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| Orion A. Bartholomew |
The year 2020 is, among other things, the 155th anniversary of secessionist Gen. Robert E. Lee's April 9 surrender of his Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant, commanding general of the United States, at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the U.S. Civil War.
Chariton's Col. Orion A. Bartholomew (brevetted brigadier general), then in command of the several hundred fighting men who formed the 109th Regiment of United States Colored Troops, was among the witnesses. And as the 50th anniversary of that momentous event neared in 1915, Bartholomew recalled an elaborate prank that he and his men had played during the surrender ceremonials on a secessionist general who made disparaging remarks about black troops.
Their target was secessionist Gen. Henry A. Wise, who had been serving as governor of Virginia during 1860 when abolitionist John Brown was executed for his lead role in the raid at Harpers Ferry.
Approximately 180,000 black troops fought as part of the Union army during that war and Col. Bartholomew, still in his 20's at the time, had organized four regiments, including his own battle command, the 109th, the first black regiment organized in Kentucky, assigned to the Army of the Potomac during the Battle of Appomattox Court House.
An estimated four-five thousand black troops forming six regiments were boots on the ground during the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse, including the 109th --- part of a force described by one Union staff officer as "a regular checker-board" of black and white. Although their units were segregated and they were commanded by white officers, these "colored" troops were combatants vital to the Union cause.
Here's the story as Col. Bartholomew told it to the editor of The Chariton Leader, who published the account in his edition of March 15, 1915:
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Col. O. A. Bartholomew, who is here at his old home (in Chariton) from Minneapolis, grew reminiscent yesterday, in conversation, and after inquiring whether there would be a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the surrender of Gen. R.E. Lee and the Confederate army at Appomattox, said:
"I can hardly realize that it has been 50 years since the surrender. So far as I know, Capt. (James H.) McFarland and myself are the only ones at present in Chariton that were at the famous courthouse at the time.
"I was colonel of the finest regiment of colored troops in the army and they made a fine appearance and were under perfect discipline. Some distinguished person had made a slighting remark about the colored troops whom I found out to be Gov. Wise, of Virginia. You will remember he was the governor who executed John Brown, of Osawatomie Creek, for his exploit at Harper's Ferry.
"I marshaled my regiment in front of the place he was stationed and gave the signal. Every man in the regiment was a vocalist and they paraded in front of the governor singing:
"Old John Brown's body lies mouldering in the tomb,
but his soul goes marching on."
Continuing, the Colonel said:
"In spite of prejudice the colored men made good soldiers. My regiment was composed of big portly fellows and never shrank at command. Few of them could read or write when enlisted, but there was not a man among them who could not when discharged. Every company had its teacher.
"After the battle, here was the biggest open grave in the annals of the war. This regiment dug the trench and laid hundreds of the fallen side by side -- the blue and the grey --- and they lay unmarked and unknown."
Col. Bartholomew was brevetted a brigadier general for meritorious service in the field.
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I'll have more to say about Col. Bartholomew another time, but it's enough now to note that from 1871 until early in the 20th century he was one of Lucas County's most prominent attorneys as well as a large-scale farmer. He's not widely remembered now in part because he and wife, Mary, moved to Minneapolis --- where three of their sons had settled --- during the fall of 1914. He died there during September of 1919 at the age of 82 and was buried in Lakewood Cemetery.
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