Lieut. William D. Mathews died on March 6, 1906 in Leavenworth. Ref: Cunningham, Roger D. "Douglas's Battery at Fort Leavenworth: The Issue of Black Officers During the Civil War." 23 (Winter 2000/2001): 200–217 at p 216.
Lieut. Mathews was born in Maryland in 1827. Ref ibid, at p 204
He one of the few black officers commissioned during the Civil War. He was active during Price's Missouri Expedition in September and October 1864.
For more information contact me.
Daniel L. Smith
Chairman
Monnett Battle of Westport Fund
-----------
William Matthews was an African American abolitionist, Civil War Union officer and Freemason. He was a leader in Leavenworth, Kansas as well as nationally.
He was born on the eastern Maryland shore to free to mixed-race parents. His father, Joseph, was a man of African descent who hailed from Delaware. His mother, the half-white slave daughter of a Frenchman, had gained her release from bondage upon her father’s death. Matthews moved to Baltimore in the late 1840s and worked as a sailor until 1854, when he purchased his own vessel and worked the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River. But discriminatory laws limited his ability to make a living. He sold the boat and left Maryland.
Matthews moved to Leavenworth, Kansas in 1856. It was there that he opened the Waverly House, which served as a stage on the Underground Railroad. With the help of others including Daniel Read Anthony (brother of Susan B. Anthony), he helped many escape slavery.
Matthews served as superintendent of contrabands for the Kansas Emancipation League starting in 1862. The League was an outgrowth of a school established for fugitive blacks in 1861. When word came that a force of blacks was to be raised, Matthews along with New England abolitionist Ethan Earle wished to join the recruiting and be was allowed to lead troops. He was initially told that he would not be allowed to lead, and was offered a commission in the commissary or quartermaster department, but protested. In August 1862, Senator James Henry Lane acquiesced and authorized Matthews to raise a company for the First Kansas Colored Volunteers and be its commander - and Matthews raised what would eventually be Company D. The regiment was originally mustered into the Kansas militia, and before being mustered into service in the Union Army they engaged in the skirmish at Island Mound. This skirmish was the first time a regiment of black troops saw combat in the civil war and occurred five months before the famous 54th Infantry conflict at the Battle of Fort Wagner, in South Carolina.
Matthews and his two lieutenants, Henry Copeland and Patrick Minor (Minor would die of disease during the war) were the highest ranked black officers in the regiment, but were denied commissions when the regiment became a part of the Federal Army. Both eventually were given commissions to serve in the Independent Kansas Colored Battery, where Matthews became commander of the Independent Kansas Colored Battery. When the 1st Kansas Colored was mustered into the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation, Matthews and Minor were denied the chance to keep their rankings. With the support of the regiment, including all of its white officers, the pair protested. On January 28, 1863, the War Department authorized the muster of Matthews as officer, which would make Matthews the first regularly commissioned black officer, but the order was not carried out and Matthews was not commissioned when the company mustered. With no official role in the regiment, Matthews was reported to have encouraged others to desert, and Andrew J. Armstrong replaced Matthews as captain of the company. In 1890, Williams testified that Matthews served in the organization and early drill of the company until May 1863. At an 1890 reunion of the First Kansas Infantry, Matthews was elected chairman of the gathering.
In July 1864, Matthews and Minor were appointed recruiting officers for the Independent Kansas Colored Battery out of Leavenworth - also called Douglas's Battery. In September he moved to Fort Scott to continue recruiting, largely escaped Missouri slaves. Matthews and the battery were in Fort Scott during Price's Raid,and local commander Colonel Charles W. Blair put Matthews in charge of enrolling "all able bodied colored men in Bourbon County" and assembling them at the fort to defend them from Price. Price diverted towards the east, however. Matthews, Minor, and Captain H. Ford Douglas were the only black artillery officers in the Union army.
In 1870, he was summoned by U. S. Marshal D. W. Houston to the Grand Jury in the U. S. District Court. He was also the Chairman of the State (Colored) Central Committee. That fall he was nominated by the Republican Party to the State Senate from Leavenworth but was defeated. He was a prominent participant in the Colored Conventions Movement and in 1874 again was candidate for the state legislature, losing to H. D. Mackay in a controversial vote - his loss in both elections was ascribed in part to his failure to gain the support of white Republicans.
William D. Matthews joined the Masonic fraternity when 22 years of age. He was a popular as well as controversial leader in Prince Hall Freemasonry. Though his masonic beginnings are relatively unknown, Matthews was a force with the organization of Freemasonry among African Americans in the central to western parts of the United States. He helped to organize the Most Worshipful King Solomon Grand Lodge, under the jurisdiction of the Most Worshipful National Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Ancient York Masons on June 24, 1867. This Grand Lodge became powerful with Jurisdiction over Lodges in Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado and Wyoming. The Lodges Matthews organized in Texas formed the Grand Lodge of Texas (now styled The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas) with Matthews installing the officers at its formation.[16] Matthews was elevated to the eighth National Grand Master in 1887 and served until his death in 1906.
Matthews had two sons, John D. and Joseph Edward, both of whom died in the late 1890s. Matthews died March 2, 1906 at his home in Leavenworth. His funeral was at the Kiowa Street African Methodist Episcopal Church and he was initially buried in Mount Muncie Cemetery and his body was moved to the Soldier's Home Cemetery in 1908.∼
TO ALL WHO PASS THIS WAY, PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: that even though Captain William Dominick Matthews has passed away, now, he continues to watch over and protect the U.S.A. as a: "Member Of The Knight Shift"...Hoorah!!! R.I.P. USCT Trooper Matthews.
THIS COLORED KANSAS MILITIA REGIMENT FOUGHT AGAINST THE CSA BEFORE THEY WERE MUSTERED INTO THE UNION ARMY!!!
The 1st Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry (Colored) was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was the first black regiment to be organized in a northern state and the first black unit to see combat during the Civil War. At the Battle of Poison Spring, the regiment lost nearly half its number, and suffered the highest losses of any Kansas regiment during the war.
SERVICE:
James M. Williams, Colonel of 1st Kansas Colored Infantry
The 1st Kansas Infantry (Colored) was organized at Fort Scott, Kansas and mustered in as a Battalion (six companies) on January 13, 1863 for three years. Four additional companies were recruited and mustered in between January 13 and May 2, 1863. Thereafter, said Military Organization mustered in under the command of Colonel James M. Williams as a Regiment.
This regiment was recruited without federal authorization and against the wishes of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. James H. Lane, recruiting commissioner for Kansas territory north of the Kansas River, on August 4, 1862 authorized raising the regiment. Recruiting officials enlisted black men across eastern Kansas, most of whom were former, or runaway, slaves from Missouri. It was the first African-American regiment to see combat during the Civil War, in the skirmish at Island Mound, in Bates County, Missouri in October 1862. The regiment's company D had three black officers, i.e., Captain William D. Matthews and his two lieutenants, Henry Copeland and Patrick Minor, who were not allowed commissions as officers when the regiment was formally mustered into the Union army, and, re-designated as the 79th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops.
**************************************************
79th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops
Organized from 1st Kansas Colored Infantry December 13, 1864. Attached to 2nd Brigade, District of the Frontier, 7th Corps, Dept. of Arkansas, to January, 1865. Colored Brigade, 7th Corps, to February, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 7th Corps, to August, 1865. Dept. of Arkansas to October, 1865.
SERVICE:
Duty at Fort Smith, Ark., until January, 1865. Skirmish at Ivey's Ford January 8. Ordered to Little Rock January 16. Skirmish at Clarksville, Ark., January 18. Duty at Little Rock, Ark., until July, and at Pine Bluff until October. Mustered out at Pine Bluff, Ark., October 1, 1865, and discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, October 30, 1865.
Regiment lost during service 5 Officers and 183 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 165 Enlisted men by disease. Total 354.
**************************************************
Independent Battery, United States Colored Light Artillery (USCLA) Battery, United States Colored Troops
William Dominick Matthews was was mustered in with the Independent Battery, Kansas US Colored Light Artillery as 2nd Lt. with the duty of a Recruiting Officer on July 7, 1864. He was promoted to 1st Lt. on February 27, 1865, the date the unit entered federal active service under the command of Captain Hezekiah Ford Douglas's U. S. Colored Light Artillery Battery (All Officers in the Battery were colored).
Organized at Leavenworth, Kan., December 23, 1864. Attached to District of North Kansas, Dept. of Kansas, to July, 1865.
SERVICE:
Duty at Leavenworth and at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., until July, 1865. Mustered out July 22, 1865.
**************************************************
Lieut. Mathews was born in Maryland in 1827. Ref ibid, at p 204
He one of the few black officers commissioned during the Civil War. He was active during Price's Missouri Expedition in September and October 1864.
For more information contact me.
Daniel L. Smith
Chairman
Monnett Battle of Westport Fund
-----------
William Matthews was an African American abolitionist, Civil War Union officer and Freemason. He was a leader in Leavenworth, Kansas as well as nationally.
He was born on the eastern Maryland shore to free to mixed-race parents. His father, Joseph, was a man of African descent who hailed from Delaware. His mother, the half-white slave daughter of a Frenchman, had gained her release from bondage upon her father’s death. Matthews moved to Baltimore in the late 1840s and worked as a sailor until 1854, when he purchased his own vessel and worked the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River. But discriminatory laws limited his ability to make a living. He sold the boat and left Maryland.
Matthews moved to Leavenworth, Kansas in 1856. It was there that he opened the Waverly House, which served as a stage on the Underground Railroad. With the help of others including Daniel Read Anthony (brother of Susan B. Anthony), he helped many escape slavery.
Matthews served as superintendent of contrabands for the Kansas Emancipation League starting in 1862. The League was an outgrowth of a school established for fugitive blacks in 1861. When word came that a force of blacks was to be raised, Matthews along with New England abolitionist Ethan Earle wished to join the recruiting and be was allowed to lead troops. He was initially told that he would not be allowed to lead, and was offered a commission in the commissary or quartermaster department, but protested. In August 1862, Senator James Henry Lane acquiesced and authorized Matthews to raise a company for the First Kansas Colored Volunteers and be its commander - and Matthews raised what would eventually be Company D. The regiment was originally mustered into the Kansas militia, and before being mustered into service in the Union Army they engaged in the skirmish at Island Mound. This skirmish was the first time a regiment of black troops saw combat in the civil war and occurred five months before the famous 54th Infantry conflict at the Battle of Fort Wagner, in South Carolina.
Matthews and his two lieutenants, Henry Copeland and Patrick Minor (Minor would die of disease during the war) were the highest ranked black officers in the regiment, but were denied commissions when the regiment became a part of the Federal Army. Both eventually were given commissions to serve in the Independent Kansas Colored Battery, where Matthews became commander of the Independent Kansas Colored Battery. When the 1st Kansas Colored was mustered into the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation, Matthews and Minor were denied the chance to keep their rankings. With the support of the regiment, including all of its white officers, the pair protested. On January 28, 1863, the War Department authorized the muster of Matthews as officer, which would make Matthews the first regularly commissioned black officer, but the order was not carried out and Matthews was not commissioned when the company mustered. With no official role in the regiment, Matthews was reported to have encouraged others to desert, and Andrew J. Armstrong replaced Matthews as captain of the company. In 1890, Williams testified that Matthews served in the organization and early drill of the company until May 1863. At an 1890 reunion of the First Kansas Infantry, Matthews was elected chairman of the gathering.
In July 1864, Matthews and Minor were appointed recruiting officers for the Independent Kansas Colored Battery out of Leavenworth - also called Douglas's Battery. In September he moved to Fort Scott to continue recruiting, largely escaped Missouri slaves. Matthews and the battery were in Fort Scott during Price's Raid,and local commander Colonel Charles W. Blair put Matthews in charge of enrolling "all able bodied colored men in Bourbon County" and assembling them at the fort to defend them from Price. Price diverted towards the east, however. Matthews, Minor, and Captain H. Ford Douglas were the only black artillery officers in the Union army.
In 1870, he was summoned by U. S. Marshal D. W. Houston to the Grand Jury in the U. S. District Court. He was also the Chairman of the State (Colored) Central Committee. That fall he was nominated by the Republican Party to the State Senate from Leavenworth but was defeated. He was a prominent participant in the Colored Conventions Movement and in 1874 again was candidate for the state legislature, losing to H. D. Mackay in a controversial vote - his loss in both elections was ascribed in part to his failure to gain the support of white Republicans.
William D. Matthews joined the Masonic fraternity when 22 years of age. He was a popular as well as controversial leader in Prince Hall Freemasonry. Though his masonic beginnings are relatively unknown, Matthews was a force with the organization of Freemasonry among African Americans in the central to western parts of the United States. He helped to organize the Most Worshipful King Solomon Grand Lodge, under the jurisdiction of the Most Worshipful National Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Ancient York Masons on June 24, 1867. This Grand Lodge became powerful with Jurisdiction over Lodges in Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado and Wyoming. The Lodges Matthews organized in Texas formed the Grand Lodge of Texas (now styled The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas) with Matthews installing the officers at its formation.[16] Matthews was elevated to the eighth National Grand Master in 1887 and served until his death in 1906.
Matthews had two sons, John D. and Joseph Edward, both of whom died in the late 1890s. Matthews died March 2, 1906 at his home in Leavenworth. His funeral was at the Kiowa Street African Methodist Episcopal Church and he was initially buried in Mount Muncie Cemetery and his body was moved to the Soldier's Home Cemetery in 1908.∼
TO ALL WHO PASS THIS WAY, PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: that even though Captain William Dominick Matthews has passed away, now, he continues to watch over and protect the U.S.A. as a: "Member Of The Knight Shift"...Hoorah!!! R.I.P. USCT Trooper Matthews.
THIS COLORED KANSAS MILITIA REGIMENT FOUGHT AGAINST THE CSA BEFORE THEY WERE MUSTERED INTO THE UNION ARMY!!!
The 1st Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry (Colored) was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was the first black regiment to be organized in a northern state and the first black unit to see combat during the Civil War. At the Battle of Poison Spring, the regiment lost nearly half its number, and suffered the highest losses of any Kansas regiment during the war.
SERVICE:
James M. Williams, Colonel of 1st Kansas Colored Infantry
The 1st Kansas Infantry (Colored) was organized at Fort Scott, Kansas and mustered in as a Battalion (six companies) on January 13, 1863 for three years. Four additional companies were recruited and mustered in between January 13 and May 2, 1863. Thereafter, said Military Organization mustered in under the command of Colonel James M. Williams as a Regiment.
This regiment was recruited without federal authorization and against the wishes of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. James H. Lane, recruiting commissioner for Kansas territory north of the Kansas River, on August 4, 1862 authorized raising the regiment. Recruiting officials enlisted black men across eastern Kansas, most of whom were former, or runaway, slaves from Missouri. It was the first African-American regiment to see combat during the Civil War, in the skirmish at Island Mound, in Bates County, Missouri in October 1862. The regiment's company D had three black officers, i.e., Captain William D. Matthews and his two lieutenants, Henry Copeland and Patrick Minor, who were not allowed commissions as officers when the regiment was formally mustered into the Union army, and, re-designated as the 79th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops.
**************************************************
79th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops
Organized from 1st Kansas Colored Infantry December 13, 1864. Attached to 2nd Brigade, District of the Frontier, 7th Corps, Dept. of Arkansas, to January, 1865. Colored Brigade, 7th Corps, to February, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 7th Corps, to August, 1865. Dept. of Arkansas to October, 1865.
SERVICE:
Duty at Fort Smith, Ark., until January, 1865. Skirmish at Ivey's Ford January 8. Ordered to Little Rock January 16. Skirmish at Clarksville, Ark., January 18. Duty at Little Rock, Ark., until July, and at Pine Bluff until October. Mustered out at Pine Bluff, Ark., October 1, 1865, and discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, October 30, 1865.
Regiment lost during service 5 Officers and 183 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 165 Enlisted men by disease. Total 354.
**************************************************
Independent Battery, United States Colored Light Artillery (USCLA) Battery, United States Colored Troops
William Dominick Matthews was was mustered in with the Independent Battery, Kansas US Colored Light Artillery as 2nd Lt. with the duty of a Recruiting Officer on July 7, 1864. He was promoted to 1st Lt. on February 27, 1865, the date the unit entered federal active service under the command of Captain Hezekiah Ford Douglas's U. S. Colored Light Artillery Battery (All Officers in the Battery were colored).
Organized at Leavenworth, Kan., December 23, 1864. Attached to District of North Kansas, Dept. of Kansas, to July, 1865.
SERVICE:
Duty at Leavenworth and at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., until July, 1865. Mustered out July 22, 1865.
**************************************************
Lieut. William D. Mathews died on March 6, 1906 in Leavenworth. Ref: Cunningham, Roger D. "Douglas's Battery at Fort Leavenworth: The Issue of Black Officers During the Civil War." 23 (Winter 2000/2001): 200–217 at p 216.
Lieut. Mathews was born in Maryland in 1827. Ref ibid, at p 204
He one of the few black officers commissioned during the Civil War. He was active during Price's Missouri Expedition in September and October 1864.
For more information contact me.
Daniel L. Smith
Chairman
Monnett Battle of Westport Fund
-----------
William Matthews was an African American abolitionist, Civil War Union officer and Freemason. He was a leader in Leavenworth, Kansas as well as nationally.
He was born on the eastern Maryland shore to free to mixed-race parents. His father, Joseph, was a man of African descent who hailed from Delaware. His mother, the half-white slave daughter of a Frenchman, had gained her release from bondage upon her father’s death. Matthews moved to Baltimore in the late 1840s and worked as a sailor until 1854, when he purchased his own vessel and worked the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River. But discriminatory laws limited his ability to make a living. He sold the boat and left Maryland.
Matthews moved to Leavenworth, Kansas in 1856. It was there that he opened the Waverly House, which served as a stage on the Underground Railroad. With the help of others including Daniel Read Anthony (brother of Susan B. Anthony), he helped many escape slavery.
Matthews served as superintendent of contrabands for the Kansas Emancipation League starting in 1862. The League was an outgrowth of a school established for fugitive blacks in 1861. When word came that a force of blacks was to be raised, Matthews along with New England abolitionist Ethan Earle wished to join the recruiting and be was allowed to lead troops. He was initially told that he would not be allowed to lead, and was offered a commission in the commissary or quartermaster department, but protested. In August 1862, Senator James Henry Lane acquiesced and authorized Matthews to raise a company for the First Kansas Colored Volunteers and be its commander - and Matthews raised what would eventually be Company D. The regiment was originally mustered into the Kansas militia, and before being mustered into service in the Union Army they engaged in the skirmish at Island Mound. This skirmish was the first time a regiment of black troops saw combat in the civil war and occurred five months before the famous 54th Infantry conflict at the Battle of Fort Wagner, in South Carolina.
Matthews and his two lieutenants, Henry Copeland and Patrick Minor (Minor would die of disease during the war) were the highest ranked black officers in the regiment, but were denied commissions when the regiment became a part of the Federal Army. Both eventually were given commissions to serve in the Independent Kansas Colored Battery, where Matthews became commander of the Independent Kansas Colored Battery. When the 1st Kansas Colored was mustered into the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation, Matthews and Minor were denied the chance to keep their rankings. With the support of the regiment, including all of its white officers, the pair protested. On January 28, 1863, the War Department authorized the muster of Matthews as officer, which would make Matthews the first regularly commissioned black officer, but the order was not carried out and Matthews was not commissioned when the company mustered. With no official role in the regiment, Matthews was reported to have encouraged others to desert, and Andrew J. Armstrong replaced Matthews as captain of the company. In 1890, Williams testified that Matthews served in the organization and early drill of the company until May 1863. At an 1890 reunion of the First Kansas Infantry, Matthews was elected chairman of the gathering.
In July 1864, Matthews and Minor were appointed recruiting officers for the Independent Kansas Colored Battery out of Leavenworth - also called Douglas's Battery. In September he moved to Fort Scott to continue recruiting, largely escaped Missouri slaves. Matthews and the battery were in Fort Scott during Price's Raid,and local commander Colonel Charles W. Blair put Matthews in charge of enrolling "all able bodied colored men in Bourbon County" and assembling them at the fort to defend them from Price. Price diverted towards the east, however. Matthews, Minor, and Captain H. Ford Douglas were the only black artillery officers in the Union army.
In 1870, he was summoned by U. S. Marshal D. W. Houston to the Grand Jury in the U. S. District Court. He was also the Chairman of the State (Colored) Central Committee. That fall he was nominated by the Republican Party to the State Senate from Leavenworth but was defeated. He was a prominent participant in the Colored Conventions Movement and in 1874 again was candidate for the state legislature, losing to H. D. Mackay in a controversial vote - his loss in both elections was ascribed in part to his failure to gain the support of white Republicans.
William D. Matthews joined the Masonic fraternity when 22 years of age. He was a popular as well as controversial leader in Prince Hall Freemasonry. Though his masonic beginnings are relatively unknown, Matthews was a force with the organization of Freemasonry among African Americans in the central to western parts of the United States. He helped to organize the Most Worshipful King Solomon Grand Lodge, under the jurisdiction of the Most Worshipful National Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Ancient York Masons on June 24, 1867. This Grand Lodge became powerful with Jurisdiction over Lodges in Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado and Wyoming. The Lodges Matthews organized in Texas formed the Grand Lodge of Texas (now styled The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas) with Matthews installing the officers at its formation.[16] Matthews was elevated to the eighth National Grand Master in 1887 and served until his death in 1906.
Matthews had two sons, John D. and Joseph Edward, both of whom died in the late 1890s. Matthews died March 2, 1906 at his home in Leavenworth. His funeral was at the Kiowa Street African Methodist Episcopal Church and he was initially buried in Mount Muncie Cemetery and his body was moved to the Soldier's Home Cemetery in 1908.∼
TO ALL WHO PASS THIS WAY, PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: that even though Captain William Dominick Matthews has passed away, now, he continues to watch over and protect the U.S.A. as a: "Member Of The Knight Shift"...Hoorah!!! R.I.P. USCT Trooper Matthews.
THIS COLORED KANSAS MILITIA REGIMENT FOUGHT AGAINST THE CSA BEFORE THEY WERE MUSTERED INTO THE UNION ARMY!!!
The 1st Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry (Colored) was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was the first black regiment to be organized in a northern state and the first black unit to see combat during the Civil War. At the Battle of Poison Spring, the regiment lost nearly half its number, and suffered the highest losses of any Kansas regiment during the war.
SERVICE:
James M. Williams, Colonel of 1st Kansas Colored Infantry
The 1st Kansas Infantry (Colored) was organized at Fort Scott, Kansas and mustered in as a Battalion (six companies) on January 13, 1863 for three years. Four additional companies were recruited and mustered in between January 13 and May 2, 1863. Thereafter, said Military Organization mustered in under the command of Colonel James M. Williams as a Regiment.
This regiment was recruited without federal authorization and against the wishes of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. James H. Lane, recruiting commissioner for Kansas territory north of the Kansas River, on August 4, 1862 authorized raising the regiment. Recruiting officials enlisted black men across eastern Kansas, most of whom were former, or runaway, slaves from Missouri. It was the first African-American regiment to see combat during the Civil War, in the skirmish at Island Mound, in Bates County, Missouri in October 1862. The regiment's company D had three black officers, i.e., Captain William D. Matthews and his two lieutenants, Henry Copeland and Patrick Minor, who were not allowed commissions as officers when the regiment was formally mustered into the Union army, and, re-designated as the 79th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops.
**************************************************
79th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops
Organized from 1st Kansas Colored Infantry December 13, 1864. Attached to 2nd Brigade, District of the Frontier, 7th Corps, Dept. of Arkansas, to January, 1865. Colored Brigade, 7th Corps, to February, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 7th Corps, to August, 1865. Dept. of Arkansas to October, 1865.
SERVICE:
Duty at Fort Smith, Ark., until January, 1865. Skirmish at Ivey's Ford January 8. Ordered to Little Rock January 16. Skirmish at Clarksville, Ark., January 18. Duty at Little Rock, Ark., until July, and at Pine Bluff until October. Mustered out at Pine Bluff, Ark., October 1, 1865, and discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, October 30, 1865.
Regiment lost during service 5 Officers and 183 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 165 Enlisted men by disease. Total 354.
**************************************************
Independent Battery, United States Colored Light Artillery (USCLA) Battery, United States Colored Troops
William Dominick Matthews was was mustered in with the Independent Battery, Kansas US Colored Light Artillery as 2nd Lt. with the duty of a Recruiting Officer on July 7, 1864. He was promoted to 1st Lt. on February 27, 1865, the date the unit entered federal active service under the command of Captain Hezekiah Ford Douglas's U. S. Colored Light Artillery Battery (All Officers in the Battery were colored).
Organized at Leavenworth, Kan., December 23, 1864. Attached to District of North Kansas, Dept. of Kansas, to July, 1865.
SERVICE:
Duty at Leavenworth and at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., until July, 1865. Mustered out July 22, 1865.
**************************************************
Lieut. Mathews was born in Maryland in 1827. Ref ibid, at p 204
He one of the few black officers commissioned during the Civil War. He was active during Price's Missouri Expedition in September and October 1864.
For more information contact me.
Daniel L. Smith
Chairman
Monnett Battle of Westport Fund
-----------
William Matthews was an African American abolitionist, Civil War Union officer and Freemason. He was a leader in Leavenworth, Kansas as well as nationally.
He was born on the eastern Maryland shore to free to mixed-race parents. His father, Joseph, was a man of African descent who hailed from Delaware. His mother, the half-white slave daughter of a Frenchman, had gained her release from bondage upon her father’s death. Matthews moved to Baltimore in the late 1840s and worked as a sailor until 1854, when he purchased his own vessel and worked the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River. But discriminatory laws limited his ability to make a living. He sold the boat and left Maryland.
Matthews moved to Leavenworth, Kansas in 1856. It was there that he opened the Waverly House, which served as a stage on the Underground Railroad. With the help of others including Daniel Read Anthony (brother of Susan B. Anthony), he helped many escape slavery.
Matthews served as superintendent of contrabands for the Kansas Emancipation League starting in 1862. The League was an outgrowth of a school established for fugitive blacks in 1861. When word came that a force of blacks was to be raised, Matthews along with New England abolitionist Ethan Earle wished to join the recruiting and be was allowed to lead troops. He was initially told that he would not be allowed to lead, and was offered a commission in the commissary or quartermaster department, but protested. In August 1862, Senator James Henry Lane acquiesced and authorized Matthews to raise a company for the First Kansas Colored Volunteers and be its commander - and Matthews raised what would eventually be Company D. The regiment was originally mustered into the Kansas militia, and before being mustered into service in the Union Army they engaged in the skirmish at Island Mound. This skirmish was the first time a regiment of black troops saw combat in the civil war and occurred five months before the famous 54th Infantry conflict at the Battle of Fort Wagner, in South Carolina.
Matthews and his two lieutenants, Henry Copeland and Patrick Minor (Minor would die of disease during the war) were the highest ranked black officers in the regiment, but were denied commissions when the regiment became a part of the Federal Army. Both eventually were given commissions to serve in the Independent Kansas Colored Battery, where Matthews became commander of the Independent Kansas Colored Battery. When the 1st Kansas Colored was mustered into the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation, Matthews and Minor were denied the chance to keep their rankings. With the support of the regiment, including all of its white officers, the pair protested. On January 28, 1863, the War Department authorized the muster of Matthews as officer, which would make Matthews the first regularly commissioned black officer, but the order was not carried out and Matthews was not commissioned when the company mustered. With no official role in the regiment, Matthews was reported to have encouraged others to desert, and Andrew J. Armstrong replaced Matthews as captain of the company. In 1890, Williams testified that Matthews served in the organization and early drill of the company until May 1863. At an 1890 reunion of the First Kansas Infantry, Matthews was elected chairman of the gathering.
In July 1864, Matthews and Minor were appointed recruiting officers for the Independent Kansas Colored Battery out of Leavenworth - also called Douglas's Battery. In September he moved to Fort Scott to continue recruiting, largely escaped Missouri slaves. Matthews and the battery were in Fort Scott during Price's Raid,and local commander Colonel Charles W. Blair put Matthews in charge of enrolling "all able bodied colored men in Bourbon County" and assembling them at the fort to defend them from Price. Price diverted towards the east, however. Matthews, Minor, and Captain H. Ford Douglas were the only black artillery officers in the Union army.
In 1870, he was summoned by U. S. Marshal D. W. Houston to the Grand Jury in the U. S. District Court. He was also the Chairman of the State (Colored) Central Committee. That fall he was nominated by the Republican Party to the State Senate from Leavenworth but was defeated. He was a prominent participant in the Colored Conventions Movement and in 1874 again was candidate for the state legislature, losing to H. D. Mackay in a controversial vote - his loss in both elections was ascribed in part to his failure to gain the support of white Republicans.
William D. Matthews joined the Masonic fraternity when 22 years of age. He was a popular as well as controversial leader in Prince Hall Freemasonry. Though his masonic beginnings are relatively unknown, Matthews was a force with the organization of Freemasonry among African Americans in the central to western parts of the United States. He helped to organize the Most Worshipful King Solomon Grand Lodge, under the jurisdiction of the Most Worshipful National Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Ancient York Masons on June 24, 1867. This Grand Lodge became powerful with Jurisdiction over Lodges in Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado and Wyoming. The Lodges Matthews organized in Texas formed the Grand Lodge of Texas (now styled The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas) with Matthews installing the officers at its formation.[16] Matthews was elevated to the eighth National Grand Master in 1887 and served until his death in 1906.
Matthews had two sons, John D. and Joseph Edward, both of whom died in the late 1890s. Matthews died March 2, 1906 at his home in Leavenworth. His funeral was at the Kiowa Street African Methodist Episcopal Church and he was initially buried in Mount Muncie Cemetery and his body was moved to the Soldier's Home Cemetery in 1908.∼
TO ALL WHO PASS THIS WAY, PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: that even though Captain William Dominick Matthews has passed away, now, he continues to watch over and protect the U.S.A. as a: "Member Of The Knight Shift"...Hoorah!!! R.I.P. USCT Trooper Matthews.
THIS COLORED KANSAS MILITIA REGIMENT FOUGHT AGAINST THE CSA BEFORE THEY WERE MUSTERED INTO THE UNION ARMY!!!
The 1st Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry (Colored) was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was the first black regiment to be organized in a northern state and the first black unit to see combat during the Civil War. At the Battle of Poison Spring, the regiment lost nearly half its number, and suffered the highest losses of any Kansas regiment during the war.
SERVICE:
James M. Williams, Colonel of 1st Kansas Colored Infantry
The 1st Kansas Infantry (Colored) was organized at Fort Scott, Kansas and mustered in as a Battalion (six companies) on January 13, 1863 for three years. Four additional companies were recruited and mustered in between January 13 and May 2, 1863. Thereafter, said Military Organization mustered in under the command of Colonel James M. Williams as a Regiment.
This regiment was recruited without federal authorization and against the wishes of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. James H. Lane, recruiting commissioner for Kansas territory north of the Kansas River, on August 4, 1862 authorized raising the regiment. Recruiting officials enlisted black men across eastern Kansas, most of whom were former, or runaway, slaves from Missouri. It was the first African-American regiment to see combat during the Civil War, in the skirmish at Island Mound, in Bates County, Missouri in October 1862. The regiment's company D had three black officers, i.e., Captain William D. Matthews and his two lieutenants, Henry Copeland and Patrick Minor, who were not allowed commissions as officers when the regiment was formally mustered into the Union army, and, re-designated as the 79th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops.
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79th U. S. Colored Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops
Organized from 1st Kansas Colored Infantry December 13, 1864. Attached to 2nd Brigade, District of the Frontier, 7th Corps, Dept. of Arkansas, to January, 1865. Colored Brigade, 7th Corps, to February, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 7th Corps, to August, 1865. Dept. of Arkansas to October, 1865.
SERVICE:
Duty at Fort Smith, Ark., until January, 1865. Skirmish at Ivey's Ford January 8. Ordered to Little Rock January 16. Skirmish at Clarksville, Ark., January 18. Duty at Little Rock, Ark., until July, and at Pine Bluff until October. Mustered out at Pine Bluff, Ark., October 1, 1865, and discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, October 30, 1865.
Regiment lost during service 5 Officers and 183 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 165 Enlisted men by disease. Total 354.
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Independent Battery, United States Colored Light Artillery (USCLA) Battery, United States Colored Troops
William Dominick Matthews was was mustered in with the Independent Battery, Kansas US Colored Light Artillery as 2nd Lt. with the duty of a Recruiting Officer on July 7, 1864. He was promoted to 1st Lt. on February 27, 1865, the date the unit entered federal active service under the command of Captain Hezekiah Ford Douglas's U. S. Colored Light Artillery Battery (All Officers in the Battery were colored).
Organized at Leavenworth, Kan., December 23, 1864. Attached to District of North Kansas, Dept. of Kansas, to July, 1865.
SERVICE:
Duty at Leavenworth and at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., until July, 1865. Mustered out July 22, 1865.
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