This month in 1861: After taking Outer Banks forts, Union forms pivotal black regiments

In August 1861, Union forces captured two forts on Hatteras Island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Although a small win, this was the first Civil War victory by the Union.

An important result was the creation of four black North Carolina regiments, three infantry and one artillery. Those regiments fought capably and helped win a key Union battle at the war’s end, the capture of Wilmington by taking Fort Fisher.

As many as 6,000 black North Carolinians joined the Union Army and Navy. But the creation of fighting regiments took several years. Here’s how the North Carolina Colored Volunteers began.

The Union takeover of New Bern

The Civil War started on April 12, 1861, with South Carolina’s attack on Fort Sumter. Union troops rushed to blockade Southern ports — a lifeline for the Confederacy. The Union captured two forts on the North Carolina’s Outer Banks in August 1861.  Then, in early 1862, they took Roanoke Island and moved to the northeast mainland, capturing its major towns. The Union would control the northeastern part North Carolina throughout the war — including New Bern, which became a Union headquarters.

“Slaves flooded into New Bern, after Union forces captured the town in March 1862,” writes William A. Link. He quotes a Union officer as saying there is “perhaps not a slave in North Carolina who does not know he can find freedom in New Bern.”

The fugitives often brought their families, which the Union forces aided by providing housing. The question was whether some of those ex-slaves could become soldiers.

The answer: Not at first. Abraham Lincoln was worried that allowing ex-slaves to fight would antagonize the border states, which he desperately wanted to keep in the Union. There was also legitimate fear that ex-slaves who became prisoners of war would be executed (indeed, some were). However, the North needed troops — and the need increased as the Union war efforts faltered.

In July 1862, Congress passed a law allowing military troops to include black soldiers. And the Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863, strengthened the authority to recruit freed men. In New Bern, Col. Edward A. Wild was given the task of organizing an “African brigade.” Recruiting was not easy. Although many ex-slaves wanted to fight, many feared that they would be mistreated in a white army. Sometimes they were.

The commanders were white, although two officers (surgeon and chaplain) in one North Carolina black regiment were black. Some white soldiers, including commanders, doubted the ability of the black soldiers to fight. Many freed slaves were assigned to “fatigue duty” — chores rather than fighting, but dangerous nonetheless. Their equipment was often poor. And until 1864, they received less pay.

The North Carolina regiments

Gradually, Wild built up three regiments, the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd Regiments of the North Carolina Colored Volunteers. The black recruits came from many places — 40 counties in the case of the 1^st Regiment. For the freed men gathering in New Bern, “ties of family and old friendships had been badly disrupted although not completely destroyed,” writes historian Richard Reid. Thus the regiments didn’t start with the local loyalty and camaraderie that many regional regiments had. After a while the three Army regiments were renamed as the 35^th, 36^th, and 37^th units of the US Colored Troops — losing their clear link to North Carolina.

For reasons indicated above, black soldiers didn’t get as much combat experience as white soldiers. Nevertheless, they were ready.

“Our discipline is today better than that of any regiment I know of, and I believe, by the blessings of God, our efficiency will be second to none,” said Col. James C. Beecher, commander of the 1^st North Carolina Colored Regiment.

The North Carolina troops showed their mettle in various actions — fighting Confederate guerillas, destroying railroad tracks, and freeing 2,500 slaves around the Great Dismal Swamp Canal. Some soldiers were sent to other states. After the Battle of Olustee in Florida, “Many white units in the expedition attested to the valiant and heroic efforts” of the two black regiments, writes Peter Coffman, although “defective and unusable” equipment contributed to the Union loss.

And then there was Fort Fisher. This gigantic fort on the Cape Fear River protected the city of Wilmington. It was called the “Gibraltar of the South.” Wilmington was the last Confederate port to remain open in the Civil War. Thus, it was a prize.

After a failed attempt in December 1864, a large Naval and Army force returned in January 1865. The 37^th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops (formerly the 3^rd North Carolina Regiment) was a force in this combined Army-Navy attack. The massive assault succeeded and soon brought control of Wilmington to the Union.

The North Carolina black regiments faced many difficulties. But they fulfilled the hopes of Frederick Douglass when he said in 1863,  “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on the earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.”