Wild’s African Legion
Brig Gen. Edward Augustus Wild raises the first two of four eventual regiments of black troops, largely from escaped slaves congregating at the Freedman’s Colony on Roanoke island or at New Bern. One of his subordinates, Col. Alonzo G. Draper of the 2nd North Carolina Colored Volunteers, eager to prove that black soldiers can fight, leads 118 hand-picked officers and men into a region infested with guerrillas and retaliates against snipers and smugglers-and frees 500 slaves. Inspired by Draper’s success, Wild launches an expedition with 2,000 troops through the Great dismal Swamp and six North Carolina Counties, destroying four guerrilla camps and burning the farms, homes, and distilleries of rebels while liberating 2,500 enslaved blacks-many of whom join the U.S. Army. The black troops strike terror into a white population that has long lived in fear of a slave uprising, adopting draconian codes against runaways. They comport themselves “with admirable discipline” in the words of a newspaperman who covers the raid, and prove themselves fierce and reliable fighters.