| blacks early in the war, some into separate regiments of all black troops. Finally, on May 1, 1863, the War Department created the Bureau of Colored Troops, due to the great need for soldiers. Many African Americans from Wisconsin served in the Twenty-ninth U.S. Colored Troops. Finally, on July 17, 1862, Congress passed two acts allowing the enlistment of African Americans, but official enrollment occurred only after the September 1862 issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in the Confederacy (the states that had seceded). More than 200,000 blacks, both free African-Americans and runaway slaves, enlisted in the Union Army and Navy. African-American soldiers comprised about 10 percent of the Union Army. By August, 1863, 14 Negro Regiments were in the field. By the end of the war, there were 163 African-American units in the Union Army. African American soldiers participated in every major campaign of 1864-1865 except Sherman's invasion of Georgia. 38,000 were killed or wounded in Civil War battles. Estimates conclude that one-third of all African Americans who enlisted lost their lives. The authorities believed that black men lacked the ability to fight well. All units were commanded by white officers; blacks were never allowed to become officers. They were paid 1/2 of what the white soldiers received and were given inferior weapons and inadequate training. Worst of all, black soldiers who were captured by Confederate troops were often shot, and black troops felt that surrender would lead to immediate execution. In the battle at Fort Pillow, TN, 2,500 Confederates besieged the Union-held fortification, occupied by 292 black and 285 white soldiers. Only 62 of the U.S. Colored Troops survived the fight. Many accused the Confederates of perpetuating a massacre of black troops. By the fall of 1864, the South was clearly losing the war. General Order 14 was issued March 23, 1865, but only a few African American companies were raised, and the war ended before they could be used in battle. Frederick Douglass, who had escaped slavery in 1838, said, "Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States." Sergeant William H. Carney, of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteers, was the first African-American to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery under fire. By the end of the war, 24 black soldiers had won the same honor. One Madisonian/Henry Sanford had been born into slavery in Lincoln County, Missouri, on March 15, 1840. He witnessed his father, George Sanford, tied to a horse to be taken to New Orleans to be sold. At the beginning of the War, he was allowed to purchase his freedom. He enlisted in the 68th Regiment, U.S. Colored Infantry, Company F, as a private, on March 15, 1864. He was discharged on February 5, 1866, at Camp Parapet, Louisiana. He joined the Lucius Fairchild Post No. 11, Dept. of Wisconsin, Grand Army of the Republic, when he was 74 years old. The membership application is undated, but it must have been about 1914. At that time, he was living at 524 East Washington Avenue in Madison. He had never attended school and signed an X because he had never learned to write. At one time, his profession was listed as farmer, but by the time he applied to join the GAR, he was listed as a laborer. He had supported a wife and five children. Twenty-Ninth Regiment United States Colored Troops/In 1863, Wisconsin Governor Salomon received authority from the War Department to raise a regiment of African American soldiers. In December of that year, Colonel John A. Bross of Chicago, who had been commissioned to raise the Twenty-Ninth Regiment United States Colored Troops, sent recruiting agents into Wisconsin. About 250 African Americans from Wisconsin enlisted. In 1864, the regiment joined Burnside's (Ninth) Corps in the siege of Petersburg, VA. In this attack the regiment lost two hundred men. The Twenty-Ninth remained at Petersburg through the remainder of 1864. The regiment was mustered out on November 9th, 1865, after the end of the war. The Grand Army of the Republic After the war ended, the Grand Army of the Republic was the veterans' organization for Union soldiers. It developed effective communication linkages among veterans all over the country and organized social re-unions. The Wisconsin GAR carried out a census of ex-soldiers in 1879, which provided up-to-date information concerning the whereabouts of the ex-soldiers. The Lucius Fairchild chapter #11 of the Grand Army of the Republic was organized in Madison on June 10, 1866; it was the first one. In 1900, the chapter boasted 564 members. The chapter met twice a month in the GAR Memorial hall of the State Capitol. When the Capitol building burned in 1904, all of its trophies and memorabilia were lost. In 1932, there were only 25 members left, most of whom were in the 80s and 90s. Henry Sanford was still listed as an active member. At that time, Sanford was living at 10 S. Blount St. He was one of a very few people living in Madison who had been born in slavery. He had been permitted to purchase his freedom at the start of the war; he immediately joined the Union Army. Suggested resources for more information: http://museum.dva.state.wi.us/Res_CWRegiments.asp http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/timeline/civilwar/aasoldrs/soldiers.html http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/history/aa_history.htm http://www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/aaffsfl.htm#CIVIL http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/douglass/part4.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-Americans_in_the_Civil_War Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, 1908. Charles E. Estabrook, ed., Records and Sketches of Military Organizations. Madison, 1914. William DeLoss Love, Wisconsin in the War. Chicago, 1866. E.B. Quiner, The Military History of Wisconsin. Chicago, 1866. Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers: War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865. 1886; 2 vols. Wisconsin State Journal, Sunday March 13, 1932, Vol. 139, #162, p. 12. |
| Wisconsin African-Americans in the Civil War Civil War contributions By Anne Vandenburgh, M.A. |
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| African-American Enlistees The rich history of African-Americans who served during the Civil War, also known as the War of the Rebellion, which lasted from 1861 to 1865, deserves telling and re-telling. At the beginning of the war, many African Americans wanted to enlist, but they were prohibited by federal law dating back to 1792. At the beginning of the war, the Union Secretary of War issued a statement: "This Department has no intention at the present to call into service of the government any colored soldiers." Despite the federal law, local militia units began enlisting |
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