The Jacksonville Mutiny

• Author: Captain Kevin Bennett
• Pages: 05

I. Introduction

At 1200 hours, on I December 1865, six soldiers from the 3d United States Colored Troops (USCT) were led from the guard house at Fort Clinch, Fernandina, Florida, and executed by a firing squad drawn from white troops at the garrison. The six soldiers-Privates David Craig, Joseph Green, James Allen, Jacob Plowden, Joseph Xathaniei, and Thomas Howard-were executed for the offense of mutiny. They were the last servicemen in the American Armed Forces to be executed exclusively for this offense.' The mutiny leading to these convictions occurred on 29 October 1865-just thirty-three days earlier. It resulted in an armed fire fight between officers and enlisted men and in fourteen court-martial convictions. While most students of the history of military justice are familiar with the injustices perpetrated upon black soldiers because of the Brownsville Affray or the Houston Riots, the Jacksonville Mutiny remains an obscure and long forgotten footnote in the saga of the black soldier's struggle to obtain fair treatment within the military justice system. Inasmuch as the Civil War period marked the first time in American history that blacks served in the military in any appreciable numbers, the Jacksonville Mutiny is a tragic but instructive beginning milestone on which the progress of the black soldier within the military justice system can be measured

11. Background

As a result of large scale operations and resultant massive casualties, the Civil War created a manpower crisis that, inturn, led to the enlistment of large numbers of blacks into the

'Judge Advocate General 3 Corps. Ohla .?.rmy Nsrlonsl Guard Curranrly aralgned to Headquarters Awmpace Guidance and Metrology Canter (AFLC), Pewark Air Force Bale, Ohio This article was snbmitted to rafi..) in yart the requirementi af the Judge Adrocale Oifleeri' Advanced Cawrelo 1882. three Indian Scours-Sergeant Jim Dandi. Corporal Skipp) and Sergeant Dead Shot-who KCTD slfached ID the 6th 0 S Cavalry, were executed an the charge af mutiny The surhor notes fhar those indiiiduali were m mn auxiliary ~rarus as ICUU~J and that the offense for which they were canricfed should have been charged mom properly as murder These icoufs joined n r h B party of homle Indians an B fire fight that reiulted ~n the death of an offlcer and SIX soldlerr SIB G C 41 0 12 (1882)

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federal military and narai services. Prior to the Civil War, free blacks served in a limited capacity in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Unfortunately. their pamcIpation was limited by the reiativeiy small numbers of free blacks and by the prejudices of society. The Civil War. how ever, was the first real opportunity for blacks to join orga. nized military units and to vindicate the freedom and status of then race Recruitment for the military vas spurred on by the exhortations of black leaders like Frednck Douglass who de. clared.

Let the black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S., an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship

In response, blacks turned out in large numbers to recruiting cails By the end of the war. over 200,000 blacks had Joined the Union Army and Navy One of the earliest units formed was the 3d USCT, which vas organized at Camp William Penn. near Philadelphia, in July 1863. Comprised of escaped slaves and freedmen from the T-arious northern states, it was-like ail black units3-officered by whites. After a brief period of basic training, the regiment embarked in August 1863 for Morris Island, South Carolina, where they served inthe trenches before Fort Wagner-a campaign recently made famous by the movie "Glory Having suffered substantial casualties during this campaign, the regiment was transferred in February 1864 to Jacksonville. Florida. which by then was occupied by Umon forces. From then until the end of the war, the regiment served on outpost duty, continually fighting skirmishes. mounting raids. and launching expeditions into the Confederate-held interior of the state After the cessation of hostilines, the regiment continued to be stationed in Florida on occupation duty

Assigned the unenviable chore of trying to re.estabiish and uphold federal authorit>- In a hostile environment, the soldiers of the 3d L'SCT found the duty marked with endless hours of boredom and fruStration In the absence of the excitement and

challenge of combat many of the soldiers turned to alcohol and chafed under the continuing restrictions of military life and discipline. Finally, orders were received for the regiment to muster out on October 31, 1866, and the regiment concentrated at Jacksonville to muster out and ship home.

Commanding the regiment at this time was twentythree year old Lieutenant Colonel John L. Brower, a native of New York City. Unlike most white officers assigned to black regiments, Brower had no previous enlisted military experience when he obtained a direct commission as a captain in August 1863. Rather, he apparently obtained his commission through political connections Lieutenant Colonel Brower only recently had been promoted, assuming command on 12 September 1866, when the former regimental commander-a Colonel Bardwell-was promoted to the position of military district commander.' Unfortunately for the enlisted rank and file, in addition to his inexperience, Brower apparently was something of a martinet Despite the fact that the 3d USCT had served honorably as a combat regiment and mias shortly due to muster out, Brower seemed determined not to let military discipline slack off While this was understandable and accepted by the troops during hostilities-when strict discipline and control were necessary to keep troops in line during battle-Brower's inflexible discipline only served to exacerbate an ai-ready strained relationship between most of the officers and the enlisted men of the 3d USCT. Indications of this discontent was evidenced in a letter to the editor from a black soldier to a black religious publication. Decrying the contemptuous and callous treatment of black laundresses and camp-followers by white officers of the 3d USCT, he noted

We have a set of officers here who apparently think that their commissions are licenses to debauch and mingle with deluded free women under cover of darkness. The conduct of these officers is such that their presence among us 1s loathsome in the extreme.j

The officers were concerned about the growing insubordination and drunkenness on the part of their troops. While willing to serve in black regiments despite the negative connatations attached to such an assignment, these officers typically were a cross section of the society from which they were drawn. While they may have desired the abolishment of slav-

ery and respected the fighting qualities of their black troops, rarely was the individual officer untainted by some form of racism.

Letters and journals indicate that most white officers considered blacks just one step removed from barbarism. As de. scendants of primitive peoples, these black soldiers-so their white officers felt-lacked seif.contro1 and discipline. "The Negro is very fanciful and instable in disposition" stated one officer. Because they perceived their black troops to...