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... ort, which was occupied by a 292 black soldiers and 285 white soldiers. The Confederate troops captured the Fort and gave the Union soldiers a chance to surrender. They then drove the Union soldiers down the river's bluff into a deadly crossfire and many died that day, there were only 62 of the 292 black soldiers that survived. Many in the North accused the Confederates of purposely massacring the blacks soldiers.
Afterward in other battles "Negro soldiers fought only more stubbornly and ferociously, as they assaulted Confederate lines their battle cry became, east of the Mississippi, "Remember Fort Pillow!" At first the Civil War started as an effort to save the Union, and ended in a war to abolish slavery. Some would say that the battle for Emancipation was won by the slaves themselves. It is clear that the slaves did contribute to winning their own freedom. African-American soldiers made up 10 percent of the whole Union Army, from all reports of the battles the casualties suffered by blacks was high.
Approximately one-third of all blacks soldiers who enlisted in the military lost their lives in the Civil War. Even though there was doubt and prejudice surrounding the black soldiers, they proved themselves to be formidable warriors on the battlefield... They were just as deadly, if not deadlier as the white soldiers, they won many of the Civil War battles, and by doing this won a thing that was most precious to them - their freedom. Orders Establishing the... BUREAU OF COLORED TROOPS United States Colored Troops WAR DEPARTMENT Adjutant General's Office Washington, May 22, 1863 GENERAL ORDERS, No. 143. I.
A Bureau is established in the Adjutant General's Office for the record of all matters relating to the organization of Colored Troops. An officer will be assigned to the charge of the Bureau, with such number of clerks as may be designated by the Adjutant General. II. Three or more field officers will be detailed as Inspectors to supervise the organization of colored troops at such points as may be indicated by the War Department in the Northern and Western States. III. Boards will be convened at such posts as may be decided upon by the War Department to examine applicants for commissions to command colored troops, who, on application to the Adjutant General, may receive authority to present themselves to the board for examination.
IV. No persons shall be allowed to recruit for colored troops except specially authorized by the War Department; and no such authority will be given to persons who have not been examined and passed by a board; nor will such authority be given any one person to raise more than one regiment. V. The reports of Boards will specify the grade of commission for which each candidate is fit, and authority to recruit will be given in accordance. Commissions will be issued from the Adjutant General's Office when the prescribed number of men is ready for muster into service. VI.
Colored troops may be accepted by companies, to be afterwards consolidated in battalions and regiments by the Adjutant General. The regiments will be numbered seriatim, in the order in which they are raised, the numbers to be determined by the Adjutant General. They will be designated: ' -- Regiment of U. S. Colored Troops. ' VII. Recruiting stations and depots will be established by the Adjutant General as circumstances shall require, and officers will be detailed to muster and inspect the troops.
VIII. The non-commissioned officers of colored troops may be selected and appointed from the best men of their number in the usual mode of appointing non-commissioned officers. Meritorious commissioned officers will be entitled to promotion to higher rank if they prove themselves equal to it. IX. All personal applications for appointments in colored regiments, or for information concerning them, must be made to the Chief of the Bureau; all written communications should be addressed to the Chief of the Bureau, to the care of the Adjutant General. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR: E.
D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General WAR DEPT. , ADJT. GENERAL'S OFFICE Washington, May 22, 1863. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 144. The following rules are prescribed for the guidance of boards in examining applicants for commissions in regiments of colored troops: 1 The Board will sit every day, except Sunday, from 9 o'clock a. m.
to 5 o'clock p. m. The place of sitting to be provided by the Quartermaster's Department, and public notice given. 2 The Board will make to the Adjutant-General, for record in the Bureau for Colored Troops, reports of' all persons examined, whether approved or rejected; the reports will be made weekly, or oftener when specially called for. 3 Each applicant must exhibit to the Board authority from the Adjutant-General to appear before it. Such authority will be given upon satisfactory recommendations of good moral character and standing in the community in which the applicant resided, or, if in the military service, on testimonials from his commanding officers.
All such recommendations will be filed in the Bureau. for Colored Troops. 4 Each applicant shall be subjected to a fair but rigorous examination as to physical, mental, and moral fitness to command troops. 5 The Board shall specify for what grade of commission the several applicants are fit, and shall also classify and number them according to merit or proficiency. 6 Appointments to each grade shall only be made from the candidates approved by the Board, and in the order of merit recommended by it. 7 The report of the Board, if adverse, shall be conclusive, and no person rejected by it shall be re-examined. 8 Other instructions will be communicated to boards if required. By order of the Secretary of War: E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. "Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, US; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States" - Frederick Douglass Notes
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Research essay sample on Colored Troops Commissioned Officers
