U.S. War Department General Order 143 Establishing the Bureau of U.S. Colored Troops

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

General Order 143 is divided into nine sections. Section I establishes a separate bureau within the War Department to administer and organize African American regiments, officially called Colored Troops. The order provides for an administrative officer and a number of supporting clerks to be appointed by the adjutant general.

Section II authorizes the appointment of three or more inspectors to oversee the organization of regiments within the U.S. Colored Troops. These inspectors could be sent anywhere within the northern states under the authorization of the War Department.

Section III attends to the recruitment of white commissioned officers to command units within the Colored Troops. The order authorizes an examining board or boards to evaluate and select among applicants for commissioned posts in command of the newly raised regiments.

Section IV restricts recruitment agents to those individuals authorized by the War Department. Recruiters were required to pass the evaluation of a specially created board, and each was permitted to raise only one regiment of Colored Troops.

Sections V and VI link an officer's rank to the number of troops he is authorized to recruit. Once the proscribed number of men was recruited, the adjutant general would grant the appropriate officer's commission. Recruitment could be into companies of about one hundred soldiers, which would then be incorporated into regiments that included up to ten companies. Instead of regiments bearing a number tied to their locus of recruitment, such as the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops would be numbered separately in the order in which they were raised. The first unit organized under General Order 143 would be the First U.S. Colored Troops, the next the Second U.S. Colored Troops, and so forth.

Section VII authorizes the establishment of recruiting depots and stations and provides for officers to oversee the inspection and mustering of the Colored Troops regiments.

Section VIII concerns the recruitment of noncommissioned officers, generally sergeants and corporals, from within the ranks of the African American members of each regiment. While the commanding commissioned officers of the Colored Troops were drawn from the white army population, African Americans could advance to noncommissioned officer status. An important distinction was made on the basis of responsibility. Commissioned officers enjoyed the responsibility of ultimate command of the regiment, but noncommissioned officers exercised more limited control over men within the unit. Noncommissioned officers were selected based on merit, and those that showed an aptitude for leading could be promoted, as from corporal to sergeant. Each company generally included four sergeants and four corporals, so opportunities to advance to officer status were not common.

The final section of the order establishes procedures for directing correspondence and inquiries regarding the Colored Troops. It directs that applications for officer appointments be made directly to the chief of the Bureau of Colored Troops.