The Black Phalanx Part 53

EIGHTEENTH ARMY CORPS.

3d Division, Brigadier-General Charles J. Paine.

First Brigade, Colonel Elias Wright.--1st Regiment, 22d Regiment, 37th Regiment.

Second Brigade, Colonel Alonzo G. Draper.--5th Regiment, 36th Regiment, 38th Regiment.

Third Brigade, Colonel John W. Ames.--4th Regiment, 6th Regiment, 10th Regiment.

Provisional Brigade, Colonel E. Martindale.--107th Regiment, 117th Regiment, 118th Regiment.

Second Regiment Cavalry.

TWENTY-FIFTH ARMY CORPS.

Organized in the field December, 1864; commander, Major-General G.o.dfrey Weitzel.

1st Division. Brigadier-General Chas. J. Paine.

First Brigade, Colonel J. H. Holman.--1st Regiment, 27th Regiment, 30th Regiment.

Second Brigade, Brevet Brigadier-General Samuel A. Duncan.--4th Regiment, 6th Regiment, 39th Regiment.

Third Brigade, Colonel Elias Wright, 10th Regiment.--5th Regiment, 10th Regiment, 37th Regiment, 107th Regiment.

2nd Division. Brigadier-General Wm. Birney.

First Brigade, Colonel James Shaw, 7th Regiment.--7th Regiment, 109th Regiment, 116th Regiment.

Second Brigade, Colonel Ulysses Doubleday, 45th Regiment.--8th Regiment, 45th Regiment, 127th Regiment.

Third Brigade, Colonel Chas. S. Russell, 28th Regiment.--28th Regiment, 29th Regiment, 31st Regiment, 117th Regiment.

3rd Division. Brigadier-General C. A. Heckman.

First Brigade, Brevet Brigadier-General A. G. Draper.--22nd Regiment, 36th Regiment, 38th Regiment, 118th Regiment.

Second Brigade, Colonel E. Martindale, 81st Regiment.--9th Regiment, 29th Conn. Regiment, 41st Regiment.

Third Brigade, Colonel H. G. Thomas, 10th Regiment.--19th Regiment, 23rd Regiment, 43rd Regiment.

Cavalry Brigade, Brevet Brigadier-General B. C. Ludlow.--1st Cavalry, 2nd Cavalry, Light Battery B, 2nd Artillery.

Artillery Brigade.[40] Battery D, 1st U. S. Artillery, Battery M, 1st U.

S. Artillery, Battery E, 3rd U. S. Artillery, Battery D, 4th U. S.

Artillery, Battery C, 3rd R. I. Artillery, 4th New Jersey Battery, 5th New Jersey Battery, Battery E, 1st Pa. Artillery.

REGIMENTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, APRIL, 1864.

1st Mich., 3rd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 21st, 26th U. S., 29th Conn., 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th U. S., 54th Ma.s.s., 55th Ma.s.s. Regiments.

REGIMENTS WITH GENERAL STURGIS IN JUNE, 1864.

59th, 61st, 68th Regt's., Battery I, 2nd Reg't., Artillery (light.)

FOOTNOTES:

[34] Dr. Wright, a prominent secessionist at Norfolk, Va., swore to shoot the first white man that he caught drilling negroes. Lieutenant A.

S. Sanborn, of this regiment, while marching a squad to headquarters through the main street of the city was shot and killed by this Dr.

Wright, for which he was hanged.

[35] There was with this division eleven batteries, four regiments of cavalry of white troops.

[36] Detached in July.

[37] Detached June 28th to Department Headquarters.

[38] a.s.signed June 22d, 1864.

[39] Organized in November, 1864.

[40] All white in the Artillery Brigade.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE CONFEDERATE SERVICE.

The leaders at the South in preparing for hostilities showed the people of the North, and the authorities at Was.h.i.+ngton, that they intended to carry on the war with no want of spirit; that every energy, every nerve, was to be taxed to its utmost tension, and that not only every white man, but, if necessary, every black man should be made to contribute to the success of the cause for which the war was inaugurated.

Consequently, with the enrollment of the whites began the employment of the blacks.

Prejudice against the negro at the North was so strong that it required the arm of public authority to protect him from a.s.sault, though he declared in favor of the Union. Not so at the South, for as early as April, 1861, the free negroes of New Orleans, La., held a public meeting and began the organization of a battalion, with officers of their own race, with the approval of the _State_ government, which commissioned their negro officers. When the Louisiana militia was reviewed, the Native Guards (negro) made up, in part, the first division of the State troops. Elated at the success of being first to place negroes in the field together with white troops, the commanding general sent the news over the wires to the jubilant confederacy:

"NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 23rd, 1861.

"Over 28,000 troops were reviewed to-day by Governor Moore, Major-General Lovell and Brigadier-General Ruggles. The line was over seven miles long; _one regiment comprised 1,400 free colored men_."

The population of the city of New Orleans differs materially from that of any other city on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. It has several cla.s.ses of colored people: the English, French, Portuguese and Spanish,--all a mixture of the African,--and the American Negro,--mulatto,--numerically stronger than either of the others, but socially and politically less considered and privileged; the former enjoyed distinctive rights, somewhat as did the mulattoes in the West Indies before slavery was abolished there. Of these foreign cla.s.ses many were planters, and not a few merchants, all owning slaves. It was from these cla.s.ses that the 1,400 colored men, forming the Native Guard regiment, came, and which recruited to 3,000 before the city was captured by the Union fleet. This brigade was placed at the United States Mint building, under command of a creole, who, instead of following the confederate troops out of the city when they evacuated it, allowed his command to be cut off, and surrendered to General Butler.

Of course, prior to this date, the negro at the South had taken an active part in the preparations for war, building breastworks, mounting cannon, digging rifle-pits and entrenchments, to s.h.i.+eld and protect his rebelling master.