Private David N. Phipps, Company H, carpenter.
Corporal William A. Hinds and Private Reuben Smith, Company H, clerks in Commissary Department.
Privates John Davis, Company H, Larry O’Laughlin, Company H, James Haley, Company H, Daniel E. Demeritt, Company C, Solomon Kennison, Company C, and Henry C. Dimond, Company C, overseers of contrabands. Private Henry C. Dimond was also clerk in the superintendent’s office.
Corporals Charles E. Loring, Company H, Charles M. Marden, Company H, and George H. Smith, Company H, clerks in office superintendent of contrabands, Engineer Department.
Private Henry A. Fenner, Company H, orderly to Major Houston, United States Engineers.
Companies C and H contained a queer mixture of men, that made it hard to handle them in good shape. No other companies in the regiment were like them in their personnel. There were good men, with excellent reputations at home and from families of high standing; many men whose reputations were known to be bad, taken from the rough element of cities and towns, whose faces and behavior were enough to stamp them what they were; also many excellent fellows who did their duty manfully, though they did come from the ordinary ranks of society. This much must be said about the tough characters: fight as often and hard as they could among themselves, a frequent occurrence, whenever an outsider molested any comrade belonging to their companies, they came to his rescue, and would stand by each other to the last.
The duty performed by these companies was not arduous. It mainly consisted of guard duty and acting as overseers to gangs of contrabands at work on the fortifications. There was plenty of this kind of work to keep in good order earthworks already finished, change the lines of some portions, raze and rebuild other portions, cut and haul wood, and, under direction of Mr. Long, volunteer United States engineer (the same young officer who was at Galveston), a bastioned redoubt, to form a part of the earthwork defences, was commenced January 30th, and completed before the companies rejoined their regiment.
There were several large contraband camps maintained at the Parapet, known as colonies number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, the Greenville colony and Brickyard colony. Women and children were kept in camps separate from the men. These camps received additional negroes brought from abandoned plantations by details of men sent up river to collect them. A number of men from C and H were detailed in various capacities to assist such officers as were in command of these negro camps, for they had to be governed and fed by the military authorities.
No guard was kept over these contraband colonies, the negroes in them allowed to go and come as they pleased; but over those able-bodied negroes in the engineer camp a line of sentinels was placed, whose orders, at first, allowed them considerable liberty after their day’s work was done. A great many had what they called wives, who were domiciled in the colonies, and at dusk would go to see them, frequently remaining out of camp all night. Sometimes they got on a carouse, and made things lively. A considerable number would attend the numerous religious meetings held every night in the swamps. This exodus, at times, was so great that detachments of men from Companies C and H, mounted upon mules, would be started to hunt them up and bring them into camp, a fact Sergeant Meserve well remembers, because on one of these night hunts his mule became stubborn, and refused to obey the reins or the sergeant, finally landing him upon a tree-limb, where he hung until assisted to get down.
It was thought necessary to have more stringent orders than those in force, and by directions from General Sumner, Engineer Department, the sentries were ordered to shoot any one that attempted to leave without authority to do so. Naturally, this created considerable dissatisfaction among them, especially those who had wives and children in other camps. This state of feeling led some officers to apprehend acts of insubordination several times, and the orders caused an unfortunate affair to happen on the evening of April 17th, when a negro man, while attempting to creep out of the engineer camp, was detected in the ditch and challenged; not responding, he was shot in the back by a sentry from Company H. His wound was an ugly one, and he died the next day, after receiving every attention that could be given. The negro camp was thrown into great excitement by this event, requiring a large force of soldiers on the spot before quiet was restored. Many officers expressed their indignation at the manner in which negroes were restricted and guarded in this camp, as they did not consider these strict rules necessary. To get the case before a court, where their views could be ventilated, Lieutenant White placed the sentry in arrest, insisting that he should stand an inquiry into his conduct; by such action he incurred the displeasure of Company H. The man was released next day by Captain Leonard, for the case was clear that the orders compelled him to fire as he did.