Contents
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FOREWORD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi
THE AUTHOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xii
PREFACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii
Chapter
1. Mustering In—Federal Policy on Emancipation and Recruitment. . . . . . .1
2. The South Atlantic Coast, 1861–1863. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3. The South Atlantic Coast, 1863–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
4. Southern Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, 1862–1863. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
5. Southern Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, 1863–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
6. The Mississippi River and Its Tributaries, 1861–1863. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
7. Along the Mississippi River, 1863–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
8. Arkansas, Indian Territory, and Kansas, 1863–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229
9. Middle Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, 1863–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259
10. North Carolina and Virginia, 1861–1864. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299
11. Virginia, May–October 1864. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335
12. Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia, 1864–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .381
13. South Texas, 1864–1867. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .425
14. Reconstruction, 1865–1867. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .455
15. Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .497
Bibliographical Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507
Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .533
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .537
Tables
No.
1. Black Regiments Organized by General Thomas, May–December 1863. . . . . .179
2. XXV Corps Order of Battle, 3 December 1864. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .402
3. XXV Corps in the Appomattox Campaign, 27 March–9 April 1865. . . . . . .414
4. General Weitzel’s Ranking of Regiments in XXV Corps, November 1865. . . .445
5. Muster-Out Dates of Black Regiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .474
Maps
1. South Atlantic Coast, 1861–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2. The Gulf Coast, 1861–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3. Mississippi River and Its Tributaries, 1861–1863. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
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4. Along the Mississippi River, 1861–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
5. West of the Mississippi River, 1863–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
6. Tennessee and Alabama, 1861–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
7. North Carolina and Virginia, 1861–1864. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
8. Virginia, 1864–1865. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
9. South Texas, 1864–1867. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
10. Reconstruction, 1865–1867. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
Illustrations
Inscription on medal struck for black soldiers in the Army of the James, 1864 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Frontispiece
Union depot at City Point, Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Slaves building a Confederate battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Pvt. Hubbard Pryor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Market scene at Beaufort, South Carolina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Members of Company A, 1st South Carolina, take the oath at Beaufort. . . . . 33
Cypress swamp on Port Royal Island, South Carolina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton’s headquarters at Beaufort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Col. James Montgomery’s raid up the Combahee River. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Bird’s eye view of Charleston Harbor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Capt. John W. M. Appleton as a private in the Massachusetts militia and as
an officer of the 54th Massachusetts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Sgt. Maj. Lewis Douglass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Men of the 54th Massachusetts and the 1st New York Engineers in a
trench on James Island, Charleston Harbor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Men of the 54th Massachusetts at Fort Wagner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
An encounter between Confederates and the 1st South Carolina. . . . . . . . . . . 62
Col. James C. Beecher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Officers and men of the 29th Connecticut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
James M. Trotter as a second lieutenant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Typical country road throughout the South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Ruins of Charleston after the Confederate evacuation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Col. Nathan W. Daniels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Port Hudson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
The Louisiana Native Guards’ assault on Port Hudson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Fort Jackson, Louisiana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Soldiers from one of the Corps d’Afrique engineer regiments . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
The Red River Expedition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
The Red River Dam and Alexandria, Louisiana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Morganza, Louisiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Col. Hiram Scofield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
A patrol tries to thwart a suspected escape to Union lines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Union troops occupied Lake Providence, Louisiana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170ix
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Vicksburg, Mississippi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Col. Embury D. Osband. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Brig. Gen. John P. Hawkins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Federal shipping where the Yazoo River empties into the Mississippi. . . . . . . 200
Col. Edward Bouton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Maj. Jeremiah B. Cook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Helena, Arkansas, submerged by a flood in 1864. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Union outpost at Fort Smith, Arkansas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Col. Samuel J. Crawford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Nashville was a rail center essential to Union advances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Railroad bridge over Elk River. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Black recruits in Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Part of the country in east-central Tennessee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
A typical federal blockhouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Dalton, Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Union troops aboard a train in northern Georgia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Part of the Nashville battlefield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Sgt. Henry J. Maxwell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
New Berne headquarters of the Superintendent of the Poor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
The 20th U.S. Colored Infantry receives its regimental colors. . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Philadelphia recruits in early 1864. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
General Wild led five black regiments through northeastern North Carolina. . . . .321
Charles City Court House. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Libby Prison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
The District of Columbia was still largely rural during the Civil War. . . . . . . 339
Belle Plain, Virginia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Grisly relics of earlier fighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Slaves escaping to freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s progress up the James River. . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Many escaped slaves preferred to work as laborers rather than enlist
as soldiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Panoramic view of the ground across which the XVIII Corps attacked. . . . . . 350
Chaplain Henry M. Turner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Col. Delavan Bates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
The explosion of the Petersburg mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Confusion prevailed during the battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
The crater, not long after Union troops entered Petersburg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Camp of a black regiment from Ohio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Union troops attack the Confederate line north of the James River. . . . . . . . . 374
Terrain across which Union troops attacked on 29 September 1864. . . . . . . . 375
Christian A. Fleetwood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
An 1859 map shows the central position of Kentucky. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
White and black troops dig the Dutch Gap Canal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391x
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Swampy woods near Petersburg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Map of Fort Fisher and environs from the Official Atlas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Union transports in a heavy sea, en route to attack Wilmington,
North Carolina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
Fort Fisher, North Carolina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Recruiting agents from Northern states tried to enlist black Southerners. . . . 412
Richmond, Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
View of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Brownsville, Texas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Maj. Edelmiro Mayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Mexican port of Matamoros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
The pontoon bridge at Brownsville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Men of the 107th U.S. Colored Infantry in front of the guardhouse at
Fort Corcoran. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
The 113th U.S. Colored Infantry mustered out in April 1866. . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
The destruction of the shantytown near Fort Pickering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
Illustrations courtesy of the following sources: cover, 2, 4, 35, 38, 71, 73, 81, 84, 260, 276, 280, 293, 325, 327, 342 (top and bottom), 347, 350, 368, 374, 375, 379, 404, 417, 421, 467, Library of Congress; 27, 33, 62, 107, 118, 125, 163, 170, 200, 239 (top), 271, 288, 303, 311, 344, 412, 427, 449, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper; 12 (bottom), 46, 48, 321, 353, 360, 362, 486, 492, Harper’s Weekly; 50, 56, 60, 77, 105, 126 (top and bottom), 130, 173, 193, 195, 211, 221, 245, 264, 306, 340, 356, 397, 406, 452, 459, U.S. Army Military History Institute; 53, Howard University, Washington, D.C.; 12 (top), 101, 146, 239 (bottom), 296, 339, 365, 391, 439, National Archives; 114, Western Reserve Historical Society Library and Archives, Cleveland, Ohio; 233, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville; 273, Chicago Public Library; 313, Philadelphia recruits (http://people.virginia.edu/~jh3v/retouching history/figure1.html); 382, J. H. Colton, Colton’s Illustrated Cabinet Atlas and Descriptive Geography; 400, Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (vol. 1).xi