CHAPTER XXV.

COLORED REGIMENTS.

Fifty-fourth.Its Organization. - History of the Movement.

Embarkation.-In South Carolina and Georgia. - Morris Island. - Forts Wagner and Gregg. In Florida.· Battle of Olustee. - Expedition to James Island. Guarding the Rebel Officers at the Forts. Refuse Pay. Action of the Massachusetts Legislature. - Receive full Pay. Join Blair's Corps.- Mustered out. - - Anecdote of Sergeant Carney. - Fiftyfifth. Roster of Officers. Col. Hallowell's Report. In Florida. - Advance upon Charleston. Expedition up Broad River.- Battle of Honey Hill. In the Vicinity of Charleston. - Return Home.

THE

FIFTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.

THE Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment began recruiting in February, 1863, in Boston. A camp was opened at Readville with a squad of twenty-seven men.

We give the record of this movement in Massachusetts, recognizing as never before the manhood and essential equality of all races, in a few paragraphs from State papers on this subject:

An almost impenetrable wall of prejudice had been reared against the employment of colored men in military service. It was said they could not be made soldiers; that they could not fight; that to employ them would prolong the war; that white soldiers would not serve in the same army with them; and that they would prove a source of demoralization to our armies in the field, and of civil discord in the loyal States, which would prove ruinous to the Union cause. Some who held these opinions doubtless entertained them honestly; but a majority of the leaders who gave expression to them were probably influenced more by party and personal considerations than by any sincere convictions that a man with a black skin could not be made a brave and valuable soldier. There were also among the unconditionally loyal people those who doubted the expediency of raising colored troops, lest it should cause the ruin and disaster which the prophets of evil so confidently and continually predicted.

It required calm foresight, thorough knowledge of our condition, earnest conviction, faith in men, faith in the cause, and undaunted courage, to stem the various currents which set in, and flooded the land, against employing the black man as a soldier. In the Executive of Massachusetts was found a man

who possessed the qualifications necessary to stem these currents, and to wisely inaugurate, and peacefully carry out to a successful termination, the experiment of recruiting regiments of colored men.

The authority to raise these two Massachusetts regiments of colored men was received from the Secretary of War, by an order dated Washington City, Jan. 26, 1863, as follows: :

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 27, 1863.

Capt. J. B. COLLINS, United-States Army, Mustering and Disbursing
Officer, Boston, Mass.

Sir,The following has been received from the Secretary of War, and is respectfully communicated for your information and guidance :

War Department, Washington CITY, Jan. 26, 1363. Ordered, That Gov. Andrew, of Massachusetts, is authorized, until further orders, to raise such number of volunteers, companies of artillery, for duty in the forts of Massachusetts and elsewhere, and such corps of infantry for the volunteer military service, as he may find convenient; such volunteers to be enlisted for three years, or until sooner discharged, and may include persons of African descent, organized into special corps. He will make the usual needful requisitions on the appropriate staff bureaus and officers for the proper transportation, organization, supplies, subsistence, arms, and equip ments of such volunteers.

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

Massachusetts accepted the honor of being the first loyal State to recruit a regiment of colored men for military service in the war. Other States followed the example, and sent colored troops into the field, who mingled freely with white soldiers in the duties of the camp and in the scenes of bloody strife. The commissioned officers of the Fifty-fourth were white men, and great care was exercised in their selection. The field-officers were as follows:

The regiment left Camp Meigs, for the front, May 28, 1863. It was a memorable spectacle, when, on that beautiful spring day, the Fifty-fourth was reviewed by the Governor, to whom it was the proudest day of his life; while thousands of spectators witnessed

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the fine discipline of the troops, and their prompt obedience to orders; and when they marched to the wharf to embark on board a United-States transport, amid the cheers of the vast concourse, there was a moral grandeur in the scene, seldom witnessed on such occasions. The regiment arrived at Hilton Head, S.C., June 3, and reported to Major-Gen. David Hunter; thence to Beaufort, and next to Thompson's Island; and, on the 8th of June, to St. Simon's Island, in Georgia, where it arrived at noon, and reported to Col. Montgomery. Two companies were left here to guard the camp, and the other eight formed part of an expedition up the Altamaha. The troops arrived at Darien on the 11th, and took possession of the town, seizing as a prize a schooner loaded with

cotton..

On the 14th, they made an expedition to James Island. On the 16th, the pickets were driven in by a force of the enemy; and two companies, being cut off from the picket reserve, made a desperate resistance, and the most of them succeeded in cutting their way back to the main body. At night they evacuated the island, and next morning reached Cole Island, and thence were ordered to report to Gen. Strong at Morris Island. This was effected with six hundred and fifty men on the 18th. On the evening of this day, the assault on Fort Wagner was made. The regiment charged over a distance of sixteen hundred yards, attacked the fort, and was repulsed, after the most desperate effort to hold the position gained on the parapet. The loss was severe in both officers and men, amounting to twenty-one killed, and two hundred and forty missing and wounded. Among the killed was the noble and generous Col. Shaw, of whom an extended notice will be found in another part of this volume. After this repulse, the regiment rallied, and acted as pickets in advance of the lines until morning.

On the 24th, it was assigned to the command of Col. M. S. Littlefield, and encamped near the landing, Morris Island.

During the time Col. Littlefield had command, all the effective men of the regiment were detailed for fatigue-duty in the trenches before Fort Wagner.

Their work was with the spade, and was performed under a severe fire from the enemy's sharpshooters. During the siege, the regiment lost four men. It was at the front the night Forts Wagner and Gregg were taken, and was among the first to enter the enemy's works. Its services were called into requisition in remodelling these forts. This work was done under a severe fire from the enemy's guns on James and Sullivan's Islands. For

five months following the attack on Fort Wagner, the Fifty-fourth was engaged in picket and fatigue duty. Col. E. N. Hallowell, having recovered from the wounds received on the night of the 18th of July, returned, and took command of the regiment, Oct. 17. It remained on Morris Island until the 28th of January, 1864; when it left to take part in an expedition to Florida, under command of Brig.-Gen. Seymour. The expedition sailed on the 5th of February from Hilton Head, and arrived at Jacksonville, Fla., next day. The Fifty-fourth was the first to land; received the fire of the enemy's pickets, and drove them from the town. On the 20th, it took part in the battle at Olustee; and, as it constituted the reserve in the fight, it was the last to leave the field, and covered the retreat. On the evening of the 22d, the regiment reached Jacksonville; having marched one hundred and twenty miles in one hundred and two hours, and at roll-call showed no stragglers.

Its loss in that battle was, in killed, wounded, and missing, eighty-seven officers and men. The Fifty-fourth entered this fight with the cry, "Three cheers for Massachusetts, and seven dollars a month!"

It remained at Jacksonville until the 17th of April, when it returned to Morris Island, and encamped within range of the enemy's guns. July 1, it comprised part of Gen. Foster's force in an expedition to James Island.

On the 2d, it held the skirmish-line on the ground which was the scene of its maiden fight the year previous. The day is memorable for its intense heat. Fifty men from this regiment alone were carried on stretchers from the skirmish-line to the rear, sunstruck.

On the 10th, the Fifty-fourth returned to Morris Island.

On the 7th of September, six companies of this regiment were specially detailed to guard six hundred rebel officers sent to Morris Island, and placed under fire by the United-States Government, in retaliation for the same number of our prisoners in Charleston exposed to the fire of our guns. The rebel officers were confined in a large open pen to the north of Fort Wagner, and within canister-range of the guns. The guard-duty was severe, and the utmost vigilance was necessary. None of the prisoners escaped. On the 20th of October, they were removed, and the regiment resumed its siege-duties.

An act of Congress was passed July 16, 1862, designed to apply to the employment of contrabands in camp service in

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453

the intrenchments, or in performing any other labor in connection with the army; limiting their wages to ten dollars per month. Understanding that law as applicable to colored troops, the paymaster refused to allow the men of the Fifty-fourth any more than that sum, exclusive of clothing. The men of African descent, some of whom bore no traces of their origin in their complexions, with proper self-respect refused to accept the wages of the contraband. The Legislature of Massachusetts, upon the recommendation of the Governor, interposed, and voted to make up the deficiency in the wages. They accordingly appointed Major Sturgis paymaster, under orders to proceed at once to the camps of the colored soldiers.

The men, though needing every dollar of the just reward of their services, with a sense of propriety, and true regard for their own manhood, rejected the offer of such compensation, preferring to wait until the Government conceded their rights, and recognized their equality with the rest of the troops of the Union army.

An extensive correspondence followed between Gov. Andrew and the President, Attorney-General, and members of Congress, in which the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth ably and successfully advocated the cause of the colored soldiers. The barriers of prejudice gave way; and one of the proudest triumphs of statesmanship and philanthropy crowned the exhaustive discussion of the legal status of the citizen soldiery of the State, whose only fault was the color of their skin.

On the 28th of September, every man of the regiment received from the United-States Government thirteen dollars per month, dating from his enlistment. The soldiers of the Fifty-fourth were at last recognized as men.

The regiment became incorporated with the coast division, under Gen. Hatch, and on the last day of November marched inland, and engaged the enemy at Honey Hill. During the month of December, the regiment was at Devaux and Graham's Necks.

Jan. 15, 1865, it made a connection with Blair's corps of Sherman's army, and, from this time until the 27th of February, skirmished nearly every day, but without serious loss. On the evacuation of Charleston by the rebels, the two companies left at Morris Island took possession of the city, Feb. 18. Thus this citadel of the Rebellion was first guarded by loyal colored soldiers. Meanwhile the commissioning, and mustering into the service of the United States, Sergeant Stephen A. Swails, as second lieutenant, for gallantry in the battle of Olustee, was a most gratify