Every white commissioned officer in the 4th United States Colored Troops recommends the unit’s Sgt. Major Christian Fleetwood (1840-1914) as the army’s first commissioned Black field officer in 1865. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton turns down the request.
Fleetwood is born free in Baltimore and raised to read and write by a white family. He is well educated and spends time in Liberia. He establishes the first newspaper, “The Lyceum Observer,” operated by a Black in the upper South.
In 1863, he enlists in the 4th U.S.C.T. and immediately becomes the regiment’s Sgt. Major. On September 29th, 1864, at the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm near Richmond, he carries the U.S. colors through the fight after others are wounded, rallying the troops after the failed assault. He and two others are awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery.
In 1881, he becomes an officer in the Washington Colored National Guard. He is recommended for command of the 50th U.S. Colored Volunteers in the Spanish American War, but the request and the unit are ignored by the federal government.
