by Alison Hart
Fredericksburg, VA, troops filling canteens, 1864
The Union Colored Cavalry
During the Civil War, the Bureau for Colored Troops recorded only seven black cavalry regiments. In June 1864, officers from Camp Nelson began selecting recruits for the Fifth Colored Cavalry (Gabriel’s regiment). Nearly all of the recruits were former slaves. The officers, like the fictional Captain Waite, were white men. Before the regiment was completely organized, it was sent to Saltville, Virginia. Colonel James S. Brisbin traveled with the Fifth as they marched from Kentucky to Virginia.
“On the march the colored soldiers, as well as their white officers, were made the subject of much ridicule and many insulting remarks by the white troops,” Colonel Brisbin reported. “These insults as well as jeers and taunts that they would not fight, were borne by the colored soldiers patiently . . .”
The Fifth lost 114 men (out of 400) and four officers during the battle. Afterward, Colonel Brisbin reported: “Of this fight I can only say that men could not have behaved more bravely. I have seen white troops fight in twenty-seven battles and I never saw any fight better.”
Federal cavalry column,
Rappahannock River, VA, 1862
The Battle of Saltville, Virginia
The town of Saltville was the scene of a fierce battle between the North and the South. During the Civil War, the troops needed salt for many purposes. It was used for tanning leather shoes, harnesses, holsters, and saddles. Horses required salt in their diet. And since there was no refrigeration, beef and pork were salted to be preserved as food for the troops.
The Saltville mines and saltworks were major suppliers of salt for the Confederate armies. The Saltville pots were kept boiling throughout the war, manned by slaves twenty-four hours a day. The mines and saltworks produced thousands of bushels of salt every day.
On October 2, 1864, 5,200 Union soldiers from Eastern Kentucky and Camp Nelson, including the newly formed Fifth U.S. Colored Cavalry, attacked Saltville. The day-long fight was a Confederate victory. Many of the Union soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured.
The Saltville “Massacre”
During the Civil War the North and the South agreed to rules stating that captured soldiers were to be held as prisoners of war. When the war ended, the prisoners would be exchanged. However, the Confederate army considered black soldiers as runaway slaves. They also labeled the white officers who commanded black soldiers—like Captain Waite—as criminals because they were helping the “runaways.” Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, sent out a proclamation declaring that captured officers of black regiments were to be “put to death or be otherwise punished” and the men serving under them were to be hanged or returned to slavery.
Saltville battlefield, 1864 Following the battle of Saltville, Confederate troops killed a number of wounded and captured black troops after they had surrendered. According to oral history, the bodies were buried in a nearby sinkhole. Historians disagree on the number of black soldiers “missing in action” after this battle. Estimates range from a dozen to one hundred and fifty. The killings later came to be known as the “Saltville Massacre.”
When Confederate General Robert E. Lee heard of the massacre, he declared that the officers responsible should be arrested and brought to trial. It wasn’t until the war was over that a Confederate guerrilla fighter named Champ Ferguson was arrested and charged with murdering fifty-three soldiers. While he was not convicted of killing the black soldiers, he was found guilty of robbery and murder. Ferguson was hanged in October 20, 1865, slightly over a year after the battle of Saltville.
Each year on October 2, a dedication and memorial service is held at the Saltville Battleground to honor the black soldiers who died in 1864.
Note: The quotes from Reverend John G. Fee were obtained from Camp Nelson, Kentucky. The quote from Elijah Marrs came from Life and History of Elijah P. Marrs. The quote from Colonel James S. Brisbin was found in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. XXXIX. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1892. The quote from Jefferson Davis appears in Till Victory is Won. The quote from Major Jennens is from “The Expendable Horse in the Civil War.”
Special thanks to Robert A. Niepert, Civil War re-enactor and cavalryman, Lieutenant Colonel 3rd Battalion, Hardy’s Brigade, Florida; Dr. Stephen McBride, Director of Interpretation and Archaeology, Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park; and David Brown, whose great-great-grandfather Samuel Truehart was a soldier in the Fifth United States Colored Cavalry.
Bibliographical Note
TO RESEARCH AND WRITE GABRIEL’S JOURNEY, I read many books, articles, and online information. The following sources were especially helpful:
BOOKS
Cooke, Philip St. George. The 1862 U.S. Cavalry Tactics. Stackpole Books, PA: 2004.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Corner House Publishers, Massachusetts: 1971.
Kent, William B. A History of Saltville. Commonwealth Press, Inc. Radford, Virginia: 1955.
Lucas, Marion B. A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1760–1891. Kentucky Historical Society: 2003.
Lucas, Scott J. “High Expectations: African Americans in Civil War Kentucky.” Negro History Bulletin: Jan/Dec. 2001.
Marrs, Elijah P. Life and History of the Reverend Elijah P. Marrs. Louisville, KY: 1885.
Marvel, William. The Battles for Saltville. H. E. Howard, Inc., Lynchburg, VA: 1992.
Mays, Thomas D. The Saltville Massacre. Ryan Place Publishers, Inc. Fort Worth, TX: 1995.
Mettger, Zak. Till Victory is Won: Black Soldiers in the Civil War. Puffin: 1997.
Miller, Francis Trevelyan. The Cavalry: The Photographic History of the Civil War. Castle Books, New York: 1957.
Murphy, Jim. The Boys’ War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk about the Civil War. Clarion Books, New York: 1990.
Niepert, Robert A. “The Expendable Horse in the Civil War.” www.floridareenactorsonline.com
Niepert, Robert. A. “The Cavalryman’s Accoutrements.” www.floridareenactorsonline.com
Ray, Delia. Behind the Blue and Gray: The Soldier’s Life in the Civil War. Puffin: 1996.
Sears, Richard D. Camp Nelson, Kentucky: A Civil War History. The University Press of Kentucky: 2002.
Smith, John David, ed. Black Soldiers in Blue: African American Troops in the Civil War Era. University of North Carolina Press: 2002.
Wilson, Keith P. Campfires of Freedom: The Camp Life of Black Soldiers during the Civil War. The Kent State University Press, Ohio: 2002.
WEBSITES
www.campnelson.org
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/5thuscc/index.htm
(This is the website of David Brown, whose great grandfather was Samuel Truehart, a Kentuckian who mustered in at Camp Nelson on September 12, 1864, and was placed in Company E of the Fifth Colored Cavalry. Brown has carefully researched the battle and its aftermath.)
www.saltville.com
www.vahistory.org
“The Horse: A Silent Hero of Our History”
The following books will help you learn more about a soldier’s life during the Civil War:
Black, Wallace B. Slaves to Soldiers: African-American Fighting Men in the Civil War. Franklin Watts, NY: 1998.
Brooks, Victor. African Americans in the Civil War. Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia: 2000.
Corrick, James A. Life among the Soldiers and Cavalry. Lucent Books, Inc., CA: 2000.
Ford, Carin T. African American Soldiers in the Civil War. Enslow Publishers, Inc., NJ: 2004.
Mettger, Zak. Till Victory is Won: Black Soldiers in the Civil War. Puffin: 1997.
Wisler, G. Clifton. When Johnny Went Marching: Young Americans Fight the Civil War. HarperCollins, NY: 2001.
About the Author
ALISON HART enjoys writing about history and horses, two of her favorite subjects. “I’d love
to go back in time,” she says, “and meet people like Gabriel who followed their dreams, no matter what the hardships.” Researching GABRIEL’S HORSES took her to the Bluegrass region of Kentucky and its rich Thoroughbred racing and Civil War history. She soon realized that the suspenseful story of Gabriel and his family wouldn’t fit in one book. The result was the Racing to Freedom trilogy: GABRIEL’S HORSES, GABRIEL’S TRIUMPH, and GABRIEL’S JOURNEY.
Ms. Hart, a teacher and author, has written more than twenty books for children and young adults. Many of her titles—including ANNA’S BLIZZARD, an IRA Teacher’s Choice and WILLA Finalist, and SHADOW HORSE, an Edgar Nominee—feature horses. Her historical mystery FIRES OF JUBILEE is also set at the time of the Civil War.
Published by
PEACHTREE PUBLISHERS
1700 Chattahoochee Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112
www.peachtree-online.com
Text © 2007 by Alison Hart
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Cover design by Loraine M. Joyner
Print book design by Melanie McMahon Ives
Photo credits: Sergeant William H. Carney, Union officers with “contrabands”, Civil War recruitment poster, Troops filling canteens, and Colored school at Camp Nelson courtesy of the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print editions as follows:
Hart, Alison, 1950-
Gabriel’s journey / by Alison Hart.— 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Thirteen-year-old Gabriel, a former slave, leaves behind his life as a professional jockey and joins his father in the Fifth U.S. Colored Cavalry at Camp Nelson, Kentucky.
ISBN-13: 978-1-56145-442-6 / ISBN-10: 1-56145-442-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-56145-530-0 / ISBN-10: 1-56145-533-X
1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Juvenile fiction. [1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Fiction. 2. Soldiers—Fiction. 3. Horses—Fiction. 4. African Americans—Fiction. 5. Freedmen—Fiction. 6. United States. Army. Cavalry—Fiction. 7. Camp Nelson (Ky.)—History—19th century—Fiction. 8. Kentucky—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.H256272Gac 2008
[Fic]—dc22
2007042091