Being granted but half the pay per
month given to white soldiers, the regiment to a man, for eighteen
months refused to receive one cent from the Government. This was a
spectacle that the country could not longer stand. One thousand
volunteers fighting the country's battles without any compensation
rather than submit to a discrimination fatal to their manhood, aroused
such a sentiment that Congress was compelled to put them on the
pay-roll on equal footing with all other soldiers. By them the
question of the black soldier's pay and rations was settled in the
Army of the United States for all time. Every soldier, indeed every
man in the army, except the chaplain, now draws the pay of his grade
without regard to color, hair or race. By the time these lines reach
the public eye it is to be hoped that even the chaplain will be lifted
from his exceptional position and given the pay belonging to his rank
as captain.
(February 2, 1901, the bill became a law giving chaplains the full pay
of their grade.)
More than 185,000 blacks, all told, served in the army of the Union
during the War of the Rebellion, and the losses from their ranks of
men killed in battle were as heavy as from the white troops. Their
bravery was everywhere recognized, and in the short time in which they
were employed, several rose to commissions.
Pages:
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126