“After that in the Army of the James a negro regiment was looked upon as the safest flanking regiment that could be put in line.”
Lincoln’s Reelection
On September 19, 1864, General Butler developed a plan to capture Richmond using black troops. General Butler believed, as did John Brown and Frederick Douglass, that black men must earn their own freedom or forever be second-class citizens whom white men had to rescue. Butler was looking for a good blow against slavery to prove once and for all that all men are created equal.
Another important benefit of a big Negro victory was that it might bolster Lincoln’s chances of being reelected. At this stage, Lincoln’s reelection in November 1864 was in jeopardy. Lincoln had asked Butler to be his running mate in the election, but Butler had refused, saying that he would rather remain on the battlefield. Lincoln was behind his antiwar opponent, George McClellan, who did not support the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln’s defeat in November would have meant a compromise over the slavery issue. President Lincoln wrote a letter to his cabinet and asked them to sign and support preserving the Union.
“On August 23, 1864 Lincoln wrote “It seems probable that this administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards.”[1]
Butler’s Plan
Until that point, black troops had fought in a number of battles but had not gained the public’s attention or respect. The “affair at the mine” would have given them that sought-after eminence had not General Grant switched the black soldiers’ role in the Battle of the Crater. Publicly, blame for the defeat was put on the black troops. Butler had become the most hated man in the Civil War due to his relentless support of Negro troops. His leadership was constantly criticized during the Civil War, and he is not well thought-of by modern historians either. In a magazine, General William F. Smith described Butler as a “child, incapable of giving an order in the field.” Butler wanted his Negro troops and himself as well to have one major victory that would significantly change the Civil War and make them the heroes of the day.
In September 1864, the Union army was south of Richmond and unable to control the territory north of the James River. Butler’s headquarters was located at Deep Bottom, on the south shore of the James River. Butler developed a plan in which black troops would attack New Market Heights, which was a heavily fortified redoubt on the left flank of the Confederate line protecting Richmond. The plan called for white troops to simultaneously attack the middle of the Confederate line at Fort Harris.
Richmond was protected by three thousand entrenched Confederate troops, and most of these were positioned close to New Market Heights and in front of Butler at Deep Bottom. New Market Heights was heavily fortified. White troops had twice failed to take the target in prior attempts. In fact, cadets from a nearby military school had successfully defeated a Union attack there earlier that year.
If the black troops succeeded, it would prove their value once and for all. Butler told his black men to “take New Market Heights at any cost.”
Most Civil War generals used Napoleonic battle tactics. First, skirmishers would be sent out to draw enemy fire and assess battlefield-terrain obstacles such as ravines, underbrush, and swamps. Generals could watch the skirmishers and determine the best attacking route. Assaults were made with columns of troops standing shoulder to shoulder. One column of soldiers would fire at the enemy while another column reloaded.
Musket reloading was a chore that required nine steps. Gun powder and ball had to be packed into the barrel with a ramrod. The hammer was set to half cock, and a percussion cap was placed on the hammer. The hammer was pulled back to full cock, and now the musket was ready to be fired. When the trigger was pulled, the hammer was released, and the force of the hammer ignited the percussion cap. A flame propagated to the powder in the barrel through a small channel. The barrel powder ignited and pushed the ball out the barrel.
The advantage of the Napoleonic tactic was that the columns could direct a large amount of firepower at the enemy. At any instance, a column was fully loaded, and if the enemy charged, the column would fire. The disadvantage, however, is that the column was an easy target for a concealed enemy behind barricades in breastworks. The concealed soldiers were protected by breastworks and were often allowed to “fire at will.” An experienced soldier could get off as many as three shots per minute.
In contrast to these Napoleonic tactics, the regular “dash,” as Butler called it, put emphasis on the charge. Skirmishers were not used, and the soldiers in the charging column did not stop to discharge their weapons. Black men did not possess the experience with muskets that white Union soldiers had. This tactic used the athleticism of the black men and represented the fighting style of their ancestors in Africa. Butler made certain of this by removing percussion caps from their muskets so that they could not fire. He told his black men to take New Market Heights at any cost and let “Remember Fort Pillow” be the battle cry.
General Butler discussed his attack on Richmond with General Grant, and he also described his dual objective:
“I further told him that I had another thing in view. The affair of the mine at Petersburg, which had been discussed between us, had convinced me that in the Army of the Potomac negro troops were thought of no value, and with the exception of an attack under Smith on the 15th of June, where they were prevented from entering Petersburg by the sloth, inaction, or I believe worse, of Smith, the negro troops had had no chance to show their valor or staying qualities in action. I told him that I meant to take a large part of my negro force, and under my personal command make an attack upon Newmarket Heights, the redoubt to the extreme left of the enemy’s line. If I could take that and turn it, then I was certain that I could gain the first line of the enemy’s entrenchment’s around Richmond. I said:” I want to convince myself whether, when under my own eye, the negro troops will fight; and if I can take with the negroes, a redoubt that turned Hancock’s corps on a former occasion, that will settle the question.” I proposed to try this in a manner that I had not before seen attempted, either in the Army of the Potomac or else where, – that is, by a regular “dash” such as I had read of in the history of the wars of Europe.”[2]
General Benjamin F. Butler
Butler estimated that enemy defenses of 2,875 men held the eight-mile-long New Market line defense. All but Johnson’s Brigade, Chaffin Farm Heavy Artillery, and militia reserves were positioned near New Market Heights.
CONFEDERATE UNIT COMMANDER SIZE
Bushrod Johnson’s (Tennessee) Brigade Hughs 450
Twenty-Fifth Virginia (City Brigade) Elliot 200
Grigg’s Texas brigade Bass 400
Seventh South Carolina Cavalry Gary 400
Twenty-Fourth Virginia Cavalry Gary 400
Benning’s (Georgia) Brigade DuBose 400
Militia reserves (Second Virginia Reserve Battalion) Guy 175
Chaffin Farm Heavy Artillery 100
Wade Hampton’s Legion 400
Black troops had demonstrated in places like Fort Hudson, Milliken’s Bend, and Fort Wagner that they were effective at charging Confederate works. Their charges were often described as determined and tenacious. Butler’s plan called for them to not stop and fire their muskets during their charge but continue until they entered the Confederate works. This tactic would use their strength of charging works. The joint committees had warned General Grant after the “affair at the mine” to use black troops when the situation called for their talents. General Grant therefore approved Butler’s plan.
“At half past four o’clock I found the colored division, rising three thousand men, occupying a plain which shelved towards the river, so that they mere not observed by the enemy at Newmarket Heights. They were formed in close column of division right in front. I rode through the division, addressed a few words of encouragement and confidence to the troops. I told them that this was an attack where I expected them to go over and take a work which would be before them after they got over the hill, and that they must take it at all hazards, and that when they went over the parapet into it their war cry should be, ” remember Fort Pillow.”
“The caps were taken from the nipples of their guns so that no shot should be fired by them, for when ever a charging column stops to fire, that charge may as well be considered ended. As their was to be no halt after they turned the brow of the hill, no skirmishers were to be deployed.”[3]
Confederate Forces
Fig. 28. Top: Polley’s description of Confederate positions guarding Richmond Virginia at New Market Heights, September 29, 1864, Burk & McFetridge, environs of Richmond
Bottom: Redoubt and Signal Station on Cobb’s Hill, Va.
No official Confederate battle records of the Battle of New Market Heights exist. Joseph Benjamin Polley was a Confederate soldier and a member of the Texas Brigade. Polley fought with the Texas Brigade at New Market Heights. Polley wrote his account of the battle many years following the Civil War. Polley claimed that Benning’s Brigade was stationed at New Market Heights and the Texas Brigade was a mile and a half from them.
Polley’s troop strength at New Market Heights prior to the battle agrees with Butler’s prebattle intelligence; it therefore assumed that his described distribution of Confederate troops at New Market Heights is reliable. Polley wrote:
“Along toward the last days of September General Grant believed the time ripe for renewed activity on the north side; wherefore, he started 40,000 men in that direction, under General Ord, with instructions to proceed without delay into Richmond.”
“On the 27th these crossed the James River at Deep Bottom, got well into position on the 28th, and at daylight of the 29th, with negro troops in the van and covering their entire front, moved forward against the 3000 Confederates, all told, then between them and their goal. Of this 3000, Johnson’s brigade was on the river above Drury’s Bluff, Benning’s, at New Market Heights, Gary’s, guarding the Charles City Road-and the Texas, at the Phillips house, between Benning’s and Johnson’s, two miles to the right of the one and three to the left of the other. Half way between the Texas and Johnson’s commands, was Fort Harrison, then occupied by a small force of Confederate artillery. On the inner line of intrenchments around the city, a mile and a half in rear of the Texas Brigade, and a like distance in rear of Fort Harrison, was Fort Gilmer, which was defended by a few heavy siege guns, under the management of a few trained artillerists and the City Battalion, composed of old men and boys, and such clerks in governmental departments as were able to bear arms. The line to be defended against the 40,000 Federal soldiers extended from Drury’s Bluff down the river about eight miles.”[4]
J. B. Polley
Colonel Duncan’s Charge
Fig. 29. Company E, Fourth US Colored Infantry, Ft. Lincoln, defenses of Washington (Library of Congress)
Brevet Major General Alfred H. Terry lined a division of white troops on the New Market battle line, which included Abbott’s Second Brigade, Pond’s First Brigade, and Plaisted’s Third Brigade. Brig. General Charles Paine’s Third Division of Colored Troops would attack New Market Heights on the left flank of Terry’s Second Brigade under Colonel Joseph C. Abbott. First he sent in the Third Brigade under Colonel Samuel A. Duncan, which consisted of the Fourth USCT, Sixth USCT, and the Second USCT Cavalry.
Apparently, Terry did not understand Butler’s “dash” tactic. Terry deployed these regiments as skirmishers to reveal the strength of the Confederate line, and they were told to capture the heights if possible. Skirmishers typically fire at will. On the other hand, Butler ordered the black men to not act like skirmishers, remove their firing caps from their rifles, and not break the charge to fire them. Butler described the battle as follows:
“We waited a few minutes, and the day fairly shining, the order was given to go forward, and the troops marched up to the top of the hill as regularly and quietly as if on parade.”
“Then the scene that lay before us was this: there dipped from the brow of the hill quite a declivity down through some meadow land. At its foot ran a brook of water only a few inches deep, a part of the bottom, as I knew, being gravely and firm. The brook drained a marsh which was quite deep and muddy, a little to the left of the direct line. The column of division unfortunately did not oblique to the right far enough to avoid that marsh wholly. Then rose steadily, at an angle of thirty to thirty five degrees, plain, hard ground to within hundred and fifty yards of the redoubt. At this point there was a very strong line of abatis.”
At one hundred yards above that, the hill rising a little faster, was another line of abatis. Fifty yards beyond was a square redoubt mounting some guns en barbette, that is, on top of the embankment, and held by not exceeding one thousand of the enemy.
I rode with my staff to the top of the first hill, where everything was in sight, and watched the movement of the Negroes. “
Crossing the brook their lines broke in little disorder, the left of the divisions having plunged into the morass, but the men struggling, held their guns above their heads to keep them dry. The enemy directed its fire upon them; but, as in all cases of firing downward from a fort the fire was too high. The leading battalion broke, but its Colonel maintained his position at its head. Words of command was useless as in the melee they could not be heard; but calling his bugler to him the rally rang out, and at its call his men formed around him. The division was at once reformed, and then at double quick they dashed up to the first line of abatis. The axe men laid to, vigorously chopping out the obstructions. Many of them went down. Others seized the axes. The enemy concentrated on the head of the column. It looked at one moment as if it might melt away. The colors of the first battalion went down but instantly they were up again but with new color bearers.”[5]
General Benjamin F. Butler
In his book Hood’s Texas Brigade, Polley described Duncan’s attack as follows:
““With daylight came a dense, obscuring fog, and through it was heard a roar that sounded like the bellowing of ten thousand wild bulls; it was the shout of the negroes as they valorously charged the picket line in their front. A minute later it was learned that the first attack would be up a narrow creek valley across which ran the Confederate line, and thither the Texas Brigade hastened. In this little valley the fog was so thick as to render large objects, a hundred feet distant, indistinguishable. Forming in single line, six feet apart, the Texans and Arkansans awaited the onset of the enemy. They could distinctly hear the Federal officers, as in loud tones they gave such commands as were needed to keep their men moving in line, but until the line approached within a hundred feet, could see nothing; even then, only a wavering dark line was visible. As it became so, and as was usual in those days, without waiting for orders, the Confederates sprang to the top of the low breastworks, and commenced firing” shooting at shadows,” one of them said.
About the same instant a Federal officer shouted in stentorian voice, “Charge, men-Charge!” But only by ‘the negroes immediately in front of the First Texas was the order obeyed by a rush forward that carried a regiment of the poor wretches up to, and in one or more places, across the breast-works, and right in among the First Texans. The latter, since Spottsylvania Court House well-provided with bayonets, were experts in the use of them, defensively and offensively, and in less than three minutes one-half of the assailants were shot down or bayoneted, and the other half, prisoners. In front of the other regiments the darkey charge lasted but a second or two, and covered not more than five paces. It was, in fact, simply a spasmodic response to the order. Then the black line halted, and for a moment stood motionless, obviously deliberating whether the more danger was to be apprehended from the Southern men in front, or the Northern men in rear. Apparently, they decided on a compromise, for the half of those that survived the terrible fire poured into their ranks, threw down their guns, and wheeling, fled to the rear, and the other half dropped fiat on the ground, and lay there until they were led away as captives.
In effect, it was a massacre. Not a dozen shots in all were fired by the blacks, not a man in the Texas Brigade received a wound, and save in the First Texas, not a man was for a second in danger. The firing lasted not exceeding five minutes, but in that short space of time, if the New York Herald be good authority, a Confederate brigade numbering scant 800 men, killed 194 negroes and 23 of their white officers. Estimating the killed as one-fifth of the total loss, it will appear that about 1000 of the colored defenders of the Union were shot out of service in that five minutes. Of the many negroes who dropped to the ground unhurt, quite a number preferred to serve their individual captors as slaves, to confinement in Southern prisons, and did so serve them until the close of the war.”[6]
J. B. Polley
Colonel Duncan was wounded in the battle and did not report on his failed charge of the rebel works. However, black Civil War correspondent Thomas Chester covered Duncan’s charge and reported the following from the field:
“In the onward to Richmond move of the 29th ult. the 4th United States Colored troops, raised in Maryland, and the sixth United States colored Troops, from Pennsylvania, gained for themselves undying laurels for their steady and unflinching courage displayed in attacking the Rebels at great disadvantage. These two regiments were deployed as skirmishers.
“It was just light enough to see as they pushed out of a skirt of woods from our breastworks at Deep Bottom ; and a soon as emerging from it they were fired upon by the rebel sharpshooters, who fell back before these advancing regiments. They pushed on across a ravine, where they were exposed to a severe enfilading fire by the enemy’s sharpshooters, occupying a house in a skirt of wood on our left. It was under that fire the first men of these regiments were killed, among whom was Captain S. W. Vannuys. The sharpshooters were soon dislodged and our troops entered another woods, pushed beyond it and crossed the Three Mile Creek. On account of the marshy state of the ground, slush, timber, undergrowth and brush, this line became somewhat confused, but some advancing beyond these difficulties, they reached the enemy’s abatis in front of his breastworks which they charged with cheering. Two lines of abatis had here to be overcome, which was handsomely accomplished. It was here that many of the colored troops fell while attempting to force a passage over the abatis. There was no flinching of these two regiments in this terrible position, but they manfully received and returned the fire until they were three times ordered to fall back which they did in good order. In the attempt of the fourth and the sixth regiments to pass over the abatis, the fourth lost it’s entire color guard. Alfred B. Hilton, of the fourth carried the American flag, which was presented to it by the colored ladies of Baltimore, to the very edge of the breastworks, and, lying down, held aloft the national colors. When they were ordered to fall back, this brave man was shot down, but is not dangerously wounded and his exclamation was, ” Save the Flag !” Sergeant Major Fleetwood successfully brought the colors back riddled with thirty rents, with no other
loss to himself than a shot to his bootleg.”[7]
Thomas Morris Chester
Black Civil War Correspondent
Their courage in saving the flag was recognized by Congress. Fleetwood, Veal, and Hilton of the Fourth Regiment, as well as Sergeant Alexander Kelly and Sergeant Thomas R. Hawkins of the Sixth Regiment, received Congressional Medals of Honor. Hilton died of his wounds a month later.
Casualties were heavy, between four hundred and five hundred men. Colonel Duncan was badly wounded. In forty minutes of fighting, Company D of the Sixth USCT lost 87 percent of its men, which was the highest reported loss of a Union company during a single charge in the Civil War. Company D of the Sixth Regiment lost twenty-seven of thirty enlisted men.
Out of twelve flag bearers, all were killed or wounded but one. One of the flag bearers was Alfred Hilton, who carried two flags, one belonging to a dead flag bearer and the other belonging to himself. As men were being shot, he struggled to keep the flags from touching the ground until he was shot in the leg. He said, “Boys, save the colors.” Private Charles Veal grabbed the regimental flag, and Sergeant Christian Fleetwood grabbed the American flag. They continued their charge. Outnumbered, with many dead and wounded, they retreated back to their skirmish line, which was still entangled in the abatis. Fleetwood rallied the survivors around his flag for another attack. Some men made it to the top, and, as Butler requested, they said, “Remember Fort Pillow!” Completely outnumbered, however, they were killed or captured and then murdered.
At the same time General Terry deployed Duncan’s Brigade, he also deployed Abbott’s Second Brigade of white troops on Duncan’s right flank. They were composed of Third New Hampshire Regiment, which were three hundred men, and the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers as skirmishers. Abbott wrote:
“Having thrown out the Seventh Connecticut, Capt. S.S. Atwell commanding, as skirmishers I advanced, following the skirmishers at about 250 yards toward the enemy’s works on the New Market road. Between my first position and those works there was a difficult ravine and swamp, and my line was enfiladed by a sharp artillery fire from the enemy’s battery-on my right. Captain Atwell having reported that the enemy’s works were well manned, and the skirmishing being sharp, I strengthened the skirmish line by sending forward the Third New Hampshire, Maj. J. F. Randlett commanding, with orders to press forward strongly, while I followed with the main line as before.”[8]
J. C. Abbot
Major James F. Randlett advanced the Third New Hampshire within five hundred yards of the works and halted. He wrote:
“Colonel Abbott instructed me to advance my line as rapidly as possible, reporting success to him, exercising my own discretion. When in full view of enemy and his works, 500 yards across the opening, I advanced a light line and drew from the enemy the disposition of his forces.”[9]
J. F. Randlett
It appears that the Confederates followed Duncan’s retreat and pushed the line of battle back to the area of Four Mile Creek. Confederates were massing at the point of Duncan’s attack; after Duncan’s dash stalled, Major Randlett, having a small force of three hundred men, asked Abbott for reinforcements. He wrote:
“Finding my line flanked on the left by works similar to those in my front, and discovering that he was reenforcing the flank, I ordered my men to lie down, the advantage of the rolling ground being such as to entirely protect them from his infantry while his artillery played over us into the ravine. I then dispatched a messenger to Colonel Abbott, informing him of disposition of my command, respectfully suggesting that a force be sent to relieve my left flank. Was informed that General Terry had sent a detachment of colored troops to that duty.”[10]
J. F. Randlett
Colonel Draper’s Charge
Butler’s “dash” tactic may have worked better on good terrain. New Market Heights, however, contained ravines and swampy ground, which broke portions of the column’s charge. But now Paine understood where the good footing was and conducted a second charge.
Apparently, Draper was sent in to support the retreating Duncan’s Brigade and protect Abbott’s left flank. Paine deployed his Second Brigade of colored troops consisting of the Thirty-Sixth, the Thirty-Eighth, and the Fifth USCT under Col. Draper, a total of thirteen hundred men. The First Brigade, the Twenty-Second USCT under Col. Holman, was acting as skirmishers in front of Draper. Draper moved to the right so the Twenty-Second were in front and to the left of Draper. The Twenty-Second followed Duncan’s trail, but they did not continue to the works. Like Duncan, the Twenty-Second got hung up in the underbrush. In his battle report, Albert James said, “The line moved forward through a dense tangle of underbrush and felled trees.”[11] Thisslowed the charge down. On the other hand, Draper had moved to the right of Duncan’s trail, missing the tangled underbrush. He only encountered three hundred yards of young pines, so he continued to Four Mile Creek ahead of the Twenty-Second. Draper charged across the open plain until they reached Four Mile Creek, where the charge was halted.
Like Duncan, Draper’s men took heavy losses at Four Mile Creek as well. Their “dash” was broken to a crawl as they crossed Four Mile Creek about thirty yards in front of the Confederate abatis. Some of the men started to discharge their weapons, which added to the confusion and halted the progress of the dash.
Draper’s skirmish line was pinned down between Four Mile Creek and the first abatis. It was reinforced and picked up new momentum from the support of the Twenty-Second USCT. Once out of the “dense tangle of underbrush and felled trees,” the Twenty-Second charged across the open plain where Draper’s charge had stalled. Part of the Twenty-Second approached Draper’s skirmish line on the right and entered the works with them. In his battle report, CaptainAlbert Janes of the Twenty-Second wrote, “As the charging column came up to the support of the skirmish line a part of the regiment assembled on the right and moved forward into the works, driving the enemy in confusion from them.”
In his battle report, Draper took credit for the rally when he said:
“After half an hour of terrible suspense, by starting the yell among a few, we succeeded in getting them in motion. The entire brigade took up the shout and went over the rebel works…When the brigade were making their final charge, a rebel officer leaped upon the parapet, waved his sword and shouted, “Hurrah, my brave men.” Private James Gardiner,(+) Company I, Thirty-sixth U.S. Colored Troops, rushed in advance of the brigade, shot him, and then ran the bayonet through his body to the muzzle.”[12]
Col. Alonzo G. Draper, Thirty-Sixth US Colored Troops, commanding Second Brigade, September 29.
Once the Confederates evacuated the works in front of Draper, the whole Confederate line evacuated. The small brigade of white troops charged the works with little resistance. Abbott wrote:
“Major Randlett having reported that the enemy were advancing on my left and massing in front, I went forward to the skirmish line to make an examination. I ordered him again to press forward and at once advanced the main line. Just at that time Paine’s division commenced a vigorous attack upon the enemy upon my left, which was successful, and as my line advanced into the open ground, the enemy evacuated their works in my front, having a few minutes previous taken off their artillery from the height on my extreme right. I advanced into the works, the Third New Hampshire occupying the deserted battery on the right.”[13]
J. C. Abbot
Polley wrote very little about the second charge, only that his Texas Brigade was redeployed.
“The firing had hardly ceased when word came that Gary’s cavalry and Benning’s brigade had been driven from their positions, and were in rapid retreat to the inner line of intrenchments on which stood Fort Gilmer, and that if the Texas Brigade did not “get a move on,” and a fast one at that, it would be cut off from Richmond and its comrade commands on the north side. Immediately following that information, came a courier from General Gregg with the more alarming intelligence that Fort Harrison had been captured by the enemy, and with an order that the Texas Brigade report as quickly as possible to Gregg at that point. The capture of the fort, as every man knew, placed the brigade in a critical position, and within a minute it was double-quicking up the outer line of intrenchments it had so long guarded-the broad, level ditch affording not only the shortest route, but as well, the best footing for rapid travel. It had not gone a mile, though, before it was a long, straggling line of panting, perspiring and almost exhausted men.”[14]
J. B. Polley
From Butler’s viewpoint he watched the men charging over the abatis. He wrote:
“Wonderfully they managed to brush aside the abatis, and then at double quick the reformed column charged the second line of abatis.”Fortunately they were able to remove that in a few minutes, but it seemed a long time to the lookers on. Then, with a cheer and a yell that I can almost hear now, they dashed upon the fort. But before they reached even the ditch, which was not a formidable thing, the enemy ran away and did not stop until they had run four miles, I believe. They were only fired at as they ran away and did not lose a man.”[15]
General Benjamin F. Butler
During the second charge, most of the white officers were killed or wounded, and black sergeants took command. Sergeants given Congressional Medals of Honor for rallying their troops were First Sergeant Powhatan, First Sergeant James Bronson, and Sergeant Robert Pinn of the Ohio Fifth Regiment. Medals of Honor were also given to First Sergeant Edward Ratcliff, Sergeant James H. Harris, and Private William H. Barnes of the Thirty-Eighth Regiment. Corporal James Miles and Private James Gardiner of the Thirty-Sixth Regiment were among the first men to enter the rebel works. Casualties among black troops exceeded one thousand, while those for white troops were minimal.
After the Confederates evacuated New Market Heights, Butler rode his horse across the battlefield. Butler said:
“ As I rode across the brook and up towards the fort along this line of charge, some eighty feet wide and three or four hundred yards long, there lay in my path five hundred and forty-three dead and wounded of my colored comrades. And, as I guided my horse this way and that way that his hoof might not profane their dead bodies, I swore to myself an oath, which I hope and believe I have kept sacredly, that they and their race should be cared for and protected by me to the extent of my power so long as I lived.
When I reached the scene of their exploit their ranks broke, but it was to gather around their general. They almost dragged my horse up alongside the cannon they had ‘captured, and I felt in my inmost heart that the capacity of the negro race for soldiers had then and there been fully settled forever.” [16]
General Benjamin F. Butler
Fort Harrison
Fort Harrison was actually the prize of the day. It was the strongest point on the Confederate line and protected the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. As a result, once it fell, the outer defenses around Richmond collapsed. By 7:00 a.m. Butler’s men occupied Fort Harrison. The next day, General Robert E. Lee ordered that the fort be taken back. However, the Twenty-Second USCT had arrived at Fort Harrison and helped to defend the fort.
“On the morning On the morning of the 30th the regiment moved to the right of the fort refaced and repaired to earth-works adjacent to the fort. At 1 o’clock the enemy was seen making preparation for an attack. At 2 o’clock our pickets were driven in and five distinct lines of the enemy charged our line. The attack was general. The charging column was repulsed. A second time charged and second time repulsed. A counter-charge was then made by the Twenty-second, which added impetus to the already flying rebels. In this counter-charge the regiment encountered a strong [force] which was stationed under the lee of an isolated fort, and from which we received a volley of musketry which killed several men and wounded two officers (Maj. J. B. Cook and Capt. Jacob F. Force), but they, too, were put [to] flight, and, as no other advantage could be gained, the regiment again took its position in line behind the breast-works, in all the maneuvering the most unflinching bravery was displayed by both officers and men.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
ALBERT JANES,
Captain, commanding Regiment.” [17]
Battle Aftermath
Confederate losses at New Market Heights were very light. They evacuated the trenches before the black troops fired their muskets. After the Confederates were defeated at New Market Heights and Fort Harrison, they evacuated the outer defenses around Richmond and retreated to works close to the city. Polley describes the aftermath of the battle:
“ Their capture on the 29th of September, of Fort Harrison, was a distinct gain to the Federals. Holding it, General Lee had been able to confine the enemy on the north side to the valley of the James, below Drury’s Bluff; losing it, he was compelled to withdraw his forces from the heights north of the James, and place them within a line of entrenchments encircling Richmond, and, at various points, not over three mile from the city. This gave the Federals outlet into the country north of Richmond.” [18]
J. B. Polley
Fort Harrison was the prize, not New Market Heights. The black troops did, however, draw most of the Confederates to New Market Heights from Fort Harrison so that Fort Harrison could be easily taken. Butler made it clear that the Battle of New Market Heights was more than a battle; it was an important statement. For black troops to fight effectively alongside white troops, they would have to earn the respect of the white troops. Slavery had produced enormous disrespect of blacks. Free blacks would need respect to remain free. Black troops took heavy losses but destroyed the outer defenses of Richmond without firing a dozen shots. Earning respect cost lives, and Butler evaluated that cost.
“But in the attack on Newmarket Heights I did deliberately expose my men to the loss of greater numbers than I really believed the capture of the redoubt was worth; for if the enemy’s lines at Fort Harrison were captured, as they were, then Newmarket Heights would have been evacuated without loss, for I do not know that they were ever reoccupied by either side afterwards during the war. Now comes the inquiry in the minds of reflecting men: “Why make the attack?” Because it was to be done with my negro troops. “Are we to understand that you would sacrifice your negro troops where you would not your white troops?” No; except for a great purpose in behalf of their race and in behalf of the Union. If I have tried to make anything apparent up to this time in what I have written, it is that from prejudice and ignorance of their good qualities it was not really believed in and out of the army by military men, with a very few exceptions, that the negroes would fight. My white regiments were always nervous when standing in line flanked by colored troops, lest the colored regiments should give way and they (the white) be flanked. This fear was a deep-seated one and spread far and wide, and the negro had had no sufficient opportunity to demonstrate his valor and his staying qualities as a soldier. And the further cry was that the negroes never struck a good blow for their own freedom. Therefore, I determined to put them in position, to demonstrate the fact of the value of the negro as a soldier, cotite qui coUte, and that the experiment should be one of which no man should doubt, if it attained success. Hence the attack by the negro column on Newmarket Heights.
After that in the Army of the James a negro regiment was looked upon as the safest flanking regiment that could be put in line.”[19]
Benjamin F. Butler
Following the battle of New Market Heights, Colonel Alonzo Draper and Colonel Samuel A. Duncan were both promoted to general upon General Butler’s recommendation to President Lincoln. When Richmond fell, Draper had seen that his Thirty-Sixth Colored Regiment was the first to enter the city.
In November 1864, Lincoln was reelected. Historians credit the capture of Atlanta and victories in Shenandoah Valley for the win. Atlanta fell September 2, 1864, a little over a week after Lincoln’s expression of doubt of winning reelection. However, the Battle of New Market Heights may have been a bigger boost to the Union cause because it signaled the probable fall of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Also, the battle demonstrated an answer to entrenched warfare, which was the use of black troops. By 1864 the Civil War was a war of slave liberation composed mostly of trench warfare. Cities such as Richmond, Petersburg, and Atlanta were under siege and protected by dwindling entrenched Confederate forces. Entrenched forces required frontal attacks to dislodge them, which resulted in heavy casualties of the attacking force—and the attacking force was usually white Union troops. The Battle of New Market Heights demonstrated that black troops could be used effectively to dislodge entrenched Confederate troops, reducing white Union troop casualties. This gave the Union an effective new weapon for which the Confederacy had no answer but to establish their own black army. The thought of relying on black men to save the confederacy was humiliating to proslavery racist. This new Union weapon was probably a bigger lift to the Union cause than the fall of Atlanta.
The media reported little on the achievement of the black men before the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. General Grant was given the credit for destroying Richmond’s outer defenses. The English media, however, gave a complete description of the battle.
The Butler Medal
Fig. 30. Butler Medal, engraving in Butler’s Book and Medal from Authors Collection, Fleetwood’s Medal of Honor, Smithsonian Institution
At his expense, Butler had a large silver medal struck by Tiffany & Co. for his black troops that fought at New Market Heights. These medals remain the only medal made for black troops. Butler personally gave two hundred of the medals to black soldiers. He wrote:
“I had the fullest reports made to me of the acts of individual bravery of colored men on that occasion, and I had done for the negro soldiers, by my own order, what the government has never done for its white soldiers — I had a medal struck of like size, weight, quality, fabrication and intrinsic value with those which Queen Victoria gave with her own hand to her distinguished private soldiers of the Crimea.…The obverse of the medal shows a bastion fort charged by Negro soldiers, and bears the inscription “Ferro iis libertas perveniet.” (Freedom was won by them with the sword) The reverse bears the words, “Campaign before Richmond,” encircling the words, “Distinguished for Courage. ”[20]
Benjamin F. Butler
Butler Medals are very rare, and only a few exist in museums such as the Smithsonian. I believe that they were not very popular and were melted down for their silver. I was able to obtain a Tiffany Butler Medal made of silver. It appears, however, to match Butler’s engraving more than the Smithsonian medals that were given to soldiers. I had a jeweler cast a reproduction of silver for myself, and I wore it on chain. I felt that General Colin Powell deserved the medal more than me, so I mailed to him. Why? Because General Powell reached great success but never forgot where he came from. He is a staunch supporter of black military history and justice. He also has a tender heart. He started an organization called America’s Promise to support young people. I also gave General Powell copies of Butler’s Book and William Wells Brown’s book, The Negro in the American Rebellion. General Butler would have been proud to know him and meet him, as I was.
Congressional Medals of Honor
Congress showed its gratitude by awarding the first Congressional Medals of Honor given to nonwhite soldiers in America’s history to the black soldiers at the Battle of New Market Heights. The fourteen Congressional Medals of Honor awarded for the battle remains today the highest honor given to African Americans by Congress.
Fourteen of the fifteen Medals of Honor listed here were awarded for valor at New Market Heights. Note that some are recorded as having been earned at Chaffin’s Farm, which is incorrect. The only medal not earned at New Market Heights is the one awarded to Decatur Dorsey at Petersburg. The Battle of New Market Heights is sometimes included in the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, which was a series of battles.
Following the war, two more Congressional Medals of Honor were belatedly awarded to Civil War colored troops. Sergeant William H. Carney was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery at Fort Wagner in 1863. Carney is often identified as the first black soldier to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is not accurate. Carney was not awarded the medal until May 23, 1900, which was over thirty years later. The first Congressional Medals of Honor awarded were for bravery at New Market Heights, Virginia, on September 29, 1864, and were awarded on April 6, 1865. The nation made an important statement when these medals were awarded: “All men are created equal,” and it was proven at New Market Heights. This act was a terrible blow against proslavery racists and put them on the wrong side of history.
In January 2001 President Clinton posthumously awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor to Corporal Andrew Jackson Smith for gallantry during the Battle of Honey Hill, November 30, 1864.
O.R.—SERIES I—VOLUME XLII/1 [S# 87]
AUGUST 1–DECEMBER 31, 1864.—The Richmond (Virginia) Campaign.
No. 350.—Medals of Honor awarded for distinguished services under Resolution of Congress, No. 43, approved July 12, 1862, and section 6 of Act of Congress, approved March 3, 1863.
Medals of Honor Awarded for Distinguished Services, and So Forth, Continued.
| Name. | Rank and organization | Date. | Awarded for– |
| Bronson, James H | First Sergeant, Company D, 5th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept. 29 | Do |
| Beaty, Powhatan | First Sergeant, Company G, 5th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept. 29 | Do |
| Barnes, William H | Private, Company C, 38th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept. 29 | Among the first to enter the rebel works, although wounded, at Chaffin’s Farm, near Richmond, Va. |
| Fleetwood, Christian A. | Sergeant-major, 4th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept. 29 | Do. |
| Gardiner, James | Private, Company I, 36th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept. 29 | Gallantry in action at Chaffin’s Farm, near Richmond, Va. |
| Holland, Milton M | Sergeant-major, 5th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept, 20 | Gallantry in action at Chaffin’s Farm, near Richmond, Va. |
| Hilton, Alfred B. | Sergeant, Company H, 4th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept. 29 | Gallantry in action as color bearer at Chaffin’s Farm, near Richmond, Va. |
| Harris, James H. | Sergeant, Company B, 38th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept, 29 | Gallantry in action at New Market Heights, Va. |
| James, Miles | Corporal, Company B, 36th U.S Colored Troops | Sept. 30 | Gallantry in action at Chaffin’s Farm, near Richmond, Va. |
| Kelly, Alexander | First Sergeant, Company F, 6th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept, 29 | Gallantry in action at Chaffin’s Farm, near Richmond, Va. |
| Pinn, Robert | First Sergeant, Company I, 5th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept. 29 | Gallantry in action at Chaffin’s Farm, near Richmond, Va. |
| Ratclift, Edward | First Sergeant, Company C, 38th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept. 29 | Gallantry in action at Chaffin’s Farm, near Richmond. Va. |
| Veal, Charles | Private, Company D, 4th U.S. Colored Troops | Sept. 29 | Do. |
O.R.—SERIES I—VOLUME XL/1 [S# 80]
JUNE 13–JULY 31, 1864.—The Richmond (Virginia) Campaign.
| Dorsey, Decatur | Sergeant, Company B, Thirty-Ninth US Colored Troops. | July 30, 1864 | Bravery while acting as color sergeant of his regiment at Petersburg. |
| Hawkins, Thomas | Sergeant-major, Sixth US Colored Troops | July 30, 1864 | Rescue of regimental flag at Deep Bottom, Virginia. |
(US War Dept., The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
[1] The Civil War Trust, “Lincoln’s Blind Mimo”, http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/blind-memo.html.
[2] Butler, Butler’s Book, 731–733.
[3] Ibid.
[4] J. B. Polley, Hood’s Texas Brigade, 252.
[5] Butler, Butler’s Book, 731–733.
[6] Polley, Hood’s Texas Brigade, 254.
[7] R. J. M. Blackett, Thomas Morris Chester Black Civil War Correspondent His Dispatches from the Virginia Front, Plenum Publishing Corporation, New York, New York, 1989, 139–141.
[8] J.C. Abbot, O.R. 86:702-703.
[9] J. F. Randlett, O.R. 86:702-703.
[10] J. F. Randlett, O.R. 86:702-703.
[11] Albert James, The War of the Rebellion XLII Part 1, Report. No 331.
[12] Draper, O.R.—SERIES I—VOLUME XLII/1 [S# 87] AUGUST 1–DECEMBER 31, 1864.—The Richmond (Virginia) Campaign., No. 333. US War Dept., The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Govt. Print. Off., Washington, (1880–1901).
[13] Abbot, O.R. 86:702-703.
[14] Polley, Hood’s Texas Brigade, 254.
[15] Butler, Butler’s Book, 731–733.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Albert James, O.R. 87:817, The War of the Rebellion XLII Part 1 Report. No 331.
[18] Polley, Hood’s Texas Brigade, 254.
[19] Butler, Butler’s Book, 741.
[20] Butler, Butler’s Book, 743.