Black Civil War Veterans in Tennessee
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2011 "Is This the Fruit of Freedom?" Black Civil War Veterans in Tennessee Paul E. Coker University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the African American Studies Commons, Military History Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Coker, Paul E., ""Is This the Fruit of Freedom?" Black Civil War Veterans in Tennessee. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2011. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1067 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Paul E. Coker entitled ""Is This the Fruit of Freedom?" Black Civil War Veterans in Tennessee." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in History. Stephen V. Ash, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Daniel Feller, G. Kurt Piehler, Asafa Jalata Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Paul E. Coker entitled “„Is This the Fruit of Freedom?‟ Black Civil War Veterans in Tennessee.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy with a major in History. Stephen V. Ash, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Daniel Feller____________________ G. Kurt Piehler__________________ Asafa Jalata_____________________ Accepted for the Council Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School “Is This the Fruit of Freedom?” Black Civil War Veterans in Tennessee A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Paul E. Coker August 2011 Copyright © 2011 by Paul E. Coker All rights reserved ii Acknowledgments My interest in black Civil War veterans began in a research seminar during my first semester of graduate work at Tennessee, and from the very start my advisor, Steve Ash, generously offered his time and expertise. His close reading of draft after draft (and the sacrifice of countless red pens) vastly improved the final product. Whatever progress I have made as a writer and historian is largely the result of his efforts. Throughout my time at Tennessee, Dan Feller was encouraging and enthusiastic; he, Kurt Piehler, and Asafa Jalata deserve special thanks for their service on my dissertation committee. I cannot imagine completing my graduate work without the advice, commiseration, and humor of my fellow travelers at Tennessee. Tim Jenness, Cinnamon Brown, Jason Mead, John Kvach, Travis Hardy, Tyler Cook, Abbie Kowelewski, Jake Hamric, and Houston Johnson are among the many who helped me “survive and advance” (as Jason liked to put it). Research travel can be daunting and draining, but the hospitality of the Kowalewski, Jenness, and Marriott families made my trips to Washington a true pleasure. I am also grateful to the University of Tennessee‟s Center for the Study of War and Society and History Department for financial support. My greatest debt is to my family. My parents, Bill and Karin, instilled a curiosity about the world that still guides me. My in-laws, David and Patsy, have provided constant support throughout my graduate work. My son, John David, was born while I was in the midst of this project. While this new “research assistant” did not always help me work faster, he made work far more worthwhile. Finally, through the highs and lows of my graduate career my wife, Kristine, did her best to keep me grounded and remained unfailingly encouraging, patient, and loving. I dedicate this dissertation to her. iii Abstract This dissertation explores the meaning of the Civil War in the South by examining the experience of Tennessee‟s black Union army veterans from the 1860s through the early twentieth century. Today historians almost reflexively agree that the black military experience took on an “ever larger meaning” in American society, but few scholars have given sustained attention to black soldiers‟ lives in the postwar South. My dissertation finds that the black military experience profoundly disrupted Southern hierarchies and presented black men with unprecedented opportunities to elevate their political, economic, and social status; however, these aspirations rarely went uncontested. Nearly 40 percent of Tennessee‟s black male population of military age enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War, and as these men pursued individual agendas and attempted to build families and communities they played a critical part in the postwar remaking of the urban and rural South. The redefinition of Southern society produced inter- and intra-racial tension and occasionally brutal violence, but it also involved striking accommodations and reconciliations. This study also explores conflicting commemoration of the war by contrasting black prominence in the state‟s racially integrated Grand Army of the Republic veterans‟ organization with efforts to recognize Confederate “colored soldiers.” The dissertation‟s most important sources are federal military pension records at the National Archives in Washington, which allow the study to focus on otherwise largely undocumented and unexplored lives. These invaluable records provide information about antebellum, wartime, and postwar family life, health conditions, employment, economic mobility, geographical mobility, race relations, and relationships with white ex-soldiers. iv Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Wartime Experience, 1861-1865 ........................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: The Postwar Transition, 1865-1867 ............................................................................ 34 Chapter 3: Communities, Families, and Comrades ...................................................................... 70 Chapter 4: Work, Health, and Wealth ......................................................................................... 116 Chapter 5: Politics ....................................................................................................................... 156 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 200 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 211 Vita .............................................................................................................................................. 221 v vi Introduction In January 1865, a group of white Unionists assembled in Tennessee‟s capital city to reestablish the state government. A few weeks earlier at the decisive battle of Nashville, regiments of U.S. Colored Troops had suffered high casualties in fierce fighting just a short walk from the capitol steps. During a frontal assault against a strong Confederate position, the 13th U.S. Colored Infantry lost five color bearers, as each time the flag fell a new man pushed it forward. In all, the regiment lost nearly 40 percent of its strength—the highest proportion of casualties of any regiment on either side throughout the entire battle. Ambrose Bierce, who witnessed the assault from the safety of Union lines, called the charge “as pretty an example of courage and discipline as one could wish to see,” and even the Confederate commander of the brigade defending the hill cited the gallantry of the black troops in his official report.1 No African Americans were included in the January convention, but a group of Nashville blacks prepared a petition to submit to the assembly. In it, they called for recognition of black soldiers‟ faithful service in the Union army as the basis for extended rights, include the suffrage. Pointing out that black soldiers were not even allowed to testify in court, while white “rebels” enjoyed such legal rights, the petitioners asked, “Is this the fruit of freedom, and the reward of our services in the field? Was it for this that colored soldiers fell by hundreds before Nashville, fighting under the flag of the Union?” The mixture of both hopefulness and uncertainty in this plea could be found in almost every aspect of life for black Tennesseans after the war. In many 1 James Lee McDonough, Nashville: The Western Confederacy’s Final Gamble (Knoxville, 2004), 159-68, 225-35. 1 respects black soldiers appeared ideally positioned to grasp the “fruit of freedom,” but whether it would prove sweet or bitter remained to be seen.2 This dissertation explores the meaning