General Butler was a visionary. He understood that blacks needed freedom but also needed respect to be equal American citizens. Respect had to be earned on the battlefield. Supporting African Americans damaged his reputation as a general due to the prejudice that existed against blacks. He was hated by his Union colleagues as well as his Confederate enemies. He felt that capturing New Market Heights would accomplish three goals. First, it would destroy General Lee’s first line of defenses around Richmond and tighten Richmond’s siege. Second, it would earn respect for black men, giving them the opportunity to liberate their own people and prove that all men are created equal. Many lives of white Union troops were lost in the Civil War and by 1864, Confederate troops were entrenched. Prove that black troops were capable and willing to drive the confederates from these trenches supported President Lincoln’s 1864 reelection. Finally, it would demonstrate his competency and proof that he was a good general.
The Battle of New Market Heights was an enormous blow to the Confederacy. It was not only a military defeat but a psychological defeat as well. Recall that General Cobb said, “The day you make a soldier of them is the beginning of the end of the revolution. And if slaves seem good soldiers, then our whole theory of slavery is wrong. And was not that the theory the South fought for?” Black troops had destroyed the Confederate capital’s outer defenses without firing a dozen shots and made them question what the South was fighting for.
Butler was successful at all three goals, but he lost the battle to historians over one hundred years later. Common knowledge of this history would have made segregation and African American persecution significantly more difficult. Americans would know nothing of the Battle of New Market Heights or the honors that black soldiers received. During the next century, the theory of slavery would live on. African Americans would carry the burden of the shame of slavery and endure segregation and discrimination.
Control of African American history and identity was maintained in many small, detailed ways. The history of the Battle of New Market Heights is a good example. Modern historians as well as the National Park Service have accepted a southern view of the Battle of New Market Heights that discredits the contribution of the black troops. This view says that the Confederate force held the black troops at New Market Heights in check until they were redeployed to Fort Harrison and the black troops overran empty Confederate trenches.
Modern historians use Richmond Redeemed the Siege at Petersburg,by Richard J. Sommers,as their major source for the history of the Battle of New Market Heights. Sommers discredited the achievement of black troops at the battle. He argued that the Confederates were not driven from their trenches at New Market Heights but were redeployed. The Union rally was the result of evacuated Confederate trenches. The Flint Journal published an article about a teacher that studied the battle.
“There is no question of the fact that the blacks were very brave,” said Sommers. “(But) as far as I’m concerned, there is equally no question that it wasn’t until the Confederates voluntarily abandoned their position that the blacks were able to move forward and occupy it. ”[1]
No official Confederate records exist of the battle. The book Hood’s Texas Brigade, by J. B. Polley, was used by Sommers as the primary source. Polley said the Texas Brigade, Arkansas Brigade, Benning’s Brigade, and Gary’s Cavalry were all at New Market Heights. Benning’s Brigade plus the Texas Brigade alone consisted of eight hundred men. Gary’s cavalry was composed of an additional eight hundred men, bringing the total Confederate force at New Market Heights to at least eighteen hundred men, counting Arkansas. Polley’s overall description of the battle does not vary significantly from Union battle reports. The only exception is the so-called redeployment of the Texas Brigade during the charge of the colored troops. Recall that Polley wrote that “the firing had hardly ceased when word came that Gary’s cavalry and Benning’s brigade had been driven from their positions.”[2]
Fig. 40. Wikipedia, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm
Not comfortable with Polley’s account of Gary’s Cavalry and Benning’s Brigade being driven from their trenches, modern historians imply that practically all of the Confederates were redeployed before black troops entered the trenches. This was done by first reducing Confederate troop strength at New Market Heights and second by redeploying Confederate troops during the battle. Wikipedia is a popular online encyclopedia with a reputation of having accurate information. Wikipedia describes the Battle of New Market Heights under the title of “Battle of Chaffin’s Farm.”[3] A map is included that resembles that made by Sommers. Wikipedia’s battle map shows that Benning’s Brigade of Confederate troops was missing from the battle, which deflates Confederate troop strength. Second, Wikipedia says Confederate General John Gregg redeployed all his troops from New Market Heights during the battle: “Word of Union success against Fort Harrison then reached Gregg, compelling him to pull Confederate troops back to Forts Gregg.”This perspective is from Sommers as well and is widely accepted. The historian M. Gorman wrote on the US Park Service website that the black regiments attacking the trenches at New Market Heights: “found the Rebel works almost deserted. The few remaining Confederates either surrendered or fled.”[4] The black troops therefore rallied against empty trenches, which was the only way they were able to capture New Market Heights.
This view contradicts Union battle reports as well as Polley’s recollection, which is not even an official report. Polley said that only his Texas brigade was redeployed; the other Confederate regiments, which were Gary’s Calvary and Benning’s Brigade, were driven from their trenches by the charging black troops. The fact is that the Negro regiments drove all Confederates troops from their trenches at New Market Heights without firing a shot. As Polley put it, “Not a dozen shots in all were fired by the blacks.”
Polley’s book is the main source used by historians to diminish the accomplishment of the black troops at New Market Heights. However, Polley’s credibility is questionable; he sought to please his proslavery audience, and he used typical stereotypical comments to accomplish this. For example, he professes that black troops would dare not attack their slave masters. He described a captured black soldier as saying, “Dar wahnt no way outer jinin’, but fo’ God, Marster, dis chile wouldn’t nebbah un chawged you white folkses breas’ wuks lack we did, eff der Yankkees hadn’t er tole us day’d shoot us eff we didn’t.”[5] In no way should Polley’s book trump official Union battle reports to discredit Congressional Medal of Honor winners.
This was a case of historians rewriting history to sell books at the expense of the first black Congressional Medal of Honor winners. These Congressional Medals of Honor were not only the first given to African Americans but were also the greatest honor given to African Americans for an event in American history. To accept flawed history at New Market Heights is to devalue the honor bestowed on the event. Starting in April 2001, I worked with my congressman Dale Kildee to correct the National Park Service’s history of the battle.
Although New Market Heights was not in his district, Kildee was a member of the House Committee on Resources and held a seat on the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands. This subcommittee controls funding to the National Parks. Kildee had known my father since he was a junior congressman. Kildee was a catholic and committed to serving the poor, like my father. He complimented me by saying I was like my father. The NPS made significant improvements to its New Market Heights website, and I encourage the reader to visit the site: http://www.nps.gov/rich/historyculture/usct.htm. The website is difficult to find from the battlefields home page, and a link should be installed by the Park Service.
[1] Jonathan Tilove, “Hidden History Educator salutes black heroes who served in Civil War,”Newhouse News Service, Flint Journal, Sunday, July 19, 1998.
[2] Polley, Hood’s Texas Brigade, 254.
[3] Wikipedia, “Battle of Chaffin’s Farm,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chaffin’s_Farm.
[4] Gorman, The Union Perspective, http://www.nps.gov/rich/historyculture/usct.htm.
[5] Polley, J. B., Hood’s Texas Brigade, p251