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
AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS The Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry attacks Fort Wagner This attack was the second attempt to take the fort Thanks in part to the Fifty-Fourth infantry the attack succeeded 8
A HISTORY OF SERVICE This illustration shows a buffalo soldier drinking from a canteen while riding though the Arizona desert BUFFALO SOLDIERS After the Civil War ended the government turned its eyes westward In 1866 Congress Congress reorganized its troops reducing the number of regiments regiments and establishing the New Army The US Colored Troops were disbanded and two black cavalry regiments the Ninth and Tenth and two black infantry regiments the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth were formed Their duties included building roads escorting stagecoaches and wagon trains and protecting homesteaders from outlaws Soon after the Tenth Cavalry was assigned to Fort Leavenworth Kansas the ninety troopers defeated eight hundred Cheyenne Indians in a two-day battle According to tradition the Cheyenne began referring referring to the Tenth as Buffalo Soldiers American Indians considered the buffalo a sacred animal and the name Buffalo Soldiers represented represented the respect American Indians had for the regiment’s fighting skills The name eventually applied to all black troops in the West 9
