Second Kansas Colored Infantry flagThe Second Kansas Colored Infantry was organized from August through October of 1863, one of two African American regiments from Kansas during the Civil War.
Army regulations provided that officers were to be white, and the commander of the Second was future Kansas governor Colonel Samuel J. Crawford. The regiment served mainly in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Perhaps the most notable action was at Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas, on April 30, 1864. Days before this fight, the captured and wounded of the First Kansas Colored Infantry were slaughtered by the Confederates at Poison Springs, Arkansas. At Jenkins Ferry, the Second Kansas made a successful but bloody charge against a Confederate battery. As the charge was made, the men of the Second could be heard exclaiming, "Remember Poison Springs!" 
Just before the battle at Jenkins Ferry, Col. Crawford was told by the commanding general that the Second Kansas Colored Infantry would not fight. It is said that Crawford, "in language much more emphatic than Christian, replied that they could and would go as far as it was possible for any others to go." The Second Kansas Colored Infantry was mustered out November 27, 1865. The report of the regiment indicated, "The discipline of the Second Kansas Colored Infantry was excellent, and at all times and under all circumstances the men of the regiment performed their duty well and faithfully-shrank from no danger, avoided no peril." The regimental flag of the Second Kansas Colored Infantry is pictured here before conservation treatment (top left) and after treatment (bottom right). Save the Flags!The Society's collections include 80 more flags from the Civil and Spanish-American wars. The Society currently is raising funds for flag conservation and preservation through the Save the Flags! project. Interested in other Civil War flags in the collections of the Kansas Museum of History? Check out these links:
|
|
 |
Return
to the latest 
