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22 Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862–1867 54th Massachusetts came under fire for the first time. Seven months later in northern Florida, none of Seymour’s superiors or subordinates was sure why he pushed his force so far forward, resulting in the defeat at Olustee in February 1864. This time, his troops included three black regiments, the 8th and 35th USCIs, as well as the 54th Massachusetts. He was relieved from command and sent to Virginia, where he fell into Confederate hands during the spring offensive there. “They are welcome to him,” wrote Capt. John W. M. Appleton of the 54th Massachusetts when news of Seymour’s capture reached him. “Incompetence, rashness and imbecility” were the traits Appleton saw in Seymour. 50 A letter that Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck sent to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in April 1864, when the two were considering possible commanders for the Department of the South and the Union garrison at Memphis, exemplifies the difficulty of finding suitable generals. “To defend [the Sea Islands] properly we want a general there of experience and military education,” Halleck wrote: My own opinion of [Maj. Gen. Stephen A.] Hurlbut has been favorable, but I do not deem him equal to the command of the Department of the South. . . . [Brig. Gen. John P.] Hatch is hardly the man for the place, but probably he is the best that can now be spared from the field. . . . I think [Maj. Gen. David] Hunter . . . is even worse than [Maj. Gen. John A.] McClernand in creating difficulties. If you had him in the field under your immediate command perhaps things would go smoothly. Before acting on General Hunter’s case it would be well for you to see his correspondence while in command of a department. Hurlbut was an Illinois politician who commanded the garrison of Memphis, which included many locally recruited black soldiers; General Sherman was unwilling to have him as a subordinate in the field. Hatch was a professional soldier who had commanded a division in the Army of the Potomac and who, at the time Halleck wrote, was commanding the District of Florida in the Department of the South. Hunter was a lifelong soldier who had already commanded the Department of the South twice and been relieved twice; his unauthorized enlistment of black South Carolinians in 1862 had embarrassed the Lincoln administration. Mc- Clernand was another political general from Illinois whose penchant for lying and boasting had led Grant to relieve him during the Vicksburg Campaign. Such were the senior officers available to command the geographical departments and districts where many black soldiers served. Problems of administration, personnel, and national politics exacerbated the trials the new black regiments faced. 51 Despite these difficulties, the U.S. Colored Troops managed to field more than 101,000 officers and enlisted men on average during the spring of 1865— nearly 15 percent of the Union’s total land force as the fighting drew to a close. Far from performing only garrison duty, as the president and Congress first imagined they would, black soldiers’ service included every kind of operation that Union armies undertook during the war: offensive and defensive battles, 50 OR, ser. 1, vol. 35, pt. 1, pp. 277, 285–86, 290–91; J. W. M. Appleton Jnl photocopy, pp. 175, 225, MHI. 51 OR, ser. 1, vol. 35, pt. 2, pp. 46, 48 (“To defend”).
Mustering In—Federal Policy on Emancipation and Recruitment 23 sieges, riverine and coastal expeditions, and cavalry raids. The fluid nature of the war that both sides conducted and the vast and varied country that they fought over guaranteed something more active than garrison duty. 52 52 Mean strength calculated from figures in Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 2 vols. in 6 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1870), vol. 1, pt. 1, pp. 605, 685.
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Page 5 and 6: ARMY HISTORICAL SERIES FREEDOM BY T
Page 7: ARMY HISTORICAL SERIES Reina J. Pen
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72 Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. C
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SOUTH CAROLINA A R K A N S A S Sava
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100 Freedom by the Sword: The U.S.
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Chapter 5 Southern Louisiana and th
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Southern Louisiana and the Gulf Coa
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Chapter 6 The Mississippi River and
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The Mississippi River and its Tribu
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Table 1—Black Regiments Organized
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Chapter 7 Along the Mississippi Riv
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Along the Mississippi River, 1863-1
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Chapter 8 Arkansas, Indian Territor
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Arkansas, Indian Territory, and Kan
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Artists’ representations of stati
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Chapter 9 Middle Tennessee, Alabama
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Middle Tennessee, Alabama, and Geor
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Chapter 10 North Carolina and Virgi
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North Carolina and Virginia, 1861-1
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Chapter 11 Virginia, May-October 18
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Virginia, May-October 1864 337 of b
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Virginia, May-October 1864 339 Much
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Virginia, May-October 1864 341 sixt
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Virginia, May-October 1864 343 to c
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Virginia, May-October 1864 345 Disp
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Virginia, May-October 1864 347 Many
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Virginia, May-October 1864 349 some
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Virginia, May-October 1864 351 This
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Virginia, May-October 1864 353 ers
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Virginia, May-October 1864 355 not
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Virginia, May-October 1864 357 move
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Virginia, May-October 1864 359 & ba
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Virginia, May-October 1864 361 thei
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Virginia, May-October 1864 363 with
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Virginia, May-October 1864 365 The
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Virginia, May-October 1864 367 any
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Virginia, May-October 1864 369 proa
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Virginia, May-October 1864 371 ence
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Virginia, May-October 1864 373 Mary
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Virginia, May-October 1864 375 Terr
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Virginia, May-October 1864 377 rest
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Chapter 12 Kentucky, North Carolina
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Chapter 13 South Texas, 1864-1867 W
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South Texas, 1864-1867 427 Brownsvi
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South Texas, 1864-1867 429 a year e
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South Texas, 1864-1867 431 Magruder
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South Texas, 1864-1867 433 the retr
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South Texas, 1864-1867 435 water wh
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South Texas, 1864-1867 437 cleared
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South Texas, 1864-1867 439 ther nor
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South Texas, 1864-1867 441 supposed
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South Texas, 1864-1867 443 a set of
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Table 4—General Weitzel’s Ranki
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South Texas, 1864-1867 447 way, bes
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South Texas, 1864-1867 449 Palm tre
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South Texas, 1864-1867 451 ists eva
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South Texas, 1864-1867 453 were to
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Chapter 14 Reconstruction, 1865-186
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CC uu mm bb RR erland erland ugh ep
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 459 the q
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 463 corn.
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 465 way t
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 467 The 1
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 469 us ex
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 471 ana l
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 473 gone
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Table 5—Muster-out Dates of Black
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 477 honor
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 479 thori
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 485 lesse
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 487 towns
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 489 to Cu
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 493 manne
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Reconstruction, 1865-1867 495 depar
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Chapter 15 Conclusion Although the
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Conclusion 499 than twelve thousand
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Conclusion 501 Americans on the pat
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Conclusion 503 railroad constructio
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Conclusion 505 to load and fire the
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Adams, Col. Charles F., 422 Adams,
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Index 539 Brown, 1st Lt. Matthew C.
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Index 541 Fleetwood, Sgt. Maj. Chri
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Index 543 Irwin, Lt. Col. Richard B
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Index 545 Moon, Capt. Lewis, 450 Mo
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Index 547 Rickard, Capt. James H.,
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Index 549 X, 70, 345, 369-70, 373,
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Index 551 64th USCI (7th Louisiana)
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Index 553 345, 354-55, 358, 367, 36
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