"THE FIRST TIME DURING THE CIVIL WAR THAT BLACK SOLDIERS SERVED IN A MEANINGFUL COMBAT ROLE": FIRST EDITION OF WASHINGTON AND JACKSON ON NEGRO SOLDIERS

(BANKS, Nathaniel) (BAIRD, Henry Carey) BOKER, George H. Washington and Jackson on Negro Soldiers. WITH: Gen. Banks on the Bravery of Negro Troops. WITH: Poem—The Second Louisiana. Philadelphia: Printed for Gratuitous Distribution, (1863). Octavo, period-style marbled paper boards, black morocco spine label; original orange printed wrappers; pp. 8.

First collected edition of the title work, Washington and Jackson on Negro Soldiers, accompanied by a printing of General Nathaniel Banks' 1863 report, Valor of the Negro Troops Indorsed, and George Boker's poem, The Second Louisiana, May 27, 1863, with original wrappers bound in.

The opening work, titled Washington and Jackson on Negro Soldiers, compiles excerpts on Black soldiers who served in the American Revolution and War of 1812. Edited by Henry Carey Baird, it cites congressional journals and memoirs, along with the views of those who had sensed diplomatic advantages gained by being seen as one of "the wisest, and bravest nations, having liberated their slaves and enlisted them as soldiers to fight in the defense of their country." Included is the printing of an 1814 proclamation by General Andrew Jackson: To the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana. Also featured is the printing of a contemporary Civil War report from Union General Nathaniel Banks to Major-General Halleck, dated in print May 30, 1863, eight days after the beginning of Banks' Siege of Port Hudson. Banks, who proposed the formation of what became known as the Corps d'Afrique, praises the Black soldiers of the 1st and 3rd regiments, saying their "conduct was heroic." Yet his Corps d'Afrique was also used to militarize a policing that forced Black men and women onto plantations in what he called a "Free Labor system," which he developed in January 1863. Soon the free Black New Orleans community rebelled, noting "Banks' mask of filial paternalism" hid its exploitation (Wilson, Education, 4-5) To some historians, the only positive aspect of Banks' Port Hudson Siege was that it marked "the first time during the Civil War that Black soldiers served in a meaningful combat role. Suffering nearly 600 casualties, the 1st and 3rd regiments, which comprised an amalgam of free Blacks from New Orleans and former slaves, proved that Black soldiers could perform as effectively as whites when facing the perils of war" (Messner, Black Violence, 36). This very elusive, privately issued pamphlet, which offers unusual if unintended insight in the often contradictory beliefs of white leaders, concludes with a poem by George Henry Boker, who was a co-founder, longtime secretary and future president of the Union League, and served as a diplomat under President Grant. Sabin 2780.

A fine copy.