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you're going to find it informative. We want
to welcome to Veterans Radio today, Maurice Imoff,
a Michigan historian and author from the Jackson,
Michigan area. Maurice, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Oh, they're happy to be here. Well, you've written
a book that captured my eye, and I thought, well,
this is... This is local history I don't know
and I think that's what a lot of us recognize
is there's so much local history we don't know
and I wanted to pass this along because I think
all over the country there are these kinds of
Little historical nuggets none of us know about,
and you have researched and ridden on the first
Michigan colored infantry, later known as the
102nd USCT, which we'll explain that action in
a minute. Let's start, Maurice, with how did
you get interested in researching this particular
subject, which goes all the way back to the Civil
War? Yeah, that's a great subject. Great question
to ask. I got involved at the Jackson Civil War
muster in 2014, now the largest civil war living
history event in the Midwest. My grandfather
took me in. He was a big historian. I was not.
He'd be talking history. I think some grandfathers
could tell your grandson about the history and
how cool the railroad tracks are, things like
that. And I'm looking out the window, staring
off to the side, not paying any attention. We
go to the Civil War monster, which I did find
interesting. But either way, he stepped away
for a second to take a look at something else
that came across a group of African -American
living historians, which stood out. I mean, they
were the only ones and they're a bunch together.
And I got to know those guys. And before I knew
it. I was wearing a jacket, the hat and pants.
Um, and my grandfather came back looking for
me and I blended in with, which was kind of funny.
What happened to him? I lost him. Where'd he
go? And he was doing that. He was looking left,
looking right, putting his hand over his head,
trying to block the sun. He was looking for me.
And, um, you know, short to make them sort of
little Florida there. I, uh, The first, so I
joined and the first year was all about the battles.
You know, as a young guy, you know, 14, I loved
doing the reenactments, you know, the musket,
all that kind of stuff. That was awesome. But
it was the second year when I visited the state
archives in Lansing and got to view the first
Michigan colored regiments battle flag that had
actually been in the service with them in the
1860s. And it was in poor condition, you know,
you're talking, you know, battle scars, you know,
tattered condition, the silk had deteriorated.
And I became interested in it because I hadn't
really been researched that much. There was missing
pieces from it, paint scars. So I started digging
into that research. And before I knew it, it
kept going and going. And I became the state's
head researcher on the subject. Well, and it's
really interesting. We have spoken to the gentlemen
down in Lansing who heads up that battle flags
group. Yes. And they recently had a film out
on these battle flags, which is a fantastic film.
So we continue to recommend that to folks. Go
to their website and just put in Michigan battle
flags. You'll get there. You know, history is
not really taught in our high schools and our
colleges. And if it's taught, it's not taught
in much depth. But by being in living history,
if you will, in the reenactment, and feeling
it, and smelling it, and having all those senses,
it sort of ignited a spark and an interest, didn't
it? Absolutely. I mean, you get to seeing it.
as firsthand as you can, right? Because I can't
travel back in time to the 1860s or to anyone
else. So being able to actually go and do living
history programs puts you in the feeling. And
not only do we do some normal programs at libraries
and such, but I've gone to some more full -on
intense immersive events, so to speak, where
there's no crowd or you have 500 guys out in
the middle of the woods. I went to Bentonville
just recently with about six of my guys, and
we portrayed some of the men of color who were
building corduroy roads, moving supplies, lifting
logs, cutting down trees. And it really put you
in the experience. And one of the funny things
I like to say about that is as much of that as
cool as the experience was, my guys were not
having it. It was not fun. I mean, you're talking
like you'd march a mile or two, and then they'd
stop and they'd tell all the white soldiers,
stack your arms such like that and then they
would call us black soldiers up and say all right
you guys didn't go get you know get the road
fixed up ahead so we can move the move the man
in the wagons and my guys were mad because everyone
else was taking a break and I say as as interesting
as it was to see them mad It was cool to me to
see them get mad because that's what you would
have saw back then in a way, right? You're seeing
the difference of what was going on. I mean,
firsthand to those young men. So now then going
as a writer and writing about the soldiers, it
gave me like a picture, you know, as I'm reading
letters and piecing them in the book to gather
the story, I could picture what it was like a
little bit easier from someone else who had never
done living history. And so your book is called
The First Michigan Colored Regiment. free men
who fought slavery. So put this in some context,
Maurice. How many men were in the regiment? How
did it even get formed? Sure. So there was 1
,400 men in the regiment, 1 ,446. To be specific,
it's kind of weird that I know that off the top
of my head, but that we're joining this regiment.
1 ,000 of those men were freed, or excuse me,
former slaves from the South who came up to Michigan
and joined this regiment throughout that, you
know, at some point when they moved here. But
it was formed by Colonel Henry Barnes in Detroit,
Michigan, who was a large abolitionist. He ran
the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, which was
the abolitionist newspaper there, the Republican
paper. who was constantly writing about ending
slavery in America, stopping the spread, and
then also calling for the enlistment of black
soldiers, which wasn't allowed. That was a radical
idea, wasn't it? Absolutely. I mean, you're talking,
basically by allowing men to join the Union Army,
you're calling them equal. And even here in Michigan,
people are ready for that. People do not want
that. Not the entire population, I should say,
wanted that. And were these men also armed? I
mean, did they train as you might think an army
group trains? And were they given arms and trained
in how to shoot and fight and defend? So yeah,
so at first, on the other parts of the nation,
it started a little slow. They weren't willing
to give them firearms and such. But once the
Emancipation Proclamation was passed by Lincoln,
now they could legally raised troops, giving
them arms, giving them everything, I mean, the
full mighty of the U .S. government to enlist
the soldiers. So they trained in Detroit at Camp
Ward. They got Lorenz muskets to start with,
later got Springfield muskets. They did very
well. And that was one of the... the thoughts,
right? Are these guys going to do well? And what
they found, I mean, as people learned this, if
you teach them while they're going to do well,
in some parts of the nation, you had white leaders,
officers who didn't care, didn't feel like they
could do a good job, so they didn't train them
well, right? They kind of just didn't care. Michigan's
soldiers. leading officers did care, and they
understood that these men could make good soldiers,
and they did. I mean, you can read stories in
the newspaper from the 1860s about the men marching
through the principal streets of Detroit, looking
handsome, marching with their flag, with their
arms and such shiny. So they did very, very well,
making a strong presence here in Michigan, even
going so far to when they went niles to the reporter
who was writing about the regiments coming for
a visit on a recruiting tour, and there's a couple
of copperheads who are - aren't in favor of this,
who are basically looking forward to dispatching
the guy. They can't wait till they get there
so they can laugh them off. And the reporter
then wrote, after they left, these copperheads
were blown away. They were so thrown that they
didn't have any words. I mean, they changed their
mind. Because all they're reading is the stuff
in the paper, right? Stuff nationally. Oh, they
don't make good soldiers. Oh, they have their
own opinions. But once they saw it firsthand,
That opinion completely changed, and that stood
the test of time when 180 ,000 black soldiers
nationally took up arms and fought to end slavery
in America. Well, and that's something I wanted
to get across too, because you got to put this
in some context. I don't think, you know, again,
we don't teach history, so this is going all
the way back to the Civil War. But 180 to its
estimated 200 ,000 African Americans fought for
the Union in the Civil War that made up 10 percent
of the Army. Today, in today's army, there are
95 ,000 African Americans in active duty, and
that makes up 20 % of today's army. So there's
been a long continuous line of African Americans
in the army fighting and supporting this country.
And when you go back to this point in time in
the Civil War where this was sort of the beginning
and unusual, How did it work that they got called
out of Michigan, and where did they go, and what
did they do? Sure. So since they were a federal
regiment, or the color troops, I should say,
were federal regiments, they were segregated.
So they were kind of raised as a state militia,
as many of the other units were, the 21st Michigan
Infantry, 20th, et cetera. So they were raised
as the first Michigan colored regiment. However,
once they got to D .C. in the Maryland area,
They became federalized with the Bureau of the
United States Colored Troops segregated. So like
another branch of the Army, so speaking of today's
times. So they became, or re -designated, I should
say, as the 102nd United States Colored Troops.
And that's that people often get confused, are
they two different groups? You know, no, that's
one unit, they just had their name changed. And
the men actually didn't like that. You know,
while they liked being soldiers in the army and
really respected, I mean, being federal troops
too, as well, it gives you even more power, right?
They felt disrespected that they were these...
Colored soldiers. And I tell people, imagine
there was a battle taking place. And if you can
think of stories like this where you've heard,
right? Imagine there's a battle taking place
and the 20th Michigan infantry whips the Rebs,
right? They destroy the flank and they whip them
down the hill and they've ran them off. And the
other unit nearby, the Illinois guys would say,
wow, those 20th Michigan boys, wow, they really
whipped them and they saved the day, et cetera.
Well, in this case, now they just became the
colored soldiers, right? They don't know where
they're from. They're no longer the Wolverine
state, right? They're just the colored troops.
So they felt a little upset about that, but they
still carried on that legacy of going by the
first Michigan colored troops where they could.
Well in the importance of being federalized and
that recognition again at the time may not have
seemed like much but it opened up a lot of different
opportunities including there's a in Arlington
National Cemetery there's a whole plot of graves
related to those from the United States Colored
Troops and they lost a little bit probably of
that feeling of relationship to Abraham Lincoln's
famous quote, thank God for Michigan, right?
The context of that is Michigan sending troops
to aid the Union cause early on in the process.
Where did the research come from? Talk to us
about, it really takes years of combing through
things to get this book to where you say, okay,
now I got the history right, let me get it out
in public. Right. I started researching the newspapers,
the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, or I should
say the Detroit Free Press. That's an interesting
story in itself. I started with the Detroit Free
Press because it was available online through
newspapers .com, which means historians will
know. And I was reading all about the regiment,
finding these different stories through the paper
and such like that. And I'll be honest, I couldn't
believe what I was reading because the Detroit
Free Press bashed this regiment. I mean, they
have to go on a march and say they tore up the
city. Nobody wants them here. You know, why is
Michigan even raising the troops? You know, they
got their muskets, they threw them on the ground,
so to speak. And what I learned, as a younger
guy, what I was missing there was that this was
the Democratic paper, which was not in favor
of having colored troops. So in a media point
of view, they wanted to tell the public that
this was bad. And when I discovered the Detroit
Advertiser and Tribune, it was a day and night.
It's between the stories. And that lesson rings
true today, right? Absolutely. I tell people,
I don't want to put anyone on blast, but you
put Fox and CNN on, and sometimes you get completely
different stories. Absolutely. And that is what
you kind of see a little bit there. And so, yeah,
and I do as well as a historian, you know, I
make sure I'm reading through the bias, because
even the advertising tribune is going to have
a little bit of a bias, right? So and I show
that in my book. I do a chapter, I believe it's
called Trouble at Camp Ward, which goes over
a lot of the mischief that the soldiers did get
themselves into. A variety of mischief or a robbery.
They got into fights at the camp. I got news
for you. Put a bunch of young bucks together
in the Army. There isn't an Army camp around
that hasn't had those problems. Let's back up
because you've mentioned it twice and I'm not
familiar with it. Where was Camp Ward? It doesn't
exist anymore today. People may know Fort Wayne,
but tell us a little bit about Camp Ward in Detroit.
Yes, Camp Ward was located where I believe, and
I'm not from Detroit, so I don't know how it,
they've changed the name a few times. Ralph Bunch
Elementary School. There is an elementary school
there and some tennis courts and some apartments
nearby. And the historical marker is located
in the back of that elementary school by a little
roundabout. There's another good example. There's
another good example, Maurice Samloff. of we
don't pay any attention to history. We stuck
that marker around back, nobody will ever see
it. Yeah, it's an interesting spot. I don't know
exactly why that location specifically was chosen.
And two, I did have a little bit of conflicting
research about where the camp was actually sitting
at. It looks like it may mean even my opinion,
at least, that was actually sitting a little
more closer to Elmwood Cemetery when I was comparing
the maps. But I don't know, I wasn't there. They
had a neat little side story there, too, actually.
That historical marker was dedicated in 1968,
I believe. I'll top my head. If you know Detroit,
there was a significant event in 1967. So this
historical marker was actually a part of rebuilding
that black community in Detroit, rebuilding everyone
coming back together as a community. The governor
was there, leaders of the NAACP were there. So
this was kind of a way to look back at our history
and see how far we have come in honor of that
history in a way. Yeah, I'm seeing online that
Camp Ward was on Detroit's east side where the
Black Bottom neighborhood once stood, which got
raised for some urban development plan. And there
is some archaeological work going on trying to
find more about the remnants of the camp and
that sort of thing. So again, we lose our history.
That's why books like First Michigan Colored
Regiment, Free Men Who Fought Slavery, is so
important. Maurice, the men ended up fighting
out of state at a couple of different battles.
Can you tell us about that a little more specifically?
Sure. They fought a variety of different engagements
in the South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida area.
And before I dive into that, I'd like to state,
like I used to say a little earlier, is these
men were fighting for a different cause than
all the other, the rest of the Army. The African
American men, the African American men in the
Army were fighting for freedom. And that, I mean,
that's, I mean, no doubt about it. That's what
these guys are fighting for. Of course they want
to preserve the union and there's a whole, right?
But these men were fighting for freedom and liberty.
They're fighting to, and we said that we're fighting
to free other people, right? But let's look closer
into that as an 18 year old who made their way
out of slavery and up to a free state. They're
going back and why are they joining? To free
their mom. to free their dad, their girlfriend,
their best friends who are still left in slavery.
That's what these guys are fighting for. That's
what they're thinking about. They're not thinking
about American government. That's right. That's
a powerful way to look at it. And I suspect maybe
in your reviewing letters and research, there
was a certain element of respect too involved
in what they were doing. They were... earning
the respect that they were entitled to. Were
you able to find personal letters or journals
or anything of that sort? Absolutely. There was
a couple good letters that came across to me,
a collection. Sharon, if I'm pronouncing that
right, came across a great collection. I'm blanking
on his name of one African -American soldier
who was in the ranks. And then there was another
collection by Sherry. Oh, I'm like, I feel so
bad. Sherry, she came across the collection and
transcribed some another. soldiers letters. I
believe it was Alonzo Reed. But then there were
a couple officers. And one of my favorites was
a surgeon. He was a white surgeon, younger guy.
And he had a collection of letters he was writing
back and forth to his wife. And which made this
even better was he was writing back and forth
to his wife. And he was knowledgeable. He knew
how to read and write very well. And he shared
every bit of his opinions. And what I mean by
that, too, is you can think of a friend of yours
who gets too into politics and you ask one question
and they're giving you a whole big load of how
they feel. That was this guy. He gave you a big
load of how he felt, but that was perfect. Cause
you're seeing right into how he feels. And at
times at first, honestly, he didn't like black
men. It seemed that he was very, um, new to it.
I would say he didn't like them. I shall back
that up. He was very new to it. He was fun. They
hadn't been around a very many, many black men.
So when he got um into the into the regiment
he got he referred to them to the hard r the
n -word you know he he didn't know these guys
and through his time through the lives back and
forth you see his opinion changes and it changes
quickly you know calling them brothers and and
mad at the white men who he interacted with who
bashed his men you know treated them differently
you know he he was that was a golden knife well
yeah that i was just gonna say that was the term
i was gonna use for historian writing those Personal
letters are just gold because they give you a
context you otherwise wouldn't have. But I interrupted
you. They get down to South Carolina, which is
a long way from Detroit, Georgia and Florida.
Talk about those battles as well. Yeah, so their
first battle is going to be down the road from
Olustee, Florida near Jacksonville in a place
called, oh man, why do I? I usually know these
names so well, and I'm blanking on the name of
it, but it's just past Olustee, Florida. And
I'm sorry, I just can't think of the name of
it, but it's a small engagement, so to speak
anyways. So they're down there in Northern Florida
and they're tearing up railroads and they start
to get Baldwin, Florida. Thank you. It's between
Jacksonville and Olustee, Baldwin, Florida. And
they're tearing up these railroad tracks to try
to stop. the Confederate advance and supplies.
And they began to hear this noise. That noise
goes louder and louder. But before they know
it, I've been down to this area. It's thick pine
trees, national forest woods. Before they know
it, there's rebel cavalry pouring out of the
woodwork, attacking them. This regiment is now
in a little bit of panic, right? They've never
seen combat. ever. The white officers who are
leading these men have never seen their men fight.
And if anything, they've been told by their comrades
have been told by their friends at home, these
guys are going to drop their guns or they're
going to run and you're going to die. You're
a fool for joining this regiment. So they're
nervous. What happens? The 102nd fixes their
bayonets, fires a volley into the cavalry and
easily repels them and Not only do they fire
a volley, after they fired, everyone's now empty,
right? Everyone is completely empty. What do
they decide to do? They charge the cavalry by
hand and easily repel them off without losing
one man. And that told these white officers and
everyone around, these men are here to do business,
I tell people. So that's their first engagement.
Up to their largest one at the Battle of Honey
Hill, they see some other small fights back and
forth in the area. They fight next to the 54th
and 55th Massachusetts, very famously known for
the movie Glory. Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman.
So they have some engagements in there and potter's
raid going through, trying to slow down the Confederate
advance again, make them want to stop fighting
by messing up these towns a little bit. But their
largest and most famous battle is the Battle
of Honey Hill, South Carolina, where the regiment
helps to return three cannons back from the battlefield.
Union guns that had been decimated, the men had
been. So they rush up, they grab the cannons.
and they wheel them back while under fire. And
what I mean by that is these men are literally
getting shot in the arm and in the leg while
moving these guns in the woods, mind you as well.
And for that Orson W. Bennett, who led that charge,
was awarded the Medal of Honor. Now Orson W.
Bennett was a white man. who was awarded the
Medal of Honor. None of the Black soldiers were
awarded the Medal of Honor for that action. However,
I think no one discredits the work that he did
to be able to lead that charge. Well, that's
interesting. And there's a long history of African
-American soldiers not getting recognized for
doing more than others in battle all the way
up to most recently the name that comes to my
mind is Paris Davis in Vietnam whose Medal of
Honor package kept getting lost four or five
times before it finally enough people got behind
it and proved it up and and he got it so very
interesting that Orson Bennett got the recognition.
When you got done researching this and writing
this, what's your hope or expectation for capturing
this history? My hope is that it's not lost.
And that's kind of what it had been for a period
of time, really, until the 80s, when these African
-American living historians got involved in Lansing
and wanted to share this history. And the story
gets told. When I think about that as a young
man who is a descendant of slaves from Georgia,
I think about how all of those young men, including
older men, right, joined this. I mean, they gave
up their freedom. I mean, they were literally
just free. I mean, think of if you're born into
a prison and then you get out of that prison
and the first thing you do is go back and potentially
be put back in that prison. Let's get some scary
stuff. All of these guys who put their freedom
on the line and their life on the line and then
sacrifice their life, obviously as well. for
freedom, to have what we have today. I mean,
I think, you know, sometimes we don't need to
always focus on the past. It's important that
we move forward as a country and move forward
as a society. But sometimes we need to think
back about how we have these, why we have these
freedoms. I mean, I go to the store, I can get
a McDonald's hamburger. I don't know, I go to
Meyer. I mean, just I can live my regular day
life. But how did I earn that? How did we get
to that point? And without the sacrifices of
our soldiers from all of these wars, I wouldn't
be able to do that. And that's why I think it
is so important that we think about it. That's
why I'm honored to have a group of 40 young students,
all high school and college students with me
who teach this history in our living history
group. And we want to be able to share not only
to the general public, but to our fellow brothers
and sisters that we need to cherish this history.
So that's my biggest hope, that it will continue
to be cherished, shared, and people learn that
African -American men were the victors of the
Civil War, not the victims. I mean, these guys
took up arms and they did their fair share. No,
that's a great message we should learn from this
history and apply it today. Maurice Imhoff, I
really appreciate you taking some time today
to talk about this history, to talk about the
First Michigan Colored Regiment, free men who
fought slavery, and congratulate you on getting
this out and keep up the good work. Well, thank
you so much. I never intended really on having
a publication, but you know, it came to me and
I had everything sitting in a pile and it was
the time is now and I'm really happy with how
it came out. Excellent. Thanks. Thank you. And
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