The Charge History Forgot: USCT Valor at the Battle of New Market Heights
Most Americans, even those who aren’t history buffs or Civil War enthusiasts, have heard of decisive battles like Gettysburg, Antietam, or Petersburg. They know that the future of the American slave system was at the center of the conflict, and that the war’s end marked a major turning point for Black Americans.
What many don’t know is that African Americans didn’t wait passively to see how the war would end. More than 180,000 Black men joined the United States Colored Troops (USCT), a group of Union Army regiments that made up roughly 10% of the total Union fighting force.
These brave Soldiers, tens of thousands of them formerly enslaved, took up arms for a country in which their basic freedoms were still not fully guaranteed in hopes that their honorable service would help secure equality and citizenship for all African Americans.
One of the most decisive battles for the USCT, specifically, is one that even many history buffs and Civil War enthusiasts have likely never heard of: the Battle of New Market Heights, a key engagement within the larger and also lesser-known Battle of Chaffin’s Farm. It was at this battle that more African American service members earned the Medal of Honor than in any other single battle of the Civil War - a total of 14.
Almost 200 more received Butler Medals (also known as U.S. Colored Troops Medals). This medal was specifically commissioned by Major General Benjamin Butler after this battle because he was so impressed by the heroism and bravery of African American soldiers at Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights.
So why haven’t more people heard of it?
African American Service in the Union Army
The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and the Battle of New Market Heights took place on September 29 and 30, 1864. At that point, the Civil War had been raging for nearly three and a half years, but for the most part, African American Soldiers had only officially been serving in the Union Army for about a year and a half.
Prior to Emancipation
When the Civil War began, free African Americans living in the North heard the same call to arms as white Americans. Prominent abolitionists like Frederic Douglass argued passionately that military service would be a key part of securing equality and citizenship for African Americans after the Civil War.
Many free African Americans tried to enlist but were denied at both the state and federal level, essentially being told it was a “white man’s war.” Initially, the Civil War was seen as a fight to preserve the Union, rather than one over the future of slavery. The Lincoln Administration feared that raising African American troops might cause the border states to secede, which would have weakened the Union considerably.
A limited number of unauthorized, all-Black regiments were raised in the North in the early years of the war, including the First Kansas Colored Infantry and the famous Massachusetts 54th. However, no authorized African American regiments would be raised until after the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Formation of the United States Colored Troops
By the end of 1862, it became clear to President Lincoln and his advisors that the federal government’s policy toward African American troops needed to change if the Union was going to win the war.
On January 1, 1963, President Lincoln passed Executive Order 143, better known as the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy to be free and authorized the raising of African American troops to support the Union war effort.
In May of 1963, the War Department created the Bureau of Colored Troops, officially establishing the United States Colored Troops and paving the way for the full-scale recruitment of African American Soldiers across the North and parts of the Union-controlled South.
The Challenges USCT Soldiers Faced
African American Soldiers who enlisted in the Union Army faced numerous challenges and widespread inequality in the USCT that directly resulted from American racism in both the North and the South.
Probably least surprising, for most of the Civil War, USCT Soldiers received less pay than white Soldiers. Additionally, they faced greater danger in battle - those who surrendered to Confederate forces were regularly murdered or forcibly enslaved (whether they’d been freemen before the war or not).
Additionally, African American Soldiers were required to serve under white officers, and regiments of African American soldiers were often assigned the most grueling work - moving supplies, digging trenches, building encampments, and other general labor. Both of these restrictions were a direct result of racist beliefs that African American soldiers were incapable of leadership and honorable service.
The exceptional service of USCT regiments at battles like Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights directly challenged those beliefs.
The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights
At first, Chaffin’s Farm may sound like a little-known location without much strategic importance.
So what was the point of attacking there?
It served a larger strategy that would successfully weaken the Confederacy to the point of surrender.
The Strategic Importance of Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights
September 1864 marked an important turning point in the Civil War. Early in the month, the Union Army had won two decisive battles that seemed to be turning the tide of the war in their favor: Major General Sherman’s capture of Atlanta and Major General Sheridan’s victory at the Third Battle of Winchester.
Union forces, led by General Ulysses S. Grant, were trying to secure a third major victory at Petersburg, Virginia. Petersburg is located just south of Richmond, and during the Civil War it served as a hub for multiple rail lines connecting the Confederate capital to the rest of the southern states. Capturing Petersburg would sever these rail lines, which were critical for the movement of Confederate troops and supplies.
Roughly five months into the siege of Petersburg, the Southside Railroad was one of the only remaining rail lines still controlled by Confederate forces, and General Grant decided the best way to ensure successful capture of the Southside Railroad would be to use a classic military strategy - creating a diversion.
Under the leadership of Major General Benjamin Butler, the Army of the James attacked Confederate fortifications around Richmond in an area known as Chaffin’s Farm, including particularly strategic locations like New Market Heights, a bluff that overlooked a major access road into the city.
USCT Soldiers Lead the Charge
On the morning of September 29, 1864, 14,000 Union troops prepared to launch an attack against Richmond. Of the roughly 14,000 Union troops who advanced on Richmond, thousands were USCT Soldiers from more than 15 distinct regiments who fought specifically at New Market Heights.
At Butler’s command, USCT regiments led the charge at New Market Heights. Confederate forces were established on a bluff above New Market Road. From their original position, USCT Soldiers had to traverse through swampy Four Mile Creek and navigate a field of abatis (felled trees with sharpened branches), all while taking direct fire from the Confederate forces, who reportedly fought harder when they learned they were facing African American Soldiers.
The initial assault led by the 4th and 6th USCT was unsuccessful, as troops struggled to get through the abatis. Sergeant Major Christian Fleetwood of the 4th USCT Color Guard later recalled:
“It was a deadly hailstorm of bullets, sweeping men down as hailstones sweep through trees.”
Sergeant Major Fleetwood later received the Medal of Honor for seizing the American flag after the original flag bearer was killed, one of 387 casualties the 4th and 6th USCT suffered before falling back.
The next brigade, led by the 5th, 36th, and 38th USCT, made the next attempt. These brave Soldiers made it through the swamp to the abatis, where they were also stalled. However, after about 30 minutes of exchanging fire with the Confederate forces, they were able to make a final push forward, breaching the enemy fortifications to secure a Union victory.
As Grant had hoped, the assault at Chaffin’s Farm successfully diverted 10,000 Confederate troops from Petersburg. Union forces in Petersburg did not capture the Southside Railroad that day, but they did establish an important foothold that led to the Union's success in securing the railroad at the Battle of Five Forks just a few months later in April 1865. This led to the capture of Petersburg and Richmond, and the Confederate surrender just a few days later.
Also in April 1865, the United States government formally recognized the service of twelve of the brave USCT Soldiers who fought in the Battle of New Market Heights, awarding them the Medal of Honor. Two more were awarded Medals of Honor years later, and General Butler personally funded the creation of USCT Medals for nearly 200 more.
Legacy of the Battle of New Market Heights
Debates over the result at New Market Heights began almost as soon as the battle ended. Union forces maintained that USCT Soldiers fought valiantly and proved their mettle, while Confederates reported that their forces had abandoned New Market Heights to defend a more strategic position about four miles away at Fort Harrison.
How the Charge Was Forgotten by Popular History
Historians continued to debate the truth of what occurred that foggy September morning. Was the victory overblown by General Butler in an attempt to uplift the USCT? Did the USCT only succeed because Confederate troops were diverted to Fort Harrison, or did Confederate forces retreat when it was clear they would lose to the USCT assault?
These historical debates follow a larger pattern of popular memory downplaying the efforts of the USCT from the earliest histories of the Civil War, which were undoubtedly influenced by negative sentiments toward African Americans in the post-Reconstruction era. This continued through decades of oppression and segregation.
In an article for the American Battlefield Trust, Civil War historian Edward Alexander makes it clear why a battle like this one was downplayed and willfully forgotten, explaining that
“Southern leadership had avowed that their slaves belonged to an inferior race, but at New Market Heights the United States Colored Troops proved they could provide a valuable piece in Union strategy as its forces slowly strangled the Confederate citadel into submission.”
Acknowledging this truth would have exposed the inherent hypocrisy first of slavery and then of segregation in the proudly democratic United States. The USCT only started to get the more widespread scholarly recognition and study it deserves during the Civil Rights Movement, a century later.
The downplay of the United States Colored Troops in scholarly history was mirrored in public memory. Commemorations of the Civil War started almost immediately with the construction of memorials, monuments, and national battlefield parks as early as the decades immediately following the war and continuing well into the early 1900s. However, similar public recognition and commemoration of the United States Colored Troops wasn’t seen until the 1990s, more than a century later.
The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights is, unfortunately, a perfect example of this issue. At the same time, USCT regiments charged toward the Confederate works at New Market Heights; Union forces also attacked Fort Harrison a few miles away.
Fort Harrison has been a protected historic site since 1927 and later became part of the Richmond National Battlefield Park, which was established in 1936. Despite its proximity to these sites, the land where the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights was fought was not officially protected until 2023.
A representative from the National Park Service reiterated that additional challenges have prevented the preservation of this important historical moment, such as “limited access to the battlefield, changes to the battlefield landscape, and its place within the larger Battle of Chaffin’s Farm.” In fact, as they went on,
“The area of the battlefield where the heaviest fighting took place was affected by a 20th-century quarrying operation.”
While the USCT was also involved in the fighting at Fort Harrison, it’s significant that the core site most associated with USCT valor on September 30, 1864, went unprotected for more than 160 years.
A Suitable Memorial, More Than 160 Years Later
Today, the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association (BNMHMEA) and others are working diligently to right this wrong and to ensure that more Americans learn about the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights.
"This battle is arguably the most important moment in African American military history, yet a fitting memorial is missing to remember their service and sacrifice," Tim Talbott, President and founding member of the BNMHMEA, told American Battlefield Trust.
“Few people, even in our own community, know about the battle or what happened here,” he continued.
The Capital Region Land Conservancy, the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association, the Richmond Battlefields Association, the National Park Service and the American Battlefield Trust are working together to change that.
This joint venture is constructing a 3.2-mile New Market Heights Trail following the path USCT Soldiers took during the battle, with prominent interpretive signage telling the story. A permanent monument to the USCT soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor after the battle is also being built at the site. No official timeline for construction has been released; a report from the American Battlefield Trust originally stated that the trail would open to the public in 2028.
If all goes as planned, visitors could pay their respects at the site on the 165th anniversary of the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights in 2029. A representative from the National Park Service shared that they hope visitors will leave the site with a broader understanding of the Civil War.
They explained, “We hope that visitors walk away with the understanding that the Civil War does not fit into a simple narrative. Black soldiers fought, lived, and even voted, on the front lines of the battles around Richmond. The actions of the United States Colored Troops at New Market Heights, where 14 Black soldiers received the Medal of Honor, are an important part of understanding both the Civil War and American history.”
A Fuller Picture of American History
The United States Colored Troops made up roughly 10% of the Union Army and undoubtedly had a major impact on the Civil War. However, their impact has been systemically overlooked and downplayed for more than 100 years.
Despite efforts over the last 50 years to recover this important piece of American history, most Americans still don’t know much about the USCT. If their high school history classes do cover African American service in the Union Army, it doesn’t usually go beyond discussion of the Massachusetts 54th at Fort Wagner.
While the service members who bravely fought at Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights deserve recognition, commemorating battles like this one is about more than remembering 14 Medal of Honor recipients, or even 15 regiments of United States Colored Troops. It’s about painting a fuller story of our country’s history that recognizes the contributions of all Americans.
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BY DANA CONGELOSI
Military Spouse and Contributing Writer at VeteranLife
Marine Corps Veteran
Dana is a military spouse who has spent more than five years navigating the unique rhythms of military life alongside her partner. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Anthropology from St. Lawrence University and has built her career across museums, public libraries, and recreation. Thro...
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Dana is a military spouse who has spent more than five years navigating the unique rhythms of military life alongside her partner. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Anthropology from St. Lawrence University and has built her career across museums, public libraries, and recreation. Thro...
