10 AFRICAN AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR II EU RO PE AN THEATER African Americans (1,090 ex-slaves and 102 freemen) eligible for military duty in the 6th Military District. Some African Americans who enlisted came from outside of the 6th Military District (for example, from Bourbon and Owen counties) to join the war effort. In May 1864, former slaves and other drafted African Americans from Kenton Co. were being sent to a general military rendezvous point at Louisville. In July 1864, Adj. Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, in charge of African American recruitment in Kentucky since 1863, ordered the establishment of a camp in Covington for organization, instruction, and training at Camp King, home to both the 72nd and 117th USCI Regiments. A Captain Webster, the 6th District’s quartermaster, proclaimed that all enslaved African Americans not physically suited for military ser vice were to be assigned to the quartermaster and employed at the government’s stables at a pay rate of $30 per month. In August the quartermaster received an anonymous communication advising him to resign his commission “and stop hiring those African Americans unfit for military ser vice.” By mid-August 1864, nearly 400 African American recruits were in Covington waiting assignment. Col. Lewis G. Brown and two other line officers were in charge of the enlistees and recruitment. Colonel Brown sent agents to Carroll, Gallatin, Harrison, and other nearby counties to enlist former slaves. A considerable force of both whites and African Americans was sent with each recruiting party to protect it from roaming rebel guerillas. Some local people discouraged African American enlistments, while others tried to entice recruits away from Covington in order to sell them in Cincinnati as military substitutes. The penalty for being caught trafficking in substitute recruitments was imprisonment in Covington’s military jails. In late August, 60 soldiers from Company C, 117th USCI Regiment, under the command of Lt. Frederick D. Seward from the 72nd USCI Regiment, were attacked while camping at Ghent in Gallatin Co., by a force of 100 Confederates under the command of a Colonel Jessie. The majority of the Union troops were killed, and the remainder were taken captive. The Union soldiers were in Gallatin and Carroll counties on a recruiting mission. Lieutenant Seward and a number of these soldiers arrived in Covington after being released by Colonel Jessie. One of the men died and six were wounded. Two of the wounded were taken to the Seminary U.S. General Hospital, on the site of the former Western Baptist Theological Institute. Eight other African American soldiers taken as prisoners in the battle were seen leaving in the direction of Eagle Hills in Owen Co., accompanied by Colonel Jessie and his Confederate troops. Two weeks later, these eight soldiers escaped when Union soldiers garrisoned in Shelby Co. attacked Colonel Jessie and the troops he commanded while they were encamped. On October 7, 1864, after having their ranks increased by 30 recruits from Owen Co. and 20 more from Bourbon Co., the 117th USCI Regiment,
under Colonel Brown, was ordered to the field and departed for Louisville. Later, the regiment was ordered to Baltimore, Md., and arrived there on October 13. Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace (of Ben Hur novel fame) took over command of the regiment. In January 1865 this regiment was transferred to the Union’s 25th Army Corps and then moved to Camp Burnham near Richmond, Va. The regiment remained there until May 1865. In April they were stationed at Petersburg, Va., and by June the regiment had been moved to Brownsville, Tex., where it remained until the war’s end in 1865. In November 1864 Major Mitchell, the provost marshal for the 6th Military District, mustered into federal ser vice 82 African Americans. They were to serve principally as teamsters but also to work in the engineering, quartermaster, and commissary departments. He was following orders issued by Adj. Gen. George Thomas (namesake of Fort Thomas) to have these men work in uniform, draw rations, and receive the same pay as any other Union soldier, not the $30 per month they had been earning. In early 1865 Covington was receiving African American refugees primarily from the vicinity of the saltworks in southwestern Virginia. About 100 refugees were being housed in the Union Army’s military barracks on Greenup St. Some of the most able-bodied men who had arrived indicated their desire to join the Union Army. In April 1865, Company C, 72nd, proceeded to Taylorsville in Spencer Co. En route, they were attacked by about 20 Confederate guerrillas. After a brief skirmish, the company entered town without having sustained any loss of men. The company remained there until April 26, when they marched to Bloomfield in Nelson Co. In May the 72nd USCI Regiment, under Colonel Duncan, departed Covington eastward for Catlettsburg in Boyd Co. In June the company arrived at Camp Nelson, where it was discontinued and the soldiers were discharged. The troops remaining at Camp King were three companies of the 6th Colored Cavalry, two companies of the 124th, one company of the 24th Kentucky (state militia), and one or two companies of the 1st Ohio Heavy Artillery, the latter guarding fortifications. In September the 119th USCI Regiment left for Louisville. The 13th Colored Heavy Artillery arrived from Camp Nelson. About half the regiment proceeded up the Ohio River to Catlettsburg, and the remainder stayed at Camp King. Companies F and G, 24th Kentucky Infantry, which had been doing duty within the Quartermaster’s Department, were relieved by Company A of that same regiment. The two former companies went to Camp Nelson. In October the troops garrisoned at the Newport Barracks, including the band, were ordered to New York City, as the barracks became the staging area for African American troops to be stationed in the West. During April 1865, the drafting of African Americans ceased when the deputy provost marshals in some of the counties of the 6th Congressional District were discharged. Some of the African Americans still in the military ser vice remained en-
rolled well into the mid-1860s, however. Deputy provost marshals from Boone, Bracken, Pendleton, and Trimble counties were notified of their discharge, once these soldiers were no longer needed. This action continued through May 1865 when other deputy provost marshals from Campbell, Carroll, and Gallatin counties were also discharged. Governor Bramlette maintained his resistance to what he considered federal occupation. Camp King was merged into Newport Barracks. During the war, African American refugees flooded the southern part of Covington near Camp King, so the military had to provide them with means of survival. After the war, refugees from Central Kentucky came to Covington and Newport in large numbers, taxing the ability of those cities to provide education, medicine, employment, and housing for them. In December 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau was expanded into Kentucky and an office was opened in Covington. The Freedmen’s Bureau, with assistance from the Freedmen’s Aid Society and other groups, provided much of the medical and educational assistance for the African Americans who had migrated to Northern Kentucky. “Agency of the Freedmen’s Bureau for Covington, Kentucky and Vicinity,” CDG, January 6, 1866, 2. “Camp for Negro Troops,” CDG, July 13, 1864, 2. Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops, 1863–1867. Gettysburg, Pa.: Thomas, 1990. “Homicide at Camp King,” CJ, September 28, 1861, 3. Howard, Victor B. Black Liberation in Kentucky: Emancipation and Freedom, 1862–1884. Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1983. “Movements of Troops,” CDE, September 21, 1865, 2. Reis, Jim. “Blacks Made Diverse Contributions,” KP, January 18, 1988, 4K. Ross, Joseph B., comp. Tabular Analysis of the Records of the U.S. Colored Troops and Their Predecessor Units in the National Archives of the United States. Special List No. 33, Washington, D.C.: NARS, 1973. Simon, Jack. “The Civil War Military Hospitals of Covington, Kentucky,” NKH 11, no. 1 (Fall–Winter 2003): 38–43. “Slaves and Free-Colored Persons Liable for Military Duty,” CDE, April 9, 1864, 3. Wimberg, Robert J. Cincinnati and the Civil War: Under Attack. Cincinnati: Ohio Book Store, 1999.
Theodore H. H. Harris
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR II (EUROPEAN THEATER). During World War II all able-bodied men who were U.S. citizens, including members of the African American community of Northern Kentucky, were required to serve in the military. Those who did not enlist were conscripted. The exact number of black Northern Kentuckians who served in the armed forces is not known. Official U.S. Army policy generally restricted African Americans to ser vice units; only a few were assigned to combat units. The largest concentration of African American soldiers from Northern Kentucky serving in Europe served with the 92nd “Fighting Buffaloes” Infantry Division in Italy, part of the 5th Army, commanded by Lt. Gen. Mark Clark. The 3rd Army,