Gallery: African Americans in the War
Minos Miller Letters
Minos Miller enlisted on August 14, 1862 and mustered into Company D, 36th Iowa Infantry on September 6, 1862, as fifth sergeant. He was discharged on December 13, 1863, to accept a promotion to second lieutenant with Company F, 54th U. S. Colored Infantry. Miller was promoted to first lieutenant on March 2, 1865, and regimental adjutant on May 19, 1865. The 54th U. S. Colored Infantry was organized on March 11, 1864, from the 2nd Arkansas Infantry (African Descent); they fought at Fort Gibson, Cabin Creek and Cow Creek, and also performed garrison duty.
Miller’s collection of letters gives personal insight into what it was like to be a young man in the army during the Civil War serving with African American troops. In a letter to his mother on April 18, 1863, Miller wrote about the reaction of other white soldiers to arming African American Troops:
“General [Lorenzo] Thomas made a speech to the soldiers here last Monday a week his buisness was to know the feeling of the Soldiers in regaard to arming the negroes he spokee in favor of it and then Gens [Benjamin M.] Prentiss Washborn [Cadwallader W. Washburn] [Alvin P.] Hovey [Clinton B.] Fisk and Cols Cameron and Bussy [Cyrus Bussey] they all spoke in favor of it in the strongest terms the speking was in the Foart and it was crowed as full of soldiers it would hold after the speeking was over General Prentiss got up and told the boys that the [MS illegible] counted them to give some demonstration in favor of the policy that had been advocated for [Adjutant] Gen Thomas to carry back to President Lincoln he told them that was in favor of arming the negroes to pull off their hats and in a second evry head (that I could see and I was where I could see the most of the crowd) was bare he then told them to give three cheers and such yelling you never heard I reckon he told them that would do he then told them that if there was any that was opposed to it to pull off their hats but not a man dared to raise his hat since that there has been one regt raised here and another will be impressed in a few days”
The collection of letters covers Miller’s time with the 36th Iowa and 54th U. S. Colored Infantry; he was mustered out of the service on September 22, 1866, at Little Rock, Arkansas.
Image Courtesy Special Collections, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
