Why no Battle of Nashville markers for U.S. Colored Troops?

Marker at Peach Orchard Hill, where 13th U.S.C.T. attacked on Dec. 16, 1864.

Railroad Cut in South Nashville, where U.S.C.T. made futile assault on Dec. 15, 1864.

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U.S. Colored Troops fought bravely at the Railroad Cut (Dec. 15, 1864) and Peach Orchard Hill (Dec. 16) at the Battle of Nashville. But no battlefield markers on the mostly developed ground at either site note the valor of the African-American soldiers.

 At Peach Orchard Hill (see video below), the 13th U.S.C.T. suffered more than 200 casualties, including the loss of five color-bearers. "I never saw more heroic conduct shown on the field of battle than was exhibited by this body of men so recently slaves,” an Ohio officer recalled of the black troops’ performance on Dec. 16 at Peach Orchard Hill. Reported the Nashville Tennessean on Dec. 19, 1889, "There was no other occasion perhaps during the war where colored troops were so severely treated."

Twenty-five years after the battle, Aaron P. Baldwin, an officer in the 6th Ohio Light Battery, recalled the assault by the U.S.C.T. at Peach Orchard Hill:

War-time image of Aaron Baldwin.

We had often seen colored troops, but they were invariably doing garrison duty, and to see them march out in line of  battle and form for a charge was decidedly interesting to us and of course drew all our spare attention. If we ever had any question as to the bravery of colored troops, the events that soon followed showed us that no braver troops ever went into a fight. All was ready when Gen. [Thomas J.] Wood gave the order to cover the advance and to continue firing so long as the battery could do so with safety to the charging lines. This we did until the colored troops had reached the enemy's earth works. In the meantime the rebels had not been idle. They marched three distinct lines of infantry around the brow of the  hill, one line above the other, thus giving them four distinct lines of fire. This turreted fire was all directed upon the colored troops, and the action that lasted not more than 20 minutes left more than 400 colored troops lying on the field. One color bearer reached the earth works but fell, pierced with 17 bullets, rolling down into the trench, where he concealed his colors on his person. The charge having proven a failure, the reserves as well as what was left of the colored brigade fell back upon the battery line for reformation. The color bearer that was so seriously wounded was brought off of the field and with him the colors. He died within two hours after the action.

At the Railroad Cut on the foggy morning of Dec. 15, the  U.S.C.T. -- part of a diversionary attack of about 7,000 soldiers on the extreme right of the Confederate line -- were ambushed. Soldiers, many of them former slaves, leaped into the cut, breaking bones ... or suffering a worse fate.

We'll aim to help the effort to honor the U.S.C.T. for Battle of Nashville valor. Stay tuned.

The 13th U.S.C.T. are believed to have formed up here in preparation for the assault at Peach Orchard Hill.
This sliver of land in a residential area is managed by the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

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-- Have something to add (or correct) in this post? E-mail me here.

-- Lewis, George W., The Campaigns of the 124th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Akron, Ohio, The Werner Co., 1894
-- Nashville Tennessean, Dec. 19, 1889.
-- The Summit County (Ohio) Beacon, Dec. 25, 1889.

Gettysburg interactive panoramas: Unfinished Railroad Cut

Click here for battlefield panoramas from Antietam, Cedar Mountain, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, Harris Farm, Manassas, Malvern Hill, Salem Church,  Spotsylvania Courthouse and more.

                                           Looking northwest toward Catoctin Mountains.

A post-war image of the Railroad Cut and the old bridge across it.
(Photo: Library of Congress)

It's difficult today to imagine the horror, chaos and confusion that took place at the Unfinished Railroad Cut on July 1, 1863, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Among the three Union regiments that rushed to take this position was the 6th Wisconsin of the famed Iron Brigade.

Enraged by the mortal wounding  of a comrade who attempted to snatch the 2nd Mississippi flag at the Cut, a private in the 6th Wisconsin clubbed to death the culprit with his musket. In the ensuing melee, Francis Waller, a 22-year-old corporal in the 6th Wisconsin, captured that flag, an act of valor that earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1864 and perhaps factored into his promotion to 1st lieutenant later in the war.

Plenty has been written about the fighting at the Cut, including this detailed account on an excellent 2nd Mississippi web site by Michael Brasher, whose ancestor served in the regiment. I shot these images on Wednesday afternoon during a two-day visit to the battlefield. Sliding down the steep embankment and deftly avoiding snapping my ankle, I captured a Rebel's-eye view from next to the railroad tracks, which had not been laid at the time of the battle. In 1939, remains of a Union soldier were found here and 57 years later, a tourist -- a National Park Service employee from Oregon --  found remains of another soldier. A forensic examination determined that the unknown soldier, probably a Confederate, had been shot in the head. With full military honors, he was re-buried in the national cemetery in Gettysburg on July 1, 1997, the 134th anniversary of the battle.

                                                Looking southeast toward Gettysburg.

"My notice that we were upon the enemy was a general cry from our men of:  'Throw down your muskets! Down with your muskets!' Running forward through our line of men, I found myself face to face with hundreds of rebels, whom I looked down upon in the railroad cut, which was, where I stood, four feet deep. Adjutant Brooks, equal to the emergency, quickly placed about twenty men across the cut in position to fire through it. I have always congratulated myself upon getting the first word. I shouted: 'Where is the colonel of this regiment?' An officer in gray, with stars on his collar, who stood among the men in the cut, said: 'Who are you?' I said: 'I command this regiment. Surrender, or I will fire.' "

-- Colonel Rufus Dawes, 6th Wisconsin

Source: Service With The Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers, Page 168

                                                  View from inside the Railroad Cut

 "My color guards were all killed and wounded in less than five minutes, and also my colors were shot more than one dozen times, and the flag staff was hit and splintered two or three times. Just about that time a squad of soldiers made a rush for my colors and our men did their duty. They were all killed or wounded, but they still rushed for the colors with one of the most deadly struggles that was ever witnessed during any battle in the war. They still kept rushing for my flag and there were over a dozen shot down like sheep in their mad rush for the colors. The first soldier was shot down just as he made for the flag, and he was shot by one of our soldiers. Just to my right and at the same time a lieutenant made a desperate struggle for the flag and was shot through the right shoulder. Over a dozen men fell killed or wounded, and then a large man made a rush for me and the flag. As I tore the flag from the staff he took hold of me and the color. The firing was still going on, and was kept up for several minutes after the flag was taken from me..."

-- Corporal William Murphy, 2nd Mississippi

Source: Murphy to F.A. Dearborn, June 29, 1900, Papers of E. S. Bragg, State Historical Society of Wisconsin (Cited on 2nd Mississippi web site by Michael Brasher)