Part 24 (2/2)
The regiment remained at Little Rock until the spring of 1865, when it formed part of an expedition which proceeded some distance south of Little Rock, and operated against a band of guerillas on the Saline river, which they succeeded in driving out and partly capturing. On the 25th of July the regiment broke camp and proceeded to Camden, Arkansas, and was mustered out of the United States service, and proceeding by way of Pine Bluff, Ark., Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis, Mo., reached Leavenworth, Kansas, where the men were finally paid and discharged on the 27th of November, 1865. These brave men immediately returned to their homes to enjoy the blessings of a free government.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WOODEN HORSE.
A mode of punishment for slight offences.]
FOOTNOTES:
[24] Not less than 70,000 negroes--5,000 at least of which fought for the Union.--have been driven by persecution into Kansas from the Southern States, and the exodus still continues.
[25] ”Colonel Crawford ordered the prisoners to be taken to the rear without insult or injury, which conduct on his part is in striking contrast to the treatment bestowed upon our colored troops at Poison Springs. He also told a rebel lieutenant and other prisoners to inform their commanding General that colored troops had captured them, and that he must from necessity leave some of his wounded men in hospitals by the way, and that he should expect the same kind treatment shown to them that he showed to those falling into his hands; but that just such treatment as his wounded men received at their hands, whether kindness or death, should from this time forward, be meted out to all rebel falling into his hands. That if they wished to treat as prisoners of war our colored soldiers, to be exchanged for theirs, the decision was their own; but if they could afford to murder our colored prisoners to gratify their fiendish dispositions and pa.s.sions, the responsibility of commensurate retaliation, to bring them to a sense of justice, was also their own. But, notwithstanding the kindness shown to their prisoners, so soon as our command left, a Texas soldier, in the presence of one of their officers, killed, in the hospital, nine of the wounded men belonging to the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry.”--_McAfee's Military History of Kansas._
[26] About the middle of October, Colonel Crawford received information of his nomination for the office of Governor, and came from Fort Smith to Kansas, arriving about the 20th instant, just in time to be an active partic.i.p.ant in the expulsion of General Price and his army from the border of the State.
CHAPTER VII.
DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH.
The appearance of the negro in the Union army altered the state of affairs very much. The policy of the general Government was changed, and the one question which Mr. Lincoln had tried to avoid became _the_ question of the war. General Butler, first at Fortress Monroe and then at New Orleans, had defined the status of the slave, ”contraband” and then ”soldiers,” in advance of the Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation. General Hunter, in command at the South, as stated in a previous chapter, had taken an early opportunity to strike the rebellion in its most vital part, by arming negroes in his Department, after declaring them free.
Notwithstanding the President revoked Hunter's order, a considerable force was organized and equipped as early as December, 1862; in fact a regiment of blacks was under arms when the President issued the Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation. This regiment, the 1st South Carolina, was in command of Colonel T. W. Higginson, who with a portion of his command ascended the St. Mary's river on transports, visited Florida and Georgia, and had several engagements with the enemy. After an absence of ten or more days, the expedition returned to South Carolina without the loss of a man.
Had there been but one army in the field, and the fighting confined to one locality, the Phalanx would have been mobilized, but as there were several armies it was distributed among the several forces, and its conduct in battle, camp, march and bivouac, was spoken of by the commanders of the various armies in terms which any cla.s.s of soldiers, of any race, might well be proud of.
General Grant, on the 24th of July, following the capture of Vicksburg, wrote to the Adjutant-General:
”The negro troops are easier to preserve discipline among than are our white troops, and I doubt not will prove equally good for garrison duty. All that have been tried have fought bravely.”
This was six days after the unsurpa.s.sed bravery of the 54th Regiment Ma.s.sachusetts Volunteers--representing the North in the black Phalanx--had planted its bloodstained banner on the ramparts of Fort Wagner. It was the Southern negroes, who, up to this time, had reddened the waters of the Mississippi. It was the freedman's blood that had moistened the soil, and if ignorance could be so intrepid still greater daring might be expected on the part of the more intelligent men of the race.
The a.s.sault on Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863, was one of the most heroic of the whole four years' war. A very graphic account of the entire movement is given in the following article:
”At daylight, on the morning of the 12th of July a strong column of our troops advanced swiftly to the attack of Fort Wagner. The rebels were well prepared, and swept with their guns every foot of the approach to the fort, but our soldiers pressed on, and gained a foothold on the parapet; but, not being supported by other troops, nor aided by the guns of the fleet, which quietly looked on, they were forced to retreat, leaving many of their comrades in the hands of the enemy.
”It is the opinion of many that if the fleet had moved up at the same time, and raked the fort with their guns, our troops would have succeeded in taking it; but the naval captains said in their defence that they knew nothing of the movement, and would have gladly a.s.sisted in the attack had they been notified.
”This, unfortunately, was not the only instance of a want of harmony or co-operation between the land and naval forces operating against Charleston. Had they been under the control of one mind, the sacrifice of life in the siege of Forts Wagner and Sumter would have been far less. We will not a.s.sume to say which side was at fault, but by far the greater majority lay the blame upon the naval officers.
Warfare kindles up the latent germs of jealousy in the human breast, and the late rebellion furnished many cruel examples of its effects, both among the rebels and among the patriots. We have had the misfortune to witness them in more than one campaign, and upon more than one b.l.o.o.d.y and disastrous field.
”By the failure of this attack, it was evident that the guns of Wagner must be silenced before a successful a.s.sault with infantry could be made; and, in order to accomplish this, a siege of greater or less duration was required. Therefore earthworks were immediately thrown up at the distance of about a thousand yards from the fort, and the guns and mortars from Folly Island brought over to be placed in position.
”This Morris Island is nothing but a narrow bed of sand, about three miles in length, with a breadth variable from a few hundred yards to a few feet. Along the central portion of the lower end a ridge of white sand hills appear, washed on one side by the tidal waves, and sloping on the other into broad marshes, more than two miles in width, and intersected by numerous deep creeks. Upon the extreme northern end, Battery Gregg, which the rebels used in reducing Fort Sumter in 1861, had been strengthened, and mounted with five heavy guns, which threw their shot more than half way down the island. A few hundred yards farther down the island, and at its narrowest portion, a strong fort had been erected, and armed with seventeen guns and mortars.
This was the famous Fort Wagner; and, as its cannon prevented any farther progress up the island, it was necessary to reduce it before our forces could approach nearer to Fort Sumter.
”It was thought by our engineers that a continuous bombardment of a few days by our siege batteries and the fleet might dismount the rebel cannon, and demoralize the garrison, so that our brave boys, by a sudden rush, might gain possession of the works. Accordingly our siege train was brought over from Folly Island, and a parallel commenced about a thousand yards from Wagner. Our men worked with such energy that nearly thirty cannon and mortars were in position on the 17th of July. On the 18th of July the bombardment commenced. The land batteries poured a tempest of shot into the south side of Wagner, while the fleet moved up to within short range, and battered the east side with their great guns. In the mean time the rebels were not silent, but gallantly stood to their guns, returning shot for shot with great precision. But, after a few hours, their fire slackened; gun after gun became silent, as the men were disabled, and, when the clock struck four in the afternoon, Wagner no longer responded to the furious cannonade of the Federal forces. Even the men had taken shelter beneath the bomb-proofs, and no sign of life was visible about the grim and battered fortress.
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