At war’s end, U.S. Colored Troops were sent to Brazos Santiago, Texas before their final muster out. Brazos is on that part of the Rio Grande that empties into the Gulf of Mexico. They were to intervene if Mexico came to the aid of the Confederates and work as laborers on the railroad.
This article reports that members of the 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry “made threats at City Point that they would not be ‘sent to Texas,’ ‘that the government had to right to send them there.'”
The ‘mutiny’ occurred as the Whildin carried troops from City Point to the ocean transport Meteor which would sail to Brazos Santiago. The troops told the officers they wouldn’t board the Meteor. The officers insisted and three companies boarded the Meteor but the fourth company refused to obey orders. Those on the Whildin loaded their carbines; others drew their sabres. Both vessels steamed to Baltimore.
Upon arrival a small command boarded the Whildin and proceeded to the Meteor while “on board the Whildin the same time the most insubordinate company.” As the Whildin approached the Meteor, members of the 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry threatened to shoot. The senior officer from Baltmore ordered the Whildin to return to the wharf and “formed [his men] along the wharf with their muskets loaded and bayonets fixed.” The Whildin returned to the Meteor and transported the ‘mutineers’ in groups of twos and threes back to the wharf where they laid down their arms and were marched to the fort.
At 9pm, four more companies of the 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry arrived at the wharf in City Point. They were disarmed, transported to the Meteor, and eventually arrived in Texas.
This newspaper is online at the Library of Virginia’s Virginia Chronicle, “a historical archive of Virginia newspapers, providing free access to full text searching and digitized images of over a million newspaper pages.” ( virginiachronicle.com )
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1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 