UPDATES
TO THE BOOK
BOOK UPDATES
Research and reflection on the Marshall Plantation raid and related areas covered in the book are ongoing. Thanks to digital publishing, a revision (like the Second Edition!) can be completed in days.
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It seems unfair to purchasers to include information in later editions without providing a way to share revisions and additions. This page affords the opportunity for readers to check-in, or better, to receive updates via email when there is a new posting. Readers are encouraged to click here to Subscribe to receive notices of new postings on this page.
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Use the nifty menu on the left to navigate the various Updates.
Note to the Second Edition
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There is little change here from the First Edition. However, when you discover a significant flaw in your work, you want to correct it … fast. This is particularly true when one of your book's aims is to correct the accepted versions of history.
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Truly, the flaw is nothing anyone would likely discover. But I knew about it and refused to let it gnaw at my conscience.
There was a Union sergeant who wrote an extensive letter detailing the raid, recording a first-hand source. When it was published in The Christian Recorder, it was simply signed "H.S.H., Sergeant Co. B., 3d U.S.C.T."
Journalist Rick Allen who discovered the letter in 2016 wanted to know who "H.S.H." was and searched an online database of the rolls of Civil War soldiers from Pennsylvania. It was essentially a spreadsheet listing names, ranks, and units. In the 3rd US Colored Troops, there was only one listing in Company B of a Sergeant fitting the initials "H.S.H." - Henry S. Herman.
From when Rick published the story over 6 years ago to only days after finally publishing this book (First Edition), we believed the letter-writer was Sgt. Henry S. Herman.
Never passing on an opportunity to learn more, only days after publishing the book, I read about a year-old database on a publicly accessible Google Drive dedicated to the troops who were trained at Fort William Penn in Philadelphia. It included all the names of individuals with units and ranks identified with individual folders holding scans of original documents and other information about them. The link is provided at the end if you would like to peruse the files.
I found the named individuals from the letter, Sergeant Major Henry James, the raid commander, and Sergeant Joel Benn who was killed during the mission, both in Company B of the 3rd US Colored Troops. However, I did not find any listing for anyone named Henry S. Herman, no last name Herman at all in Company B, 3rd USCT.
This was odd, but we are talking about over 150-year-old records. To miss one name among thousands would not be shocking. Yet the last name "Herman" was on another database. While I never doubted the letter's authenticity, that his name would be missing from the rolls of this database was curious.
Then, quite accidentally, my eye caught sight of a listing for Sgt. Henry S. Harmon, Company B, 3rd US Colored Troops. Could this be the letter-writer? Harmon, not Herman?
A variety of documents were in his folder, mostly pay receipts, substantiating the identity. The image here is likely his last receipt upon mustering out on October 31, 1865, showing he "mustered out to remain in the South," and dating his promotions from private to corporal to sergeant.
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My firm belief is that the letter-writing sergeant was accidentally misnamed in the database which Rick Allen consulted back in 2016, a clerical mistake whenever that data file was created.
As stated, no one would have known the difference ... except me. The Second Edition makes the correction so that the letter-writer is known as Sgt. Henry S. Harmon. Now I feel better and can sleep soundly once again.
Other minor changes include emphasizing the influence of the scouts in the raid planning and operation. The scouts seem to have had the pivotal role and may have sought the assistance of two dozen Union soldiers to pull off their ambitious scheme. Overall, one might better think of the soldiers accompanying the scouts to support them rather than the scouts accompanying the soldiers to support them. It does not diminish the accomplishments of the soldiers at all but recognizes the outsized role of the scouts.
The Google Drive database is named CROHL, abbreviated "Citizens for the Restoration of Historical La Mott," dedicated to the soldiers who trained at Fort William Penn in Philadelphia. That link is:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gjvLtr7LSdkvBQ_kStwdwvtr-rO9K9qb
On the White soldier
Research into this lone White soldier, identified by Sgt. Harmon as being from the 107th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI), has made it necessary to question Sgt. Harmon's naming of that unit.
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The 107th OVI was sent to Hilton Head Island, SC in December 1864 to take part in the siege of Charleston; no one from the 107th OVI would have been available in March 1865 in Jacksonville for this raid. The 107th OVI was assigned as one of the occupation regiments in Union-liberated Charleston in March 1865.
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It seems highly unlikely that a unit of the 107th OVI was left behind. It is possible that a member of the 107th OVI transferred to another Ohio unit that remained in Florida like the 75th Ohio Volunteer Infantry which would conclude the war based in Jacksonville. Transfers between units were not uncommon.
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Using "Occam's razor," it seems most likely that Sgt. Harmon's source simply knew the White soldier was an Ohioan and misidentified his unit. It doesn't change that we have a lone White soldier, only that this soldier was more likely from the 75th OVI rather than the 107th OVI. Maybe the White soldier was German-speaking, fostering the belief that the White soldier was from 'the German regiment,' the 107th OVI.
On the Holly Plantation mission
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This mission is inexplicable. Sergeant Harmon's letter makes no mention of the reason for it. It makes no logical sense since the raiders had plenty to handle following the Marshall raid which, in addition to the 30-man raider team, added 95 liberated slaves, took 4 prisoners, three wagons, and two dozen horses and mules. The relatively modest 24-slave Holly Plantation seems a highly unnecessary diversion. A decent explanation for the foray begs to be offered.
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One method of getting some insight into this operation is to consider who was present and who was not present in the 9-man raider contingent sent to the Holly Plantation.
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Sergeant Harmon tells us that six soldiers from the 3rd USCT led by Sgt. Joel Benn accompanied at least three scouts which we learn later included the "Chief Scout" Israel Hall.
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We know that the six soldiers from the 34th USCT were experienced "jayhawker" style combatants. If the incursion intended to destroy the plantation and liberate the slaves - a repeat of the Marshall raid - one would have expected the six men of the 34th USCT to be assigned to the contingent rather than men of the 3rd USCT. This absence of the 34th USCT suggests that a repetition of the Marshall raid and torching the whole Holly operation was not planned. Then what was the plan?
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It is interesting that the Chief Scout and two other scouts are part of the Holly contingent. The presence of the Chief Scout would indicate that this was part of the scouts' agenda and that the 3rd USCT unit was accompanying the scouts for "muscle" if needed.
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What possible reason could the scouts have for generating this side-mission to the Holly Plantation?
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Remember that the scouts likely received critical information making the raid possible - the flatboat location plus the large influx of slaves at the Marshall Plantation is what the evidence indicates. The scouts' likely source was someone on a nearby plantation, either Marshall's or another, like the nearby Holly Plantation.
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If an informant slave had lined up information for the scouts that pointed to a target at the Marshall Plantation but was enslaved at another plantation, it would be reasonable to imagine that the informant slave would strike a bargain for providing the information. Knowing that a slave-liberating raid would be nearby, the provision of the intelligence by the informant slave may have been predicated on their extraction from the Holly Plantation during the raid operation.
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The best guess for the Holly Plantation foray is that it was an extraction operation led by the scouts and supported by Sgt. Benn and his men from the 3rd USCT. The extraction was likely in fulfillment of a promise made by the scouts to an informant slave on the Holly Plantation.
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With this operation coming after the Marshall Plantation was set ablaze and after torching the bridge, there is sufficient reason to believe that those at the Holly Plantation had been alerted by the flames and/or smoke and had taken defensive positions in case their plantation was the next target. The raider detachment walked into an ambush that killed Sgt. Benn and lightly wounded a scout who may have been captured as well as Chief Scout Israel Hall and scout Ben Gant.
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The fate of the captives is never disclosed, but the treatment of captured scouts or guerillas often resulted in their deaths. Knowing Dickison had information from the Ocala Home Guard for his report, his silence about any captives being taken from the raiders - a positive point that he surely would have added to take the edge off a disappointing report - suggests that the captives' met a difficult fate.
On guerillas
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The role of the scouts or guerillas in the raid's planning and organization highlights their critical role in making the raid possible. However, little has been written about these kinds of groups since frankly not much was recorded about them. Nonetheless, they existed and were likely more widespread and influential than historians have appreciated, not only in Florida but throughout operations in all Civil War combat theaters.
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Here is an account that will likely be an added appendix in a future edition. It concerns operations on Florida's western Gulf coast, but is indicative of the formation of former slaves into a guerilla unit as well as Union military support of their guerilla operations:
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On rare occasions, the Federals used contrabands, as they characterized runaway slaves, as guerillas to harass the rebel irregulars along the Gulf. Capt. Sam Hope, who fashioned a record as a fine Confederate combat officer in both Florida and Virginia, reported the results of a skirmish with such a group of black guerillas. Writing on September 8, 1863, from Hernando [modern Citrus] County, he reported: “I had succeeded in capturing the boat [used to transport the black partisans from Seahorse Key] and had the negroes cut off . . . . After chasing them about two miles through the saw Grass we came up [with] in gun shot of them . We began to fire at them, and [they] returned fire very cool and deliberately but we got in close range of them and killed them. One of these negroes was recognized by some of my men as belonging to Mr. Everett, who lives near hear [sic: here], which ran away from him about nine months ago. He was styled as Captain of the party, as I learned from the negroes recaptured of Mr. King."
Kindle locations 1934, 1941
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Not only did the East Gulf Blockading Squadron [whose operations ranged from its base at Key West to Cedar Key] supply arms and intelligence to the Union guerrillas and grant refuge to white and black refugees, but it also carried on an active campaign to destroy rebel shipping, saltworks, and communities near the coast. These forays were usually successful and damaged Confederate interests in the backcountry.
Kindle location 1947
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from "A Forgotten Front: Florida During the Civil War Era", edited by Seth A. Weitz and Jonathon C. Sheppard, University of Alabama Press: 2018, Kindle edition
Harmon Not a Raider?
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A reviewer of the book contributed two compelling points in updating the narrative. The reviewer pointed out a few minor errors needing correction - thank you! - and a few other matters that actually need no correction. Despite having a penchant for pointing out errors, there were two points raised by the reviewer that are quite worthwhile and substantial. Here is one. (The other one, quite fascinating, can be found in the heading "Harmon Post-War.")
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The reviewer points out that an assumption was made that letter writer Sergeant Harmon was a participant in the raid. The reviewer asserted that this assumption may be inaccurate.
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Lacking in the Sergeant's letter is even a single use of the first person plural "we." It is possible that one could write a first-person account (we) entirely in the third-person (they), but it seems unlikely, particularly since Sgt. Harmon seems to revel in the story. Further, there is no mention of the letter writer's own role in the raid or some personal commentary, something we would expect to see at least once in the course of events. Finally, of the three letters written by Harmon to The Christian Recorder that I have found, the other two letters - one written before and one written after the raid letter - were signed clearly as "Sgt. Henry S. Harmon." The letter about this raid was signed more cryptically as "H.S.H." as if he didn't want anyone to think that it was his own story.
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Did we jump to a false conclusion that Sgt. Harmon was a leader in the raid? Indeed, we may have.
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On the other hand, the evidence is compelling that, if Sgt. Harmon was not a participant, then he assiduously recorded the account from a raid participant, most likely a fellow member of the 3rd USCT. The extensive details as presented in the letter reflect consistency and coherence overall, and align with the narrative of the other first-hand participant, Confederate Capt. J. J. Dickison. The chronological sequence is fully realistic and exacting as far as movements and activities, as good or better than Dickison's.
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The reviewer chastizes for dismissing other second- and third-hand accounts but not Harmon's. However, it is clearly shown in the book how those second- and third-hand accounts were often wildly inaccurate, inconsistent, and even incoherent, failing to align with the activities, and demonstrating a poor understanding of the raid. To suggest that those other accounts deserve better attention, or that Harmon's account should be treated with less deference, would be a very poor call indeed.
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It seems very safe to say that Sgt. Harmon's letter is a highly accurate portrayal of the raid as seen from the raiders' perspective. If it is true that Harmon was not a participant, he was nonetheless a careful scribe for a raider team member who told him the full story. If it is not a first-person participant's account by Sgt. Harmon himself, then it is a first-person participant's recounting of the mission to Sgt. Harmon. We have nothing like that from any other source, except Dickison's account, and the details in Harmon's long letter far exceed what Dickison provides in a mere two paragraphs.
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Therefore, the letter of Sgt. Harmon remains a first-person account and primary source for the raid from the Union raiders' perspective. The reviewer deserves credit for calling this to our attention and ultimately for reinforcing the solidity of the narrative in Sgt. Harmon's letter.
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Harmon Post-War
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A reviewer of the book contributed two compelling points to updating the narrative.
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The first point can be found in the heading "Harmon Not a Raider?"
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The second contribution of the reviewer was to call attention to the stunning post-war careers of letter writer Sgt. Henry S. Harmon.
Harmon has his own Wikipedia page which depends heavily on a detailed article by Darius J. Young which appeared in the Florida Historical Quarterly, Fall 2006, Vol. 85 (2), pp. 177-196.
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Harmon was born in Philadelphia, the son of escaped slaves from Virginia. He apparently received a solid education in his youth.
He enlists on June 30, 1863 with the 3rd US Colored Troops, age 25, standing 5 feet 5 1/2 inches. His pre-enlistment occupation is listed as "sailor" as shown below.
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He is advanced to Corporal on August 2, 1863 and promoted to Sergeant on November 21, 1863, a rapid rise in the ranks.
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We have no direct knowledge of his engagement in any particular action during the war, knowing from a letter in The Christian Recorder in December 1863 that he took part in the siege of Fort Wagner and Fort Gregg on Morris Island, South Carolina in the fall of 1863, and can assume his participation in operations involving the 3rd USCT in occupying Baldwin, Florida upon arrival in Jacksonville in February 1864, and occupying Palatka in the summer of 1864. When he writes his letter to The Christian Recorder about the raid in early April 1865, he is assigned to a likely boring role with an artillery unit in Jacksonville.
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In an undated letter to The Christian Recorder published on October 21, 1865 - just days before the "Jacksonville Mutiny" noted in the book's Postscript chapter - Harmon writes about being posted with his unit in Gainesville, Florida on June 8, 1865. He echoes the complaint of another soldier's letter in an earlier edition, referred to as "Mr. Green," about the unequal and harsh treatment of Black soldiers in disciplinary matters. He notes that when the war was active, the Black soldiers were
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told by our commanding officers on the eve of battle to forget old grudges and prejudices, and fight like men for a common cause, meaning for us not to let the unjust and cruel treatment of the officers to the men influence us to a disregard for our duty to our common country. But now there is nothing of the kind to fear, the officers feeling that they have nothing now to fear from stray bullets, are exercising all the arrogance and despotism that their power gives them ... Now we have the tying up by the thumbs of which [originating letter writer] Mr. Green speaks on the public streets of the town, and what is called riding the horse, which is two upright posts set in the ground, fully seven feet high and a three-cornered cross beam on which men are compelled to sit astride, and other punishment, which even these people, both white and black, are horrified at witnessing, used to slavery and its horrors as they all are.
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Harmon goes on to detail the presence of "negrophobia" pervasive in the officer ranks and in post-war civil affairs, claiming that no one from the 3rd USCT will ever serve in the Army until Black officers are included in the command.
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Without knowing precisely, we can assume that Harmon and his unit from the 3rd USCT left Gainesville to return to Jacksonville in late October 1865 to be mustered out, likely being there for the "Jacksonville Mutiny."
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He musters out of the Army with the rest of the 3rd USCT on October 31, 1865. As we see from his final pay receipt, it is noted that he is "to remain in the South."
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Indeed, he does, joining with his fellow 3rd USCT colleague (Corporal - Company F) Josiah T. Walls in returning to Gainesville, now as civilians. They will be quite a pair for the next 20 years in Gainesville and Florida politics and beyond. (Josiah Walls has his own Wikipedia page - click here.)
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In 1868, both Harmon and Walls were elected to the Florida House of Representatives, serving until 1870.
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In 1869, Harmon became the first Black person admitted to the Florida Bar. Not attending any law school, Harmon diligently studied the law by himself. An option had been created for Black petitioners to circumvent the standard bar examination and simply be designated as "qualified" and admitted to the bar. Declining the easier route, Harmon stood for the standard open bar examination to gain his admittance. Harmon would form a prosperous law practice with Josiah Walls and Marylander William U. Sanders.
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Harmon and Walls would continue to be noteworthy figures in Alachua County and in Florida with Walls becoming among the first Black men from Florida to be elected to the US House of Representatives.
The smart and talented Harmon would hold a variety of civil service positions, including becoming the first and only Black person to be Chief Clerk of the Florida House of Representatives, as well as holding several business occupations.
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The reader is invited to read a fuller account of Harmon's post-war activities on his Wikipedia page (click here) and in the in-depth article by Darius Young published in Florida Historical Quarterly noted at the beginning (click here and register to gain free reading access to the article from JSTOR).
More about the White-Black pay difference
In the book, it is noted that "The disparity in pay between White soldiers at $13 per month and Black soldiers at $10 per month ... was not corrected until early 1864! It led the 54th Massachusetts (and then the 55th Massachusetts) to famously refuse their pay altogether until it was on par with White soldiers."
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There are some other details. This is reported in A Brave Black Regiment (1891) by 54th Massachusetts Captain Luis Emilio.
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In November 1863, Massachusetts Gov. Andrew signed an act that would have the state make up the White-Black federal pay difference to bring parity. One soldier's letter was quoted by a writer in the Boston Journal pointing out the Governor's perhaps well-intended but mistaken notion that this pay refusal was about the sum of money as opposed to a matter of principle in equality - [the Governor's action] in effect, advertises us to the world as holding out for money and not from principle — that we sink our manhood in consideration of a few more dollars.
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Even when Congress finally addressed the issue in early 1864, the pay rate for Black soldiers only applied to those who were free prior to the war's commencement on April 19, 1861. There was a declaration to be made by Black soldiers that they were indeed free from April 1861, but it was never checked. This led many who were not free to affirm nonetheless that they were free in order to qualify for the pay upgrade.
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Pay records would note when a soldier declared himself to have been free as this image from Sgt. Harmon's pay record for September-October 1864 shows in its "Remarks" section.
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The pay-refusing 54th and 55th Massachusetts soldiers were once again insulted by the stupid rule imposed by Congress and continued to refuse their pay on these terms.
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For units of escaped slaves who were enlisted into the Army, the pay rate remained unchanged.
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Col. Montgomery: Abolitionist AND Racist
While Colonel James Montgomery of the 2nd South Carollina Volunteer Infantry (SCVI) and "jayhawker" notoriety was passionately opposed to slavery, he was nonetheless a racist. A passionate harangue came from Montgomery on September 30, 1863 on Morris Island, SC when there was a renewed refusal by the 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments to accept payment on unequal terms compared to White soldiers. He is essentially recorded by a witness as saying:
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Men: the paymaster is here to pay you. You must remember you have not proved yourselves soldiers. You must take notice that the Government has virtually paid you a thousand dollars apiece for setting you free. Nor should you expect to be placed on the same footing with white men. Any one listening to your shouting and singing can see how grotesquely ignorant you are. I am your friend and the friend of the negro. I was the first person in the country to employ nigger soldiers in the United States Army. I was out in Kansas. I was short of men. I had a lot of niggers and a lot of mules; and you know a nigger and a mule go very well together. I therefore enlisted the niggers, and made teamsters of them. In refusing to take the pay offered you, and what you are only legally entitled to, you are guilty of insubordination and mutiny, and can be tried and shot by court-martial.
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From the book by the 54th Mass. Capt. Luis F. Emilio, Brave Black Regiment: History of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1863-1865 – Boston Book Company: 1891
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Sergeant Henry S. Harmon's Last Letter
published October 21, 1865 in The Christian Recorder
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Letter from Gainesville, Florida
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Mr. Editor:
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In your paper of Sept. 9th, 1865, I saw a letter from Fort Bailey, over the signature of William P. Green, and Sir, how glad would I be if I could contradict the statement in it made! But even for my dear friend I cannot. I can only endorse it: honor and justice demand that I and every other colored soldier should or every one form this military division that I have heard speak upon this matter, and in evidence of the fact I will state the experience of our own command, as it has been since we left Jacksonville, for this post [in Gainesville] on June 8th, 1865. Since the surrender of the troops in Florida by General Samuel Jones, and during the actual existence of the Rebellion, we have been told by our commanding officers on the eve of battle to forget old grudges and prejudices, and fight like men for a common cause, meaning for us not to let the unjust and cruel treatment of the officers to the men, influence us to a disregard for our duty to our common country. But now there is nothing of the kind of fear, the officers having the feeling that they have nothing now to fear from stray bullets, are exercising all the arrogance and despotism that their power gives them, and what appeals has an enlisted man if he applies for redress to the superior officer? It can only be endorsed through the officer who is his worst enemy, whose endorsement will be, as a matter of course, the most detrimental to the interest of the soldier. Now we have the tying up of the thumbs of which Mr. Green speaks, on the public streets of the town, and what is called riding the horse, which is two upright posts set in the ground, full seven feet high, and three-cornered cross beam, on which men are compelled to sit astride, and other punishment, which even these people, both white and black, are horrified at witnessing, used to slavery and its horrors as they all are. And for what? Because some of those stauch [sic] union men, many of whom wear the uniform of the so-called confederacy, and have not to this day taken the oath of allegiance - but their word is sufficient to condemn any amount of colored soldiers or citizens, for even citizens feel the effect of that most prevalent and baleful disease, negrophobia. Negro citizens although they have been the only true and avowed friends of the United States Government in this section of the country, are still compelled to feel that they are black, and the smooth oily tongue of the white planter is enough to condemn any number of them to tying up for twenty-four hours [presumably by thumbs], or two hours up and one down [presumably astride the beam].
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Such, my friends, is what we endure or witness, and if the United States Government ever gets five year men, she will not get them from the veterans of the 3d Regiment U.S.C.T., until she is compelled to give us officers of our own choice, who will be officers and gentlemen. Officers who can sympathize with the enlisted man without regard to color; men who will take into consideration a man's former conduct before punishment.
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We are rarely allowed to mingle with the people of color around us; in consequence of which, I have not written to you for a considerable time, although there is considerable interesting matter to be found worth relating to your readers, which would throw considerable light upon many things that at present seem dark to the public mind. Hoping that I have not occupied too much space, I am truly a soldier, and I hope a good soldier.
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H. S. Harmon
Co. B, 3d U.S.C.T.
https://archive.org/details/christianrecorder_1865_v5_no40_to_52/page/n8/mode/1up
Pre-Civil War Henry James
A friend who does extensive genealogy research, Kim, has been a fan of the book and was curious to know more about Sgt. Major Henry James.
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I, too, would love more information about him. Sergeant Major is a regimental position, making a Sergeant Major in a regiment like the 3rd US Colored Troops the highest-ranking Black soldier. Having been appointed to his position roughly 10 days after his enlistment, there must have been certain qualities that made him the choice. All we know from his enlistment document is that his occupation was listed as "laborer," a term recorded for most Black enlistees. So, what were those qualities that made Henry James outstanding?
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I knew that a Sergeant Major's position demanded extensive bureaucratic duties, requiring numerous reports on all kinds of subjects as well as ensuring the effective drilling of the men in the 10 + companies of soldiers in the regiment. The Sergeant Major had to be literate, organized, and disciplined.
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I admit that I had not vigorously pursued background info on Henry James. I had my reasons. He was not a commissioned officer. He was not auspicious in any real way. His name was common, and could be seen as two first or two last names, causing searches to return a huge number of results with nothing coming close. Finally, any records would be roughly 150 years old. This pursuit didn't seem to be a good use of research time.
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Kim states that, in a matter of minutes - MINUTES! - she had struck gold. I was caught between historian humiliation and historian hallelujah. While I hang my head in shame, let's pursue the hallelujah.
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The link below is to a 12-year-old article that recounts an interview with Henry James in 1891, 4 years before he died in 1895, appearing in the Chester County (PA) Daily Local News, presumably in 1891.
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https://mainlinetoday.com/life-style/henry-james-journey-from-free-man-to-slave-and-back/
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It is a long and fascinating article which makes no mention of his leadership of the March 1865 raid on the Marshall Plantation. As has so often been the case in this research, a whole story of its own unfolds.
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Let me summarize.
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At the 1860 census, Henry James lived in Ercildoun, PA, a hamlet in Chester County outside Philadelphia founded by Quakers and an early center of the abolitionist movement. In 1860, he was hired as a "body servant" to Lt. Chambliss of the 5th US Cavalry. The unit would be stationed at Camp Cooper, 150 miles west of Fort Worth, TX, a place known for its hellish heat and brutal conditions.
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In early 1861, Texas seceded from the Union.
By Confederate logic, all blacks were someone’s property. So, if James didn’t belong to any of the men, he must be federal property. Chambliss realized that his employee would likely be seized and sold.
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“When Lt. Chambliss found that a surrender was inevitable, he told me that there was only one chance for me to escape—and that was to become his slave,” James later related. “He could have sold me after I had once voluntarily become a slave, but I trusted him and he was true to me.”
Events unfolded as Chambliss had expected.
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“Every Negro found in camp was asked, ‘Who do you belong to?’ I promptly proclaimed myself as belonging to Lt. Chambliss. The lieutenant acknowledged the ownership and I was duly inventoried among the personal belongings of the lieutenant,” James recalled.
With the Union garrison ordered out of the state, Chambliss and James journeyed back to Pennsylvania. James had to play his role effectively.
“I had a tolerably good education,” [James] related. “But the lieutenant cautioned me not to display my knowledge. ‘Don’t read a paper,’ said he, ‘and be as stupid as possible.’”
Returning to Union states in April 1862, the trek was apparently uneventful. James worked for a year as a wagon driver before enlisting in the 3rd USCT in mid-1863.
“My close observance of army affairs while serving as body servant for Lt. Chambliss made me familiar with the drill,” he explained. “So I was proficient in the duties of a soldier.”
Now the appointment of Henry James as Sergeant Major of the 3rd USCT makes perfect sense.
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Thank you, Kim, for making this terrific find and adding greatly to the story! However Kim, in the future, if you would please expend an exorbitant amount of time before making such a major discovery, then it would be less bruising for my fragile ego.
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Audio version helps
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A listener trying to follow what unfolds in this account will find it difficult without the availability of certain graphics. The scope of the geography in northeast Florida will have even native Floridians begging for maps to be able to reckon with the distances and locations involved.
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Here is a PDF that has key maps and graphics. A listener can view and consult the graphics and maps while listening to my narration.
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Here is also a second PDF which contains the texts in the Appendices that a listener can view if you choose to read them.