Company K: Native Americans from Michigan...

5fish

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Well @Leftyhunter and @diane may want to know this unless you already do...


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Company K was made up of 139 enlisted Anishnaabe men and one officer from the lower and upper peninsulas. The company tried to muster at the beginning of the Civil War and were denied, Hemenway said.

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But by 1863, as the Union forces suffered mounting losses, the Army reversed its stance and decided to allow native peoples to enter the armed forces. The Anishnaabe in the First Michigan Sharpshooters were much better marksmen than their white comrades and used unconventional tactics for the era learned from their ancestors, Ostrander said


Here is this...


Company K[edit]
Of note, Company K was composed primarily of Native Americans of the United States, especially members of the Ojibwa, Odawa, and Potawatomi nations. In their first action at Although some members were armed with repeaters and breech-loaders, and despite Colonel Deland's attempts to requisition 700 Henrys for the regiment, the majority remained armed with Springfield Model 1861 rifled muskets.[3] The unit distinguished itself in its skirmishing ability, infiltration ability, and marksmanship.

The regiment was highly trained in its combat skills, and the First Nations men in Company K were recognized as the most accomplished.[4] In their first combat at The Wilderness,

They, on the very first day at the front, caught on to the great advantage our enemy employed over us in the color of uniform. Ours was blue, and could be seen at a long distance; while the "Johnny" (as we called them) could not be spotted at a comparatively short distance, even when lying in an open field.
This disadvantage to us was appreciated almost immediately that these Indians got in the field, and they would go out and find a dry spot of earth and roll in it until their uniform was the complete color of the ground before going out on the skirmish line;
and if the day was wet, they would not hesitate to take mud and rub it over their clothes, for as soon as this dried a little they would have what they were after—the color of the earth. This custom was adopted by my whole Regiment; and it was often remarked that our Regiment could do the closest skirmishing at the least cost of any Regiment in the Division.
Sgt. Thomas Ke-chi-ti-go, called "Big Tom" by the white Sharpshooters, further "ordered each brave to cover his breast and head with twigs and leaves to prevent contrast of color with their surroundings.[5]
Through its service, the regiment was esteemed for its solid, dependable, and effective conduct. It provided valuable sniping, counter-sniping, and harassment fire during the Siege of Petersburg. It was noted for its "splendid work" in the debacle of the Battle of the Crater on 30 July 1864. Many other Union soldiers noticed mortally wounded Native American members of Company K, "... drawing their blouses over their faces, they chanted a death song and died — four of them a group.[6]
 

5fish

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Here is a story about this Native American company at the Battle of the Crater... It tells the story of the creation as well as the battle...


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Lieutenant Freeman S. Bowley was fighting for his life in the man-made hellhole that was the Petersburg Crater when he noticed that the former slaves in his company of the 30th United States Colored Troops were not the only men of color wearing Union blue and dodging Confederate Minié balls on the stifling hot morning of July 30, 1864. “Among our troops was a company of Indians, belonging to the 1st Michigan S.S. [Sharpshooters],” recalled Bowley many years later. “They did splendid work, crawling to the very top of the bank, and rising up, they would take a quick and fatal aim, then drop quickly down again.”

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A similar oration given by Ottawa Chief Paw-baw-me on July 4, 1863, at the reservation in Oceana County caused 25 men to join the colors. Almost the entire tribe turned out to see them depart by steamer from the dock at Pentwater for mustering at Detroit. Among them was 23-year-old Antoine Scott, who was to be recommended for the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Crater. More recruits came from Bear River, Little Traverse, Charlevoix and La Croix. Some Ottawa-Ojibwas came from the Isabella Reservation on the Lower Peninsula near Saginaw. One of the first to sign up was Thomas Ke-chi-ti-go, a tall, muscular man known as “Big Tom.” He had been refused enlistment in 1861 but became a sergeant in Company K
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Nevertheless, Raymond Herek, the regiment’s modern-day historian, has pieced together an account of their last moments in the Crater. “Some of the Sharpshooters,” Herek wrote, “among them Pvts. Sidney Haight, Antoine Scott, and Charles Thatcher, covered the retreat as best they could before they pulled out. Scott (Co. K) was one of the last to leave the fort….Thatcher, Haight, Scott and [Charles H.] DePuy all were cited for the Medal of Honor for their exploits that day.” Thatcher, Haight and DePuy, all white, received their medals in 1896. Scott, the Pentwater Chippewa, died in 1878—probably never knowing that his exceptional bravery had been recognized.

There more but you will have to read the link....
 
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