By Jim Beaugez

Under cover of darkness during the early hours of June 7, 1863, an army of 1,500 Confederate troops approached Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, a key supply depot for General Ulysses S. Grant’s Union troops during his Vicksburg campaign.

The Confederates took fire as they stormed the Union line, which sat atop a levee and offered soldiers only meager cover behind hay bales. But the fighting quickly turned into even closer combat as the Union soldiers struggled to reload, finally resorting to attacking the surging Confederates with bayonets affixed to the business ends of their weapons.

Had the attacking army caught sight of the men they fought by the moonlight or in flashes of gunfire, they may have been surprised to find themselves in hand-to-hand combat with Black soldiers, newly recruited from nearby plantations. Hundreds of formerly enslaved men — organized as four Louisiana regiments and the 1st Mississippi Infantry (African Descent) — helped thwart the attack and preserve the Union position by defeating an army of men who, until just a few months earlier, could have legally owned them. 

The Battle of Milliken’s Bend, fought 16 miles northwest of Vicksburg, occurred barely two weeks after the U.S. War Department created the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) with General Order 143, and the skirmish marked one of the first appearances of African American soldiers in action. Now, researchers are helping fill in the gaps of history with information on the soldiers’ roles in the siege and occupation of Vicksburg.

“From its inception, the Vicksburg National Military Park was designed to promote the white soldiers who fought during the siege, ignoring the soldiers who were here in occupation, who were the USCT,” said Dr. Beth Kruse, who is compiling information as part of a fellowship through the Mellon Foundation. “I’m finding stories of the African American experience, from Civil War to Reconstruction, because it was essentially left out.”

In an effort to present an inclusive history of Vicksburg for the city’s 2025 bicentennial, Vicksburg Voices — an initiative by Shape Up Mississippi in partnership with the City of Vicksburg and part of a storytelling cohort designed for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize alumni — is helping ensure the findings of Kruse and others become part of the permanent record.

Despite being freed by the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, the upstart regiments of the USCT were often ill-equipped and hastily trained when compared to their white counterparts. At Milliken’s Bend, that disparity resulted in one company, the 9th Louisiana Regiment (African Decent), losing 45% of its soldiers — the highest proportion of loss for any unit in one fight during the entire war. 

“I never more wish to hear the expression ‘the negro won’t fight,’” said a Union captain after the battle, according to National Park Service literature. “Come with me 100 yards from where I sit, and I can show you the wounds that cover the bodies of 16 brave, loyal and patriotic soldiers as ever drew a bead on a rebel.”

One of the more fortunate men that day was Pvt. John Bass, a soldier with the 11th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent), later renamed the 49th Regiment of the USCT, a battle survivor who stood five-foot, three-inches tall. Melvin Collier of Alexandria, Virginia, Bass’s great-great-grandson, uncovered that detail and others about his ancestor by combing through court records, census records and marriage records across multiple states.

“One of the records I found was his Freedman’s [Savings] Bank application that he filled out in 1871 in Vicksburg, and he gave some very good information, such as his father’s name, his mother’s name and siblings,” Collier said. 

More illuminating to Collier, though, is that Bass signed his own name on the document. 

“That was remarkable, because it was illegal to educate enslaved people. I’m sitting there like, ‘Wow, he had an education. He could read and write, because he signed his own name.’”

Collier came across Bass while researching his great-grandmother, who was Bass’s daughter. Through additional work, he learned Bass, his mother and four siblings were enslaved in Northampton County, North Carolina, and later were sent to Hinds County, Mississippi as inherited property transferred from Council Bass to his daughter Elizabeth, who lived in Jackson. Collier found that information in probate files located in Raleigh, North Carolina.

He finally connected Bass to Vicksburg after locating a bounty application he filled out to claim his wages. 

“It fit all of the details I had already found out about him — that’s when I confirmed that he had fought with the 49th Regiment of the USCT. I was just blown away.”

Milliken’s Bend wasn’t the end of the USCT’s involvement in the Vicksburg campaign. Various regiments of the force also fought upriver at the Battle of Lake Providence on June 9 and served downriver in the Siege of Port Hudson, which lasted 48 days, ending five days after Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton surrendered in Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.

However, as Kruse points out, Vicksburg’s troubles didn’t end so swiftly, and neither did the duties entrusted to USCT regiments. The siege turned into an occupation by Union forces, bolstered by 5,000 USCT enlistees who manned security posts and patrolled the city streets until federal forces left in 1877. During this time, the Freedman’s Bureau worked to feed, clothe and educate formerly enslaved men and women while white citizens were required to pledge their loyalty to the U.S., lest they face arrest or banishment. By the end of the occupation, Bass had been promoted all the way to corporal.

Kruse is now on the trail of Black women who served during the campaign. 

“I found the names of 40 women who were actually enlisted in the military briefly in the fall of 1863 to do laundry and cook and [work] as nurses,” she said. “And I argue these will be the first African American women who are part of the United States Regular Army. They’re quickly pushed out into another category, but I actually do have muster cards for African American women.”

As Vicksburg marks its bicentennial, much has changed in the lives of its citizens and the landscape in which these battles were fought. The promise of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation has long since been achieved and the USCT absorbed into the broader U.S. armed forces. Meanwhile, although the site of Milliken’s Bend is now covered by the main channel of the Mississippi River, the work of uncovering and sharing the stories of these men and women continues. 

Collier, for his part, hasn’t been to the Vicksburg National Military Park in three decades. Back then, he doesn’t recall knowing about Black men or women fighting in the war. 

“I think just going through the park and realizing this war aided in the freedom of African Americans was the most significant part,” he said. “But now, when I do go back there, I’m going to have a whole different perspective. One of my own ancestors fought in the Civil War on those grounds right there. It’s going to be a much more meaningful visit.”

Bringing Untold Stories to Life

As part of its participation in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize storytelling cohort, Vicksburg Voices is committed to reclaiming underrepresented narratives and fostering a deeper understanding of our community’s history. Led by Shape Up Mississippi in partnership with the City of Vicksburg, this initiative highlights the power of storytelling to connect the past with the present while inspiring a stronger, healthier future.

A storytelling event, part of the “Untold Stories” theme, will take place on Saturday, February 8, at the Catfish Row Museum. This event will explore the remarkable contributions of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) during the Siege of Vicksburg and beyond, while also inviting the community to share their own family stories connected to resilience and history.

With presentations from storyteller and filmmaker Dr. Wilma E. Mosley Clopton, historian Dr. Beth Kruse, and investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell, the workshop will illuminate the stories that define Vicksburg’s legacy. An interactive session will allow attendees to contribute to the “Legacy of Service” digital timeline, preserving their narratives for future generations.

This event is a powerful opportunity to honor Vicksburg’s bicentennial and highlight the shared mission of storytelling as a bridge to the future. Don’t miss this chance to be part of our community’s evolving story. 

Untold Stories: Vicksburg Voices Storytelling Event

Date: Sat., February 8
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Catfish Row Museum, Vicksburg