5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment

5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry
5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry
Active	January 9, 1864-October 31, 1865
Disbanded	October 31, 1865
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Cavalry
Size	Regiment
Engagements	American Civil War Baylor's Farm; Siege of Petersburg;

The 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry (or 5th Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored)) was a cavalry regiment from Massachusetts, that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service[edit]

The regiment was organized from January 9-May 5, 1864, at Camp Meigs, Readville. From May 12, 1864, it served dismounted and equipped as infantry until the end of war.

Detailed service[edit]

The regiment fought at Baylor's Farm during the Second Battle of Petersburg and the Siege of Petersburg.

Casualties[edit]

The regiment lost 123 enlisted men; 7 enlisted men were killed or mortally wounded, 116 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders[edit]

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)

Notable soldiers and officers[edit]

Private Prince Romerson (c. 1840–1872), a Native Hawaiian soldier from the Kingdom of Hawaii who also fought as a Buffalo Soldier.^[1]
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

Notes[edit]

^ McCunn, Ruthanne Lum (2015). "Prince Romerson". In Shively, Carol A. (ed.). Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War. Washington, D. C.: National Park Service. pp. 142–145. ISBN 978-1-59091-167-9. OCLC 904731668.

References[edit]

Cox, Christopher (2013). History of Massachusetts Civil War Regiments: Artillery, Cavalry, and Infantry. Raleigh, NC: Lulu Publishing. ISBN 978-1-304-46992-2. OCLC 897834743.
Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Vol. 1. Des Moines, IA: The Dyer Publishing Company. p. 1240. OCLC 8697590.
Massachusetts. Adjutant General's Office (1933). Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War. Vol. VI. Norwood, MA: Printed at the Norwood Press. OCLC 11485612.

External links[edit]

[1] McCunn, Ruthanne Lum (2015). "Prince Romerson". In Shively, Carol A. (ed.). Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War. Washington, D. C.: National Park Service. pp. 142–145. ISBN 978-1-59091-167-9. OCLC 904731668.

[1]