Analysis: War Department General Order 143

Date: 1863

Author: Stanton, Edwin M.

Genre: order

Summary Overview

Halfway through the Civil War, Union Army officials began to explore the possibility of enlisting black soldiers. Its ranks, which consisted only of white troops, had been thinned by casualties. In addition, the army’s battlefield successes created a growing number of former slaves—freed according to the Emancipation Proclamation—able to fight for the Union. With the strong advocacy of African American activist Frederick Douglass, more black men came forward to enlist in the Union Army. In May 1863, the War Department, through War Department General Order 143, established the Bureau of Colored Troops. The bureau would be used to enlist and assign the growing number of black volunteers to established military units.

Document Analysis

War Department General Order 143 sought to bolster the Union Army’s troop numbers by recruiting black volunteers. The order established the Bureau of Colored Troops, a special office that was dedicated to organizing and managing the influx of black volunteers. The bureau was created to oversee the recruitment, training, and assignment of black troops in the Union Army. After the bureau was founded, it recruited soldiers according to Northern state designations. Outside of the free North, however, black volunteers were typically former slaves who required military training. The Bureau of Colored Troops, through the guidelines of War Department General Order 143, provided training, uniforms, and equipment for the Union Army’s black regiments.

The recruitment and training of black troops under the bureau’s management was considerably different from the Union Army’s recruitment protocols for white volunteers. White Union Army recruits were organized through quotas. Recruiting stations were opened in cities and towns throughout the North. As the need for more troops arose during the war, the number of such stations increased, particularly in more populated municipal centers. White recruits could enlist in existing regiments at recruitment stations, or they could join new regiments that had not yet been deployed. Typically, the officers working at stations recruiting for already-formed regiments were themselves combat veterans. Newly forming regiments were often recruited by recently commissioned, less experienced officers.

For black Union recruits, the War Department deemed it necessary to create a single system of administration. Officers in charge of all aspects of the process, from recruitment to assignment, were required to adhere to a strict set of guidelines established by the Bureau of Colored Troops. Although the army (and indeed, its commander in chief, President Lincoln) believed in the value of recruiting black troops, the process was influenced by political forces and systemized racial prejudice. Black troops represented a boon for the Union Army’s numbers, but many in North were reluctant, if not outwardly opposed, to accepting them. Once a recruitment policy was approved, it was critical that the army adhere to its strict protocols. The order was thus focused in such a way that only the entities and individuals assigned by the government could manage any part of the large recruitment operation.

The order calls for the establishment of the bureau within the adjutant general’s office. The adjutant general served as the Union Army’s chief administrative officer, managing all operations, supplies, and policies within its system. The centrality of the adjutant general ensured that all of the Union’s operations were standardized and uniform. The Bureau of Colored Troops was incorporated into the overall purview of the army’s central administrative office. The recruitment of black volunteers was handled by the federal government, without the participation of state governments.

Following the bureau’s establishment, Major Charles W. Foster of Ohio was appointed commanding officer of administration by Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas. Various field officers were appointed to oversee the organization and assignments of the Union Army’s black recruits. Furthermore, several boards were convened to review the applications of white officers seeking command posts in black regiments and units.

The order manifests an acknowledgement of the fact that black soldier recruitment requires a specialized approach. Many of the protocols used for white soldiers were not applied to this group of soldiers. Many black soldiers hailed from the same regions as their white counterparts. However, a much larger number were former slaves who lacked formal education. The order clearly distinguishes black soldiers, not only as separate from white soldiers, but as a single, uniform group.

The boards established in section 3 of the order played a pivotal role in the selection of officers. The expansion of the Union Army to include black regiments created opportunities for officers seeking command positions (and the pay increases that came with such posts). Army officials maintained that commanding officers assigned to black regiments should possess certain leadership qualities. The prevalent racial prejudices of the period gave rise to the notion that black soldiers should be trained differently from white troops, especially in light of the fact that so many black recruits were former slaves.

The board also served as the primary authority on who would be able to recruit these black troops. According to Order 143, the board established within the Bureau of Colored Troops would be solely responsible examining, approving, and denying those individuals who would recruit troops from the increasing number of black volunteers. Even if approved by the board, these recruiters would be limited in terms of the number of troops they recruited. The order states that a board-authorized army recruiter would only be allowed to raise one regiment’s worth of men. A regiment consisted of about ten companies, each of which consisted of about one hundred men, including officers.

Under the guidelines of the order, troops recruited within the Bureau of Colored Troops system would first be assigned to companies. Those companies would be consolidated into either regiments or battalions (which consisted of between four and eight companies), a procedure administered by the Adjutant General. The regiments and battalions would then be ordered one after another (“seriatim”) according to the chronological order by which they were raised. Each regiment and battalion would be given a special designation, identifying the grouping by its racial composition: Regiment of US Colored Troops.

Keeping in line with the strict protocols for the recruitment and assignment of black volunteers, the order states that the adjutant general would establish specialized recruiting stations and depots for this purpose. Each such depot and station would be managed by well-trained and government-sanctioned officers who would be responsible for mustering (formally gathering and organizing) and inspecting these troops as they came through the facility. This policy would facilitate the uniform application of army policies and practices.

A major theme found in the order focuses on the (white) officers. These individuals were responsible for the organization, training, assignment, and deployment of the newest members of the Union Army. It was critical, therefore, that the officers assigned to this duty were carefully screened and managed in order ensure the troops’ top performance. The officers’ ranks were of two kinds, noncommissioned and commissioned. The former—such as corporals and sergeants—were men given authority by commissioned officers (sometimes while in the field), often as a reward for their demonstrated leadership qualities. Commissioned officers were trained to become officers and included graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point. This group received their commissions and promotions by sanction of the federal government.

The War Department did not see a reason to change the protocols for promoting those officers who were assigned to work with black regiments. As they were already officially screened by the Adjutant General and the aforementioned board within the Bureau of Colored Troops, the officers would continue to see promotions based on merit and valor. According to section 8 of Order 143, noncommissioned officers would continue to be rewarded with promotions based on their distinguishing character and actions. Likewise, commissioned officers would be eligible for promotions based on their own meritorious activity.

There was a difference for officers who received their command over a white regiment as opposed to a black regiment. As mentioned earlier, officers were assigned their command over white regiments according to necessity—an officer who distinguished himself during a battle might, for example, be promoted and reassigned to a command in a similar combat situation. Officers seeking promotion typically would gain the support of their political leaders, such as congressmen or other elected officers. On the other hand, officers who sought to become a part of a black regiment needed to apply for such slots. Most knew no political officials who would lobby the War Department on their behalf. These officers needed to pass an examination, for which they needed to study extensively in order to ensure that they were prepared for any situation as an officer of a black regiment.

An important omission from the order is any protocol permitting the promotion of black soldiers to officer rank. Systemized racism and political sensitivity prevented the promotion of any black man to a rank in which he could be a white man’s superior officer.

There were already black regiments in existence—which included black officers—by the start of the Civil War. Louisiana had in 1861 established the Native Guards to support the Confederacy, but these regiments were not used; any such regiment that was captured by the Union was simply dissolved. By 1863, black men were barred from holding any higher rank, with the rare exception of black medical doctors or chaplains who were given their ranks in title only and without any discernible authority.

Also absent from War Department General Order 143 is any description of the training black troops would receive upon recruitment. The inclusion of such information would have divulged elements of battlefield strategy. Black soldiers in the Union Army were involved in a wide range of activities contributing to the war effort. Many served noncombat roles, working as laborers, medical corps, and chaplains. Others were assigned to artillery and infantry units. In total, the bureau managed nearly 180,000 black troops, organizing them into 120 infantry regiments, twenty-two artillery batteries, and seven cavalry regiments.

In 1863, the Union Army was as reluctant to let black soldiers go into battle as they were to let them join the military at all two year prior. Yet, black regiments of the Union Army fought in forty-one major battles and countless smaller skirmishes during the latter half of the war. According to a wide range of accounts, the regiments performed bravely and heroically. Nevertheless, in comparison to white soldiers, black troops were used in limited fashion on the battlefield; the vast majority of black soldiers who died during the war were killed by disease, not as a result of combat.

War Department General Order 143 is illustrative of the prevailing prejudices and racist ideologies of the Civil War era. President Lincoln and his antislavery supporters in the Republican Party were successful in adopting the Emancipation Proclamation, but this victory did not immediately change America’s deeply ingrained racist culture. The order itself displays racial prejudice, as it presumes black men—in light of a presumed lack of intellect and social skills—would require additional training and education that white men would not. In addition, the order takes pains to remind readers that black troops would only serve—their role was to follow orders and not to issue them.

Bibliography

“Biography: Edwin Stanton.” Freedom: A History of US. Public Broadcasting Service, n.d. Web. 25 Apr 2013.

“The Civil War’s Black Soldiers.” National Park Service. US Department of the Interior, 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.

“The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War.”National Archives. US National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 25 Apr 2013.