Eagles on Their Buttons: A Black Infantry Regiment in the Civil War (review)

354CIVIL WAR HISTORY Eagles on TheirButtons: A BlackInfantry Regiment in the Civil War. By Versalle F. Washington. (Columbia: University ofMissouri Press, 1999. Pp. xv, 1 13. $24.95.) Modem historians have produced comparatively few unit histories ofblack troops in the Civil War. Despite the abundance of official records, the comparative scarcity of first-person accounts by the men clearly works to the disadvantage of would-be regimental historians. The large shadow cast by the emblematic black regiments, the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, has also stunted the growth of the genre. Versalle F. Washington's brief account of the 107th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (later renamed the 5th U.S. Colored Infantry) illustrates the ongoing challenges in the way of adding recognizable features to the face of the U.S. Colored Troops. Understanding the full range ofthe experience—the complex motives for which they fought, their hopes and dreams, their fears and nightmares—remains as elusive as ever. The book provides a chronological narrative of the regiment from its early organization in the summer of 1863 through its discharge in the summer of 1 865, concentrating primarily on its abolitionist origins and its service in the Army of the Potomac. The participation of black abolitionists, most notable John Mercer Langston and O. S. B. Wall, in recruiting men for the unit marked its early history. The abolitionist circle at Oberlin College exerted particularly strong influence, fusing a desire to gain "political equality through service" onto the antislavery convictions of the recruits (xi). The men's training in Ohio instilled military discipline and a determination to fight gallantly, even if "the lack of regimental drill" left a "glaring deficiency" in the unit's potential effectiveness (28). Although Washington concludes that the white officers for the most part "served well and faithfully," he also faults the government's reluctance to offer commissions to seasoned noncommissioned officers, a "ready source of experienced leadership" (26, 30). Shipped to Virginia late in 1863, the men's combat skills improved in the field and the unit earned the respect of white comrades and commanding officers alike. During the winter's lull in campaigning, the menjoined the chorus of protest against unequal pay that eventually prompted Congress to take remedial action. When active operations resumed, the regiment took part in the campaigns before Petersburg and Richmond, most notably in the Battle of New Market Heights. Disputing the findings of other historians, Washington insists that the colored troops played a decisive role in forcing the Confederates to retreat despite "the poor tactical abilities of their commanding general" (60). Washington also credits the 5* U.S.C.I. with demonstrating that black troops "could fight without white officers" (62) inasmuch as four first sergeants assumed command of their companies when the commissioned officers had become killed or wounded. The four earned the Medal of Honor. In the end, Washington tells an inspiring tale of a regiment that served faithfully and with distinction. At the same time, the work's brevity and its tradi- book reviews355 tional style foreclose the possibility of the narrative and interpretive breakthroughs achieved in the best recent studies of white units. Joseph P. Reidy Howard University Conrad Wise Chapman: Artist and Soldier of the Confederacy. By Ben L. Bassham. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1998. Pp. xvi, 328. $60.00.) Even the most casual student of the Civil War is familiar with the artwork of Conrad Wise Chapman. His paintings ofthe camp of the 3rd Kentucky Infantry at Corinth and the defenses ofCharleston, South Carolina, have illustrated countless popular magazine articles and coffee table books. Thanks to the magnum opus of Kent State University art history professor Ben Bassham, Chapman's works are now the subject of their own coffee table book. Because Chapman's works are so numerous and familiar, it is difficult to quarrel with Bassham's declaration (ix) that "put briefly, Conrad Wise Chapman was the most important artist of the Confederacy." His thirty-one oil paintings of the Charleston defenses are both extraordinary artworks and invaluable documents of Confederate fortifications and naval innovations. Chapman served two and a half years as a Confederate soldier. While he was wounded at Shiloh and...