Facts About U.S. Colored Troops

Center design of the 6th U.S. Colored Troops regimental flag. The top motto reads, "Freedom for all". From the Library of Congress Collection 1) Only men ages 18 to 45, of good health and physical condition could enlist in the U.S. Colored Troops. Before December 1863, Missouri slaves of loyal masters needed consent before enrolling.

2) The first colored regiment organized in the State of Missouri was the 3rd Arkansas Infantry (African Descent). It was composed of primarily Missourians but because of prejudice the State did not want to claim them as their own. The unit was composed of freemen and slaves of master's loyal to the Union. They began recruitment on shortly after May 22, 1863 and were organized Aug 12, 1863 at Schofield Barracks, St. Louis, Mo. They were redesignated the 56th U.S. Colored Troops on March 11, 1864. Most of their service was garrison duty at Helena, Arkansas but they did go on two nearby expeditions. The regiment lost a whopping 674 men. 25 killed; 649 died of disease. It remained on duty at Helena till mustered out, Sept. 15, 1866.

3) Missouri was the first State to see Colored Troops in combat. At Island Mound, Missouri in the western part of the state, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry saw action against Confederates (Oct. 29, 1862). [Kansas was a bit premature in forming this unit according to Federal law. Most of the men of this regiment were former slaves from Arkansas and Missouri. Out of convenience, the owners of these slaves were assumed to be all disloyal.] A detail of soldiers of this unit went out on picket duty and were separated from the main part of the regiment. They took refuge in a ravine and held their ground. Capt. Richard Ward who commanded these troops stated, "I have witnessed some hard fights, but I never saw a braver sight than that handful of brave men fighting...Not one surrendered or gave up a weapon." One of the Confederates reported that "The black devils fought like tigers...not one would surrender, though they had tried to take a prisoner."

4) Originally the slaveowner's consent was required before a slave could enlist. Order No. 135 of Nov. 1863 changed this, allowing enlistment without consent. If the owner did consented they were given some compensation. In addition, the order abolished the highly effective recruitment patrols. There was some dispute that these patrols were forcing some slaves against their will. Certainly they were opposed by most slaveowners. Unfortunately the change required slaves willing to enlist, to travel to the recruitment stations, sometimes many miles away..

5) Runaway slaves seeking to enlist had to overcome many risks on their journey. Slave Patrols, bushwhackers, and guerrillas.

6) If a runaway slave made it to the recruiting station (usually the office of the Provost Marshall), he still could be rejected due to poor health or physical condition. If rejected he became a refugee and if outside of the contraband camps, risked danger of being captured by a slave patrol.

7) Men of the U.S. Colored Troops often escaped from master's that disapproved of blacks being soldiers. After they enlisted, if their families were not in the contraband camp, sometimes masters abused. their wives or children in retaliation..

8) Some families of soldiers were sold as revenge for slave joining the Army. Usually slaves were sold to Kentucky were it was also a protected institution.

9) On Nov 10, 1863, Gen. John M. Schofield issued Special Order 307, an order that prohibited the selling of slaves from the State. A month later he modified it allowing the sale of any slave unfit for military service.

10) Most U.S. Colored Regiments were assigned Post and Garrison Duty or labor on fortifications. This included guarding Confederate prisoners of war. When they saw action they demonstrated that they could fight as well as white troops.

11) Missouri ranked 4th of the Union States, in regard to the number of Colored troop enlistments (8,344). This represents 39 percent of the prewar black males (21,167), age 18 to 45.

12) In addition to Missouri units, many black Missourians served in regiments of other States. Most of the Kansas Colored Troops (2,080) were from runaway or abducted slaves from Missouri. (Kansas' prewar black male population was only 126, age 18 to 45.) Also Eastern recruiters often came to St. Louis looking to enlist black Missourians. Some joined units as far away as Massachusetts.

13) Four companies (Co. G, H, I, K) of the 1st Iowa Colored Troops (60th U.S. Colored Infantry) were composed of Missourians. The regiment finished its organization at Benton Barracks in St. Louis, Mo. Iowa could only claim 440 men of this regiment and of this number, many were former Missouri slaves. Iowa's prewar male population of military age was only 249.

14) Four regiments were organized at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Mo. These were the following:

1st Missouri Colored Infantry (62nd U.S. Colored Infantry)

2nd Missouri Colored Infantry (65th U.S. Colored Infantry)

3rd Missouri Colored Infantry (67th U.S. Colored Infantry)

4th Missouri Colored Infantry (68th U.S. Colored Infantry)

15) Colored Troops had separate hospital wards at Benton Barracks. Nurses were staffed by the Colored Ladies Union Aid Society.

16) Not all the troops at Benton Barracks experienced good treatment from the government. Lt. Col. William F. Fox, U.S.V. reported that for the 2nd Missouri Colored Infantry, "Over 100 men died at [Benton] Barracks before the regiment took the field, the men having been enlisted by the Provost-Marshals throughout the State and forwarded to this Post during an inclement season,-- thinly clad, and many of them hatless, shoeless, and without food. Many suffered amputation of frozen feet or hands, and the diseases engendered by this exposure resulted in a terrible and unprecedented mortality."

17) A contraband camp of former slaves was also located at Benton Barracks, north of the City of St. Louis (in present location of Fairgrounds Park in present day north St. Louis). During the summer of 1863, St. Louis was inundated by thousands of refugee slaves. The government had no way to determine which of these individuals were slaves or "freedmen", thus they were all treated as freedmen. On certain occasions slave owners (or slave catchers) tried to retrieve their subjects, but Union guards would only allow slaves to go willingly and without abuse.

Facts About U.S. Colored Troops

Facts About U.S. Colored Troops

18) Colored Troops went long periods of time without pay. Rarely were they able to send money back to help their families. Men who were rejected for service in the Army were anxious to work for money instead. James E. Yeatman of the Western Sanitary Commission (a forerunner of the Red Cross) gave this description: "Besides the fact that men are thus pressed into service, thousands have been employed for weeks and months, who have never received any thing but promises to pay. This negligence and failure to comply with obligations, have greatly disheartened the poor slave, who comes forth at the call of the President, and supposes himself a free man, and that, by leaving his rebel master, he is inflicting a blow on the enemy, ceasing to labor and to provide food for him and for the armies of the rebellion. Thus he was promised freedom, but how is it with him ? He is seized in the street, and ordered to go and help unload a steamboat, for which he will be paid, or to sent to work in the trenches, or to labor for some quartermaster, or to chop wood for the Government. He labors for months, and at last is only paid with promises, unless perchance it may be with kicks, cuffs, and curses." 19) Life at the contraband camps was very harsh for the families of soldiers. Yeatman: "The poor negroes are everywhere greatly depressed at their condition. They all testify that if they were only paid their little wages as they earn them, so they could purchase clothing, and were furnished with the provisions promised, they could stand it; but to work and get poorly paid, poorly fed, and not doctored when sick, is more than they can endure. Among the thousands whom I questioned, none showed the least unwillingness to work. If they could only be paid fair wages, they would be contented and happy. They do not realize that they are taken and hired out to men who treat them, so far as providing for them is concerned, far worse than their "secesh" masters did. Besides this they feel that their pay or hire is lower now than it was when the "secesh" used to hire them. This is true."

20) In wartime Missouri, no matter what Congress says, there were no guarantees for former slaves. "...Every day blacks and colored people of all shades--men, women, and children--are thrown into it, who had believed in the gospel of liberty...We spoke to an old soldier of the Twelfth Regiment [Colored Troops], who had carried a musket in the service of liberty since the commencement of the war...A negro who has gone through all the toils of the Twelfth Regiment for two years is now a fugitive slave in the jail, caught on Lincoln's slave-hunting ground in Missouri......who has given our Provost-Marshal-General Broadhead authority to recall and declare null and void the free papers which have been given by his predecessors or by former commanders of this department to the slaves of rebel masters? Does a slave become a free man by a certificate of liberty, duly made out by competent authority, or is such a certificate of liberty a mere piece of paper, which may be torn up at pleasure? [--Spirit of the German Press, The Westliche Post. Article in Official Records, Maj. Gen. J. M. Schofield, dated Saint Louis, September 20, 1863]

21) The highest ranking black was Martin R. Delaney, commissioned a Major and "graduate of the Harvard Medical School and the first Negro field officer to serve in the Civil War." He served in the 104th Regiment U.S. Colored Troops. [The New York Times, Mar.1, 1865]

22) Lincoln University of Missouri (Jefferson City) was founded in 1866 by officers and men of the 62nd and 65th U.S. Colored Troops.

The following facts on U.S. Colored Troops was authored by the National Archives:

1) "179,000 black men (10% of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy."

2) "Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died over the course of the war—30,000 of infection or disease"

3) In 1863 the Confederate Congress threatened to punish severely officers of black troops and to enslave black soldiers. As a result, President Lincoln issued General Order 233, threatening reprisal on Confederate prisoners of war (POWs) for any mistreatment of black troops. Although the threat generally restrained the Confederates, black captives were typically treated more harshly than white captives..

4) Black soldiers were initially paid $10 per month from which $3 was automatically deducted for clothing, resulting in a net pay of $7. In contrast, white soldiers received $13 per month from which no clothing allowance was drawn.

5) In June 1864 Congress granted equal pay to the U.S. Colored Troops and made the action retroactive. Black soldiers received the same rations and supplies. In addition, they received comparable medical care.

6) Black soldiers served in artillery and infantry and performed all non-combat support functions that sustain an army, as well. Black carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, laborers, nurses, scouts, spies, steamboat pilots, surgeons, and teamsters also contributed to the war cause.

6) Because of prejudice against them, black units were not used in combat as extensively as they might have been. Nevertheless, the soldiers served with distinction in a number of battles. Black infantrymen fought gallantly at Milliken's Bend, LA; Port Hudson, LA; Petersburg, VA; Nashville, TN" (and the assault on Fort Wagner, SC by the 54th Massachusetts.)