Before Glory, the "First Kansas Colored Infantry" Was First in Battle

A Moment in Time

Kansas Historical Society

A monthly series from the Kansas Historical Society

Controversy erupted in Kansas during the month of August 1862, but the events would set a precedent. Here African-Americans would be the first recruited in the Northern states for service in the Civil War. They would soon be the first to see battle, and the first to die in action.

The recruiter of the First Kansas Colored Infantry was no stranger to controversy. United State Senator James Henry Lane has been a prominent figure in Kansas since 1855, and was often deeply involved in the turmoil in bringing Kansas into the Union as a free state. His efforts to raise black troops was based on his interpretation of an order to recruit regiments. It was not an interpretation shared by many on either the state or federal level.

As a result, five months would pass before the First Kansas Colored was accepted into federal service. This would not deter them from training or seeing action. On October 28, 1862, a detachment of 225 men faced five hundred Confederates at Island Mound in Bates County, Missouri. Ten were killed and twelve wounded, but the Confederates were driven off. The regiment's first taste of action had been a success.

The First Kansas Colored was the fourth African-American unit to be mustered into the federal army on January 13, 1863. Much has been made of the service of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, depicted in the 1989 movie Glory, and deservedly so. The service of the Fifty-fourth is important because they probably did more to lay to rest any doubts Northern whites had about blacks making good soldiers. But authorization to recruit the Fifty-fourth did not come until January 26, 1863-thirteen days after the First Kansas Colored was mustered in, and three months after Island Mound.

The First Kansas Colored continued to distinguish itself. Most prominent were two battles in Indian Territory (present Oklahoma) in July 1863. At Cabin Creek on July 2 blacks fought alongside whites for the first time in turning back Confederate troops. Fifteen days later on July 17 at Honey Springs the First Kansas Colored had perhaps its best day of the war. Here the soldiers held the federal center against attack, effectively ending any doubts west of the Mississippi about the abilities of black soldiers. Major General James Blunt would remark, "I never saw such fighting as was done by that negro regiment. . .they make better soldiers in every respect than any troops I have ever had under my command."

The First Kansas Colored would see service until the end of the war. They would suffer their worst day on April 18, 1864, at Poison Springs, Arkansas, where 117 would die and 65 were wounded. The death toll was aggravated by the execution of the captured and wounded men left on the field. For black soldiers in the West, "Remember Poison Springs!" became a battle cry.

The preserved regimental flag of the First Kansas Colored Infantry is a document of the gallantry of that unit. Recorded on it are the battle honors of Island Mound, Cabin Creek, Honey Springs, and Poison Springs, as well as the battles of Sherwood, Prairie Deanne, Jenkins Ferry, and Camden. It and three other flags of the regiment are the few remaining artifacts to remind us of a regiment that was the first in many ways.

The preservation of the flag is the result of a gift from Suzanne Knowles of Kansas City, Kansas. The First Kansas Colored is one of eighty flags in the Kansas Historical Society's collection of Kansas units that served in the Civil and Spanish-American Wars. For more information about the Society's Save the Flags project, contact Blair Tarr at 785-272-8681, ext. 427.

The Kansas Historical Society does not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission to, access to, or operation of its programs. The Society requests prior notification to accommodate individuals with special needs or disabilities.