1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored)
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1st Regiment South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (Colored)
“We, their officers, did not go there to teach lessons, but to receive them. There were more than a hundred men in the ranks who had voluntarily met more dangers in their escape from slavery than any of my young captains had incurred in all their lives.” — Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson[1]
Port Royal Island - 1. Camp Saxton (Smith's plantation)
Most of the slaves in the South Carolina Sea Islands became free after the Battle of Port Royal on November 7, 1861 when many of the white residents and plantation owners fled the area after the arrival of the Union Navy and Army.[6] The 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (Colored) Regiment was organized on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina in May of 1862 by General David Hunter who was in charge of the Department of the South. Most of the men in the unit were former Gullah slaves from the South Carolina Sea Islands who spoke Gullah, a Sea Island Creole.[7] This first unit formed under Hunter were called "Hunter's Regiment."[8] Union soldiers were tasked with recruiting Black soldiers, one well-known recruiter was a white New Yorker named Sergeant Charles Trowbridge. Trowbridge looked for people who wanted to join because other Black men were forced to join the Union Army. The first two recruits were William Bronson and Prince Rivers. Trowbridge recruited 50 to 100 men; they were trained and armed and engaged in guerrilla warfare to liberate enslaved people. In August of 1862, a company in the regiment went to St. Simons Island, Georgia to liberate the enslaved communities; however previously, African Americans there self-emancipated themselves and had driven their enslavers off. Some of the Geechee people in St. Simons Island joined the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry including Susie King Taylor.[9]
On St. Helena Island, South Carolina other units of the 1st South Carolina were disbanded in August of 1862 (except for Trowbridge’s company on St. Simons) under orders from President Abraham Lincoln's administration because Hunter was not authorized by the U.S. War Department to recruit contraband (free Blacks) into the army, and the recruits were involuntarily forced into the regiment "in a manner reminiscent of their days as slaves".[10][11][12] Although Hunter disbanded the regiment under orders from the U.S. War Department, Hunter kept 100 soldiers sending the rest home. The company of 100 Gullah soldiers were placed on guard duty at St. Simon's Island. This company of 100 Black soldiers in the 1st South Carolina remained,[13] and the regiment was later reorganized at Camp Saxton (previously called the Smith Plantation) near Beaufort under General Rufus Saxton on August 22, 1862 when U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton authorized Saxton to "arm, equip, and receive into the service of the United States such volunteers of African descent as you may deem expedient, not exceeding 5,000".[14][15][16]
"Emancipation Day in South Carolina" - Soldiers Prince Rivers and Corporal Robert Sutton of the 1st South Carolina (Colored) are presented with the Stars and Stripes at the former John Joyner Smith plantation renamed Camp Saxton
This unit was formed under the second Confiscation Act of 1862. The 1862 Confiscation Act stated properties including slaves belonging to disloyal citizens (supporters of the Confederacy) in the South belonged to the Union (United States). The Union Army were permitted the right to "employ" contraband of war (free Blacks) for use against the Confederacy and recruited formerly enslaved people into the Union Army to fight in the war.[17] In October of 1862 Company A of the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment was organized with other companies organized soon after. On November 10, 1862 Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson assumed command, and by January 31, 1863 the 1st South Carolina was mustered into military service.[18][19] Gullah soldiers of the 1st South Carolina were trained at Camp Saxton, named after General Rufus Saxton, located in present day Port Royal, South Carolina and occupied the camp from November 1862 to January 1863.[20][21]
As early as November 3, 1862, sixty-two members from Company A of the regiment under the command of Lt. Colonel Oliver T. Beard conducted raids on saltworks in northeast Florida. During their military operations in Florida, the 1st South Carolina liberated enslaved people and recruited them into the Union Army.[22] The 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry regiment did an expedition up the St. Mary's River along the Georgia-Florida state line which lasted from January 23 to February 1, 1863. The regiment captured and occupied Jacksonville, Florida on March 10, 1863 and did other skirmishes along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.[23][24] They were particularly effective at conducting raids along the coast of Florida and Georgia, due to the men’s familiarity with the terrain.[25] On July 9-11, 1863 the 1st South Carolina completed an expedition along the Edisto River where they helped to liberate enslaved people in the area fleeing to Union boats.[26] From February 1864 to the end of the Civil War, the 33rd USCT (1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry) did war operations between the coasts of Charleston, South Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida and were mustered out of service on February 6, 1866 at Fort Wagner on Morris Island.[27]
Legacy and influence
Susie King Taylor, known as the first African American Army nurse
The regiment was a step in the evolution of Union thinking towards the escaped slaves who crossed their lines. Initially they were returned to their owners. Next they were considered contraband and employed as laborers. Finally the legal fiction that they were property was abandoned and they were allowed to enlist in the Army, although in segregated units commanded by white officers. As a holdover from the "contraband" days, black privates were paid $10 per month, the rate for laborers, rather than the $13 paid to white privates. The men served as the precedent for the over 170,000 "colored" troops who followed them into the Union Army. Harriet Tubman served with these men as a nurse in Hunter's regiment.[28]
Susie King Taylor was born enslaved in Liberty County, Georgia and escaped from slavery in the summer of 1862 during the Civil War and fled to St. Simon's Island, Georgia where there was a Union encampment, and encountered Company A of the 1st South Carolina Infantry. Taylor followed the 1st South Carolina back to Camp Saxton in Port Royal in October of 1862.[29][30] She served as a laundress and nurse for the men and married Edward King who was a sergeant in the 1st South Carolina. During Taylor's time with the regiment she taught men in Company E how to read from spelling books. Susie K. Taylor learned how to read when she was enslaved in Georgia in a secret school operated by two free Black women.[31] Taylor remained with the regiment from August 1862 until they mustered out of service on February 9, 1866 at Fort Wagner located on Morris Island, South Carolina.[32][33] After her service, Taylor returned to Savannah, Georgia with her husband and opened a school for Black American children. She dedicated her life with the Woman’s Relief Corps, a national organization for female Civil War veterans.[34]
Black military service during the Civil war may have been the catalyst to grant citizenship to African Americans and women under the 14th amendment, as both groups served in the war as soldiers or nurses. Frederick Douglass who was a 19th century civil rights activist believed Black Americans deserved citizenship because of their military service in the Union Army. He said: "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".[35]
The regiment’s first commander was Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a minister, author and abolitionist. He wrote of his men, “We, their officers, did not go there to teach lessons, but to receive them. There were more than a hundred men in the ranks who had voluntarily met more dangers in their escape from slavery than any of my young captains had incurred in all their lives.”
During the war Higginson documented the Gullah dialect spoken by some of the men and made a record of the spirituals that they sang. Higginson later wrote a book about his experiences titled Army Life in a Black Regiment.[1] In 1867, Higginson published the first collection of African American spirituals in the Atlantic Monthly.[38] During the Civil war, Higginson, northern teachers, and Union soldiers in the South Carolina sea islands heard Gullah spirituals for the first time and Higginson brought Gullah spirituals to national attention in his publication. Higginson explained the lyrics were religious and about triumph.[39]
Major Seth Rogers was regimental surgeon and wrote extensive wartime letters. His nephew, Captain James Seth Rogers, previously of the 51st Massachusetts, was captain of Company B.[40]
Notable people
Prince Rivers
Some of the soldiers who served in the 1st SC volunteers became historical figures in the Black community. Prince Rivers was born enslaved in a coastal town in Beaufort, South Carolina and escaped from slavery when the Sea Islands of South Carolina was occupied by the Union Navy and Army. With his freedom he joined the 1st South Carolina Volunteers Colored Infantry and became the sergeant and held the position of provost of the guard. Rivers was also present at the Emancipation Day celebration at Camp Saxton and received the colors of the First South Carolina Volunteers.[41] After the war, Rivers served as a delegate to the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention, represented Edgefield County in the state House of Representatives, and served as a representative in the House of Aiken County in 1874.[42]
Henry E. Hayne
Henry E. Hayne was born free on December 30, 1840, in Charleston, South Carolina to a white man, James Hayne, and a free Black woman named Mary. In Charleston, Henry Hayne received an education and worked as a tailor. "When the Civil War broke out, local tradition holds that he was white passing enough to join the Confederate army, with the sole purpose of trying to get close enough to Union lines where he could escape."[43] Hayne later joined the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (later called the 33rd United States Colored Troops) in mid 1863.[44] In 1866 he was discharged and moved to Marion County, South Carolina. Hayne was hired by the Freedmen's Bureau to be the principal of Madison Colored School. In 1867, Hayne served on the Republican state executive committee and represented Marion County in the 1868 state constitutional convention. During Reconstruction, he became active in the Republican Party, which had supported citizenship and suffrage for free Black Americans. In 1868 to 1872, he represented Marion County in the state Senate and from 1872 to 1877 was South Carolina’s secretary of state. Hayne became the first Black student at the University of South Carolina, enrolling in their medical school, but he left before receiving his degree. He desegrated the University of South Carolina.[45][46]
Another notable historic person who served with the 1st South Carolina Infantry was Corporal Robert Sutton. Robert Sutton was born enslaved on the Alberti Plantation along Florida’s northeastern boundary near Georgia. During his years enslaved, he sailed up and down the Saint Mary’s River transporting lumber and his enslavers. Sutton escaped from slavery on a canoe he built sailing upriver that emptied out into the Atlantic Ocean. He eventually reached Camp Saxton and enlisted into the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Black regiment. On January 1, 1863 there was an Emancipation Day celebration at Camp Saxton and Corporal Sutton was presented the flag.[47]
Louden Langley worked as an Assistant Lighthouse Keeper at Hunting Island Lighthouse.
Many of the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry were from South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida's Gullah Geechee communities; however, Louden Langley a free Black man from Vermont joined the regiment. Louden Langley was born free in Huntington, Vermont in the late 1830s. When he was a teenager, his family helped freedom seekers (runaway slaves) escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad by hiding them in their home. In 1854, Langley wrote in a newspaper enslaved people had the right to rebel against slavery through war.[48] During the Civil War in 1863, Langley joined the United States Army and hoped to join the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry but was assigned to the 54th Massachusetts Infantry due to a recruiting error. By 1864 the recruiting was corrected, and he was transferred to the 33rd United States Colored Troops (1st South Carolina Volunteers). He served in the regiment as the Sergeant Major until he was mustered out in 1866. After his military service, he stayed in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Langley became involved in politics during Reconstruction and represented the District of Beaufort during the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention in Charleston and advocated for free and equal education in the state of South Carolina. After the convention, he served as the School Commissioner of Beaufort County. South Carolina had a majority Black legislature, and many local politicians were Black American; however, white legislatures and violent factions removed many Black office holders including Langley. This ended Langley's political career. He moved his family to St. Helena Island and worked as an Assistant Lighthouse Keeper at the Hunting Island lighthouse located in present day Hunting Island State Park. Langley passed away at age 43 and is buried at the Beaufort National Cemetery.[49][50]
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, organized in the Northern states during the Civil War. Authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consisted of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers. The 54th Massachusetts was a major force in the pioneering of African American civil war regiments, with 150 all black regiments being raised after the raising of the 54th Massachusetts.
United States Colored Troops (USCT) were Union Army regiments during the American Civil War that primarily comprised African Americans, with soldiers from other ethnic groups also serving in USCT units. Established in response to a demand for more units from Union Army commanders, USCT regiments, which numbered 175 in total by the end of the war in 1865, constituted about one-tenth of the manpower of the army, according to historian Kelly Mezurek, author of For Their Own Cause: The 27th United States Colored Troops. "They served in infantry, artillery, and cavalry." Approximately 20 percent of USCT soldiers were killed in action or died of disease and other causes, a rate about 35 percent higher than that of white Union troops. Numerous USCT soldiers fought with distinction, with 16 receiving the Medal of Honor. The USCT regiments were precursors to the Buffalo Soldier units which fought in the American Indian Wars.
Susie King Taylor was an American nurse, educator and memoirist. She is known for being the first African-American nurse during the American Civil War. Beyond just her aptitude in nursing the wounded of the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Taylor was the first Black woman to self-publish her memoirs. She was the author of Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers. She was also an educator to formerly bonded Black people in the Reconstruction-era South by opening various schools in Georgia. Taylor would also be a part of organizing the 67 Corps of the Women's Relief Corps in 1886.
Robert Smalls was an American politician who was born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina. During the American Civil War, the still enslaved Smalls commandeered a Confederate transport ship in Charleston Harbor and sailed it from the Confederate-controlled waters of the harbor to the U.S. blockade that surrounded it. He then piloted the ship to the Union-controlled enclave in Beaufort–Port Royal–Hilton Head area, where it became a Union warship. In the process, he freed himself, his crew, and their families. His example and persuasion helped convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Army.
Rufus Saxton was a Union Army brigadier general during the American Civil War who received America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions defending Harpers Ferry during Confederate General Jackson's Valley Campaign. After the war he served as the Freedmen's Bureau's first assistant commissioner.
Fort Howell is an earthworks fort built in 1864 during the American Civil War, located on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It was named in honor of Union Army Brigadier General Joshua B. Howell, and Its primary function was to protect Mitchelville, a Freedman's town located to its east.
The 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored) was an African-American infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was among the scores of units raised starting in the middle of the war to augment Federal troop strength by tapping into the large Southern population of former slaves. Harriet Tubman, lead the regiment in the Raid at Combahee Ferry in which roughly 800 slaves were freed. It gained notoriety among certain quarters for its actions during the controversial looting and burning of the pro-Confederate town of Darien, Georgia. This operation was part of the Union strategy to damage the Confederate states' ability to supply food and materials towards their war effort.
The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was the first black regiment to be organized in a northern state to see combat during the Civil War. At the Battle of Poison Spring, the regiment lost nearly half its number, and suffered the highest losses of any Kansas regiment during the war.
Henry E. Hayne was a politician in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. Born free in Charleson, South Carolina, he served in the South Carolina Senate and as Secretary of State of South Carolina in the 1870s. In 1873, he became the first student of color at the University of South Carolina medical school.
The 51st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was assigned to Major General John G. Foster's Department of North Carolina, later designated as the XVIII Corps. While based in New Bern, North Carolina, the 51st Massachusetts took part in several expeditions involving numerous units from Foster's command and were engaged in the Battle of Kinston, the Battle of White Hall and the Battle of Goldsborough Bridge, among other engagements.
The 8th Maine Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The Camp Saxton Site is a 6-acre (24,000 m2) property located in Port Royal, South Carolina. It was listed in the National Register Historic Places on February 2, 1995.
Prince R. Rivers was a former enslaved man from South Carolina who served as a soldier in the Union Army and as a state politician during the Reconstruction era. He escaped and joined Union lines, becoming a sergeant in the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, a Union regiment in the American Civil War.
The 29th Connecticut Colored Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It is credited as being the first infantry regiment to enter Richmond, Virginia, when the city surrendered in the Siege of Petersburg.
The 56th New York Infantry Regiment, also known as 10th Legion, was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, formerly Reconstruction Era National Monument, is a United States National Historical Park in Beaufort County, South Carolina established by President Barack Obama in January 2017 to preserve and commemorate activities during the Reconstruction Era that followed the American Civil War. The monument was the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to the Reconstruction Era. The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed March 12, 2019, by President Donald Trump, re-designated it as a national historical park. It is administered by the National Park Service.
The 127th New York Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 1st North Carolina Union Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a military unit of the Union Army during the American Civil War recruited from coastal counties in North Carolina. The Regiment was made up of Southern Unionists and deserters from the Confederate Army, and fought in several battles in North Carolina before being disbanded in the summer of 1865.
↑ Hatcher, Richard. "First South Carolina Regiment". South Carolina Encyclopedia. University of South Carolina, Institute for Southern Studies. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
↑ "Camp Saxton Site"(PDF). National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of Interior, The National Park Service. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
↑ Smith, Stephen. "Contrabands". South Carolina Encyclopedia. University of South Carolina, Institute for Southern Studies. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
↑ Hatcher, Richard. "First South Carolina Regiment". South Carolina Encyclopedia. University of South Carolina, Institute for Southern Studies. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
↑ "Susie King Taylor". Fort Pulaski National Monument and Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. The National Park Service. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
↑ "Louden Langley". Boston African American National Historic Site / Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. The National Park Service. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
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