Birney, William, 1819-1907

William Birney was born May 28, 1819 on his father's plantation near Huntsville, Alabama. He grew up there and in Danville, Kentucky. Birney was educated at Centre College and Yale University and he practiced law in Cincinnati, Ohio. He then lived for five years in Europe, primarily on the Continent and in England. For two years, he was a professor of English literature at the college in Bourges. He took an active part in the revolutionary movement in France in 1848. He later wrote numerous articles for English and American newspapers. Returning to the United States in 1853, Birney established a newspaper, the Daily Register, in Philadelphia.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Birney entered the Union Army on May 22, 1861 as a captain in the 1st New Jersey Infantry Regiment. He first saw combat in the First Battle of Bull Run. Promoted to major of the 4th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, he participated in the battles of Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Fredericksburg, and, as a colonel, the Chancellorsville. In 1863–64, he was appointed as one of three superintendents in charge of enlisting colored troops into the Union army, and in that capacity organized seven regiments. He was named Colonel of the 22nd U.S. Colored Troops. On June 9, 1863, he was commissioned as a brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from May 22, 1863, and assigned to Maryland to recruit more black troops. In 1864, he marched his regiments to fight in South Carolina as a part of the Department of the South. They fared poorly, but did much better work in campaigns in Florida, including the Battle of Olustee.

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