5th Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored)

HISTORICAL NOTES:
The 5th Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored) was organized at Camp Meigs, Readville. 1st Battalion moved to Washington, D. C., May 5-8, 1864. At Camp Stoneman, Giesboro Point, Md., May 8-12.

The Regiment lost during service 7 Enlisted men killed and 116 Enlisted men by disease. Total 123. OFFICERS:

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)

ASSIGNMENTS:
Dismounted and moved to Camp Casey, near Fort Albany, May 12. 2nd Battalion moved to Washington May 6-8, and to Camp Casey May 9. 3rd Battalion moved to Washington May 8-10, and to Camp Casey May 11. Regiment moved to Fortress Monroe, Va., thence to City Point, Va., May 13-16. Attached to Rand's Provisional Brigade, 18th Army Corps, Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, May, 1864. Hinks' Colored Division, 18th Army Corps, to June, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 18th Army Corps, to July, 1864. Point Lookout, Md., District of St. Mary's, 22nd Army Corps, to March, 1865. Unattached, 25th Army Corps, Dept. of Virginia, to June, 1865. Dept. of Texas to October, 1865. SERVICE:
Duty at City Point, Va., as Infantry till June 16, 1864. Before Petersburg June 16-19. Siege of Petersburg June 16-28. Moved to Point Lookout, Md., June 30, and duty there guarding prisoners till March, 1865. Ordered to the field and duty near Richmond, March; near Petersburg, April; near City Point, May, and at Camp Lincoln till June 16. Ordered to Texas and duty at Clarksville till October. Mustered out October 31, 1865. ROSTERS:
The composite roster of this regiment contains the names of 1517 men.

Company A — Captain, Albert R. Howe of Boston; first lieutenant, Andrew Chapman; second lieutenant, Henry S. Hinckley of Northampton.

Company B — Captain, Charles C. Parsons of Cambridge; first lieutenant, Charles E. Allan of Louisville, Ky.; second lieutenant, Charles P. Wheeler of Concord.

Company C — Captain, Cyrus E. Emery of Roxbury; first lieutenant, John Anderson of San Francisco; second lieutenant, George B. Farnsworth of Roxbury.

Company D — Captain, Horace B. Welch of San Francisco; first lieutenant, Jacob B. Cook; second lieutenant, Robert M. Higginson, both of Boston.

Company E — Captain, Charles P. Bowditch of Boston; first lieutenant, Edward H. Adams; second lieutenant, George A. Fisher of Cambridge.

Company F — Captain, Francis L. Higginson of Boston; first lieutenant, Abner F. Mallory; second lieutenant. Carter W. Whittemore of Boston.

Company G — Captain, Hiram E. W. Clark of New Salem; first lieutenant, Edgar M. Blanch of Pennsylvania; second lieutenant, Rienzi Loud.

Company H — First lieutenant, J. Davenport Fisher of Boston; second lieutenant, George A. Kogers of Roxbury.

Company I — Captain, Peter J. Rooney; first lieutenant, Patrick T. Jackson; second lieutenant, John G. S. White, all of Boston.

Company K — Captain, Erik Wulff of Boston ; first lieutenant, George D. Odell; second lieutenant, Abram 0. Swain of Boston.

Company L — Captain, James L. Wheat of Roxbury; first lieutenant, Francis L. Gil man of New Bedford; second lieutenant, Curt Gurdsdorff of San Francisco.

Company M — Captain, Cornelius Kaler of Bradford; first lieutenant, George F. Wilson; second lieutenant, Robert M. Parker, both of San Francisco.

Private Prince Romerson (c. 1840–1872), a Native Hawaiian soldier from the Kingdom of Hawaii who also fought as a Buffalo Soldier.

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

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REFERENCES:

Dyer, Frederick H. - A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion