13Th U.S. Colored Infantry

13Th U.S. Colored Infantry

The official records designate September 24, 1863 as the first day of recruitment for the Thirteenth U.S. Colored Infantry at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  The ranks of the Thirteenth were filled on November 19, 1863 at Nashville, Tennessee.  The colored ladies of Murfreesboro, Tennessee made and presented the unit its regimental flag.

The Thirteenth USCI was initially stationed on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroads as labors, and as guards to other laborers, thus protecting them from confederate raiders led by Nathan Bedford Forrest.  The service of the Thirteenth USCI On the railroad line and their military engagement at Johnsonville and Nashville would subsequently prove to contribute greatly to the demise of the confederate forces in the western theater.

During the first two years of the Civil War, the Nashville and Northwest Railroad line only ran from Nashville to Kingston Springs, Tennessee, a distance of about twenty-five miles.  Because the line did not extend to the Tennessee River, fifty miles further west, it was considered to be of little military importance.  The fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, and subsequent capture of Nashville, Tennessee in late February 1862 brought Federal forces into Middle Tennessee.  Nashville subsequently became the headquarters for the Union armies in the Western Theatre and the main hub for troop and supply movements through Tennessee.  In the summer of 1862, efforts to re-supply Nashville via the Cumberland River were hampered by low water.  Union authorities determined that a rail link from the Tennessee River to Nashville would be necessary to alleviate this recurring problem.  This line, they envisioned would provide the army with a dependable port that would receive shipments of supplies by boat up the Tennessee River from the Ohio River Valley year-round and distribute them by rail to Nashville.

The Nashville and Northwestern Railroad extension project became the top Union priority in Middle Tennessee.  In 1862 and early 1863, free black, as well as former
Slaves were forced into service by the Federal army as laborers.  The extension of the
railroad to Johnsonville, located on the Tennessee River, would subsequently be completed in record time.  During the construction and after completion, confederate forces continued to attack this vital supply line for the Union Army.  The Thirteenth USCI repelled confederate forces led by Nathan Bedford Forrest on several occasions as he attempted to disrupt this vital life line for the Union forces.  This seventy-five mile link to the Tennessee River subsequently allowed Union forces to amass supplies necessary to defend Nashville and set the stage for General Sherman to later begin his devastating campaign into the Deep South to break the backbone of the Confederacy.

A portion of the Thirteenth was ordered back to Nashville from west Tennessee in December 1864 in anticipation that confederate forces would attack Fort Negley and the massive supply depot of the Union army located at Nashville.  After arriving in Nashville members of the 12th, 13th, and 100th USCI were consolidated into the Second Colored Brigade and placed under the command of Colonel Thompson.

On December 16, 1864, the Second Colored Brigade participated in a decisive Union assault on Overton Hill (Peach Orchard Hill). During the assault the Thirteenth Regiment anchored the middle of a sustained charge into what would be later called a charge into hell itself.  While attacking head-on without support or even a covering artillery bombardment the confederate forces were able to concentrate their fire on the lone 13th Regiment.  Many federal infantrymen trapped on the slopes beneath the works watched in amazement as the 13th made straight for the line of blazing breastworks.  While sustaining heavy casualties they kept charging Overton Hill.
Several sergeants had the colors, and one man jumped on top of the parapet and furiously shook his flag in the Rebels’ faces.  Five separate color-bearers were killed.  One after the other, seized a fallen flag, with the colored ladies of Murfreesboro, embroiled in the cloth attempting to plant the flag on the breastworks. After observing the fall of five separate color bearers of the Thirteenth Regiment, confederate General Holtzclaw wrote, “they came only to die”.  This confederate commander was so impressed by the valor of these black soldiers that he formally cited their bravery in his battle report, almost an unheard-of circumstance involving a Southern general.

The subsequent defeat of confederate forces during the Battle of Nashville precipitated General Hood’s retreat into Northern Alabama.  The Second Colored Brigade participated in the pursuit of Hood’s forces until January 15, 1865 when it returned to Nashville.

After the Battle of Nashville portions of the Thirteenth returned to Johnsonville to guard the railroad line and bridges until the end of the war.  On July 7, 1865, the Thirteenth was transferred to St. Louis, Missouri, where it was later mustered out of service