Bluecoats and Tar Heels: Soldiers and Civilians in Reconstruction North Carolina

Appendix: Regional and Ethnic Origins of Federal Troops in North Carolina, 1868–1870

271 aPPeNDix Regional and Ethnic Origins of FederalTroops in North Carolina,1868–1870 40th U.S. Infantry 1. The 40th U.S. Infantry consisted of white officers and black enlisted men.The recruits were mustered in and trained at Camp Distribution,Virginia. Roughly one-half the enlisted men hailed from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington , D.C. 2. The regiment was stationed in the Carolinas for two years, yet only 11 percent of the enlisted men were native North Carolinians. 3. Some 12 percent of the enlisted men were natives of NewYork and Pennsylvania . Many were literate men from NewYork City and Philadelphia recruited to perform administrative and clerical duties. Native-Born Enlisted Men Alabama 6 California 1 Connecticut 9 Delaware 17 District of Columbia 81 Florida 4 Georgia 19 Illinois 1 Indiana 3 Iowa 1 Kentucky 21 Louisiana 7 Maine 5 Maryland 196 Massachusetts 13 Michigan 1 Mississippi 4 Missouri 2 New Jersey 24 NewYork 67 North Carolina 121 Ohio 10 Pennsylvania 60 Rhode Island 4 (continued on next page) 272 Bluecoats and Tarheels South Carolina 114 Tennessee 7 Subtotal 1,042 Foreign-Born Enlisted Men Canada 5 Germany 1 India 1 Subtotal 13 Unknown Place of Birth 4 Total Enlisted Men 40th Infantry 1,059 8th U.S. Infantry The only relevant Descriptive Book for the 8th U.S. Infantry, an all-white regiment , dates from 1866.The 1870 U.S. Census provides the most current information on the soldiers of the 8th who served in the Carolinas from 1866 to 1870. 1. Some 54 percent of the enlisted men in the 8th Infantry were foreignborn : 21 percent were Irish immigrants and 20 percent were German. 2. The Eastern Seaboard (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA) furnished 21 percent of the enlisted men, the Midwest (IL, IN, IA, KY, MI, MO, OH,WI) 11 percent, the former Confederate states (GA, LA, NC, SC,TN,TX,VA) 9 percent, and New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI,VT) 4 percent. 3. Nineteen enlisted men were native North Carolinians. According to the North Carolina Daily Standard, at least some of theTar Heel bluecoats were Confederate veterans. “We are personally acquainted with the soldiers of this garrison (Co. K, 8th Infantry) who served in North Carolina regiments during the Confederacy , and who are now proudly wearing the blue,” wrote a correspondent for the Standard (Raleigh, November 3, 1869). Native-Born Enlisted Men California 1 Connecticut 4 Delaware 2 Virginia 243 WestVirginia 1 Jamaica 3 South America 1 West Indies 2 District of Columbia 2 Georgia 12 Illinois 13 (continued from previous page) Appendix 27 Indiana 15 IndianTerritory 1 Iowa 1 Kentucky 1 Louisiana 2 Maine 5 Maryland 7 Massachusetts 7 Michigan 1 Missouri 1 New Hampshire 2 New Jersey 7 Subtotal 241 Unknown Place of Birth 10 The census taker listed the place of birth of these soldiers as “SC,” but it appears that he arbitrarily inserted this information on discovering that he had left the spaces blank. Foreign-Born Enlisted Men Austria 1 Belgium 3 Bohemia 1 Canada 13 Denmark 2 England 26 France 3 Subtotal 284 Total Enlisted Men 8th Infantry 535 Sources Data for the 40th U.S. Infantry was compiled from “Where Born” in Descriptive Book, 1866–1868, E1995, 40th U.S. Infantry, RG 391, NA. Data for the 8thU.S. Infantry was compiled from the 1870 Federal Census, M593, Reels 1121, 1127, 1162, 1163, 1487, 1507, and 1508, all in Federal Population Census, NA. NewYork 66 North Carolina 19 Ohio 22 Pennsylvania 28 Rhode Island 2 South Carolina 5 Tennessee 3 Texas 1 Vermont 2 Virginia 6 Washington 1 Wisconsin 2 Germany 105 Holland 1 Ireland 113 Scotland 5 Spain 2 Sweden 1 Switzerland 8 ...