By William Haupt III | The Center Square contributor
A
Memorial Day (Decoration Day) weekend afternoon view at Fort Sheridan Cemetery.
- Michael Heimlich | Shutterstock.com
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a
burden to bear.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King
Since the tragic death of George Floyd, America has
witnessed one tragedy after another as the media has fueled one of the most
divisive periods in history since the Civil War’s brother against brother. Lost
in the ashes of this unrest and unfound claims of systematic racism and the
decadent anti-forgiving cancel culture of woke-ism are memories of many of our
nation’s greatest unifiers.
No historical event has left a deeper imprint on
America’s memory than the U.S. Civil War of 1861.
By 1865, a war-torn North and South began the slow and
painful process of reconciliation. Hidden deep within the archives during
unification are some of America’s greatest moments. These events emphasize the
appreciation of Black Americans for the heroes who once wore the Blue and Gray.
United
States Colored Troops (USCT) - National Archives Record
Lost in our national culture is much of the sincere empathy for the contributions of Black Americans during and after the war. Untold and forgotten events that helped win the war and reunify “brother with brother” remind us that many of these moral crusades were some of our greatest victories.
United States Colored Troops, aka USCT, embodied
Frederick Douglass’ belief that “he who would be free must himself strike the
blow." A total of 179,000 Black patriots, many of whom were former slaves,
volunteered to fight for the Union in the Civil War. Over 37,000 gave their
lives in a war they knew they had to win. With every battle they fought, the
USCT proved that they could out-duel any foe.
Recruiting
Broadside for United States Colored Troops, from Freeman, Elsie, Wynell
Burroughs Schamel, and Jean West. “The Fight for Equal Rights: A Recruiting
Poster for Black Soldiers in the Civil War.”
USCT units displayed courage under fire and won glory on
the fields of battle at Port Hudson in Louisiana, Fort Wagner in South
Carolina, New Market Heights, Spotsylvania and Wilson's Wharf in Virginia.
Records indicate that over 10% of the Union army was comprised of Black
Americans.
“We need more people with enough patriotism to live up to
the Constitution.”
– Frederick Douglass
The USCT were a watershed in American history, and one of
the first major strides toward equal civil rights. Abolitionist Frederick
Douglass said that when the USCT was formed it transformed the Civil War from a
conflict for restoration of the Union into a moral crusade to end American
slavery.
Besides the patriotic USCT, many other Black Americans
contributed to the critical rebuilding of our broken union. Most of these were
former slaves who remained in the south following the Civil War during
Reconstruction. Despite economic hardship, segregation, and denial of equal
rights, they were grateful for every soldier of every color who fought and died
to deliver them their freedom.
One of the casualties of war is the graves of so many
unknown heroes. After the American Civil War, a battered America faced the task
of burying and honoring 800,000 Union and Confederate soldiers. Shortly after
the Confederacy surrendered in 1865, groups of former slaves gathered in
Charleston, South Carolina, to pay tribute to and memorialize the unknown
fallen Union soldiers.
Washington
Race Track 1792-1900 - The grandstand on the north side of the course was
erected in 1836. This 1857 view of the grandstand was published in John
Beaufain Irving's The South
Carolina Jockey Club.
Charleston’s Washington Race Track had been transformed
by the Confederate army into a prison. Prisoners were confined there without
medical supplies, shelter, or sanitation with little food to eat. Over 250 died
of war wounds and diseases. They were dumped into a massive grave site behind
the grandstand.
”It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow
too fond of it.”
– Robert E. Lee
To Black Americans in Charleston, the former Washington Race Track and Union graveyard was a painful reminder of the despicable and inhumane treatment that had been inflicted upon those that liberated them. Many of them had been forced to help bury these heroes in this communal grave.
Library of Congress
preserves this photo taken in 1865 while the African-American reconstruction of
the cemetery in Charleston was in progress. The rows of markers are newly
established individual Union graves.
As these grateful citizens watched the Confederates leave
Charleston, they would return to the race track and pray for the soldiers.
Black workmen came back to the gravesite and reburied the Union soldiers with
dignity. To protect the graves and preserve their memory they built a fence
around the cemetery with these words inscribed at the entrance; “Martyrs of the
Race Course.”
“If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die
for, he isn’t fit to live.”
– Martin Luther King
According to reports in The Charleston Courier, on May 1,
1865, a crowd of over 10,000 former slaves, white abolitionists and
missionaries staged a parade around the race track. Over 3,000 Black children
laid flowers upon the graves and sang gospel music. The famed Black-American
54th regiment and other USCT troops performed a special march around the
gravesite of these fallen Union soldiers. Black ministers led people in prayer
and recited Bible verses in their memory.
The first national commemoration of Decoration Day
(renamed Memorial Day after WW II to honor all fallen soldiers) was held in
Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868. People came from states around the
U.S. to pay tribute to both Union and Confederate soldiers. Some 5,000 people
decorated the graves of over 20,000 Civil War soldiers from both sides of the
Mason-Dixon Line.
Picture of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Burial of Federal dead. It was taken in 1864 by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1840-1882.
Cities in the North and South, from Macon, Georgia to
Richmond, Virginia to Carbondale, Illinois, claim they held the first
Decoration Day. Yet, the actual founding of this holiday and most official
accounts of why it was a special day for the freed slaves of Charleston, South
Carolina, have been erased from public memory and have been removed from Common
Core public school textbooks.
Abraham Lincoln said, “We cannot escape our history.” In
450 BC, Greek author Herodotus wrote the first history book to warn future
Greeks about the tragic Greco-Persian Wars so future cultures would not repeat
them.
“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is
ignorance’’
– Herodotus
Our public schools and the liberal media are depriving
generations of Americans of knowledge of salient events and moral tributes by
groups and individuals that helped bring Americans together at critical times
in our history. These were special people that did special things that built
bridges over past cataclysms. They refused to dwell on the past and helped
build a better future for Americans.
We can’t predict the future but we can avoid repeating
our past mistakes if we know what we did wrong and what we did right. If we do
not revisit our failures and our achievements we are doomed to fail again.
Those who have no knowledge of their past lack the tools needed for a better
future.
When former slaves honored their Union liberators on the
first Decoration Day, it was the beginning of the healing for America after the
Civil War. These former slaves wished to mourn those who died for their freedom
and forgave those who had oppressed them. America needed healing and these
former slaves paved the way for all America. Maybe we can do the same again on
Decoration Day.
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
