Historic black military unit disbanded 150 years ago this month

By Ken Coleman/Special to Tell Us USA
Mr. Coleman is a Detroit-based author and historian. He can be reached at www.onthisdaydetroit.com

DETROIT, MI (Tell Us USA) - Their service to our country ended 150 years ago. Their heroic effort has been documented. Their home turf has been memorialized.

Yet, few of their descendants know of their remarkable story. The men exhibited honor and dedication in spite of intense hate and discrimination leveled against them.

In July 1863, Michigan Gov. Austin Blair was authorized by the nation’s Secretary of War to organize a regiment of black infantrymen. Yes, some of the very same people who had been slaves, chattel, and considered only three-fifths of a human by the white men who founded our nation.

One thousand six hundred and seventy-three African-American men served in the unit for nearly two years and were supervised by whites. The regiment, organized at Camp Ward on Detroit’s lower east side, was known originally as the First Regiment of Colored Infantry. The outfit was formed on February 17, 1863, after an editorial and letter writing campaign by Henry Barnes, a white editor at the Detroit Tribune and Advertiser. The unit later became the 102nd United States Colored Troops on August 12, 1863.

On February 17, 1864, they left Detroit for Annapolis, Maryland and joined the 9th Army Corps. The men also served in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Only 10 percent of them died during service. Five died in action; 116 departed after contracting diseases such as chickenpox, smallpox, scarlet fever, measles mumps and whooping cough; and 114 were discharged after sustaining a disability. I share the same last name as four men who served, according to Record First Michigan Colored Infantry Civil War, 1861-1865:

• Enlisted in Company F on December 13, 1863, John W. Coleman’s service began at age 18. He died of disease on July 2, 1864, while in Beaufort, South Carolina. He was buried there.
• Enlisted in Company C on October 21, 1863, Morris Coleman service began at age 38. He deserted his colleagues on February 20, 1864.
• Drafted at age 27, Benjamin, a Berrien County resident, joined his military unit on November 2, 1863.
• Enlisted in Company F on December 22, 1863, William W. Coleman’s service commenced at age 21. His outfit fought at Charleston, S.C. on September 30, 1865.

They earned $10 per month and survived on one ration per day. Three dollars of monthly pay was deducted for their uniforms: a heavy as lead sack coat and trousers made of wool; a pair of ankle-high leather brogans boots; a forage cap; a metal canteen design to hold cool water; and a bayonet and musket.

Some of the early volunteers were escaped slaves who trekked along the Underground Railroad, which included a stop at Second Baptist Church, Michigan’s first black congregation founded in 1836.

Here’s an account from Record First Michigan Colored Infantry, Civil War 1861-1865:
"It was soon detached and sent by transports to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where it arrived April 19, 1864. For two months, the different companies did picket duty at St. Helena and Jenkins Islands and at Hilton Head Island. The regiment then occupied Port Royal and assisted in constructing fortifications and other fatigue duty. In August, the regiment was sent to Jacksonville, Fla.; then marched to Baldwin, where it destroyed railroad tracks. It was attacked by the enemy and during the engagement the regiment convinced its officers that the men could be relied upon when serious service was demanded. After a long march from through Eastern Florida, they first embarked on transports at Magnolia for Beaufort, S.C. In September, it was sent to different points at Coosa and Port Royal Islands and in October the enemy attempted to surprise and capture the regiment but was repulsed and driven off.”

Ultimately, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union leader General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 12, 1865, ending the Civil War. The black men arrived back in Detroit and disbanded on October 17, 1865.
To remember their effort, a Michigan Historic Site marker was created on March 1, 1968, and put in place on April 12, 1968. It sits on the campus of Duffield School near Macomb and Chene streets. We have the Detroit Branch of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History to thank for preserving this important slice of our nation’s history.

I only wish that our grade schools presented it in such a way that students who scurry past the historic marker as they make their way to and from class would know the story of the First Michigan Colored Regiment as well as far too many of us know episodes of Empire, Scandal and Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Ken Coleman is a Detroit-based author and historian. He can be reached at www.onthisdaydetroit.com