Loblolly, Volume 19, Number 2, Summer 1992 Page: 58
72 p. : ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina. Of the
sixteen Medals of Honor awarded to black
soldiers, the 5th Colored received four. One of
the recipients was Sergeant Major Holland of
Company C, who took command of his company at the
Battle of New Market Heights on September 29,
1864, after the regular officers had fallen.
General Benjamin F. Butler said of Holland: "Hac
it been within my power I would have conferred
upon him in view of it, a brigadier-generalship
for gallantry on the field."
The following letters excerpted from thy
Athens, Ohio, Messenger gave the folks back home
some idea of what the Negro troops were going
through. Nineteen years of age at their writing.
Holland wrote movingly and his observations are
valuable in that firsthand accounts of the Civil
War by black soldiers are rare. That they are
the words of a Medal of Honor winner provide::
further dimension to the black experience.
After the war, Holland came to work for the
Federal Government, eventually rising to th(
position of chief of the collection division of:
the Sixth Auditor's office. In the 1890's he
founded the Alpha Insurance Company in
Washington, D.C., one of the first black
insurance companies in the nation. Holland
succumbed to a heart attack on May 15, 1910.
Norfolk, Va.
Jan. 19, 1864
Dear Messenger:
You will be reminded of the company of
colored soldiers raised by myself in the county
of Athens, Ohio, and taken to Camp Delaware, 25
miles north of Columbus, on the Olentangy. It
has since been mustered into the service in the
5th Regt. U.S. Colored Troops. The regiment is
organized, and has been in active service for
three months. Our company is C-the color
company-in which you may remember of the flag
presentation, made by the kind citizens of
Athens, through Mr. Moore, at which Mr. John
Mercer Langston was present and received it,58
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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/m1/61/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Panola College.