The spring edition of The Journal of Mississippi History arrived a day or so ago. It has an article entitled “Abraham Lincoln and the United States Colored Troops of Mississippi,” by David Slay. It’s a rather long article and contained information that was new to me. It begins by mentioning there were scads of former slaves following around after the Federal armies and provided a bit of information about the area(s) from which they came. Every Federal operation produced more of them. In places like Corinth, up and down the Mississippi River (primarily) at Natchez and Vicksburg, they were formed loosely into camps on the periphery of Federal military positions. President Lincoln realized the Federal army had to do something about the situation. The article goes into detail about the personalities involved. What it boils down to is because of their basically non-martial job, selected Federal chaplains were tasked with taking these former slaves (freedmen) and getting them organized into military units that became the United States Colored Troops. These chaplains were given authority over commanders who outranked them. One even went so far as to punish white Federal soldiers who abused the freedmen. The highest ranking chaplain was responsible for selecting a good portion of the white officers that would be responsible for USCT command. I knew nothing about this aspect of the Civil War.  

--Last edited by Curtis Makamson on 2008-03-11 08:39:20 --

Curtis,

I'd love to read that, is it available on line?

Not yet, Robert.  That journal comes out quarterly.  The winter 2007 edition has just recently been posted on their website.  The article about USCT and chaplains is in the spring 2008 edition.

Robert, just sent you a private message

Got it and replied. Thanks!