CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY EIGHT: CRY FREEDOM!

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY EIGHT: CRY FREEDOM!

Here it is Bastille Day, July 14, and no released prisoners in sight! Yesterday I went to a Prisoners of War Weekend at Fort Delaware, but all the prisoners had been released some time ago – 1865. This was one of the biggest POW camps for the Union during the Civil War. The real stars yesterday were the men and women who volunteer to re-enact different personalities who inhabited the Fort during the Civil War years. I met “Miss Jefferson”, a resident of New Castle who visited the Fort bringing fresh fruit to the prisoners to help prevent the spread of scurvy at the camp. “Miss Jefferson” is played by an actor/playwright who tries to enlist the members of the audience into becoming “angels” for the Confederate soldiers by visiting them and exchanging letters with them and bringing them basic items like clothes, fruit, a needle and thread – anything that the Union guards will allow. She almost convinced me that there were still 9000 Confederate prisoners at the Fort who were in desperate need of our help – but then she took questions at the end of her re-enactment, and we were all back in 2014, sitting on hard benches, waiting for the next “show”.

The next re-enactment was done by two African-American men, one in his sixties playing a captured slave from Texas, and one in his twenties playing a free man from Philadelphia. They loosely interpreted a one act play written by the aforementioned “Miss Jefferson” that asked the question: What is freedom? For the Texas slave, it meant ending the war and getting the right to return to Texas as a free man (after the Emancipation Proclamation freed all the African American slaves in the states that had seceded from the Union, Texas among them). He wanted nothing more than to reunite with his wife. His master had let him “jump the broom” with her, right before the master dragged him off to fight for the Confederacy. The young free man, who worked in the kitchen at Fort Delaware, wanted to enlist as a soldier and fight for the freedom of all African Americans. The older gent said the young man would end up in the cemetery, if that was his idea of freedom. And the young man said that the older man should not expect any “freedom” on his return to Texas. He predicted a hostile reception that would no doubt end in further servitude or death. The actors were great in their roles. They gave you a good feel for the uncertain future ahead for all Black men and women, both during the war and at its conclusion. Their main issue was more one of survival than the abstract notion of freedom.

The third and fourth re-enactments were performed by volunteers affiliated with the 3^rd Regiment of the United States Colored Troops, a group based in Philadelphia. There were two African American men doing a great job of recruiting us to join the regiment. They offered $13 per month in payment and uniforms and food. They had fought to get equal pay with white soldiers. When they were first recruited, Black soldiers were paid $7 per month, but they won pay equity fairly quickly (unlike women workers, who are still fighting for it). These “recruiters” were very convincing, and when they stopped talking, they picked up their guitar and flute and played several lively tunes (Camptown Races) from the Civil War Era for us. Then a fellow came marching up to the audience, as we sat on some hard wooden benches, and introduced himself as Sgt. Elbert of the 3^rd Regiment. He described his efforts to enlist in the Union Army, a feat that was extremely difficult until the U.S. War Department established the Bureau of Colored Troops (their choice of titles) on May 22, 1863. Sgt. Elbert was in full Union uniform carrying a backpack on his back and a musket. The temps were in the high 80’s and everyone on the benches was dripping sweat. But Sgt. Elbert in his heavy wool navy blues showed no signs of being the least bit warm. How did he do that? Is that part of his acting skills – acting like he’s not sweating bullets under all that heavy clothing? If so, he deserves an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony. He was amazing. Move over, Morgan Freeman, you’ve got some stiff competition for best African American actor of all time.

I looked up the Wikipedia description of the enlistment of African Americans into the Union Army, and this is what it said:

“The United States War Department issued General Order Number 143 on May 22, 1863, establishing the Bureau of Colored Troops to facilitate the recruitment of African-American soldiers to fight for the Union Army.^[3] Regiments, including infantry, cavalry, engineers, light artillery, and heavy artillery units, were recruited from all states of the Union and became known as the United States Colored Troops (USCT).

Approximately 175 regiments composed of more than 178,000 free blacks and freedmen served during the last two years of the war. Their service bolstered the Union war effort at a critical time. By war's end, the men of the USCT composed nearly one tenth of all Union troops. The USCT suffered 2,751 combat casualties during the war, and 68,178 losses from all causes. Disease caused the most fatalities for all troops, black and white.^[4]

USCT regiments were led by white officers, and rank advancement was limited for black soldiers. The Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments in Philadelphia opened the Free Military Academy for Applicants for the Command of Colored Troops at the end of 1863.^[5] For a time, black soldiers received less pay than their white counterparts, but they (and their supporters) lobbied and gained equal pay.^[6] Notable members of USCT regiments included Martin Robinson Delany, and the sons of Frederick Douglass.

The courage displayed by colored troops during the Civil War played an important role in African Americans gaining new rights. As the abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote:

"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship."^[7]”

I had no idea that Black troops accounted for almost 10% of all Union troops. I don’t know if this included the Black troops put together in northern states like Massachusetts (think the movie, “Glory) before the 1863 War Department order or just the Black troops enlisted by the Bureau of CT. Still, this is a significant number, and their losses were great. I agree with Frederick Douglass that the Black soldiers certainly earned the right to citizenship, but I don’t think Blacks had to risk their lives in uniform to earn that right. Otherwise, Black women would not have been allowed to become citizens. Oh yeah, that’s right – the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were really only intended to give Black MEN equal rights. Black women certainly did not get the right to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment. As you know, I’m a huge Harriet Tubman fan, and if anyone earned the right to citizenship, she did with all of her heroics getting Black men, women and children out of the South on the Underground Railroad. But she was not the only heroic Black woman. As Black and White women fought for freedom and equality for members of the Black race before, during and after the Civil War, they advanced their arguments vigorously that it was time not only to accord equal rights to Black men, but also to legislate equality for Black and White women.

Women were the backbone of the Abolition Movement, and what did we get for our efforts? Bupkus. Sure, a lot of hollow promises that if we just waited a little bit longer – and let Black men have the limelight for the time being – we would get the right to vote too – some day. How about more than 50 years later in another century? This is all the more galling, given that the Slave Codes in the Southern States, which governed how to treat Black slaves under the law, were based totally on the earlier Codes in all of the States, which governed how to treat women and children under the law. So, it was logical that if you got rid of the Slave Codes, you got rid of the Codes they were based on – the ones that treated women and children as property. Logical, true, but something the governing white men chose to ignore. Bitter? Yes, a little bit. And about that Equal Rights Amendment, which 35 states ratified in the 1970’s, when 38 were needed to add it to the U.S. Constitution. I will never forgive you, Missouri, Illinois and Florida legislators. And the rest of you, representatives of the Deep South, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, what a misogynistic bunch of hypocrites. Even Texas ratified the ERA, and Kentucky and Tennessee! Virginia, you have no excuse whatsoever. Call yourself the cradle of democracy – guess you never got out of your infantile stage to make an adult decision supporting equality for half your population. Harrumph!

And so, the POW day at Fort Delaware aroused some strong feelings. Come to think of it, there were no Black women re-enactors for any of the events I attended. However, Black women were featured in the program. According to the official program for the event, Roberta Perkins presented an exhibit on her ongoing research into the presence of African-Americans at Fort Delaware. And Valarie Petty Bowyer gave a living history performance of Charlotte Forten, a free black woman who was a prominent anti-slavery activist and teacher. I just missed them, I guess. Good for you, Fort Delaware State Park, for including Black women in the fight for freedom during the mid-19^th century. Of all the programs you have presented, including all the paranormal and ghostly events you put on at the Fort, recognizing the importance of Black women in the history of the Civil War at Fort Delaware and in the State of Delaware is one of your proudest moments. Thank you.