General David Hunter's Bold Leap Paved Way For Arming African Americans in CW

David Hunter

English: Library of Congress Civil War Collection

Source=Originally from [http://en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia]; description page is/was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Image%3ADavid_Hunter.jpg here]. |Date=2005-04-30 )

The Secretary of War gave permission to General Sherman in October of 1861 to "employ all loyal persons offering their services for the defense of the Union."  Congress and public sentiment favored arming fugitive slaves, however, President Lincoln and many in the North were against it.  By opposing the enlistment of fugitive slaves who outnumbered the rebels, more Union Troops fell victim to disease and injury.  Lincoln even threatened to resign over the issue.  General J. Watts De Peyster, Senator Charles Sumner, Senator Henry Wilson, and Governor Yates of Illinois were among those most vocal about arming slaves.  See A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, page 86.

Sherman did not agree with the growing sentiment, but when General David Hunter, nicknamed "Black Dave," relieved him on March 31, 1862, he boldly began to arm African Americans. The Government previously had the help of fugitive slave labor, they just did not arm them.  Hunter was the first to do so, and he garnered no support from the Government.  He was also condemned by the Northern press.


On June 9, 1862, C. A. Wycliff of the House from Kentucky sent a letter to the Secretary of War, Edward M. Stanton, calling into question Hunter's actions and demanding to know whether he had armed fugitive slaves, given them clothing, arms, uniforms, etc. and who had authorized him to do so.   Hunter wrote a bold letter in response to Wycliff:

In the first place, General Hunter informed the Secretary of War that no regiment of "fugitive slaves" had been organized in his Department. He said that there was, " however, a fine regiment of persons whose late masters are 'fugitive rebels'—men who everywhere fly before the appearance of the national flag, leaving their servants behind them to shift as best they can for themselves. So far, indeed, are the loyal persons composing this regiment from seeking to avoid the presence of their late owners, that they are now, one and all, working with remarkable industry to place themselves in a position to go in full and effective pursuit of their fugacious and traitorous proprietors." 

General Hunter then explained that the instructions issued by the Hon. Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, to Brigadier - general Thomas W. Sherman, were turned over to him for his instruction and guidance; that the instructions authorized him " to employ all loyal persons offering their services in defense of the Union and the suppression of this Rebellion."

There was "no restriction as to the character or color of the persons to be employed," continued General Hunter," or the nature of the employment, whether civil or military, in which their services should be used." He thought the instructions warranted his enlistment of Negroes as well as whites, so that they were loyal; and that he was equally empowered "to enlist 'fugitive slaves' as soldiers, could any such be found" in the Department of the South. "No such characters, however," he continued, "have yet appeared within view of our most advanced pickets, the loyal slaves everywhere remaining on their plantations to welcome us, aid us, and supply us with food, labor, and information.

It is the masters who have in every instance been the 'fugitives,' running away from loyal slaves as well as loyal soldiers, and whom we have only partially been able to see—chiefly their heads over ramparts, or, rifle in hand, dodging behind trees—in the extreme distance. In the absence of any 'fugitive-master law,' the deserted slaves would be wholly without remedy, had not the crime of treason given them the right to pursue, capture, and bring back those persons of whose protection they have been thus suddenly bereft." The closing paragraph of General Hunter's admirable letter was the most concise statement on the question of making the Negro a soldier uttered during the war. It is splendid:

"I must say, in vindication of my own conduct, that had it not been for the many other diversified and imperative claims on my time and attention, a much more satisfactory result might have been hoped for; and that in place of only one, as at present, at least five or six well drilled, brave, and thoroughly acclimated regiments should by this time have been added to the loyal forces of the Union. The experiment of arming the blacks, so far as I have made it, has been a complete and even marvelous success. They are sober, docile, attentive, and enthusiastic; displaying great natural capacities for acquiring the duties of the soldier. They are eager, beyond all things, to take the field and be led into action; and it is the unanimous opinion of the officers who have had charge of them, that, in the peculiarities of this climate and country, they will prove invaluable auxiliaries—fully equal to the similar regiments so long and successfully used by the British authorities in the West India islands." See A history of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, pages 92-94.

Every slave who enlisted under Hunter was given his freedom papers.  Here is a copy of a "free paper:"

"Headquarters Department of the South, "Port Royal, South Carolina, August 1,1862. "The bearer, Prince Rivers, a sergeant in First Regiment South Carolina Volunteers, lately claimed as a slave, having been employed in hostility to the United States, is hereby, agreeably to the law of the 6th August, 1861, declared free forever. His wife and children are also free. D. Hunter,

"Major-general Commanding."

Hunter's Regiment was disbanded and Hunter resigned.  His regiment was reorganized as the The First South Carolina Volunteers.  Prince Rivers served in this regiment.  Thomas Wentworth Higginson mentions him. 

Prince Rivers, who became color−sergeant and provost−sergeant in the First South Carolina Volunteers, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, its colonel, writes: “There is not a white officer in this regiment who has more administrative ability, or more absolute authority over the men; they do not love him, but his mere presence has controlling power over them. He writes well enough to prepare for me a daily report of his duties in the camp; if his education reached a higher point, I see no reason why he should not command the Army of the Potomac.

He is jet−black, or rather, I should say, wine−black; his complexion, like that of others of my darkest men, having a sort of rich, clear depth, without a trace of sootiness, and to my eye very handsome. His features are tolerably regular, and full of command, and his figure superior to that of any of our white officers, being six feet high, perfectly proportioned, and of apparently inexhaustible strength and activity. His gait is like a panther's; I never saw such a tread. No anti−slavery novel has described a man of such marked ability. He makes Toussaint perfectly intelligible; and if there should ever be a black monarchy in South Carolina, he will be its king.

( Thomas Wentworth Higginson's Army Life in a Black Regiment, pp. 57, 58., & Letters From Port Royal by Elizabeth Ware Pearson)

Other officers shared the same sentiment as Hunter.  General J. W. Phelps, West Point graduate from Vermont sought to raise regiments in Louisiana, but met with opposition.  We will feature the formation of the First Regiment Louisiana Native Guards in an upcoming post.

Hunter's Regiment, first Civil War regiment of former slaves

View About Our Freedom Map in a larger map



Hunter's Regiment was on the first attempts to create a black regiment.  Sergeant Charles Tyler Trowbridge of the New York Volunteer Engineers was first given the responsibility of recruiting in May of 1862 on Hilton Head Island.  At first, because many white officers were not happy with commissioning black soldiers, they instilled fear in many by spreading stories started by slave masters that the "Yankees would sell them to Cuba," and that the Union would make them work without pay. (First African American soldiers strike a blow for freedom as early as 1862).


Even though they did work for a time without pay, and they had no promise that they nor their families would be freed if they fought, they did still enlist.  General David Hunter had, according to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, "bad influences around him".  They eventually took the stand that they must enlist every black.  Great suspicion surmounted because of all the rumors, forced enlistments, and lack of pay.  The regiment never could become a cohesive unit.


The regiment except for one company was disbanded in August 1862 after four months and, they never received any pay. Trowbridge and his company were sent to St. Simon's Island along the east coast of Georgia to help Commodore Goldborough to pursue Confederate guerrillas on the island.

See St. Simons Island Experience to learn more about the plantations on this island along the coast of Georgia

On the island they found black men had already taken charge of the situation.  John Brown and Edward Gould commanded twenty-three other escapees.  They pursued the slave masters led by Miles Hazard into a swamp, and when they entered single-file, they were fired upon from behind a log where the slave masters were hiding.

The first in command, John Brown, was killed within six feet of the log and others were wounded. Both sides retreated.   When Trowbridge and his men reached the island, they searched for the rebels, they learned of the events from Clarence Kennon, a slave who had not yet escaped. John Brown may very well be the first African American to die in the Civil War.  His father, Uncle York, and Clarence Kennon went on to serve in the First South Carolina Volunteers under Higginson.


Contraband camps sometimes depict freedmen and women as totally destitute and waiting for the Union Army of the North to put an end completely to their plight, however, at least one piece of oral history helps us to understand some of the activities  which supported the military.  Susie King Taylor (1848-1912), teacher and first African American Civil War nurse, wrote about her experiences on St. Simon's Island and with Trowbridge:

"The latter part of August, 1862, Captain C. T. Trowbridge, with his brother John and Lieutenant Walker, came to St. Simon's Island from Hilton Head, by order of General Hunter, to get all the men possible to finish filling his regiment which he had organized in March, 1862. He had heard of the skirmish on this island, and was very much pleased at the bravery shown by these men. He found me at Gaston Bluff teaching my little school, and was much interested in it. When I knew him better I found him to be a thorough gentleman and a staunch friend to my race.


Captain Trowbridge remained with us until October, when the order was received to evacuate, and so we boarded the Ben-De-Ford, a transport, for Beaufort, S. C. When we arrived in Beaufort, Captain Trowbridge and the men he had enlisted went to camp at Old Fort, which they named "Camp Saxton." I was enrolled as laundress. The first suits worn by the boys were red coats and pants, which they disliked very much, for, they said, "The rebels see us, miles away."


The first colored troops did not receive any pay for eighteen months, and the men had to depend wholly on what they received from the commissary, established by General Saxton. A great many of these men had large families, and as they had no money to give them, their wives were obliged to support themselves and children by washing for the officers of the gunboats and the soldiers, and making cakes and pies which they sold to the boys in camp. Finally, in 1863, the government decided to give them half pay, but the men would not accept this. They wanted "full pay" or nothing. They preferred rather to give their services to the state, which they did until 1864, when the government granted them full pay, with all the back pay due." See "On St. Simon's Island - 1862" CHAPTER III, REMINISCENCES OF MY LIFE IN CAMP WITH THE 33RD U.S. COLORED TROOPS, LATE 1ST S.C. VOLUNTEERS

We also have an account from Thomas Wentworth Higginson:

Every Saturday Trowbridge summoned the island people to drill with his soldiers; and they came in hordes, men, women, and children, in every imaginable garb, to the number of one hundred and fifty or two hundred. 

His own men were poorly clothed and hardly shod at all; and, as no new supply of uniform was provided, they grew more and more ragged. They got poor rations, and no pay; but they kept up their spirits. Every week or so some of them would go on scouting excursions to the main-land; one scout used to go regularly to his old mother's hut, and keep himself hid under her bed, while she collected for him all the latest news of rebel movements.

This man never came back without bringing recruits with him. At last the news came that Major-General Mitchell had come to relieve General Hunter, and that Brigadier-General Saxton had gone North; and Trowbridge went to Hilton Head in some anxiety to see if he and his men were utterly forgotten. He prepared a report, showing the services and claims of his men, and took it with him. 

This was early in October, 1862. The first person he met was Brigadier-General Saxton, who informed him that he had authority to organize five thousand colored troops, and that he (Trowbridge) should be senior captain of the first regiment.


This was accordingly done; and Company A of the First South Carolina could honestly claim to date its enlistment back to May, 1862, although they never got pay for that period of their service, and their date of muster was November 15, 1862.


The above facts were written down from the narration of Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, who may justly claim to have been the first white officer to recruit and command colored troops in this war. He was constantly in command of them from May 9, 1862, to February 9, 1866.


Except the Louisiana soldiers mentioned in the Introduction, — of whom no detailed reports have, I think, been published, — my regiment was unquestionably the first mustered into the service of the United States; the first company muster bearing date, November 7, 1862, and the others following in quick succession." See "Army life in a black regiment", by Thomas Wentworth Higginson made available in First African American soldiers strike a blow for freedom as early as 1862

First African American soldiers strike a blow for freedom as early as 1862

This post was inspired by Angela Y. Walton-Raji

The First South Carolina Volunteers
The first black soldiers to serve in the Union army during the Civil War were enrolled in March 1862 at Union-occupied territory on the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina. One-hundred men from that unit became members of the First South Carolina Volunteers. LC. 
The photograph was taken at the former J.J. Smith Plantation, Beaufort, South Carolina. USMHI. 


(Florida History Online)

In May 1862, General David Hunter commanded a regiment of soldiers comprised of former slaves to be formed.  President Lincoln and Congress were opposed to admitting them into the army.  They were known as Hunter's Regiment.  General Hunter disbanded the regiment on August 10, 1862, however, 100 of the men first enrolled were allowed to stay in Union service to protect the freedmen and woman in refugee camps.  Also a "company of thirty-eight men was sent to St. Simons Island, Georgia, where they helped to defend themselves against Confederate attack." See "Black Troops in Civil War Georgia."

There is evidence that these soldiers were gathering under General David Hunter's command even before May.  Before the Confederates surrendered Fort Pulaski at Savannah on April 11, 1862, Abraham Murchison, an escaped slave  preacher was already assisting General Hunter by recruiting 150 other former slaves to join Hunter's Regiment at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.


Some may ask, "Why Hilton Head?"  Hilton Head fell to Union forces as early as 1861.  In 1862, Union General Ormsby Mitchel (1805-1862) organized Mitchelville, a community sustainable and governed by freed slaves.  Abraham Murchison became the mayor of Mitchelville.  See more in the video, Mitchelville, SC: The Town that Time Forgot. Also see Gullah Heritage: less traveled, not forgotten.

Two weeks after Hunter's Regiment was disbanded, President Lincoln changed his mind and authorized a regiment of African American soldiers to be trained.  They became known as The First Carolina Volunteers, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823-1911), an abolitionist minister.  I find some of the highlights from the life of  Higginson to be very interesting.

He went to Harvard at the age of 13 and graduated second in his class in 1841. He took graduate courses at Harvard Divinity in 1n 1847 and later served as a nondenominational minister for the Unitarian First Religious Society who forced him to resign after two years because the congregation  disagreed with his abolitionist ideas.  

Higginson was criticized for nominating Susan B. Anthony for the World Temperance Convention.  He was among the party that attacked the Boston Courthouse to free a slave, Anthony Burns who was returned to his master.  Higginson participated in John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, and the charges against him were later dropped.  

He remained in command of The First South Carolina Volunteers from 1862 until 1864 when they were renamed as the 33rd United States Colored Infantry which did not disband until January 31, 1866.  It became the longest African American military unit that served in the Civil War.  

In 1886, he volunteered to edit Emily Dickinson's poems upon her death.  He was criticized for making those edits.  We are very fortunate to have the account of his experience with the African American men who served in The First South Carolina Volunteers.  

His account written in 1870 is below, and we will review his stories throughout the next few posts where we can get to know his soldiers a little better.