Frederick Douglass: “Men of Color, To Arms!”

Impact

After the publication of this speech in Douglass’ Monthly, the great abolitionist’s beliefs about blacks’ fitness for military duty and their opportunity to bring about the freedom of their people were disseminated not only to his readership but also, through republication in other northern newspapers, to a wider audience. Thanks to this speech, the American public was exposed to Douglass’s impassioned rhetoric in favor of emancipation and the use of black troops, and as the war progressed, more northerners came to agree with his position. Douglass had himself been disenchanted with Lincoln’s policies, but in this speech he made clear to the black public that their involvement in the military effort would reinforce the importance of equal treatment of all individuals, regardless of race. Douglass’s established place as a leading voice for racial equality guaranteed that his speeches and publications would generate conversation and debate among both northerners and southerners. For modern readers of this transcript, Douglass’s position illustrates how freed blacks and abolitionists were an integral part of the effort to recruit black troops. Historians today acknowledge that Douglass’s “To Arms” describes in vivid language how African American soldiers could aid in the Union’s triumph and, more important, prove their right to equality and their readiness to become full citizens of American society..

Despite (or perhaps because of) the North’s hesitance to arm former slaves and other free blacks, African American regiments thoroughly proved their mettle on the battlefield. Perhaps the most famous episode of blacks in combat was the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts’s assault on Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina, in July 1863, which has been memorialized by Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s sculpture in the Boston Common (1897) and by the movie Glory (1989). The commander of the Fifty-fourth, Robert Gould Shaw, was killed, and 271 of his men were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. From a military perspective the engagement failed, but after that night the Fifty-fourth became a symbol of how African American regiments could perform with valor and determination in the face of fierce opposition. William H. Carney, who had distinguished himself at Fort Wagner, was the first African American to earn the highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor. Just one day earlier, in Indian Territory, the First Kansas Colored had beaten off a far larger force of Texas Confederates at the Battle of Honey Springs. By 1863, thanks to the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts and other black regiments, African Americans’ place in the military was generally accepted both by the Lincoln administration and many members of the northern public.

Black troops did, however, continue to encounter racism and discrimination from government officials, military officers, and the general public. Lingering concerns regarding blacks’ ability to serve, combined with continued discrimination from whites, required that black regiments be commanded only by white officers. Key leaders in the administration maintained that since most black soldiers were inexperienced, it made sense to have white officers, who could effectively teach new recruits how to drill and how to perform in battle. These arguments did little to assuage the apprehension of black recruits who feared that such a policy could foster widespread discrimination, but as the tide of public opinion turned in favor of black regiments, the army adjusted its policy and granted some officers’ commissions to surgeons. By some estimations, there were around one hundred black officers who received commissions during the Civil War.

In addition to fighting prejudice at home in the North, black troops faced even greater challenges on the battlefield. Confederate officers resented the Union’s use of black troops and often mistreated blacks who were captured or who surrendered. In Missouri, James Williams, commander of the First Kansas Colored, found that some members of his scouting party had been captured by Confederate guerrillas; although Williams attempted to arrange for a prisoner exchange, the guerrillas refused and executed one of the black prisoners. Williams reciprocated by executing one of the captured Confederate soldiers, showing that racial recrimination would not be tolerated. Situations such as this were not uncommon in other black regiments. On April 12, 1864, a force of about 2,500 Confederates under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest assaulted Fort Pillow, in Tennessee. There were some six hundred Union men garrisoned at the fort, about half of them former slaves. Forrest’s men violated the terms of the flag of truce and overran the fort, brutally massacring most of the black men within. (Over 60 percent of the blacks were killed.) After this cruelty, a rallying cry among other black troops was “Remember Fort Pillow!”

Black soldiers received less pay than white troops, even though the first black regiments to formally enlist (which included the First South Carolina and the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Massachusetts) had all been promised equal pay by the War Department. Black soldiers received $10 per month, with $3 of that taken for their clothing allowance; meanwhile, white soldiers received $13 per month, plus $3.50 for clothes. It was not until June 15, 1864, that Congress finally passed legislation ensuring that black soldiers would receive equal pay. A problem arose, however, over the matter of retroactive wages. The adjutant general’s office maintained that only men who were legally free after April 19, 1861, would receive back pay, which excluded some recruits and consequently damaged the black regiments’ morale. Finally—after much protest on the part of black soldiers, white officers, and recruiters—legislation passed on March 3, 1865, guaranteed that retroactive equal pay would be given to all African American regiments that had been promised equal treatment by the military. Although this had been a years-long struggle, by war’s end black troops were on a more equal footing with their white comrades, illustrating how revolutionary the Civil War period was in terms of altering the racial hierarchy present in the North.

By war’s end, approximately 178,892 black soldiers had served in the Union army, making up a little more than 12 percent of the armed forces. Of that number, more than one-third died either as the result of injuries sustained in battle or of disease. When the hostilities ceased in 1865, most black regiments were mustered out of active service. Some of these troops stayed on with the army and went to military outposts in the West, gaining the nickname “Buffalo Soldiers.” African Americans throughout both the North and the South were officially emancipated with the Thirteenth Amendment, which was ratified on December 6, 1865. Less than five years later, black men won the right to vote with the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. Since that time, blacks have served honorably in every major military conflict in American history.