tion, and furnished the grand theme for all disloyal orators throughout the North, was not unproductive of good results. According to the report of the Secretary of War, rendered to Congress in December, "the law has been enforced in twelve States, yielding fifty thousand soldiers, and ten millions of dollars for procuring substitutes." As the result of the President's emancipation edict, "over fifty thousand colored men (in the Gulf Department), are now organized, and the number will rapidly increase as our armies advance. The freed slaves make good soldiers, are excellently disciplined, and full of courage."

The President concluded his annual message to Congress in December, with these words: “Our chiefest care must still be directed to the army and navy, who have thus far borne their hard parts so nobly and so well. And it may be esteemed fortunate that in giving the greatest efficiency to these indispensable arms, we do also honorably recognize the gallant men, from commander to sentinel, who compose them, and to whom, more than to others, the world must be indebted for the home of freedom disenthralled, regenerated, enlarged, and perpetuated."

The nation joined with him in this deserved tribute to the men, whose courageous achievements had made the year one of progress, and had gathered about its close omens that put all in good heart, as they faced the duties and campaigns of the next (the fourth) year of the war.

TH

'HE year 1864 opened full of promise. Every indication from the South pointed to a vigorous, desperate effort on the part of the rebel leaders to make amends for their recent disasters. The latter sought to bolster up their courage by anticipating the reduction of our armies, through the departure of veteran troops, whose term of service would soon expire. This idea was sedulously spread abroad by the rebel press, and it operated for a while as a stimulant of hope, and was one of the means employed to keep up the courage and confidence of the Southern people. The "Wilmington Journal" expressed the belief of the Confederate generals, when saying, "there is a feeling abroad in the land, that the great crisis of the war, the turning point in our fate, is fast approaching.' The measures introduced and the laws passed by the Confederate Congress indicated the extremity to which they were reduced.

In January of this year the Congress at Richmond

enacted a law, that each person exempted from the draft should devote himself, and the labor he controlled, to the production of provisions and supplies. These last it required to be contributed for the use of the army, and besides the tithes called for by law, an additional tenth of all the bacon and pork produced was demanded. The sale of all these supplies for the army and families of soldiers, was provided for at designated prices by their Congress.

Up to about this period, no attempt had been made to organize colored persons in regiments for military service. The conscription act had done much to abolish those barriers of caste which had hitherto stood in the way of the government's calling on this loyal element of our population to serve in the army. Yet, in May, 1863, when application was made to the Chief of Police in New York for escort and protection for the Fifty-fourth Regiment colored volunteers of Massachusetts, in marching through Broadway, he responded, that they could not be protected from insult and probable assault. In less, however, than a year afterward, two New York Regiments of colored men, raised mainly through the efforts of the Loyal League, marched proudly down this same street amid the cheers of thousands of applauding citizens, and of all who witnessed their departure, not one ventured the insult of even a hiss.

At the special session of the Connecticut Legislature in November, 1863, a bill was passed for the enlistment and organization of colored volunteers. Massachusetts and Rhode Island had already led off in this direction, and now our own somewhat cautious, conservative State followed. The bill was bitterly denounced "as the greatest monstrosity ever introduced into Connecticut;" as a provision "to let loose upon the helpless South a horde of African barbarians." The adjectives, however, of these excited opponents made little impression, and the bill passed in the

lower House by a vote of one hundred and twenty to seventy-one; in the Senate, by a vote of fifteen to five.

This all showed the advance of public opinion, and relief was experienced, doubtless, by many nervous persons, when it was found that the world stood firm, even after these unprecedented and radical measures had been resorted to in this State, which rather bore the palm of being the steadiest in the "land of steady habits."

Governor Buckingham at once issued his call for colored volunteers for the Twenty-ninth Regiment, to serve for two years, or less. The bounty offered was six hundred dollars, and the pay and uniform the same as that of other soldiers. Each one of these items had been fought over in Congress, and our own General Assembly, and it was only after long and earnest discussion, to which the logic of events supplied some very convincing points, that a colored soldier was put on a par with any other, and treated as a citizen, and respected for his patriotisma patriotism which in the service he was now invited to enter, exposed him to far greater risks and sufferings than it did his more favored brothers in arms. Candidates for commissions in this regiment were required to pass a severe examination before a board appointed by the War Department.

Norwich was represented in this regiment by David Torrance, Captain Company A, afterwards Lieutenant-colonel, and M. L. Leonard, First Lieutenant; E. P. Rogers, First Lieutenant Company F; C. H. Carpenter, First Lieutenant Company K, and not far from twenty privates. The regiment first joined the Ninth Army Corps, proceeding to Hilton Head and Beaufort, S. C.; thence was ordered North into the Tenth Corps.

The regiment was put into the trenches in front of Petersburg, where it continued for a month, doing hard service, when ordered to the rear only for rest, and the replenishing

of its wardrobe. After a few days' quiet, it was again in motion, and was engaged in reconnoisances and skirmishes until November nineteenth, when it was stationed for garrison duty in certain detached forts on the New Market road, which were considered of great importance. In March, 1865, the Twenty-ninth was ordered to Fort Harrison, and appointed to watch the enemy's movements in its immediate front. On Saturday, April second, it witnessed the last rebel parade, and early the next day led in the advance on Richmond, Companies G and C, without doubt, entering the city before any other Union troops. The service it was from the first called to render was a tribute to its valor and efficiency.

Lieutenant-colonel Torrance, who was himself a capable and bold officer, has set forth in his report some of the trials of the regiment, wherein he claims for it the highest merit. "The poor rights of a soldier were denied to its members. Their actions were narrowly watched, and the slightest faults severely commented upon. In spite of all this, the negro soldier fought willingly and bravely; and with his rifle alone he has vindicated his manhood, and stands to-day as second in bravery to none." Such were the words in which Colonel Torrance bore his testimony to what he knew from his own experience.

In the Thirtieth Regiment, also colored volunteers, Norwich had as officers, First Lieutenants, Albert Latham, George Greenman (afterwards promoted Captain), De Laroo Wilson, Quartermaster, and about thirty privates. It was never filled to its maximum, four companies only being completed and organized. These were finally consolidated into the Thirty-first U. S. C. T. The regiment had a good record, and served with credit in many a hard engage

ment.