December 9, 1863

December 9, 1863

---On this date, at Fort Jackson, far down near the mouth of the Mississippi River, Lt. Col. Benedict, in command of the 4^th Regiment, Corps D’Afrique, a black regiment, personally flogs two drummer boys for an assumed infraction.  In response, hundreds of the soldiers in this regiment arm themselves and begin firing their rifles into the air and ransacking the camp, looking for Benedict, who has mysteriously disappeared.  Only when Col. Drew, the fort’s commandant, confronts the rioters and calms them down, does the disturbance cease.  When Benedict returns to the fort, Drew dismisses him and puts him on a steamer to New Orleans.  Gen. Banks draws up charges and court-martials Benedict for violation of regulations (since Banks had banned the whipping of enlisted men) and cruel treatment of the soldiers.