Campaign Before Richmond Symposium: June 20th, 6-9PM

This Friday, June 20^th, I will be speaking at the “Campaign Before Richmond Symposium” at Deep Bottom Park. The event will be held in a large tent near the historic site of the Deep Bottom bridgehead on the 150^th anniversary of when it was established, so this is a unique opportunity to learn more about Grant’s famous “double-enders” on the site from which they were launched.

I have the honor to speak alongside Doug Crenshaw, Robert E.L. Krick, and Hampton Newsome on a panel moderated by Jack Mountcastle, former Commander of the U.S. Army Center of Military History.

The event will last from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. 

Topics include:

James S. Price- First Deep Bottom

Doug Crenshaw – Chaffin’s Farm

Robert E.L. Krick- Key Confederate Personalities during the Campaign

Hampton Newsome- Richmond Must Fall: October Actions

Talks will be followed by a full panel Q&A led by Gen. Mountcastle.

I hope to see you there!

Some Sesquicentennial Food for Thought

Well, tonight at the site of the Harris Farm the commemoration of the Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House will come to an end. While I wish I had been able to attend more of the commemorative events, those I did have the pleasure of going to or helping to lead seemed appropriately somber and very well done.

I tend to fall into the camp of folks who believe that battlefields are no more or less hallowed on the anniversaries of when the battle took place versus any other given day. And, being blessed to live so near these fields of honor and horror, I have the privilege of communing with these sites whenever I wish.

Thus, I will leave the analysis of which tours were the best and which events were the most moving to those whose participation exceeded my own.

However...

As some of you know, my other main area of study other than the American Civil War is the First World War, and I recently came across a quote from a book on that tragic topic that resonated with my inner reactions to the photographs that kept showing up on my Facebook page of hundreds of people crossing fields and forests that were once drenched with blood.

I leave this quote not as a criticism of others, but as a caution to myself:

“I fear I’d fallen victim to the exuberant nihilism of the battlefield enthusiast, and that soon I would be whooping with joy at coming across a trench in the forest, or a skeleton behind a barn. There is a sort of macho romance to the futility of war, an attraction to seeing things fall apart, born of the same impulse that makes setting fires or watching the wrecker’s ball such a fun pastime for so many men.” – Stephen O’Shea, Back to the Front:An Accidental Historian Walks the Trenches of World War I

May 9 & 10, 1864: The War Returns to Beaver Dam Station

In the predawn darkness of May 9, 1864 Sheridan’s entire corps mounted and set out on their mission to take out J.E.B. Stuart and the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia. Little Phil was taking his entire force with him, leaving no horse soldiers behind to help Grant at Spotsylvania Court House.

The corps created quite the spectacle, with a column that stretched 13 miles and took 4 hours to pass. One trooper recalled how “The clouds of dust, sent up by the thousands of hoofbeats, fill eyes, nose, and air passages, give external surfaces a uniform, dirty gray color, and form such an impenetrable veil, that, for many minutes together, you cannot see even your hand before you.”

The early part of the march was also the most dangerous, as the Yankee horsemen had to pass around Lee’s army before heading south. Four small rivers – the Ni, Po, Ta, and Mat – stood in their way, and the thought of being caught in the middle of crossing one of these streams gnawed away at Sheridan. When the last trooper rode his horse across the Mat, Sheridan found that “all anxiety as to our passing around Lee’s army was removed.”

While the corps crossed these streams unmolested, it did not go unnoticed, and Confederate scouts reported on Sheridan’s movements, with word reaching Robert E. Lee by 8:00 a.m. Since Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee were still entangled with the Federal infantry, it fell to Williams C. Wickham to keep an eye on the Yankees and tentatively pursue. Wickham’s cavaliers tangled with Sheridan’s rear guard at Jerrell’s Mill and Mitchell’s Shop, but the blue juggernaut kept moving at a steady pace.

When Sheridan’s column reached Chilesburg, the main body of Union cavalry camped on the north bank of the North Anna River, while George Armstrong Custer took his brigade and elements of Devin’s troopers over the river and on towards Beaver Dam Station on the Virginia Central Railroad.

Beaver Dam Station as it appeared in the early 20th Century.
The station was rebuilt in 1866.

Beaver Dam Station was named for the plantation of Col. Edmund Fontaine, once a president of the Virginia Central. The plantation itself was named for the creek which bisected it, and it just so happened that Flora Cooke Stuart – J.E.B. Stuart’s wife – was staying there at the time.

As darkness fell on May 9th, a thunder storm moved into the area. Custer’s men moved up to the station and encountered a large number of prisoners who had been captured at the Wilderness and Laurel Hill.

Custer’s men quickly neutralized the guards and liberated 278 prisoners. In addition to the prisoners, the Yankees captured 200,000 pounds of bacon, 1.5 million rations, and nearly all of the medical supplies for the Army of Northern Virginia.

After taking everything they could carry, they set fire to the buildings, derailed the trains, and tore up track for 10 miles in each direction. While this orgy of destruction was taking place, 150 troopers of the Confederate 1^st Maryland Battalion charged in and rode around, shooting the place up before withdrawing.

While Stuart's men swept past Beaver Dam in pursuit of Sheridan,
Stuart was able to have a quick visit with his wife.
So quick, in fact, that he didn't even get off his horse.

In the morning, Sheridan’s men began to move again. From Beaver Dam, the route of march ran down to the settlement of Negro Foot and then on to Mountain Road, which crossed the South Anna and continued to Telegraph Road 6 miles above Richmond.

Sheridan later touted the importance of taking Beaver Dam Station: “The possession of Beaver Dam gave us an important point, as it opened a way toward Richmond on the Negro-foot road. It also enabled us to obtain forage for our well-nigh famished animals, and to prepare for fighting the enemy, who, I felt sure, would endeavor to interpose between my column and Richmond.”

Late in the morning of the 10th, Sheridan assembled the corps near Beaver Dam. As the Federals pulled out, some of Wickham’s men rode in and rounded up some prisoners – including someunfortunates who had just been liberated by Custer on May 9^th.

By this point, Stuart united Wickham, Lomax, and the mounted James B. Gordon's Tarheels below Beaver Dam. Desperate to stop Sheridan before he reached Richmond, Stuart formulated a plan – he would try to ambush the Federals near Richmond, where Confederate infantry could theoretically come to his support. Thus, he divided his force: Gordon was tasked with following Sheridan and harassing his rear guard while Fitz Lee , with Wickham and Lomax, would hurry east to Hanover Junction and then descend Telegraph Road to intercept the main Federal body at the Mountain Road junction.

Fitz Lee later described the situation: “Discovering Richmond to be the object of the enemy, and knowing the entire absence of troops in the works guarding the western side, General Stuart determined to move upon the chord of the arc the enemy were advancing upon, and by outmarching them interpose our little force in the enemy’s front at some point contiguous to the city.”

Time was quickly slipping away for the Confederates…

“Damn Stuart, I can thrash hell out of him any day”: The Origins of Sheridan’s Raid & the Road to Yellow Tavern – 150 Years Ago Today

150 years ago today, the violent explosion of two of the biggest tempers in the Army of the Potomac led to a massive mounted raid that, among other things, killed the talented Confederate cavalry chieftain J.E.B. Stuart.

After a month in charge of the Army of the Potomac’s cavalry, 33-year-old Philip H. Sheridan reached a boiling point with 48-year-old Army of the Potomac commander George Gordon Meade. The dispute arose over the proper use of the army’s mounted forces and had been simmering beneath the surface from day one of Sheridan’s tenure in command of the Cavalry Corps.

Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan

When Sheridan took command of the cavalry in late March of 1864, he immediately took issue with the way it was being utilized. The feisty young Irishman was dismayed at the poor condition of the horses, which were tired out from conducting extensive mounted patrols. Within weeks, Sheridan told Meade that this use of the cavalry was “both burdensome and wasteful” and suggested his troopers “ought to be kept concentrated to fight the enemy’s cavalry.”

Meade did not appreciate the free advice and used the cavalry as he pleased when fighting broke out in the Wilderness. He had assigned two of Sheridan’s three divisions to guard the trains that accompanied the army, and after a disappointing performance at Todd’s Tavern, both generals were ready to brawl.  The “goggly-eyed snapping turtle” was angry at Sheridan’s failure to clear Brock Road while Little Phil was angry at Meade for not supporting Wilson’s Division when it was the lone occupant of Spotsylvania Court House.

Before noon on May 8^th, the time was ripe for the two men to unleash their pent up fury. Sheridan burst into Meade’s headquarters tent and lit into Meade. Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman gives the following account:

11:40 A.M. … Sheridan came now to Headquarters – we were at dinner. Meade told him sharply that his cavalry was in the way, though he had sent him orders to leave the road clear. S[heridan] replied that he never got the order. Meade then apologized, but Sheridan was plainly full of suppressed anger, and Meade too was in ill temper, S[heridan] went on to say that he  could see nothing to oppose the advance of the 5^th Corps; that the behavior of the infantry was disgraceful &c. &c.

Sheridan went on to tell Meade that “such disjointed operations as he had been requiring of the cavalry for the last four days would render the corps inefficient and useless before long.” When Meade mentioned the danger posed by J.E.B. Stuart’s fabled Confederate horsemen, Sheridan brushed this off by boasting “Damn Stuart, I can thrash hell out of him any day.”

Sheridan stomped out of the tent, still steaming, and Meade figured he had better report the conversation to Grant. When Grant heard Meade recount Sheridan’s boast of being able to best Stuart, he gave his friend from the Western Theater permission to take his entire corps out to give it a try.

The orders were issued at 1PM and stated in part that “the major-general commanding directs you to immediately concentrate your available mounted force, and with your ammunition trains and such supply trains as are filled proceed against the enemy’s cavalry.” In addition to thrashing Stuart, Grant was also hoping that Sheridan would live off the land and ease the burden of supply on his army.

That evening, Sheridan summoned his division commanders – Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt, Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg, and Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson – to the Alrich Farm in Spotsylvania. He told them: “We are going out to fight Stuart’s cavalry in consequence of a suggestion from me. We will give him a fair, square fight. We are strong, and I know we can beat him, and in view of my recent representations to General Meade I shall expect nothing but success.” Initially, Merritt, Gregg, and Wilson were startled – it was virtually unheard of for the Army of the Potomac’s cavalry to go on the offensive! They soon bought into the idea when their new commander laid out his plan.

Sheridan planned to head south for Richmond, knowing that Stuart would have to follow him if he threatened the Confederate capital.  When his supplies gave out, he planned to resupply from the Army of the James at Bermuda Hundred. His main goal in all of this was to draw Stuart into a battle that would wreck the Confederate mounted arm.

That night the troopers prepared for their great raid – each trooper was given 50 rounds of ammo and 18 pistol rounds. Three days' rations of coffee, sugar, and hardtack were issued. One days' ration of beef and five days' worth of salt were also issued. Wagons were kept to a minimum and only ammunition was taken.

James Avery of the 5^th Michigan Cavalry recalled, “That night we got little rest for the rumble and rattle of wagons and artillery as they passed along the stony street, disturbed our slumber, and besides this, the band struck up around twelve o’clock, which added to the din.” The troopers would be awakened and moving south before daylight.

The next day J.E.B. Stuart would learn of the raid and when he found out which direction they were heading, he took about 2,500 of his finest troopers on a hell-for-leather ride to intercept them.

It was a ride from which Stuart would not return. 

Yellow Tavern Bus Tour Details

Well, it’s hard to believe, but we only have 16 days until the Yellow Tavern Commemorative Bus Tour on Sunday May 11^th! I will be tackling half of the tour along with Sam McKelvey, the Site Manager for Dabbs House and Walkerton Tavern in Henrico County.

We have poured many hours of research into this tour, doing everything from driving the original route numerous times to consulting with experts such as Bobby Krick and Eric Wittenberg to make sure that the interpretations that we will be giving are as accurate as possible.

And if that doesn't convince you to come, consider that tickets are only $20 per person and include lunch!

Here are the details:

The bus tour will begin promptly at 9 am so please try to arrive a few minutes early. The meeting point/parking for the tour will be at the Confederate Fortifications on Brook Road. The address to the adjacent Martin's Grocery Store is 5700 Brook Road Henrico, VA 23227. You will see a large tour bus parked by the fortification.

The tour itself will be a mix of "on-bus" interpretation and scheduled debarkation stops. No hard exertion is expected but please bring comfortable shoes for short periods of walking and longer periods of standing. A box lunch will be provided.

Basic Schedule (Subject to Change)

9:00- Leave Confederate fortifications

9:45-10:15 Beaverdam Station

10:15-10:45 The march to Richmond (on bus)

10:45-11-15 Action around Ground Squirrel Bridge

11:30-12 Lunch at Walkerton Tavern and actions on Mountain Road

12:15-12:45 Mid-day action at Yellow Tavern

1-1:45- Culmination of the Battle and the wounding of General Stuart

2-2:30- May 12 action and final thoughts

2:30- Program concludes back at the Confederate fortification

The program will conclude early enough for those interested in visiting the United Daughters of the Confederacy's Commemorative 3 p.m. program at the J.E.B. Stuart Monument. If you have any questions on the morning of the tour, a scheduled staff member will be available by phone at the Dabbs House Museum beginning at 8 am. The number for the museum is 804-652-3406.

There are still 15 spots available, so if you’re interested register now at www.henricohistoricalsociety.org!

Quick Hits: 3/11/2014

Hello again!

While I realize things have been a bit slow here over the past few weeks, I wanted to make you aware of some random bits of news that need to be brought to your attention.

At the top of the list is a new blog from my friend Hampton Newsome, author of the excellent Richmond Must Fall and co-editor of Civil War Talks, both of which you should immediately add to your bookshelf if you haven’t already done so. His blog can be found here, and from the looks of things it will be one that you will want to check in with regularly.

Also, for those of you who live in Northern Virginia, Dr.Donald A. Hopkins will be appearing at the Old Manassas Courthouse on Friday March 21st to discuss his new book Robert E. Lee in War and Peace. Hopkins compiled every known image of Lee in one volume and offers exhaustive commentary about the background of each image. The talk begins at 7:00 PM and will conclude with a book signing. The event is free, so don’t miss out on what should prove to be an excellent event.

And while I’m on the topic of work, there will be two bus tours that I will be leading or helping to lead with Prince William County that are shaping up to be very special. On Saturday May 3^rd I will be leading an all-day bus tour of Arlington Cemetery in honor of the 150^th anniversary of its founding. The tour will include a tour of Robert E. Lee’s Arlington House and a driving tour that will highlight some of the notable burials within the cemetery. Along the way you will learn about lesser-known aspects of Arlington’s history such as Freedman’s Village, where former slaves experienced their first taste of freedom. Also, on June 14^th I will be helping to lead a bus tour that will focus on the contributions of U.S. Colored Troops during the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. The tour will focus on the initial clashes around Petersburg, the Crater, and will culminate in a tour of New Market Heights. Both tours are $80 per person (lunch included) and require reservations. For reservations, call Ben Lomond Historic Site at 703-367-7872.

Finally, on a more humorous note, a co-worker sent me this video of Stonewall Jackson planning a famous flank attack that must have been influenced by someone reading about the Seven Days Battles. Dick Ewell and A.P. Hill would undoubtedly have approved. 

Olustee Diary: William Woodlin, 8th USCT

Anyone who has done research on United States Colored Troops will tell you that finding an original letter or diary from an African American Union soldier is akin to the discovery of Noah’s Ark. Primary documents from USCTs are scarce, which makes the diary of William P. Woodlin, held in the collection of the Gilder-Lehrman Institute, a truly remarkable document. Woodlin belonged to the band of the 8^th Regiment, U.S. Colored Infantry and accompanied the rest of the regiment on its expedition to Florida. He was present at Olustee, the 150^th anniversary of which was commemorated yesterday. 

Woodlin's Diary. GLIAH

To recap, the Battle of Olustee was fought near Lake City, Florida, on February 20, 1864. It was the largest battle fought in Florida during the Civil War. In February 1864, the commander of the Department of the South, Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, launched an expedition into Florida to secure Union enclaves, sever Confederate supply routes, and recruit black soldiers. Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour moved deep into the state and on February 20, his men met Brig. Gen. Joseph Finegan's Confederates entrenched near Olustee. The federal forces attacked but were repulsed and fled to Jacksonville. Union forces of more than 5,000 men included the 8th USCT, the 35th USCT and the 54th Mass. Federal forces suffered 40 percent killed, wounded, or missing.

When the day was over, Woodlin took up his pencil and scrawled the following in his diary:

20th    We rec'd our rations last evening and got underway about ½ past 6 A.M. at a quick step on the left of the division, passed Sanders Station about 11 A.M., about 12 m: {as near as could be learned} from B's Plantation; we had a very rapid as well as fatiguing march; passed through a dead turpentine forest.  after this halt we were ordered forward, & soon could hear the roar of  Canon & the rattle of Musketry ahead of us, we were hurried up to the line of battle at the double quick and our Reg was place in the center and rec'd the hottest fire that was given ; The Col. fell the Major  wounded a Capt,  & several lieutenants.  the band and Drum Core went up to the front ahead of the Cavalry and were exposed to a very hot fire:  for a while when we fell back to the R. R. until we were in danger of being taken by a flank movement of the Rebs:  we got away however and had another station for a while:  when we were again move a mile farther from the Battle field, which was in the front of Lake City.  we built some fires there, & were halted by the Division Dr. for a while after which we moved on untill we reached the station.  we left in the morning & PM  blew the scene of action nearly worn out with fatigue & cold.  we reached there about 1 A.M. that night and stayed untill daylight.

Checking Back In

Well hello there! I apologize for the prolonged absence, but life and work have eaten up the majority of my time as of late. Still, even though there hasn’t been much activity on the blog, I have been hard at work on some projects and events that I thought I’d bring you up to speed on.

If you live in the Manassas area, I will be giving a lecture  and book signing next Thursday (February 27th) about New Market Heights at the Old Manassas Courthouse at 7 PM. The Old Manassas Courthouse was the site of the 1911 Peace Jubilee, so it is a great setting for a talk on the Civil War.

I was also supremely honored to be invited to speak to the Union League of Philadelphia’s Civil War Round Table about New Market Heights on September 24th. As you may recall, the Union League houses the original Don Troiani painting Three Medals of Honor as well as many other priceless works, so I am eagerly anticipating being able to soak in the atmosphere of this legendary site!

From Philly, I will turn my gaze south to Henrico County where I will participate in a whole host of commemorative activities put on by the County and Richmond National Battlefield in honor of the 150^th anniversary of the fighting around Chaffin’s Farm. As you may have heard, from September 26 – 28 Henrico County will be hosting a re-enactment of New Market Heights and Second Deep Bottom called Campaign Before Richmond 1864. I’ll be bouncing back and forth between the re-enactment and the events taking place at Fort Harrison and then I’ll be giving real-time walking tours of the New Market Heights Battlefield on the actual anniversary. Needless to say, I will be in serious need of a vacation by October 1^st!

And speaking of Henrico County, I also wanted to let you all know that I will be helping the county’s Historic Preservation & Museum Services Division give what looks to be the only commemorative tour related to the Battle of Yellow Tavern, where legendary Confederate cavalier J.E.B. Stuart was mortally wounded. This will be an all-day bus tour on the actual anniversary (Sunday May 11, 2014) and will cover sites such as Beaverdam Station, Ground Squirrel Bridge, Walkerton Tavern, and the site of Stuart’s wounding among others. Check the county’s even website for updates on how you can be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime event!

While this is certainly enough to keep any mortal busy, I am also putting the finishing touches on my second book, which will cover the First Battle of Deep Bottom. Fingers crossed, it should be out in time for the anniversary.

I have tried to keep up with other Civil War news and chatter from around the blogosphere (as long as it doesn't relate to the Virginia Flaggers – I’m OVER it) but the above-mentioned concerns have kept me from devoting as much time as I’d like. I did notice that there was some hub-bub over Dr. Allen C. Guelzo being the co-winner of the Lincoln Prize, but since I don’t subscribe to the fallacious notion that Gettysburg was the most important end-all-be-all crucial high water mark in all of Western civilization…I don’t really care. Congrats to Dr. Guelzo!

I’ll check back in tomorrow with a post on the 150^th Anniversary of the Battle of Olustee...

“Recklessness galore, gallantry mere more, disgrace in store, Seymour; Union General Commanding”

NOTE:  This post originally appeared on The Sable Arm on February 20, 2011. It has been reposted in honor of the 150^th Anniversary of the Battle of Olustee.

Thus was described the Battle of Olustee, fought on February 20, 1864, by a quick-witted officer in Co. K, 7th Connecticut Infantry. While the battle itself was not one of the finer military exploits produced by the Union war effort during the American Civil War, it did display the fighting prowess of the African American soldiers who fought there.

In early 1864, Federal forces launched their largest military operation in Florida that was a result of both political and military considerations. With the presidential election coming up in November the Republicans hoped to organize a loyal Florida government in time to send delegates to the Republican nominating convention. In addition to the political objectives Major General Quincy Gillmore, stated that the expedition was necessary to “procure an outlet for cotton, lumber, Timber, Turpentine, and the other products of the State… cut off one of the enemy's sources of commissary supplies.”

In February, 1864 Gillmore received approval for his plans to occupy Jacksonville with a large force and to extend Federal operations over much of northeast Florida. About 6,000 troops from Gillmore's Department of the South were selected for the operation and on February 7th these troops took Jacksonville. One week later Gillmore met with his subordinate, Truman Seymour who was not held in the highest of esteem by his men. One soldier later described the situation: “The Florida expedition was intrusted to the command of General Truman Seymour, considered by more than the rank and file, as an eccentric West Point crank who aped only Napoleon in prowling around camps at night to watch the men on duty, but he lacked the genius of his prototype in the performance of his own duty.”

Gillmore ordered that defensive works be constructed and appointed Seymour commander of the newly-created District of Florida. On February 19 he assembled his troops in preparation for a movement against the Confederates the next day.

The next day saw confused fighting and when some of Seymour’s white units broke, he sent in the untried men of the 8th United States Colored Troops. The 8th had trained at Camp William Penn in Pennsylvania but had “little practice in loading and firing” their weapons, according to the regimental surgeon. Lt. Oliver Norton of the 8th recalled that after standing up to the murderous fire, his men had to withdraw:

As the men fell back they gathered in groups like frightened sheep, and it was almost impossible to keep them from doing so. Into these groups the rebels poured the deadliest fire, almost every bullet hitting some one. Color bearer after color bearer was shot down and the colors seized by another. Behind us was a battery that was wretchedly managed. They had but little ammunition, but after firing that, they made no effort to get away with their pieces, but busied themselves in trying to keep us in front of them. Lieutenant Lewis seized the colors and planted them by a gun and tried to rally his men round them, but forgetting them for the moment, they were left there, and the battery was captured and our colors with it.

Around this time the two units that were bringing up the rear – the 54th Massachusetts and the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers (35th USCT) – arrived on the scene. The 54th raised its sarcastic battle cry “Three cheers for Massachusetts and seven dollars a month!” and went on line. One eyewitness said that they “fought like tigers” while the 1st NCCV “went up into the field, halting and firing fiercely, with its right well forward, so as to form an angle of…120 degrees with the line of the Fifty-Fourth.” With the two black units holding the field, Seymour decided to form a new line farther to the rear and withdraw his other units, which left the 54th and 1st NCCV terribly exposed to the Confederate fire. With their comrades pulling back, there was nothing left for them to do but to withdraw in good order.

The casualties reported by the three black units at Olustee tell the tale better than any eyewitness account ever could. The 54th lost 13 men killed, 65 wounded, and 8 missing. The 1st NCCV (which had officially been redesignated the 35th USCT, yet still clung to its old name) lost 22 killed, 131 wounded, and 77 missing. And, finally, the poor 8th USCT lost 49 killed, 188 wounded, and 73 missing. The Federals as whole would lose 26.5% of their men, making Olustee proportionally the third bloodiest battle of the entire war.

To make matter worse, Olustee was one of the many sanguinary fights in which the Confederates committed atrocities after the fighting had ended.

William Frederick Penniman of the 4th Georgia Cavalry leaves the following account:

In passing over the field, and the road ran centering through it, my attention was first attracted to the bodies of the yankees, invariably stripped, shoes first and clothing next. Their white bodies looked ghastly enough, but I particularly notice that firing seemed to be going on in every direction, until the reports sounded almost frequent enough to resemble the work of skirmishers. A young officer was standing in the road in front of me and I asked him, "What is the meaning of all this firing I hear going on". His reply to me was, "Shooting niggers Sir. "I have tried to make the boys desist but I can't control them". I made some answer in effect that it seemed horrible to kill the wounded devils, and he again answered, "That's so Sir, but one young fellow over yonder told me the niggers killed his brother after being wounded, at Fort Billow, and he was twenty three years old, that he had already killed nineteen and needed only four more to make the matter even, so I told him to go ahead and finis the job". I rode on but the firing continued. The next morning I had occasion to go over the battle field again quite early, before the burial squads began their work, when the results of the shooting of the previous night became quite apparent. Negroes, and plenty of them, whom I had seen lying all over the field wounded, and as far as I could see, many of them moving around from palace to place, now without a motion, all were dead. If a negro had a shot in the shin another was sure to be in the head.

The defeat at Olustee ended the Union’s effort to organize a loyal Florida government in time for the 1864 election. Jacksonville would remain in Union hands until the end of the war, although the cost for such a gain was incredibly steep. Still, the positive long-term gains achieved after Olustee can be attributed in large part to the African American soldiers who fought and bled there 150 years ago this week.

A Living Legacy of “Councillor” Carter’s Deed of Gift: Nimrod Burke, 23rd USCT

On September 5, 1791 Robert “Councillor” Carter III – scion of one of the wealthiest slave-owning families in all of American history – filed his famous “Deed of Gift” with Virginia’s Northumberland District Court, announcing his intention to free over 450 of the slaves that toiled at 16 plantations under his care.

Robert Carter III

It was the single largest act of liberation in American history prior to the Emancipation Proclamation and has been covered in Andrew Levy’s moving book The First Emancipator: Slavery, Religion, the Quiet Revolution of Robert Carter (2005).

Of the many slave families whose freedom was set in motion with the Deed of Gift (which would go into effect in stages over many years) was the Burke family of Leo Plantation (later renamed Oatlands) in Loudoun County.  “Baptist Billy” Burke was the “most trusted emissary” of Robert Carter III and around 1795 his family was emancipated. Burke's family was living at the Bull Run Quarter of Leo Plantation, which was located in Prince William County near the present day Manassas battlefield.

Burke’s great-grandson was named Nimrod Burke, who was born in Prince William County in 1836. While you may not be familiar with the name of Nimrod Burke, if you have studied African American participation in the American Civil War you have probably seen his picture before (as a member of the re-created 23rd USCT, Nimrod Burke has become the “poster child” for our living history group).  Burke was one of 54 known African Americans to fight for the Union cause from Prince William County, but unlike most of his comrades-in-arms from Prince William, Burke was born a free man – thanks to the Deed of Gift.

Nimrod Burke, Co. F, 23rd USCT

Burke resided in Prince William until 1854, when he moved to Ohio with his parents. The 1860 census lists Nimrod as a “mulatto” whose occupation was simply recorded as “farmer.”

He was 25 years old when the Civil War began and, like many African American men his age, he tried to enlist and fight for the Union cause. However, in 1861 the policy of the Lincoln administration was that this was to be a white man’s war only. With a direct route to military service blocked, Burke found a roundabout way to join the war effort.

The man that Burke was working for in Ohio prior to the outbreak of war became an officer in the 36th Ohio. This man knew that Nimrod had been raised in Virginia and would be familiar with the country that they would soon be fighting in, so he hired Burke as a teamster and scout for the regiment before they embarked for Virginia.

Burke continued to serve as an army scout until March of 1864. When the 36th Ohio was garrisoned close to Washington D.C., he enlisted in the 23rd United States Colored Troops and was appointed 1st Sergeant of Company F. The 23rd was organized at Camp Casey, which sat near the present day location of the Pentagon near Robert E. Lee’s beloved Arlington House.

The 23^rd was the regiment that sustained the heaviest losses of any USCT unit at the Battle of the Crater, but fortunately for Burke, he was in the hospital at the time with what his service record calls “general debility.”

Burke returned to health and rejoined his until in October of 1864 and was at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 when Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. This was particularly significant for Burke since John Carter (a Lee ancestor) had once owned members of the Burke family.

He was mustered out of the service in Brazos, Texas on November 30, 1865. Burke lived for nearly 50 years after the war and died on July 15, 1914. He is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Chillicothe, Ohio. 

In a sense, Nimrod Burke continued to carry the torch of the man who once owned his forebears – and for that reason, among many others, they are both worthy of our attention.