The Black Phalanx / African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the War of 1812, and the Civil War

by Joseph T. Wilson

FOOTNOTES:

[31] The reader will bear in mind that there were several changes in the command of these troops during the campaign, on account of promotions, but the troops remained in the Department and Army of the James. See Roster, for changes.

[32] THE PHALANX AT NEW MARKET HEIGHTS.[A]

"On the 29th of September, 1864, Gen. Grant ordered Gen. Butler to cross the James River, at Two Points, and attack the enemy's line of work, in the centre of which was Fort Harrison; on the left, at New Market Heights, was a very strong work, the key of the enemy's flank on the north side of the river. It was a redoubt built on the top of a hill of some considerable elevation, then running down into a marsh. In that marsh was a brook—then rising again to a plain, which gently rolled toward the river. On that plain, when the flash of dawn was breaking, Butler placed a column of the black Phalanx," [which consisted of the 5th, 36th, 38th and 2nd Cavalry Regts.], "numbering three thousand, in close column, by division, right in front with guns at 'right shoulder shift.' The center of the line was given to the eighteenth corps composed of white troops, under Gen. Ord, and they drove the enemy from a very strong work, capturing several pieces of cannon.

"Gen. Butler had been severely criticised by officers of the regular army for organizing twenty-five regiments of negroes. 'Why.' said they, 'they will not fight' In contradiction of this assertion Butler made up his mind to prove the worth and value of the black Phalanx. Notwithstanding their gallantry at Petersburg and on the Fredericksburg road, the metal of the 25th corps of the Army of the James was to be tried; so Butler took command of the Phalanx himself with a determination to set at rest forever the question of the fighting capacity of a portion of his command. Addressing the Phalanx, he said, pointing to the works on the enemy's flank, 'those works must be taken by the weight of your column; not a shot must be fired. In order to prevent them from firing he had the caps taken from the nipples of their guns. 'When you charge.' he said, 'your cry will be 'Remember Fort Pillow.'

"'Twas in the early grey of the morning, ere the sun had risen. The order 'forward' set the column in motion, and it went forward as if on parade—down the hill, across the marsh, and as the column got into the brook they came within range of the enemy's fire, which was vigorously opened upon them. The column broke a little, as it forded the brook, it wavered! What a moment of intense anxiety? But they formed again, as they reached the firm ground, marching on steadily with close ranks under the enemy's fire until the head of the column reached the first line of abatis, some one hundred and fifty yards from the enemy's work. Then the axemen ran to the front to cut away the heavy obstacles of defense while one thousand men of the enemy with their artillery concentrated poured from the redoubt a heavy fire upon the head of the column of fours. The axemen went down under that murderous fire; other strong black hands grasped the axes in their stead and the abatis was cut away. Again, at double-quick, the column went forward to within fifty yards of the fort, to meet there another line of abatis. The column halted and there a very fire of hell was poured upon them. The abatis resisted and held the head of the column which literally melted away under the rain of shot and shell; the flags of the leading regiments went down, but a brave black hand seized the colors. They were soon up again and waved their starry light over the storm of battle. Again the axemen fell, but strong hands and willing hearts seized the heavy sharpened trees and dragged them away, and the column rushed forward and with a shout that rang out above the roar of artillery went over the redoubt like a flash, and the enemy did not stop running within four miles, leaving the Phalanx in possession of their deemed impregnable work, cannons and small arms. The autocrats of the regular army could croak no longer about the negro soldiers not fighting.

"This gallantry of the Phalanx won for them and the negro race the admiration of the man who supported Jeff Davis and the slave power in the Charleston convention in 1860. Ten years after this splendid victory of the Phalanx, in support of their civil rights, General Butler then a member of congress, made an eloquent appeal in behalf of the equal civil rights of the negro race. In it he referred to the gallant charge of the Phalanx. He said: "It became my painful duty to follow in the track of that charging column, and there, in a space not wider than the clerk's desk and three hundred yards long, lay the dead bodies of five hundred and forty-three of my colored comrades, fallen in defense of their country, who had offered up their lives to uphold its flag and its honor, as a willing sacrifice: and as I rode along among them, guiding my horse this way and that way, lest he should profane with his hoofs what seemed to me the sacred dead, and as I looked on their bronzed faces upturned in the shining sun, as if in mute appeal against the wrongs of the country for which they had given their lives, whose flag had only been to them a flag of stripes, on which no star of glory had ever shone for them—feeling I had wronged them in the past and believing what was the future of my country to them—among my dead comrades there, I swore to myself a solemn oath—'May my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof my mouth, if I ever fail to defend the rights of those men who have given their blood for me and my country that day and for their race forever, and God helping me, I will keep that oath."

* * * *

"NEW MARKET HEIGHTS.[B]

"'Freedom their battle cry, freedom or leave to die.'—Boker.

At New Market Heights, there Afric's lineage stood,
And poured out copiously its best blood;
Of them I would sing, my lyre's restrung,
And allures not diffidently to the song,
Paternal muse with thy patriot valor reign
Supreme, and the brightness of ages regain,
In the deep recess of the past
Lower me, to where the battle's blast
Has been given to oblivion, the sigh
Of dying patriots let greet me nigh.
And my thoughts waft on memory's wing,
To where their charging shouts yet ring.

If mine the task indulgent muse vouchsafed,
Whilst I commune 'mongst bones that paved,
And flesh that bridged the chasm o'er,
Where Butler numbered five hundred and more
of Afric's sons, who for liberty fell.
In the corridors of a stockaded hell.
I'll essay their deeds of valor done,
By which the nation its victory won.

'Twas early in the grey September morn,
Ere the suns fulgent light had shown,
Whilst departed patriots looked out from above,
Emitting their twinkling silvery light of love,
Upon the silent bivouac of freedom's sons,
Weary and resting upon their bayonetless guns;
Quite near the bank of the James,
Just above where their own fathers' names,
Were first enrolled as ignoble slaves.
The Second Brigade, valiant men and braves,
Saw a meteor like rocket burst high,
High up in the dewey morning sky.
Then came the summons prepare to away,
Butler leads to New Market heights at day.
Beat the long roll, sound the alarm,
Break the monotone and the dead calm,
And the bugle's clarion notes aroused, awoke,
The host that waited ere day broke;
Infantry, cavalry prepared to make away,
Butler leads to New Market heights at day.

From rank to rank the summons ran,
Bayonets rattle and clank of sabres began.
With whetted steel the sturdy axe-men,
Capless riflemen, horseless cavalry men.
Formed on that plain in battle array,
Butler leads to New Market heights at day.

When the flash of dawn was breaking,
Their leader rode in front, and speaking,
Gave the charging shout 'Remember Fort Pillow,'
And their banners brightened in the mellow
Light of heaven; 'Forward,' they marched away,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.
Went down the hill across the marsh,—
Into the brook—there halted—ah! how harsh
The rebels' fire opened upon them, artillery
Hail swept the run, and the infantry
Broke, the column wavered tho' not in dismay,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Again the shattered columns form and again advance
To firmer ground, tho' the redoubt hurl'd like an avalanche
In quick succession, bursting bombs and canister shot,
But with closed ranks the column, fearing not
Unheedful of the iron hail bent its way,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Now the head of the column of fours go down
Under the murderous fire and the hissing song
Of the enemy's shells, now the axe men spring
To the abatis high and long, now their axes ring
Out on the morning air, they were swept away.
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

The flags are where, do they kiss the morning light,
Do they wave in the battle's gale, are their stars bright,
Illumining the path of the brave? riddled and torn,
With the dead they lay. Soon again they shone,
In the first gleam of the rising-sun's ray,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Upon the brigade each felt that all was placed,
Their race and country's future honored or disgraced,
Hence with Spartan courage they the charge renewed,
And in hot haste the Nation's enemy pursued,
And sweat and blood from pore and wound inveigh,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

'Forward, forward!' rung the command, the flags are up again,
The axe-men grin, and with a shout go over the slain,
To a second line of abatis. The welkin's aglow.
The advancing brigade shouts, 'Remember Fort Pillow!'
And with a will and spirit they clear the way,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Down the dismounted cavalrymen fall by ranks,
The Infantry an adamantine wall on the flanks,
Close up briskly on right and left receive
The enflading fire from the brazen crest, breathe
They not a word in complaint, freedom's impulse obey,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Mow the black axe-men tear from the sod the huge logs
Which science and treason placed deep in the bogs,
Skill gave way to freedom's might in the dastardly fight,
And the black brigade, with capless rifles and starry light,
Go through the gap to the Rebel's hell in gallant array,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Volley after volley poured, cannon after cannon roared,
Like reapers in a field a thousand artillerists mowed
In the gap, the brigade's advancing files of four,
Yet on through the flood of death still the brigade pour.
Their battle cry, Remember Fort Pillow, the enemy dismay,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Hark! above the raging carnage swells the shout,
'No quarter to Niggers,' with hope of a rout,
But the brigade was not deterred, they retaliate
The defiant yells, Remember Fort Pillow, the fate
Of its garrison how it fell, on through the fray,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

On for the redoubt over the rampart they go,
Not a rifle was fired, not a shot at the foe,
By the weight of the column the redoubt is theirs,
And the enemy routed, the chivalry scattered everywhere
Victorious shouts the empyrean ring in repay,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

In the track of the brigade lay the loyal dead,
Afric's hecatomb, her lineage's pyre to liberty wed,
Their upturned countenances to the burning sun,
Were appeals to Mars for their race's freedom won,
Five hundred lives on the patriotic alter lay,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

No marble shaft or granate pile mark the spot
Where they fell—their bones lay harvested from sun-rot,
In the Nation's cities of the dead. Hannibal led
No braver than they through Alpine snow, nor wed
To freedom were Greece's phalanx more, who o'er gory clay
Followed Butler to New Market heights that day.

[33] See report of 29th Regiment Connecticut Colored Volunteers in appendix.

[A](Author in the N. Y. Globe.)]

[B](Author in "Voice of a New Race.")

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