Historians estimate that perhaps as many
as twenty percent of Civil War soldiers enlisted under the age of 18. While
enlisting officials were not supposed to accept anyone under army regulation
age, in effort to fill companies and regiments, they sometimes made exceptions
to the rule. Many of these youths served in support roles:
musicians, hospital assistants, and couriers, among other duties, yet thousands
of youngsters saw combat as arms bearing soldiers, too.
One underage soldier, James Chaney,
enlisted in Co. I, 1st United States Colored Infantry, at only 16
years of age. Being so young, Chaney did not have much opportunity to leave a
significant amount of documentation that recorded his brief life. Cheney,
apparently born free around 1847, in Baltimore, Maryland, appears in the 1850
federal census in that city’s 18th Ward as a four year old. Residing
in the household of his mother, Elizabeth “Eliza” Chaney (25 years of age), and
his brothers, Isaac (6), Lewis (2), and George (3 months), were also Arlenthia
Cheney (18), who was perhaps Eliza’s sister; Benjamin Thomas (18) and John W.
Thomas (12). Everyone is described as “mulatto,” and only Benjamin Thomas has
an occupation, “laborer,” listed. Having so many youthful individuals in the
household, with so little work experience, and thus few chances to build earning
power, probably meant times were financially tight for the Chaneys and Thomases.
A decade later, perhaps due to family economic
needs, James, Isaac, and Lewis appear residing in a 16th Ward
Baltimore hotel owned by William Dorbacker. The three Chaney boys, along with
John and William Nelson, all listed as “black,” and noted as “servants,” are
the only African Americans residing at the hotel. Full-service hotels of the
period readily employed both free and enslaved men, women, and children to
clean rooms, do laundry, serve as bell hops and barbers, cook meals, and wait
on tables. Free blacks sometimes received wages, tips, and room and board as
their compensation.
It was likely that the experience James
Chaney gained while working in Dorbacker’s hotel helped bring him to Washington
D.C. sometime between the summer of 1860 and his enlistment in the Union army
in the summer of 1863. Records show that James worked as a waiter at Banks’s
Restaurant and the National Hotel in Washington City before joining up. These
records also state that James gave the “greater part of his wages to his
mother” so she could buy food, clothes, and pay her rent. Apparently Elizabeth
Chaney suffered from bad health that left her unable to work consistently and
caused her “spasms . . . so severe as to render her . . . unable for five or
six days to perform labor or any sort.” Thus, Elizabeth Chaney “depended upon
him for the greater part of her support.” James Cheney was a model son.
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National Hotel in Washington D.C. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. |
One wonders what James Chaney’s primary
motivation was to enlist on June 28, 1863. Did he tire of his monotonous waiter
duties and long to experience the supposed adventure that came with a soldier’s
life? Did he think he could earn more money in the army to help support his
mother? Was he more mature in his world views than we typically credit to
16-year olds and thus wish to see slavery eradicated and to prove that men of
color could be just as courageous and worthy of citizenship as white men?
Obviously, being officially underage, Chaney did not have to enlist. But he
did!
Enlisting the 1st USCI’s
Company I at age 16, with the stated occupation of waiter, Cheney measured five
feet five and a half inches tall, with a complexion described as “yellow.”
Signing up on June 28, 1863, on Mason’s Island (now Theodore Roosevelt Island) in
the Potomac River, Chaney’s enlistment officer was Col. William Birney, son of
noted abolitionist and former Liberty Party presidential candidate James G.
Birney, and older brother of Maj. Gen. David Bell Birney, who was then leading
a division in the Army of the Potomac. Experienced officer Col. John Holman
received the assignment to initially command the 1st USCI.
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Mason's Island during the Civil War. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. |
After serving initially in southeastern
Virginia and northeastern North Carolina during the fall and winter of 1863-64,
the 1st USCI transferred to the division of Brig. Gen. Edward Hinks
in the XVIII Corps of the newly created Army of the James. It appears that James
Chaney received a brief promotion to corporal around September or October 1863,
but by November 4 he was reduced to the ranks for an unspecified reason. Posted
at various occupied points along the James River during the spring of 1864, the
1st USCI received its first taste of combat at Wilson’s Warf (Fort
Pocahontas) on May 24, 1864, where they battled Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee’s
Confederate cavalry, eventually driving off the rebel attackers.
The 1st USCI, now
consolidated with the rest of Hinks’s Division, also battled at both Baylor’s
Farm and assaulted the Dimmock Line at Petersburg on June 15, 1864, where they
fought especially well. Pvt. Chaney appears to have survived these actions
unscathed and in good health. Stationed part of the time in the Petersburg
trenches and again at points along the James River, Chaney’s regiment gathered
with the rest of the division, now under the command of Brig. Gen. Charles J.
Paine, at Deep Bottom for a late September assault at New Market Heights.
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| Regiment identified as the 1st USCI. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. |
Commanding the First Brigade of the
Third Division, XVIII Corps, was Col. John Holman, who previously led the 1st
USCI. His brigade included the 1st, 22nd, and 37th
USCI regiments. However, in July, Chaney received orders to serve on detached
duty with the Third Division, XVIII Corps sharpshooter company. Chaney’s superiors
must have noticed his excellent marksmanship skills to receive this special assignment.
Service in the division sharpshooters
meant Chaney would be one of the first to contact the enemy, skirmishing out
ahead of the primary assaulting brigades. It is likely that Chaney received the
wound that resulted in his death on the New Market Heights battlefield early in
the fight. He probably was not able to witness the amazing bravery displayed by
his Third Division comrades as they struggled against the determined Confederate
Texas Brigade defenders for control of the New Market Road that fateful
September 29, 1864, day.
Pvt. Chaney likely received a soldier’s
grave on the very battlefield ground he fought over. After the war most of the
United States Colored Troops soldiers killed in action at New Market Heights
who could be located were reinterred at Fort Harrison National Cemetery or City
Point National Cemetery. Today, Pvt. Chaney may fill an unknown soldier’s grave
at one of these locations, or his remains may still rest on the battlefield. We
will probably never know for sure. However, we honor this youthful soldier’s
service, remember his sacrifice that helped abolish the scourge of slavery and
maintained the United States of America. A life lost too early on its earthly journey
will not be forgotten, but instead lives on with this humble expression of
respect.
