Chapter XI: The Phalanx in Virginia (4)

"We had not been at a halt more than twenty minutes when the
news of Lee's surrender reached us. Our brigade celebrated
the event by firing volleys of musketry in the air. Officers
hugged each other with joy. About four hundred yards to the
rear was a portion of the Twenty-fourth Corps, which had
been marching to our support. The men in that long line
threw their caps upwards until they looked like a flock of
crows. From wood and dale came the sound of cheers from
thousands of throats. Appomattox will never hear the like
again. The brigade moved forward a short distance and went
into camp some three hundred yards from the Confederate
camp. In the afternoon I strolled over the ground we had
traversed in the morning. I came across the body of a dead
Confederate soldier, covered with a blanket. Some one had
taken the shoes from his feet. Uncovering him I found that a
shot had pierced his right breast. His white cotton shirt
was matted with blood. A small bag was attached to the
button-hole of his jacket. Undoing the bag I found it
contained sixty ounces of corn meal. He was not over
twenty-six years of age, and was of fair complexion. Who
knows but he was the last soldier who fell belonging to the
Army of Northern Virginia?"

It was Palm Sunday, celebrated by many of the followers of Christ as the day of his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, a day of great rejoicing among Christians, known in our annual calendar as the 9th day of April, 1865. The morning broke clear and bright in the neighborhood of Appomattox Court House, and there was every evidence of spring. The birds chirped in the trees half clad with the early foliage, which trembled in the soft breeze. Along the roadside yet untrod by the hostile feet of man or steed, the tiny floweret buds had begun to open to the warmth of genial nature, and the larger roses, red and white, cast their fragrance to the lingering winds. Here the half clad, sore footed soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, were trembling with dread impatience for the onset,--the inevitable--which would decide their fate and their prospect of reaching the mountains just beyond. In front of them the federal cavalry awaited their coming.

It was yet grey in the morning when General Lee sent word to his Lieutenant Gordon to cut his "_way through at all hazards_." With the impetuosity of a cyclone, his shattered corps rushed upon the dismounted cavalry in their front, the Federal line quivered, and bent to the gale. On and on they came, pressing closer and closer upon the cavalry. The struggle was becoming desperate, it was the last hope of the confederates they must go through the lines, or perish in the attempt. Again the confederate yell rose above the din of the battle's roar, and soon the cavalry fell back. Where was their leader Sheridan? He came, galloping at break-neck speed, his men cheering him as he rode to the front. He had been to the rear some five miles away. He saw at a glance the daring object of the foe, and ordered his men to fall back slowly. The confederates followed up the wavering line with brightened hopes, but hopes that were to be dissipated; soon the bristling bayonets, and glistening musket barrels of the Army of the James gleamed in their front; then the pressure ceased, and Sheridan's bugle sounded the order to mount, and his troopers dashed themselves against the enemy's left flank. Then, one bearing a white flag--a flag of truce, rode to the front of the confederate lines. Capt. J. D. Cook of General Mile's staff went forward to meet him. It was Colonel Taylor of General Lee's staff; he bore a note from Lee, asking a suspension of hostilities, and an interview with General Grant. Now let us go back to the night of the 6th, and trace the flying columns to this point. Badeau says:

"That night once more the rebels evacuated their works, this
time in front of Meade, and when morning dawned were far on
their way, as they fondly thought, to Lynchburg, and Lee
defiantly informed his pursuer that the emergency for the
surrender had not yet arrived. But he reckoned without his
host. He was stretching, with the terrific haste that
precedes despair, to Appomattox for supplies. He need hardly
have hastened to that spot, destined to be so fatal to
himself and his cause. Grant's legions were making more
haste than he. The marvelous marching, not only of Sheridan,
but of the men of the Fifth and Twenty-Fourth Corps, was
doing as much as a battle to bring the rebellion to a close.
Twenty-eight, thirty-two, thirty-five miles a day in
succession these infantry soldiers marched, all day and all
night. From daylight until daylight again, after more than a
week of labor and fatigue almost unexampled, they pushed on
to intercept their ancient adversary, while the remainder of
the Army of the Potomac was at his heels.

"Finally Lee, still defiant, and refusing to treat with any
view of surrender, came up to his goal, but found the
national cavalry had reached the point before him, and that
the supplies were gone. Still he determined to push his way
through, and with no suspicion that men on foot could have
marched from Rice's Station to his front in thirty hours, he
made his last charge, and discovered a force of infantry
greater than his own before him, besides cavalry, while two
corps of the Army of the Potomac were close in his rear. He
had run straight into the national lines. He was enclosed,
walled in, on every side, with imminent instant destruction
impending over him. He instantly offered to submit to Grant,
and in the agony of alarm, lest the blow should fall, he
applied to Meade and Sheridan also for a cessation of
hostilities. Thus in three directions at once he was
appealing to be allowed to yield. At the same moment he had
messengers out to Sheridan, Meade, and Grant. The emergency,
whose existence he had denied, had arrived. He was
out-marched, out-fought, out-witted, out-generaled--defeated
in every possible way. He and his army, every man, numbering
27,516, surrendered. He and his army, every man, was fed by
the conqueror."

From the date of Lee's surrender, the confederates, from Virginia to the Mississippi, began to lay down their arms. Howell Cobb surrendered at Macon, Ga., on the 21st; Johnston surrendered to General Sherman on the 26th, in North Carolina; Dick Taylor, east of the Mississippi, on the 4th of May, and on the 26th Kirby Smith surrendered his forces west of the Mississippi. Jeff. Davis had been captured, disguised as a woman, and thus the cause, which originated in treason, based on the enslavement of a race, and which derived its only chance of success from men who were false to their oaths, collapsed. The mightiest blow given the confederacy was struck by the immortal Proclamation of Emancipation, giving freedom to four millions of slaves; more than two hundred thousand of whom, with dash and gallantry excelled by no other race, tore down the traitor's banner from their deemed impregnable breastworks and planted in its stead the national flag. That emblem, whose crimson folds, re-baptised in the blood of liberty's martyrs, invited all men, of all races, who would be free, to gather beneath the effulgent glare of its heaven-lighted stars, regardless of color, creed or condition. The Phalanx nobly bore their part all through the long night of war, and at last they occupied Charleston,--the traitors' nest,--Petersburg,--their eastern Gibraltar,--and Richmond--their Capitol. They marched proudly through the streets of these once impregnable fortresses, in all of which many of the soldiers of the Phalanx had been slaves. Oh! what a realization of the power of right over might. What a picture for the historian's immortal pen to paint of the freemen of America, whose sufferings were long, whose struggle was gigantic, and whose achievement was a glorious personal and political freedom!

At the close of the war, the government, anticipating trouble in Texas, ordered General Steele to the command of the Rio Grande, under these instructions:

"WASHINGTON, May 21st, 1865.

"MAJ. GEN. F. STEELE, Commanding Rio Grande Expedition.

"By assignment of the President, Gen. Sheridan takes general
command west of the Arkansas. It is the intention to
prosecute a vigorous campaign in that country, until the
whole of Texas is re-occupied by people acknowledging
allegiance to the Government of the United States. Sheridan
will probably act offensively from the Red river. But it is
highly important that we should have a strong foothold upon
the Rio Grande. You have been selected to take that part of
the command. In addition to the force you take from Mobile
Bay, you will have the 25th Corps and the few troops already
in Southern Texas.

"Any directions you may receive from Gen. Sheridan, you will
obey. But in the absence of instructions from him you will
proceed without delay to the mouth of the Rio Grande and
occupy as high up that river as your force and means of
supplying will admit of.

"Your landing will probably have to be made at Brazos, but
you will learn more fully upon that matter on your arrival.
We will have to observe a strict neutrality towards Mexico,
in the French and English sense of the word. Your own good
sense and knowledge of international law, and experience of
policy pursued towards us in this war teaches you what will
be proper.

"Signed, U. S. GRANT, _Lieutenant-General._

"Official: Signed, GEO. K. LEET, A. A. G."

In the meantime General Grant sent the following dispatches to Generals Halleck and Weitzel:

"WASHINGTON, May 18th, 1865, 12.40 P. M.,

"MAJOR-GENERAL H. W. HALLECK, Richmond Va.

"Please direct Major-General Weitzel commanding 25th Army
Corps to get his corps in readiness for embarkation at City
Point immediately upon the arrival of ocean transportation.
He will take with him forty (40) days rations for twenty
thousand men, one-half of his land transportation and
one-fourth of his mules with the requisite amount of forage
for his animals. All surplus transportation and other public
property he may have he will turn over to the depots at City
Point.

"By command of Lieutenant-General Grant.

"Signed, JOHN A. RAWLINS,

"_Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff._

"Official. Signed, GEORGE K. LEET, A. A. G."

* * * * *

"WASHINGTON, May 21st, 1865.

"MAJOR-GENERAL G. WEITZEL, Commanding 25th A. C.

"As soon as your corps is embarked you will proceed with it
to Mobile Bay, Ala., and report to Major-General Steele for
further orders.

"In addition to rations, ammunition, and other articles
which you have received directions to take with you, you
should take a fair quantity of intrenching tools.

"Signed, U. S. GRANT, _Lieutenant-General._

"Official, Signed, GEORGE K. LEET, A. A. G."

On the 24th of May the 25th Corps began embarking for Texas by way of Mobile Bay. The troops, however, occupied Texas but a short time, the confederate forces there surrendering upon the same terms as those of General Lee. All fears having been dissipated, the troops were slowly mustered out of the United States service. The men returned to their wonted fields of labor to provide for their long-neglected families, upon a new career of peace and happiness, rising, Phoenix like, from the ashes of slavery to join the Phalanx of industry in upbuilding the greatness of their country, which they had aided in saving from desolation and ruin.

Such is the history of the negro in the wars of the United States. Coming to its shores in the condition of slavery, it required more than two centuries for the entire race to reach the estate of freedom. But the imperishable records of their deeds show that however humble and despised they have been in all political and social relations they have never been wanting in patriotism at periods of public peril. Their devotion has been not only unappreciated, but it has failed to receive a fitting commemoration in pages of national history. It has been the purpose of the writer of this volume to relate herein the patriotic career of the negro race in this country in an authentic and connected form. In the time to come the race will take care of itself. Slavery is ended, and now they are striking off link by link the chains of ignorance which the servitude of some and the humility of all imposed upon them. If the past is the story of an oppressed race, the future will reveal that of one uprisen to great opportunities, which they will improve from generation to generation, and guard with the same vigilance that they will the liberties and boundaries of the land.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] The reader will bear in mind that there were several changes in the command of these troops during the campaign, on account of promotions, but the troops remained in the Department and Army of the James. See Roster, for changes.

[32] THE PHALANX AT NEW MARKET HEIGHTS.[A]

"On the 29th of September, 1864, Gen. Grant ordered Gen. Butler to cross the James River, at Two Points, and attack the enemy's line of work, in the centre of which was Fort Harrison; on the left, at New Market Heights, was a very strong work, the key of the enemy's flank on the north side of the river. It was a redoubt built on the top of a hill of some considerable elevation, then running down into a marsh. In that marsh was a brook--then rising again to a plain, which gently rolled toward the river. On that plain, when the flash of dawn was breaking, Butler placed a column of the black Phalanx," [which consisted of the 5th, 36th, 38th and 2nd Cavalry Regts.], "numbering three thousand, in close column, by division, right in front with guns at 'right shoulder shift.' The center of the line was given to the eighteenth corps composed of white troops, under Gen. Ord, and they drove the enemy from a very strong work, capturing several pieces of cannon.

"Gen. Butler had been severely criticised by officers of the regular army for organizing twenty-five regiments of negroes. 'Why.' said they, 'they will not fight' In contradiction of this assertion Butler made up his mind to prove the worth and value of the black Phalanx. Notwithstanding their gallantry at Petersburg and on the Fredericksburg road, the metal of the 25th corps of the Army of the James was to be tried; so Butler took command of the Phalanx himself with a determination to set at rest forever the question of the fighting capacity of a portion of his command. Addressing the Phalanx, he said, pointing to the works on the enemy's flank, 'those works must be taken by the weight of your column; not a shot must be fired. In order to prevent them from firing he had the caps taken from the nipples of their guns. 'When you charge.' he said, 'your cry will be 'Remember Fort Pillow.'

"'Twas in the early grey of the morning, ere the sun had risen. The order 'forward' set the column in motion, and it went forward as if on parade--down the hill, across the marsh, and as the column got into the brook they came within range of the enemy's fire, which was vigorously opened upon them. The column broke a little, as it forded the brook, it wavered! What a moment of intense anxiety? But they formed again, as they reached the firm ground, marching on steadily with close ranks under the enemy's fire until the head of the column reached the first line of abatis, some one hundred and fifty yards from the enemy's work. Then the axemen ran to the front to cut away the heavy obstacles of defense while one thousand men of the enemy with their artillery concentrated poured from the redoubt a heavy fire upon the head of the column of fours. The axemen went down under that murderous fire; other strong black hands grasped the axes in their stead and the abatis was cut away. Again, at double-quick, the column went forward to within fifty yards of the fort, to meet there another line of abatis. The column halted and there a very fire of hell was poured upon them. The abatis resisted and held the head of the column which literally melted away under the rain of shot and shell; the flags of the leading regiments went down, but a brave black hand seized the colors. They were soon up again and waved their starry light over the storm of battle. Again the axemen fell, but strong hands and willing hearts seized the heavy sharpened trees and dragged them away, and the column rushed forward and with a shout that rang out above the roar of artillery went over the redoubt like a flash, and the enemy did not stop running within four miles, leaving the Phalanx in possession of their deemed impregnable work, cannons and small arms. The autocrats of the regular army could croak no longer about the negro soldiers not fighting.

"This gallantry of the Phalanx won for them and the negro race the admiration of the man who supported Jeff Davis and the slave power in the Charleston convention in 1860. Ten years after this splendid victory of the Phalanx, in support of their civil rights, General Butler then a member of congress, made an eloquent appeal in behalf of the equal civil rights of the negro race. In it he referred to the gallant charge of the Phalanx. He said: "It became my painful duty to follow in the track of that charging column, and there, in a space not wider than the clerk's desk and three hundred yards long, lay the dead bodies of five hundred and forty-three of my colored comrades, fallen in defense of their country, who had offered up their lives to uphold its flag and its honor, as a willing sacrifice: and as I rode along among them, guiding my horse this way and that way, lest he should profane with his hoofs what seemed to me the sacred dead, and as I looked on their bronzed faces upturned in the shining sun, as if in mute appeal against the wrongs of the country for which they had given their lives, whose flag had only been to them a flag of stripes, on which no star of glory had ever shone for them--feeling I had wronged them in the past and believing what was the future of my country to them--among my dead comrades there, I swore to myself a solemn oath--'May my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof my mouth, if I ever fail to defend the rights of those men who have given their blood for me and my country that day and for their race forever, and God helping me, I will keep that oath."

* * * * *

"NEW MARKET HEIGHTS.[B]

"'Freedom their battle cry, freedom or leave to die.'--_Boker._

At New Market Heights, there Afric's lineage stood,
And poured out copiously its best blood;
Of them I would sing, my lyre's restrung,
And allures not diffidently to the song,
Paternal muse with thy patriot valor reign
Supreme, and the brightness of ages regain,
In the deep recess of the past
Lower me, to where the battle's blast
Has been given to oblivion, the sigh
Of dying patriots let greet me nigh.
And my thoughts waft on memory's wing,
To where their charging shouts yet ring.

If mine the task indulgent muse vouchsafed,
Whilst I commune 'mongst bones that paved,
And flesh that bridged the chasm o'er,
Where Butler numbered five hundred and more
of Afric's sons, who for liberty fell.
In the corridors of a stockaded hell.
I'll essay their deeds of valor done,
By which the nation its victory won.

'Twas early in the grey September morn,
Ere the suns fulgent light had shown,
Whilst departed patriots looked out from above,
Emitting their twinkling silvery light of love,
Upon the silent bivouac of freedom's sons,
Weary and resting upon their bayonetless guns;
Quite near the bank of the James,
Just above where their own fathers' names,
Were first enrolled as ignoble slaves.
_The Second Brigade_, valiant men and braves,
Saw a meteor like rocket burst high,
High up in the dewey morning sky.
Then came the summons prepare to away,
Butler leads to New Market heights at day.
Beat the long roll, sound the alarm,
Break the monotone and the dead calm,
And the bugle's clarion notes aroused, awoke,
The host that waited ere day broke;
Infantry, cavalry prepared to make away,
Butler leads to New Market heights at day.

From rank to rank the summons ran,
Bayonets rattle and clank of sabres began.
With whetted steel the sturdy axe-men,
Capless riflemen, horseless cavalry men.
Formed on that plain in battle array,
Butler leads to New Market heights at day.

When the flash of dawn was breaking,
Their leader rode in front, and speaking,
Gave the charging shout '_Remember Fort Pillow_,'
And their banners brightened in the mellow
Light of heaven; '_Forward_,' they marched away,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.
Went down the hill across the marsh,--
Into the brook--there halted--ah! how harsh
The rebels' fire opened upon them, artillery
Hail swept the run, and the infantry
Broke, the column wavered tho' not in dismay,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Again the shattered columns form and again advance
To firmer ground, tho' the redoubt hurl'd like an avalanche
In quick succession, bursting bombs and canister shot,
But with closed ranks the column, fearing not
Unheedful of the iron hail bent its way,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Now the head of the column of fours go down
Under the murderous fire and the hissing song
Of the enemy's shells, now the axe men spring
To the _abatis_ high and long, now their axes ring
Out on the morning air, they were swept away.
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

The flags are where, do they kiss the morning light,
Do they wave in the battle's gale, are their stars bright,
Illumining the path of the brave? riddled and torn,
With the dead they lay. Soon again they shone,
In the first gleam of the rising-sun's ray,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Upon the brigade each felt that all was placed,
Their race and country's future honored or disgraced,
Hence with Spartan courage they the charge renewed,
And in hot haste the Nation's enemy pursued,
And sweat and blood from pore and wound inveigh,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

'_Forward, forward!_' rung the command, the flags are up again,
The axe-men grin, and with a shout go over the slain,
To a second line of _abatis_. The welkin's aglow.
The advancing brigade shouts, '_Remember Fort Pillow_!'
And with a will and spirit they clear the way,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Down the dismounted cavalrymen fall by ranks,
The Infantry an adamantine wall on the flanks,
Close up briskly on right and left receive
The enflading fire from the brazen crest, breathe
They not a word in complaint, freedom's impulse obey,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Mow the black axe-men tear from the sod the huge logs
Which science and treason placed deep in the bogs,
Skill gave way to freedom's might in the dastardly fight,
And the black brigade, with capless rifles and starry light,
Go through the gap to the Rebel's hell in gallant array,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Volley after volley poured, cannon after cannon roared,
Like reapers in a field a thousand artillerists mowed
In the gap, the brigade's advancing files of four,
Yet on through the flood of death still the brigade pour.
Their battle cry, _Remember Fort Pillow_, the enemy dismay,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

Hark! above the raging carnage swells the shout,
'_No quarter to Niggers_,' with hope of a rout,
But the brigade was not deterred, they retaliate
The defiant yells, _Remember Fort Pillow_, the fate
Of its garrison how it fell, on through the fray,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

On for the _redoubt_ over the rampart they go,
Not a rifle was fired, not a shot at the foe,
By the weight of the column the _redoubt_ is theirs,
And the enemy routed, the chivalry scattered everywhere
Victorious shouts the empyrean ring in repay,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

In the track of the brigade lay the loyal dead,
Afric's hecatomb, her lineage's pyre to liberty wed,
Their upturned countenances to the burning sun,
Were appeals to Mars for their race's freedom won,
Five hundred lives on the patriotic alter lay,
Following Butler to New Market heights that day.

No marble shaft or granate pile mark the spot
Where they fell--their bones lay harvested from sun-rot,
In the Nation's cities of the dead. Hannibal led
No braver than they through Alpine snow, nor wed
To freedom were Greece's phalanx more, who o'er gory clay
Followed Butler to New Market heights that day.

[A] (Author in the N. Y. _Globe_.)

[B] (Author in "_Voice of a New Race_.")

[33] See report of 29th Regiment Connecticut Colored Volunteers in appendix.