African-Americans of Kansas were the first to fight for freedom in the Civil War. In 1862, a Leavenworth business man, William Matthews, became so excited about the formation of the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry that he enlisted immediately. He soon began recruiting other African-American ex-slaves and eventually was elected Captain of the regiment.
The U.S. Army did not start enlisting African-Americans until 1863, however a Kansas Senator and General, James Henry Lane, never an abolitionist, started recruitment at Mound City, Kansas and was officially responsible for the 600 recruits that became known as the First Kansas Colored Volunteers. This African-American regiment became the first to experience combat during the Civil War.
Lane, a political force in Kansas was known to be, sometimes, a little mentally unhinged, he was accused of “jayhawker” depredations in Missouri. Lane’s white volunteers or “Lanes Brigade” was responsible for many raids and murderous rampages against settlers and towns near the border of Kansas and Missouri, especially the sacking and burning of the town of Osceola. James Henry Lane was supposedly the target of Quantrill’s infamous raid on Lawrence, Kansas. After the war he was re-elected to the U.S. Senate and sided with President Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction policies and veto of the Civil Rights Amendment, he became ill and distraught, shooting himself in 1866.
The First Kansas saw action at;
- Island Mound; near Butler, Missouri October 28, 1862
- Reeder Farm; near Sherwood Missouri May 18, 1863
- Cabin Creek, Indian Territory July 1-2, 1863
- Honey Springs, Indian Territory July 17, 1863
- Poison Springs, Arkansas April 18, 1864
- Flat Rock Creek, Indian Territory September 16, 1864
- Timber Hills, Indian Territory November 19, 1864
The battle at Poison Springs, Arkansas, in April of 1864, rivaled the slaughter at Fort Pillow, Tennessee in 1862. The Union forces lost over 300 killed in action, compared to a Confederate loss of 114. The majority of the Union dead were African-American soldiers executed after their surrender. The dead’s comrades used, “Remember Poison Springs,” as a rallying cry in future battles.
White officers praised the First Kansas relating;
Lt. Richard Hinton: “This is what we have done. We have demonstrated that the Negro is anxious to serve his country, himself and race; that he can be drilled and made effective as a soldier; and that he will fight as well as any other set of men.”
Major General James G. Blunt: “The question that negroes will fight is settled; besides they make better soldiers in every respect than any troops, I have ever had under my command.
Frederick Douglass sums it up best,
“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”
Frederick Douglass
Bummer
