One Thousand sable heroes martialed for the defense of their country


In part I of this series, I recounted the story of Addison White’s escape from bondage in Kentucky, his dramatic confrontation with slave catchers at the home of Udney Hyde in Mechanicsburg, and the subsequent events that led to the Battle of Lumbarton and the storied “Green County Rescue Case” in which two white Ohioans faced federal charges for their defiance of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This second part of the story leaps ahead six years to the spring of 1863 when the momentous issue of enlisting black men into the army to help in suppressing the Civil War had just begun. The intention is to explore a bit of how the community of Urbana viewed these enlistments, all for the purpose of setting the stage for an insightful letter written by Addison White while he was serving in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry…
Addison White

Addison White would get a chance to strike yet another blow for freedom, but it would take a six years and a bloody civil war to provide that chance. Once authorization was given to enlist black men into the army, agents from the state of Massachusetts canvassed various communities throughout the North seeking volunteers. Roughly 20 recruits were secured from Champaign County area in early May and they went on to join the ranks of the 54th Massachusetts. Addison enlisted April 23, 1863 and was mustered in May 16, 1863 as a Private in Co. E of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry at Camp Meigs at Readville, Massachusetts, listing his age as 41, height of 5 feet 11 inches, occupation as salt maker, and residence of Mechanicsburg, Ohio.[i]
Addison White's description from the Company Descriptive Book

Governor David Tod of Ohio did not object to the recruiting of black men from his state, but he was eager to ensure that the state received credit for the enlistments, which would subsequently lower the number of white men which would need to be drafted to fill the quota. “No provision being made by the laws of Ohio, Governor Tod said that he requested the Governor of Massachusetts to organize the colored men from Ohio into separate companies, so far as practicable, and also keep him fully advised as to the number, with the age, name, and residences of each so that Ohio may have the full benefit of all enlistments from the state, and the recruits the benefit of such aid as may be extended to them by our associations.”[ii]

Democrats had opposed the enlistment of black troops all along, and nervously looked upon these efforts to recruit black men into the army. In their May 13, 1863 issue, the Urbana Union took particular umbrage at T.D. Crow, a black citizen who was called upon to address a recruiting rally on May 8, 1863 where he “intelligently and enthusiastically urged colored men to volunteer.” The Union dismissed the results of the local rally, stating that only eight recruits came forth and “it was the general impression that it would have been more successful had there been less ‘crowing’ done and more room given to the enunciation of sense and the transaction of business.” The Union then printed the reported remarks of Crow, publishing them in the stereotypical ‘Negro’ vernacular of the time that quite frankly is too insulting to reside on my blog, and as such will not be repeated here.[iii]

G.W. Guy, a black resident of Urbana, fired back at the Union in a letter published in the Citizen & Gazette  the following week, disputing the Union’s claim that only eight men joined up (Guy claimed that 15 men enlisted as a result of the rally) and stated that the recruits came forth due to Crow’s “manly speaking.” He rhetorically asked the Union, “Have white men done any better in the same length of time in proportion to their number? If we ‘niggers’ can save you whites from the draft, nobody but traitors will object!” Guy argued that the Union was slandering their efforts out of fear that “we will do something to elevate our race. Hence his attempt to discourage our volunteering, and his cowardly assault upon our efforts and that of the gentleman (Crow) who had the soul in him to speak noble and eloquent words in our behalf, while urging us to fight for our common country.”[iv]

Now that we have seen something of the context of the community and times from which he enlisted, we can more properly appreciate Addison White’s letter. This letter was written in August 1863 to a white friend from Ohio (Brother Taylor, presumably Charles or Edward Taylor who were arrested for assisting him in his escape to Canada in May 1857) while Addison was engaged in the siege of Battery Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina.



He finds his situation “peculiar” but invigorating, as he, “the representative of a downtrodden and proscribed race,” was now engaged in subjugating “the power that has thus bound me.” Upon arrival in Massachusetts in May, White found “1,000 sable heroes, martialed there for the defense of a country that has ever proscribed them, yet they were there with a spirit as buoyant as any. The squad I arrived in more than filled the regiment; so you see, brother, if I was not a complete soldier, I completed the regiment; looking at it in that light, I considered it indispensable that I should enlist as a soldier.”

His letter recounts the parade of regiment through the streets of Boston, the lengthy sea voyage to the “Sunny South,” and the reception the men met upon their arrival in Beaufort. “As we passed a large group of had-been slaves, one old lady whose sands in her hour glass had almost run out, raised her hands to Heaven and exclaimed, “God bless you!”

White also remembered the regiment’s part in the raid on Dairen, Georgia, the engagement on James Island, and briefly described the regiment’s assault on Battery Wagner. White noted from where he now wrote, he was only six miles from the grave of “the great arch-traitor” John C. Calhoun (widely considered to be the author of secession), and relished in stating that he was now “martialed in battle array to subjugate his principles and his posterity.”[v]

Addison White had come a long way in six years. He went from barricading himself in the loft of a cabin in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, an escaped slave fending off slave catchers with his courage and a rifle, to being a soldier in a grand army defending the very government whose laws six years prior had proscribed him as nothing more than property, but now destined and endeavoring to secure a “new birth of freedom.”

Addison White’s story in many ways is emblematic of the turmoil which engulfed so many of our forebears in the years leading up to the Civil War, and is a testament to one’s man’s courage and determination to secure his freedom.

Addison White’s letter was published on the first page of the Urbana Citizen & Gazette’s October 22, 1863 issue with a brief introduction from “Brother Taylor” which reads as follows:

Mechanicsburg, Ohio
September 27, 1863
            The following is a letter written to the undersigned by a soldier of the 54th Massachusetts. Perhaps you may deem it worthy of publication; if so, it is at your service.

Morris Island, South Carolina
August 26, 1863
Brother Taylor: The circumstances under which I address you are peculiar and quite congenial with my feelings. I left the good old state of Ohio under different circumstances from most men. I left there the representative of a downtrodden and proscribed race, having all my days or life borne its heaviest burdens of proscription and then to find myself en route to subjugate or annihilate the power that had thus bound me. I am frank to acknowledge, it seemed a little peculiar to me. Brother, you nor any of yours ever have and I pray never will occupy the beautiful position of a man and beast at the same time, and the government acknowledging you neither- while you feel yourself a sort of a living specimen of life and death and the supreme orbit of both, and then to see that government struggling to save its own created canker, and calling upon you to lend your aid. What would be your reply? Knowing you as I do, I know it would be “I will fly to the rescue of my country and the vindication of justice and liberty.”

I found myself in the state of Massachusetts after a ride of two days and a half on the cars, and the sight I there beheld will forever remain in my mind. I found 1,000 sable heroes, martialed there for the defense of a country that has ever proscribed them, yet they were there with a spirit as buoyant as any, and as firm as the rock whose base rests upon the bosom of the ocean, and whose apex darts to the clouds. And if you could only have beheld them at drill, or on dress parade, you would have said they would have done honor to Napoleon’s Old Guard, so soldierly was their martial tread, and so readily do they take to the manual of arms. The squad I arrived in more than filled the regiment; so you see, brother, if I was not a complete soldier, I completed the regiment; looking at it in that light, I considered it indispensable that I should enlist as a soldier.

In a few weeks after this, we were reviewed by his Excellency, the Governor of Massachusetts. His very eyes flashed rays of sympathy that seemed to flow from a heart that knew nothing but good. It was on this occasion that the regiment received its colors. We next received the bounty of $50, all in greenbacks, and then commenced to make hasty preparations for our departure south. We were fitted out as well as a regiment could possibly be, and every preparation made to transport us from Camp Meigs to Boston, a distance of nine miles which was by way of cars. On the morning of the 28th of May, we embarked for Boston. On our arrival there, it seemed as though business was entirely suspended and everybody was in the streets. No regiment ever was received with such enthusiasm as we were. After passing through the most popular streets, we were next marched in companies in front of the State House. There we were joined by the Governor and staff in full dress, and escorted to Boston Commons. There we were received by his Excellency in the presence of a multitude of people that I can compare to nothing but the host that greeted Pompey when he triumphantly entered Rome after the Mithridatic War with the three kings to adorn his train.
Governor John A. Andrew of Massachusetts
"His very eyes flashed rays of sympathy that seemed
 to flow from a heart that knew nothing but good,"
Addison White wrote in 1863.

We were next marched to the dock where the good ship DeMolia lay in readiness to transport us south. We boarded her, and in a few minutes we were borne away by a sweet and pleasant gale towards the Sunny South, and our good ship, as though conscious of her precious load, moved over the mighty deep like a swan upon a park pond, and on we glided with nothing to mar our happiness, save a few that were sea sick. When about three days out, Orion seemed to rise from her Oriental home from the very bosom of the mighty deep, and it was then and there, Brother Taylor, that I could not fail from looking into the ocean with astonishment and admiration. Who can behold such a vast world of water without riveting his mind on the Deity? Who can listen to its ceaseless roar; behold its myriad of living inhabitants, without beholding the awful sublimity of the living God?

But eight days brought us within the vicinity of Beaufort, South Carolina and as our noble ship neared the harbor, we were greeted along the river banks by the little dark faces as we passed with a patriotism that would do honor to any American. We landed on the ninth morning from Boston. The city of Beaufort is a dilapidated looking city, yet there are many things to admire. The orange, lemon, fig, and pomegranate trees all waved a graceful bow as we passed along. The corners of every street were crowded with anxious spectators of both sexes, and all ages, and their very countenances revealed their joy at beholding their own kindred marching by platoons in their defense. One circumstance I shall never forget- it is indelibly fixed on my memory. As we passed a large group of had-been slaves, one old lady whose sands in her hour glass had almost run out, raised her hands to Heaven and exclaimed, “God bless you!”

            We passed on through the town to an eminence of ground, well suited for a camp, and bivouacked for a short time. We only remained one week when we received marching orders. We then went down the Savannah River about 150 miles into the state of Georgia to St. Simond’s Island. When there on the second day, the long roll beat and in a moment every man was under arms; eight companies sailed for a little town up the river 50 miles and on our way we were joined by the 2nd South Carolina regiment under Colonel Montgomery. On arriving at this town (its name I think was Dairen), we found it almost entirely deserted. We reconnoitered the place, confiscated everything of use, burned the place, and returned without losing a man.


But we remained only a short time, when we again received marching orders. Our next place of destination was St. Helena Island, South Carolina. We remained on this island a short time when we were again ordered to march. Our next destination was the famous James Island. When on this island, we threw out three companies as pickets and on the night of July 15, 1863, Ethiopia showed herself. Our three companies were attacked by a force of 6-8,000, and the 300 held them at bay from 3 in the morning until 6, when was whole force was drawn up in line of battle and it only took us about 30 minutes to put the Rebels to flight. The Rebs acknowledge a loss of from 200-300 killed and wounded. We then made hasty preparations to withdraw from the island. Our officers learned by the prisoners we captured that the Rebels intended to attack us with overwhelming numbers, so we made a successful withdrawal from the island.

We made a forced march of two days and two nights. On the night of the 17th, we stood all night in a drenching rain. The next day being the 18th was the day on which the 54th Massachusetts regiment made that never to be forgotten charge on Fort Wagner. We were marched up the beach and ordered to lie down in order to allow the shells to pass over our heads, and while lying in that position, we were for the first time informed we were going to be put into action, and about 8 o’clock we received the command “Forward, march!” When in about musket shot distance, we gave a yell and double quicked to the fort. Well, we had a short but desperate struggle. In about 30 minutes, we left between 300-400 of our brave men on the field, and were forced to retire. And here we are yet, only about six miles from the tomb of the great arch-traitor John C. Calhoun, whose giant mind so powerfully maintained errors, and who commenced secession 30 years ago. And now I, the chattel, am martialed in battle array to subjugate his principles and his posterity. More anon.
Addison White[vi]
Addison White's gravestone in Maple Grove Cemetery in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. 

Click to read part I of this series



[i] Addison White Compiled Military Record, National Archives & Records Administration. Fold3.com has digitized all records of soldiers from the 54th Massachusetts, including Addison White’s file.
[ii] ‘More Colored Recruits,’ Urbana Citizen & Gazette, May 21, 1863, pg. 3
[iii] ‘Negro Recruiting,’ Urbana Union, May 13, 1863, pg. 3
[iv] ‘Negro Recruiting’ Urbana Citizen & Gazette, May 21, 1863, pg. 3. Guy’s letter was also published in the Urbana Union’s May 20th issue in which the Union editor disclaimed any intent to discourage black men from volunteering.
[v] This paragraph and the preceding three quote from “Letter from Addison White,” Urbana Citizen & Gazette, October 22, 1863, pg. 1
[vi] Ibid.

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

The Cannons are Now Silent: The Field of Death of Tupelo

Image
       The smoke of battle had drifted away from the battlefield at Tupelo, Mississippi on the hot afternoon of July 14, 1864, but the carnage of war lay spread across the open fields. “Scattered at intervals over the field of a few yards are dull gray blotches half shaded by grass,” an officer from the 7 th Minnesota Infantry recorded. “These are the Rebel dead. They have fought their last battle and lie generally in attitudes of rest; some of them look as if they had welcomed death. On the faces of two is imprinted a smile. One is a boy of 16 with delicate features, almost girlish in their beauty. His last gaze seems to have been directed toward his hand on the forefinger of which was a ring. A circle of purer white indicates its place; the ring was carried off as a trophy of the field.” The following account of the Battles of Tupelo and Old Town Creek was written by an unknown officer of the 7 th Minnesota Infantry, his account appearing in the August 5 th 1864 edition of the
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

Image
  W illiam Tecumseh Sherman was enjoying retired life in New York City when just before Christmas in 1889 he was presented with an article written by John Cockerill, a former drummer boy in the 24 th Ohio who was visiting his father Colonel Joseph Cockerill of the 70 th Ohio of Sherman’s division when the Battle of Shiloh began. Cockerill’s article, originally published in the New York Journalist and later featured in the January 1893 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine, Sherman later pronounced as “the best war story ever written” and the truest account of Shiloh.           On New Year’s Day 1890, General Sherman composed the following letter to his friend Marshall P. Wilder thanking him for sending along Cockerill’s article and giving his own explanation of Shiloh. “This to me is straw already threshed for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets,” he concluded. “When in England some years ago I was gratified to liste
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Escape of Captain Henry H. Alban of the 21st Ohio Infantry

Image
Captain Henry H. Alban was among the dozen officers of the 21 st Ohio Volunteer Infantry who were captured on September 20, 1863 at the Battle of Chickamauga. The regiment had held its position atop Snodgrass Hill against repeated Confederate assaults and now battered and without ammunition, with the darkness of evening enveloping the hill, the remainder of that gallant band found themselves at the mercy of the 54 th Virginia. A total of 12 officers and 121 enlisted men surrendered; the regiment’s colors were taken, and the men marched off the field into captivity. Captain Henry Harvey Alban, Co. F, 21st O.V.I. Captain Alban along with the rest went through a series of Confederate prison camps before arriving at Columbia, South Carolina in October 1864. Determined to make an escape, he watched for his chance and one night made his leap for freedom, successfully eluding the local camp guard and setting out along the railroad to head for the mountains of eastern Tennessee and
Read more

Knapsack Compression: Wilbur Hinman recalls the first step of becoming a veteran

Image
L ooking back on his experiences during the war, Captain Wilbur Hinman of the 65 th Ohio (perhaps best known as the author of Si Klegg and His Pard ) recalled that the first road along which his regiment marched was strewn “with debris. A pair of six-mule wagonloads might have been gathered of notions that had been flung aside by a thousand suffering “tenderfeet.” “The average young patriot started for the war with a wheelbarrow load of clothing, a bed quilt or two, books, photograph albums, toilet articles, and gimcracks of every sort,” he wrote. “Neither he nor the good homefolks had the slightest conception of the capacity of a knapsack, nor did they for a moment imagine that before the close of his first day upon the road every pound he carried would seem a hundred.” To the true mark of a veteran soldier was one who “learned to dispense with every unnecessary ounce of weight, and just in the ratio that he did this he increased his efficiency as a soldier. It was of the highest
Read more

Federal Arms in the Chickamauga Campaign

Image
T he ordnance returns of the Army of the Cumberland at the end of September 1863 show the results of a transformational year in weaponry. Since taking command of the army at the end of October 1862, General William S. Rosecrans had repeatedly pestered the War Department to supply his regiments with better firearms both to improve the command’s efficiency as well as expand its striking power. The results speak for themselves: for the infantrymen at the end of September 1863, 90% of them now carried Class I long arms (36,058 out of 39,959), 8.3% carried Class II arms, and a mere 1.5% carried Class III weapons. Most of the foreign-made weapons (except Enfields) were gone, and by and large the army had settled on a single common .58 caliber ammunition, although a few .54 caliber and .69 caliber weapons remained within the ranks. The English-made Enfield rifle musket was by far the most common arm, carried by 56% of the men while the second-most common arm was the .58 caliber M1861 Spring
Read more