hide Sorting

You can sort these results in two ways:

By entity (current method)
Chronological order for dates, alphabetical order for places and people.
By position
As the entities appear in the document.

You are currently sorting in ascending order. Sort in descending order.

hide Most Frequent Entities

The entities that appear most frequently in this document are shown below.

Entity Max. Freq Min. Freq
Beaufort, S. C. (South Carolina, United States) 79 9 Browse Search
De Lord 76 0 Browse Search
Florida (Florida, United States) 76 0 Browse Search
Rufus Saxton 53 1 Browse Search
South Carolina (South Carolina, United States) 46 0 Browse Search
Charles T. Trowbridge 41 3 Browse Search
Jacksonville (Florida, United States) 40 2 Browse Search
Fernandina, Fla. (Florida, United States) 37 1 Browse Search
Hunter 37 23 Browse Search
United States (United States) 34 0 Browse Search
View all entities in this document...

Browsing named entities in a specific section of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment. Search the whole document.

Found 100 total hits in 42 results.

1 2 3 4 5
January 4th (search for this): chapter 17
which they were enlisted. This is what will be done, should Mr. Wilson's bill, legalizing the back pay of the army, be defeated. We presume too much on the supposed ignorance of these men. I have never yet found a man in my regiment so stupid as not to know when he was cheated. If fraud proceeds from Government itself, so much the worse, for this strikes at the foundation of all rectitude, all honor, all obligation. Mr. Senator Fessenden said, in the debate on Mr. Wilson's bill, January 4, that the Government was not bound by the unauthorized promises of irresponsible recruiting officers. But is the Government itself an irresponsible recruiting officer? and if men have volunteered in good faith on the written assurances of the Secretary of War, is not Congress bound, in all decency, either to fulfil those pledges or to disband the regiments? Mr. Senator Doolittle argued in the same debate that white soldiers should receive higher pay than black ones, because the famil
July (search for this): chapter 17
ract where the Government has openly repudiated the other share. If a year's discussion, however, has at length secured the arrears of pay for the Northern colored regiments, possibly two years may secure it for the Southern. T. W. Higginson, Colonel 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d U. S. August 12, 1864. Justice not done yet. To the Editor of the New York Tribune: Sir,--An impression seems to prevail in the newspapers that the lately published opinion of Attorney-General Bates (dated in July last) at length secures justice to the colored soldiers in respect to arrears of pay. This impression is a mistake. That opinion does indeed show that there never was any excuse for refusing them justice; but it does not, of itself, secure justice to them. It logically covers the whole ground, and was doubtless intended to do so; but technically it can only apply to those soldiers who were free at the commencement of the war. For it was only about these that the Attorney-General was o
July 2nd (search for this): chapter 17
ly demoralized by its pauperism, that after it has had the lives of these men, it must turn round to filch six dollars of the monthly pay which the Secretary of War promised to their widows? It is even so, if the excuses of Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Doolittle are to be accepted by Congress and by the people. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, T. W. Higginson, Colonel commanding 1st S. C. Volunteers. New Victories and old wrongs. To the Editors of the Evening Post: On the 2d of July, at James Island, S. C., a battery was taken by three regiments, under the following circumstances: The regiments were the One Hundred and Third New York (white), the Thirty-Third United States (formerly First South Carolina Volunteers), and the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, the two last being colored. They marched at one A. M., by the flank, in the above order, hoping to surprise the battery. As — usual the rebels were prepared for them, and opened upon them as they were deep in one of
April 18th, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 17
ngs done by Government toward the colored soldiers as am I of writing about them. This is my only excuse for intruding on your columns again. By an order of the War Department, dated August 1, 1864, it is at length ruled that colored soldiers shall be paid the full pay of soldiers from date of enlistment, provided they were free on April 19, 1861,--not otherwise; and this distinction is to be noted on the pay-roll — so In other words, if one half of a company escaped from slavery on April 18, 1861, they are to be paid thirteen dollars per month and allowed three dollars and a half per month for clothing. If the other half were delayed two days, they receive seven dollars per month and are allowed three dollars per month for precisely the same articles of clothing. If one of the former class is made first sergeant, his pay is put up to twenty-one dollars per month; but if he escaped two days later, his pay is still estimated at seven dollars. It had not occurred to me that a
April 19th, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 17
there is a discrimination against those colored soldiers who were slaves on April 19, 1861. Every officer, who through indolence or benevolent design claimed on his he full pay of soldiers from date of enlistment, provided they were free on April 19, 1861,--not otherwise; and this distinction is to be noted on the pay-roll — so Iiate it. Help yourselves, if you can. In other words, a freedman (since April 19, 1861) has no rights which a white man is bound to respect. He is incapable of ms of pay,--and those few members of the Southern regiments who were free on April 19, 1861. But in the South Carolina regiments this only increases the dissatisfactiaking the distinction between those who were and those who were not free on April 19, 1861. The question is, whether those who were not free at the breaking out ospect of pay due, between those colored soldiers who were free on or before April 19, 1861, and those who were not free until a later date; Or at least that there may
1862 AD (search for this): chapter 17
eral was officially consulted. Under this decision the Northern colored regiments have already got their arrears of pay,--and those few members of the Southern regiments who were free on April 19, 1861. But in the South Carolina regiments this only increases the dissatisfaction among the remainder, who volunteered under the same pledge of full pay from the War Department, and who do not see how the question of their status at some antecedent period can affect an express contract. If, in 1862, they were free enough to make a bargain with, they were certainly free enough to claim its fulfilment. The unfortunate decision of Mr. Solicitor Whiting, under which all our troubles arose, is indeed superseded by the reasoning of the Attorney-General. But unhappily that does not remedy the evil, which is already embodied in an Act of Congress, making the distinction between those who were and those who were not free on April 19, 1861. The question is, whether those who were not fre
August 25th, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 17
cent of bounty, on the written pledge of the War Department that they should receive the same pay and rations with white soldiers. This pledge is contained in the written instructions of Brigadier-General Saxton, Military Governor, dated August 25, 1862. Mr. Solicitor Whiting, having examined those instructions, admits to me that the faith of the Government was thereby pledged to every officer and soldier under that call. Surely, if this fact were understood, every man in the nation wouled pay of those colored soldiers whom the war had made free. But the Government should have thought of this before it made the contract with these men and received their services. When the War Department instructed Brigadier-General Saxton, August 25, 1862, to raise five regiments of negroes in South Carolina, it was known very well that the men so enlisted had only recently gained their freedom. But the instructions said: The persons so received into service, and their officers, to be entitl
December 4th, 1863 AD (search for this): chapter 17
ten dollars are to be further reduced to seven; and that, to crown the whole, all the previous overpay is to be again deducted or stopped from the future wages, thus leaving them a little more than a dollar a month for six months to come, unless Congress interfere! Yet so clear were the terms of the contract that Mr. Solicitor Whiting, having examined the original instructions from the War Department issued to Brigadier-General Saxton, Military Governor, admits to me (under date of December 4, 1863,) that the faith of the Government was thereby pledged to every officer and soldier enlisted under that call. He goes on to express the generous confidence that the pledge will be honorably fulfilled. I observe that every one at the North seems to feel the same confidence, but that, meanwhile, the pledge is unfulfilled. Nothing is said in Congress about fulfilling it. I have not seen even a proposition in Congress to pay the colored soldiers, from date of enlistment, the same pay w
January 22nd, 1864 AD (search for this): chapter 17
rth a brand of meanness worse than either Southerner or Englishman has yet dared to impute. The mere delay in the fulfilment of this contract has already inflicted untold suffering, has impaired discipline, has relaxed loyalty, and has begun to implant a feeling of sullen distrust in the very regiments whose early career solved the problem of the nation, created a new army, and made peaceful emancipation possible. T. W. Higginson, Colonel commanding 1st S. C. Vols. Beaufort, S. C., January 22, 1864. Headquarters First South Carolina Volunteers, Beaufort, S. C., Sunday, February 14, 1864. To the Editor of the New York Times: May I venture to call your attention to the great and cruel injustice which is impending over the brave men of this regiment? They have been in military service for over a year, having volunteered, every man, without a cent of bounty, on the written pledge of the War Department that they should receive the same pay and rations with white soldiers. T
February 14th, 1864 AD (search for this): chapter 17
ute. The mere delay in the fulfilment of this contract has already inflicted untold suffering, has impaired discipline, has relaxed loyalty, and has begun to implant a feeling of sullen distrust in the very regiments whose early career solved the problem of the nation, created a new army, and made peaceful emancipation possible. T. W. Higginson, Colonel commanding 1st S. C. Vols. Beaufort, S. C., January 22, 1864. Headquarters First South Carolina Volunteers, Beaufort, S. C., Sunday, February 14, 1864. To the Editor of the New York Times: May I venture to call your attention to the great and cruel injustice which is impending over the brave men of this regiment? They have been in military service for over a year, having volunteered, every man, without a cent of bounty, on the written pledge of the War Department that they should receive the same pay and rations with white soldiers. This pledge is contained in the written instructions of Brigadier-General Saxton, Milit
1 2 3 4 5