8. Secret Military History

1865-1201, Race, UCMJ, the Jacksonville Mutiny.
Six Colored infantrymen from the 3rd Infantry Regiment, were executed by firing squad in Fernandina, Florida, for the Jacksonville Mutiny.
The mutiny began when an unnamed black soldier stole a jar of molasses from the army mess hall. LT John Greybill caught the thief and decreed a punishment, “Tie up the thief by the thumbs.” the man was lifted by his thumbs until only his toes remained on the ground, barely supporting his weight and left him there for two hours.
Soon other black soldiers gathered around, complaining about what they saw. A PVT Jacob Plowden, yelled “It is a damn shame for a man to be tied up like that, white soldiers were not tied up that way, only in our regiment.” PVT Plowden yelled “There ain’t going to be any more of it, that he would die on the spot, but he would be damned if he wasn’t the man to cut him down.” Another PVT, Jonathan Miller, joined the incitement, “Let’s take him down, we are not going to have any more of tying men up by the thumbs.” 30 black soldiers, began advancing on the hanging molasses-thief.
LT Mike Fenno stabbed a soldier who was advancing on him and was hit on the head with a fence post. Neither man was seriously wounded.
The Regiment Commander LTC John L. Brower drew his sidearm and fired into them, wounding a man and sending the others scurrying.
This was the whole of the commotion, which Company K reinforcements soon quelled.
In a series of court-martials lasting from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3, thirteen black soldiers were convicted of mutiny. Six of them were executed. The non-executed mutineers received brig terms of 15 years but had their sentences commuted following a review the next year.

1866-1115, Race, PVT William Cathey, the First Black Woman in the US Military.
She enlisted into the Army as a man, Cathay Williams became the first black female to enlist as a soldier Cathay was born to a free man, but her mother was a slave, which meant Cathay was also a slave the moment she was born. She worked on the Johnson plantation outside Jefferson City, Missouri. Her master died around the same time that Union forces occupied Jefferson City in the early part of the war and slaves were considered “contraband” of the Union. They were often impressed into serving in the army and this is just what happened to Cathay Williams, who became a part of the 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment at age seventeen.
The Civil War ended, but for Cathay, her life as a solider was not yet over. On November 15, 1866, she enlisted with the United States Regular Army in St. Louis as William Cathay. Because she was illiterate, though, her last name was spelled Cathey, and this was how she was known for the rest of her military career.
William Cathey served as a soldier for two years. Little is known about Cathay as a soldier. She was neither distinguished nor disgraced and her fellow soldiers’ opinions of her are unknown. On October 14, 1868, William Cathey was discharged from the army on the grounds that he was “feeble both physically and mentally” and was therefore unfit to perform his military duties. The surgeon stated that Cathey’s feeble condition had existed prior to enlistment.

1868-0704, War, the British Abyssinian Expedition. The Shortest War in History.
It began with Zanzibar taking of eight British civilian hostages.
Zanzibar is the shortest official war on record, the Zanzibarians (Ethiopians) surrendered in 38-Minutes of fighting.
King Tewodros had been an ally of the British. He was proud of his status as the only Christian monarch in Africa and that Ethiopia was the only African nation free of western colonization.
The British military were given simple orders: Break the chains. The Soldiers motto: Never Give Way to Barbarians, Tu Fincula Frange! (Break the chains.)
With 280-ships, 7,000-camels and 13,000-mules, 44-elephants, and 7,000-cows (food). 5-squadrons of cavalry, 10-regiments of infantry, 4-batteries of horse artillery, 8-mortars, 13,000-British and Indian soldiers and 26,000-logistical support staff.
The 8-hostages were in a fortress, Magdala, 400-miles from where the ships docked at Zula.
3-months later with all the pack animals were dead, the British force emerged like a nightmarish mirage out of the jungle at Magdala.
The enemy was outgunned by a large margin. The 4th King’s Own Regiment. The Highland Scottish “Black Watch” Regiment (motto: “No one attacks me with impunity”) and the West Riding Regiment in the attack.
Braying of elephants, mortars, bagpipes and a thunderstorm all adding to the general apocalyptic mood.
The 8-British captives were free, Magdala was burned and Tewodros had shot himself in the head. The British losses: 2-dead, 18-wounded.

1870-0615, Religion, the Ghost Dance.
In 1870, the Ghost Dance, a Native American religious movement, was believed to restore tribal life. Supposedly, the buffalo would return to the Plains, the dead would rise, and all white men would vanish from the land. The movement was enthusiastically received by Native Americans, specifically the Lakota and spread to California and Oregon over the years.
As word of the ritual reached neighboring white communities, officials felt threatened by the ceremonies, believing that the Lakota intended to start a war. The US government dispatched the army to stop the dancing and apprehend key leaders such as Sitting Bull and Big Foot.
Sitting Bull was killed as police attempted to arrest him. Two weeks later, members of the 7th Cavalry killed Big Foot and 145 of his followers in the Wounded Knee Massacre. The Ghost Dance died out among the Lakota and historians believe that this atrocity signified the beginning of the end in the West’s Indian Wars.