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17-05-03

17-05-90 … Artillery officers effects of Captain Thomas Hart Benton Correll, 1st US Colored Heavy Artillery, late 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry… I have owned many sets of officers material over the years, but not many sets related to the US Colored Troops. They were a somewhat special group. When it was decided to enlist black troops in the Union Army, the government gave them one benefit denied to volunteers early in the war: experienced officers. Notices went out to soldiers already in service inviting applications for commissions in the USCT. But it took a strong character to apply. Not only the troops themselves, but their white officers, were liable to be considered by Confederates part of a servile insurrection and if captured denied quarter, as more than a few were. Thomas H.B. Correll, serving in the 104th Ohio, was one of those who nevertheless applied and was selected for commission. Given Confederate hostility toward black troops and their officers, he must have been dedicated to the cause! Correll was 21 years old when he enlisted on 8/5/62 and mustered as a Corporal on 8/30/62 in Company B, 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, organized at Camp Massillon, Ohio, in Fall, 1862, to serve three years. During the period that Correll served in the unit they were stationed in Kentucky, seeing some action right off the bat at Fort Mitchell near Covington in September, 1862. For the remainder of the year and into the following Spring they remained in the state with other units to counter Confederate influence and keep it in the Union. A cursory search shows that Correll published a letter in the Bucyrus (Ohio) Journal, 5/1/63 datelined Crab Orchard, Kentucky, that might reveal more about his experiences, though we havent had time to obtain a copy. In summer, 1863, the regiment moved out to join Burnsides forces in Tennessee and participated in the siege of Knoxville where they lost one man killed and several wounded. The regiment remained in the Knoxville area afterward and Correll was detached for duty with the Quartermaster Department 10/1/63 until Spring, 1864, when he decided to apply for a commission in one of the new black regiments being raised. He was successful and was discharged 3/23/64 to accept a promotion to Captain dated the same day in the 1st US Colored Heavy Artillery which was organizing in Knoxville. Correll was given command of Company D and remained with them for a year and a half, until his resignation 9/30/65. During this period they engaged in operations against Wheelers cavalry in August, 1864, and in various operations and expeditions from January to April, 1865, in northern Alabama, east Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and western North Carolina. Correll preserved his officers frock coat, trousers, vest, sash, epaulets with their case and one shoulder strap. The frock is a standard line officers nine button coat with just one eagle-A button missing from each cuff and one off the back. It is in good solid condition with a couple of small moth nips near the cuffs and a couple on the body that have been closed up with a couple of stitches of thread. The lining is good, with just the expected signs of actual wear and use. As always the interior silk is a light green color. The vest is dark blue, in very good condition, with a roll-over collar and six of its nine small eagle-I buttons in place, (this vest being a carry over from his service in the infantry), three-pocket front, and its sizing belt and buckle present on the reverse. Corrells dark blue trousers show the correct red piping on the seam for an officer of artillery, and have the absolutely correct belt tightener for officers trousers, horizontal pocket flaps and buttons for suspenders. As with the coat, there are just minor signs of real wear: a little abrasion along the piping and some mothing at the waistband above the right pocket. The red piping on the outside of each leg shows that for some reason the moths liked to nip at that red cloth but not the blue wool. Corrells sash is the regulation officers sash with knots and tassels, maroon in color, with some minor fading along the top of the tassels. The epaulet case has some dings and dents, but the epaulets are nice: gold bullion with standard line officers fringe. There are no regimental or rank insignia on them, but he did keep one of his captains shoulder straps. This is a really nice looking set from an officer with some wide-ranging service and is a good example of a typical line officers uniform from the Civil War that looks great on display. It is also a reminder of the dramatic and complex social changes going on: the recruitment of black regiments to fight, and the appointment of white officers to command them. In this day and age finding a complete uniform is a rare event and this one I obtained from a man who was given the uniform when he was a boy in the 1960s by his neighbors (Corrells family) because the youngster liked army stuff. He kept the set four decades and sold it to me. Priced extremely fairly to you at $7,950.00

17-05-03

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