“Dont give up my Son”

Abstract

Chapter 3 discusses how Benjamin became an officer in a Black regiment while he was serving in Kentucky. Motivated by his desire to advance his military career and to fulfill his family’s abolitionist beliefs, Benjamin used his contact with a family friend, Chaplain Benjamin F. Crary, Superintendent of Contrabands at Columbus, to secure a lieutenant’s position in the 2nd Tennessee Colored Heavy Artillery. Although he firmly believed slavery had corrupted the African American’s character, he also believed that the Union Army could be used as a vehicle to raise male African Americans to manhood and self-reliance. But governed by essentially racist attitudes, Benjamin had great difficulty training his men and he found his first major tour of duty as a recruitment officer at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, very challenging. Plagued by bouts of fever and demands from his parents to find an African American servant for his recently widowed sister, Margaret, Benjamin fell into fits of depression. The fact that he was so ethnically prejudiced that he had difficulty serving with the increasing number of officers of Hungarian descent who were joining his regiment compounded his parent’s concern for his welfare.