CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE A HISTORY OF SERVICE 6 CHAPTER TWO AFRICAN AMERICANS DURING THE REVOLUTION 14 CHAPTER THREE AFRICAN AMERICANS BEARING ARMS 19 CHAPTER FOUR FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM 24 CHAPTER FIVE HENRY O FLIPPER AND OTHER WEST POINT GRADUATES 31 CHAPTER SIX CONTINUED EXCLUSION AND SEGREGATION 36 CHAPTER SEVEN THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMANDER IN CHIEF 43 GLOSSARY 46 FURTHER READING 47 INDEX 48
CHAPTER ONE A HISTORY OF SERVICE African African Americans have participated in every war in which the United States has been involved While their accomplishments were not always officially recognized or documented their courage and valor did not go unnoticed The accounts that follow detail their patriotism and heroism FIRST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS The Civil War began in 1861 pitting the South or the Confederacy against the North known as the Union As the powerful Union navy extended its command over southern waters it soon took control of the Sea Islands that lay off the coast of Georgia The plantation owners fled in front of the advancing Union troops abandoning their slaves more than eight thousand of them The Union 6
A HISTORY OF SERVICE considered these people contraband of war which meant the Union would not return them to their owners Under the leadership of Colonel Thomas Higginson these men although still slaves became the First South Carolina Volunteers the first African American regular army regiment organized in the war To the surprise of many white soldiers the regiment captured the city of Jacksonville Florida Higginson kept a diary and recorded the words as they sounded to him of Private Thomas Long an ex-slave If we hand’t become sojers all might have gone back as it was before But now tings can neber go back because we have showed our energy and our courage and our naturally manhood THE FIFTY-FOURTH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMEN After President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 black men were allowed to enlist in the military The Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry the first of these new regiments included mostly free blacks not runaway slaves The Fifty-Fourth won renown for its heroism at Fort Wagner South Carolina On July 18 1863 at 7:45 p.m the regiment received the command to attack When the troops moved within 200 yards 183 meters of the fort the Confederates opened fire When the flag bearer faltered a sergeant named William H Carney took up the flag and never dropped it even when he was wounded For his bravery Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor the nation’s highest award for valor 7
