Well before the 54th Massachusetts stormed Fort Wagner and well before contrabands-turned-soldiers repulsed a Confederate assault at Milliken’s Bend, a regiment of black soldiers, many of them only recently escaped from slavery, fought and bled against Rebel forces, near the Kansas-Missouri border. Far from the central command in Washington D.C., Unionists in the Trans-Mississippi were able to act somewhat independently. This unfortunately resulted in violent guerilla bands called Jayhawkers, who entered into a mutual war of terror with Rebel Bushwhackers. There was a positive, however, the first regiment of black soldiers. This unit, the 1st Kansas Colored, was hastily formed and entered into battle before Lincoln even authorized the creation of black regiments. Their trial of fire was the Battle of Island Mound, a furious skirmish with Confederate partisans in western Missouri.
This battle is mostly known simply for being the first use of a full black regiment in a Civil War battle. There are scant sources on it and actual primary sources can be counted on one hand. I plan to make this an ongoing series that covers the battle history of the 1st Kansas. Not only was it the first true, if unauthorized, black regiment to fight for the Union, it fought in the Trans-Mississippi theatre (my area of focus), and in contrast to the more famous 54th Massachusetts actually had a good win-loss record.
On a final note this article contains some colorful language,
including an infamous racial slur. I have decided to keep them to maintain the
feelings of the time. The profanity of the Confederates towards the 1st
Kansas reveals the depths of their emotional reaction to being opposed by armed
black men.
Formation of the 1st Kansas Colored Regiment
 |
| The flag of the 1st Kansas Colored, with its various battles written on. |
It
was natural that Kansas, with its history of radical abolitionism and
rebellious free-soilers, would quickly cut through or ignore obstructive policies
and raise black troops. Even before the war it was growing more radical in race
relations, though the black population within the recently added state remained
miniscule. The mastermind of the 1st Kansas Colored Regiment was Jim
Lane, a stagnated politician who had turned himself into a notorious Jayhawker
leader. He was virtually the leader of the Union war effort in Kansas and
ordered many raids east into Missouri to fight secessionism. When pushing for
the formation of the regiment, he warned that he would not tolerate any blacks
refusing to fight for the whites, who themselves were already fighting for
them. This was a curious argument as emancipation was not yet an official war
aim. Lane further made implied threats that there would be consequences if they
did not sign up. He need not have been so aggressive in his recruiting policies.
The attraction of fighting for freedom, for the recognition of men, was a
powerful incentive for black men at the time.[1]
Governor
Charles Robinson informed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton what was occurring. Stanton
was alarmed at this radical policy, which both freed and armed blacks. He sent
Lane an order to stop, reminding him that the Federal government could not
accept blacks into military service. Lane ignored the secretary’s orders and
went ahead with his plan by utilizing an old law. Since Kansas was undermanned
and its inhabitants felt vulnerable to Confederate armies and bands of raiders
and guerillas, he was able use to a passage of the 1795 Militia Act. This
passage promised freedom to the families of militia recruits.[2]
The regiment began to form in the late summer/early fall of 1862.
Most
of the recruits for the 1st Kansas were runaway slaves from Missouri
and Arkansas. Lane’s men also seized slaves from Missourians to fill out the
ranks. Most of the recruits had traveled from other states and territories,
eager for an opportunity to either prove their manhood or fight the slave
power. The officers included many abolitionists and veterans of Bleeding Kansas,
as well as a couple actual blacks. The Colonel of the regiment was James
Williams, an ardent abolitionist who had left his family back east to fight
against slavery in 1850s Kansas. Several pro-Unionist Indians, mostly those
with a mix of black and Indian ancestry, joined the regiment. Among them was
John Six-Killer, a Cherokee who came in with eight slaves (five of them his
own). Six-Killer and the slaves became their own band within the regiment.[3]
Before
ever encountering the enemy, the 1st Kansas Colored was already
dealing with racism from fellow Unionists. The regiment was divided and spread
across important posts near the border. Captain Henry Seaman’s battalion was
camped at Mound City. A passing company of white soldiers occupied a nearby
spring, the main water source. They refused to allow the 1st Kansas
use of the spring, complaining that it was a “disgrace to wear the uniform of
an American soldier if the Government was going to put it on the backs” of
blacks. Seaman retaliated by blocking off access the heart of Mound City, thus
denying the white troops the use of its businesses.[4]
Soon the 1st Kansas would earn the respect of their white allies in
the Trans-Mississippi.
The Founding of Fort Africa
Colonel
Williams received word of a buildup of Confederate partisans across the border
in west central Missouri. Though unavailable to command at the moment, he
instructed Major B.S. Hennig, commanding at Fort Scott, to do something about
it. Hennig sent out two small contingents which would unite in Bates County,
Missouri. Major Richard Ward commanded the larger portion of over 160 men.
However he was outranked by Captain Henry Seaman, who brought 64 men as well as
half a dozen white scouts. Seaman’s force was roughly 250 men strong. His men
were armed with Prussian and Austrian rifled muskets. The former was “an
excellent weapon,” but the latter suffered from “a constant liability to get
out of order.” After a march of 20 miles the 1st Kansas crossed the
Osage River via Dickey’s Crossing. Around this time they began to sight Rebel
scouts in the distance. A civilian hauling wood confirmed that an enemy force,
“all splendidly mounted,” was concentrated nearby on Osage Island. Osage Island
was described as a tract of land in the midst of the Marais de Cygnes River,
but was really an elevated piece of land surrounded by marshland.[5]
On
Sunday October 26, The 1st Kansas took possession of a house
belonging to pro-Confederate guerilla Toothman (who was at the time imprisoned
in Kansas). The Toothman women, Christiana Toothman and her two daughters, gave
them further information on the enemy, stating that they numbered as much as
800. Seaman and Ward’s scouts confirmed the presence of this comparatively large
Rebel force. Realizing they were severely outnumbered, the officers elected to
stay put and fortify Toothman’s Farm. They took down a rail fence and
refashioned it into a barricade. One post-war account based on Confederate
testimony erroneously claimed that Toothman’s Farm was actually a full-fledged
Federal fort. Though this was an exaggeration, the 1st Kansas did take
to calling their improvised fortress “Fort Africa.”[6]
The Opposition
Scant
sources exist from the Confederate perspective. At best there is one article from
the late 1890s that relied on a couple interviews with veterans. Contemporary
Federal and Northern sources labeled them as guerillas or “bushwhackers.” What
is known is that they were all Missouri partisans with Confederate allegiances,
making up three mounted units. Several historians and researchers have
identified Colonel Jeremiah Vardham Cockrell as their commander. Cockrell and
most of the others on Osage Island were actually members of the Missouri State
Guard. This militia army had been formed ostensibly to safeguard Missouri’s
armed neutrality in the war’s first days. In reality it had operated as a
Confederate ally under General Sterling Price and threatened to swing Missouri
into the emerging Confederate nation. Cockrell had started off as an infantry
lieutenant in the 8th Division of the State Guard, but eventually
rose to the colonelcy of a partisan regiment.
Richard
Hancock, the head of another unit at Osage Island, led a cavalry regiment in
the same division of the State Guard. Most of the State Guard’s 1861 recruits
had by this point mustered into official Confederate service. The State Guard
survived, however, with the mission of advancing the secessionist cause in its
home state. So far it was doing a competent job, having scored a victory at the
Battle of Lone Jack in August of 1862. Though it recruited thousands of fresh
members, it was now regarded as little more than a collection of guerilla bands.
The third band leader, Bill Truman, was not a Guardsman, but was an anti-Union
partisan who may have participated in Bleeding Kansas years earlier.[7]
The First Shooting
Both
sides were within striking distance of each other. The Federals were positioned
north of the Fort Scott Road at Toothman’s Farm. To the south was Osage Island.
In between the two sides were fields and hills of prairie grass. On October 27 scouts
from both sides took shots at each other. Both had the same strategy. The
Federals wanted to draw the Confederates off of the island. Then the
Confederates would assault the makeshift fortifications at the Toothman House.
This would compensate for the numerical superiority of the Rebels. The State
Guard and Bushwhackers likely knew this and in turn wanted to get the Federals
out of their defenses and into the open, where they could bring their superior
numbers to bear. The winds were so high that the bullets flew way off target.
That night Seaman sent runners to Fort Lincoln, Fort Scott, and Paola in
Kansas, hoping to bring in reinforcements. With extra manpower as well as
cavalry and maybe even some artillery, he planned to assault Osage Island from
both sides.[8]
The
1st Kansas, stuck in their position with a large and hostile mounted
force nearby, found itself low on food. On the morning of Wednesday October 29,
Seaman sent out 60 men under Captain Armstrong to keep the Rebels occupied
while a detachment of 50 men searched for food. Armstrong found the enemy,
sitting on their horses, and sent out skirmishers. The Missourians at this
point were aware that they were facing black soldiers. This was the first time
any Confederate force was facing a colored regiment and reacted with both anger
and derision. Across the prairie, they shouted, “Come on, you damned niggers.”
They were particularly vehement towards the white officers, calling them such
names as “nigger-stealers.” Sharpshooting broke out, with several casualties on
both sides. Armstrong claimed that seven Confederates were shot off of their
horses. The 1st Kansas drove the enemy back a few miles and claimed
victory. The ability of the 1st Kansas to square off against larger
numbers can be partly attributed to their weaponry. They possessed rifled
muskets while the Rebels were reported to have a motley assortment of devices
from revolvers to shotguns. Though it was a small skirmish with light
casualties, the soldiers were exhilarated. They were the first black unit to go
into combat, and they had won, driving back the enemy and inflicting more than
they received. This was meant to be a small action so that the foragers could
find food without harassment. Indeed Armstrong’s diversion was successful and
the men had what they needed to hold out until reinforcements came. However,
the day’s fighting was not yet over.[9]
 |
| https://islandmound.tripod.com/battle/ibattlemap.htm |
The Battle on the Mound
Though
they had suffered a setback earlier in the day, the Rebels were not done trying
to lure the Federals into a battle. Scouts advanced within sight of Toothman’s
Farm and set fire to the prairie. The fire drove Federal pickets and
skirmishers back. The 1st Kansas started a counter-fire to prevent
the first fire from reaching Fort Africa. The Rebels in the meantime used the
smoke to conceal their pickets. The Missourians sent out this small force in
hopes of drawing the Federals away from Toothman’s Farm. One Rebel sat up in a
cottonwood tree, with the instructions to signal a charge if the black troops
left their protection. The bulk of the Rebel force quietly hid themselves on
low terrain, which would conceal them from the 1st Kansas until the
time came for an attack.[10]
Captain
Seaman wanted to know what the enemy’s intentions were. He sent Six-Killer and
his black Cherokees out to scout. Six-Killer wanted to do more than scout. He
wanted some action. In his report on the battle Major Ward wrote of the
Cherokees, “They were directed to keep within sight of camp, but their
eagerness for prey soon led to a disobedience of orders.” They advanced too far,
pursuing Rebel horsemen, and fell out of sight. The rest of the 1st
Kansas soon heard firing from the other side of a mound. Seaman sent out two
parties under Captain Henry Pierson and Lieutenant Joseph Gardner to investigate.
At the same time Ward ordered Armstrong to move around the right and into the
rear of the titular mound.[11]
“No sooner had this happened than [sic] the
enemy charged with a yell toward Gardner’s little band of twenty-five men.” The
Confederates came on horseback, bursting through the trees at the east end of
the mound. Gardner’s black troops headed up the mound for a small ravine to use
as a defense, but the guerillas overtook them. “Nothing dismayed, the little
band turned upon their foes, and as their guns cracked many a riderless horse
swung off to one side.” A heated fight ensued, with the Missourians demanding
that the blacks surrender. However, ‘not one surrendered or gave up a weapon.”[12]
“For some ten or fifteen minutes the conflict raged with demoniacal fury – a
hand to hand fight – the first crucial test in our Civil War which proved the
courage of the ex slave to meet his former master on the field of battle.”[13]
The
battle was indeed full of demoniacal fury. The prairie fire was spreading,
adding the backdrop of flames and smoke. Even the official battle report was
full of colorful, violent, and intimate details. Among the first casualties was
Lieutenant Gardner. He fell, with buckshot having struck him in the leg. A
Missourian dismounted and said something along the lines of “he would finish
the damned son a bitch.” He placed his revolver against Gardner’s head and
fired. Somehow the projectile did not kill him. It struck his skull, but slid
along it, failing to penetrate into his brain. Another Union officer, Captain A.G.
Crew, found himself approached by three guerillas on horseback. They demanded
his surrender. He refused, to which they replied they would shoot him. “Shoot
and be damned,” he bravely proclaimed as he ran backwards and fired off his revolver.
He “immediately fell, pierced through the heart, groin, and abdomen.”[14]
 |
| This dramatic mural adorns the Bates County Museum. |
John Six-Killer, the Cherokee volunteer, did not quite live up to his name in this fight, killing four instead. He shot down two Rebels, bayoneted a third, and blasted a fourth with “the butt of his gun.” He fell dead after receiving six bullet wounds. Black Sergeant Ed Lowrey found himself beset by three men on horseback. He had just fired his rifle and had no time to reload it. The trio of assailants wounded him with a shotgun and called for his surrender. He responded with the butt of his rifle, knocking one of them off his horse. Once he hit the ground, Lowrey cracked him on the skull with his bayonet. The second of the trio charged him on his horse. Lowrey bayoneted the horse, buying him time to whack the third man with the butt of his gun. Lowrey suffered three wounds total in this encounter. Among the black troops was Manuel Dobson, a youth only 14 years old. A bullet sliced through both of his arms, but he held onto his weapon. Later he told a white officer he “couldn’t kill but one of ‘em,” but added proudly, “I brought my gun back.”[15]
From
around the area the other contingents of the 1st Kansas rushed to
the mound. Ward reported that as the hand-to-hand fighting intensified,
Armstrong came into the fight like a lion, yelling to his men to follow him,
and cursing them for not going faster when they were already on the keen jump.”
Armstrong’s soldiers quickly formed a line and fired off a volley. The Rebels
charged down the mound at them, only to be hit by another volley from another
Union detachment. They then changed direction, hoping to swing through a space
in the Federal lines and into Armstrong’s rear. Major Ward, now on the scene,
saw the situation and quickly sent another detachment to close up the space.
The Rebels now sought to get out of their increasingly desperate situation,
using the smoke from the prairie fire as cover. Armstrong saw their shapes
through the smoke, “charged his brave lads through the fire, and gave them a
terrible volley in the flank as they dashed by.”[16]
The
Missourians withdrew, outmaneuvered in spite of their numbers advantage. The
prairie fire they started continued to burn, covering their retreat. It also
forced the Federals to scramble in an attempt to save the dead and wounded from
the flames. Perhaps upon seeing black soldiers they had gotten overconfident.
They had fought as a mass while the officers and men of the 1st
Kansas had quickly adjusted to every tactical situation. Major Ward
satisfactorily noted in his report, “They had tested the niggers and had
received an answer to the often mooted question of ‘will their fight.’” What
was incredible was not that black soldiers had bested whites (though this was
noteworthy at the time given racial preconceptions). It was that the 1st
Kansas had only been training for a few weeks and had defeated a larger force
of whites comprised of veterans. Ward and Seaman placed Federal losses at 8
dead and 10 wounded. There were actually 11 wounded. A Full list of the Federal
dead and wounded can be found at this website (https://islandmound.tripod.com/casualties.htm).[17]
The
men were joyous to learn that Gardner was alive. After his head wound, he found
himself having to crawl to outrace the prairie fire. He found safety by getting
to already burned up ground.[18]
The men also found one of Crew’s killers. A search of the partisan’s corpse
revealed Crew’s watch. A newspaper account from the abolitionist Kansas Daily
Conservative noted with satisfaction that the partisan’s death was “another
instance of speedy and retributive justice.”[19]
Confederate
losses are not as clear thanks to the lack of sources. Federal sources estimate
30 to 40 killed and many more wounded, but as is often the case with these
battle reports it is probably an exaggeration. Still, the 1st Kansas
inflicted much more than they received, with several soldiers taking out 3 or 4
Rebels on their own. Their superior weaponry also helped, as the partisans
appear to have mostly been armed with revolvers and non-military firearms.[20]
Proven Soldiers
 |
| A photo of the 1st Kansas, courtesy of the Library of Congress. |
The
next day James Williams’ reinforcements, responding to Seaman’s urgent message,
arrived. These included 150 more men from the 1st Kansas, Ohio
cavalrymen, and some artillery. By this time, however, the Rebels had abandoned
their position on Osage Island. The following pursuit yielded no further
fighting, but spoils in the form of many horses and over a hundred cattle. The
latter provided beef for weeks to come.[21]
Though
the battle was a very small affair on the fringes of the war, the makeup of the
Federal troops was able to garner some national attention. An article in the New York Times stated: “The First
regiment Kansas colored volunteers, or a portion of it, have been in a fight,
shed their own and rebel blood, and come off victorious when the odds were as
five to one against them.” The Confederates were reportedly impressed by the
determination of the black soldiers as well. One of their officers, Bill
Truman, said that “the black devils fought like tigers.” However he credited
their bravery to the training of their white officers, who supposedly
conditioned them to never surrender.[22]
The
battle’s effect in strategic results is both negligible and important. Nearly
40 years later, a speaker at a veterans’ meeting made the claim that the 1st
Kansas saved Mound City from being sacked and burned by over 800 Missouri
guerillas. However this speculation, which does have merit, was stated to
increase the importance of the battle. Even the title of the written speech
uses the word “probably.”[23]
The real importance of the battle is that it showed that black soldiers would
fight, and fight fiercely and bravely. Even then, this battle garnered little
attention, with future fights in 1863 being the one to sway public opinion.
Even post-war accounts of colored regiments, written to argue for the equality
of black Americans, often overlooked this battle. More recently the Battle of
Island Mound has received its proper due as a military milestone, and the
Missouri Department of Natural Resources created a half hour docudrama on the
event. The 1st Kansas Colored would go on to play a prominent role
in the Indian Territory and Red River campaigns.
Contemporary Sources
"The
Battle of Fort Toothman." Old Settlers' History of Bates County,
Missouri. Amsterdam, Mo: Tathwell & Maxey, 1897, 187-188.
Kansas Daily Conservative, 4 November,
1862.
Lawrence Republican, 6 November 1862.
New York Times, 19 November,
1862.
Stearns, J.H.
“Interesting Reminiscences of Colored Troops Who Probably Saved Mound City from
the Fate of Lawrence,” Linn County
Republic, January 31, 1902.
United States. The War of
the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies Vol. LIII.
Washington D.C. 1898
Secondary Sources
Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 1956.
“John Sixkiller.” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185992603/john-sixkiller. accessed July 22, 2021
Lull, Robert W. Civil War General and Indian Fighter James
M. Williams: Leader of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry and
the 8th U.S. Cavalry. Denton, Texas: University of North Texas
Press, 2013.
Peterson,
Richard C. Sterling Price’s Lieutenants:
A Guide to the Officers and Organization of the Missouri State Guard, 1861-1865.
Two Trails Publishing, 1995.
Tabor, Chris.
“The Skirmish at Island Mound.” https://islandmound.tripod.com/index1.htm,
accessed July 22, 2021.
Trudeau, Noah
Andre. Like Men of War: Black Troops in
the Civil War, 1862-1865. Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1998.
[1] Dudley
Taylor Cornish, The Sable Arm: Black
Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865, (Lawrence, Kansas: University of
Kansas Press, 1956), 70-75; Ian Michael Spurgeon, Soldiers in the Army of Freedom: The 1st Kansas Colored, the Civil
War's First African American Combat Unit, (Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 2014) 13.
[2] Cornish, 74-75; Spurgeon, 52-60.
[3] Spurgeon,
62-63, 66, 69, 78; “John Sixkiller.” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185992603/john-sixkiller.
Accessed July 7, 2021.
[4] J.H. Stearns,
“Interesting Reminiscences of Colored Troops Who Probably Saved Mound city from
the Fate of Lawrence,” Linn County
Republic, January 31, 1902.
[5] United States, The War of
the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies Vol. LIII
(Washington D.C. 1898), 455-456; New
York Times, 19 November, 1862; Spurgeon, 87; Robert W. Lull, Civil War General and Indian Fighter James
M. Williams: Leader of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry and
the 8th U.S. Cavalry, (Denton, Texas: University of North Texas
Press, 2013), 54.
[6] OR LIII, 456; "The Battle of Fort Toothman," Old
Settlers' History of Bates County, Missouri, (Amsterdam, Mo: Tathwell
& Maxey), 1897, 187; Noah Andre Trudeau, Like Men of War: Black Troops in the Civil War, 1862-1865, (Boston:
Little, Brown, & Company, 1998), 5; Spurgeon, 86; Lull, 54.
[7] Richard C.
Peterson, Sterling Price’s Lieutenants: A
Guide to the Officers and Organization of the Missouri State Guard, 1861-1865,
(Two Trails Publishing, 1995), 11, 250, 284;
[8] OR LIII, 456.
[9] OR LIII, 456; New York Times, 19 November, 1862;
Trudeau, 5; Spurgeon, 88-89.
[10] New York Times, 19 November, 1862; "The Battle of Fort Toothman,” 187.
[11] OR LIII, 456; New York Times, 19 November, 1862; John
Sixkiller.”
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185992603/john-sixkiller.
[12] OR LIII, 456-457; Lull, 56.
[13] Stearns.
[14] OR LIII, 457; New York Times, 19 November, 1862.
[15] “John
Sixkiller.” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185992603/john-sixkiller,
accessed July 7, 2021; New York Times,
19 November, 1862,
[16] OR LIII, 457.
[17] OR LIII, 457; Lawrence Republican, 6 November 1862;
Lull, 59; https://islandmound.tripod.com/casualties.htm,
accessed July 22, 2021.
[18] New York Times, 19 November, 1862.
[19] Kansas Daily Conservative, 4
November, 1862.
[20] OR LIII, 457. https://islandmound.tripod.com/casualties.htm,
accessed July 22, 2021; Lull, 59.
[21] OR LIII, 458;
Lull, 59.
[22] New York Times, 19 November, 1862.
[23] Stearns.
No comments:
Post a Comment