Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant Writes Gen. Edward Ferrero, Commander of the Famed IX Corps “Black Division” During the Siege of Petersburg

This letter has been for several generations in a private collection and is unpublished

In January 1864, General Ambrose E. Burnside was asked to reorganize the IX Corps. He asked for and was granted permission, by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, to form a division of “colored troops.” The 4th Division of the IX Corps infantry would be all black troops, commanded by General Edward Ferrero.

The regiments were divided into two brigades; the first brigade was made up by the 27th, 30th, 39th, and 43rd USCT. The second brigade was the 30th Connecticut Colored Infantry (only 4 companies formed then consolidated into 31st USCT), 19th, 23rd, 31st USCT. The 28th and 29th USCT regiments would be added to the second brigade. These regiments came from all across the North.

When the 4th Division of the IX Corps left Camp Stanton in Annapolis Maryland, they were paraded in front of President Abraham Lincoln and General Burnside in Washington, DC. The 23rd joined the division when the men marched across the bridge into Virginia.

In March 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln commander of the Union Armies. Grant developed a strategy to defeat the Confederacy by placing his army between the rebel capital of Richmond and Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Grant moved southeast to try to create a wedge between Lee and Richmond, but Lee’s army successfully followed up the engagements by foiling that maneuver. Then Grant’s assaults at Cold Harbor, his most mistaken plan of the war, and the one he most regretted, resulted in a sharp defeat. Grant thus found that he was unable to take Richmond directly.

Next Grant focused on Petersburg, due south of Richmond.

If Grant could take Petersburg, then the Confederates would have to abandon Richmond. Grant’s attempt to take it quickly failed, so by mid-June 1864 Lee ended up in Petersburg with the Appomattox River protecting his back, and surrounding the city below the river he built two lines of works that covered the entire area. Grant would besiege Petersburg, and the IX corps played a part under General Ferrero.

The 23rd USCT became the first colored troops to fight in “directed combat” against Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The skirmish was fought at the intersection of Catharpin and Old Plank Roads (originally Orange Plank Road) on May 15, 1864. The 23rd was at the Chancellorsville ruins, when the Union 2nd Ohio Cavalry was chased by General Thomas Rosser’s Confederate Cavalry Brigade. The 2nd asked for assistance and the only soldiers nearby were General Edward Ferrero’s colored division. The 23rd USCT “double quicked” the two miles to the intersection and drove back Rosser’s cavalry, as ordered by General Ferrero. The black soldiers were cheered by the 2nd Ohio, who now gave chase to Rosser’s cavalry. This battle action proved to the white troops that black soldiers would fight against the Confederate army.

With the end of that campaign, Grant ended up besieging the city, and his Army of the Potomac built works from the river northeast of Petersburg down to south of the city, as far as they could go. The Confederates controlled all the ground from Grant’s southern tip west up to the river. Grant’s main objective during the ten-month Siege of Petersburg was to extend his lines south and west to cut Lee’s railroad links and encircle him at the same time. Lee’s problem was that he was stuck in Petersburg and every Union successful extension west forced him to extend his lines. And every time he had to extend, those lines became thinner.

In mid June, as Grant prepared for his long assault on Petersburg, Ferrero’s black soldiers were now placed in the trenches with the other three divisions. The part of the line occupied by the IX Corps was very near the enemy’s works, and an incessant firing was kept up during the siege, resulting in a daily loss of men, killed or wounded. While there was a comparative quiet in front of the other corps positions, the men of the IX Corps were subjected to the terrible strain of a constant watchfulness and deadly exposure. The enemy seemed to be excited to an undue activity by the presence of Ferrero’s Colored Division.

In late July 1864, during the Battle of the Crater, Ferrero’s men had been trained for the attack on the Confederate line. However, due to a last minute change by General George G. Meade, the black soldiers were the last to enter the battle, instead of the first. The three white divisions of the IX Corps, did not follow General Burnside’s plan and delayed the attack. By the time the colored troops entered the battle, the Confederates were ready to counterattack. Before being driven into the Crater, the black troops advanced further than the white troops. The Confederate counterattack was a furious attack that won the day for the Confederate army. The black troops sustained the worst casualties. Ferrero, initially accused of dereliction in this duty, was cleared.

Autograph letter signed, no date, but during the early siege, perhaps mid to late June 1864, to General Ferrero. “General Ferrero, please inform me where the firing now heard is from.”

This letter has been for several generations in a private collection and is unpublished. We are not aware of another letter of Grant to Ferrero.