Climbing Up to Glory (8 page)

Although large numbers of blacks continued to join the Union army in the South throughout the war, enlistment was often fraught with great danger. That so many were willing to take tremendous risks in order to enroll and fight attests to their inner strength and determination to gain freedom for themselves and their families. Understandably, the masters of slaves often did not want them to enlist since it would make them free men, and owners employed various measures to prevent them from enlisting. First and foremost, slaveowners in Union-occupied Missouri wanted mobile recruiting parties banned because they made prevention measures less successful. When General William S. Rosecrans, who replaced General John M. Schofield, banned mobile recruiting parties, this change forced interested blacks to walk long distances to enlist, thereby rendering them more vulnerable to slaveowners and vindictive whites. Often armed patrols awaited them; if captured, they faced either a brutal beating or execution. For example, Aaron Mitchell, a slave in northeastern Missouri, and his comrades were captured by a patrol while attempting to reach Hannibal to enlist. Mitchell and three others were arrested, retained for the night, and the next day taken home and severely whipped. One of his group, Alfred, was shot dead. Alfred's owner had offered ten dollars to any member of the patrol who would kill him, and one man stepped forward and shot him in the heart.
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So many blacks who were desirous of enlisting were mistreated and murdered that more than one hundred citizens in a northeastern Missouri county felt compelled to send a petition to General Rosecrans detailing the methods of local slaveholders. To stop blacks from enlisting, owners either used violence or the threat of violence, locked up their slaves' clothing, or, if all else failed, offered rewards or bounties. The situation of those blacks in Kentucky who wanted to enlist in the summer of 1864 was no better than it was in Missouri. In Kentucky, the commanding officer, General Stephen G. Burbridge, banned armed mobile recruiting squads, which had been used to ensure those blacks interested in enlisting a measure of safety. Now, however, as in Missouri, they were susceptible to white retaliation. But, even if mobile recruiters were not banned, armed patrols often followed these men into the camps and threatened the recruiters themselves.

A report by a provost marshal vividly describes the horrendous conditions under which recruits and recruiters labored. As they left a recruitment center, a mob of young men followed seventeen black men who had just been furnished with passes to return home, along with notes to their owners asking that they be permitted to enlist, and “seized them and whipped them most unmercifully with cowhides” before they could reach their houses. One black man trying to enlist was seized by a mob and was “tied to a tree and subjected to the most unmerciful beating.” Another black man was captured, badly whipped, and confined in jail as a runaway. Some others were not so fortunate and lost their lives attempting to enlist. When white Union officials tried to intervene and prevent the continual occurrence of these atrocities, they, too, were either beaten or threatened. A deputy provost marshal was subjected to a terrible beating with gun butts and chased from his home. A special agent who enlisted slaves “was caught, stripped, tied to a tree and cow-hided” by local whites. Moreover, when the provost marshal arrested a group of young whites for abusing some potential black enlistees, a mob threatened to lynch him, and shortly thereafter, local whites even tried to kill him.
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As expected, since family was dear to the hearts of most black enlistees, slaveholders often sought retaliation against members who were left behind to dissuade other blacks from enlisting in the future. They were subjected to arduous workloads, whippings, evictions, and sales. Martha Glover of Missouri, whose husband had enlisted in the Union army, wrote in despair to her husband about her sufferings at the hands of her owner: “I have had nothing but trouble since you left. They abuse me because you went and say they will not take care of our children and do nothing but quarrel with me all the time and beat me scandalously the day before yesterday.”
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Another wife of a black enlistee was evicted along with her children by her master. Hiram Cornell contacted Union officials to inform them of her horrendous circumstances. Traveling with her youngest child who was two years old, she had left her two older children at home. She was trying to find some work, as her master had told her never to return because “he could not and would not support the women.”
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News of this mistreatment had a negative effect on the morale of black troops, who constantly worried about the physical and emotional well-being of their families. They complained bitterly to Union officials. Martin Patterson of Company H, Second Missouri Volunteers, maintained that his wife was compelled “to do out door work—such as chop wood, husk corn and that one of his children has been suffered to freeze, and has since died.”
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And William Brooks of the same company noted that his family were “required to do the same work that he used to do, such as chopping wood, splitting rails & c.”
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It is not surprising that the efforts of slaveholders and their supporters to stop black men from enlisting, by penalizing the families of those who did, had a terrible impact on the lives of enslaved women and children. With about 50 percent or more of the adult black male population in military service, it was extremely difficult for most black families to survive. Forced eviction further complicated the problem. In addition, the more strenuous work contributed to more health problems, and a reduction in medical care by their owners certainly did not help. As a result, black women and their children were often homeless, hungry, and vulnerable to various diseases and, in some cases, to the lure of prostitution. Many became no more than beggars.

Why did black men leave them in this predicament? Was it because they did not realize what would happen if they left home and enlisted? Much of the correspondence suggests that black men and women were well aware of what could happen, and in the end the decision to enlist was often made by both husband and wife. For the man to become a member of a liberation force that would help eradicate the institution of slavery was of paramount importance.
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However, these men had left a region dominated by an intense support of slavery along with ardent racist beliefs, and they certainly worried about the well-being of family members who remained behind.

In spite of the huge obstacles placed before them, black men continued to enlist in the Union forces in staggering numbers. No wonder that Henry M. Turner, a Union recruiter and chaplain, could write that his recruiting effort in Smithville, North Carolina, late in the war “goes on finely.” He added that “we have enlisted several hale, stalwart-looking fellows, whom we think will fill their places nicely. One man wants his gun now, so he can get to killing right off.”
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And in the closing days of the war, blacks in Charleston, South Carolina, responded overwhelmingly to the recruitment efforts of Martin Delany, a black major in the Union army. When General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9,1865, formally ending the war, many of the new recruits clung to the hope that their camp would continue training them to do battle.
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Indeed, this undying belief that they had to do their own part in order for liberation to be truly theirs sustained them through many trials and tribulations. But black soldiers could not have endured without the support of their women, who provided their men with emotional and moral support and took care of their families to the best of their ability while they were away fighting. Not only were black women behind their soldier-husbands, but so also were entire black communities. The mere sight of black soldiers inspired pride in most blacks; and, as historian Reginald Hildebrand notes, “Black soldiers brought liberty and they were the first dramatic symbols of the empowerment of a people who had once been slaves.”
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Notwithstanding the commitment of most blacks to the Union cause and the high regard held for black soldiers throughout their communities, some men did not voluntarily enlist. Many were kidnapped by Union officials and forced into military action by the army of liberation. Others were utilized as laborers. According to Nelson Dorsey, who served in the Federal army for eight months, “They came out to our place one October and picked me up and made a soldier out of me.”
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Noah Rogers was returning to Mississippi with mules from Arkansas when he “was captured by Yankee soldiers, and placed in the Union army where he served until the surrender.”
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And Noah Perry recalled that “the Yankees come along and took all the able-bodied Colored men to the army.”
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Federal officials became so hungry for manpower that they sometimes kidnapped those blacks who earlier had been sympathetic to the Confederate cause, some having even seen combat. For example, Nathan Best described his own situation: “One day a soldier fighting for the South and the next a soldier, but firing cannon for the North!” He further boasted, “Yassuh, I‘se the one what fought on both sides, but I neber fought for de Yankees till dey captured me and put me in a corral and said, ‘Nigger, you fought for de South, now you can fight for de North.' ”
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Echoing similar sentiments, Henry Henderson asserted: “I use to be a fighting man and a strong Southern soldier, until the Yank's captured me and made me fight with them.”
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In another example, William Baltimore served as a servant for the Confederacy until 1863, “when he was captured by the Yankees who took him to Little Rock, where he was sworn in as a Union soldier.”
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Free blacks were just as much a target of Union recruiters as were slaves. Edmond Bradley, a free mulatto, was seized by Federal officials in New Orleans. “De Yankees pick me up dere,” he explained, “an' say I have to jine de Army, an' if I don' jine, den dey will conscript me anyways. So I jine under Capt. Walker, Company H, 96th Louisiana Colored Regiment.”
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Unfortunately, as the Union commitment to black troops increased, the black family again suffered the consequences. And, sadly, although most of the recruiting parties consisted of black soldiers, these squads still could have total disregard for the families of the men whom they took off the streets and out of the fields and forced into the army at bayonet point. Regrettably, it was common practice to refuse the men even the time to notify their families. As was the case with black men voluntarily enlisting, their kidnapping sometimes led to either the disruption or destruction of established households. A letter of Jane Wallis of York County, Virginia, whose husband was seized by a recruiting squad, underscores this point. She made it clear to Federal officials that her husband was taken against his will. But, most important, she explained, “he is verry delicate, and in bad health, in the Bargin, and I am not healthy myself, but if they, keep him, they leave me, and 3 children, to get along, the best we can, and one of them is now verry sick.”
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In addition, John Banks, a black man who was forced to enlist in the Union army, vividly described his ordeal in a statement in early January 1864. As Banks was cutting wood on December 2, 1863, a few miles from his house, he was confronted by an armed group of ten black soldiers who asked him to enlist. Banks informed them that he could not afford to enlist and leave his family to fend for themselves. The men responded by telling Banks to go to Newport News to see their commanding officer, Captain Montgomery. Banks did so and pleaded with the captain to either release him or at least allow him the courtesy of going home a few minutes to see his family. However, Montgomery replied that he “had orders” to take all colored men and make them enlist. The following day Banks was escorted to Craney Island, where he heard horror stories about what happened to those blacks who refused to enlist. Some had to “tote” cannon balls, and others were confined to the guardhouse with only hard bread and water. But, even before his arrival there, a soldier in Newport News had threatened to shoot Banks and another black, George Marrow, if they did not join the army. As a consequence, Banks yielded. When his enlistment papers were made out, he “did not dare to remonstrate but accepted the five dollars bounty and my uniform and clothing and performed the duty of a soldier.”
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Banks was forced to leave behind a wife and mother who depended on his support.

Not only did the army need soldiers, but they also needed laborers. When volunteers could not be found, Federal authorities seldom hesitated to seize black men and assign them to labor far from their homes. Impressment, therefore, also had a catastrophic impact on black families since it separated men from their wives, children, and other kin. Moreover, it subverted the economic foundation on which a stable family life rested. In some cases, even when the necessary laborers were found, Federal officials refused to pay them wages. This was an underhanded and unscrupulous practice. A group of black laborers in coastal North Carolina working on Federal fortifications was thus victimized and sent to Virginia on a similar assignment. Forty-five of these laborers petitioned the commander of Union forces in Tidewater Virginia and North Carolina to address a number of their concerns. First, they implored him to make sure that their families were provided for. In their view, they had honestly earned money that the government had withheld from them which could be used to support their families. Believing adamantly in the Union cause, the petitioners seemed hurt and humiliated by their treatment by superintendents of contrabands. They exclaimed: “Had we been asked to go to Dutch gap a large number would have gone without causeing the suffering that has been caused.” Furthermore, they added, “we are willing to go where our labour is wanted and we are ready at any time to do all we can for the government at any place and feel it our duty to help the government all we can.”
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