Historical Romance of the American Negro

by Charles Henry Fowler

The troops marched and counter-marched till the month of March, 1864, when they joined Union General Steele's forces, and marched against the enemy, who were posted on the west side of Prairie d'Ane, within twenty-five miles of Washington. As we came up, the enemy fled before us, and we occupied their works without having to fight for them! Indeed, a good deal of the warfare on the western frontier was nothing but marching and counter-marching; coming to blows now and then, in which we were mainly successful, for the rebels often preferred to fly before us!

It was curious to note at the time how what appeared to be very frivolous circumstances led to pitched battles and the most serious results. Letters from newspaper correspondents, and private letters as well, made this quite clear. Private letters to friends were often more clear and explicit than the more general and profuse war correspondence.

A RELIC OF SLAVERY DAYS

Col. Williams informs us that he arrived at Camden on the 16th of April, 1864, but on the following day, the 17th, started with five hundred men of the First Colorado, two hundred cavalry detailed from the Second, Sixth and Fourteenth Kansas regiments, and one section of the Second Indiana Battery, with a train for the purpose of loading forage and provisions at a point twenty miles west of Camden, on the Washington road. On the 17th he reached the place, and succeeded in loading about two-thirds of his train, which consisted of two hundred wagons; the rest of the wagons were loaded next morning as they passed along. At a point fourteen miles west of Camden, the advance encountered a small force of the enemy, who retreated down the road after some slight skirmishing, but did in such a manner as to convince the Colonel that it was a mere feint to cover other movements, or else to draw his command into ambush, as had already been done at Olustee, in Florida. The troops advanced with caution for about a mile and a-half to a place called Poison Springs, and here they came upon the skirmish lines of the enemy in a thickly-timbered region. Our troops drove in their skirmish lines, and discovered that the rebels were there in force. Indeed it was ascertained afterwards that there were about ten thousand of them, and their intention seemed to have been to eat us all up alive! To me it is a most astonishing thing to even think that our small force, not more than 1,000 men, should venture to contest a "field" of 10,000 rebels; but so it was, not only at the battle of Poison Springs, but such attacks were made again and again over the entire seat of war. Surely the colored troops must have had the hearts of lions, and a most tremendous amount of self-confidence even to look in the face of such odds!

The enemy, with ten pieces of artillery, now opened the fight, six in front and four on the right flank. (They had twelve cannon altogether, but commenced the engagement with ten). We had to fight hard, yes, most desperately, and lost many a brave man, either killed or wounded. Col. Williams still fought on and on, making the best disposition possible of his little force. We were only able to use two of our light cannon at any one time, on account of the difficult nature of the thickly-timbered land. The Colonel was ever hoping that re-enforcements would come up to his aid from Camden, and relieve the train loaded of two hundred wagons, and save our little army, but no relief ever came. Thus the battle went on from 10 A. M. till 2 P. M., during which the rebels made one charge after another, but were always repulsed after the most desperate fighting. The loud roaring and yelling of the rebels at Poison Springs even exceeded the noise of the fire-arms used upon that occasion. We had ninety-two killed, ninety-seven wounded, and one hundred and six missing—in all two hundred and ninety-five. The enemy probably lost more than we did. As no re-enforcements arrived by 2 P.M., it was decided to abandon our entire train, and work our way through the woods as best we could to Camden, where those who remained arrived at 11 P.M. on the day of the battle. Col. Williams named this tremendous fight the Battle of Poison Springs, from a spring of that name in the neighborhood. This was one of the very hardest fights of all that took place in the West. No one but a fool would now ask the ridiculous question, "Will colored men fight?"—because here we see a force of a thousand colored men or less fighting most desperately for four hours with ten times their own numbers. This was as good as the 10,000 Greeks under Miltiades, at Marathon. The Greeks did not one whit better than our troops at Poison Springs.

But the success of the troops already raised in Kansas fired the hearts of other devoted men to lend a hand in the battle for the Union and liberty. In June, 1863, another regiment was organized at Fort Scott, and the regimental organization of the same was completed at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The regiment went into camp on the Poteau river, about two miles south of Fort Smith. The work of drill and discipline was here carried on till the regiment was in splendid condition for the field.

On the 24th of March, 1864, the regiment left Fort Smith, and set out on the Camden expedition, forming a part of Col. Williams' brigade of General Thayer's division. This division united with that under Major-General Steele on the Little Missouri river, after which they all moved on together against the rebels in the direction of the Red river.

The rebels under Generals Price, Smith and Taylor having defeated Union General Banks at the Red river, Major-General Steele retreated eastward to Camden, a distance of about sixty miles. During the retreat the regiment had several skirmishes with the enemy, and quite distinguished themselves.

On the 29th of April, 1864, the rebel cavalry came up with the rear of the Union forces at the Saline river, and skirmishing continued until night came on. A pontoon bridge had been flung over the river, and all the Union soldiers had already crossed except some artillery and two brigades of infantry, which included the Second Kansas Colored Regiment. We had six regiments in all on our side. The rebels came close up to our forces, and waited for the dawn of day to begin the battle. Union General Rice, of Iowa, formed his brigade in the centre; the Twelfth Kansas Infantry, under General Hayes, was on the left, and the Second Kansas Colored Regiment, under Colonel Crawford, was on the right. There were also two pieces of artillery on the Union side.