First Kansas Colored Infantry

In 1989 the movie-going public was captivated the heroism of the 54th Massachusetts, the African American regiment depicted in the movie Glory. Correctly hailed as "one of the finest historical dramas ever made," this Oscar winning film was nevertheless incorrectly billed as the "story of America's first unit of black soldiers during the Civil War." In reality, that distinction could easily be given to the First Regiment Kansas Colored Infantry which got its "baptism by fire" in the fall of 1862 and, in less than a year, distinguished itself as a fighting unit at Honey Springs, Indian Territory.

Controversy erupted as the First Kansas Colored began to form in August 1862. They would be the first African Americans 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 was no stranger to controversy himself. U. S. Senator James Henry Lane had 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. The delay was due to an opposition to the arming of black troops among many in the North and federal policy that reflected this prejudicial attitude. This would not deter them from training or seeing action. Despite the existence of a widespread national reticence, many Kansans advocated the use of black troops early on, and during the fall of 1862, a portion of the regiment engaged in battle with a rebel force at Butler, Missouri, thus gaining distinction as the first "colored soldiers in the Union army" tested in battle. "The blacks behaved nobly," reported the Lawrence Republican, "and have demonstrated that they can and will fight." According to the Republican's correspondent, Lieutenant W. H. Smallwood, "the battle of Toothman's Mound [also Island Mound]," October 29, proved "that black men can fight," and they were "now prepared to scour this country thoroughly, and not leave a place where a traitor can find refuge." On October 28, 1862, a detachment of 225 men faced 500 Confederates at Island Mound in Bates County, Missouri. Ten were killed and 12 wounded, but the Confederates were driven off. The regiment's first taste of action had been a success.

The unit was mustered into federal service under the command of Colonel James M. Williams, formerly of the Fifth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, on January 13, 1863. They were the fourth African American unit to be mustered into the federal army, 13 days ahead of the 54th Massachusetts and three months after Island Mound. The service of the 54th is important because the unitprobably did more to lay to rest any doubts Northern whites had about blacks making good soldiers.

The First Kansas Colored was stationed at Baxter Springs during the spring of 1863 and then assigned to escort duty 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. As Dudley T. Cornish wrote in a 1953 article for the Kansas Historical Quarterly, ". . . the train was attacked by a large force of Texans and Indians, and after skirmishing, the rebels took up strong positions on the south bank of the creek. The next morning [July 2, 1863] the Union forces attacked and in two hours "fighting drove the enemy with substantial losses from his position." The "escort" included white companies from Kansas and Colorado regiments as well as several hundred members of the 3rd Indian Home Guards; as a result, wrote Cornish, "This engagement seems to have been the first in the Civil War in which white and colored Union soldiers fought side by side, and it is recorded that the white officers and men 'allowed no prejudice on account of color to interfere in the discharge of their duty in the face of an enemy alike to both races.'"

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. After an all-night march, according to Cornish, Union troops under command of Major General James G. Blunt came upon a strong rebel force under General Douglas Cooper and after a "sharp and bloody engagement of two hours' duration" forced Cooper's command to flee the field. During the fight the Negro regiment, which held the Union center, moved up under fire to within 50 paces of the Confederate line and there, still under fire, halted and exchanged volley fire for some 20 minutes before the rebels broke and ran. The First Kansas captured the colors of a Texas regiment. "I never saw such fighting done as was done by the negro regiment," Major Blunt wrote in a letter published in the Cincinnati Daily Commercial on August 12, 1863. "They fought like veterans, with a coolness and valor that is unsurpassed. They preserved their line perfect throughout the whole engagement and, although in the hottest of the fight, they never once faltered. Too much praise can not be awarded them for their gallantry."

The following April found troops of the First Kansas Colored engaged in fierce combat at Poison Springs, Arkansas, where on April 18, 1864, they suffered heavy casualties—117 died and 65 were wounded. The death toll was aggravated by the execution of the captured and wounded men left on the field. Honey Springs was the regiment's defining moment. For black soldiers in the West, "Remember Poison Springs!" became a battle cry. "This was the most important battle in the regiment's entire history," according to Cornish, and, along with the 54th Massachusetts' gallantry at Fort Wagner on July 18, "set to rest a great deal of criticism of the use of Negroes as soldiers."

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.

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1.Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide, 1996 Edition (New York: Signet Book, 1996), 498-499.

2. Dudley Taylor Cornish, The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865 (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1966), 146, 152-156. This seminal work was first published in 1956. Coincidentally, the First Kansas Colored's battle at Honey Springs (July 17, 1863) was fought just one day before the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts made its momentous assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina (July 18, 1863). See also, Joseph T. Glatthaar, Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers (New York: Macmillan, Inc., 1990), 136-142. Relatively early in the Civil War, blacks made their way to Kansas to strike a military blow against the Confederacy and thus the institution of slavery. In all, by war's end, Kansas enlisted over 20,000 soldiers in nineteen regiments and four batteries; two of those regiments and one battery were "Colored." Most of the recruits for the latter came from Missouri, but Kansas is credited with the enlistment of 2,080 black men. William Frank Zornow, Kansas: A History of the Jayhawk State, 107-08; Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kansas, 1861-1865 (Topeka: State Printer, 1896).

3.[McAfee, J. B.], Official Military History of the Kansas Regiments during the War for the Suppression of the Great Rebellion (Leavenworth, Kans.: W. S. Burke, 1870). The regiment was complete by May 2, 1863.

4.Lawrence Republican, November 6, 1862. The paper carried a letter from Lieut. W. H. Smallwood under the title: "KANSAS BLACK SOLDIERS BATTLE! // THEY FIGHT BRAVELY ..." filed by Republican correspondent at "Toothman's Mound, Bates Co., Mo., November 1, 1862." "The discipline acquired and the courage displayed by the First Kansas Colored Volunteers in camp and on field during the last months of 1862," according to Senate Report No. 1214 (51st Congress, 1st Session, 2), "influenced the action of President Lincoln in issuing his proclamation of New Year's Day, 1863, which put in force the provisions of the act of July 17, 1862, and forecasted the freedom and citizenship of persons of African descent."

5.Dudley T. Cornish, "Kansas Negro Regiments in the Civil War," Kansas Historical Quarterly 20 (May 1953): 425. Cornish quotes [McAfee, J. B.], Official Military History of the Kansas Regiments during the War for the Suppression of the Great Rebellion (Leavenworth, Kans.: W. S. Burke, 1870), 411, 412.

6.Cornish, "Kansas Negro Regiments," 426. Confederate casualties were reportedly 150 killed, 400 wounded, and 77 taken prisoner; Union losses were given as 13 killed and 62 wounded; the First Kansas Colored lost 2 killed and 30 wounded.

7.The regiment suffered terribly at Poison Springs (April 18, 1864), near Camden, Arkansas: 117 dead and 65 wounded. The regiment was not mustered out of service until October 1, 1865. For more on the activities of the First and Second Kansas Colored and other black troops in Kansas, see Cornish, "Kansas Negro Regiments," 417-429.

8.Quoted in Cornish, "Kansas Negro Regiments," 426. Blunt's letter, as stated above, was published in the Cincinnati Daily Commercial, August 12, 1863, but was dated July 25, 1863.