One Country, One Flag, One Destiny African American Service in the Civil War

By Melissa Wiford 

No opportunity to report would be afforded to the African American population of Cincinnati. On September 2, military authorities decided to impress the African American men of Cincinnati to build fortifications. A special police was organized to assemble the African American men. The police searched houses, dragged men into the streets and marched them to a hog pen on Plum Street. In most cases, they provided no information on the reason for impression. While the African American community was outraged at the treatment of their fathers and sons, only one Cincinnati newspaper protested. An editorial article in the Gazette condemned the impression.

On September 4, General Wallace assigned Judge William Dickson the command of the African American men. One of Dickson's first actions was to release the men to return home to prepare for camp life. This action eased the fear of family members, some of whom did not know what had happened to their loved ones. The men were ordered to return to duty on September 5. They were designated "The Black Brigade."

In Ohio, African Americans responded to Lincoln's call for volunteers. John Mercer Langston, an Oberlin College graduate and the first African American lawyer in the state of Ohio volunteered his services as a recruiter to Ohio's African American population to Governor David Tod. The governor adamantly refused his offer with the following statement, "Do you not know, Mr. Langston, that this is a white man's government; that white men are able to defend and protect it, and that to enlist a negro soldier would be to drive every white man out of the service? When we want you colored men we will notify you." Langston respectfully replied, "Governor, when you need us, send for us."

Since the early days of the United States, there had been a tradition of military service as a duty of citizens. Systematically denied the rights of citizenship, many African American men believed that through military service that they could earn respect as men and eventually their citizenship. The relationship between military service and political equality became a recurring theme in the debates about the use of African American troops. Frederick Douglass, black abolitionist and orator declared:

Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters "US," let him get an eagle on his button and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States.