Loblolly, Volume 19, Number 2, Summer 1992 Page: 47
72 p. : ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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in his ,,giment, supported by his brigade and
division commanders, had proposed him for a
commission, but the War Department had declined,.
"Upon all our record there is not a single blot,"
he wrote, "and yet no member of this reu n -s
considered deserving of a commission."
Today the battle and the heroes are aLA L1t
forgotten. Earthworks remain South of New Market
Road, and a small redoubt sits hidden on the
heights--its moat, parapets and powder magazine
overgrown but unmistakable. But no marke:
designates the site and no monument pays homag
to the valor of Sept. 29, 1864.
That may soon change, even though homes arn
private land occupy much of the battlefield an-
more development is ensured by soon-to-be--
completed I-295 between Richmond and Petersburg
The hilltop fort and the battle's staging are
near the James River already lie within recent)_
acquired Henrico County parkland. Officials arn
preservationists--with a timely boost from th.
movie "Glory"--are separately considering how t
commemorate this unique heritage.
So in time, New Market Heights might beco
the fitting site of a national memorial--not jus
to a battle but to the 178,000 United State
Colored Troops (USCT) and other blacks who fough'
in the Civil War. Their story has been largel'
overlooked for 125 years--a story of men whc
first had to fight for the right to fight before
they could fight for freedom itself, of the
unlikely white general who championed their caus
in war and their future in a peaceful South, o
one hero still fighting three decades later ar
of the 14 medals that symbolize the black effoi
in the Civil War.
The Colored Troops' moment at New Market
Heights had been a long time coming. At the
start of the war in 1861, Northern whites were
almost universally opposed to arming blacks
Like many Southerners, they were both fearful anc
scornful: blacks were to blame for the war; the-
were servile and inferior; they could not fight,
and whites would not fight beside them. Eveu
Lincoln worried that arming blacks "would tur-n
50,000 bayonets from the loyal Border States47
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Gary High School. Loblolly, Volume 19, Number 2, Summer 1992, periodical, Summer 1992; Gary, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth613879/m1/50/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Panola College.