GDG- Black Officers in the Civil War

[Smith, David]

Paula--

My graduate school days are receding into a distant memory, but I had
thought I had read that Chester was an officer during the Civil War -
possibly a recruiting officer. But I can't find confirmation of that on
any of his bio sites (I know he was a recruiter), so it probably didn't
happen.  I too have wondered how he found time to be a war
correspondent, a recruiter, and an officer all that same time.

Chester apparently quit the 55th Mass over their failure to appoint
black officers.  I think I must have been thinking of Marin Delany
instead.  Delany and Chester both advocated a separate African American
homeland at various times, so I think I got them confused.

"1865  President Lincoln made Martin R. Delany a major, the first
African American to be commissioned at this rank in the U.S. Army. He
also approved Delany's plan for placing a black regiment in the field,
but the Civil War ended before it could be implemented. Delany was also
a well known advocate for the establishment of a black nation in the
American west or in Africa."

Re the other woman, I don't think Susie King Taylor is it.  I will have
to poke into it.

David

Hi David! Chester was a brigadier general of the Louisiana Militia after
the war. Did he actually serve during the war? I knew he was a recruiter
(but I believe he quit that because the US army would not allow Black
officers.) He then went on to be the only black correspondent for a
major newspaper during the war. He was with the Union troops when they
marched into Richmond. 

Is the other woman you were speaking of Susie King Taylor? I have her
book, but can't put my hands on it right now. 

Paula