I have looked for years for this information, I found it this morning! For the longest time I heard about it but could never find out anything! So I didn't think it was true! HOWEVER---
The First Company Richmond Howitzers-------
"John Parker, a slave from King and Queen County, was employed as a laborer on breastworks and artillery batteries near Richmond, but when the Union army began its advance on Manassas, the Confederate military ordered all colored people must come and fight. Arriving two days before the battle, Parker and four other slaves were assigned to a battery after a brief stint of training. He and his fellow slaves, as Gun Battery no.2, opened fire at 10.00 A.M. that fateful morning with grapeshot, and Parker quickly had his hands full handling ammunition, swabbing the cannon, and staying alive."
( Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia, by Ervin L Jordan)
Intersting stuff for a descendent of two Richmond Howitzers.
Add the above find to ---
"Federal Official Records, Series 1, Volume 4, p.569 - Report of Colonel John W. Phelps, First Vermont Infantry:
"CAMP BUTLER, Newport News, Va., August 1 I, 186I - SIR: Scouts from this post represent the enemy as having retired. they came to New Market Bridge on Wednesday, and left the next day. They-the enemy-talked of having 9,000 men. They were recalled by dispatches from Richmond. They had twenty pieces of artillery, among which was the Richmond Howitzer Battery, manned by negroes. . . Their numbers are probably overrated; but with regard to their artillery, and its being manned in part by negroes, I think the report is probably correct."
I have searched through Howitzer records, Letters from my Ancestors, just about every source I could find. I'm not 100% convinced that the Howitzers had Black Men at the cannons.
But the evidence is adding up.
It don't matter in the grand scheem of things one way or the other. Sure it would be cool if it's true, but that is the paramount factor / " THE TRUTH" !
It don't matter in the grand scheem of things one way or the other. Sure it would be cool if it's true, but that is the paramount factor / " THE TRUTH" !
I will keep ya posted !
Interesting, indeed. And that monument is absolutely beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe citation from Ervin L. Jordan's book is shaky. The source cited in the back of the book is from a pamphlet to a post war speech by the Jordan character. Not sound evidence. Plus his book is riddled with errors, and to make it worse, he then bases his arguments off of his statistical mistakes.
ReplyDeleteHowever you pretty much null this find out David. One thing they teach us in historiography is that a simple snippet cannot stand alone. You have to build a case as a lawyer would. Isn't it odd for every one of these "manned by negroes" or "Negro soldiers" it is always from the Union perspective? I talked to a guy once that said he read a Union soldier's letter talking about Negro zombies....well he didn't use that terminology but the implication was that a Union company shot blacks at night and their bodies were gone. I digress.
When I say you null it out, you've pulled letters and so on from the Confederate side. And found nothing. You shouldn't be close to 100% convinced because it simply isn't there. If I write you an email now, telling you Martians are in my apartment this very minute, I've added a snippet in time. Now 399 years from now, someone stumbles across your hard drive and finds that email. Does that validate the existence of Martians in Georgia?
SIR: Scouts from this post represent the enemy as having retired. they came to New Market Bridge on Wednesday, and left the next day. They-the enemy-talked of having 9,000 men. They were recalled by dispatches from Richmond. They had twenty pieces of artillery, among which was the Richmond Howitzer Battery, manned by negroes. Their wagons numbered sixty. Such is the information which our scouts gained from the people living on the ground where the enemy encamped. Their numbers are probably overrated; but with regard to their artillery, and its being manned in part by negroes, I think the report is probably correct. If they did have 9,000 men, and have thus withdrawn, without effecting any other object than the burning of Hampton, their retiring may be looked upon as nearly allied to a defeat; for the barbarous fierceness of spirit which they have exhibited in the destruction of Hampton, one of the oldest towns of Virginia, and which connects her history with a glorious past, cannot fail to injure their cause. It is an act which must inevitably meet with disapproval in all parts of the country, unless, indeed, the sentiments of liberality and generosity which are naturally inculcated by our free institutions have become wholly extinguished.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. W. PHELPS, Colonel, Commanding."
Thanks for the input ! I am looking for the truth any help is appreciated !
ReplyDeleteI have thought for the longest time that the "Negros" were white men who were covered with un burned gunpowder !
ReplyDeleteBut I also know the Howitzers were pranksters,
I would not put it past them to put Black men at the cannons to mess with the Yankees heads!
I'm still on the fence, maybe there were, maybe not. I'm gonna keep looking !
It's always fun to find the truth and I relish anytime something is new. Do you realize what it would mean to have sound evidence that there was an entire company of black soldiers? It would shake the very foundation of what we study. Many people talk about the PC/fascist/liberals putting down the black soldiers. The fact is, if a historian can prove that, he will get wide claim for a new approach to the history of the Civil War.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Why does it have to be a "Historian" ?
ReplyDeleteBecause the person that puts the argument together will use the same sort of training that is instilled into Historians. Whether that person be a Professional or "Amateur" Historian, they will have to utilize the same qualities.
ReplyDeleteHMMMMMMM ? As descendent of a Confederate veteran, I don't count myself as any type of historian, Professional or Amateur, but whatever information I uncover it will be as a descendent of the Confederacy. I can find no better description of who I am ! And the methods I use will be research and documentation.
ReplyDeleteA historian should show both sides of the coin, That's why I have a problem with many Pro North Blogger Historians. They are so Anti South it makes me sick !
I try to show the big picture but, I am not a historian. I try to be fair but am not obligated to do so, other than as a matter of honor !