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
Augusta, Georgia, men of the 33d USCI looted houses. Thefts from garden plots
near Brookhaven and Vicksburg, Mississippi, became frequent as soldiers of the
58th and 108th USCIs tried to supplement the inadequate Army ration. An officer
at Brookhaven recognized the connection. “It is absolutely necessary in order to
maintain discipline, and prevent depredation,” he urged, “that supplies should be
forwarded more regularly.” Neither black nor white civilians were exempt from
pillage. In Nashville, a black street vendor complained to the Bureau that men
of the 15th USCI “forceably took from him watermelons” valued at twenty-one
dollars. A lieutenant of the 101st USCI serving as Freedmen’s Bureau agent at
Gallatin, Tennessee, wrote to the assistant commissioner to request the removal of
one company from his own regiment and the assignment of another to the garrison
there. The discipline of the company he wanted removed was so lax, he explained,
“that it is utterly impossible to have them perform their various duties correctly.
When they are sent on duty away from the Post, they cannot be depended upon.
Their lawless acts are becoming a disgrace to the public service.” 30
While black soldiers used their off-duty hours to supplement their diet,
often at the expense of black and white civilians, they also helped neighboring
freedpeople adjust to their new status, both with advice and in more substantial
ways. At Helena, Arkansas, men of the 56th USCI cleared ground and erected
buildings for an orphanage; at Okolona, Mississippi, black civilians elected two
noncommissioned officers of the 108th USCI as their financial agents in starting
a school. Enlisted men and officers of the 62d and 65th USCIs—originally
the 1st and 2d Missouri Infantries (African Descent)—raised $5,346 toward
the founding of the Lincoln Institute, the forerunner of Lincoln University, in
Jefferson City. 31
The shortage of officers in the black regiments was one reason for a lack
of discipline that many observers noticed. This problem became apparent as
soon as the fighting died down and the troops took up occupation duties. Even
before the Freedmen’s Bureau organized fully, an inspector at New Orleans
warned that “a large number of officers” of the 81st USCI “have been detached
and placed on duties in this city,” in addition to five assigned to various staff
jobs at Port Hudson. “The 81st is a very fine regiment,” he wrote, “and should
have the requisite number of officers to maintain its present reputation by constant
attention.” Three days after the inspector’s warning, a general in Louisi-
roll 34. Instances of misbehavior by troops of another American occupying force are in Earl F.
Ziemke, The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946, U.S. Army in World War II
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1975), pp. 323–25, 421–23.
30 Capt H. Sweeney to 1st Lt S. J. Clark, 13 Jul 1865, 56th USCI; Maj L. Raynolds to 1st Lt J.
A. Stevens, 6 Sep 1865, 58th USCI; 1st Lt C. Wright to Commanding Officer (CO), 108th USCI, 10
Jul 1865, and 2d Lt A. F. Cook to CO, 108th USCI, 30 Aug 1865, both in 108th USCI; Endorsement,
Lt Col N. S. Gilson, 21 Sep 1865, on Maj L. Raynolds to Lt Col J. W. Miller, 19 Sep 1865 (R–137–
DM–1865), 58th USCI; all in Entry 57C, RG 94, NA. 1st Lt A. J. Harding to Col R. W. Barnard, 16
Aug 1865 (“forceably took”), NA T142, roll 27; Brig Gen E. L. Molineux to Maj W. L. M. Burger, 22
Jun 1865, Entry 4109, Dept of the South, LR, pt. 1, RG 393, NA; 1st Lt A. L. Hawkins to Brig Gen
C. B. Fisk, 2 Sep 1865 (H–102 1/2) (“that it is”), NA T142, roll 26.
31 1st Lt S. J. Clark to J. Dickenson and T. Harrison, 11 Jun 1866, 56th USCI, Regimental Books,
RG 94, NA; HQ 108th USCI, Regimental Order 137, 25 Oct 1865, 108th USCI, Regimental Books, RG
94, NA; W. Sherman Savage, The History of Lincoln University (Jefferson City, Mo.: Lincoln University,
1939), pp. 2–3.