CHAPTER XI.
The Colored Volunteers.
The Ninth Ohio Battalion—Eighth Illinois—Twenty-third Kansas-Third North Carolina—Sixth Virginia—Third Alabama—The Immunes.
The return of the army and the repatriation of the Spanish army from Cuba, brought before the country for immediate solution the problem of garrisoning that island; and in a very short time the question of similar nature regarding Porto Rico. Ten regiments of immunes had been organized in the volunteer service partly in anticipation of such a situation. Four of these regiments were composed of colored enlisted men. The regiments were classed as United States Volunteer Infantry, and were numbered from one to ten, the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth being colored.
Of these four colored regiments the officers above first lieutenants were white men, except the chaplains, and in some cases the surgeons. Very little care had been taken in enlisting the men, as it was important to get the regiments in the field as soon as possible; yet of them as a whole General Breckinridge, Inspector-General, speaks as follows: "The colored regiments of immunes, so called, raised for this war, have turned out, so far as can be judged from their camp life (as none of them have been in any actual campaign), very satisfactory. The regular colored regiments won golden opinions in battle. The experiment of having so many colored officers has not yet shown its full results. Certainly we should have the best obtainable officers for our volunteers, and therefore some such men as Colonel Young, who is a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point, whether white or black, must be sought for."
Besides these four colored regiments of immunes, so-called, there were other State organizations composed entirely of colored men, mustered into the United States service, as for example the Ninth Battalion of the Ohio National Guard. This organization was composed of four companies, with colored captains and lieutenants, the staff officers also being colored, the commanding officer of the battalion being Major Young, who was a first lieutenant in the Regular Army, a graduate from the Military Academy, and an officer of experience. He is the person referred to as Colonel Young by General Breckinridge, cited just above. This battalion, although not permitted to do any active campaigning, maintained itself well in that most trying of all duties for raw troops—camp duty—winning a good record in the South as well as in the North, having been stationed in Virginia, Pennsylvania and lastly in South Carolina; from which latter place it was mustered out, and the men proceeded to their homes in an orderly manner, reflecting credit upon themselves and the officers under whom they had served. This organization is mentioned first, because it was the only one of its kind commanded by a Regular Army officer, and a man who had received scientific military training.[25]
Two of these volunteer regiments, the Eighth Illinois and the Twenty-third Kansas, reached Cuba and made history there, in garrison service, coming in direct contact with the Ninth Immunes, and in no sense suffering in comparison thereto. The Eighth Illinois being the first to go to the front, in a sense deserves to be noticed here first. This remarkable regiment was developed out of the Ninth Battalion, Illinois National Guard, and owes its origin to the persistent efforts of Messrs. John R. Marshall, Robert R. Jackson, Franklin Dennison, E.H. Wright, Rev. R.C. Ransom, Rev. J.W. Thomas, S.B. Turner and doubtless many others whose names do not appear. These gentlemen named called upon the Governor of their State the next day after the President had issued his call for 175,000 volunteers, and received from that official the assurance that if another call should be made they should have the opportunity to recruit their battalion to a regiment, and that he would "call that regiment first into the service," and "that every officer in that regiment will be a colored man."
After receiving this encouragement, the leaders began at once the work of organizing and recruiting, and when the second call came, May 25th, the regiment was well under way, and soon ready to go into camp to prepare for service. On June 30th it assembled in Springfield from the following places: Seven hundred men from Chicago; one hundred and twenty from Cairo; a full company from Quincy, and smaller numbers from Mound City, Metropolis and Litchfield, and nearly a company from Springfield. The regiment was sworn in during the latter half of July, the muster roll showing 1,195 men and 46 officers, every one of whom was of African descent except one private in a Chicago company.