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The esteem in
which education was held by the soldiers of the Black Phalanx, can be judged of
best by the
efforts they made to educate themselves and
to establish
a system of education for others of their
race. Doubtless
many persons suppose that the negro soldier
elated with
his release from slavery, was contented ;
that his patriotism was displayed solely upon the field of
battle, simply
to insure to himself that one highest and
greatest boon,
his freedom. Such a supposition is far from
the truth.
The Phalanx soldiers had a strong race
pride, and the
idea that ignorance was the cause of their
oppression
gave zest to their desire to be educated.
When they found following the United States
Army a
large number of educated people from the
North, establishing schools wherever they could in
village, city and
camp, and that education was free to all,
there was awakened in the black soldier's breast an
ambition, not only
to obtain knowledge, but to contribute money
in aid of
educational institutions, which was done,
and with liberal
hands, during and subsequent to the war.
Unlettered themselves, they became daily
more and
more deeply impressed, through their
military associations, and by contact with things that
required knowledge, with the necessity of having an
education. Each
soldier felt that but for his his illiteracy
he might be a
sergeant, company clerk, or quartermaster,
and not a
few, that if educated, they might be
lieutenants and cap-
[Pg. 504]
tains. This was not an unnatural conclusion
for a brave
soldier to arrive at, when men no braver
than himself
were being promoted for bravery.
Generally there was one of three things the
negro soldiers could be found doing when at leisure:
discussing
religion, cleaning his musket and
accoutrements, or trying
to read. His zeal frequently led him to
neglect to eat for
the latter. Every camp had a teacher, in
fact every company had some one to instruct the soldiers
in reading, if
nothing more. Since the war I have known of
more than
one who have taken up the profession of
preaching and
law making, whose first letter was learned
in camp; and
not a few who have entered college.
The negro soldier was not only patriotic in
the highest sense but he was a quick observer of
both the disadvantages and opportunities of his race. He
recognized
the fact that the general education of the
white men who
composed the Union army in
contra-distinction to so
many of those of the confederate army, gave
them great
prestige over the enemy. The ingenuity of
the Yankee
he attributed to his education, and he
readily decided
that he lacked only the Yankee's education
to be his
equal in genius. Great was the incentive
given him by
example, arousing his latent hope to be
something more
than a free man; if not that, his children
might rise from
the corn-field to the higher walks of life.
Their thirst for
a knowledge of letters was evinced in more
ways than one,
as was their appreciation of the opportunity
to assist in
providing for coming generations.
Colonel G. M. Arnold says :
"Aside from the military duties required of
the men forming the
Phalanx regiments, the school teacher was
drilling and preparing them
in the comprehension of letters and figures.
In nearly every regiment
a school, during the encampment, was
established, in some instances
female teachers from the North, impulsed by
that philanthropy which
induced an army of teachers South to teach
the freedmen, also brought
them to the barracks and the camp ground to
instruct the soldiers of
the Phalanx. Their ambition to learn to read
and write was as strong
as their love of freedom, and no opportunity
was lost by them to
acquire a knowledge of letters. So ardent
were they that they formed
[Pg. 505]
squads and hired teachers, paying them out
of their pittance of seven
dollars per month, or out of the bounty paid
to them by the State to
which they were accredited. In a number of
instances the officers them
selves gave instructions to their command,
and made education a feature and a part of their duty, thereby
bringing the soldier up to a full
comprehension of the responsibility of his
trusts "Taps" was an
unpleasant sound to many a soldier, who,
after the fatigue and drill of
the day was over, sat himself down upon an
empty cracker box, with a
short candle in one hand and a spelling book
in the other, to study the
ab, eb, ob's. When the truce was sounded
after a day or night's hard
fighting, many of these men renewed their
courage by studying and reading in the ' New
England Speller.' And where they have
fought, -
died where they fell, and their bodies left
to the enemy's mercy, they
often found in the dead soldier's knapsack a
spelling-book and a Testament. At the seige of Port Hudson and
Charleston, and of Richmond,
agents of the Christian Commission and of
various other societies, made
a specialty of the spelling-book for
distribution among the soldiers of
the Phalanx, and upon more than one occasion
have these soldiers been
found in the trenches with the speller in
hand, muttering, bla, ble.' ,
The historian of the 55th Regiment says:
"A great desire existed among those who had
been deprived of all
educational privileges to learn to read and
write, and through the kindness and labors of Dr.
Bowditch and others,
a school was established
to teach those who desired to learn. Many
availed themselves of this,
and many were assisted by their company
officers and their better
informed fellow-soldiers , so that a decided
improvement in this respect
was effected among the men during their stay
at Readville."
But it is not necessary to dwell upon the
subject to
show the eagerness of these soldiers to
learn to read and
write, as many of them did.
Lieutenant James M. Trotter,* in an article
published
in Mr. Fortune's paper, gives this graphic
description of
"The School-master in the Army":
"Of the many interesting experiences that
attended our colored soldiery during the late war none are more
worthy of being recounted than
those relating to the rather improvised
schools, in which were taught
the rudimentary branches. One would
naturally think that the tented
field, so often suddenly changed to the
bloody field of battle, was the
last place in the world where would be
called into requisition the school
teacher's services in fact it would hardly
be supposed that such a thing
was possible. Yet in our colored American
army this became not only
possible but really practicable, for in it
frequently, in an off-hand manner, schools were established and
maintained, not only for teaching the
soldiers to read and write but also to sing,
nor were debating societies,
-----
* Now Registrar at Washington, D. C.
[Pg. 506]
even, things
unheard of in the camp life of these men.
Besides in quite
a number of the colored regiments military
bands were formed, and
under the instruction of sometimes a band
teacher from the north, and
at others under one of their own proficient
fellow-soldiers, these bands
learned to discourse most entertaining music
in camp, and often by
their inspiriting strains did much to
relieve the fatigue occasioned by
long and tiresome marches. But we are
speaking now mainly of the
work of the school-teacher proper. And what
shall we say of the halls
of learning in which were gathered his eager
pupils? Well, certainly
these would not compare favorably with those
of civil life, as may well
be imagined. As says Bryant, truly and
beautifully, speaking of primitive religious worship:
'The groves were God's first temples.'
So, too, in the groves and fields of their
new land of liberty, these men
found their first temples of learning, and
in spite of all inconveniences
these school tents were rendered quite
serviceable. Of the text books
used there is not much to say, for these
were generally ' few and far
between.' Books were used at times, of
course, but quite as often the
instruction given was entirely oral. That
these spare facilities did not
render the teacher's efforts ineffective was
abundantly proven in the
service, and has been proven since in civil
life. Scattered here and there
over this broad country to-day are many
veteran soldiers who are good
readers and writers, some of them even fair
scholars, who took their
first lessons from some manly officer or no
less manly fellow-soldier in
the manner mentioned, during such camp
intervals as were allowed by
the dread arbitrament of war. In a number of
regiments these fortunate intervals were quite frequent and of
long duration, and in such
cases, therefore, much progress was made.
" It must, of course, be remembered that in
our colored regiments a very large percentage of the men were
illiterate, especially in those composed of men from the south and so lately
escaped from under the iron
heel of slavery. Indeed, in many of them
there could scarcely be found
at the commencement of the service a man who
could either read or
write. Many an officer can recall his rather
novel experience in teaching
his first sergeant enough of figures and
script letters to enable the latter
to make up and sign the company morning
report. All honor to those
faithful, patient officers, and all honor,
too, give to those ambitious
sergeants who after awhile conquered great
difficulties and became
educationally proficient in their lines of
duty.
"In this connection I readily call to mind
one of the most, if not the
most, unique figures of all my experience in
the army. It was Colonel James Beecher, of the famous
Beecher family,
and a brother of Henry Ward Beecher. He was in command of the First
North Carolina Colored
Regiment. In this position it would be hard
to overestimate the variety and value of his services, for he became for
his soldiers at once a gallant
fighter, an eloquent, convincing preacher,
and a most indefatigable and
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successful school-teacher. Preaching had
been his vocation before
entering the army, and so it was but natural
for him to continue in that
work. At one time our regiment lay encamped
near his in South Carolina, and I well remember how, on one
Sabbath morning, the two commands formed a union service, all listening
with deep, thrilling interest
to the inspiring words of this " fighting
parson. "That he was indeed a
fighting parson we fully learned not long
after this Sabbath service.
For again we met on the bloody field of
battle, where in the very front
of the fight we saw him gallantly leading
his no less gallant men, even
after he had been wounded, and while the
blood almost streamed down his face. Seeing him thus was to ever
remember him and his noble work
with his regiment.
''Colonel Beecher when encamped neglected no
opportunity to form
schools of instruction for his men, in order
that they might become not
only intelligent, efficient soldiers, but
also intelligent, self-respecting citizens, should they survive the perils of war.
I do not know what are his
thoughts to-day, but judging from the grand
work of Colonel Beecher in
his black regiment, I can not doubt that he
looks back to it all with
satisfaction and pride, and as forming the
richest experience of his life.
"I know another ex-colonel and scholar, of high rank as
a man of letters and in social life, who
yielding to the call of duty, not less to
country than to a struggling race, left, his
congenial studies and took command of a
colored regiment, becoming not only their
leader, but, as chance afforded, their
school-teacher also. However, as he has
given to the world his army experience in a
book abounding in passages of thrilling
dramatic interest, I need only in this
connection make mention of him. I
refer to that true and tried friend of the
colored race, Colonel T. W. Higginson.
"But let it not be supposed for a moment that only
officers and men of another race were
engaged in this noble work of
school-teaching in our colored army. Not a
few of the best workers were colored
chaplains, who wisely divided their time
between preaching, administering to the sick
by reason of wounds or otherwise, and to
teaching the old 'young idea how to shoot;'
while many non-commissioned officers and
private soldiers cheerfully rendered
effective service in the same direction.
Nor must we close without expressing warm
admiration for those earnest, ambitious
soldier pupils who, when finding themselves
grown to man's estate, having been debarred
by the terrible system of slavery from
securing an education, yielded not to what
would have been considered only a natural
discouragement, but, instead, followed the
advice and instruction of their comrade
teachers, and, bending themselves to most,
assiduous study, gained in some cases great
proficiency, and in all much that fitted
them for usefulness and the proper enjoyment
of their well earned liberty. And so we say,
all honor to teachers and taught in the
Grand Army that made a free republic, whose
safe foundation and perpetuity lies in the
general education of its citizens."
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