he muster-in
of recruiting officers with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, and by procuring
supplies from the Ordnance Quartermaster and Commissary departments,
and by establishing in the vicinity of Leavenworth a camp of rendezvous
and instruction.

"Capt. H. C. Seaman was about the same time commissioned with like
authority for that portion of Kansas lying south of the Kansas river.
The work of recruiting went forward with rapidity, the intelligent
portion of the colored people entering into the work heartily, and
evincing by their actions a willing readiness to link their future and
share the perils with their white brethren in the war of the rebellion,
which then waged with such violence as to seriously threaten the
nationality and life of the Republic.

"Within sixty days five hundred men were recruited and placed in camp,
and a request made that a battallion be mustered into the United States
service. This request was not complied with, and the reasons assigned
were wholly unsatisfactory, yet accompanied with assurances of such a
nature as to warrant the belief that but a short time would elapse ere
the request would be complied with.

"In the meantime complications with the civil authorities in the
Northern District had arisen, which at one time threatened serious
results. These complications originated from the following causes, each
affecting different classes:

"1st.--An active sympathy with the rebellion.

"2nd.--An intolerant prejudice against the colored race, which would
deny them the honorable position in society which every soldier is
entitled to, even though he gained that position at the risk of his life
in the cause of the nation, which could ill afford to refuse genuine
sympathy and support from any quarter.

"3rd.--On the part of a few genuine loyalists who believed that this
attempt to enlist colored men would not be approved by the War
Department, and that the true interests of the colored man demanded that
their time should not be vainly spent in the effort.

"4th.--A large class who believed that the negro did not possess the
necessary qualifications to make efficient soldiers, and that
consequently the experiment would result in defeat, disaster and
disgrace.

"Col. Williams, acting under the orders of his military superiors felt
that it was no part of his duty to take council of any or all of these
classes. He saw no course for him to pursue but to follow his
instructions to the letter. C