolina Volunteers,
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: Morris Island, South Carolina, February ninth, eighteen sixty six. General
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: Orders Number one Comrades the Hour is at hand when
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: we must separate forever, and nothing can take from us
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: the pride we feel when we look back upon the
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: history of the first South Carolina Volunteers, the first black
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: regiment that ever bore arms in defense of freedom on
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: the continent of America, on the ninth day of May
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, at which time there was nearly four
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: millions of your race in bondage, sanctioned by the laws
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: of the land and protected by our flag. On that day,
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: in the face of floods of prejudice that well nigh
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: deluged every avenue to manhood and true liberty, you came
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: forth to do battle for your country and your kindred
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: For long and weary months, without pay or even privilege
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: of being recognized as soldiers, you labored on only to
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: be disbanded and sent to your homes without even a
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: hope of reward. And when our country, necessitated by the
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: deadly struggle with armed traitors, finally granted you with opportunity
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: again to come forth in defense of the nation's life,
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: the aclarity with which you responded to the calls gave
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: abundant evidence of your readiness to strike a manly blow
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: for the liberty of your race. And from that little
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: band of hopeful, trusting, and brave men who gathered at
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: Camp Saxton on Port Royal Island in the of eighteen
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: sixty two, amidst the terrible prejudices that then surrounded us,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: has grown an army of one hundred and forty thousand
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: black soldiers, whose valor and heroism has won your race
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: a name which will live as long as the undying
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: pages of history shall endure, and by whose efforts, united
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: with those of the white man, armed rebellion has been conquered.
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: The millions of bondmen have been emancipated, and the fundamental
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: law of the land has been so altered as to
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: remove forever the possibility of human slavery being re established
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: within the borders of Redeemed America. The flag of our fathers,
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: restored to its rightful significance, now floats over every foot
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: of our territory from Maine to California, and beholds only
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: free men. The prejudices which formerly existed against you are
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: well nigh rooted out. Soldiers. You have done your duty
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: and acquitted yourselves like men who actuated by such ennobling
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: motives could not fail, and as the result of your
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: fidelity and obedience, you have won your freedom, And oh
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: how great the reward. It seems fitting to me that
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: the last hours of our existence as a regiment should
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: be passed amidst the unmarked graves of your comrades. At
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: Fort Wagner. Near you rest the bones of Colonel Shaw,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: buried by an enemy's hand, in the same grave with
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: his black soldiers who fell at his side, where in
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: future your children and children's children will come on pilgrimages
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: to do homage that the ashes of those who fell
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: in this glorious struggle. The flag which was presented to
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: us by Reverend George B. Sheaver and his congregation of
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: New York City on the first of January eighteen sixty three,
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: the day when Lincoln's immortal proclamation of freedom was given
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: to the world, and which you have borne so nobly
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: through the war, is now to be rolled up forever
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: and deposited in our nation's capital. And while there it
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: shall rest, with the battles in which you have participated
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: inscribed upon its folds. It will be a source of
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: pride to us all to remember that it has never
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: been disgraced by cowardly faltering in the hour of danger,
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: or polluted by a traitor's touch. Now that you are
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: to lay aside your arms and return to the peaceful
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: advocations of life, I abdure you, by the associations and
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: history of the past, and the love you bear for
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: your liberties, to harbor no feelings of hatred towards your
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: former masters, but to seek in the paths of honesty, virtue, sobriety,
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: and industry, and by willing obedience to the laws of
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: the land, to grow up to the full stature of
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: American citizens. The Church, the schoolhouse, and the right forever
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: to be free are now secured to you, and every
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: prospect before you is full of hope and encouragement. The
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: nation guarantees to you full protection and justice, and will
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: require from you in every return the respect for the
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: laws and orderly deportment, which will prove to every one
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: your right to have all the privileges of free men.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: To the offices of your regiment, I would say, your
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: toils are ended, your mission is fulfilled, and we separate
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: for ever the fidelity, patience, and patriotism with which you
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: have discharged your duties to your men and to your
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: country entitle you to a far higher tribute than any
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: words of thankfulness which I can give you from the
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: bottom of my heart. You will find your reward in
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: the proud conviction that the cause for which you have
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: battled so nobly has been crowned with abundant success. Officers
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: and soldiers of the thirty third United States Colored Troops,
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: once the first South Carolina Volunteers, I bid you all
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: farewell by order of Lieutenant Colonel C. T. Trowbridge, Commanding Regiment, E. W. Hyde,
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant and Acting Adjutant. End of appendix. Recording by f
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: n H Visit w w W dot book Ranger, dot co,
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: dot u K