Barnes, William Henry

Source:

 African American National Biography

Barnes, William Henry

(c.1845–24 Dec. 1866),

Civil War soldier and Medal of Honor recipient, was born in Saint Mary's County, Maryland. He was likely enslaved for most or perhaps all of his life prior to his military service. The 1860 Federal Census Slave Schedules for Saint Mary's County indicate that one J. A. Barnes owned eight slaves aged four to thirty, one of them a fourteen-year-old boy who was probably William Henry Barnes. How he came to join the Union Army is unknown; Barnes may have been freed prior to the war, or he may have run away from his master to seek military service. Whatever the circumstance, Barnes enlisted in the 38th U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) regiment at Norfolk, Virginia, on 11 February 1864, stating his age as twenty-three and his occupation as that of a farmer.

The 38th USCT spent its first months after its formation stationed in the area of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, where its men gained valuable training experience while performing garrison duty. In June 1864, Barnes and the men of the 38th were sent to the front during the siege of Petersburg and Richmond. There, in the months that followed, many black soldiers, among them Barnes, Edward Ratcliff, and James Harris, would earn their country's highest decoration for bravery.

By 1864, the style of battle in the Civil War had evolved into a different kind of fighting; gone were the pitched battles such as those that had occurred early in the war at Bull Run and Gettysburg. Now, it was a war of attrition, and the Confederacy was hanging on for dear life. Especially around the capital city of Richmond, Virginia, elaborate trenches and fortifications were built to keep the Union Army at bay. However, General Ulysses Grant was prepared to win at all costs; his army had enough manpower to sustain heavy losses, while the Confederate Army did not. Among the troops available to Grant late in the war were the soldiers of the U.S. Colored Troop regiments, consisting of free blacks and former slaves. Indeed, by the war's end, nearly 179,000 free blacks and former slaves had served in USCT regiments and eventually constituted 10 percent of the Union Army's manpower and suffered over 1,700 casualties.

Late September 1864 found William Barnes and the men of the 38th USCT stationed near New Market Heights, just south of Richmond on the James River. As the southern anchor in the Confederate chain of fortifications surrounding Richmond, New Market Heights was a keystone in the Confederate defense. The Battle of New Market Heights was to be a two-pronged assault against Confederate forts on both sides of the James River. The northern attack was carried out by General Edward Ord's XVIII Corps, including Barnes and the men of the 38th. The attack began on the morning of 29 September 1864 and would prove to be the Union's only success in a battle that lasted two days and cost five thousand casualties. Despite heavy fire and fierce hand-to-hand combat, black troops led the way when their officers were shot down and overwhelmed the Confederates at Fort Harrison, the only fort to be captured of the four that were the Union's objectives in the battle. Among the first men to enter the enemy works was a wounded William Barnes.

While the Battle of New Market Heights was but a minor victory that has been largely forgotten, the actions of the USCT men were both heroic and groundbreaking; as a result of their outstanding valor, thirteen African American soldiers, including Private William Barnes, were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions.

Less than a year after the battle, on 1 July 1865, Barnes was promoted to sergeant and continued to serve in the army after the end of hostilities. Later stationed in Texas, William H. Barnes subsequently died of consumption at the army hospital in Indianola, Texas. He is buried at the San Antonio National Cemetery.

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