A Black Invalid Corps?

Previously, I had posted that there was no black Invalid Corps and that from what I could discover, African-American soldiers who were injured in combat either were discharged or, if they could still manage their duties, they returned to their units.  However, it looks like that may not have been entirely true. I don’t have a lot of details but there is SOME evidence that there was/were unit(s) for soldiers of color with disabilities. Which is a perfect way to honor Black History Month!

There is some great snippets of information in: Grant, Lincoln, and the freedmen; reminiscences of the Civil War with special reference to the work for the contrabands and freedmen of the Mississippi Valley by John Eaton and E Osgood Mason from 1907.(https://archive.org/details/grantlincolnfre1609eato/page/n9) 

To protect freedmen and planters from the attacks of “guerrillas,” Gen. Thomas established a “colored invalid corps.” Comprised of black men unsuited for field service but capable of other military duties, the 9th and 7th Regiments, Louisiana Volunteers (later the 63rd and 64th Regiments, U.S. Colored Troops), provided the means for maintaining law and order under martial law. Col. Eaton served as the commander of the 9th regiment, and Samuel Thomas was colonel of the 7th regiment.

From page 112: 

I have dwelt somewhat in detail upon these regiments composing the colored invalid corps because they represent a distinct though humble phase of the service, the usefulness of which deserves to be recorded and fixed in the public mind. By means of this minor organization about twenty-five hundred men were added to the military forces in the Valley before the surrender of General Lee.

The bravery of the colored troops who fought in the larger engagements, such as those at Port Hudson or Milliken’s Bend, thrilled the country at the time and is in little danger of being forgotten by later generations, but the humbler duty of safeguarding the plantations from assaults which were often vindictive and particularly cruel, the task of protecting the women and children, the aged and infirm, — these were services which devolved upon men debarred by physical incapacity from the more heroic campaigns endured by their brothers, but no whit less devoted to the Union, no whit less brave in their loyalty to the cause that
had freed them.