THE

Black Phalanx

AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, THE WAR OF 1812, AND THE CIVIL WAR

BY

JOSEPH T. WILSON

LATE OF THE 2nd. REG'T. LA. NATIVE GUARD VOLS. 54th MASS. VOLS.
AIDE-DE-CAMP TO THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF G. A. B.

AUTHOR OF

"EMANCIPATION," "VOICE OF A NEW RACE," "TWENTY-TWO YEARS OF FREEDOM," Etc., Etc.

New Foreword by

DUDLEY TAYLOR CORNISH

DA CAPO PRESS NEW YORK

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Wilson, Joseph T. (Joseph Thomas), 1836-1891.

The Black phalanx: African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the War of 1812, and the Civil War / by Joseph T. Wilson; foreword by Dudley Taylor Cornish.—1st Da Capo Press ed.

p. cm.

Previously published: Hartford, Conn.: American Pub. Co., 1890.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-306-80550-2

1. Afro-American soldiers—History. 2. United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Participation, Afro-American. 3. United States—History—Revolution, 1775-1783—Participation, Afro-American. 4. United States—History—War of 1812—Participation, Afro-American. I. Cornish, Dudley Taylor. II. Title. E185.63.W632 1994 93-40117 973.7-dc20 CIP

First Da Capo Press edition 1994

This Da Capo Press paperback edition of The Black Phalanx is an unabridged republication of the edition published in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1887. It is here supplemented with a new foreword by Dudley Taylor Cornish.

Foreword © 1994 by Dudley Taylor Cornish

Published by Da Capo Press, Inc.
A Subsidiary of Plenum Publishing Corporation
233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013

All Rights Reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

INTRODUCTION.

By way of introduction to the American public, of the author and editor of this book, we beg to say that Mr. Wilson is not altogether unknown to the literary world, having already published several works relative to the Negro race.

His services during the war of the Rebellion secured for him a flattering recognition. He served in the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Native Guard Volunteers, also the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers,—the most famous of the Union negro regiments that engaged in the struggle, receiving several wounds. He was the first negro member of the National Council of Administration of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a delegate to the National Encampment, and was appointed Colonel—A. D. C. to the Commander-in-Chief G. A. R. He was chosen by his comrades to be the historian of the negro soldiers, and has overcome many almost insurmountable difficulties in gathering the scattered facts, particularly those of the early wars of the United States, that were necessary to complete this work.

THE PUBLISHERS.

DEDICATION.

To the Brave Men Who Commanded the Black Phalanx.

SOLDIERS:—As a mark of esteem and respect for your patriotic devotion to the cause of human freedom, I desire to dedicate to you this record of the services of the negro soldiers, whom you led so often and successfully in the struggle for liberty and union during the great war of 1861-'65.

Your coming from the highest ranks of social life, undeterred by the prevailing spirit of caste prejudice, to take commands in the largest negro army ever enrolled beneath the flag of any civilized country, was in itself a brave act. The organization and disciplining of over two hundred thousand men, of a race that for more than two centuries had patiently borne the burdens of an unrequited bondage, for the maintenance of laws which had guaranteed to them neither rights nor protection, was indeed a magnificent undertaking.

You were outlawed by the decrees of Jefferson Davis, criticised by many friends at home, and contemptuously received by brother officers at headquarters, in the field, in the trenches, and at the mess table; yet, you did not waver in your fidelity to principle or in your heroic leadership of those whose valor was denied until it was proven in carnage and victory.

The record of the Black Phalanx invites the scrutiny of all who have been disposed to taunt you for associating with "armed barbarians." No massacre of vanquished foe stains the banners of those who followed you, giving quarter but receiving none. It was your teaching that served as a complete restraint against retaliation, though statesmen hinted that it would be just. Your training developed patriotism and courage, but not revenge. Ungrateful as Republics are said to be, ours has aimed to recognize merit and reward it, and those who at first hailed you with contumely, are now glad to greet you as heroes and saviors of a common country.

No true soldier desires to forget the price of his country's liberty, or that of his own; it is the recollection of the terrible bloody onset—the audacious charge—the enemy's repulse, which sweetens victory. And surely no soldiers can appreciate the final triumph with a keener sense of gladness than those who fought against such odds as did the Black Phalanx. Beating down prejudice and upholding the national cause at the same time, they have inscribed upon their banners every important battle from April, 1863, to April, 1865.

If what I have written here shall call to your minds, and present justly to the patriotic public, the indescribable hardships which you endured on the march, in the bivouac, and in the seething flames of the battle's front, my task will have served its purpose. In the name of and as a token of the gratitude of a freed race, this book is dedicated to you.

PREFACE.

It was a dark, stormy night in the winter of 1882, when less than a hundred men, all of whom had served their country in crushing the great Rebellion of 1861-'65, gathered around a camp-fire. The white and the colored American were there; so were the German, Frenchman, and Irishman,—all American citizens,—all veterans of the last war. The empty sleeve, the absent leg, the sabred face, the bullet-scarred body of the many, told the story of the service they had seen. It was the annual Encampment of the Department of Virginia, Grand Army of the Republic, and the comrades of Farragut Post had tastefully arranged their quarters for the occasion.

At midnight a sumptuous soldiers fare—baked beans, hot coffee and hard tack—was spread before the veterans, who ate and drank heartily as in the days when resting from the pursuit of the enemy. In the morning hour, when weary from the joy of song and toast, it was proposed that the history of the American negro soldier should be written, that posterity might have a fuller and more complete record of the deeds of the negro soldiers than had been given in the numerous already published histories of the conflicts in which they played so important a part.

The task of preparing the history fell to my lot, and it is in obedience to the duty laid upon me by my former comrades, with whom I shared the toils and joys of camp, march, battle and siege, that this volume, the result of my efforts, is launched upon the sea of war literature.

Whether or not there is any merit in the work, the reader must judge. His charity is asked, however, toward such defects as may be apparent, and which, perhaps,