Paymaster Usher arrived in camp September 27, ready to pay the men #10 per month from enlistment, less $3 per month deducted for clothing. Upon the non-commissioned officers being assembled, they with great unanimity declined the reduced payment for themselves and their comrades. The paymaster again came on the 30th to renew his offer. It was on this date that Colonel Montgomery appeared and made the men a remarkable and characteristic address, which Sergeant Stephens of Company B has given in substance as follows: —
” Men: the paymaster is here to pay you. You must remember you have not proved yourselves soldiers. You must take notice that the Government has virtually paid you a thousand dollars apiece for setting you free. Nor should you expect to be placed on the same footing with white men. Any one listening to your shouting and singing can see how grotesquely ignorant you are. I am your friend and the friend of the negro. I was the first person in the country to employ nigger soldiers in the United States Army. I was out in Kansas. I was short of men. I had a lot of niggers and a lot of mules ; and you know a nigger and a mule go very well together. I therefore enlisted the niggers, and made teamsters of them. In refusing to take the pay offered you, and what you are only legally entitled to, you are guilty of insubordination and mutiny, and can be tried and shot by court-martial.”
Montgomery besides made some gross and invidious insinuations and reflections because the Fifty-fourth men were so light-colored, which it would be improper to repeat. The colonel seemed to be unaware that his remarks were insulting, and most of the men he addressed born free. Sergt. Henry Stewart, of Company E, a faithful soldier who had actively engaged in recruiting the regiment, died of disease September 27, and was buried with proper honors. His and other deaths, with an increased sick list, called for sanitary measures about this time. No radical change of camp was possible, as the ground available for such purposes was limited; but tents were struck so that the air and sun could reach the ground beneath, and a daily inspection of streets, sinks, and the cooked food instituted.
The Sanitary Commission furnished ice, raspberry vinegar, pickles, and other needed supplies; but there was a lack of fresh vegetables. Early in October, however, Mr. Reuben Tomlinson brought a large supply for the Fifty-fourth, — a present from the contrabands about Beaufort; and similar welcome gifts followed from the same source from time to time. Tobacco, dried apples, lime-juice, writing-paper, brushes, etc., were purchased with the company funds, as the men had no money.
Posts Tagged BBR
Morris Island was ours; but no sooner had the enemy evacuated than Wagner, Gregg, and the intervening ground were daily subjected to a fire from the James and Sullivan’s Island batteries.
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As Forts Wagner and Gregg were ordered to be turned for offensive purposes, a covered way between these two works begun, and new batteries ordered to be constructed, there were heavy demands for fatigue. Besides its details at Cumming’s Point, the Fifty-fourth soon began to send working parties for the ” Bluff Battery ” in the southerly sand-hills near the beach-front. To retard our progress with the works at the front, the enemy maintained a constant cannonade. …First Sergeant Gray of Company C had received a Masonic charter and organized a lodge on Morris Island. The meeting-place was a dry spot in the marsh near our camp, where boards were set up to shelter the members.. Furloughs for thirty days having been granted a certain: proportion of the troops, the Fifty-fourth men selected departed, overjoyed at the prospect of seeing home and friends. The equinoctial storm set in about the middle of September, accompanied by high tides and wind. The dike protecting our camp was broken, and the parade overflowed, necessitating considerable labor to repair damages. With the cessation of this severe storm cooler weather came, — a most welcome relief.
In recognition of the capture of Morris Island and the demolition of Sumter, General Gillmore was promoted major-general of volunteers. To do him honor, a review of the First Division, Tenth Army Corps, took place on Morris Island September 24. Partial relief from excessive labors had permitted the troops to refit. Line was formed on the beach at low tide, the division extending a distance of some two miles. The pageant was unsurpassed in the history of the department. Our colored brigade presented a fine appearance, and many compliments for the Fifty-fourth were received by Captain Emilio, commanding.
Early on the 5th the land batteries,” Ironsides,” and two monitors opened1 a terrific bombardment on Wagner which lasted forty-two hours. Under its protection our sap progressed in safety. Wagner dared not show a man, while the approaches were so close that the more distant batteries of the enemy feared to injure their own men. Our working parties moved about freely. Captain Walker ran some one hundred and fifty yards of sap; and by noon the flag, planted at the head of the trench to apprise the naval vessels of our position, was within one hundred yards of the fort. The Fifty-fourth detail at work there on this day had Corp. Aaron Spencer of Company A mortally wounded by one of our own shells, and Private Chas. Van Allen of the same company killed. Gregg’s capture was again attempted that night by Major Sanford’s command. When the boats approached near, some musket-shots were exchanged ; and as the defenders were alert, we again retired with slight loss.
Daylight dawned upon the last day of Wagner’s memorable siege on September 6. The work was swept by our searching fire from land and water, before which its traverses were hurled down in avalanches covering the entrances to magazines and bombproofs. Gregg was also heavily bombarded. As on the previous day our sappers worked rapidly and exposed themselves with impunity. The greatest danger was from our own shells, by which one man was wounded. Lieutenant McGuire, U. S. A., was in charge a part of the day. He caused the trenches to be prepared for holding a large number of troops, with means for easy egress to the front. Late that evening General Gillmore issued orders for an assault at nine o’clock the next morning, the hour of low tide, by three storming columns under General Terry, with proper reserves. Artillery fire was to be kept up until the stormers mounted the parapet. At night the gallant Captain Walker, who was assisted by Captain Pratt, Fifty-fifth Massachusetts, observed that the enemy’s sharpshooters fired but scatteringly, and that but one mortar-shell was thrown from Wagner. About 10 p. M. he passed into the ditch and examined it thoroughly. He found a fraise of spears and stakes, of which he pulled up some two hundred. Returning, a flying sap was run along the crest of the glacis, throwing the earth level, to enable assailants to pass over readily.
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A picket detail of one hundred men went out from the Fifty-fourth camp at 5 p. M. on the 6th. Our usual detail was at work in the front under the engineers. It was not until two o’clock on the morning of September 7 that the officers and men of the regiment remaining in camp were aroused, fell into line, and with the colored brigade marched up over the beach line to a point just south of the Beacon house, where these regiments rested, constituting the reserve of infantry in the anticipated assault. Many of the regiments were arriving or in position, and the advance trenches were full of troops. Soon came the gray of early morning, and with it rumors that Wagner was evacuated. By and by the rumors were confirmed, and the glad tidings spread from regiment to regiment. Up and down through the trenches and the parallels rolled repeated cheers and shouts of victory. It was a joyous time; our men threw up their hats, dancing in their gladness. Officers shook hands enthusiastically. Wagner was ours at last.
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Just after midnight one of the enemy, a young Irishman, deserted from Wagner and gained our lines. Taken before Lieut.-Col. 0. L. Mann, Thirty-ninth Illinois, general officer of the trenches, he reported the work abandoned and the enemy retired to Gregg. Half an hour later all the guns were turned upon Wagner for twenty minutes, after which Sergeant Vermillion, a corporal, and four privates of the Thirty-ninth Illinois, all volunteers, went out. In a short time they returned, reporting no one in Wagner and only a few men in a boat rowing toward Gregg. On the receipt of this news the flag of the sappers and the regimental color of the Thirty-ninth Illinois were both planted on the earthwork. A hasty examination was made of Wagner, in the course of which a line of fuse connecting with two magazines was cut. Every precaution was taken, and guards posted at all dangerous points.A few moments after our troops first entered Wagner two companies of the Third New Hampshire under Captain Randlett were pushed toward Gregg. Capt. C. R. Brayton, Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, and some Fifty-fourth men started for the same point. Amid the sand-hills the Third New Hampshire men stopped to take charge of some prisoners, while Captain Brayton kept on, and was the first to enter Gregg, closely followed by the Fifty-fourth men. In Wagner eighteen pieces of ordnance were found, and in Gregg, seven pieces. All about the former work muskets, boarding-pikes, spears, and boards filled with spikes were found arranged to repel assaults. Inside and all around, the stench was nauseating from the buried and unburied bodies of men and animals. The bombproof was indescribably filthy. One terribly wounded man was found who lived to tell of his sufferings, but died on the way to hospital. Everywhere were evidences of the terrific bombardment beyond the power of pen to describe.
About half a dozen stragglers from the retiring enemy were taken on the island. Our boats captured two of the enemy’s barges containing a surgeon and fifty-five men, and a boat of the ram ” Chicora ” with an officer and seven sailors.
Wagner’s siege lasted fifty-eight days. During that period 8,395 soldiers’ day’s work of six hours each had been done on the approaches; eighteen bomb or splinter proof service-magazines made, as well as eighty-nine emplacements for guns, — a total of 23,500 days’ work. In addition, forty-six thousand sand-bags had been filled, hundreds of gabions and fascines made, and wharves and landings constructed. Of the nineteen thousand days’ work performed by infantry, the colored troops had done one half, though numerically they were to white troops as one to ten. Three quarters of all the work was at night, and nine tenths under artillery and sharpshooters’ fire or both combined.
Regarding colored troops, Major Brooks, Assistant Engineer, in his report, says, —
” It is probable that in no military operations of the war have negro troops done so large a proportion, and so important and hazardous fatigue duty, as in the siege operations on the island.”The colored regiments participating were the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Massachusetts, First North Carolina, Second South Carolina, and Third United States Colored Troops. Officers serving in charge of the approaches, when called upon by Major Brooks to report specifically upon the comparative value of white and colored details under their charge for fatigue duty during the period under consideration, gave testimony that for perseverance, docility, steadiness, endurance, and amount of work performed, the blacks more than equalled their white brothers. Their average of sick was but 13.97, while that of the whites was 20.10. The percentage of duty performed by the blacks as compared with the whites was as fifty-six to forty-one.
Major Brooks further says, —
” Of the numerous infantry regiments which furnished fatigue parties, the Fourth New Hampshire did the most and best work, next follow the blacks, — the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts and Third United States Colored Troops.”General Beauregard [opposing Confederate commander] reports his loss during the siege as a total of 296, exclusive of his captured. But the official ” War Records ” show that from July 18 to September 7 the Confederate loss was a total of 690. The Federal loss during the same period by the same authority was but 358.
Despite the exposure of the Fifty-fourth details day and night with more or less officers and men at the front, the casualties in the regiment during the siege as given by the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts were but four killed and four wounded.
[1863-09-06] REBEL REPORTS.; A Narrow Escape from Fort Wagner.
[1863-09-06] OPERATIONS AGAINST CHARLESTON.; Further Interesting Details CAPTURE OR REBEL RIFLE-PITS.
… No rain fell from July 18 until August 13, which was favorable for the siege work, as the sand handled was dry and light. This dryness, however, rendered it easily displaced by the wind, requiring constant labor in re-covering magazines, bombproofs, and the slopes. The air too was full of the gritty particles, blinding the men and covering everything in camp.
By this date [8/13] twelve batteries were nearly ready for action, mounting in all twenty-eight heavy rifles, from thirty to three hundred pounders, besides twelve ten-inch mortars. … These works had been completed under fire from Sumter, Gregg, Wagner, and the James Island batteries, as well as the missiles of sharpshooters. Most of the work had been done at night. Day and night heavy guard details lay in the trenches to repel attack. The labor of transporting the heavy guns to the front was very great, as the sinking of the sling-carts deep into the sand made progress slow. Tons of powder, shot, and shell had been brought up, and stored in the service-magazines.
August 5 the men were informed that the Government was ready to pay them $ 10 per month, less $3 deducted for clothing. The offer was refused, although many had suffering families. About this time a number of men were detached, or detailed, as clerks, butchers, and as hands on the steamers ” Escort” and ” Planter.” Work was begun on the third parallel within four hundred yards of Wagner on the night of the 9th. When completed, it was one hundred yards in length, as the island narrowed. Water was struck at a slight depth. The weather was excessively hot, and flies and sand-fleas tormenting. Only sea-bathing and cooler nights made living endurable. The Fifty-fourth was excused from turning out at reveille in consequence of excessive work, for we were daily furnishing parties reporting to Lieut. P. S. Michie, United States Engineers, at the Left Batteries, and to Colonel Serrell at the “Lookout.”
Mercury, August 5, 1863
Our correspondent, “J.H.G.” is a member of Co. C, of the 54th Massachusetts regiment. He is a colored man, belonging to this city, and his letters are printed by us, verbatim et literatim, as we receive them. He is a truthful and intelligent correspondent, and a good soldier.
[Mercury Editor]
…Orders came on the 26th that, owing to the few officers and lack of arms, the Fifty-fourth should only furnish fatigue details.
Quartermaster Ritchie, who was sent to Hilton Head, returned on the 29th with the officers, men, and camp equipage from St. Helena, and tents were put up the succeeding day. Some six hundred men were then present with the colors, including the sick. The number of sick in camp was very large, owing to the severe work and terrible heat. About nineteen hundred were reported on August 1 in the whole command. The sight of so many pale, enfeebled men about the hospitals and company streets was dispiriting. As an offset, some of those who had recovered from wounds returned, and Brig.-Gen. Edward A. Wild’s brigade of the First North Carolina and Fifty-fifth Massachusetts, both colored, arrived and camped on Folly Island.
Samuel W. Mason, correspondent of the New York “Herald,” on Morris Island, wrote under date of July 19, 1863, of the regiment: —
” I saw them fight at Wagner as none but splendid soldiers, splendidly officered, could fight, dashing through shot and shell, grape, canister, and shrapnel, and showers of bullets, and when they got close enough, fighting with clubbed muskets, and retreating when they did retreat, by command and with choice white troops for company.”Edward L. Pierce, the correspondent of the New York “Tribune,” in a letter to Governor Andrew, dated July 22, 1863, wrote, —
” I asked General Strong if he had any testimony in relation to the regiment to be communicated to you. These are his precise words, and I give them to you as I noted them at the time :‘ The Fifty-fourth did well and nobly; only the fall of Colonel Shaw prevented them from entering the fort. They moved up as gallantly as any troops could, and with their enthusiasm they deserved a better fate.’”
To the correspondent of the New York ” Evening Post” General Strong said that the Fifty-fourth
” had no sleep for three nights, no food since morning, and had marched several miles. . . . Under cover of darkness they had stormed the fort, faced a stream of fire, faltered not till the ranks were broken by shot and shell; and in all these severe tests, which would have tried even veteran troops, they fully met my expectations, for many were killed, wounded, or captured on the walls of the fort.”
[1863-07-25] The Fight on Morris Island.; DEATH OF COL. SHAW.
[1863-07-25] The Colored Refugees.; IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM THE MERCHANTS’ RELIEF COMMITTEE.
[1863-07-26] THE REBELLION.
[1863-07-26] THE WAR IN THE FAR WEST.; Cheering News from the Frontier A Successful Action The Negroes Again in Battle A Gallant Charge.
[1863-07-27] BEAUREGARD’S OFFICIAL DISPATCHES.
[1863-07-27] The Siege of Charleston.
[1863-07-27] THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON.; A Second Assault on Fort Wagner on the 18th.Repulse of Gen. Gillmore’s Forces.Desperate Bravery of theAssaulting Party.The Interior of the Fort Gained, butNot Held.
[1863-07-28] THE MURDER OF THE NEGRO FRANKLIN ANOTHER OF THE ALLEGED PRINCIPALS IN CUSTODY.
[1863-07-28] THE REPULSE AT FORT WAGNER.; Partial Lists of Killed and Wounded in the New-York and New-England Regiments.