This page is for descendants of men who fought at Milliken’s Bend in the 11th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent. This was a Union regiment, composed of former slaves, mostly recruited from the region near Milliken’s Bend. Officers in the regiment were white men, most of whom had previously served in General U.S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee. This regiment would later be renamed the 49th U.S. Colored Infantry (49th USCI or commonly, 49th USCT).
My great-great-grandfather, John Bass of Warren County, Mississippi, fought with the 49th Regiment, formerly the 11th Louisiana Infantry. According to his service record, he enlisted on May 16, 1863, at Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana. He was promoted from Private to Corporal on Feb. 1, 1865, by order of Lt. Col. Cyrus Sears. John was born in Northampton County, North Carolina around 1844. He, his mother Beady, and four siblings were brought to Hinds County, Mississippi in 1849, after Elizabeth Bass petitioned the court to retrieve her inheritance that had been bequeathed to her per her father Council Bass’s 1830 will. At the time, John’s father, Thomas Bowden, was enslaved by a neighbor and remained in North Carolina.
John’s bounty application was found in the Mississippi Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Records, which was dated Jan. 16, 1871. This is the same date as his Freedman’s Bank application, which reported his age and birthplace as “about 24” and North Carolina. He was also able to read and write, which was indicated by the 1870 and 1880 censuses. He also signed his own name on his Freedman’s Bank application.
John married Frances Morris on Feb. 6, 1869. She had been enslaved on Col. John Hebron’s plantation, LaGrange, near Bovina, Mississippi in Warren County. In 1863, LaGrange Plantation was taken over by Gen. Ulysses Grant and 2,500 Union troops, who camped in his orchards as they laid siege to Vicksburg, using it as a temporary headquarters. John was living on LaGrange in 1871, when he completed his bounty application. He died around 1885, leaving his wife and eight children.
Melvin – Thank you so much for sharing this detailed information. I really appreciate learning more about the individual enlisted men who served at Milliken’s Bend.