Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

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Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862–1867
when every thing is hushed and quiet . . . the drums in all the camp begin to beat,
slow at first and growing faster, louder & wilder until it is one continuous roll like
muttering thunder How quickly the scene is changed. There is no noise or confusion
but all through the camp in low smothered voices, you will hear, “Turn out, Quickly
boys Long Roll, the Rebs are coming.” In a moment the companies are formed and
then on Double Quick rush to their place in the regimental line. . . . I confess plainly
I do not like to fight and Mr. Reb will do me a great kindness by staying away. But
should they come we have a large force of colored troops here who will fight to the
death and I believe the enemy will pay heavily for the attempt. 22
Neither the fatigue assignments and sanitary arrangements at Morganza nor
the region’s security had improved by the end of the summer. On 16 September, a
regiment of Confederate cavalry overwhelmed a Union patrol east of the Atchafalaya,
killing or capturing thirty-nine men, and Morganza’s post commander sent
a strong mounted force to intercept the attackers. The 75th and 92d USCIs were
among the infantry that moved in support of the Union cavalry. When they reached
the river, the black regiments spent two days building gun emplacements to command
the ford and “cutting roads in the woods, so [the emplacements] could be
approached under cover,” Col. Henry N. Frisbie of the 92d reported:
No white troops lifted an ax or a spade while out on that trip . . . yet the colored
troops marched as far, did as much guard duty, and . . . while the rest lay in the
shade we were hard at work. . . . The work is no objection to either officers or
men, but the manner and the circumstances under which it is required. The slur
and stigma of inferiority is what displeases so many . . . and makes it so difficult
to keep our best officers, for they will not command troops that the Government
allows inferiority to become attached to . . . ; but while they bear commissions
they want only their fair share of fatigue, but will do any amount of fighting.
Frisbie was also exasperated because his men had been bilked of their beef ration
by an officer from another command while they were performing fatigue duty and
then had been accused of chicken theft while “white soldiers on the road were catching
fowls, and no effort was made to stop them.” Personally humiliating was a report
by the expedition’s commanding officer, which contrasted the “good behavior” of
the 75th USCI, led by “an excellent disciplinarian,” with that of Frisbie’s chickenstealing
92d. Yet the way in which the report criticized the 92d by comparing it to
another nearby all-black regiment typified much official comment on black troops.
Inspection reports often used the same basis of comparison. The object was to correct
deficiencies in military behavior rather than to vent the writer’s racial animus.
Responsibility for discipline, or the lack of it, lay with a regiment’s white officers. 23
All through the last twelve months of the war, Union troops in Louisiana—including
nineteen regiments of U.S. Colored Troops—acted more as an occupation
force than as a field army. About one-third of the black regiments’ strength was
22 H. M. Crydenwise to Dear Parents & all, 24 Jul 1864, Crydenwise Letters.
23 OR, ser. 1, vol. 41, pt. 1, pp. 803, 805, 808–10 (quotations). Reports similar to the one about
which Colonel Frisbie complained are Col A. J. Edgerton to 1st Lt D. G. Fenno, 31 Aug 1864, 67th