seized me
and began to tear my coat off. I resisted, but to no good purpose; a
half a dozen others came up and began to assist. I recognized a sergeant
in the crowd, an old shipmate on board of a New Bedford, Mass., Whaler;
he came to my rescue, my clothing was restored and I was let go. It was
nothing strange to see a black soldier _a la Adam_ come into the
barracks out of the streets. This conduct led to the killing of a
portion of a boat's crew of the U. S. Gunboat _Jackson_, at Ship Island,
Miss., by members of a Phalanx regiment stationed there.

[19] The injustice done the Phalanx, in discriminating between the
Northern and Southern negro, may be clearly seen by the following
letters:

"NEW VICTORIES AND OLD WRONGS.--_To the Editors of the Evening Post_: On
the 2d of July, at James Island, S. C., a battery was taken by three
regiments, under the following circumstances:

"The regiments were the One Hundred and Third New York (white), the
Thirty-Third United States (formerly First South Carolina Volunteers),
and the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, the two last being colored. They
marched at one A. M., by the flank, in the above order, hoping to
surprise the battery. As usual the rebels were prepared for them, and
opened upon them as they were deep in one of those almost impassable
Southern marshes. The One Hundred and Third New York, which had
previously been in twenty battles, was thrown into confusion; the
Thirty-Third United States did better, being behind; the Fifty-Fifth
Massachusetts being in the rear, did better still. All three formed in
line, when Colonel Hartwell, commanding the brigade, gave the order to
retreat. The officer commanding the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, either
misunderstanding the order, or hearing it countermanded, ordered his
regiment to charge. This order was at once repeated by Major Trowbridge,
commanding the Thirty-Third United States, and by the commander of the
One Hundred and Third New York, so that the three regiments reached the
fort in reversed order. The color-bearers of the Thirty-Third United
States and of the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts had a race to be first in,
the latter winning. The One Hundred and Third New York entered the
battery immediately after.

"These colored regiments are two of the five which were enlisted in
South Carolina and Massachusetts, under the written pledge of the War
Department that they should have the same pay and allowances as white
soldiers. That pl