Guard (DCNG). Fleetwood organized that battalion and became its commanding officer with the rank of major. The DCNG amalgamated seven battalions with four of them consisting of white members and three of them being "black", the Butler Zouaves (organized in 1863), the Washington Cadet Corps (1880) and the Capital City Guards (1882). While the Butler Zouaves was disbanded in 1888, the two remaining black battalions were restricted to two companies each and merged into the newly created First Separate Battalion in 1891. When Frederick C. Revells from the Capital City Guards was made the new commander, Fleetwood felt passed over himself and resigned shortly afterwards, in 1892. Meanwhile, Fleetwood and Major Charles B. Fisher, who had commanded the Fifth Battalion (Butler Zouaves), were instrumental in organizing the Colored High School Cadet Corps of the District of Columbia, in 1888. Also known as the Washington High School Cadets (see above), the corps' first company was recruited at M Street High (later to become Dunbar High School). Fleetwood, the first instructor of the corps , served until 1897, when he was succeeded by Major Arthur Brooks. These two officers developed a tradition of military service among young colored men in Washington which led some of them to enlist in World War I and others to be commissioned at the Colored Officers Training Camp in Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Fleetwood never returned to active duty with any military organization. However, many residents of the District of Columbia recommended that he be appointed as the Commander of the 50th U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish–American War. This request was not seriously considered by the War Department, and the participation of colored soldiers from the District of Columbia was similarly disregarded. It is not known whether Fleetwood's short stature and physical ailments reduced his chances for consideration. His army records state that he was five feet, four and one half inches tall. These records also state that he applied in 1891 for a pension which he finally received because of "total" deafness in his left ear, the result of "gunshot concussion," and "severe" deafness in his right ear, the result of catarrh contracted while in the army. The last monthly pension payment was disbursed in September 1914, by then 24 U.S. Dollars. His application also stated that these ailments prevented him from speaking or singing in public. Before being hampered by his progressing deafness,