The Black Phalanx Part 10

General Banks' treatment of the negroes was so very different from that which they had received from Gen. Butler,--displacing the negro officers of the first three regiments organized,--that it rather checkmated recruiting, so much so that he found it necessary to resort to the provost guard to fill up regiments, as the following order indicates:

[Ill.u.s.tration: PROVOST GUARD SECURING CONSCRIPTS. Compelling all able-bodied men to join the army.]

Commission of Enrollment.

GENERAL ORDERS HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, No. 64. _New Orleans_, August 29, 1863.

I. Colonel JOHN S. CLARK, Major B. RUSH PLUMLY and Colonel GEORGE H. HANKS, are hereby appointed a Commission to regulate the Enrollment, Recruiting and Employment and Education of persons of color. All questions concerning the enlistment of troops for the Corps d'Afrique, the regulation of labor, or the government and education of negroes, will be referred to the decision of this commission, subject to the approval of the Commanding General of the Department.

II. No enlistments for the Corps d'Afrique will be authorized or permitted, except under regulations approved by this Commission.

III. _The Provost Marshal General will cause to be enrolled all able-bodied men of color in accordance with the Law of Conscription, and such number as may be required for the military defence of the Department, equally apportioned to the different parishes, will be enlisted for the military service under such regulations as the Commission may adopt.

Certificates of exemption will be furnished to those not enlisted, protecting them from arrest or other interference, except for crime._

IV. Soldiers of the Corps d'Afrique will not be allowed to leave their camps, or to wander through the parishes, except upon written permission, or in the company of their officers.

V. Unemployed persons of color, vagrants and camp loafers, will be arrested and employed upon the public works, by the Provost Marshal's Department, without other pay than their rations and clothing.

VI. Arrests of persons, and seizures of property, will not be made by colored soldiers, nor will they be charged with the custody of persons or property, except when under the command, and accompanied by duly authorized officers.

VII. Any injury or wrong done to the family of any soldier, on account of his being engaged in military service, will be summarily punished.

VIII. As far as practicable, the labor of persons not adapted to military service will be provided in subst.i.tution for that of enlisted men.

IX. All regulations. .h.i.therto established for the government of negroes, not inconsistent herewith, will be enforced by the Provost Marshals of the different parishes, under the direction of the Provost Marshal General.

BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS:

RICHARD B. IRWIN, _a.s.sistant Adjutant General._

In the department the actual number of negroes enlisted was never known, from the fact that a practice prevailed of putting a live negro in a dead one's place. For instance, if a company on picket or scouting lost ten men, the officer would immediately put ten new men in their places and have them answer to the dead men's names. I learn from very reliable sources that this was done in Virginia, also in Missouri and Tennessee.

If the exact number of men could be ascertained, instead of 180,000 it would doubtless be in the neighborhood of 220,000 who entered the ranks of the army. An order was issued which aimed to correct the habit and to prevent the drawing, by collusion, of the dead men's pay.

The date of the first organization of colored troops is a question of dispute, but it seems as if the question might be settled, either by the records of the War Department or the personal knowledge of those interested. Of course the muster of a regiment or company is the record of the War Department, but the muster by no means dates the organization of the troops.[16] For example, a colonel may have been commissioned July, 1862, and yet the muster of his regiment may be September 1862, and even later, by two months, as is the case in more than one instance.

It is just as fair to take the date of a soldier's enlistment as the date of the organization of a regiment, as that of the date of the order detailing an officer to recruit as the date of the colonel's commission.

The writer's discharge from the Second Reg't. Louisiana Native Guards credits him as enlisting on the 1st day of September, 1862; at this date the 1st Reg't. La. N. G. was in the field, in November the Second Regiment took the field, so that the date of the organization of the first regiment of colored troops was in September, 1862. Col. Higginson, says in his volume:

"Except the Louisiana soldiers mentioned,--of whom no detailed reports have, I think, been published,--my regiment was unquestionably the first mustered into the service of the United States; the first company mustered bearing date, November 7, 1862, and the others following in quick succession."

Save the regiments recruited in Kansas, South Carolina and New Orleans during the year 1862, nothing was done towards increasing the negro army, but in January 1863, when the policy of the Government was changed and the Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation foreshadowed the employment of negroes in the armed service, an activity such as had not been witnessed since the beginning of the war became apparent. Many officers without commands, and some with, but who sought promotion, were eager to be allowed to organize a regiment, a battalion or a brigade of negro troops. Mr. Lincoln found it necessary in less than six months after issuing his Proclamation of Freedom, to put the whole matter of negro soldiers into the hands of a board.[17] Ambition, as ambition will, smothered many a white man's prejudice and caused more than one West Pointer to forget his political education. This order was issued:

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, _Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C._, January 13th, 1863.

BRIGADIER GENERAL D. ULLMAN, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.

SIR:--By direction of the Secretary of War you are hereby authorized to raise a Brigade of (four regiments) of Louisiana Volunteer Infantry, to be recruited in that State to serve for three years or during the War.

Each regiment of said Brigade will be organized as prescribed in General orders No. 126, series of 1862, from this office.

The recruitment will be conducted in accordance with the rules of the service, and the orders of the War Department, and by the said department all appointments of officers will be made.

All musters will be made in strict conformity to Paragraph 86 Revised Mustering Regulations of 1862.

I am, Very Respectfully Your Obedient Servant, THOMAS M. VINCENT, _a.s.st. Adjt. Gen'l._

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C._, March 24, 1863.

BRIG. GENERAL ULLMAN, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.

GENERAL:--By direction of the Secretary of War, you are hereby authorized to raise a Battalion (six companies) of Louisiana Volunteer Infantry to be used for scouting purposes, to be recruited in that State, and to serve for three years or during the war.

The said force will be organized as prescribed in Paragraph 83, Mustering Regulations.

The recruitment will be conducted in accordance with the rules of the service, and the orders of the War Department, and by the said Department all appointments of officers will be made.

All musters will be made in accordance with the orders given in reference to the troops authorized by the instructions from this office of January 13, 1863.

I am, General Very Respectfully Your Obedient Servant,

THOMAS M. VINCENT, _a.s.st. Adjt. General._

In furtherance of the order General Ullman proceeded to New Orleans and a.s.sumed command of seven thousand troops already organized. It was said that he had arranged to place 500 white officers in command of the troops in Louisiana.

In October thereafter General Banks issued the following order, which fully explains itself:

Recruiting for the Corps d'Afrique.

GENERAL ORDERS HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF.

No. 77. _New Orleans_, October 27, 1863.

I. All persons of Color coming within the lines of the army, or following the army when in the field, other than those employed in the Staff Department of the army, or as servants of officers ent.i.tled by the Regulations to have servants, or cooks, will be placed in charge of and provided for by the several Provost Marshals of the Parishes, or if the army be on the march, or in the field, by the Provost Marshal of the Army.

II. The several Provost Marshals of the Parishes and of the Army will promptly forward to the nearest recruiting depot all able bodied males for service in the Corps d'Afrique.

III. Recruits will be received for the Corps d'Afrique of all able bodied men from sections of the country not occupied by our forces, and beyond our lines, without regard to the enrollment provided for in General Orders No. 64 and 70, from these Headquarters.

IV. Instructions will be given by the President of the Commission of Enrollment to the Superintendent of Recruiting, to govern in all matters of detail relating to recruiting, and officers will be held to a strict accountability for the faithful observance of existing orders and such instructions; but no officer will be authorized to recruit beyond the lines without first having his order approved by the officer commanding the nearest post, or the officer commanding the Army in the Field, who will render such a.s.sistance as may be necessary to make the recruiting service effective.

BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS:

G. NORMAN LIEBER, _Act. a.s.st. Adjt. Gen'l._

At the North where negroes had been refused admission to the army, the President's Proclamation was hailed with delight. Gov. Andrew, of Ma.s.sachusetts, at once began the organization of the 54th Regiment of his State, composed entirely of negroes, and on the 28th of May the regiment being ready to take the field, embarked for South Carolina.

Other Northern States followed. Pennsylvania established Camp Wm. Penn, from which several regiments took their departure, while Connecticut and Rhode Island both sent a regiment.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NEW RECRUITS TAKING CARS FOR CAMP.]