Black Service in the Civil War-- Part 3: White Officers and Battles

However, all officers were whites.  Blacks could become non commissioned officers like corporals and sergeants.  Many white officers took command of the regiments as a way to rise in the ranks.

USCT did a lot of guard duty, but also took part in engagements.  I have been writing about the nine USCT regiments involved with the engagement at the Confederate Sugar Loaf Line south of Wilmington, N.C.,  in my Running the Blockade blog the last two weeks.

USCT regiments served valiantly at the Battle of the Crater (Virginia), Battle of Chaffin;'s Farm (Virginia)  and Battle of Nashville (Tennessee).  The 54th Massachusetts gained glory at the Battle of Fort Wagner (South Carolina).

Other USCT regiments were present when Lee's Army surrendered at Appomattox.

Seven black sailors received the Medal of Honor during the war.  I wrote about one of them, Robert Blake in my January entries in my Running the Blockade:  Civil War Navy blog.

--Old Secesh

Black Service in the Civil War-- Part 2: 175 Regiments USCT, 20% of Union Navy

Existing volunteer black units  were converted into the United States Colored troops (USCT).  By the end of the conflict, there were 175 regiments of USCT, containing 178,000 enlisted soldiers making up approximately 10% of the Union Army.

Sixteen USCT soldiers earned the nation's highest honor, the Medal of Honor.

In addition, more than 18,000 black men and 3 women served in the U.S. Navy.  That number comprised  20% of all sailors in the war.

Black regiments were formed  in every Union state.  While mostly made up of black soldiers, other minorities  served including Indians and Asians.

--Old Secesh

Black Service in the Civil War-- Part 1: The Confiscation Act, Militia Act, Emancipation Proclamation and Bureau of Colored Troops

 From the Feb. 23, 2021, U.S. Army "African American service  and racial integration   in the U.S. military" by Dr. Paul-Thomas Ferguson.

I have written about earlier service during Colonial, American Revolution, War of 1812 and Indian Wars  in my Cooter's History Thing blog this past week.

During the Civil War, the Union established and maintained regiments of black soldiers.  This became possible in 1862 the Confiscation Act, which freed slaves of rebellious slaveholders, and the  Militia Act, which authorized the president to use former slaves as soldiers.

President Lincoln was initially reluctant to recruit black soldiers.  This changed in January 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring freedom for all slaves in Confederate states.

The first black regiments to served during the war were made up of free men.    In May 1863,  the War Department established the Bureau of Colored Troops for  the purpose of recruiting black men.

--Old Secesh

Col. John Edgar Gurley, 135th USCT-- Part 7: After the War

After he was discharged from the Army, John Gurley went back to Wisconsin, but this time settled in Platteville (not far from Shullsburg).  There he practiced law and formed a co-partnership with Paine & Carter, an established law  firm of that town.

He was an especially gifted orator and advocate, a man of great generosity and had many admirers.

In the summer of 1868, he took a severe cold and along with lasting effects of his military career caused his demise on April 2, 1869, at age 31.

His body was taken to  Sandwich, Illinois, where he is buried on the family plot at Pine Mound Cemetery in LaSalle County.

It is described as a very old and well-maintained  cemetery, but difficult to spot during corn-growing season.

--Old Secesh

John E. Gurley (135th USCT Commander)-- Part 6: The Battle of Atlanta to the End of the War

So, at the Battle of Atlanta, John Gurley did not become "a ruined man."

During the close-in fighting, Gurley had two horses shot out from under him.

But, for ordering those two regiments into line of battle without his commander's orders, Gurley was court martialed but since this action also saved his division from surprise and probably great loss of life, he was promoted to then rank of colonel and eventually received command of the 135th USCT Infantry Regiment the next year.

Before receiving that command, Gurley was part of Sherman's March to the Sea and the Carolinas Campaign.

He held the command of the 135th from March 1865 and his regiment was part of the Grand Review in Washington, D.C., and then to Louisville, Kentucky, where he and the regiment were mustered out of service in October 1865.

--Old Secesh

John E. Gurley-- Part 5: It Was Infantry in the Woods As It Turned Out

The question as to whether or not the noises were coming from cavalry or infantry was shortly determined when  Hardee's men emerged from the woods and attacked the rear of Smith's division with bullets streaming through the air and a big Rebel Yell.

Turning to Smith, John Gurley posed the question, "Are they infantry?"

Smith replied:  "yes, captain, and lots of them; go take command of those two regiments (that Gurley had formed into battle line of his own accord), lead them into the fight, check the enemy for a few minutes, till I get our men in line, then fall back to the main body."

Captain Gurley executed the order in the face of an overpowering foe and galling fire.  Then fell back as directed and fought with his comrades until night, maintaining their ground.

Sure Saved the General's Horse.  --Old Secesh

Col. John E. Gurley and David H. Budlong, Co. C, 33rd Wisconsin

From the Wisconsin Historical Society Roster of the 33rd Wisconsin

COMPANY C

Captain John E. Gurley

Residence:  Shullsburg, Wisconsin

Date:  Rank from August 23, 1862

REMARKS:

A.A.I.G., 4th Division, 17th Army Corps from Dec. 1864 to May 1865.

Colonel 135th U.S.C.T., May 27, 1865.

******************************

In addition to John Gurley taking command of the 135th USCT, another man, a lieutenant in C Company, also went to the 135th USCT and became its lieutenant colonel.

DAVID H. BUDLONG, 1st lieutenant

RESIDENCE:  Shullsburg, Wisconsin

DATE:  Rank from:  October 9, 1862.

Enlisted August 21, 1862, Prov. Marshal 4th Division, 16th and 17th Army Corps from May 1863 to May 1864.

Promoted Lieut. Col.  U.S.C.T., May 27, 1865.

--Old Secesh

John E. Gurley-- Part 4: The Battle of Atlanta, About Those Noises Out in the Woods

At the Battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864, John Gurley won his "Eagles," meaning his becoming a colonel.  You might even say his alert actions saved the Union army from a disastrous defeat at that battle.

During the early morning hours of July 22 reports of noises off in the wood s started coming into the Union commander in that section, Gen. Giles A. Smith, doubted it was infantry that was being heard, but sent an officer to investigate.

That officer was Captain Gurley and he was to make an observation and report back to the general.  He did just that and determined the sounds were coming from infantry.

On the evening of July 21, Confederate General Hood had ordered Lt. General  William J. Hardee's corps to make a 15-mile  night march and assault the Union army's  left flank, commanded by Major General  James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee.  The sounds being heard were Hardee's march.

Riding back to report to Giles, Gurley took it upon himself to order two Union regiments into line of battle to prepare for enemy attack.  He did this of his own accord and without the orders of his commanding general.

He got back to Smith's headquarters and made his report, "Infantry in large numbers, and will be upon you in a few minutes."   The general still did not believe him and thought it was just cavalry.  And when he found out that Gurley had taken it upon himself to order two of his regiments into line of battle without his express orders, the general blew his top, he turned to Gurley and said:  "Captain, if they are infantry you are all right, if not, you are a ruined man."

--Old Secesh

Col. John E. Gurley-- Part 3: At Vicksburg, the Second Battle of Jackson and Atlanta

Captain Gurley and his Co. C of the 33rd Wisconsin were at Vicksburg for forty days and involved in several fights including Gurley personally leading some charges.  After the fall of Vicksburg, he ended up on the staff of the 4th Division commanded by General  Jacob Lauman.

As such, he was at the Second Battle of Jackson (Mississippi) which ended in disaster and with Lauman being removed from command.

Captain Gurley continued with the staff, now under General Walter Quintin Gresham and was with him when he was wounded during the Atlanta Campaign  on July 21, 1864.  General Gresham's knee was shattered by a sharpshooter's bullet which ended his military career.

The next day, July 22, the division occupied the ground known as Bald Hill and this is where John Gurley earned his "Eagles,' promotion to colonel.

The question was, was that infantry moving in the woods or cavalry.  Gurley's actions, if incorrect would end his military career.

See the next post.

--Old Secesh

Col. John E. Gurley-- Part 2: Lived in Illinois and Wisconsin. Commanded Co. C in the 33rd Wisconsin

 From Find a Grave.

John Gurley was born in Illinois and received his early education in the town of Elizabeth in Jo Daviess County in the northwestern  part of the state near Galena (where U.S Grant lived.)

 He then attended district schools in Wisconsin and finished at Lombard University in Galesburg, Illinois. (Which no longer is in operation.)

After graduating, he took up the study of law  in the office of M. Hollister in Shullsburgh, Wisconsin, and was admitted to the bar in 1862 in that state.

In August of 1862, he enlisted a company of men who mustered into duty October 18, 1862, as Company C of the 33rd Wisconsin.  They left for the field of duty the following month and joined General Sherman's Army of the Tennessee and took part in Grant's move on  Jackson, Mississippi, and fought at Coldwater and other places.

On the night of the 4th of June 1863, before Vicksburg,  an impetuous  attack was made upon Confederate rifle pits near Halls Ferry Road led by Co. C, under Gurley and Co. K under Lt. Shea.    This caused the enemy to flea into their main works.

--Old Secesh

Col. John E. Gurley, the 135th USCT's Commander-- Part 1: A Midwest Heritage

He was appointed commander of the 135th USCT regiment and remained in command for the rest of the unit's time in the service.  He has quite a Midwest background

He was born in Illinois and lived in Wisconsin.

From Find-A-Grave.

BIRTH:  24 April 1838

DEATH;  2 April 1869, Platteville, Wisconsin

BURIED:  Pine Mound Cemetery,  LaSalle County, Illinois  (Where his father and mother are buried.)

--Old Secesh

135th USCT-- Part 2: Marched in the Grand Review and Mustered Out in Louisville

Once the 135th USCT enlisted in Goldsboro, N.C., the men were issued the blue Union Army uniforms with the famous brass buttons with the freedom eagle on them.

Research on their pension records reveals that the regiment's men felt very proud to be fighting for their freedom.

Upon leaving Goldsboro, the 135th marched as part of Sherman's army and left their picks and shovels behind.  They were now soldiers.  They marched to Raleigh, the state's capital.  Then it was into Virginia to Petersburg, Richmond, Fredericksburg and Alexandria.

Then came one of the regiment's proudest moments as the 135th marched with Sherman's army in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C., on May  24, 1865.  In their pension records, they proudly say that they marched past the president of the United States under their own regimental flag.  (I was surprised to see that they participated in the Grand Review as I thought that no USCT were allowed in it.)

Following a brief time in D.C. and performing guard duty  at Fort Kearny, on of the capital's defenses, the 135th was transported by train then boat to Louisville, Kentucky, where they performed more guard duty until mustering out on October 23, 1865.

--Old Secesh

135th USCT-- Part 1: Mustered in at Goldsboro, N.C.

In the last post I wrote about the exhibit on this regiment that will be at the Wayne County Museum in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

From the 135th USCT website.

The regiment was formed in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on March  27, 1865, from men who had previously served in the Pioneer Corps, and were a part of Gen. William T. Sherman's Union Army.

Prior to taking the oath of service in Goldsboro, they had been recruited for the Pioneer Corps during Sherman's March through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.  Once they were formed into the 135th, they were commanded by Colonel John Edgar Gurley, who then commanded them until the end of the war (which wasn't very long by this time).

The Pioneer Corps worked tirelessly through the winter of 1864 and spring of 1865 to move General Sherman's Army.  They built corduroyed roads to get them through swamps and bridges.  There were a lot of swamps, rivers and streams along Sherman's path.  These Pioneers were a big reason for his success.

They had to work hard to insure  that the over 2,500 wagons of Sherman's army could stay with the 60,000 men.

--Old Secesh

History of the 135th USCT to Be Exhibited in Goldsboro, N.C.

From the February Wayne County, North Carolina, History Museum.

On Saturday, February 20 the museum will be having the grand opening of its new exhibit "Fighting For Freedom:  The 135th USCT, Black Soldiers of the Civil War."  (United States Colored Troops)

This is in collaboration with the 125th USCT research team.

There will be a video posted on the museum's Facebook page and You Tube channel that day at 1 p.m. (EST).  There will be interviews with descendants of the regiment's soldiers and their histories.

The 135th USCT were organized in 1865 in Goldsboro, North Carolina.  For more information on the 135th, click on the label below.

In addition, for Black History Month,  there will be exhibits at the museum on the old Central High School and the Little Washington neighborhood.

I'd sure like to go to the museum and see these exhibits, but alas, I live 1100 miles away.

Should Be Interesting.  --Old Secesh

Henry Mack's Obituary of the 57th USCT

From the December 14, 2014, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder  "Civil War veteran Henry Mack, 107 years old, dies.  Buried April 11, 1945."

From the April 13, 1945 issue.

Funeral services for Henry Mack, reported to be one of the oldest Civil War veterans in the country, who died at veterans hospital, Sunday, April 8, were held Wednesday, April 11, at Zion Baptist Church with Reverend Claude Ireland, chaplain of the Minnesota Soldiers Home, officiating.

Mr. Mack, a native of Fayette City, Alabama, was 107 years old at the time of his death.  He was vice commander of the Minnesota  Department of the Grand Army of the Republic.  He fought in the Civil War in the Fifty-seventh Infantry Colored Volunteers from Arkansas.

Members of the Johnny Baker Post were the active pallbearers.  Internment was at Crystal Lake cemetery.

Surviving are a step -son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Johnson, with whom he made his home.  Woodward Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Henry Mack, Born a Slave, Served USCT-- Part 5: 'There's a Lot of Damn Good Fight in Me Yet!'

His second wife, Sadie Johnson, died in 1935.  Then in his nineties, Mack moved in with her son from a previous marriage and his wife, Clarence and Allie Johnson.  They regularly drove him to GAR meetings and Sunday services at Zion Baptist Church.

With the United States engaged in World War II, Mack was in his 100s when he climbed the stairs for the first time in years, loaded a shotgun and put on his Army jacket.

When his family members found him on a nearby porch, he was headed to an Army recruiting station.

Told that he was too old to go to war again, Mack said:  "There's a lot of damn good fight in me yet!"

--Old Secesh

Henry Mack and the 57th USCT-- Part 4: After the War

Mack was among the nearly 200,000 black Civil War soldiers and sailors.  He completed his three year enlistment as a corporal on the southwestern frontier, joking later in life  about the, long walk he had to make between Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and  and the New Mexico Territory.

After returning to Arkansas to search in vain for his mother, Mack moved to Omaha in the 1870s.  He married Martha Green, the widowed mother of  three in 1881 and worked as a janitor, a porter, carpenter and  plumber.

After Martha's death and the Omaha Race Riots in 1919, Mack moved to Minneapolis.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Events in February: The Confederate States of America

From the American Battlefield Trust 2021 February calendar.

FEBRUARY 2

GROUNDHOG DAY:  I wonder if the groundhog saw his shadow on this date during the war.

FEBRUARY 4

1861  The seceded states meet in Montgomery, Alabama, to form a new government.

FEBRUARY 8

1861   The Confederate States of America adopts a provisional constitution.

FEBRUARY 18

1861  Jefferson Davis inaugurated President of the Confederate States of America.

FEBRUARY  20

1864   Battle of Olustee, Florida.

FEBRUARY 21

1862   Battle of Valverde, New Mexico Territory

--Old Secesh

Fort Donelson

From the American Battlefield Trust 2021 calendar, February.

FORT DONELSON,  Tennessee

370 acres saved.

Ulysses S. Grant received a promotion to major general for his success at capturing Forts Henry and Donelson in February of 1862.

To save land at Fort Donelson and other Tennessee battlefields, the Trust has gratefully drawn upon the Tennessee Civil War Sites Preservation Fund, the state's own dedicated, annually recurring source of grant funding for battlefield preservation.

Thank You Tennessee.  --Old Secesh

Henry Mack and the 57th USCT-- Part 3: Ran Away from Alabama Plantation

Steve Chicoine began doing extensive research on Henry Mack and the 57th USCT after seeing Mack's gravestone at the Fort Snelling National Cemetery.  He scoured old newspapers and interviewed north Minneapolis  residents who recalled him as the "Old Soldier."

According to Chicoine, Henry Mack was known only as Henry picking cotton at an Alabama plantation.  When the overseer threatened to whip his mother, Phoebe, for falling behind, Henry stepped in and took the beating himself.   That prompted their escape, a harrowing 300-mile trek across Mississippi to a Union camp in Helena, Arkansas.

No one gave Mack his freedom.  He seized it himself, despite dire consequences had he been captured.

He took the last name Mack and enlisted in the Union Army in early 1864.  When he boarded a ship on the Arkansas River, he waved goodbye to his mother, whom he'd never see again.

He and his regiment, the 57th USCT saw action in Arkansas and clashed with bushwhackers.  Gen. C.C. Andrews, a former Minnesota legislator, said later that they served with "a cheery appearance and willing spirit" and "proved good soldiers."

--Old Secesh

Born a Slave, Henry Mack, Union Veteran-- Part 2: Member of the 57th USCT

 Henry Mack credited his long life to abstinence from alcohol and tobacco.  And local newspapers credited him as being the country's oldest Civil War veteran when he died in 1945 of pneumonia.

He took his last breath at the Minneapolis Veterans Hospital on April 8, 1945, the eve of the day that Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Grant eighty years earlier.

Most of Mack's life was spent in Arkansas, Kansas and  Nebraska, he moved to Minnesota in the early 1920s and spent his last two decades in Minneapolis as a fixture at parades and patriotic events.

"Henry Mack's regular presence at public gatherings ... served as a reminder to the people of the Twin Cities of the past role of the African Americans in the defense of the  nation and their willingness to serve,"  wrote Steve Chicoine in the "American Legacy," a magazine devoted to black history.

Chicoine, 70, says Mack's headstone at Fort Snelling caught his eye because it had the Civil War's recessed shield and was well preserved.  He began doing extensive research on Mack and his Civil War unit, the 57th United States Colored Troops (USCT).

--Old Secesh

Born a Slave, Henry Mack Served in Union Army and Lived to Be 107-- Part 1

From the January 30, 2021, Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Former slave, Civil War vet lived final decades in Minneapolis" by Curt Brown.

The picture shows him at the age of  104 in 1941.  Five Civil War veterans were honored at the Third Annual Good Will dinner at Post 166 Jewish War Veterans.  He is bottom row, right.

Grave No. 384 in Section A-3 commemorates one of the most remarkable lives among the 240,000 military and family members buried  at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

This is the grave of Henry Mack, an escaped slave, Civil War veteran who lived to be 107.  He died in 1945 and was buried in the area where early black veterans were interred.

Mack was born into Alabama slavery sometime between  1836 and 1838 according to pension records.  Newspapers later settled on 1837 for his birth year.

"I only know my birthday being July 4th as having been told by my parents and master," Mack said in a 1912 interview.  "He concluded:  "I am 75 years old and past."

At age 100 in 1937, he was described as being in great shape for a man of his age.  The Minneapolis Star-Journal reported in 1941 that Mack, at 104, was "trim, alert, conversational," a busy man" with little time for reminiscing" given his schedule as a "patriotic instructor" and one of the last members of the Civil War veterans group, the Grand Army of the Republic.

--Old Secesh

Fort Stevens, Guardian of D.C.-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Formerly named Fort Massachusetts, was part of extensive fortifications built to protect Washington, D.C., during the Civil War.

Originally built in 1861, but expanded and renamed Fort Stevens after Brigadier General Isaac Ingalls Stevens, who was killed at the Battle of Chantilly, Virginia, on September 1, 1862.  

In 1861, it had a perimeter of 168 yards and  embrasures for ten cannons.  In 1862, it was expanded to  375 yards and 19 guns.  It guarded the northern approach to the city along 7th Avenue.  By 1864, it was part of a thirty-seven mile long arrangement of fortifications consisting of sixty-eight forts to defend the capital city.

After the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run, the defenses of Washington, D.C., consisted of just one fort, Fort Washington, located some twelve miles south on the Potomac River.  Eventually there would be 68 forts, 93 batteries,  20 miles of rifle pits and 32 miles of military roads.

--Old Secesh

Last Time 'Insurgents' Got This Close to Capitol-- Part 5: 'Scared Abe Lincoln Like Hell'

Early ordered his troops to stay in place and continue to look menacing and after darkness fell on July 12, sometime  after 10 p.m., he ordered a withdrawal into Virginia.  And, thus, no Confederate flag made it to within six miles of the U.S. Capitol, that is until January 6, 2021, when one not only got within six miles but was also carried into the Capitol by the infamous "Confederate Flag Guy."

"Although he failed to capture the National Capital, the campaign apparently pleased him," as recounted by Major Henry Kyd Douglas," said the National Park Service , which maintains the partially restored Fort Stevens in the Brightwood  neighborhood of northwest Washington.

"On the evening of July 12, after deciding to withdraw from Washington, General Early called his staff together and declared: 'Major, we haven't taken Washington, but we scared Abe Lincoln like hell.' "

Early was later relieved from command in March 1865, and following the war, fled to Mexico, then Cuba, then Canada, before returning -- promise of amnesty in hand -- to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he resumed his prewar occupation as an attorney and helped  in "crafting the narrative of the Lost Cause," the National Park Service said.

--Old Secesh