Milliken's Bend: A Civil War Battle in History and Memory

Appendix A. Unit and Biographical Sketches

Appendix A Unit and Biographical Sketches UNIT SKETCHES 9th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent (Union) The 9th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent, was renamed the 1st Mississippi Heavy Artillery, African Descent, in September 1863. This regiment was subsequently renamed the 4th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery for one month in 1864, and then it became the 5th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery in April 1864, its final designation. After Milliken’s Bend and the fall of Vicksburg, the regiment spent the bulk of the war serving garrison duty on the bluffs at Vicksburg. Col. Hermann Lieb remained in command until the regiment was mustered out in May 1866.1 A second but quite distinct black regiment, also named the 9th Louisiana Infantry, organized near Natchez, Mississippi, in the late fall of 1863. John Eaton, the former general superintendent of contrabands, became colonel of the regiment. This unit essentially was a sort of Invalid Corps for black soldiers who could perform garrison or police duty but who were too infirm for service in the field. When all the old state designations were eliminated, it would be renamed the 63rd U.S. Colored Infantry.2 11th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent (Union) In the aftermath of Milliken’s Bend, the cowardly Col. Edwin W. Chamberlain was “invited to resign,” an offer he gladly accepted. Van E. Young—the same man from the 10th Louisiana Infantry who had caused Col. Isaac F. Shepard so much grief with his recruiting violations on plantations, took Chamberlain’s place. It is not clear why Cyrus Sears was not promoted to the position, especially given his strong leadership on the Union right flank during the action at Milliken’s Bend. Nor is it clear why Young was selected for the position, given his past history. Lieutenant Colonel Sears remained with the regiment until the close of the war.3 appendix a 184 Like the 9th Louisiana, the 11th Louisiana spent most of the rest of the war at Vicksburg, performing garrison duty. In March 1864 it was renamed the 49th U.S. Colored Infantry, and it mustered out in March 1866. 13th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent (Union) Decades after the war, Cyrus Sears claimed that no such regiment as the 13th Louisiana was present at Milliken’s Bend. Contemporary records, including Lieb’s report and records from Colonel Shepard’s African Brigade headquarters, clearly indicate that such a regiment did indeed exist, though it was short-lived. In late June 1863 it was found to have “no legal organization,” and the few men present were sent to other regiments.4 1st Mississippi Infantry, African Descent (Union) Col. Isaac F. Shepard returned to command of this regiment once General Hawkins returned from the North to resume command of the African Brigade in August 1863. At the same time Shepard’s regiment was beginning to form in May, there was another 1st Mississippi regiment organizing near Grand Gulf. Shepard believed his regiment had precedent, and it is not known what became of the other 1st Mississippi. Shepard’s regiment was an infantry unit; the other Mississippi regiment may have been early fragments of the 1st Mississippi Cavalry (Colored), which was mustered in later in the autumn at Vicksburg.5 Shepard’s regiment became known as the 51st U.S. Colored Infantry in March 1864. It spent the bulk of its service as garrison forces at Vicksburg, Lake Providence, and Goodrich’s Landing, but in 1865 it moved to southern Alabama where it participated in the siege and assault on Fort Blakeley. After a short stint of garrison duty in Mobile, it was sent to Texas where it was mustered out in June 1866.6 In the wake of their assault on the Confederate works at Blakeley, as part of an entire division of Colored Troops under the command of Brig. Gen. John P. Hawkins, accusations would arise claiming that the black troops took no prisoners. Lt. Walter Chapman of the 51st said his men “killed all they took to a man.” A year earlier, Confederate troops were said to have massacred hundreds at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, galvanizing Union black troops across the entire army to fight without mercy. At Blakeley, the black troops came over the Confederate works with the battle cry, “Remember Fort Pillow.” This sent the Rebels scattering, anxious to surrender to white troops nearby.7 Unit and Biographical Sketches 185 The men of the 51st also had...