The 29th Connecticut Colored Regiment was gotten up by Colonel Pardee, and encampted at Grape Vine Point, New Haven, Connecticut. The recruiting was commenced in August, 1863. The inducements held out to men to join this Regiment were these: they were to receive a bounty of $310 from the State, $75 from the County from which they enlisted, and $300 from the United States. The $310 from the State we received, the other bounties we did not receive.
There were several men who took an active part in recruiting for this Regiment, among them Lieutenant Brown of New York, to whom great credit is due. There were others, both colored and white, who did very much towards filling up the Regiment. Sergeant Archie Howard, Orderly of Company C, recruited more men than any other excepting Lieut. Brown, but I am sorry to say, that after all he did the parties failed to pay him according to promise, and he was ordered to his Regiment without receiving a just compensation for his labors.
The first of January, 1864, the 29th Regiment was filled up. The writer of this narrative was in the last squad of men that enlisted for this Regiment, and out of the forty men I was the only one that was admitted into the 29th, the balance of the recruits being put into the 30th Regiment, that was then recruiting in the same camp. We remained at New Haven until the 8th of March, and nothing of interest happened up to that date, when we received orders from Colonel Pardee's Headquarters, stating that the 29th Regiment was to move to Annapolis, Maryland.
March 8, 1864. We broke camp to leave New Haven for Annapolis, Md. At 10 o'clock the whole Regiment was drawn up on the old parade ground, with their knapsacks, to receive the flag, Col. W.B. Wooster in command. The flag was presented by the Rev. Dr. Mott. On account of the Regiment not receiving the $75 which was promised them at their enlistment, they made no response to the presentation, and the Colonel gave them no command to do so. The order was given to "forward, march," and the Regiment paraded through the principal street of New Haven; at 2 o'clock it halted in the public square, where we were visited by our friends, also by some of the first families in the city. After resting two hours, the word was given "attention," and every Company was brought into line, and at the command "forward, march," the Regiment moved down Chapel street to State st., and then to the long wharf, where it halted and awaited the near approach of the transport, that was still out in the stream. At 5 o'clock the troops commenced embarking, Company A taking the lead, and at half past 6 o'clock all were on board, excepting a few, with the writer of this journal, who were detailed for duty at the Regiment's previous headquarters. On my way from the long wharf I met the crowd of citizens that was not permitted to go to the wharf with the Regiment. Never did my ears hear, or my eyes perceive, or my heart feel the strong yearnings of nature as they did at that moment; mothers weeping for their sons, and wives for their husbands, and sisters for their brothers, and friends for their friends, that were then on their way to the scene of conflict. White and colored ladies and gentlemen grasped me by the hand, with tears streaming down their cheeks, and bid me good bye, expressing the hope that we might have a safe return. My heart felt the sobbing impulse for the first time, and although I had no mother, no wife, and no sisters there to greet me, yet strangers ministered unto me, and never shall I forget their kind attentions to me. At 8 o'clock in the evening I went on board the transport, and received an introduction to Col. Wooster as Regimental Orderly Hill. The Colonel met me very kindly, and put his state-room, which was letter K, into my care.
