"Afterwards I had excellent battalion drills," he writes, "without a single white officer, by way of experiment, putting each company under a sergeant, and going through the most difficult movements, such as division columns and oblique squares. And as to actual discipline, it is doing no injustice to the line-officers of the regiment to say that none of them received from the men more implicit obedience than Color-Sergeant Rivers. * * * It always seemed to me an insult to those brave men to have novices put over their heads, on the ground of color alone, and the men felt it the more keenly as they remained longer in the service. There were more than seven hundred enlisted men in the regiment, when mustered out after more than three years' service. The ranks had been kept full by enlistment, but there were only fourteen line-officers instead of the full thirty. The men who should have filled these vacancies were doing duty as sergeants in the ranks."[29]
Numerous expeditions were constantly on foot in the Department of the South, having for their object the liberation of slaves still held to service in neighborhoods remote from the Union camps, or to capture supplies and munitions of war. Frequently these expeditions came in conflict with armed bodies of rebels and hot engagements would ensue, resulting in considerable loss of life. Colored soldiers were particularly serviceable for this work because of their intimate knowledge of the country and their zeal for the rescue of their enslaved brethren.
One of these expeditions, composed of thirty colored soldiers and scouts, commanded by Sergeant-Major Henry James, Third United States Colored Troops, left Jackson ville, Florida, early in March, 1865, to penetrate into the interior through Marion county. They destroyed considerable property in the use of the rebel government, burned the bridge across the Oclawaha River, and started on their return with ninety-one Negroes whom they had rescued from slavery, four white prisoners, some wagons and a large number of horses and mules. They were attacked by a rebel band of more than fifty cavalry. The colored soldiers commanded by one of their own number, defeated and drove off the rebels, inflicting upon them the heavy loss of thirty men. After a long and rapid march they arrived at St. Augustine, Florida, with a loss of but two killed and four wounded, the expedition covering in all five days. These colored soldiers and their colored commander were thanked in orders by Major-General Q.A. Gilmore, commanding the department, who was moved to declare that "this expedition, planned and executed by colored men, under the command of a colored non-commissioned officer, reflects credit upon the brave participants and their leader," and "he holds up their conduct to their comrades in arms as an example worthy of emulation."[30]
It was no uncommon occurrence throughout the Civil War for colored non-commissioned officers to be thrown into command of their companies by the killing or wounding of their superior officers. On many a field of battle this happened and these colored non-commissioned officers showed the same ability to take the initiative and accept the responsibility, and conducted their commands just as bravely and unfalteringly as did their successors on the firing line at La Guasima and El Caney, or in the charge up San Juan Hill.
In the battle of New Market Heights, fought on the 29th of September, 1864, as part of a comprehensive effort to turn Lee's left flank, the great heroism of the black soldiers, and the terrible slaughter among them, impressed their commander, the late Major-General Butler, to his dying day, and made him the stout champion of their rights for the rest of his life. In that battle, to quote from the orders putting on record the "gallant deeds of the officers and soldiers of the Army of the James":—
"Milton M. Holland, Sergeant-Major Fifth United States Colored Troops, commanding Company C; James H. Bronson, First Sergeant, commanding Company D; Robert Pinn, First Sergeant, commanding Company I, wounded; Powhatan Beaty, First Sergeant, commanding Company G, Fifth United States Colored Troops—all these gallant colored soldiers were left in command, all their company officers being killed or wounded, and led them gallantly and meritoriously through the day. For these services they have most honorable mention, and the commanding general will cause a special medal to be struck in honor of these gallant soldiers."
"First Sergeant Edward Ratcliff, Company C, Thirty-eighth United States Colored Troops, thrown into command of his company by the death of the officer commanding, was the first enlisted man in the enemy's works, leading his company with great gallantry for which he has a medal."
"Sergeant Samuel Gilchrist, Company K, Thirty-sixth United States Colored Troops, showed great bravery and gallantry in commanding his company after his officers were killed. He has a medal for gallantry."[31]
"Honorable mention" and "medals" were the sole reward open to the brave Negro soldiers of that day.
Not alone in camp and garrison, in charge of expeditions, or as non-commissioned officers thrown into command of their companies on the field of battle have Negro soldiers displayed unquestioned capacity for command, but as commissioned officers they commanded in camp and in battle, showing marked efficiency and conspicuous gallantry. The colored officers of the First and Second Regiments of Louisiana Native Guards, whose history has been detailed earlier in this chapter,[32] were retained in the service long enough to command their troops in bloody combat with the enemy. It will be remembered that of the Second Regiment of Louisiana Native Guards only the Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel were white, the Major, F.E. Dumas, and all the line officers, as in the case of the First Regiment of Louisiana Native Guards, being colored. On April 9, 1863, Colonel N.U. Daniels, who commanded the Second Regiment of Louisiana Native Guards, with a detachment of two hundred men of his regiment, under their colored officers, engaged and repulsed a considerable body of rebel infantry and cavalry at Pascagoula, Mississippi. The engagement lasted from 10 A.M. until 2 P.M. and was remarkable for the steadiness, tenacity and bravery of these black troops in this, their first battle, where they succeeded in defeating and beating off an enemy five times their number. The official report by the Colonel commanding declared: "Great credit is due to the troops engaged for their unflinching bravery and steadiness under this, their first fire, exchanging volley after volley with the coolness of veterans, and for their determined tenacity in maintaining their position, and taking advantage of every success that their courage and valor gave them; and also to their officers, who were cool and determined throughout the action, fighting their commands against five times their number, and confident throughout of success. * * *