Bullet’n Backstory

Volume 9, Issue 2

Joint Munitions Command February 2021

Our Union, Too: African-American Regiments in the Civil War and Beyond During the Civil War, the Union estab- lished and maintained regiments of black soldiers. This became possible in 1862 through passage of the Confiscation Act (freeing the slaves of rebellious slavehold- ers) and Militia Act (authorizing the presi- dent to use former slaves as soldiers). President Lincoln was initially reluctant to recruit black soldiers. This changed in January 1863, with the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring freedom for all slaves in Confederate states. The first black regiments to serve in the Civil War were volunteer units made up of free black men. These included the 1st North Caroli- na Colored Volunteers, 5th Massachusetts (Cavalry), 54th Massachusetts (Infantry), 55th Massachusetts (Infantry), 29th Con- necticut (Infantry), 30th Connecticut (Infantry), and 31st Infantry Regiment. In May 1863, the War Department estab- lished the Bureau of Colored Troops for the purpose of recruiting African-American USCT Recruitment Poster soldiers. These became the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and existing volunteer units were converted into USCT regiments. New regiments were also formed from every Union state. While mostly made up of African-American sol- diers, other minorities served in these regiments as well, including Native Americans and Asians, while white Union officers served as commanders. USCT regiments participated in all aspects of the Union war effort as infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers, though they were often used as rear action garrison troops. The first military action involving a black regiment was the Battle of Island Mound (Missouri), at which the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers were instrumental in ensuring a Union victory. USCT regiments also served heroically at the Battle of the Crater (Virginia), the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm (Virginia), the Battle of Fort Wagner (South Carolina), and the Battle of Nashville (Tennessee). They were also among soldiers at the fall of Richmond (Virginia) and were present when the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered at Ap- pomattox. By the end of the Civil War, there were 175 USCT regiments, containing 178,000 soldiers, ap- proximately 10% of the Union Army. The mortality rate for these units was exceeding high. One of every five black soldiers in the conflict died, a 35% higher rate than other troops. In the process, sixteen USCT sol- diers earned the Medal of Honor for their Civil War service. After the war, Congress reorganized the U.S. Army into ten cavalry regiments and forty-five infantry regiments. These included two regiments of black cavalry (the 9th and 10th) formed at Fort Leavenworth, and four regiments of black infantry (the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st), formed at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Fort Clark, Texas. When the Army pared back to twenty-five regi- ments of infantry in 1869, the four black infantry regi- ments were consolidated into two (the 24th and 25th). These regiments, which came to be known as “Buffalo Soldiers,” were posted in the West and Southwest, mainly to quell disturbances between set- tlers and Native Ameri- cans. Though the origin of the name “Buffalo Soldiers” is in dispute, most sources agree that Native Ameri- cans (either Comanche, Apache, or Cheyenne) were the first to use the term to identify their black opponents. Eventually, the term was used to refer to Storming Fort Wagner all black soldiers. ~~ PTF

The JMC Archivist has been given exclusive access to the personal letters and records of Caleb Vol. 9 Brinton Cox, a Union soldier and abolitionist from Vermont, Illinois. For the next year, the Bullet’n Iss. 1 Backstory will trace Cox’s Civil War service. Pg. 2 An Abolitionist at War, Part 7: The Road to Chattanooga (June-September 1863) On June 24, 1863, Capt. Caleb B. Cox and the 84th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment moved from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with the rest of the Army of the Cumberland, in pursuit of Gen. Braxton Bragg’s forces at Tullahoma. Three days later, the Union cavalry took Manchester without a fight, allowing the regi- ment to march through town on the 29th. After a few days in camp near Manchester, the Army moved south to pursue Bragg, who, Cox reported to his wife on June 30th, had apparently evacuated Tullahoma. The Army made it as far as the Elk River, where they were stopped by flood waters. Here, Cox expressed his distain for Confederate soldiers when he wrote, “The rebels have shown no disposition to fight.” Bragg’s army was not their only enemy, according to the men of the 84th. Anti-Lincoln sentiment back home had swept Peace Democrats (“Copperheads”) into office, controlling the state legislature and declar- ing support for a negotiated peace. By the first week of July, the Illinois soldiers had received word of this policy shift and responded with rage. Cox pulled no punches in a letter to his wife, “I predict that the next sixty days will find the rebellion completely crushed. In that event woe be unto Copperheads. They will be the most despised, and God-forsaken set of men, that the world ever saw. There is nothing I loathe more than a Northern Copperhead. If my own brother was a Copperhead, I would never speak to him for as long as I live. All the cursing we [soldiers] do, is spent on that class of Hell-deserving wretches. Too cowardly to fight on either side, they stay at home to insult the bravest of soldiers, and give what little influence they have to aid the rebellion.” That same week brought a rare cause for celebration when word reached camp of the Union victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg. As Cox wrote, “The rebels have lost in the last two months, in killed, wounded and prisoners, 130,000 soldiers, and they cannot replace them.” The Army of the Cumberland felt that the war was going their way, and that the next major success would be theirs. To that end, the Army returned to Manchester to prepare for an advance on the critical Confederate city of Chattanooga. Cox had more to celebrate during this journey. Lt. Col. Thomas Hamer, suffering from an injury at Stones River, resigned his commission in July and was replaced by Maj. Charles Morton. This left an opening for Regimental Major. The officers voted and, on the ninth ballot, elected Cox for promotion, though he was the youngest captain in the regiment. On August 16th, the Army moved slowly over the mountains to the Tennessee River in three columns. The 18th Indiana Light Artillery shelled Chattanooga for two weeks while the Army crossed the river on rafts. The 84th climbed Lookout Mountain without casu- alties on September 9th, then descended two thousand feet to find the town abandoned. With victory secured, the overconfi- dent Army moved on to face a near disaster at Chickamauga. (To be continued.) ~~ PTF

This Month in Military History February 7, 1783: After three and a half years, peace talks bring an end to the unsuccessful siege of British-held Gibraltar conducted by Spain and France. February 14, 1945: Forty B-17 bombers get lost on their way to Dresden and accidently drop 152 tons of bombs on Prague, result- ing in 1,885 casualties. February 21, 1613: Michael Ro- manov, son of the Patriarch of Moscow, is elected Tsar, founding the Romanov Dynasty, which will JMC Historical Document Collection rule Russia until the fall of Tsar The JMC Public and Congressional Affairs Office (PCA) maintains Nicholas II in 1917. the JMC Archives, which collects and maintains historically significant February 28, 1844: During a records, including: emails, manuscripts, letters, reports, studies, images, cruise on the Potomac River with videos, films, photographs, oral history interviews, briefings, SOPs, poli- 400 guests, a 12-inch Peacemak- cies, decision papers, memoranda, statistics, newspapers, newsletters, er gun explodes aboard the USS Princeton, killing several people, brochures, maps, blue prints, drawings, artifacts, and more. Such rec- including Secretary of State Abel ords are pertinent to the Army’s institutional knowledge of active and P. Upshur and Secretary of the predecessor installations, the ammunition industrial base, and JMC mis- Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer, and sions. JMC regularly uses these materials to research command history, injuring 20 people, including Sen- and to answer research queries. When JMC workers leave positions or ator Thomas Hart Benton and make physical moves, it is vital that their records be assessed before Robert F. Stockton, captain of the disposal. If employees are uncertain about the historical value of materi- Princeton. Among the prominent guests who escaped injury were als, the best policy is to make the items available to Command Historian former First Lady Dolley Madison, Keri Pleasant ([email protected]) or Archivist Paul Ferguson President John Tyler, and future ([email protected]) in Room 661 for assessment. First Lady Julia Gardiner (Tyler).