Raising the Fighting Standard at Millken's Bend

Lieutenant Colonel Cyrus Sears of the 11th Louisiana Corps d' Afrique had already seen his share of intense combat while serving as a battery commander of the 11th Ohio Battery at the Battle of Iuka, an action in which he later was to earn the Medal of Honor. The fighting at Milliken's Bend matched Iuka in intensity. His regiment, numbering roughly 600 newly raised black troops, lost 338 men during the engagement. 

    "The results of this engagement, disastrous as it was, so far as I can learn have raised the fighting standard of black soldiers in the estimation of outsiders very materially," Colonel Sears noted. "General Dennis, in command of this division, paid us a visit the evening of the battle and complimented us. He said that we had not only done well but that we had accomplished wonders under the circumstances. Of course, this was gratifying to us. Give black soldiers a chance and he will make a good soldier and that quicker than any other man."

    Lieutenant Colonel Sears' account of the fight at Millken's Bend first appeared in the June 26, 1863, edition of the Bucyrus Weekly Journal published in Bucyrus, Ohio. 


Hand-to-hand fighting marked the combat at MIlliken's Bend; it was truly an ugly engagement. 

Headquarters, Louisiana Regiment Volunteers of African Descent, Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana

June 9, 1863

 Gentlemen,

          Having a few items of news which I think would interest your readers through the assistance of your columns I have concluded to furnish them the same. All newspapers readers are no doubt well posted concerning the origin and history of the African Brigade, the headquarters of which are established at this place. The organization is one of the results of General Thomas’s visit to this department and was commenced about the 1st of May last when the officers of my regiment left the 7th Division, 17th Army Corps at Perkins’ Landing and returned to this place to commence our organization.

          On Sunday morning last my regiment [11th Louisiana] had eight minimum companies mustered in and was nearly 600 fighting men strong. The balance of the force present consisted of the 9th Louisiana and 1st Mississippi regiments of African descent numbering in the aggregate about 500 men, the skeleton of the 23rd Iowa of 150-200 men, and a gunboat. The Negro troops were upon an average the rawest of recruits having been kept so constantly on the fatigue that they have not had the benefit of the small amount of drill that regiments are usually allotted while recruiting.

The 11th Louisiana fought in its camps before retreating to the protection of the river bank where Federal gunboats provided cover from the Confederates. 


          For the past ten days we had been almost constantly on the alert, day and night, by secesh and rumors of secesh and demonstrations of secesh rapidly accumulating in our rear until on Saturday the 6th when assurance of danger was made doubly sure by a brisk skirmish between a reconnoitering force of black soldiers under Colonel Leib of the 9th Louisiana and the enemy’s advance some two miles in our rear. He repulsed the enemy and reported his men as having conducted themselves in the most satisfactory manner. From this all else we could learn was an attack upon the next morning was considered next to inevitable and we were ordered to be in position at 3 a.m. accordingly.

          Our defense we had long since determined should be from within our camp which is surrounded by the river; the log and earthworks of our own construction much in the form of an elongated half hexagon. We were ready according to orders except the 23rd Iowa which was a little slow. Before it had to go fairly into position on the left flank and angle and when it was quite dark, the enemy in overwhelming force charged upon this regiment and very suddenly drove it from its position in confusion after which it was not heard of in the action. This flank was protected by cotton bales laid upon the bog which when gained were quite as available for foes as friends.

          From behind these the African left now receiving a raking flank fire from where they were not the least protected; also the fire from the balance of the Rebel brigade in front. Circumstances considered, they made a desperate resistance selling their lives and inflicting wounds, man for man, throughout the engagement. But our left was soon compelled to give way and, in much confusion, of course. It now sought shelter behind the riverbank under the protection of the gunboat.

          There was nothing of us now left in the original position except three companies of my regiment placed on the right angle and flank under my immediate command and now had to sustain the whole brunt. To meet the unexpected exigencies of the case I had now placed about one-half this force on the outside of our defense. These men were seen from the gunboat and mistaken for a portion of the enemy flanking us. Consequently, in addition to our legitimate calamity, we were shelled from the gunboat which sent three shots among us before we could communicate the mistake. The last of these shots killed four men within ten feet of me.

          It now required a desperate effort to prevent a panic in this quarter, but by the use of swords, revolvers, boot toes, etc. with the officers under my immediate command who conducted themselves most gallantly. I succeeded in holding my men till their ammunition was entirely exhausted then I took them off under the riverbank and under cover of the same half a mile below to the main body of the brigade.

As noted in the historical marker, Milliken's Bend, fought June 7, 1863, marked the second time Negro troops had fought in a Civil War engagement as an organized unit. The first time has been ten days earlier when the several Louisiana regiments charged the Confederate works at Port Hudson, Louisiana. 


          Ammunition was at hand here and the gunboat and undismayed contrabands dared the Rebs to show themselves over the bog, but it seemed they did not dare. Whenever a head was shown over the bank, a volley was fired at it and so with those shown above the bog. This state of things continued for about two hours when at about 10 a.m. the enemy skedaddled, taking most of their wounded with them.

“There is no longer any doubt about the negroes fighting. They fight just as well as any soldiers and the time will come when this will be acknowledged by the whole country. But what can be expected of 1,000 negroes who never were drilled? These men have all been raised in the last month. The most them were not armed or clothed until three days before the fight and nine-tenths of them never fired a gun until that morning.  Is it any wonder that they gave way ? What is expected of white troops who have had no drill and how much less ought we to expect of these negroes?” Quartermaster Thomas P. Wilson, 9th Louisiana Infantry, Corps d’ Afrique

          From our prisoners we have now learned some facts concerning the troops by which we were attacked. It was a Texas brigade under the command of Brigadier General McCulloch (brother of old Benis), at the lowest estimate 2,800 men. They fought us under the black flag which they kept conspicuously displayed during the engagement and as might be expected committed all the barbarities that circumstances permitted such as firing upon our surgeons and hospitals, bayoneting or braining all of our wounded who came within their reach.

          They burned a cotton gin a couple of miles distant and we are pretty reliably informed that they tied a dozen Negro soldiers to it and burned them with it; also, that they hung a large number of prisoners and designed serving all the same way. I hope the proper authorities will inquire into the case and reciprocate “an eye for an eye.”

          So near as can be judged, the casualties of the killed and wounded were about equal on each side. We had a large infantry picket out, from most of which we have not heard. It was probably surrounded by the enemy’s cavalry of which they had some 500. The casualties of my regiment were as follows as near as I have been able to gather them. Killed, one captain, two lieutenants, and 36 enlisted men; wounded, seven colored officers (many of them mortally) and 123 enlisted men. Missing, 205, making a total of killed, wounded, and missing of 338. The missing men are slowly coming in and perhaps 125-150 will cover that branch of our loss.

          The results of this engagement, disastrous as it was, so far as I can learn have raised the fighting standard of black soldiers in the estimation of outsiders very materially. General Dennis, in command of this division, paid us a visit the evening of the battle and complimented us. He said that we had not only done well but that we had accomplished wonders under the circumstances. Of course, this was gratifying to us. Give black soldiers a chance and he will make a good soldier and that quicker than any other man.

 

P.S. The fatigue party from my regiment, sent out for that purpose, buried 27 of the enemy in front of our camp. They were horrid-looking objects. Ash cake and a little meat constituted the contents of their haversacks. 

To read another account of Milliken's Bend, click here to read "Broken Bayonets and Blood: An Officer's Account of Milliken's Bend." 

Before joining the 11th Louisiana in late May 1863, Cyrus Sears earned a Medal of Honor while serving as a lieutenant commanding the 11th Ohio Battery at the Battle of Iuka, Mississippi in September 1862. To learn more of that story, click here to read "The Music of the Spheres: The 11th Ohio Battery at Iuka." 

Source:

Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Cyrus Sears, 11th Louisiana Infantry Corps d’ Afrique, Bucyrus Weekly Journal (Ohio), June 26, 1863, pg. 1

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