“I have dwelt somewhat in detail upon these regiments composing the colored invalid corp because they represent a distinct though humble phase of the service, the usefulness of which deserves to be recorded and fixed in the public mind.”
"People will remember those who fought at Port Hudson and at Milliken Bend…but the humbler duty of safeguarding the plantations from assaults…protecting the women and children, the aged and infirm,--these were services which devolved upon men debarred by physical incapacity from the more heroic campaigns endured by their brothers, but no whit less devoted to the Union, no whit less brave in their loyalty to the cause that has freed them.” *
*John Eaton, Jr., Grant, Lincoln, and the Freedmen, 112.
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Brigadier Gen. Lorenzo Thomas--organizer of black troops in the South--explains that the guard regiments were approved by Grant and ordered by Secretary of War Stanton. Indeed, Thomas writes that the freedmen would not have had protection without them. (See Report of General Superintendent, p.6.)
ReplyDeleteWhat I see as I read the war record is that these were Eaton's right-hand-men, which explains why he would have been placed as commander over them. Certainly, this role of the guard units has been downplayed in history if not outright ignored.
It would appear to be the case that a certain cadre of men (and I wouldn't doubt women as well) were assertive in offering their services to the Union army even before they were officially mustered in. Evidently, they were bold enough to suggest their own worth even as they approached the lines. According to Grant, "suitable guards [would] be detailed by Commanding Officers nearest where the parties are at work to protect them from molestation."*
Furthermore, in Grant's record, there is mention of Negroes bringing news of the Rebel position. This suggests that as the so-called contraband entered the lines, they did so with valuable information. These were conscientious fugitives, who obviously knew the value of the information they possessed. All of this is to say that while we may be used to picturing desperate fugitives who place themselves at the mercy of the Union army, the men who would become members of the Home Guard found their advantage early on and kept it.
See "Black Farmers" blog.
*Copies, DNA, RG 393, Dept. of the Tenn., Special Orders; DLC-USG, V, 16, 26, 27, 97. (Quoted in The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, John Y. Simon, Ed., 316.)