On a bloody hill near Richmond, Maj. Gen. Butler’s black soldiers
finally get a chance to prove their worth as warriors.

SEPTEMBER 1864

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler had at least 10,000 white soldiers he could have called on for a bold mission to surprise Confederate forces and punch a hole through Richmond’s outer defenses.

But the commanding general of the Army of the James had grown weary of soldiers and officers doubting the courage and abilities of black soldiers he’d avidly recruited.

Having been a lawyer and politician in Massachusetts before the war, Butler wasn’t a professional soldier – and he’d always resented the way fellow generals, most of them graduates of West Point, looked down on his military credentials.

Now he felt the same way about his colleagues’ view of those he called “the sable soldiers.”

In New Orleans, months before the Emancipation Proclamation, he’d found a sneaky way to enlist black troops. Since then, he’d become an advocate: He spoke out against paying them less than white enlisted men, an injustice Congress finally rectified. As the U.S. negotiator on prisoner-of-war exchanges, Butler halted the release of Confederate POWs when the

Confederate Army insisted on returning captured black soldiers to slavery.

In recent months, two attempts by white soldiers in the Union Army to take New Market Heights had failed. Now, just a few miles away from the heart of Jefferson Davis’ government, it seemed fitting that Butler’s 3,000 black troops could have their shot at glory.

He mandated that they leave almost everything behind. Soldiers would carry with them only a single blanket, three days’ worth of food, and 60 rounds of ammunition. Taking possession of the Confederate fort would mean crossing a stream, chopping down rows of felled trees erected as barriers, and charging uphill through rifle pits. They were to take the camp using bayonets, not bullets.

The operation began under a moonless sky, with the troops crossing the James River on a makeshift pontoon bridge.

They lay in wait until daybreak, fortifying themselves first with sleep and then, in the predawn darkness, with coffee.

There was no time for breakfast. Butler fed his troops instead with words of encouragement. From astride his horse, he told the columns of men they must take the hill at all costs ...