Download The Union`s Cry For Help 6 - African American Civil War Museum

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P6.1-P6.6
Section
Panel
Content
6 Union Cry
for Help
P6.1
Union’s Cry for Help
P6.2
Header quote:
It may be viewed as the last measure of an exhausted government, a cry for help, the government stretching forth its
hands to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the Government.
Secretary of State William Seward
P6.2
To Save the Union
Road to Redemption
After the Militia Act of 1862 and the Second Confiscation Act was signed into law, the radical abolitionist
orator Hezekiah Ford Douglas volunteered for the 95th Illinois Infantry, making the unit an integrated
regiment. Douglas wrote that he enlisted “in order to be better prepared to play my part in the great drama
of the Negro’s redemption.” However, when Douglas enlisted, President Lincoln was waiting for a victory on
the battlefield before publicly acting on the authority Congress had granted the chief executive: the authority
to declare free slaves in states under rebellion. For practical domestic political reasons, Secretary of State
William Seward advised the President to wait for a military success that would mask the government’s “cry
for help” to African Americans.
Many leading abolitionists criticized Lincoln for not acting immediately under the new laws. Frederick
Douglass wrote that the President’s policy toward emancipation could be evaluated first by what he says and
secondly by what he does. Douglass noted that Lincoln believed that the Union could not survive half-free
and half- slave and that it should become “all free.” He then criticized Lincoln for supporting generals, such
as George McClellan, who returned runaways, and for not supporting generals, such as David Hunter, who
sought to free slaves and arm men of African descent. Yet the most notable criticism of Lincoln by African
Americans during the late summer of 1862 was his recommendation that they support a policy of
colonization.
Notes
Image 6.2.1_Biddle(LOC)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004678
578/
[6.2.1_Biddle]
Since it was illegal for men of African descent to enlist in the militia, Nicholas Biddle was not officially enlisted in
the army. He served as the orderly of Captain James Wren of the Pennsylvania Volunteers. In Connecticut,
however, William Henry Johnson enlisted in the 2 nd Connecticut Infantry in 1861 as “an independent man” since he
was prohibited from enlisting as a “Negro.” Hezekiah Ford Douglass enlisted in the 95 th Illinois Infantry after it
became legal for men of African descent to enlist. Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Prepared to Fight
Private African descent militias in the North marched openly in parades in the 1850s and these private
militias’ trained young men for a civil war that many of their elders believed was inevitable. Though the
planter class in the South prohibited such overt militia activities in the South, African Americans trained
covertly. Small pockets of African descent freedom fighters in Southern swamps were also able to maintain
Image 6.2.3_Hiding_in_Swamps(LOC)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/9450778
1/
1
their communities as safe havens from slave hunters. Raiders commissioned by wealthy planters attacked a
small African descent community in the Green Swamp of North Carolina’s Brunswick County in 1856. The
raiders were defeated and never attempted to attack the community again. In South Carolina and Georgia,
African descent guerrilla fighters forced Rebels off the Sea Islands and St. Simon Island in 1861. These
freedom fighters became valuable guides, scouts, soldiers, and sailors for the Union and were the nucleus of
the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, the first African descent regiment organized by a Union commander.
[6.2.3_Swamps]
Hiding in the Swamps
In the swamps of North Carolina and South Carolina, the activities of African descent runaways and guerrilla
fighters allowed the Union to capture and occupy neighboring port cities such as Beaufort, South Carolina, in the
fall of 1861, and New Berne, North Carolina, in the spring of 1862. Courtesy of the Library of Congress
[6.2.4_Smalls]
Robert Smalls
African descent watermen were very important to the survival of fugitive African descent communities like those in
the swamps. The watermen were often the liaison between these isolated communities and the outside world. One
of the most famed African descent watermen during the Civil War was the pilot Robert Smalls of Beaufort, South
Carolina. Smalls and his fellow crewmembers commandeered the Confederate gunboat, Planter. Smalls later
became the captain of the ship.
[6.2.6_Planter]
The Planter was a Confederate gunboat commandeered in the early morning of May 12, 1862.
One of the most daring and heroic adventures since the war commenced was undertaken and successfully
accomplished by a party of negroes in Charleston on Monday night last. Nine colored men, comprising the pilot,
engineers, and crew of the rebel gun-boat Planter, took the vessel under their exclusive control, passed the batteries
and forts in Charleston harbor, hoisted a white flag, ran out to the blockading squadron, and thence to Port Royal,
via St. Helena Sound and Broad River, reaching the flag-ship Wabash shortly after ten o'clock last evening.
Image 6.2.4_Smalls
(Museum Collection)
Image 6.2.5_Planter
(Museum Collection)
The following are the names of the black men who performed this gallant and perilous service: Robert Smalls, pilot;
John Smalls and Alfred Gradine, engineers; Abraham Jackson, Gabriel Turno, William Morrison, Samuel
Chisholm, Abraham Allston, and David Jones. They brought with them the wife and three children of the pilot, and
the wife, child, and sister of the first engineer, John Smalls. The balance of the party were without families.
The Planter is a high-pressure, side-wheel steamer, one hundred and forty feet in length, and about fifty feet beam,
and draws about five feet of water. She was built in Charleston, was formerly used as a cotton-boat, and is capable
of carrying about 1400 bales. On the organization of the Confederate navy, she was transformed into a gunboat,
and was the most valuable war vessel the Confederates had at Charleston. Her armament consisted of one 32pound rifle gun forward, and a 24-pound howitzer aft. Besides, she had on board when she came into the harbor
one seven-inch rifled gun, one eight-inch Columbiad, one eight-inch howitzer, one long 32-pounder, and about two
hundred rounds of ammunition, which had been consigned to Fort Ripley, and which would have been delivered at
that fortification on Tuesday had not the designs of the rebel authorities been frustrated . She was commanded by
Captain Relay, of the Confederate navy—all the other employees of the vessel, excepting the first and second mates,
being persons of color.
Harper’s Weekly, June 14, 1862
2
South Carolina Infantry
General David Hunter, the Union commander of the Department of the South, organized a regiment in the spring of
1862 from a company-sized unit (100 men) led by Prince Rivers, an African descent coachman from Beaufort,
South Carolina. Rivers’ guerrilla fighters became company “A” of Hunter’s illegally organized 1 st South Carolina
Colored Infantry. After a Congressional inquiry into the matter, Hunter was ordered to disband his South Carolina
regiment. Yet, a little over a month after the Militia Act of 1862 was passed and signed into law, the Lincoln
administration gave General Rufus Saxton the authority to organize and arm men of African descent within
Hunter’s department. General Saxton reorganized the 1st South Carolina Infantry (African Descent) and appointed
Thomas W. Higginson the regimental commander. Colonel Higginson took command of the regiment in early
November. Higginson was impressed with the courage, discipline, and competence in drill of his soldiers. The
regiment of so-called “contrabands” was actively patrolling in the Department of South before January 1, 1863.
Image 6.2.6_1stSCInfantry
(Museum Collection)
In view of the small force under your command, and the inability of the Government at the present time to increase
it, in order to guard the plantations and settlements occupied by the United States from invasion, and protect the
inhabitants thereof from captivity and murder by the enemy, you are also authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and
receive into the service of the United States, such number volunteers of African descent as you may deem expedient,
not exceeding five thousand, and may detail officers to instruct them in military drill, discipline, and duty, and to
command them. The persons so received into service, and their officers, to be entitled to, and receive, the same pay
and rations as are allowed, by law, to volunteers in the service.
Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War, Instructions to General Rufus Stanton, August 25, 1862
[6.2.6_1stSCInfantry]
At the time this print was sketched by W.
T. Crane, it was not legal for men of
African descent to enlist in the Union
Army. The First South Carolina Infantry
(African Descent) was the first African
descent regiment organized. However, it
was disbanded before the Militia Act of
1862 was passed and signed into law.
P6.3
It is a day for poetry and song, a new song. These cloudless skies, this balmy air, this brilliant sunshine,
(making December as pleasant as May), are in harmony with the glorious morning of liberty about to dawn
up on us. Frederick Douglass, December 1862
Header Quote
P6.3
For Liberty
A Bloody Victory
Victory was claimed after a bloody battle near Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862, called the
Battle of Antietam. After twelve hours of fierce fighting and over 22,000 casualties (Union and Confederate),
General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia withdrew from the battlefield, and General George
McClellan’s Army of the Potomac claimed victory. Too cautious to pursue Lee’s smaller force, McClellan
allowed the Confederates to retreat into Virginia unmolested; making the victory claimed along Antietam
Creek a dubious one, especially since the Union suffered more casualties. The Union, however, claimed
victory; and the Battle of Antietam gave President Lincoln the military success he was waiting for before
issuing his Emancipation Proclamation. On September 22, 1862, five days after the battle, President Lincoln
issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, in which he warned the states in rebellion to return to
Union or he would declare free their slaves.
Image 6.3.1_Antietam
(NARA)
[6.3.1_Antietam]
The Dead at Antietam
This Mathew Brady photograph of the dead at Antietam was on display in New York City soon after the battle. The
horror of war was for the first time presented to the public through photography. Courtesy of the National
Archives
3
P6.3
C2.2
Toward Emancipation
Newspapers across the country announced the Preliminary Emancipation. African descent soldiers in
Louisiana, South Carolina, and Kansas were armed and ready to enforce the President’s Proclamation. Men
of African descent had been serving continuously in the US Navy since 1798. Throughout the country,
Americans of African descent were ready and eager for the opportunity to fight to preserve the Union and to
end the tyranny of slavery.
New York Times, September 23, 1862
The New York Times reported on the “Highly Important” news of the President’s Proclamation. [16”x12”]
Unidentified African Descent Soldier
The first African descent regiment was officially mustered into Federal service on September 27, 1862, five days
after the Preliminary Emancipation was issued.[Open 5”x8” (4” closed)]
Copy of the Final Emancipation Proclamation
Issued on January 1, 1863, the final Proclamation was greeted with great enthusiasm by America’s African descent
population. Not only did the President declare free slaves in states in rebellion, he also ordered his field commander
to receive men of African descent into all armed services of the United States.[9.75”x15.5”]
Tactics Manual for United States Colored Troops
With thousands of African Americans enlisting in the army, the War Department published a tactics manual for
United States Colored Troops. [Open 5.5”x8” (4” closed)
P6.3
For Liberty
The Union and Emancipation
On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as “a fit and necessary war
measure for suppressing said rebellion.” In this “necessary war measure,” Lincoln declared forever free all
persons held as slaves in the ten states in rebellion, the only states he was given the legal authority by
Congress to emancipate persons held as slaves. The Proclamation did not apply to the five slaveholding
states that were not in rebellion because Congress had only given the President the legal authority to declare
free slaves in states that were in rebellion. In the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln issued the order to
receive men of African descent into all United States armed services. The government’s “cry for help” was
well masked. Yet, the President explicitly described his Proclamation as necessary for preserving the Union.
Lincoln wrote that the Emancipation Proclamation was “warranted by the Constitution upon military
necessity.”
Day of Jubilee
Across the country, in the North and in the South, persons of African descent met on “Watch Night” in
anticipation of the Emancipation Proclamation. These religious gathering were conducted secretly in
Confederate held territories. As the hour of the “Jubilee” approached, the enslaved gave thanks to God for
their deliverance. Many, however, understood that their fight for freedom had just begun.
Image 6.3.2_WatchMeeting(LOC)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/9850121
0/
[6.3.2_WatchMeeting]
America’s African descent population eagerly waited for the hour of the Jubilee. In this print, men, women, and
children gather around a man with a watch in anticipation of the New Year and the issuing of Emancipation
Proclamation. Courtesy of Library of Congress
4
Image 6.3.3_ReadingProclamation
(LOC)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003678
043/
[6.3.3_ReadingProclamation]
Men, women, and children gather around to hear a
Union soldier read the Emancipation Proclamation.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Image 6.3.4_CallforEmanc
(LOC)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004665
361/
[6.3.4_CallfroEmanc]
This call for the emancipation of the enslaved was
published at the beginning of the war. Courtesy of
the Library of Congress
For the Union and Liberty
George W. Albright reported that he was fifteen years old when he was activated as a messenger for Lincoln’s
Legal Loyal League, or simply the 4Ls, on January 1, 1863. His first task as a member of the secret African
descent society was to deliver the message in the Mississippi Valley that it was time “to aid the Yankees.”
Lincoln’s Proclamation made it legal for enslaved Americans of African descent to free themselves in states
in rebellion if they helped save the Union. Across the country, in the North and in the South, free and
enslaved African Americans eagerly volunteered to join the fight to end the tyranny of slavery in league with
the Constitution. Members of the 4Ls became recruiters, guides, scouts, spies, spymasters, sailors, and
soldiers for the cause of the Union and Liberty.
Image 6.3.5_Soldier(LOC)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010650
860/
[6.3.5_Soldier]
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
P6.3
[Come Join Us Brothers graphic]
Not in
Exhibit
Published by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored
Regiments of Philadelphia
P6.4
Better soldiers never shouldered a musket… They were intelligent, obedient, highly appreciative of their
position, and fully maintained its dignity. They easily learned the school of the soldier…General Benjamin Butler, USA
Image 6.4.1_ComeJoin
(Museum Collection)
I embrace the earliest opportunity of asking
the privilege of calling the attention of your
department to the fact, that as a policy in
perfect harmony with the course of the
President, and your own enlightened views,
that the agency of intelligent, competent,
black men adapted to the work must be the
most effective means of obtaining black
troops…
Martin Delany, Recruiting Officer 54th
Massachusetts and 14th Rhode Island Heavy
Artillery
Header Quote
5
P6.5
Raising and Training Regiments
In the last five months of 1862, six African descent regiments were organized, but only three Louisiana regiments
were officially mustered into the Union Army. Two additional African descent regiments, one of which was the 1 st
South Carolina, were mustered into the Union Army by the end of January 1863. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
officially authorized Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts to organize a regiment comprised of men of African
descent on January 26, 1863. This regiment became known as the 54th Massachusetts Infantry (Colored).
Governor Andrew commissioned Martin R. Delany, John M. Langston, and Frederick Douglass as recruiting
officers. Recruiting in Ohio, Langston was the most prolific of the recruiting officers. Thirty-two percent of the
regiment was from Ohio, while twenty-three percent was from Massachusetts.
[6.5.1_RifleTraining]
Teaching the Negro Recruits the Use of the Mini Rifle
The new recruits impressed their officers with their military competence and how quickly they mastered drill
movements.
Image 6.5.1_RifleTraining
(Museum Collection)
I observed a very remarkable trait about them. They learned to handle arms and to march more easily than
intelligent white men. My drillmaster could teach a regiment of negroes that much of the art of war sooner
than he could have taught the same number of students from Harvard or Yale.
General Benjamin Butler, USA
In noticing the squad-drills I perceive that the men learn less laboriously than whites that “double, double,
toil and trouble,” which is the elementary vexation of the drill-master, - that they more rarely mistake their
left for their right, - and are more grave and sedate while under instruction. The extremes of jollity and
sobriety, being greater with them, are less liable to be intermingled; these companies can be driven with a
looser rein than my former one, for they restrain themselves…
Thomas W. Higginson, Colonel, 1st South Carolina Infantry (33 rd USCI)
[6.5.2_Officers]
OUR COLORED TROOPS—THE LINE OFFICERS OF THE FIRST LOUISIANA NATIVE GUARDS.
We present our readers, on the same page, with a group of portraits of five of the line officers of Companies A and
D of these Louisiana Native Guards. The central figure, Lieutenant L. D. LARRIEU, is very nearly white; Captain
E. DAVIS, as before stated, is to all appearances perfectly so. The other three bear, more or less, marks of African
origin. These officers all long to prove their loyalty and assert their manhood in the field; and, should this infamous
rebellion continue, it is to be hoped their desires will not be long ungratified.
Harper’s Weekly, February 28, 1863
[6.5.3_Soldiers]
OUR COLORED TROOPS AT WORK—THE FIRST LOUISIANA NATIVE GUARDS DISEMBARKING
AT FORT MACOMBE, LOUISIANA.
It is now some five months since General Butler's attention was called, by certain free colored men in New Orleans,
to the fact that they held commissions from Governor Moore, of Louisiana, as duly enrolled officers of the
Confederate army, and requesting to transfer their services to the United States. General Butler, with that keen
perception for which he is so remarkable, at once saw the bearings of this important matter, granted the request of
his applicants, and issued his order mustering the regiment into our service, under the command of Colonel (then
Lieutenant-Colonel) Spencer H. Stafford, one of his aids-de-camp.
-Harper’s Weekly, February 28, 1863
Image 6.5.2_Officers
(Museum Collection)
Image 6.5.3_Soldiers
(Museum Collection)
6
Louisiana Native Guards
General Benjamin Butler mustered the first official African descent regiments into the Union Army.
However, in June 1862 when General John W. Phelps proposed the arming of men of African descent. Butler
opposed the organization of these regiments in his department. Butler’s opposition to this illegal activity led
to Phelps’ resignation that July. However, after it became legal to arm men of African descent, Butler sought
“the assistance of Africa.” After receiving confidential approval to organize a regiment of Louisiana Native
Guards, Butler called on the leading free men of African descent in New Orleans. Two regiments were
formed before the end of 1862, and all of the line officers of the 1 st and 2nd Louisiana Native Guards were
men of African descent. These regiments were the first African descent regiments to be legally and officially
mustered into the Union Army.
The first operations conducted by the 1st Louisiana Native Guards (LNG) were in La Fourche District from
October 24 to November 6, 1862. Under the command of General Godfrey Weitzel, who initially protested
leading African descent troops because he believed they would seek revenge against the planters and their
families, the 1st LNG regiment captured Donaldsonville, Louisiana on October 25, 1862. The regiment also
saw action at Georgia Landing near Labadieville, Louisiana, before the end of the year.
General Benjamin Butler commissioned over seventy men of African descent as company officers in three of
the Louisiana Native Guard regiments.
Kansas Colored Infantry
Kansas was the first northern state to organize an African descent regiment. The regiment was organized
under the direction of Senator James H. Lane of Kansas. Senator Lane appointed a captain in the 5th Kansas
Cavalry, James Williams, a recruiting officer for the purpose of organizing a regiment of African descent
infantry on August 4, 1862. The recruits came from Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, and the Indian Territory
(Oklahoma). In sixty days, Williams had five hundred men in camp. On October 29, 1862, the 1 st Kansas
Colored Infantry “attacked and routed a band of rebels” near Butler, Missouri. The Skirmish at Island Mound
was the first reported battle in which an African descent regiment was engaged during the Civil War, and it
was fought before the final Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
P6.6
Unquestionable Courage
In 1863, the enlistees in the United States Colored Troops were mostly volunteers. Eager to strike a blow for
liberty, African descent soldiers sought every opportunity to engage Confederate forces on the battlefield. At
Port Hudson in Louisiana, the First Louisiana Native Guards demonstrated unquestionable courage on May
27, 1863. A few weeks later, without being fully supplied with muskets and ammunition, African descent
soldiers repulsed a larger Confederate force at Milliken’s Bend in Louisiana. African descent soldiers
performed exceptionally well as reconnaissance patrollers and raiders. In June 1863, Harriet Tubman,
employed as a special agent in the Department of the South, led the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers (34th
USCI) on a successful raid down the Combahee River in South Carolina. African descent soldiers quickly
earned praise from leading generals for these abilities and for their gallantry demonstrated in conventional
assaults like those at Port Hudson and battery Wagner in South Carolina.
Image 6.5.4_KansasInfantry
(Museum Collection)
[6.5.4_KansasInfantry]
First Kansas Colored Volunteers at the
Skirmish of Island Mound
With regard to their fighting qualities, we
can not do better than reproduce the
following extracts. The first is from a letter
to the New York Times, describing the
battle, or rather the skirmish of Island
Mounds, where a detachment of the First
Kansas Colored Volunteers attacked and
routed a band of rebels.
Harper’s Weekly, March 14, 1863
We, their officers, did not go there to
teach lessons, but to receive them. There
were more than a hundred men in the
ranks who had voluntarily met more
dangers in their escape from slavery
than any of my young captains had
incurred in all their lives.
Thomas W. Higginson, Colonel, 1st
South Carolina, re-designated 33rd USCI
7
[6.6.1_RaidSC]
RAID OF SECOND SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS (COL. MONTGOMERY) AMONG THE RICE
PLANTATIONS ON THE COMBAHEE, S. C.
We destroyed a vast amount of rice, corn, and cotton, stored in the barns and rice-mills, with many valuable steamengines. We broke the sluice-gates and flooded the fields so that the present crop, which was growing beautifully,
will be a total loss. We carried out the President's proclamation too, and brought away about 800 contrabands, 150
of whom are now serving their country in the regiment, which liberated them. The rest were old men, women, and
children. The rebel loss from our visit must amount to several millions of dollars. We are now about commencing
operations on the Georgia coast.
Harper’s Weekly, July 4, 1863
Image 6.6.1_RaidSC](Museum Collection)
Port Hudson
Captain Andre Cailloux led the Union assault on the Confederate fortifications at Port Hudson on May 27,
1863. Harper’s Weekly reported the following August, “Captain Cailloux was one of the bravest soldiers in
our country's service… This brave man and gallant soldier met his death on the 27th of May last, while
leading his company in a charge against the rebel works at Port Hudson.” Demonstrating to all Americans of
integrity that men of African descent would indeed fight, Captain Cailloux became a hero held in the highest
esteem by African descent soldiers. He was an example of courage.
Image 6.6.2_CaptainC
(Museum Collection)
[6.6.2_CaptainC]
FUNERAL OF THE LATE CAPTAIN CAILLOUX, FIRST LOUISIANA NATIVE VOLUNTEERS
(COLORED). Harper’s Weekly, August 29, 1863
Their conduct was heroic. No troops could be more determined or more daring. They made, during the day, three
charges upon the batteries of the enemy, suffering very heavy loses, and holding their positions at nightfall with the
other troops on the right of our line. The highest commendation is bestowed upon them by all the officers in
command on the right.
General N. P. Banks, May 1863
Milliken’s Bend
During the siege of Vicksburg, a numerically superior Rebel force attacked the newly formed African descent
regiments at Milliken’s Bend on June 6, 1863. After two days of mostly hand-to-hand combat, the African
brigade recruited under General Lorenzo Thomas repulsed the Rebels. General Ulysses S. Grant later wrote
to the President informing him that Vicksburg, the “key to victory,” could not have been captured without the
help of the African descent soldiers. Harper’s Weekly reported on July 4, 1863, “this engagement of Sunday
morning will be recorded as the most desperate of this war.”
Image 6.6.3_MillikensBend
(Museum Collection)
[6.6.3_MillikensBend]
The fight at Milliken’s Bend, July 6-7, 1863 Harper’s Weekly, July 4, 1863
In this battle, most of the troops engaged were Africans, who had but little experience in the use of fire-arms. Their
conduct is said, however, to have been most gallant.
General Ulysses S. Grant
8