Civil War Soldiers & GAR

Re-designated as the 79th US Colored Infantry on December 13, 1864, this unit suffered more casualties than any other Kansas regiment. Of the 1,192 men who served during twenty-nine months of state and federal service, between 156 and 188 men were killed in action, ten died from wounds received in action, 166 perished from diseases, and 67 were discharged for disabilities. In his Kansas Adjutant General report, Colonel Cyrus K. Holliday summarized their valor:

Though suffering severe losses, and fighting at great disadvantage,…they faltered not, but with a steadiness and a gallantry worthy of themselves and the cause, have earned an honorable reputation among defenders of the Union.

The 79th mustered out of federal service at Pine Bluff, Arkansas on October 1, 1865, journeyed home by river, and were discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on October 30. Upon arriving on the steamship Prairie Rose in Leavenworth, the Leavenworth Times reported that the men “seemed [to be] in the best of spirits, and very glad to get back to their old tramping grounds.” ⁷

The Tribune reported their triumphant arrival in Lawrence:

The sable ‘boys in blue’ were interspersed among the throngs upon the street Friday. They had just been paid off and discharged, and most of them appeared to be in funds sufficient for an enjoyment of cigars and like luxuries peculiar to the civil life to which they have just returned. Much to their credit, we saw none of them ‘tight’ [drunk], but all were orderly and appeared to have a due appreciation of the responsibilities of the new career upon which they were entering. Four companies of the First Kansas colored were raised in this vicinity.⁸

The Second Kansas Colored (83rd) Infantry

Soldiers of this regiment, recruited from Lawrence and other Kansas towns, mustered in at Fort Scott from August through October 1863 and then escorted a supply train to Fort Smith in northwestern Arkansas.⁹ In March 1864, they left to engage in battles known as the Camden (Arkansas) campaign. Having heard about the First Kansas Colored’s losses at Poison Springs, they battled confederate forces at Jenkins’ Ferry on April 30, 1864, shouting, “Remember Poison Springs!” and suffered horrific losses.¹⁰ Facing hunger in ragged clothes, they arrived at Little Rock, where they joined with the First Kansas Colored and two other USCT units.

After their last battle at the Saline River, this regiment was renamed the 83rd USCT on December 13, 1864. They mustered out of service on October 9, 1865 and were discharged from duty on November 27, 1865 in Leavenworth where they received final payments for their duties.

In his post-war correspondence, Col. Samuel J. Crawford wrote:

My regiment, though among the first in action, and having suffered a greater loss than any other, was the last to leave the field. From this time forward until the close of the war, in so far as the Western army was concerned, we heard no more of the question ‘Will they fight?’ The reputation of at least one colored regiment was established, and it stands today, in the estimation of men who served the Western army, as the equal of any other volunteer regiment.¹¹

Years later, John Waller urged officers and members of the First and Second Kansas regiments to attend a reunion of all Black soldiers in Baltimore.¹²

Kansas Militias

After fighting battles in Arkansas, Confederate Gen. Sterling Price sought to recapture his home state of Missouri in August 1864. News of his approach toward Kansas City led several Union generals to form an Army of the Border with a collection of provisional brigades.¹³ Major Gen. George W. Deitzler ordered militias to defend Douglas and Johnson counties and entered the field on October 8.¹⁴

According to Kansas state militia records, it appears that every able-bodied man in Lawrence signed up for short-lived (and segregated) state militias in October 1864. Within different regiments, several all-Black companies were led by white officers.¹⁵ For example, Samuel N. Simpson, who had initiated the contraband school, captained Company D of the 3rd regiment with 1st Sgt. Gabriel Gray, four sergeants (Elias L. Bradley, Isaac Miller, John W. Mumford, John Irvin), eight corporals (e.g., Charles Anderson), and 57 privates (e.g., David Clark, Benjamin Ellis).¹⁶ In this same regiment, Alexander Gregg was a sergeant of Company O with three corporals, and 55 privates (e.g., Rolla Crouch, Green Madden, Caesar Mays, Newton Smith).¹⁷ Lilburn Drake (and other Drakes) served in Company K of the 23rd regiment.¹⁸

Douglass’ Independent Battery at Fort Leavenworth

In June 1864, Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis received authorization to organize a “negro” battery commanded by Black officers at Fort Leavenworth, the only federal unit to be so designated. Captain Hezekiah Ford Douglass, an abolitionist born to a white man and enslaved mother, led what became known as Douglass’ Independent Battery, US Colored Light Artillery. Although Lieut. William D. Matthews began recruiting and enlisting soldiers in July and August 1864, the unit was not fully organized until February 20, 1865 with 212 men (mostly from Leavenworth).¹⁹

According to the Adjutant General’s roster, five men resided in Lawrence at the time of their enlistments in January and February 1865.¹⁰ Capt. Douglass enlisted Gabriel Gray as a sergeant.²¹ George Ellis returned to Lawrence and later moved to Topeka.²² Taylor Migres, Benjamin Oerry, and Robert Mitchell did not return to Lawrence. Two men who joined from Leavenworth settled in Lawrence: Peter Jones enlisted as a private and became a sergeant.²³ Henry Copeland had served as a first lieutenant in Company D of the First Kansas Colored (August 1862 to May 1863) but lost his commission to white officers. He enlisted in Douglass’ Battery as a sergeant in December 1864 and settled in Lawrence after the war.²⁴ James W. Mumford, whose family lived in Lawrence, enlisted as a corporal but died months later from a disease.²⁵ Two Drake brothers enlisted from Quindaro: Harvey Drake returned to Wyandotte and Noah Drake lived in Lawrence for some years.²⁶

In June 1865, Sgt. Gabriel Gray sent a petition to Capt. Douglass with 53 signatures requesting that they be mustered out and their musters were granted on July 22, 1865.²⁷ Sadly, Capt. Douglass passed away several months later.²⁸ Capt. Matthews went on to organize the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas as its Grand Master in June 1867, and many Lawrence men became long-time Masons in this lodge.²⁹

**

The 1865 Kansas Census of Douglas County, taken between May and August, counted around 92 men as soldiers (81 in Lawrence, 11 in North Lawrence, sometimes twice), although the “numbers of soldiers who were then here, and were struck off, [had] since returned and taken up residence” by January 1866.³⁰ The majority, listed as serving in the First and Second Kansas Colored Volunteers, mustered out in October or November 1865. Therefore, it’s not clear why these men were counted if they were not actually living in households during census counts. Perhaps they were home on disability or households did not know their whereabouts during a particular month.

Unfortunately, most obituaries for Civil War veterans are quite brief, verifying only that an “old soldier” died, usually at his residence. For example, Lawrence’s sole Black sailor merited only this: “The death of Martin Irwin an old colored marine occurred last night in north Lawrence; the funeral will take place tomorrow at 3 o’clock, burial being in Maple Grove cemetery.”³¹ (See respective biographies of other veterans such as Joseph Bowers, Alfred Brooks, Armistead H. Brooks, Henry Copeland, Absalom Dimery, Benjamin Ellis, Gabriel Gray, Alexander Gregg, John Hill, Peter Jones, and Doc McWilliams.)

The George Deitzler/Samuel Walker GAR Post 365

White Civil War veterans initiated the founding of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), based on the principles of “fraternity, charity, and loyalty.” In December 1866, 750 white members of the Kansas Veteran Brotherhood consolidated with the GAR to promote their interests.³² After the GAR designated May 30 as Decoration Day (later Memorial Day), Lawrence citizens began to decorate soldiers’ graves in 1870 to preserve the memories of Civil War veterans. This new ritual sparked the formation of Lawrence’s first GAR post (No. 9), with nearly 30 white members in 1871.³³ Although Black veterans established GAR posts in Leavenworth, Wyandotte, and Topeka by 1872, perhaps the founding of a Black post in Lawrence was subverted when the national GAR deemed all Kansas posts provisional in 1872. After all past due memberships were paid in 1879, newly organized charters were allowed to resume in 1880.³⁴

Thus, in 1882, white veterans in Lawrence re-organized the (George) Washington post No. 12 and controlled all Decoration/Memorial Day exercises through “General Orders.” They invited and determined all participants and the marching sequence of all organizations for annual downtown parades, selected speakers, and decided other events through the 1920s.³⁵

In this regard, John L. Waller observed the following in his Black-run newspaper:

....There are more than a hundred colored soldiers in and around Lawrence, but neither

they nor their families have anything to do with the deliberations of this most solemn

occasion. It is managed usually by committees, who meet in the spacious parlors of the

Eldridge House, many of whom have never been in the army themselves or had any

relatives there. No colored soldier has ever, in [my five-year residence] here, addressed

his comrades from the ‘Grand Stand’ in Lawrence, nor have they ever been asked to

designate any to speak for them with but one exception, in the case of the Rev.

[Washington] Mercer, some five years ago. Decoration day is not celebrated as it used to

be.³⁶

Two years later around September 1885, Hiram J. Johnson founded the Gen. George W. Deitzler post No. 365 with 25 Black charter members: Joseph Beecham, Sampson Berry, Joseph Bowers, Alfred Brooks, Burrell Brown, Green Craig, Wilson Franklin, John Gearhart, Shelby Henderson, John Hill, Thomas Jackson, Hiram Johnson, Wesley W. Lane, Caesar Mayes, Hannibal McNeely, Anderson Morris, Edward Overton, Henry Parker, Martin Smart, James F. Spencer, Nick Taylor, Smith Walker, and Scipio Winchester.³⁷ Gen. Deitzler, a white free-stater and former mayor, had enforced the freeing of Black contrabands, raised the first (white) Kansas infantry, and defeated Confederates at the Battle of Westport, among other achievements.³⁸ The following year, Johnson represented this post, along with a white delegate from the new Corp. John Payne post No. 379 formed in North Lawrence, at a Wichita encampment (meetings).³⁹ The 1886 Decoration Day processional parade downtown included the Deitzler post for the first time along with two white GAR posts, as well as American Indian cadets led by Col. Arthur Grabowski, the white, military-minded superintendent of Haskell Institute, and other divisions.⁴⁰ Johnson also obtained and presented a US flag for post 365 during a GAR entertainment.⁴¹

Shortly before the founding of this Black post, the Washington post organized a huge memorial parade in August 1885 to honor the passing of Pres. Ulysses S. Grant, who had granted Black men their voting rights after leading Union armies to victory. Among Black participants, two veterans, James Gross and William Holland, aided Brig. Gen. J.N. Roberts and the Telephone Band also performed. Although it was announced that Rev. Wellborn Wright, pastor of the Second Congregational Church, would speak on “General Grant and his work for the colored man,” the program of memorial services did not include him.⁴²

Following Hiram Johnson’s tenure, subsequent Post Commanders included Doc McWilliams, Albert Brooks, Caesar Mays, Henry Copeland, Nathan Miller, Milton Simms, Caleb W. Watkins, and Riley M. Wilson (see Table of Officers). Like other posts, post 365 also formed an auxiliary of the Women’s Relief Corps (WRC) No. 113 that assisted with entertainments and Memorial Day services.⁴³

In early March 1893, “The George W. Deitzler Post and the colored G.A.R.s of North Lawrence applied to the department commander of the state asking for the right to change the name of the post to Samuel Walker Post,” after Col. Walker’s death in early February. The reasons for choosing Walker’s name remain somewhat unclear for, despite his extensive military deeds since 1856, what had this white colonel done for formerly enslaved men (and their families) in particular, especially as sheriff of Douglas County?⁴⁴ Post Commander Nathan Miller later accepted a portrait of Col. Walker from undertaker C.W. Smith and his family.⁴⁵

The following rare photograph of 19 unidentified members of the Samuel Walker Post No. 365 was taken between 1893 and 1909 at an unknown location.⁴⁶

GAR Post 365 Activities

Over the years, GAR post 365 participated in nearly all annual Decoration/Memorial Day events, including July 4th parades in 1889 and 1899. ⁴⁷ The sole exception occurred in 1900 for the following reasons:

EDITOR WORLD.—Please allow us to inform the public through your valuable paper why Samuel Walker’s Post No. 365 (colored) did not turn out on Decoration day. It was not because we are losing any of our patriotism, or our high appreciation of the opportunity to do honor to our deceased comrades. But because we were not treated with that same respect and honor which has always been given us in making arrangements for the occasion. The commander of the Washington Post [Frank Holwick] completely ignored us. Did not want our flowers to go in the same wagon, nor would they allow us to say anything about the arrangements of the program or anything else. These privileges we have always enjoyed, but for some reason unknown to us, the parties in charge wanted to ignore us and draw the color line, this too after we had fought, bled and died by their side, for the same cause, the same flag and the same country. Therefore after being refused and denied the same privileges we had always enjoyed, we concluded to take no part at all and take this means to let the public know why we did not. Respect,

Albert Brooks, Commander.
Doc McWilliams, Adjt. ⁴⁸

Frank Holwick responded to these accusations as follows:

Having been accused of entirely ignoring Sam Walker post, G. A. R., I desire to say it is false. I simply call attention to the program which reads: ‘I desire the cooperation of all ex-soldiers; again we appeal to everybody that has flowers to spare us all they can and bring them to 744 Massachusetts street’; and again, in the parade order it says: ‘Bell’s [white] band, Twentieth Kansas, Sons of Veterans [both white], Washington Post and Sam Walker post.’ Now I will not take any more space in your paper, as everybody knows there isn’t a word of truth in the accusation. –Frank Holwick. ⁴⁹

Given the ongoing color line since the 1880s, post 365 members held their own memorial services at local Black churches: “Give us old songs, those beautiful bursts of melody which thrilled the heart of the inspired of long ago. Every note has borne in the air a tale of joy, sorrow and sadness; they tell of days gone by, of what they are now, and what we soon shall be.” ⁵⁰ In addition, Robert B. McWilliams (Doc’s son) and Capt. Sherman A. Harvey addressed crowds at South Park, respectively in 1898 and 1899. Rev. E.N. Cohron (1890) and Rev. G.N. Jackson (1918) offered benedictions, and other Black citizens read Lincoln’s Gettysburg address: Fred C. West (1902), Post 365 Adjt. Caleb W. Watkins (1905, 1906), Robert B. McWilliams (1907), and John W. Clark (1910, 1913, 1919). ⁵¹

Beginning in 1891, newspapers published the names of all soldiers buried at Oak Hill and Maple Grove cemeteries, noting (c) for “colored” and marked by Civil War shields, in advance of Memorial Day. ⁵² Over time, post 365 members served as pall bearers for their deceased comrades at largely attended funerals and burials at local cemeteries. ⁵³ Yet with each passing of old soldiers, it is not clear when remaining veterans stopped conducting funerals or when the Walker post ceased to exist. ⁵⁴ Somewhat surprisingly, the three oldest Black veterans, Nathan Powell, Peter Jones, and Pompey Mason, passed away in the 1930s. ⁵⁵ The Women’s Relief Corps No. 113 met as late as 1937 and held a memorial service in 1939. ⁵⁶

Yet from the beginning, post 365 members created opportunities for fraternal connections with concerts, suppers, picnics, and campfires for more gatherings. ⁵⁷ They also celebrated Emancipation Day on August 1st and Lincoln’s (initial) Emancipation Proclamation at Bismarck Grove, Washington’s birthday, and the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday. ⁵⁸

Major reunions of all county soldiers, sponsored by all GAR posts, were held in Lawrence in the 1890s. Vice-presidents for the Walker post included Doc McWilliams in 1894 and Green Keith in 1895. ⁵⁹ Five members of post 365 pitched over 100 tents at Bismarck Grove for another state GAR reunion in 1903. Although Black soldiers attended and should have been recognized, representatives were given no chance to participate in deliberations that year. ⁶⁰

Both GAR posts continued to honor soldiers in subsequent wars. During the Spanish-American War, both posts escorted new recruits to the Santa Fe depot. Soldiers in Co. B of the 23rd Kansas Volunteer Infantry, an all-Black regiment led by Capt. Sherman Harvey, earned a rousing welcome home. ⁶¹ Both posts also welcomed Co. H of the 20th Kansas Volunteer Infantry (a white regiment) back to Lawrence. ⁶² In 1918, similar escorts were conducted for WWI county soldiers. Black draftees also heard speakers at a special event in which Post Commander Milton Simms “brought down the house with his graphic description of [Civil War] battle scenes and closed the program with wholehearted advice to the departing men.” ⁶³ Black county soldiers also enjoyed a successful homecoming with a parade and special events at Woodland Park. ⁶⁴

White and Black GAR members also involved Lawrence schools. In 1892, members were assigned to visit different schools to celebrate (Columbus) Discovery Day; Quartermaster Anderson Morris of the Dietzler post visited the Black Sixth Ward school in North Lawrence. In 1907 and 1917, post 365 members also visited New York, Pinckney, and Lincoln schools with sizable populations of Black students. ⁶⁵ When the new Liberty Memorial High School opened in 1919, both posts led a symbolic parade representing the passing generation, followed by first to third graders in motor cars representing the coming generation. ⁶⁶

Pensions

Unlike white veterans, Black Civil War soldiers faced racial discriminations and additional obstacles when seeking to obtain their pensions from the federal government. ⁶⁷ For instance, Nicholas Taylor lost his pension certificate off his buggy during a gale wind. ⁶⁸ After Henry Clay lost his discharge papers, he obtained a duplicate copy but another soldier with the same name in the same regiment complicated matters considerably. ⁶⁹ Ezekiel Dimery had his pension restored to $6 per month after he was dropped by the former administration. ⁷⁰ Charles Brown, nearly totally blind and judged of unsound mind, did not receive $1,750 in back pay until he hired a lawyer in Kansas City. ⁷¹ Similarly, although D.C. Hawkins, a Buffalo soldier, drew a monthly pension of $72 for total disability, he was declared “insane” by the probate court and died one year later at the Topeka asylum. ⁷²

Therefore, some but not all Black veterans in Lawrence earned $6 to $8 monthly pensions from local white agents rightfully due to them. ⁷³ A few men, such as James Maddox, Joseph Bowers, and Hiram Johnson, successfully obtained pensions in the 1880s. ⁷⁴ Others who had to wait until the 1890s included Green Craig, Gratton Gregg, Robert Morgan, Samuel Morgan, Burrell Brown, Alfred Brooks, Alexander Weaver, and William H. Herbert. ⁷⁵ Other veterans, such as Doc McWilliams, received pensions only a couple years before their deaths or their widows received these benefits after their husbands’ deaths.

Sons of Union Veterans (white)

To encourage patriotism and brotherhood among young white men, another fraternal organization, known as the Sons of (Union) Veterans, was founded in Pennsylvania in 1881. Membership was (and still is) limited to male descendants of Union soldiers who fought in the Civil War. As a successor organization to the GAR, the SUV continues to preserve the legacy of Union soldiers, based on the same principles of fraternity, charity, and loyalty. ⁷⁶

In Lawrence, the Sons of Veterans first carried corps flags during the 1883 Decoration Day parade followed by little girls. ⁷⁷ Their successful participation led Washington post 12 to organize a ten-member drum corps with 14- to 16-year old boys for Decoration Day parades over the next three years. ⁷⁸ Not until 1887 did Samuel A. Houston, a white veteran, formally organize the Sons of Veterans as camp No. 78, named after Gen. Robert B. Mitchell, who fought in the Second Kansas Infantry with Houston. Forty members over age 16 were mustered in with officers initially led by Andrew J. May, principal of Lawrence’s high school, as captain. While working as a janitor at Dicker’s Hall in North Lawrence, Houston served as the camp’s chaplain for 36 years. ⁷⁹

After faltering in the early 1890s, the camp was revived, reorganized, and renamed the J. M. Taylor camp in 1892. ⁸⁰ Later, members protested against a Confederate monument in Chicago. Ironically, they also performed in Down in Dixie, a war drama by Charles Townsend, featuring a Black quartette (Eli Rice, Joseph Smothers, Homer Fishback, and Will Berry) singing old melodies with buck dances. This benefit raised money for supplying water to Oak Hill Cemetery. ⁸¹

In the 1900s, the Sons of Veterans floundered in fits and starts until 1906 when camp No. 78 was again reorganized and renamed the Solomon Engle camp with 61 charter members. ⁸² After its charter was revoked around 1908, Engle himself revived the camp again in 1911 with 50 members and more men mustered in over the years. ⁸³ For the 1911 encampment held in Lawrence, members assumed responsibility for registering 3,000 visitors at 911 Mass. street and driving them to their lodging places, as well as sponsoring a military ball at Woodland Park. Together with Washington post 12 and its women’s groups, they also spoke at schools to explain the significance of Memorial Day to students. ⁸⁴

The Engle camp and its officers remained active over the next decade by participating in various patriotic events (Presidents’ birthdays, Memorial Day, Flag Day) with another drum corps and school visits. ⁸⁵ In 1921, a large portrait of Kansas Sons of Veterans Commander Alaric G. Alrich (1913-14) was placed in the GAR Memorial Hall in Topeka. ⁸⁶ The Ladies Auxiliary of the Engle camp also stayed active, in part, by celebrating Lincoln’s birthday through 1930. Likewise, the Engle camp continued to meet through at least 1941 with Dr. Edward Bumgardner (1865-1953) as Post Commander. ⁸⁷

Today’s Sons of Union Veterans is named after Samuel J. Churchill, a patriotic instructor of the Engle camp in 1913. After joining Washington GAR post 12 in 1881, he served as the post’s Quartermaster, Chaplain, Adjutant (for 12 years), and Commander at the time of his death in 1932. His son Frank had been a charter member in 1883. ⁸⁸ This active camp carries on the tradition of placing flags at all Civil War soldiers’ graves, regardless of race and cultural backgrounds, for each Memorial Day. ⁸⁹