Christian Abraham Fleetwood

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Christian Abraham Fleetwood
4th Regiment United States Colored Troops,
6th, later 7th BN D.C. National Guard
Commands heldWashington Cadet Corps (6th, later 7th BN, D.C. National Guard)
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War
AwardsMedal of Honor
Butler Medal
Other workeditor, musician, and politician

Christian Abraham Fleetwood (July 21, 1840 – September 28, 1914), was an

commissioned officer in the D.C. National Guard, an editor, a musician, and a government official. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the American Civil War. He wrote "The Negro As a Soldier" for the Negro Congress at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia held in November 1895.[1]

Pre-war life

Early life

Fleetwood was born in

Upper South to be owned and operated by an African American.[2][4]

Education

He received his early education in the home of a wealthy sugar merchant and chairman of Baltimore's Chamber of Commerce, John C. Brunes, and his wife. The latter treated Fleetwood like her son and taught him to read and write.[3][4] He continued his education at the Maryland State Colonization Society,[2] went briefly to Liberia and Sierra Leone, and graduated in 1860 from Ashmun Institute (later known as Lincoln University) in Oxford, Pennsylvania.[3]

Civil War

Enlistment

When the

sergeant major on August 19.[3][4] His regiment, assigned to the 3rd Division, saw service with the 10th, 18th, and 25th Army Corps in campaigns in North Carolina and Virginia, particularly on July 16, 1864, in the Battle of Petersburg[6] and on September 29–30, 1864, in the Battle of Chaffin's Farm.[3][6]

Battle of Chaffin's Farm and Medal of Honor

On September 29, 1864, the 3rd Division, including Fleetwood's regiment, participated in the Battle of Chaffin's Farm on the outskirts of the

Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.[9] Sergeant Major Fleetwood's Medal of Honor was donated by his daughter Edith Fleetwood in 1948.[9][10] Fleetwood also won a General B. F. Butler Medal, presumably for his action in the same engagement.[11]

Discharge

Although every officer of the regiment sent a petition for him to be commissioned an officer, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton did not recommend an appointment.[3] Fleetwood was honorably discharged from the Army on May 4, 1866.[3] Fleetwood's 1864 service is in part detailed; in a diary, he wrote that year full of entries about his experiences during the war.[12]

Post-war life

Standing At left Sgt Major Christian Fleetwood wearing both the Medal of Honor and the Butler Medal with Non-Commissioned Officers of the 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, Fort Slocum, April 1865

Jobs and life

After the war, Fleetwood worked as a bookkeeper in

John (Jean) Pierre Burr and daughter of U.S. vice president, Aaron Burr.[13] Sara's maternal uncle, novelist Frank J. Webb, lived with the couple in Washington[14] in 1870 while writing for Frederick Douglass' New Era.[14] The Fleetwoods had one daughter, Edith.[15]
They were well acquainted with most of the prominent African Americans of the period, many of who frequently visited their residence. Members of Washington's black elite society presented Fleetwood with a testimonial in 1889.

Christian A. Fleetwood, as major of the 7th bn DCNG, ca. 1889 (note the cap badge with crossed muskets and unit number "7")

National Guard

In January 1881, Fleetwood was elected Captain of the Washington Colored National Guard, better known as Washington Cadets or Washington Cadet Corps (WCC, not to be confused with the Washington High School Cadets, in which Fleetwood later became involved). At first, the WCC was organized as a single company and commanded by Captain George D. Graham on June 12, 1880, when Fleetwood joined the corps as a commissioned officer. The WCC expanded to a three-, then four-company-battalion and remained an all-black unit, including its commissioned officers.

On July 18, 1887, the WCC transformed into the 6th Battalion of the District of Columbia Army National Guard (DCNG). Fleetwood organized that battalion and became its commanding officer with the rank of major. The DCNG amalgamated seven battalions with four of them consisting of white members and three of them being "black" the Butler Zouaves (organized in 1863), the Washington Cadet Corps (1880), and the Capital City Guards (1882).[16][17] While the Butler Zouaves, was disbanded in 1888, the two remaining black battalions were restricted to two companies each and merged into the newly created First Separate Battalion in 1891.[18] The Butler Zouaves was disassembled by Albert Ordway, a leader of the National Guard, because of his displeasure towards the black regiments.[19] Ordway was unsuccessful at disbanding the other two black units.[19] When Frederick C. Revells from the Capital City Guards was made the new commander, Fleetwood felt passed over himself and resigned shortly afterward, in 1892.[3][20]

Meanwhile, Fleetwood and Major

District of Columbia in 1888. Also known as the Washington High School Cadets (see above), the corps' first company was recruited at M Street High (later to become Dunbar High School).[21] Fleetwood, the first instructor of the corps, served until 1897 when he was succeeded by Major Arthur Brooks. These two officers developed a tradition of military service among young colored men in Washington which led some of them to enlist in World War I and others to be commissioned at the Colored Officers Training Camp in Fort Des Moines, Iowa.[citation needed
]

After National Guard

Fleetwood never returned to active duty with any military organization. However, many residents of the District of Columbia recommended that he be appointed as the Commander of the 50th U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish–American War. This request was not seriously considered by the War Department, and the participation of colored soldiers from the District of Columbia was similarly disregarded.[19] It is not known whether Fleetwood's short stature and physical ailments reduced his chances for consideration. His army records state that he was five feet, four and one half inches tall. These records also state that he applied in 1891 for a pension, which he finally received because of "total" deafness in his left ear, the result of "gunshot concussion," and "severe" deafness in his right ear, the result of catarrh contracted while in the army. The last monthly pension payment was disbursed in September 1914, by then 24 U.S. Dollars. His application also stated that these ailments prevented him from speaking or singing in public.[22]

Before being hampered by his progressing deafness, Fleetwood served for several years as a choirmaster of the 15th Street Presbyterian Church, St. Luke's and St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal Churches, as well as the Berean Baptist Church. Supported by the community, including the wives of former presidents (

Frances Folsom Cleveland), his musical presentations were extremely successful.[23]

Death and legacy

He died suddenly of heart failure in Washington, D.C., on September 28, 1914, at age 74. Funeral services were held at

National Guard, and by Arthur Brooks in particular, was an appropriate recognition of the most significant aspects of Fleetwood's career.[25] His remains were moved to National Harmony Memorial Park when Columbia Harmony Cemetery closed in 1959.[26]

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Sergeant Major,

4th U.S. Colored Troops, Place and date: At Chapin's Farm, Va., September 29, 1864. Entered service at: unknown. Birth: Baltimore, Maryland. Date of issue: April 6, 1865.[27]

His citations read:

The President presented Sergeant Major Fleetwood the Medal of Honor because of his fearlessness during the

4th U.S. Colored Infantry. Fleetwood had seized the two Color Bearer's colors after they were shot down. He wore them honorably throughout the rest of the fight. [27]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Negro as a Soldier - Richmond National Battlefield Park (U.S. National Park Service)".
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4930-3175-7
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4381-0775-2
    .
  4. ^ a b c d Clifford, James H. (September 22, 2017). "Sergeant Major Christian Fleetwood – The Campaign for the National Museum of the United States Army". Army Historical Foundation. Archived from the original on February 8, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  5. ^ "Druid Hill Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-61069-366-0
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-7651-1769-4
    .
  8. ^ "Civil War Medal of Honor recipients, A–L". Medal of Honor recipients. United States Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  9. ^ a b "Medal of Honor, Christian A. Fleetwood". CivilWar@Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved August 27, 2008.
  10. JSTOR j.ctv2524zxx
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-486-41142-2
    .
  12. ^ Diary of Sergeant Major Christian A. Fleetwood, 1864, excerpts. National Humanities Center Resource Toolbox, The Making of African American Identity: Vol I, 1500–1865, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/identity/text7/fleetwooddiary.pdf
  13. ^ Maillard 2013, p. 273.
  14. ^
    JSTOR 10.5215/pennmaghistbio.137.3.0261
    .
  15. OCLC 35209436
    .
  16. ISBN 978-1-5911-4734-3
    .
  17. ^ Johnston, Glenn. "Christian Fleetwood: And Now..... For the Rest of the Story". www.stevenson.edu. Stevenson University. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  18. JSTOR 40067783
    .
  19. ^
    JSTOR 26304923
    .
  20. ISBN 978-1-4766-1235-5
    .
  21. ^ "Washington High DC School Cadet Corps." Discovering Yesterday. Preserving the history of ordinary people. December 10, 2011. Retrieved February 06, 2021.
  22. ISBN 978-1-9772-0039-6
    .
  23. ISBN 978-0-19-517055-9
    .
  24. ISBN 978-1-61069-366-0
    .
  25. ^ "Army Veteran Paves the Way for African Americans in the Military." Armed Forced Retirement Home. January 31, 2008, p. 7. Archived October 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Accessed October 28, 2012.
  26. ^ Harris, Hamil R.; Smith, Leef (May 27, 1997). "On Memorial Day, Soldiers and Citizens Honor Sacrifices of Those Who Fought for Freedom". The Washington Post. p. B12.
  27. ^
    ISBN 978-0-14-312815-1
    .

External links

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.
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