Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

192
Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862–1867
federal officials in Arkansas and Kansas managed to organize a second regiment
of black infantry in each state. 5
Since procedures for recruiting troops and appointing officers did not change
after the fall of Vicksburg, problems that had dogged these endeavors from the start
persisted. The 12th Louisiana Infantry (AD) got off to an especially bad beginning,
and the record of its first two months is worth quoting as an example of what could
go wrong. “The reg[iment] was made up mostly from 800 recruits from Natchez,
Miss., who arrived in camp in a half famished condition,” the adjutant recorded on
the bimonthly muster roll for July and August. “They were badly clothed without
blankets or tents but these things were [soon] supplied; in the meantime we had
rainy & bad weather.” In mid-August, thirteen sick men died in one day. “Many
[recruits] both sick and well became frightened and left without leave. . . . Numbers
died, whom we failed to identify by name or the company to which they
belonged.” Still, the adjutant wrote at the end of the month, “Our hospital arrangements
are now good. We are well supplied with . . . clothing & commissary stores
and the men are getting pleased with their new mode of life.” 6
Rather than adapt readily to army life, some enlisted men accused recruiters of
kidnapping them from their home plantations. Officers denied the charge. Soldiers
missed their families, the commanding officer of the 8th Louisiana (AD) wrote,
and “will resort to almost any means to get back to see them and . . . this motive
went far to cause them to make the declarations they did as to their being forced
into the service.” Brig. Gen. John P. Hawkins, back from sick leave and again in
command of the African Brigade at Goodrich’s Landing, Louisiana, reported in
October that the 1st Arkansas Infantry (AD) “was raised at Helena [Arkansas] and
have left behind them their wives and children and naturally they are very anxious
about them. . . . If these husbands can be near their families they will do a great
deal towards taking care of them and thus relieve the Government of their support.
I think it would be a matter of humanity to let this change be made.” The federal
army camp at Goodrich’s Landing lay south of Lake Providence, more than one
hundred fifty miles downriver from Helena. General Hawkins’ recommendation
echoed that of the plantation commissioner, Samuel Sawyer, who had wanted the
1st Arkansas (AD) returned to Helena two months earlier to guard cotton pickers,
but the humanitarian concerns of a general counted for no more than a civilian official’s
fears for the safety of his workers and their crop. The men of the 1st Arkansas
did not see their homes again until February 1866. 7
New black regiments along the Mississippi, like those on the Atlantic and Gulf
Coasts, continued to draw their officers from whatever white regiments happened
to be at hand. Thus, all but one of the twenty-seven enlisted men who became
5 Ibid., pp. 1000, 1187, 1214, 1343–44, 1642.
6 National Archives (NA) Microfilm Pub M594, Compiled Rcds Showing Svc of Mil Units in
Volunteer Union Organizations, roll 210, 50th United States Colored Infantry (USCI).
7 Col H. Scofield to AAG [Assistant Adjutant General] Dist of Northeast Louisiana, 19 Jul 1863
(“will resort”) (S–463–B–DT–1863), Entry 4720, Dept of the Tennessee, Letters Received (LR), pt.
1, Rcds of Geographical Divs and Depts, Record Group (RG) 393, Rcds of U.S. Army Continental
Cmds, NA; Brig Gen J. P. Hawkins to Brig Gen J. A. Rawlins, 8 Oct 1863 (“was raised”) (H–34–
17AC–1863), Entry 6300, XVII Corps, Ltrs, Rpts, and Orders Received, pt. 2, Rcds of Polyonymous
Cmds, RG 393, NA; S. Sawyer to Brig Gen L. Thomas, 16 Aug 1863, 46th USCI, Entry 57C,