The Project Gutenberg EBook of Army Life in a Black Regiment, by
Thomas Wentworth Higginson

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Title: Army Life in a Black Regiment

Author: Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6764]
Posting Date: March 23, 2009

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT ***

Produced by Eric Eldred

ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

(1823-1911)

Originally published 1869

Reprinted, 1900, by Riverside Press

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 Introductory

CHAPTER 2 Camp Diary

CHAPTER 3 Up the St. Mary's

CHAPTER 4 Up the St. John's

CHAPTER 5 Out on Picket

CHAPTER 6 A Night in the Water

CHAPTER 7 Up the Edisto

CHAPTER 8 The Baby of the Regiment

CHAPTER 9 Negro Spirituals

CHAPTER 10 Life at Camp Shaw

CHAPTER 11 Florida Again?

CHAPTER 12 The Negro as a Soldier

CHAPTER 13 Conclusion

APPENDIX

A. Roster of Officers
B. The First Black Soldiers
C. General Saxton's Instructions
D. The Struggle for Pay
E. Farewell Address

Index

Chapter 1. Introductory

These pages record some of the adventures of the First South Carolina
Volunteers, the first slave regiment mustered into the service of the
United States during the late civil war. It was, indeed, the first
colored regiment of any kind so mustered, except a portion of the troops
raised by Major-General Butler at New Orleans. These scarcely belonged
to the same class, however, being recruited from the free colored
population of that city, a comparatively self-reliant and educated race.
"The darkest of them," said General Butler, "were about the complexion
of the late Mr. Webster."

The First South Carolina, on the other hand, contained scarcely a
freeman, had not one mulatto in ten, and a far smaller proportion who
could read or write when enlisted. The only contemporary regiment of a
similar character was the "First Kansas Colored," which began recruiting
a little earlier, though it was not mustered in the usual basis of
military seniority till later. [_See Appendix_] These were the only
colored regiments recruit