Richard J. Hinton to Frederick Douglass, January 1863

BRAVERY OF THE KANSAS COLORED TROOPS AND THEIR WRONGS.

Richard J. Hinton, Adjutant of the 1st Regiment of Kansas Colored Volunteers publishes in the Leavenworth Conservative, a letter of which is the following is an extract, in relation to the recent engagement of a portion of said regiment an account of which appeared in our last issue.

On the 29th, we skirmished in the forenoon. In the the afternoon, the venturing out of a detachment beyond the distance ordered, brought on a severe, though short, general engagement. At least one hundred and twenty of the rebel calvary made a charge upon this detachment of twenty four men. Before we could bring up reinforcements, these fearfully disproportioned parties were engaged in a desperate hand to hand encounter. I was on the field, doing with the other officers the best we could to bring up reinforcements. There was no flinching, no hesitation, no pulling or trembling limbs, among the men, but fierce determination flashing in their eyes, and exhibiting an eager, passionate haste to aid their comrades and vindicate the manhood of their race. The air was rent with their yells, as they rushed on, and difficulty manifested was in holding them well in rather than in faltering. Among the detachment cut off, of whom only six escaped unhurt, nothing I have ever seen, read or heard, in the annals of war, surpasses the desperate personal valor exhibited by each and every man. Bayonets came in bloody, as did the stocks of guns, and the last charge was found gone from the cartridge boxes.

I witnessed the scene, and know whereof I write. It was with slowness and reluctance the men retired form the field they had won and held, in obedience to the orders of Capt. Seaman, commanding, who had witnessed the movements of reinforcements from the timber along the ravines to the east of us, and was fearful of a larger force getting between us and our barricaded camp.

Our nine days' campaign proved that negroes are splendid soldiers, will march further fight as well, and live on as hard fare without, grumbling, as any soldiers now in the service of the government. The rebels at last seem to have thought so, for outnumbering us three to one, and being mounted, they left hastily the night after the fight at Island Mounds, themselves reporting seven killed in the morning skirmish, and eighteen in the afternoon engagement.

Finding the Missouri State Militia coming back after the fight, and knowing that they do not like us very well, we returned to camp, and thence have moved to Barnesville, Bourbon county, where we are close to the border, and can easily pay our respects to any of the rebels who may think the negroes won't fight.

This is what we have done. We have demonstrated that the negro is anxious to serve his country, himself and race; that he can be drilled and made effective as a soldier; and he will fight as well as any other set of men, all things being equal as to equipment, etc. Again I repeat, these things have not been done in darkness, but with the knowledge of the military authorities of the government, and in the broad light of day. Yet we are not mustered. Four months have nearly passed. The men have done their duty faithfully. Find me the six hundred white men, who with such patience and patriotism and perseverance, would have adhered to their organization through all the discouragement and disadvantages we have had to encounter. I have yet to see them.

It may be asked why the officers have continued to hold them together when the chances of recognition were so slim. I reply it is because we held it to be our duty to exhaust not only the probabilities, but the possibilities of the enterprise. We all believe that the Union needs the services of the negro;

that Freedom and Progress to him out to come thro' the nation, that the South has and will continue to employ them in a military capacity, and that, before the war is over, both sides will be bidding high for the service of every colored man able to bear arms. We had our duty to perform; we have done it. Our men have done theirs nobly, fully manfully, and none can point the finger of scorn at the negroes in Kansas, and say they are cowards. The heroic blood of their dead on the hard fought field of October 29th will be their best answer to falsehood.

Now, we demand of the military authorities that we be either accepted or disbanded.—They cannot say all this has been done without knowledge, for it will not be true.—We have worn the Federal uniform, carried its flag have used its arms in defence of that flag, and have been subsisted by and obeyed the orders of its officers.

We are eager to march South. Will not Gen. Curtis give us a chance? Pay the men their back pay since they enrolled, so they may provide for their families during the winter. Give us what extra arms may be spared and let us march through the Indian Territory South, and by Christmas we will show the nation a respectable army going down the Red River Valley. At any rate we demand justice for our men. If the Union does not want brave and efficient soldiers, pay them and let them go home. It it does, then muster and pay them, and let them go on. We appeal to Gen. Curtis.—Anglo American.