DATE: Wednesday, November 19, 1997          TAG: 9711190004

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B11  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion 

SOURCE: Glenn Allen Scott 

                                            LENGTH:   80 lines

FORT POCAHONTAS: AN EDUCATIONAL SURPRISE FOR BLACK HISTORYTHANKS TO THE MOVIE "GLORY," MILLIONS KNOW THAT BLACKS AS WELL AS WHITES TOOK UP ARMS IN AMERICA'S BLOODIEST WAR.

By July 30, 1863, 30 federalized regiments of blacks were enrolled in the Union Army's fight against the Confederacy.

When Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered what was left of his Army of Northern Virginia to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, black soldiers of the Union had, says The Chronological History of the Negro in America, by Peter Bergman, ``participated in 449 engagements of which 39 were major battles.''

According to The Chronological History: ``Most Negroes served in the infantry, some in the cavalry, and engineer units, and in batteries of light and heavy artillery.''

By buying and opening to the public little-known Fort Pocahontas in Charles City County, Harrison Tyler, a descendant of President John Tyler, has thrust into the limelight one of the Civil War clashes involving black soldiers. Fort Pocahontas is off Route 5 between Williamsburg and Richmond. A plaque explaining the significance of the fort was unveiled last week.

Thanks to the movie ``Glory,'' depicting a battle in South Carolina between U.S. Colored Troops and Confederates, millions know that blacks as well as whites took up arms in America's bloodiest war.

The extent of blacks' participation in that conflict is still largely unknown. My own scant knowledge comes from reference books in The Virginian-Pilot editorial office.

For example, from The Dictionary of American History, which says:

``At the outbreak of the Civil War free Negroes promptly sought service in both armies. In the North, at first there was reluctance, even hostility, to employing Negroes as soldiers. . . . In New York . . . feeling toward Negro enlistments was unfriendly and was a factor in the Draft Riots. . . .

``Every state in the Union, and those in secession, furnished Negro soldiers, the total enrolled approximating 300,000. Usually, these troops were used for garrison duty, guarding lines of communications and trains, etc. . . Richmond.''

The Chronological History adds:

``The Confederacy used Negroes as teamsters, hospital attendants, railroad bridge and road repairmen, and in arms factories, in the iron mines and for building and repairing defenses. . . . Individual Confederate states were recruiting free Negroes.''

Now many Virginians - I among them - and many other people beyond Virginia have learned that, on May 24, 1864, 1,100 former slaves, commanded by Union Gen. Edward A. Wild, beat back attacks by 2,500 Confederates on Fort Pocahontas, a strategically placed earthwork on the northern bank of the James River. Also defending the site were white artillery men inside the fort and on gunboats in the river.

The Northern press made a big to-do about the black soldiers' triumph at Fort Pocahontas. But the admiration stirred by accounts was not enough to ensure that black soldiers' pay equaled whites'. The South had no corner on racism.

When Gen. Fitzhugh Lee called off his attacks on Fort Pocahontas, 175 to 200 of his officers and enlisted men had been killed, wounded or captured. The defenders' casualties numbered 93.

Military historian Edwin W. Besch, who stumbled upon Fort Pocahontas while hunting for historic places, calculated the Confederates' losses.

Besch, who lives in North Carolina, says that Fitzhugh Lee - Marse Robert's nephew - was so humiliated by his failure to seize unfinished fortification that he deliberately understated his casualties. Lee reported 10 killed, 48 wounded, four missing. According to Besch, 25 dead Confederates were left behind when Lee withdrew, and the defenders saw other dead being carried away.

Harrison Tyler is in his late 60s. He owns Sherwood Forest in Charles City County. The James River plantation belonged to President Tyler, who was one of Harrison's grandfathers.

How could that be? The Richmond Times-Dispatch explains in its news story about Fort Pocahontas that at Harrison's birth, his father was age 75. At Harrison's father's birth, John Tyler was 63.

Surprises are everywhere. Public Broadcasting's marvelous series, ``The American Experience,'' ever telling us about people, places and events that we learned little or nothing about in school.

The exposure of Fort Pocahontas is a surprise arranged by Harrison Tyler. He has reclaimed and shared a captivating piece of dazzling American mosaic. All right!

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