Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

The Mississippi River and its Tributaries, 1861–1863 169
was most enthusiastically received.” The next day, Lt. Col. William F. Wood,
1st Indiana Cavalry, who had been nominated as colonel of the 1st Arkansas
(African Descent [AD]), presented his roster of officer candidates: all but two of
the thirty-seven names belonged to officers or enlisted men of Indiana regiments
in the Helena garrison. Each divisional commander, Thomas explained to one
general, was to be responsible for two of the new regiments, appointing a board
to examine applicants “without regard for present rank, merit alone being the
test . . . . The positions to be filled by whites include all Commissioned [officers]
and 1st Sergts; also Non-commissioned Staff.” The method worked for the 1st
Arkansas (AD). Within a month the regiment was up to strength, “well equipped
and in a respectable state of discipline,” Thomas told the secretary of war, and
ready “to act against the guerrillas.” 32
Thomas’ next stop was Lake Providence, Louisiana, where much the same
thing happened. On the morning of 9 April, the general addressed four thousand
men of the 6th Division and in the afternoon seven thousand men of the
3d Division. He asked for enough nominations from each division to staff two
regiments. Within twenty-four hours, the 6th Division presented the names of
enough candidates to officer the 8th Louisiana (AD). Five days later, names from
the same division filled the officer nominees’ roster of the 10th Louisiana (AD).
The strain of travel had prostrated the 59-year-old Thomas by 11 April, when
he arrived at Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, but his system of accepting officers
for the new black regiments along the Mississippi River by nominations from
nearby white regiments continued through the spring and early summer. During
the next six weeks, he began organizing eight regiments at Helena and other river
towns south of it. In telegrams to Stanton, he wrote of organizing “at least” ten
regiments. He could enlist twenty thousand men, enough for twenty regiments,
“if necessary.” 33
By the time the ailing general reached Milliken’s Bend, some thirty miles
upstream from Confederate-held Vicksburg, he had conceived a plan for the use
of plantations that had been abandoned when their owners fled the federal occupiers.
The primary object was to people the plantations with former slaves.
Establishing a “loyal population” along the river would secure steamboats on
the Mississippi from damage by enemy cannon and snipers concealed ashore
and thwart Confederate irregulars. Thomas also hoped “to accomplish much, in
demonstrating that the freed negro may be profitably employed by enterprising
men.” Northern businessmen “of enterprise and capital” would lease and run the
plantations, paying an able-bodied black man seven dollars a month, a woman
32 OR, ser. 1, vol. 24, pt. 3, p. 22; ser. 3, 3: 117 (“the policy”), 202 (“well equipped”). Frederick
H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959 [1909]),
pp. 494–95; Brig Gen L. Thomas to Maj Gen F. Steele, 15 Apr 1863 (“without regard”), Entry
159BB, RG 94, NA; List of Ofcrs, 7 Apr 63, 46th United States Colored Infantry (USCI), Entry 57C,
Regimental Papers, RG 94, NA.
33 OR, ser. 1, vol. 24, pt. 3, p. 29; ser. 3, 3: 121. Brig Gen L. Thomas to Col R. H. Ballinger, 20
May 1863, Entry 159BB; Special Orders (SO) 10, 15 Apr 1863, 48th USCI; List of Ofcrs, 10 Apr
1863, 47th USCI; Capt S. B. Ferguson to Lt Col J. A. Rawlins, 3 Jul 1863, 49th USCI; List of Ofcrs,
n.d., 51st USCI; Col G. M. Ziegler to Brig Gen L. Thomas, 5 Aug 1863, 52d USCI; Capt R. H.
Ballinger to [Brig Gen J. P. Osterhaus], 19 May 1863, 53d USCI, misfiled with 51st USCI; Dist of
Corinth, SO 189, 18 May 1863, 55th USCI; all in Entry 57C, RG 94, NA.