The Colored Men of Iowa—Hard Fight Near White River—The Men of Kansas—Enthusiasm for the War—Fight at Butler—Battle of Cabin Creek—Battle of Honey Springs—The Battle of Poison Springs—Battle at the Sabine River—Battle of Boykin's Mill with Poem—Incidents of the War.

I have said nothing yet about the far western frontier, and the enlistments that took place far away between the Mississippi river and the Rocky Mountains. There were not many colored people in those States and territories at that time, but the few who were there acted with the greatest enthusiasm, and came joyously up to the rescue of the Union and liberty. Although all colored men were free in those parts, they most willingly laid down the plough and other implements of husbandry, left their sweethearts, their wives and families, and all that they held dearest, with wonderful zeal and alacrity, and marched to the field even with the utmost joy, "to help of the Lord against the mighty." Of course the Western frontier was not the only part of the Union where such devotion for the Union and liberty was shown. It was the very same everywhere. Even in the old slave States, when the recruiting sergeants came along, and asked the slaves if they would like to go to the war and fight for Uncle Sam, to a man they answered yes. Thus the recruiting went rapidly on wherever colored volunteers could be found. Poor Uncle Sam was in great need of men, and these brave recruits were gathered together at places appointed for drill, in all the various branches of the art of war, and they learned with great willingness and with great rapidity also. With so much enthusiasm and fire, is it any wonder that colored troops did so well in the war, and with their strong, brawny, willing arms so mightily helped to knock down the South? It is no wonder at all!

Yes, poor Uncle Sam was in great need of assistance about the time of Lincoln's proclamation of freedom, for these terrible and clever rebels had not only destroyed our white troops by tens of thousands, but they had at the same time thinned out some thousands of the black soldiers also. Lincoln kept calling for more troops, for a very great many more, indeed, and black and white men came up to the national call like heroes.

It was not until August, 1863, when the men of Iowa arose, hurried through their drill, and marched to the front. They gathered at first at St. Louis, where Mrs. I. N. Triplet presented one of the regiments with a beautiful silk national flag, on behalf of the ladies of Iowa, and of the city of Muscatine. That beautiful flag was carried all through the war, and was brought home again to Iowa, in the midst of great congratulations.

In January, 1864, this regiment was ordered to report to Helena, Arkansas, and lent a hand in a number of small engagements, where they took numbers of prisoners. But the most serious fight in which they were engaged took place in the following July, near the White river, where they attacked a force of the rebels twice as numerous as themselves. This fight was most desperate, though the rebels lost three men to our one. Most of our own officers were killed or wounded; night was coming on apace, and still we held out—yea! fought like lions hour after hour. At last a body of white Union soldiers coming to our aid, burst through the rebel ranks with loud cheering, and our poor fellows, who were so hard pressed, cheered loudly in return. Still the arrival of these re-enforcements did not turn the battle into a Union victory, but they enabled us to retreat from the field in good order. Later on in the day, more colored re-enforcements from Helena arrived, but too late to make any changes in the situation. It was well for us, however, to save all the men we could, because the rebel soldiers and the rebel population on these western States and territories seldom missed an opportunity to murder every colored soldier who fell alive into their hands. Still we cared nothing for their "black flag," but fought ten times harder than before, and thus we helped on the downfall of slavery!

The State of Kansas was the very first State in the entire Union to make a commencement in recruiting and drilling regiments of colored men to put down the great rebellion. Kansas was only admitted into the Union as a free State on the 29th of January, 1861. It was her admission as such that transferred the slave-holder's rebellion from Kansas to South Carolina, and the other seceding States. In other words, the rebellion began in Kansas, and the scene was simply shifted upon Lincoln's election. But the Republican men of Kansas arose with unbounded alacrity and enthusiasm, and in a short time had 20,000 men in the field, some of whom were regiments of colored men, who did yeoman's service in the West. And not only in Kansas, but in every other section of the Union, colored men showed a great deal of principle in the way in which they came up to the rescue of the nation; came up with horse, foot and artillery! As Deborah says in her song of victory (Judges, 5 chapter, verse 18): "Zabulun and Naphtali were a people that jeopardized their lives unto the death in the high place of the field." The first fight in which the colored troops of Kansas were engaged took place near Butler. There were about two hundred and twenty-five men in all, and they were attacked by about five hundred Confederates. This is supposed to have been the very first engagement in the war between colored soldiers and the rebels, and the rebels were defeated with considerable loss. The date of the engagement was the 28th of October, 1862. The next morning a few recruits came up and joined their comrades in the pursuit of the secessionists, but failed to overtake them. The work of recruiting, drilling and disciplining the regiments still went on, till at last they were so efficient in the various arms of the service that they were second to none. Soon after this a foraging party of forty-five of our men were attacked by three hundred Confederates, and half of them killed or captured in a short time.

This regiment, which was lead by the gallant Colonel Williams, remained in camp at Baxter Springs till the 27th of June, 1863, when it marched for Fort Gibson, in connection with a large supply train from Fort Scott en route to the former place. The Colonel was led to believe that they would be attacked in the neighborhood of Cabin Creek. He made haste, and gathered all his men together, about eight hundred in all. Upon arriving at Cabin Creek the rebels in great force under General Cooper met him there, but our men were unable to cross the stream on account of a shower of rain, which had swollen its waters too high for infantry to get over. When the morning came, by the aid of those who had come up in the night, the whole effective force was now raised to 1,200 men, which embraced some cavalry, a few Indians, and four pieces of artillery. Being well lead on by their officers, these 1,200 men made a most heroic attack on the vastly-superior rebel force, and after two hours' hard fighting, vanquished them completely, killing and wounding one hundred men, and taking eight prisoners. We had eight killed and twenty-five wounded on our side. The road was now open, and our men proceeded with the train to Fort Gibson, where they arrived on the 5th of July, 1863.

It was on the morning of the 17th of July when our small force under command of General Blunt, left Fort Gibson, and moved upon the enemy, 6,000 strong, who were commanded by General Cooper. We found the latter encamped at Honey Springs, twenty miles south of Fort Gibson. After a desperate combat of two hours, the rebels were totally defeated with a loss of four hundred men killed and wounded, and one hundred prisoners. After this the Kansas City troops returned to Fort Gibson, where they remained till September, when they moved out again against General Cooper and his forces, who fled at their approach. We followed them for one hundred miles, but as they still continued to keep ahead of us, we returned and encamped at Fort Davis, a former Confederate fort on the Arkansas River.

The troops marched and counter-marched till the month of March, 1864, when they joined Union General Steele's forces, and marched against the enemy, who were posted on the west side of Prairie d'Ane, within twenty-five miles of Washington. As we came up, the enemy fled before us, and we occupied their works without having to fight for them! Indeed, a good deal of the warfare on the western frontier was nothing but marching and counter-marching; coming to blows now and then, in which we were mainly successful, for the rebels often preferred to fly before us!

It was curious to note at the time how what appeared to be very frivolous circumstances led to pitched battles and the most serious results. Letters from newspaper correspondents, and private letters as well, made this quite clear. Private letters to friends were often more clear and explicit than the more general and profuse war correspondence.

Col. Williams informs us that he arrived at Camden on the 16th of April, 1864, but on the following day, the 17th, started with five hundred men of the First Colorado, two hundred cavalry detailed from the Second, Sixth and Fourteenth Kansas regiments, and one section of the Second Indiana Battery, with a train for the purpose of loading forage and provisions at a point twenty miles west of Camden, on the Washington road. On the 17th he reached the place, and succeeded in loading about two-thirds of his train, which consisted of two hundred wagons; the rest of the wagons were loaded next morning as they passed along. At a point fourteen miles west of Camden, the advance encountered a small force of the enemy, who retreated down the road after some slight skirmishing, but did in such a manner as to convince the Colonel that it was a mere feint to cover other movements, or else to draw his command into ambush, as had already been done at Olustee, in Florida. The troops advanced with caution for about a mile and a-half to a place called Poison Springs, and here they came upon the skirmish lines of the enemy in a thickly-timbered region. Our troops drove in their skirmish lines, and discovered that the rebels were there in force. Indeed it was ascertained afterwards that there were about ten thousand of them, and their intention seemed to have been to eat us all up alive! To me it is a most astonishing thing to even think that our small force, not more than 1,000 men, should venture to contest a "field" of 10,000 rebels; but so it was, not only at the battle of Poison Springs, but such attacks were made again and again over the entire seat of war. Surely the colored troops must have had the hearts of lions, and a most tremendous amount of self-confidence even to look in the face of such odds!

The enemy, with ten pieces of artillery, now opened the fight, six in front and four on the right flank. (They had twelve cannon altogether, but commenced the engagement with ten). We had to fight hard, yes, most desperately, and lost many a brave man, either killed or wounded. Col. Williams still fought on and on, making the best disposition possible of his little force. We were only able to use two of our light cannon at any one time, on account of the difficult nature of the thickly-timbered land. The Colonel was ever hoping that re-enforcements would come up to his aid from Camden, and relieve the train loaded of two hundred wagons, and save our little army, but no relief ever came. Thus the battle went on from 10 A. M. till 2 P. M., during which the rebels made one charge after another, but were always repulsed after the most desperate fighting. The loud roaring and yelling of the rebels at Poison Springs even exceeded the noise of the fire-arms used upon that occasion. We had ninety-two killed, ninety-seven wounded, and one hundred and six missing—in all two hundred and ninety-five. The enemy probably lost more than we did. As no re-enforcements arrived by 2 P.M., it was decided to abandon our entire train, and work our way through the woods as best we could to Camden, where those who remained arrived at 11 P.M. on the day of the battle. Col. Williams named this tremendous fight the Battle of Poison Springs, from a spring of that name in the neighborhood. This was one of the very hardest fights of all that took place in the West. No one but a fool would now ask the ridiculous question, "Will colored men fight?"—because here we see a force of a thousand colored men or less fighting most desperately for four hours with ten times their own numbers. This was as good as the 10,000 Greeks under Miltiades, at Marathon. The Greeks did not one whit better than our troops at Poison Springs.

But the success of the troops already raised in Kansas fired the hearts of other devoted men to lend a hand in the battle for the Union and liberty. In June, 1863, another regiment was organized at Fort Scott, and the regimental organization of the same was completed at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The regiment went into camp on the Poteau river, about two miles south of Fort Smith. The work of drill and discipline was here carried on till the regiment was in splendid condition for the field.

On the 24th of March, 1864, the regiment left Fort Smith, and set out on the Camden expedition, forming a part of Col. Williams' brigade of General Thayer's division. This division united with that under Major-General Steele on the Little Missouri river, after which they all moved on together against the rebels in the direction of the Red river.

The rebels under Generals Price, Smith and Taylor having defeated Union General Banks at the Red river, Major-General Steele retreated eastward to Camden, a distance of about sixty miles. During the retreat the regiment had several skirmishes with the enemy, and quite distinguished themselves.

On the 29th of April, 1864, the rebel cavalry came up with the rear of the Union forces at the Saline river, and skirmishing continued until night came on. A pontoon bridge had been flung over the river, and all the Union soldiers had already crossed except some artillery and two brigades of infantry, which included the Second Kansas Colored Regiment. We had six regiments in all on our side. The rebels came close up to our forces, and waited for the dawn of day to begin the battle. Union General Rice, of Iowa, formed his brigade in the centre; the Twelfth Kansas Infantry, under General Hayes, was on the left, and the Second Kansas Colored Regiment, under Colonel Crawford, was on the right. There were also two pieces of artillery on the Union side.

As soon as it was light enough, the opposing forces drew nearer one another, and the battle commenced in dead earnest. The crash of musketry was terrific. The rebels strove again and again to break through our thin lines, but the Union forces stood their ground with firmness, repelling every onset of the rebels till re-enforcements came back over the pontoon bridge to our aid. The rebels, who had in vain attempted for three long hours to break down the colored men of Kansas, next brought a battery of artillery to bear upon them, and opened fire. When Col. Crawford saw this, he ordered the brave young men to charge upon the guns with the bayonet, and led the charge himself. All the gun-carriage horses were killed but two; the gunners were killed, wounded or had fled; the intrepid and heroic Kansas colored boys took possession of the rebel battery, and brought them over to our side! Truly, this was a brave deed! (Zabulun and Naphtali were a people who jeopardized their lives unto the death upon the high places of the field). When the Second Kansas returned with the rebel guns, the officers and men, in the midst of the battle, gave them a glorious salute, waving their swords in the air, and tossing up their caps on the points of their bayonets, whilst our devoted braves smiled with pleasure. After this successful capture of the guns, the Second Kansas was moved into the centre of the line; a charge by the entire Union forces was made along the whole line, and now the rebels everywhere gave away, and the victory was complete. The Second Kansas was the first to begin the battle, and they were the last to leave the field.

Thus the war went along the Western frontier. There were no great battles, as was the case in the East. But here was plenty to do for all that, and it was done well. There were at times great hardships to endure—long, weary marches, cold, and the want of all things; but such is the life of the soldier, and such is war. We must take the rough with the smooth. Upon the whole, the Western men fought bravely and successfully, and mightily helped to pull down the rebellion.

The present generation have very little idea of the excitement that prevailed all over the country during the long war. Where all our regiments did so well—indeed, covered themselves with honor—it would be ridiculous to make any distinction, and place one before another. But I may at least make a selection at random, and single out the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts, in March, 1863, who fought with unsurpassed valor until the close of the war—yea, after the close of the war! I followed the career of that devoted regiment as if I had been one of the brave fellows! Well, how they did fight, to be sure! They fought at James Island, at Fort Wagner, at Olustee, at Honey Hill, and at Boykin's Mill, after the war was over, because they had not heard that Lee had surrendered!

This Boykin's Mill was a few miles from Camden, South Carolina. The Fifty-fourth Regiment had fought every step of the way from Georgetown to Camden, and the rebels made a last desperate, but unsuccessful stand at Boykin's Mill. It was a splendid place for the defense, as there was no other way of approaching it except by a narrow embankment about two hundred yards long, where only one man could walk at a time. The rebels had torn up the planks of the bridge over the mill-race, thus compelling the men of the Fifty-fourth to cross over on the timbers and cross-ties, and all this under a fatal fire of musketry, which swept the embankment and the bridge, and made it little better than a "forlorn hope" to pass over. But the Fifty-fourth did not falter. They had fought at Olustee and Fort Wagner, so they charged over the dreadful way in single file. The first men to advance were all shot down, but the rest of their comrades advanced over their prostrate bodies, till the enemy became so panic-stricken at the sight that they gave up the fight, abandoned their position at the mill, and fled. There seems to have been a poet in the regiment—Mr. Henry A. Monroe, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who was the drummer-boy of Company C, of the Fifty-Fourth. He thus describes the fight at Boykin's Mill:

One wailing bugle note—then at the break of day,

With martial step and gay the army takes the way

From Camden Town.

There lay along the path, defending native land,

A daring, desperate band entrenched on either hand

In ambuscade.

A low and dark ravine beneath a rugged hill,

Where stood the Boykin Mill spanning the creek, whose rill

Flows dark and deep.

Only a narrow bank where one can scarcely tread;

Thick branches meet o'erhead; across the mill-pond's bed

A bridge up-torn.

One single sharp report:—A hundred muskets peal,—

A wild triumphant yell, as back the army fell

Stunned, bleeding, faint.

As when some mighty rock, obstructs the torrent's course;

After the moment's pause, 'twill rush with greater force,

Resistless on.

A moment's pause, and then our leader from his post,

Viewing the stricken host, cried, "Comrades!—all is lost

If now we fail!"

Forming in single file, they gaze with bated breath;

Around,—before,—beneath,—on every hand, stern death

His visage showed.

"Forward!"—They quickly spring with leveled bayonet;

Each eye is firmly set upon that pathway, wet

With crimson gore.

That Balaklava dash!—Right through the leaden hail,

O'er dyke and timbers frail, with heart that never fail

They boldly charge.

Facing the scathing fire without a halt or break,

Save when with moan or shriek in the blood-mingled creek

The wounded fall.

What could resist that charge?—Above the battle's roar

There swells a deafening cheer, telling to far and near,

The Mill is won!

Anecdotes of deeds of bravery and devotion kept cropping up all through the war. During the early part of the war on the Lower Mississippi, a former slave assisted in bringing in a lot of prisoners, and he himself actually drove his former owner before him into the Union camp! "Old Master" assumed bullying airs to induce him to let him escape, but the soldier pointed his gun at him repeatedly, saying, "Go on, sir, or I'll shoot!" So he brought him into the camp, all radiant with smiles, and who can blame him for smiling at such a time as this?

At Marion, Tennessee, there were many incidents of personal bravery, of which this was one. A colored soldier had got a tree stump close to the rebel line, and in spite of all efforts to dislodge him, he still stuck to his post, and picked off their men. The rebels charged on the stump, but when the Union line saw the movement they concentrated their fire on the advancing men, and drove them back. Then there followed long and loud cheering for that brave and lonely soldier, who still stuck to his stump and kept firing away with a regularity that was truly wonderful. The stump was riddled with bullets, but he still stuck to it, although at times he was nearer to the rebel lines than to the Union ones.

A great many war incidents were recorded in the annals of the fighting in Mississippi between Union General Sturgis and the rebels there under General Forrest. Here are a few of them. A corporal in one of the colored regiments was ordered to surrender. He allowed his would-be captor to come up close to him, when he struck him down with the butt end of his gun. Whilst the regiment was fighting in a ditch, and the order came to retreat, the color-bearer threw out the flag, intending to jump out and get it, but the rebels made a rush for it, and in the struggle one of our men knocked down with his gun the rebel who had the flag, and caught it and ran. A rebel, with an oath, ordered one of our men to surrender. He thought the rebel's gun was loaded, and dropped his own gun; but when he saw his enemy commence loading, our colored soldier made a sudden spring for his own gun, and struck the rebel dead. One of our captains was surrounded by about a dozen of the enemy, when he was seen by one of our own men, who called several of his companions to his side, when they rushed forward together and fired, killed several of the rebels, and rescued their captain at once. A rebel came up to one of our men, and said, "Come, my good fellow; go with me, and wait on me." In a second our Union soldier shot his would-be master dead. Once when our men made a charge on the enemy they rushed forward with the cry, "Remember Fort Pillow!" when the rebels called back to them and said, "Lee's men killed no prisoners!" One of our men in a charge threw his antagonist to the ground, and pinned him fast there, but when he tried to withdraw his bayonet it came off the gun, and as he was very busy just at that time, he left it behind him, still transfixed to the ground. Another soldier killed a rebel by striking him with the butt end of his gun; the gun broke, and as he was unwilling to stop his work just then, he kept on loading, and fired three times before he could get a better gun. The first time, as he was not very cautious, the rebound of his gun cut his lip badly. When the troops were in the ditch, three rebels came upon one man and ordered him to surrender. But as his gun was loaded he shot one of them and bayoneted the other; but forgetting in his haste that he could bayonet the third he turned the butt end of his gun and knocked him down. (The above are a few incidents culled from the annals of the fighting done by our men in Northern Mississippi.)

A great many good stories have been related in connection with the Army of the Cumberland. Here is one that refers to an incident when that army was in Tennessee. Early one morning, as a company of white soldiers were about to resume their march, a Kentucky lieutenant rode up to the commanding officer, saluted, and said he had some runaway slaves under his charge, whom he had arrested for the purpose of sending them back to their masters; but as he had been ordered away from there just then, he turned them over to this officer in command. (At that time rewards could be claimed for returning fugitive slaves to their masters). So the officer took charge of them, and purposely assuming a stern air and manner, which he did not feel at all, he said:

"Where are you going?"

"Going to the Yankee army."

"What for?"

"We want to be free."

"All right; you are free now; go where you wish!"

And their warm thanks gave great joy to the officer.

The same officer relates another incident for the purpose of showing the humor of the colored soldier. A spent ball had struck one of our men on the side of the head, passed under the scalp, and making nearly a circuit of the skull, came out on the other side. His comrades merrily declared, when the ball struck him it sang out, "Too thick!" and then merrily passed on.

Here is another incident that happened, which I think is very diverting, even amidst the horrors of war. An officer was riding at the head of his column, and the men were swinging along "arms at will," when they spied General George H. Thomas and his staff approaching. Without orders, at once they brought their arms to "right shoulder shift," took the step, and striking up their favorite tune of "John Brown," whistled it with most admirable effect while they were passing the general, who was greatly amused and pleased at the incident.

There was a private soldier who during an engagement had taken his position up a tree as a sharpshooter, when he had his right arm broken by a ball. The captain called out to him, "You had better come down from there, go to the rear, and find the surgeon."

"Oh, no, Captain," he replied; "I can fire with my left arm!"

And so he did.

When General Thomas rode over the field, after the battle of Nashville, and saw the bodies of colored men side by side with the foremost of white men, and upon the very ramparts and works of the Confederates, he turned to his staff and said:

"Gentlemen, the question is settled; Negroes will fight!"

And thus I might go on, adding incident to incident, and that without end. Where a war was being carried on all the way from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, it must needs have been that thousands of such incidents were taking place every day.