Beschreibung
BOOK DESCRIPTION: 8vo, viii, (2), 343 pgs, index, frontis, portrait plates, unit roster (151)-266. Author was late First Lieutenant, Company F. Original red cloth with gilt titled cover and spine; beveled edges. CONDITION DESCRIPTION: Covers are lightly rubbed and soiled. Spine is a bit faded. Interior has bookplate of noted Civil War historian, Peter Cozzens. Else pages are clean and tight. With clear mylar wrapper. CONTENTS DESCRIPTION: No better example of the black experience in the Civil War can be found than that of the Fourteenth Regiment Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. In June 1863 Governor Smith received permission from the War Department to form a colored heavy artillery company. Rhode Island was the first state to issue such a call, and the response was overwhelming. The rolls were quickly filled and by September it increased to the size of a full regiment. As with most black regiments of the time, all of the Fourteenth s field and staff officers were white men. In December 1863, the 14th RI s First Battalion was ordered to Louisiana, soon joined by the Second and Third. The Battalions did not take part in any major battles, but were under constant threat while they guarded forts and patrolled local communities. In August 1864, a Confederate party boldly raided a detachment of the regiment camped at Plaquemine, Louisiana. The Union soldiers offered little, if any, resistance and the surprise attack quickly turned into an embarrassing rout. In a matter of minutes, three privates were captured. On the following day, in the nearby town of Indian Village, fifteen miles southwest of Baton Rouge, all three men were ruthlessly executed, becoming the only men from the regiment to be killed by Confederate soldiers. On several occasions they skirmished with Confederate soldiers, suffering numerous casualties. However, most casualties came from disease that ran rampant through their ranks during their tour of duty. On April 4, 1864, while the Battalions were in Louisiana, the War Department re-designated all state regiments composed of soldiers of African descent as US Army regiments. The 14th RI was designated the U.S. 8th Heavy Artillery April 4, 1864, and re-designated as the 11th Heavy Artillery May 21, 1864. REFERENCES: DORN RI18: NEVINS I pg 69; Half of this unique history of a Negro unit consists of muster rolls and short biographical sketches; the narrative is nothing more than quotations from other printed sources. . Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 0424084
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