First Look at the NCOs of the First United States Colored Troops

[Pvt Schnapps]

The 1st USCT was raised in and credited to the District of Columbia. Despite its number it was not the first black regiment to serve in the US Army during the war -- the honor for that is variously claimed by the 1st South Carolina (later the 33rd USCT) and the 1st Louisiana Native Guard (subsequently the 1st Corps d'Afrique and finally the 73rd USCT). But it was the first regiment directly recruited by the Bureau of Colored Troops within the Adjutant General's Office and its cadre was drawn from the free black population of Washington City and the surrounding area.

This little paper looks at the occupational backgrounds of the non-commissioned officer staff to get a perspective on the leadership of the regiment. It's based largely on C. R. Gibbs' history of the regiment and the work of other researchers. I just did a little number crunching... [unfortunately I couldn't get the Excel sheet to upload, so the second attachment is just a photo of the breakdowns...]

[DougCooper]

Re: First Look at the NCOs of the First United States Colored Troops

Nobody had an excuse for not keeping their haircut - lots of barbers!

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: First Look at the NCOs of the First United States Colored Troops

The Atlantic Monthly article cited mentions that higher end African American barbers catered almost exclusively to a white clientele. That's where the money was, and that's what enabled them to rise to a middle class status. And that for various reasons seems to have made them suitable non-commissioned officers. So they were probably no more likely to cut their men's hair or shave them than all those waiters were to attend their men's messes. But it is an interesting occupational mix.

I've just started on the 2nd USCT, the other DC black regiment, raised a couple of miles away from me in Arlington and am curious to see what I find there. From a very cursory look, it seems they had even fewer men actually born in Washington, but there are a few waiters and at least one more barber -- a corporal...

[LeftCoastYank]

Re: First Look at the NCOs of the First United States Colored Troops

In Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers, Glatthaar notes a big challenge for USCT regiments was finding suitable candidates for senior NCO roles, because those jobs required men who were literate, and a byproduct of slavery was a higher rate of illiteracy among black troops than their white counterparts. I wonder if that's why waiters, who I assume must have needed reading and writing skills in civilian life, are so well represented the NCO corps?

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: First Look at the NCOs of the First United States Colored Troops

That's discussed to some extent in the little paper attached to my post. Gibbs' history of the regiment mentions that about a hundred of the enlisted men were literate at the beginning of its service, and about three hundred by the time they mustered out. The first number roughly correlates with the total number over time who held warrants as sergeants, and the second actually exceeds all who served at one point or another as NCOs. The occupational mix does skew heavily toward men in trades, some of which I didn't expect to see. Check out, for example, the gardeners...;)