The USCT mutiny before Ft. Monroe - June 1865

Ironclader

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Jul 12, 2015
Location
Rocklin, CA
While researching the Cavalry Brigade of the 25th Corps (all US Colored Troops under the command of Brevet Major General Godfrey Weitzel), I came across New York and Philadelphia newspaper accounts of a mutiny among the colored troopers as the Corps was being sent on the Texas Expedition in early June 1865. I find no mention of the event in the ORA or ORN, except for the transport movements. The only detailed personal account that I have found is an unsympathetic 1908 recollection by 2nd Lt. Frederick W. Browne, of the 1st U. S. Colored Cavalry. There is a 1904 account by James Shaw, Jr, Colonel of the 7th USCT, of rumors of a coming mutiny in late May 1865, but his regiment sailed before events reached crisis. Isaac J. Hill, orderly & brigade postmaster, and an informal black chaplain of the 29th USCT (formerly 29th Connecticut Colored Troops), makes a passing criticism of the role of some soldiers of the 9th USCT. I will post all of that, plus a description of conditions in Slabtown and the burdens faced by the USCT dependents there. I hope someone will reveal more discoveries on this topic.

Note: Within 10 days of this first posting, I found several new accounts which greatly expanded my understanding of the scope of the mutiny.
 
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