Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

Mustering In—Federal Policy on Emancipation and Recruitment 13
had their own ideas about a smaller optimum size for Colored Troops regiments, but
the War Department eventually ordered them to conform to the national standard. 25
A new black regiment usually recruited its men and completed its organization
in one place. Along the edge of the Confederacy, cities and army posts from Baltimore,
Maryland, to Fort Scott, Kansas, drew tens of thousands of black people
seeking refuge from slavery and were good recruiting grounds. So were towns in
the Confederate interior that Union troops had occupied by the summer of 1863,
such as La Grange, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi. As Union armies expanded
their areas of operation, large posts also sprang up at places like Camp Nelson, Kentucky,
and Port Hudson, Louisiana, in territory previously untouched by Union recruiters.
Regiments organized in the free states secured volunteers without resorting
to impressment or disturbing the local labor market, as sometimes happened in the
occupied South when recruiters competed for men with Army quartermasters and
engineering officers and the Navy, as well as with plantation owners and lessees.
This rivalry caused friction between officials who wore the same uniform and strove
for the same cause. 26
Prevailing racial attitudes dictated that white men would lead the new regiments.
An important practical consideration was the need for men with military
experience, and identifiably black men had been barred from enlistment until late
in 1862. Political advantage also weighed heavily with governors who appointed
officers in regiments raised in Northern states. In most of these states, black
residents lacked the vote and other civil rights and were of little consequence
politically. All these factors, especially the possibility that white soldiers might
have to take orders from a black man of superior rank, pointed toward an allwhite
officer corps.
The first step in becoming an officer of Colored Troops was to secure an appointment.
Most applicants came directly from state volunteer regiments or had previous
service in militia or short-term volunteer units. Those who were already officers attained
field grade in the Colored Troops, while noncommissioned officers and privates
became company officers. At Lake Providence, Louisiana, Adjutant General
Thomas addressed two divisions of the XVII Corps in April 1863 and asked each
to provide enough officer candidates for two Colored Troops regiments. The vacancies
filled within days. Two years later, when the XVII Corps had marched through
the Carolinas and was about to reorganize its black road builders as the 135th USCI,
25 AGO, General Orders (GO) 110, 29 Apr 1863, set the standards for volunteer regiments. OR,
ser. 3, 3: 175; see also 4: 205–06 (Banks); Maj C. W. Foster to Col H. Barnes, 7 Jan 1864, Entry 352,
RG 94, NA; Brig Gen J. P. Hawkins to Brig Gen L. Thomas, 19 Aug 1864 (H–48–AG–1864), Entry
363, LR by Adj Gen L. Thomas, RG 94, NA. Because regiments of infantry far outnumbered all other
types throughout the federal army, state infantry regiments will be referred to simply as, for instance,
“the 29th Connecticut” (black) or “the 8th Maine” (white). Other regiments will receive more complete
identification, as with “the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry” (black) or “the 1st New York Engineers” (white).
26 The 4th, 7th, and 39th USCIs organized at Baltimore; the 1st and part of the 2d Kansas
Colored Infantry, which became the 79th (New) USCI and 83d (New) USCI, at Fort Scott. Natchez
was home to the 6th United States Colored Artillery (USCA) and the 58th, 70th, and part of the
71st USCIs; La Grange, to the 59th, 61st, and part of the 11th (New) USCIs. The 5th and 6th U.S.
Colored Cavalry; 12th and 13th USCAs; and 114th, 116th, 119th, and 124th USCIs organized at
Camp Nelson. The 78th, 79th (Old), 80th, 81st, 82d, 83d (Old), 84th, 88th (Old), and 89th USCIs
organized at Port Hudson. ORVF, 8: 145–46, 154, 161–63, 172, 176, 182, 212, 231–32, 234, 243–44,
254–63, 269, 271, 295, 297, 300, 305.