5th Massachusetts-A Black Cavalry Regiment

5th mass photo.JPG
 
Though raised and designated as Cavalry, the 5th Mass. Cavalry (Colored) served throughout the war as infantry. In his 1889 survey, Massachusetts in the War, 1861-1865, James L. Bowen sketched the regiment’s history as follows (pp. 782-4):

THE FIFTH CAVALRY

THE Fifth Cavalry Regiment, composed of colored men, was organized during the autumn of 1863 and the following winter; but the first company. A, was not ready for muster until the 9th of January, 1864; three other companies were mustered on the 29th, E on the 10th of February, F on the 23d; three companies were filled during March, and two in April, but it was not till the 5th of May that Company M was ready for the mustering officer. On that day the First Battalion of four companies under Major Weld left camp en route to Washington; the Second Battalion followed next day under command of Major Adams, and the Third Battalion, Major Bowditch, on the 8th. The organization at this time numbered 930 officers and men, the commissions issued being as follows: —

Colonel, Henry S. Russell of Boston; majors, Horace N. Weld of Belmont, Zabdiel B. Adams of California and Henry P. Bowditch of Boston; surgeon, George S. Osborne of Danvers; assistant surgeons, Samuel Ingalls of Melrose and Frederick H. Parker of East Corinth, Me.; adjutant, James S. Newell; quartermastcr, Winsor Hatch, 2d; sergeant major, Alfred Froman, all of Boston; quartermaster sergeant, John Grayson of Worcester; commissary sergeant, William H. Jacobs of North Brooktield; hospital steward, George Whitzel; principal musician, William W. Gardner, both of Boston.

Company A — Captain, Albert R. Howe of Boston; first lieutenant, Andrew Chapman; second lieutenant, Henry S. Hinckley of Northampton.
Company B — Captain, Charles C. Parsons of Cambridge; first lieutenant, Charles E. Allan of Louisville, Ky.; second lieutenant, Charles P. Wheeler of Concord.
Company C — Captain, Cyrus E. Emery of Roxbury; first lieutenant, John Anderson of San Francisco; second lieutenant, George B. Farnsworth of Roxbury.
Company D — Captain, Horace B. Welch of San Francisco; first lieutenant, Jacob B. Cook; second lieutenant, Robert M. Higginson, both of Boston.
Company E — Captain, Charles P. Bowditch of Boston; first lieutenant, Edward H. Adams; second lieutenant, George A. Fisher of Cambridge.
Company F — Captain, Francis L. Higginson of Boston; first lieutenant, Abner F. Mallory; second lieutenant. Carter W. Whittemore of Boston.
Company G — Captain, Hiram E. W. Clark of New Salem; first lieutenant, Edgar M. Blanch of Pennsylvania; second lieutenant, Rienzi Loud.
Company H — First lieutenant, J. Davenport Fisher of Boston; second lieutenant, George A. Kogers of Roxbury.
Company I — Captain, Peter J. Rooney; first lieutenant, Patrick T. Jackson; second lieutenant, John G. S. White, all of Boston.
Company K — Captain, Erik Wulff of Boston ; first lieutenant, George D. Odell; second lieutenant, Abram 0. Swain of Boston.
Company L — Captain, James L. Wheat of Roxbury; first lieutenant, Francis L. Gil man of New Bedford; second lieutenant, Curt Gurdsdorff of San Francisco.
Company M — Captain, Cornelius Kaler of Bradford; first lieutenant, George F. Wilson; second lieutenant, Robert M. Parker, both of San Francisco.

The various battalions as they reached Washington reported at Camp Casey, near Fort Albany, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, some two miles from Long Bridge, Colonel Russell being placed in command of a provisional brigade of colored troops assembling there for instruction and discipline. The Third Battalion had been in camp only two days, however, when the regiment was ordered to report to General Butler at Fortress Monroe, reaching City Point on the 16th of May, where the regiment formed part of the Third Division, Eighteenth Corps. Being armed as infantry, the command was industriously drilled in that branch of tactics, performing guard and picket duty meantime, and taking part in various expeditions. These were without serious engagement or loss till the 15th of June, when the division, under command of General E. W. Hincks, moved toward Petersburg and the battle of Baylor's Farm was fought. This was the only conflict in which the Fifth took an active part, and its loss was not severe, being three killed and 19 wounded, — but among the latter were Colonel Russell and Major Adams, leaving the regiment under command of Major Bowditch.

During the latter portion of the 15th the command was in support of a battery, and the following day was held in reserve. It then crossed the Appomattox to Point of Rocks and was temporarily assigned to the Tenth Corps, where the detachment which had been absent under Major Weld rejoined the main body, and on the 19th the regiment returned to the Third Division, Eighteenth Corps, the coming part of General Wild's Brigade. Most of the remainder of the month was passed in picket duty on the north side of the Appomattox, where Hincks's Division relieved troops of the Tenth Corps, but toward the close of the month the regiment was assigned to duty at Point Lookout, Md., as garrison for the camp of Confederate prisoners of war at that place. Arriving there on the 1st of July, the regiment remained during the balance of the year, being at the first under command of Major Weld. Major Adams returned to duty on the 16th of August; Lieutenant Colonel Charles F. Adams of Quincy, having been commissioned and mustered, arrived at the camp on the 8th of September and took the command, which he turned over to Colonel Russell on the 30th, when that officer reported for duty, and the regiment for the first time had its full complement of field officers present.

Colonel Russell retained the command till the 14th of February, 1865, when he resigned. Lieutenant Colonel Adams and Major Weld were promoted to colonel and lieutenant colonel respectively, and Captain Albert R. Howe was made junior major. With this equipment of officers the regiment took the field for the closing campaign of the war, and were on duty in front of Petersburg till the fall of that stronghold, and subsequently encamped in the vicinity till sometime in June, when ordered to Texas. Colonel Adams, being prostrated by sickness, was obliged to resign August 1, having been absent for some time, and the vacancy was filled by the promotion of Lieutenant Colonel Samuel E. Chamberlain, late in command of the portion of the First Massachusetts Cavalry remaining in the field till that time. Colonel Chamberlain at once joined his new command, which had been heavily taxed in the construction of fortifications, and like work, and was suffering severely in health. He warmly interested himself in the welfare of his men, and an improvement in their sanitary condition was soon apparent. The prospect of complications with the French troops in Mexico having disappeared, the regiment was finally mustered out of the United States service on the 31st of October, 1865, and set out for Massachusetts, making most of the journey by steamer; on reaching Boston it went into camp at Gallop's Island where it remained till late in November, when the men were paid and discharged.
 
Second in command was Charles Francis Adams Jr., who was then a captain in the First Massachusetts Cavalry. Adams was the son of the U.S. minister to the United Kingdom. Although his family had strong anti-slavery credentials, Adams expressed racist views in private.

Egerton, Douglas R. Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America (p. 253). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Charles Francis Sr., the father of the 5th Cav's captain, was himself the son of John Quincy Adams, notable for his anti-slavery stance.
 
That's an impressive statistic -- and quite different, if I'm not mistaken, from the figures for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry which, contrary to the impression given in the movie Glory, were made up mostly of free black men.

In looking at the composition of the 54th and 55th Mass I was struck by the diversity in the places the men had come from. Usually a state regiment was made up of men from one part of a state. Those two regiments included men from practically every Northern state.
 
Thanks so much for your work in telling the story of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry - they get so overshadowed by the 54th Massachusetts. Here's my blog post about one of the members of the 5th Mass Cav. William Holmes was born in Virginia and after the War settled in Williamson County, Tennessee. I am slowly working through all the names of the nearly 300 African American soldiers who fought in the Civil War from this area and blogging about them -their stories are fascinating. https://usctwillcotn.blogspot.com/2017/04/william-holmes-company-5th.html
 
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Thanks so much for your work in telling the story of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry - they get so overshadowed by the 54th Massachusetts. Here's my blog post about one of the members of the 5th Mass Cav. William Holmes was born in Virginia and after the War settled in Williamson County, Tennessee. I am slowly working through all the names of the nearly 300 African American soldiers who fought in the Civil War and blogging about them -their stories are fascinating. https://usctwillcotn.blogspot.com/2017/04/william-holmes-company-5th.html
Thanks for the link.
 
Thanks so much for your work in telling the story of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry - they get so overshadowed by the 54th Massachusetts. Here's my blog post about one of the members of the 5th Mass Cav. William Holmes was born in Virginia and after the War settled in Williamson County, Tennessee. I am slowly working through all the names of the nearly 300 African American soldiers who fought in the Civil War from this area and blogging about them -their stories are fascinating. https://usctwillcotn.blogspot.com/2017/04/william-holmes-company-5th.html
Hi Tina, got a chance to look at your blog. Looks like a good project. How did you decide to take it up?
 
Hi Tina, got a chance to look at your blog. Looks like a good project. How did you decide to take it up?
Sorry it took me so long to come back and see your question! The long answer is that I was volunteering at our church - St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Franklin - running an outreach program with senior citizens. Many of them were African Americans, the descendants of former slaves from Williamson County. We provide different activities each month - bingo, crafts, etc. I was doing the genealogy of my family and very naively decided to try to help them with theirs. At the time I had no appreciation for the difficulty of African American genealogy. Living in Franklin the history of the Civil War is all around us, so I understood that their ancestors were likely enslaved but the challenge of getting past 1865 was not insignificant. I've been working with them for about 15+ years, and the more I do, the more I have come to realize how under-represented their stories are in the telling of the history of Williamson County. Also, I started to find Civil War veterans in their family trees, as well as body servants. A few years ago, I posted the story of one man on my personal facebook page. The response was overwhelming and very positive. That got my hooked - and I decided to try to track down all the African American men from Williamson County who served in the War and tell their stories. Its become an all encompassing passion. Thanks for asking!
 
Sorry it took me so long to come back and see your question! The long answer is that I was volunteering at our church - St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Franklin - running an outreach program with senior citizens. Many of them were African Americans, the descendants of former slaves from Williamson County. We provide different activities each month - bingo, crafts, etc. I was doing the genealogy of my family and very naively decided to try to help them with theirs. At the time I had no appreciation for the difficulty of African American genealogy. Living in Franklin the history of the Civil War is all around us, so I understood that their ancestors were likely enslaved but the challenge of getting past 1865 was not insignificant. I've been working with them for about 15+ years, and the more I do, the more I have come to realize how under-represented their stories are in the telling of the history of Williamson County. Also, I started to find Civil War veterans in their family trees, as well as body servants. A few years ago, I posted the story of one man on my personal facebook page. The response was overwhelming and very positive. That got my hooked - and I decided to try to track down all the African American men from Williamson County who served in the War and tell their stories. Its become an all encompassing passion. Thanks for asking!
That sounds like a great project. How are you spreading the word about it?
 
That sounds like a great project. How are you spreading the word about it?
I do a fair amount of public speaking locally - and early in February, I'll be speaking at the General John Logan Museum in southern Illinois about a group of men I've researched from this area who joined the US Navy and then settled in Murphysboro, Illinois. I also have another website - SlavesToSoldiers.com that I use to sell memorial pavers in our local Veterans Park. I am hoping to sell one commemorative paver for each of the USCT and US Navy soldiers I have found. I try to use social media, traditional media and my work as a board member of our local African American Heritage Society to spread the word. Primarily its been grass roots. Since I do this all as a volunteer, its a balancing act between spending too much time than is good for me on it, and not spending enough time to be effective!
 
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