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2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment

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2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment
83rd US Colored Infantry Regiment
ActiveAugust 11, 1863 – October 9, 1865
CountryUnited States
AllegianceUnion
BranchInfantry
Engagements

The 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Initially assigned to garrison duties, the regiment fought in several battles of the 1864 Camden Expedition in Arkansas. The regiment was renamed the 83rd US Colored Infantry Regiment in December, 1864, and was mustered out of service in October, 1865.

Service

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The 2nd Kansas Infantry (Colored) was organized at Fort Scott, Kansas, and mustered in for three years. It mustered in by individual companies beginning in August 1863 at Fort Scott and completed muster-in at Fort Smith, Arkansas, on November 1, 1863, under the command of Colonel Samuel Johnson Crawford.[1]

The regiment was attached to District of the Frontier, Department of Missouri, to January 1864. Unattached, District of the Frontier, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to March 1864. 2nd Brigade, District of the Frontier, VII Corps, to December 1864.[2]

Detailed service

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Action at Baxter Springs, Kansas, October 6, 1863 (Company A). Moved from Fort Scott, Kansas, to Fort Smith, Arkansas, October 19, 1863, as escort to train. Duty at Fort Smith until March 1864. Steele's Expedition to Camden March 23-April 30. Prairie D'Ann April 9–13. Jenkins' Ferry April 30, and May 4 and 8. Return to Fort Smith and duty there until December.[2]

The regiment played a prominent role in the April 1864 Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, charging and capturing a Confederate artillery battery. Soldiers of the 2nd Kansas were reported to have executed Confederate prisoners after the battle, in retribution for similar murders of Black troops by Southerners at the Battle of Poison Spring a few weeks prior.[3]

Casualties

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The regiment lost at least 71 men during service; one officer and 70 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded. The numbers are incomplete because the regiment's records were lost after the action at Jenkins' Ferry.[citation needed] 211 men of the regiment died from disease during the war.[2]

Commanders

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Commanding officers of the 2nd Kansas/83rd Colored Infantry:[1]

  • Colonel Samuel Johnson Crawford, resigned November 1864.
  • Lieutenant Colonel J. Howard Gillpatrick, awarded brevet brigadier general, October 1865.
  • Lieutenant Colonel Horatio Knowles, resigned May 1864.

Notable members

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See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 Official Army Register of the Volunteer Force of the United States Army for the Years 1861, '62, '63, '64, '65. Part VIII: Territories of Washington, New Mexico, Nebraska, Colorado, Dakota, Veteran Reserve Corps, U.S. Veteran Volunteers (First Army Corps) U.S Volunteers, U.S. Colored Troops. Washington, D.C.: Adjutant General's Office. 1867. p. 262. OCLC 686779.
  2. 1 2 3 "83rd Regiment, United States Colored Infantry -- New Organization (2nd Regiment, Kansas Colored Infantry)". National Park Service. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  3. ↑ Dobak, William A. (2011). Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops 1862-1867. Center of Military History, US Army. p. 244. ISBN 978-1-5107-2022-0.
  4. ↑ "Rush County, Kansas - Kansas Historical Society".
  • Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
  • Official Military History of Kansas Regiments During the War for the Suppression of the Great Rebellion (Leavenworth: W. S. Burke), 1870.
Attribution
  • Public Domain This article contains text from a text now in the public domain: Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Co.
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