Occupation: Legislator
I'm running behind on blog posts because I spent the last several weeks in Washington. DC. working in the National Archives on a project related to the 66th U.S. Colored Infantry (USCI) regiment. In (belated) honor of Black History Month, I’d like to share the stories of two of the enlisted men who served in this regiment during the Civil War.
Von Seutter, E. 1875. Members of the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, 1874-'75. Washington, DC: Library of Congress.
Following the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the Union Army began to recruit Black men for the 175 segregated regiments that ultimately became the U.S. Colored Troops. The more famous of these regiments tend to be the ones formed by free Black Americans in the North. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry regiment, for example, is well known for its valor at the Battle of Fort Wagner, as depicted in the movie Glory. In reality, many regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops were formed as the Union Army moved southwards, bringing news of emancipation to enslaved people in its wake.
After the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July 1863, it was essential for the Union to maintain control of the Mississippi River, a major transportation route for troops and supplies. However, the 75,000 experienced Union troops who had participated in the siege of Vicksburg were needed elsewhere. The Union’s solution to this problem was the establishment of regiments of U.S. Colored Troops along the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee, to New Orleans, Louisiana. The enlisted men in these regiments were almost all Black men who had been enslaved on the many plantations that lined the river (Dobak 2011). The opportunity to join the Union Army, to wear the same uniform that white soldiers wore, to carry a gun, and to fight for freedom and dignity must have been compelling for the many men who joined these regiments.
The 66th U.S. Colored Infantry regiment was raised in Vicksburg in late 1863 as the 4th Mississippi Infantry (African Descent), The regiment existed for only about two and a half years, until March 1866, and during that time, its soldiers really didn't go too far from the Vicksburg area. For the most part, the men of the 66th searched for smugglers and spies and kept the peace in the Vicksburg area, among the people who had until very recently been their enslavers. The regiment didn’t fight in any major battles, although there were occasional skirmishes with Confederate guerillas, and they combated racism, hunger, and disease far more often than opposing troops. This situation, while not the image of the Civil War most often seen in American culture, doesn’t belie the fact that these men made important contributions to the war effort and beyond.
Much of my research into the 66th USCI has focused on what happened to its soldiers after the Civil War, and on this trip, I was delighted to learn that two enlisted members of the regiment— Sergeant Major John Morgan and Sergeant Peter Barrow—went on to serve as Mississippi legislators. During Reconstruction, the Mississippi legislature had more Black members than any time until very recently. In 1870, the state had five Black state senators and 35 Black representatives, making up almost half of the state house. These legislators, mockingly called “Radical Republicans” by the white media, pushed for civil rights and access to education, but much of their work was undone by rising racial violence in the state and the end of Reconstruction in 1877. The number of Black legislators in Mississippi declined quickly, and the state had no Black legislators at all from 1894 until 1968 (Baldwin 2022).
In the 1870 census for Washington County, Mississippi, John Morgan was living with his wife Emma and his daughter Lilly, age four months. His race is listed as “mulatto” (M) and his occupation as “legislator.”
U.S. Census Bureau. 3 Aug 1870. Inhabitants in the County of Washington, State of Mississippi. Washington, DC, page 235 (241), lines 17-19.
Morgan was born into slavery in Cumberland County, Maryland, around 1841 [1]. Like many other enslaved individuals at that time, he was sent “down the river” into the deep South as part of a mass movement of human property driven by the economic demands of the cotton industry and the fears of enslavers that the growing abolition movement would deprive them of this property (Kolchin 1993). In December 1863, at the age of 22, Morgan enlisted as a private in the 66th USCI, where he was eventually promoted to First Sergeant of Company A. When the regiment disbanded in March 1866, he was its Sergeant Major, the highest possible noncommissioned rank. After leaving the army, he married in 1868, was elected to the legislature in 1869, representing Washington County, Mississippi, took his seat in January 1870, and served until 1875. Sadly, he died of consumption (tuberculosis) in April 1877, leaving behind his wife and four small children.
Von Seutter, E. 1875. “John Morgan.” Members of the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, 1874-'75. Washington, DC: Library of Congress.
Peter Barrow’s story is a somewhat happier one. Barrow was born into slavery in Virginia around 1840, was sent to Alabama as a child, and then became the human property of his enslaver’s son-in-law Jackson Barrow. In March 1864, he enlisted in the 66th USCI. After being hospitalized for sunstroke early in his time in the regiment, he went on to spend much of his military service as a nurse in the regimental hospital at Vicksburg, caring for the men suffering from illness or injury [2]. After mustering out of the army in March 1866, he, like Morgan, married and then was elected to the legislature, representing Warren County, Mississippi. After serving one term as a state representative, Barrow was elected to the state senate, where he served until 1875. Following his time as a legislator, he taught school in Mississippi for nearly 15 years (Coleman 2013; Wilson 2024).
Von Seutter, E. 1875. “Peter Barrow.” Members of the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, 1874-'75. Washington, DC: Library of Congress.
In 1889, following direct threats of violence, Barrow moved his family, including his wife Julia, six sons, and one daughter, to Spokane, Washington, where he became very active in civic and political life. He served as president of a land development company that built an apple orchard on 140 acres of land and provided work for many Black residents of the city. He founded—and served as the first minister of—Calvary Baptist Church, the first Black church in Spokane. He also founded the John Logan Colored Republican Club, which endorsed political candidates based on their attention to the concerns of the Black community, and he ran (unsuccessfully) as a Populist Party candidate for the state legislature. Barrow died in 1906, following a streetcar accident, but his descendants continued to be prominent citizens of Spokane. His son Charles owned the city’s first Black newspaper, and his granddaughter’s husband James Chase was the city’s first Black mayor (Coleman 2013; Vestal 2023; Wilson 2024).
Libby, Charles A. 1921. Calvary Baptist Church. Charles A Libby Collection. Spokane, WA: Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.
The lives of John Morgan and Peter Barrow show some of the opportunities available to formerly enslaved individuals immediately following the Civil War. To move from being enslaved to being first a soldier and then a state legislator is a remarkable progression. Unfortunately, such opportunities ended quickly in the South as racism, voter suppression, and horrific violence took their place. John Morgan didn’t live to see the loss of his hopes for the future, and Peter Barrow was able to sustain his social position only by moving his family to the West Coast. Nonetheless, the accomplishments of these two men are an important reminder of how pivotal the Civil War was in the lives of Black Americans and how far we still need to go to make sure what was gained in that victory—and regained during the Civil Rights Movement—is never again lost.
[1] Much of the information given here about both John Morgan and Peter Barrow comes from disability and/or widow’s pension applications filed after the war.
[2] Contrary to what some of his biographers say, Peter Barrow definitely did not participate in Sherman’s March to the Sea.
Works Cited
Baldwin, DeeDee. July 2022. “The First Black Legislators in Mississippi.” Mississippi History Now. Jackson, MS: Mississippi Historical Society.
Dobak, William A. 2011. Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862–1867. Washington, DC: United States Army Center of Military History.
Coleman, Florence. 2013. “Peter Barrow.” African American National Biography, Volume 1. Second Edition. Henry Louis Gates, Jr, and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 385-6.
Kolchin, Peter. 1993. American Slavery 1619-1877. New York: Hill & Wang.
Vestal, Shawn. 26 Feb 2023. “A Black Pioneer’s Legacy in Spokane Stretched Deep into the 20th Century.” The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, WA.
Wilson, Cynthia A. 2024. Black Civil War Veterans in Washington State. Mount Pleasant, SC: The History Press.