“With Great Steadiness and Courage:” The 22nd USCT and their Flag
The 22nd United States Colored Troops was organised at Camp William Penn between the 10th and 29th of January, 1864. The narrative of the regiment illustrates the desire of many black troops to shun the tedious manual labour that they often found thrust upon them and to embrace the opportunity to conduct themselves honourably on the battlefield, regardless of the cost.
The abolitionist Frederick Douglass encapsulated ideological beliefs held by the men of the USCT in a speech in Rochester, New York in 1863: “Who would be free themselves must strike the blow.” Those who enlisted were the “powerful black hand” of the imperilled nation, and he called upon them to “smite with death the power that would bury the government and your liberty in the same hopeless grave.”
Military service offered blacks the opportunity “to end in a day the bondage of centuries, and to rise in one bound from social degradation to the plane of common equality with all other varieties of men.”[i] Proving their ability as soldiers was inextricably linked to the ongoing quest to prove that they deserved citizenship to the white majority.
Black regiments often formed two extremes of the Union Army’s operations. Repeatedly relegated to support roles as labourers and denied the right to bear arms, their fighting ability was doubted within a white national imaginary. When finally employed in combat, they were in several instances engaged in the most dangerous areas of battle. They received little quarter from the enemy.
An article in the Daily Richmond Enquirer following the Battle of the Crater of July 1864, in which many surrendering black soldiers were shot down by Confederate soldiers, illustrates the policy towards the USCT. “We regret to learn… some negroes were captured instead of being shot” the newspaper declared, “butcher every negro that Grant hurls against [our] brave troops and permit them not to soil their hands with the capture of one negro.”[ii]
The 22nd received orders at the end of January to move to the front. The regiment went into camp near Yorktown until spring and received drill instruction in manoeuvres and firing. However, for the first portion of their service their most prevalent instruments were shovels and picks.
First posted at Wilson’s Wharf on the north side of the James River, the 22nd constructed earthworks. They repositioned to the south side of the James and once again found themselves employed in constructing defensive works. Here they also participated in the preparation of the Army of the Potomac’s crossing of the river on its arrival from the Wilderness Campaign.
In combat the 22nd gave a fine account of themselves, though often at a great cost. In June the 22nd led the charge of General “Baldy” Smith’s XVIII Corps offensive against the Confederate defences at Petersburg, taking 6 of the 7 artillery pieces captured by the 1stDivision and 2 of the 4 forts.[iii]
The Philadelphia Enquirer noted the regiment “lost a considerable number of men.”[iv] For its actions the 22nd was “warmly commended at corps and army headquarters.” Colonel Joseph Kiddoo reported “my regiment… behaved in such a manner as to give me great satisfaction and the fullest confidence in the fighting qualities of colored troops.”[v]
At New Market Heights in September the 22nd served with the “most unflinching bravery” according to the report of Captain Albert Janes. The regiment repeatedly charged and scattered the enemy on the 29th and repulsed their counter-attacks on the 30th.[vi]Responding, the regiment “delivered a most daring and impetuous charge” against the strong works of the enemy, but was repelled.
A month later the XVIII Corps struck the Richmond defences again. The black regiment once more led a charge with “great steadiness and courage” yet had to fall back. Lieutenant Colonel Ira Terry noted that some companies went to within a few yards of the enemy’s works.[vii] The 22nd’s casualties in killed and wounded exceeded 100, amongst them Colonel Kiddo, severely wounded.[viii]
The men of the 22nd proved themselves as well-ordered and efficient citizen-soldiers. As some of the first troops to enter the Confederate capitol of Richmond on April 3, 1865, the regiment “rendered important service in extinguishing the flames which were then raging.”
General Godfrey Weitzel, commander of the all USCT XXV Corps to which the 22nd had transferred, selected the regiment to participate in the funeral ceremony of President Lincoln due to its “excellent discipline and good soldierly qualities”. The 22nd was involved in the efforts to capture John Wilkes Booth before proceeding in May to Texas where it garrisoned posts along the Rio Grande before mustering out of service on the 16th of October, 1865 in Philadelphia.[ix]
The regimental colours of the 22nd provide an example of a provocative piece of black visual culture. African American David B. Bowser was a government-commissioned artist who designed several regimental flags during the Civil War. The colours of the 22ndfeatured strong abolitionist iconography and sentiment.
The 22nd’s flag is unique in that it displays an African American bayonetting a white Confederate without mercy. Pro-slavery campaigners employed images willfully endorsing white racist fantasies of uncontrolled black masculinity to heighten fears of emancipation held by whites.
However, Bowser was an abolitionist who would paint John Brown’s portrait in 1865, and so was therefore not averse to aggressive policy in the fight against the slave-holding aristocracy. The white flag held by the prostrate Confederate could be a flag of surrender. The image would be a response to the atrocities committed in instances such as at Fort Pillow when southern troops refused to take black prisoners.
Another possibility views the flag as a symbol of southern whiteness. The second national flag of the Confederacy bore the Confederate battle flag on a field of white. The editor of the Savannah Morning News had linked the use of white on this flag to the “peculiar institution.” He noted: “we are fighting to maintain the… supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored races. A White Flag would be emblematic of our cause.”[x]
The 22nd’s flag also bears the motto Sic Semper Tyrannis (“Thus Always to Tyrants”). The flag appropriates the seal and motto of slave-holding Virginia. Employed in 1776 in defiance of British tyranny, it is utilised here by the black regiment to symbolise their own revolution against their white masters.
It claims a semblance of the ideology of the Revolution that white northerners and southerners would attest to be the true heirs of throughout the conflict. The flag illustrates a yearning for entitlement to the benefits of republican citizenship through a revolutionary and turbulent trial.
The 22nd are notable for their ascension during the Civil War. From labourers employed in the construction of earthworks with the Army of the James, they rose to distinguished participation in the funeral ceremony of President Lincoln. The conduct of the soldiers received applause from the regimental to the corps level.
Although it appears that their demeanour did not reflect the aggression implied on their regimental colours, the banner nevertheless attests to their determination in opposing tyranny in pursuit of liberty and the recognition of their worth as citizens.
[i] Frederick Douglass, ‘Men of Color, To Arms!’, (Rochester: New York, 1863),http://www.blackpast.org/
[ii] Daily Richmond Enquirer (Richmond, VA: August 1, 1864), quoted in Ervin L. Jordan, Jr., Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia, (University Press of Virginia, 1995), p. 277
[iii] Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, p. 991
[iv] ‘The Attack On Petersburg.’, Philadelphia Enquirer (Philadelphia, PA: June 20, 1864).
[v] ‘Number 277. Report of Colonel Joseph B. Kiddoo, Twenty-second U.S. Colored Troops, Second Brigade, of operations June 15.’, http://www.beyondthecrater.com/
[vi] ‘Number 331. Petersburg Campaign Report of Captain Albert Janes, Twenty-second U.S. Colored Troops, First Brigade, of operations September 29-30.’,http://www.beyondthecrater.com/
[vii] ‘Number 332. Petersburg Campaign Report of Lieutenant Colonel Ira C. Terry, Twenty-second U. S. Colored Troops, of operations October 27-28.’,http://www.beyondthecrater.com/
[viii] Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, p. 991-2
[ix] Ibid., p. 992
[x] John M. Coski, ‘The Birth of the ‘Stainless Banner’.’, New York Times Opinionator, (May 13, 2013)
Great images!!
The flags designed by David B. Bowser are great tools for understanding African American perceptions of martial service in the Civil War, they cover a variety of themes. There are several on the LoC site!
Very interesting article; I enjoyed it.
I am working on gathering some resources to write about USCT in the American West after the CW. Some readers on my blog have requested the topic and I’m looking forward to exploring it. Any recommendations for good books to get a solid introduction to that topic?