Massacre & Redemption of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry

Massacre & Redemption of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry

Engagements of Poison Springs & Jenkins Ferry

The Civil War was conclusively one of the bloodiest and most horrific wars fought in American history. The soldiers who participated in the battles and military engagements of this war witnessed carnage and death on such a massive scale that it quickly ended the notion of war being a glorious endeavor. Perhaps no other group realized this more than the regiments of black soldiers fighting in the war. For many black soldiers the chance to fight for their freedom was the ultimate sacrifice and few sacrificed more than the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry. The first colored regiment to see action during the Civil War, the 1st Kansas experienced death, torture, and mutilation on a horrific scale (1). Nowhere was this more prevalent than at the Battle of Poison Springs. Confederates had no mercy for the surrendering black soldiers of the 1st Kansas and cut them down left and right (2). The Poison Spring Massacre has gone down in history as the worst war crime ever committed on Arkansas soil (3). However, the atrocities committed by the Confederate soldiers at The Battle of Poison Springs would not go unpunished. The honor of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry would be redeemed at The Battle of Jenkins' Ferry by their fellow black soldiers of the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry. Ultimately, the bloody Confederate assault on the surrendering soldiers of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, left 117 dead and 65 wounded. This act of aggression perpetrated by the confederate soldiers directly influenced the actions of the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry at the Battle of Jenkins Ferry, in which they bayoneted and mutilated several surrendering Confederates in retaliation.

The Battle of Poison Springs was the first of three battles in Arkansas that later became known as the Camden Expedition (4). This expedition was led by Union Major General Frederick Steele as part of the Red River Campaign; which set out gain control of northeast Louisiana and east Texas (5). Steele had orders to strike south from Little Rock and join forces with Major General Nathaniel P. Bank's column before marching into Texas.

By the time Steele arrived to the banks of the Ouachita River on April 15, 1864 his troops had been traveling for days and were physically exhausted. The food and supplies they had brought with them were begging to run critically low and needed to be restocked urgently. With supplies running low Steele sent out a force of over 600 men and 198 Wagons to collect 5,000 bushels of corn that had reportedly been stored west of Camden. The force of men, which included the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, set out under the control of James M. Williams (6). This group of soldiers worked feverishly during the day to collect food and supplies and then camped in the same area overnight. The next morning Williams was joined by a 501-man relief force of infantry and cavalry; and marching together they began the 18 mile journey back to Steele's camp on the Ouachita River. Along the journey back to camp, small groups of soldiers from the 1st Kansas would split off to plunder food and supplies from farms and then raced to rejoin the larger group. This foray took place over a stretch of 18 miles and the 1st Kansas had little rest; which took its toll on the soldiers. By mid-morning, one hundred black soldiers were so exhausted that the officers considered them unfit for duty (7).

By the Time Williams force of 1,169 men reached the area of Poison Springs they were badly in need of rest; however, they were about to experience a massacre they could not imagine. Blocking the Camden-Washington Road near Poison Spring was Confederate Brigadier General John Sappington Marmaduke and his 3,600 Rebel cavalrymen backed by twelve cannon (8). In addition to Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas horseman, Marmaduke's force included a Choctaw Brigade from the Indian Territory (9). Exhausted and outnumbered nearly four to one, Williams's force of soldiers stood very little chance of defeating the Confederate force; however defeating this force would become the least of the black Union forces worries.

The Battle began strongly for the Union forces with the 1st Kansas thwarting two attacks from the Confederate forces; however, the third wave of Confederate forces overwhelmed the 1st Kansas and they signaled retreat. Abandoning the 198 wagons of food and supplies and retreating in defeat was not enough to escape the terror that would follow the 1st Kansas. The Confederate force followed in pursuit for two and one-half miles killing any Union soldiers that tried to surrender (10). The confederates then turned their attention to the wounded and captured soldiers of the 1st Kansas.

If a black soldier was lucky they would be returned to slavery if they were captured or injured during the war; however, in the case of Poison Springs the Confederates showed no mercy. As one confederate soldier writes:

If the Negro was wounded our men would shoot him dead as they passed...No black prisoners were taken. One wounded Negro refused to die meekly and sank his teeth into a rebel's calf until someone crushed his skull with a rifle butt (11).

These barbaric murders of wounded and surrendering soldiers were about much more than an attempt to win the Battle of Poison Springs or the Civil War in general. For many of the Confederate soldiers the murder of black soldiers was driven out of a baseless hatred and fear or what the country would be like if blacks were free and considered equals to whites. In fact the Battle of Poison Spring exemplified the Confederate reaction to the Union Army's increasing reliance on black soldiers (12). This fear and hatred of blacks is seen as Confederate execution squads roam the battlefield to finish of the 1st Kansas wounded. As one Union soldier recounts:

The confederates chanted a ghastly litany "where is the First Kansas Nigger now?" some would hoot "All cut to pieces and gone to hell by bad management," others would answer. (13)

The confederate soldiers had no remorse for the slaying of black soldiers from the 1st Kansas. In fact many confederate soldiers competed to kill and mutilate as many wounded or surrendering black soldiers as possible. However, what is most surprising is the brutal tactics used by the Choctaw brigade, which in many cases were far worse than those used by white Confederates. As Lieutenant Stafford wrote:

"over a small portion of the filed we saw at least 40 dead bodies lying in all conceivable attitudes, some scalped & nearly all stripped by the blood thirsty Choctaws." Private Charles T, Anderson of the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry wrote: "you ought to see Indians fight Negroes...kill