Brigadier General James Monroe Williams

The 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry (or 5th Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored)) was a cavalry regiment from Massachusetts, that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service

The regiment was organized from January 9-May 5, 1864, at Camp Meigs, Readville. From May 12, 1864, it served dismounted and equipped as infantry until the end of war.

Detailed service

The regiment fought at Baylor's Farm during the Second Battle of Petersburg and the Siege of Petersburg.

Casualties

The regiment lost 123 enlisted men; 7 enlisted men were killed or mortally wounded, 116 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

Colonel Henry S. Russell (March 7-June 14, 1864; wounded at Baylor's Farm)
Major Henry Pickering Bowditch (June 14-September 30, 1864)
Colonel Henry S. Russell (September 30, 1864 – February 14, 1865; resigned)
Colonel Charles Francis Adams, Jr. (February 14-August 1, 1865)
Colonel Samuel Chamberlain (August 1-October 31, 1865; regiment mustered out)

Notable soldiers and officers

Private Prince Romerson (c. 1840–1872), a Native Hawaiian soldier from the Kingdom of Hawaii who also fought as a Buffalo Soldier.^[1]
Joshua Dunbar, the father of renowned American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, served as a volunteer soldier in both the 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry and the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.
Corporal William R. Meadows (c. 1842-May 6, 1868), moved to Claiborne Parish, Louisiana after the war. He served as a representative to the state constitutional convention of 1868 after Louisiana was readmitted to the Union. He was murdered by unknown parties outside his home on the evening May 6, 1868. [New Orleans Republican, May 22, 1868, p. 1]
2nd Lt. Daniel Henry Chamberlain, who'd become Attorney General and eventually Governor of South Carolina.
George Lawrence Mabson, who becomes the first black lawyer in North Carolina

Notes

^ McCunn, Ruthanne Lum (2015). "Prince Romerson". In Shively, Carol A. (ed.). Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War. Washington, D. C.: National Park Service. pp. 142–145. ISBN 978-1-59091-167-9. OCLC 904731668.

References

Cox, Christopher (2013). History of Massachusetts Civil War Regiments: Artillery, Cavalry, and Infantry. Raleigh, NC: Lulu Publishing. ISBN 978-1-304-46992-2. OCLC 897834743.
Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Vol. 1. Des Moines, IA: The Dyer Publishing Company. p. 1240. OCLC 8697590.
Massachusetts. Adjutant General's Office (1933). Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War. Vol. VI. Norwood, MA: Printed at the Norwood Press. OCLC 11485612.

External links

[1] McCunn, Ruthanne Lum (2015). "Prince Romerson". In Shively, Carol A. (ed.). Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War. Washington, D. C.: National Park Service. pp. 142–145. ISBN 978-1-59091-167-9. OCLC 904731668.

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