The Forty-third regiment United States Colored Troops

GETTYSBURG: J. E. WIBLE, PRINTER, NORTH-EAST CORNER OF THE DIAMOND. 1866.
No apology can be necessary for the publication of the following pages, as it is no unworthy or mercenary object they seek to obtain. They have been elicited by request of numerous friends of the officers of this regiment and of the colored troops, designed for their own use; and their object is not simply to give succinct statements of individual military history, or of any single command of the Colored Troop, but to furnish, also, at the same time, an unanswerable argument on the subject of this Troop, as an element in the military service on the side of Freedom and the Union; their extraordinary good discipline, efficiency and bravery, and the fact that they are very susceptible of intellectual and moral culture. We present it in compliance with the request that has been made, subservient to this purpose.
J. M. MICKLEY, late Chaplain of the Regiment .
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT
UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS,
INCLUDING A BRIEF HISTORY OF THEIR MILITARY CAREER.
BREVET BRIG. GEN. S. B. YEOMAN.
This officer, formerly Colonel Commanding this Regiment, is a native of Washington, Ohio. His great-grand-father, James Yeoman, served with distinction as a Captain in the war of the Revolution, and his grand-father as a First Lieutenant in the war of 1812.
Before entering the United States service the General was a sea-man, whose experience of nautical life extends over a decade of years. He started as a sailor before the mast at fifteen years of age. His first voyage was on a whaling expedition of three years in the ship Alexander, which was wrecked on the South Island of New Zealand. The boats, to which all fled for safety, became unmanageable; and not until after suffering great hardships on the deep, he with a few others were accidentally rescued. After this he made several voyages to South America, Asia and Africa; and returned shortly before the outbreak of the Rebellion. He at once determined to remain and identify himself with the cause of the Union and its Free Institutions.