Stephen Atkins Swails Stephen Atkins Swails ( 23 February 1832 – 17 May 1900 ) was a soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War . Although originally enlisting as a private , he may have been the first African - American soldier promoted to officer rank in that conflict , as evidenced by the U . S . War Department ' s initial refusal of that promotion due to his " . . . African descent . " Swails was a free black who was so light in coloring that he was often mistaken as white . He was married and employed mostly as a waiter in Cooperstown , New York at the start of the Civil War . However , his enlistment papers state he was employed as a boatman in Elmira , New York when he joined the army . In 1863 , he answered Frederick Douglass ' call to arms and joined the 54th Massachusetts when it began forming , and served in that regiment , eventually being commissioned as an officer , until the end of the war . After the war , he settled in South Carolina and later Washington , D . C . , becoming a lawyer and politician . Civil War career . Stephen Swails was a member of the 54th Massachusetts , enlisting and then rising through the ranks to receive a commission . He joined Company F of the 54th on 23 April 1863 and was soon appointed the company ' s first sergeant . Due to the loss of men in the assault on Fort Wagner , and when Colonel Edward Hallowell assumed command of the 54th , Swails was appointed acting sergeant - major of the 54th on 12 November 1863 . In early 1864 , the regiment was posted to Florida as part of General Truman Seymour ' s expedition . On 20 February , while still performing duty as the regiment ' s sergeant - major , Swails was wounded in the head at the Battle of Olustee . Setting out toward the Union supply point at Sanderson , he soon fell unconscious on the road , but was placed on a cart by one of the 54th ' s officers . On 26 February 1864 , Colonel Hallowell , . . . In accordance with the desire of his officers as well as his own . . . recommended to Governor Andrew that Sergeant Swails be commissioned in recognition of many soldiery qualities and his gallantry at Olustee . On 26 March 1864 , the regiment received a list of promotions approved by Governor Andrew , one of which was Swails ' promotion to 2nd lieutenant . Thus began the fight to secure for Stephen Swails what may have been the first commission given to an African American in the Union Army . In May 1864 , while the regiment was posted on Morris Island , South Carolina , during the siege of Charleston , Swails ' application to muster as a 2nd Lieutenant with the regiment was refused by the War Department . The reason given was " Lieutenant Swails ' African descent . " Colonel William Gurney , the post commander , ordered Swails to remove his officer ' s uniform and reassume duties as an enlisted man . However , Colonel Hallowell obtained a furlough for Swails and sent him , along with all the necessary paperwork , to Major General John Foster , commander of the Department of the South . Once there , Lieutenant Swails presented his case , and received General Foster ' s recommendation , which was forwarded to higher authority . Lt . Swails then returned to duty with the regiment . In addition to correspondence between the Department of the South , Governor Andrew and the War Department , Lt . Swails also received a furlough to travel to Washington to present his own case . He then returned to duty . Finally , on 17 January 1865 , orders were received from the War Department , authorizing Stephen Swails to muster as a 2nd Lieutenant with the regiment , ending almost a year - long struggle on his behalf by Colonel Hallowell , Governor Andrew and the officers of the 54th . During this period , Swails continued to perform his duties as a line officer in Company D and participated in numerous actions . On 11 April 1865 , near Camden , South Carolina , Lt . Swails was wounded for a second time . While the 54th was on reconnaissance near a railroad junction , several locomotives , one with the steam up , were observed after dark . A detachment led by Lt . Swails rushed the trains and captured them . As Lt . Swails entered the cab of one locomotive , he waved his hat in triumph . This action drew the attention of the sharpshooters that he had deployed to shoot the trainmen if they tried to escape . Mistaking him for an engineer , they fired at and wounded him . Second Lieutenant Swails was promoted to 1st lieutenant on 28 April 1865 and discharged on 20 August 1865 , when the regiment mustered out at Boston . Post - war career . After the war , Swails worked as an agent for the Freedman ' s Bureau , became a lawyer and lived in the South , becoming active in the political life of South Carolina . He was the mayor of Kingstree , where he lived from 1868 to 1879 . He served as a state senator for ten years ( 1868 – 1878 ) , including three terms as president pro tem . Swails was a delegate to the 1868 , 1872 and 1876 Republican national conventions . He became a member of the U . S . Electoral College , and also edited a newspaper , the " Williamsburg Republican " . He was forced out of politics after Reconstruction . After a white mob tried to assassinate him , he resigned from office and , through his Republican connections , obtained jobs in Washington , D . C . with the U . S . Postal Service and the United States Treasury Department . Stephen Swails is buried in the Friendly Society Cemetery , Charleston , South Carolina . Family . Stephen Swails ' descendants are plentiful , and live in Toronto , upstate New York , Philadelphia , Atlanta , etc . One of his surviving grandchild was James Swails Sr . , of Rochester , New York , who died in 2004 . His granddaughter , Carolyn Janet Rollins , and another grandson , Robert Swails , are also deceased . Caroline Janet Rollins was a counselor in New Jersey . She married Joseph Tyler Jefferson . They have eight surviving children . Robert Swails Rollins was a Doctor of Internal Medicine , graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania . He had two sons and a daughters and lived on Long Island , New York . Dr . Robert Swails Rollins was a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force and , after military service , had a practice on Long Island , New York .