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
soldier much readier than I anticipated,” he wrote, which was not surprising in
the light of his low expectations. 38
Evans’ father did not sanction his son’s decision. “So far as a sense of duty
is concerned I feel perfectly easy,” Evans wrote to his brother.
But I cannot be as well satisfied as if I had his approval. . . . When I was a private
in the 70th I . . . was then doing my duty or what I thought was. Now duty calls
me . . . to take a place where I could do more good [or] rather make a class of
Human beings who were an expense to the Government of an advantage. . . . In
the mean time I [would] be pleased if Father were better satisfied. I am sure no
one thinks any the less of him because I am where I am. . . . In a logical point of
view what is the conclusion we arrive at? That a Negro is no better than a white
man and has just as good a right to fight for his freedom and the government.
Some body must direct [these] men. Shall I require . . . some one to do what I
would not myself condescend to do[?]
After a month of drilling his company, sometimes commanding it while the other
officers made recruiting trips through the surrounding country, Evans told his
father, “I am pretty well satisfied that Negros can be made to fight.” 39
While Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign was in preparation, Sgt. William M.
Parkinson of the 11th Illinois complained about the duties his regiment had to
perform: “Working on the canal, standing Picket, & making roads. I cannot immagine
why they do not have negroes to do it, especially in a Country like this,
Where every person is secesh and have plenty of negroes, and why not take them
and put them at work[?]” Parkinson thought the Emancipation Proclamation “does
the negro neither harm nor good. . . . I am in favor of taking every negro, & making
him fight.” When he accepted an appointment in the 8th Louisiana (AD), he asked
his wife and daughter: “Now Sarah what do you think of William M. Parkinson,
being Captain of a negro Regt[?] Zetty, what do you say to it, ain’t you afraid your
pa will get black[?] Sometimes I think I did wrong in offering myself, but I am
into it now and if I succeed in raising about seventy darkeys, I will be a Captain.”
Parkinson got his recruits, became a captain, and after a few days’ drill, wrote that
the men “learn very fast, faster than any white men I ever saw.” 40
When Sgt. Jacob Bruner of the 68th Ohio wrote to his wife from Mississippi
in the first week of January 1863, he was more concerned with whether General
Sherman’s Chickasaw Bluffs expedition would lead to the fall of Vicksburg and an
early Confederate collapse than he was with emancipation. “For my part I do not
care whether they are free or not. . . . [I]f general emancipation takes place they
will swarm to the north by thousands much to the detriment of poor white laborers.
I hold it is the imperative duty of the United States government to send them
38 S. Evans to Dear Father, 17 May 1863, Evans Family Papers, Ohio Historical Society (OHS),
Columbus.
39 S. Evans to Dear Brother, 9 Jun 1863 (“So far as”); S. Evans to Dear Father, 14 Jun 1863 (“I
am pretty”); both in Evans Family Papers.
40 W. M. Parkinson to ——, 11 Feb 1863 (“Working on”); to Sarah Ann, 24 Feb 1863 (“does the
negro”); to Dear Sarah, 13 Apr 1863 (“Now Sarah”); to Sarah Ann, 19 Apr 1863 (“learn very”); all
in W. M. Parkinson Letters, Emory University, Atlanta.