United States Colored Troops
USCT | |
---|---|
United States Colored Troops | |
Active | May 22, 1863 – Oct 1865 |
Disbanded | October 1865 |
Allegiance | Union |
Branch | Army |
Type | infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering |
Size | 175 regiments; 178,000 men |
Motto(s) | Sic semper tyrannis "Thus always to tyrants" |
Engagements | American Civil War |
United States Colored Troops (USCT) were Union Army regiments during the American Civil War that primarily comprised African Americans, with soldiers from other ethnic groups also serving in USCT units. Established in response to a demand for more units from Union Army commanders, by the end of the war in 1865 USCT regiments, which numbered 175 in total, constituted about one-tenth of the manpower of the army. Approximately 20 percent of USCT soldiers were killed in action or died of disease and other causes, a rate about 35 percent higher than that of white Union troops. Numerous USCT soldiers fought with distinction, with 16 receiving the Medal of Honor. The USCT regiments were precursors to the Buffalo Soldier units which fought in the American Indian Wars.[1]
The courage displayed by colored troops during the Civil War played an important role in African Americans gaining new rights. As Frederick Douglass said in an 1863 speech:
Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.[2]
Background
The Confiscation Act
The
Formation
The
Initially, the USCT were relegated to menial jobs such as that of laborers, teamsters, cooks, and other supports duties. However, even these duties were essential to the war effort. Eventually USCT were sent into combat.
The USCT suffered 2,751 combat casualties during the war, and 68,178 losses from all causes. Disease caused the most fatalities for all troops, both black and white.[8] In the last year-and-a-half and from all reported casualties, approximately 20% of all African Americans enrolled in the military died.[9] Notably, their mortality rate was significantly higher than white soldiers:
[We] find, according to the revised official data, that of the slightly over two millions troops in the United States Volunteers, over 316,000 died (from all causes), or 15.2%. Of the 67,000 Regular Army (white) troops, 8.6%, or not quite 6,000, died. Of the approximately 180,000 United States Colored Troops, however, over 36,000 died, or 20.5%. In other words, the mortality rate amongst the United States Colored Troops in the Civil War was thirty-five percent greater than that among other troops, notwithstanding the fact that the former were not enrolled until some eighteen months after the fighting began.[9]
USCT regiments were led by white Union officers, while rank advancement was limited for Black soldiers, who could only rise to the rank of
The process for white officers aiming to lead USCT was considered more protracted and perhaps rigorous than for ordinary Union officers. This was because it was assumed that leading black soldiers would require a better officer than those leading white troops. At the end of their studies, those men who wished to lead black troops had to pass an examination administered by Brig. Gen. Silas Casey's staff in Washington. After a short period of examinations in mid-1863, only half of the men who had taken the exam passed.[13]
Volunteer regiments
Before the USCT was formed, several volunteer regiments were raised from
In 1922 Singleton published his memoir (in a slave narrative) of his journey from slavery to freedom and becoming a Union soldier. Glad to participate in reunions, years later at the age of 95, he marched in a Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) event in 1938.
State volunteers
Four regiments were considered regular units, rather than auxiliaries. Their veteran status allowed them to get federal government jobs after the war, from which African Americans had usually been excluded in earlier years. However, the men received no formal recognition for combat honors and awards until the turn of the 20th century. These units were:
- 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry
- 54th Massachusetts (Colored) Volunteer Infantry Regiment
- 55th Massachusetts (Colored) Volunteer Infantry Regiment
- 29th Connecticut (Colored) Volunteer Infantry Regiment
- 30th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment
- 31st Infantry Regiment (Colored)
1st Louisiana Native Guard (Corps d'Afrique)
The
For the new unit, the Union also recruited
Despite class differences between free people of color and freedmen, the troops of the new guard served with distinction, including under Captain
- 4 Regiments of Louisiana Native Guards (renamed the 1st–4th Corps d'Afrique Infantry, later renamed as the 73rd–76th US Colored Infantry on April 4, 1864).
- 1st and 2nd Brigade Marching Bands, Corps d'Afrique (later made into Nos. 1 and 2 Bands, USCT).
- 1st Regiment of Cavalry (1st Corps d'Afrique Cavalry, later made into the 4th US Colored Cavalry).
- 22 Regiments of Infantry (1st–20th, 22nd, and 26th Corps d'Afrique Infantry, later converted into the 77th–79th, 80th–83rd, 84th–88th, and 89th–93rd US Colored Infantry on April 4, 1864).
- 5 Regiments of Engineers (1st–5th Corps d'Afrique Engineers, later converted into the 95th–99th US Colored Infantry regiments on April 4, 1864) whose work building Bailey's Dam saved the Union navy's Mississippi River Squadron.
- 1 Regiment of Heavy Artillery (later converted into the 10th US Colored (Heavy) Artillery on May 21, 1864).
Right Wing, XVI Corps (1864)
Colored troops served as laborers in the 16th Army Corps' Quartermaster's Department and Pioneer Corps.
- Detachment, Quartermaster's Department.
- Pioneer Corps, 1st Division (Mower), 16th Army Corps.
- Pioneer Corps, Cavalry Division (Grierson), 16th Army Corps.
USCT Regiments
- 6 Regiments of Cavalry [1st–6th USC Cavalry]
- 1 Regiment of Light Artillery [2nd USC (Light) Artillery]
- 1 Independent USC (Heavy) Artillery Battery
- 13 Heavy Artillery Regiments [1st and 3rd–14th USC (Heavy) Artillery]
- 1 unassigned Company of Infantry [Company A, US Colored Infantry]
- 1 Independent USC Company of Infantry (Southard's Independent Company, Pennsylvania (Colored) Infantry)
- 1 Independent USC Regiment of Infantry [Powell's Regiment, US Colored Infantry]
- 135 Regiments of Infantry [1st–138th USC Infantry] (The 94th, 105th, and 126th USC Infantry regiments were never fully formed)
- Details
- The 2nd USC (Light) Artillery Regiment (2nd USCA) was made up of nine separate batteries grouped into three nominal battalions of three batteries each. The batteries were usually detached.
- I Battalion: A,B & C Batteries.
- II Battalion: D, E & F Batteries.
- III Battalion: G, H & I Batteries.
- The second raising of the 11th USC Infantry (USCI) was created by converting the 7th USC (Heavy) Artillery into an infantry unit.
- The second raising of the 79th USC Infantry (USCI) was formed from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry.
- The second raising of the 83rd USC Infantry (USCI) was formed from the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry.
- The second raising of the 87th USCI was formed from merging the first raisings of the 87th and 96th USCI.
- The second raising of the 113th USCI was formed by merging the first raisings of the 11th, 112th, and 113th USCI.
Gallery
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3rd US Colored Troops banner {obverse}
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22th US Colored Troops banner
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26th US Colored Troops banner
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27th US Colored Troops banner
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45th US Colored Troops banner
Notable actions
The first engagement by African-American soldiers against Confederate forces during the Civil War was at the
USCT regiments fought in all theaters of the war, but mainly served as garrison troops in rear areas. The most famous USCT action took place at the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg. Regiments of USCT suffered heavy casualties attempting to break through Confederate lines. Other notable engagements include Fort Wagner, one of their first major tests, and the Battle of Nashville.[19]
Colored Troop soldiers were among the first Union forces to enter Richmond, Virginia, after its fall in April 1865. The 41st USCT regiment was among those present at the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. Following the war, USCT regiments served among the occupation troops in former Confederate states.
U.S. Army General Ulysses S. Grant praised the competent performance and bearing of the USCT, saying at Vicksburg that:
Negro troops are easier to preserve discipline among than our white troops ... All that have been tried have fought bravely.
— Ulysses S. Grant, at Vicksburg (July 24, 1863).[20]
Prisoners of war
USCT soldiers suffered extra violence at the hands of Confederate soldiers, who singled them out for mistreatment. They were often the victims of battlefield massacres and atrocities by Confederates, most notably at Fort Pillow in Tennessee, at the Battle of the Crater in Virginia,[21] and at the Battle of Olustee in Florida. They were often murdered when captured by Confederate soldiers, as the Confederacy announced that former slaves fighting for the Union were traitors and would be immediately executed.[19]
The prisoner exchange protocol based on the
Numbers of colored troops by state, North and South
The soldiers are classified by the state where they were enrolled; Northern states often sent agents to enroll formerly enslaved from the South. Many soldiers from Delaware, D.C., Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia were formerly enslaved as well. Most of the troops credited to West Virginia, however, were not actually from that state.[26]
North[27] | Number | South[27] | Number |
---|---|---|---|
Connecticut | 1,764 | Alabama | 4,969 |
Colorado Territory | 95 | Arkansas | 5,526 |
Delaware | 954 | Florida | 1,044 |
District of Columbia | 3,269 | Georgia | 3,486 |
Illinois | 1,811 | Louisiana | 24,502 |
Indiana | 1,597 | Mississippi | 17,869 |
Iowa | 440 | North Carolina | 5,035 |
Kansas | 2,080 | South Carolina | 5,462 |
Kentucky | 23,703 | Tennessee | 20,133 |
Maine | 104 | Texas | 47 |
Maryland | 8,718 | Virginia | 5,723 |
Massachusetts | 3,966 | ||
Michigan | 1,387 | Total from the South | 93,796 |
Minnesota | 104 | ||
Missouri | 8,344 | At large | 733 |
New Hampshire | 125 | Not accounted for | 5,083 |
New Jersey | 1,185 | ||
New York | 4,125 | ||
Ohio | 5,092 | ||
Pennsylvania | 8,612 | ||
Rhode Island | 1,837 | ||
Vermont | 120 | ||
West Virginia | 196 | ||
Wisconsin | 155 | ||
Total from the North | 79,283 | ||
Total | 178,895 |
Postwar
The USCT was disbanded in the fall of 1865. In 1867, the Regular Army was set at ten regiments of cavalry and 45 regiments of infantry. The Army was authorized to raise two regiments of black cavalry (the 9th and 10th (Colored) Cavalry) and four regiments of black infantry (the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st (Colored) Infantry), who were mostly drawn from USCT veterans. The first draft of the bill that the House Committee on Military Affairs sent to the full chamber on March 7, 1866, did not include a provision for regiments of black cavalry; however, this provision was added by Senator Benjamin Wade prior to the bill's passing.[28] In 1869 the Regular Army was kept at ten regiments of cavalry but cut to 25 regiments of Infantry, reducing the black complement to two regiments (the 24th and 25th (Colored) Infantry).
The two black infantry regiments represented 10 percent of the size of all twenty-five infantry regiments. Similarly, the black cavalry units represented 20 percent of the size of all ten cavalry regiments.[28]
From 1870 to 1898 the strength of the US Army totaled 25,000 service members with black soldiers maintaining their 10 percent representation.
Awards
US Medal of Honor
Sixteen African-American USCT soldiers earned the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award, for service in the war:[30]
- Sergeant 54th Massachusetts (Colored) Volunteer Infantry was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Fort Wagnerin July 1863. During the advance, Carney was wounded but still went on. When the color-bearer was shot, Carney grabbed the flagstaff and planted it in the parapet, while the rest of his regiment stormed the fortification. When his regiment was forced to retreat, he was wounded two more times while he carried the colors back to Union lines. He did not relinquish it until he handed it to another soldier of the 54th. Carney received his medal 37 years after the battle.
- Fourteen African-American soldiers, including Sergeant Major Christian Fleetwood and Sergeant Alfred B. Hilton (mortally wounded) of the 4th USCT, were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions at the Battle of Chaffin's Farmin September 1864, during the campaign to take Petersburg.
- Corporal Andrew Jackson Smith of the 55th Massachusetts (Colored) Volunteer Infantry was recommended for the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Honey Hill in November 1864. Smith prevented the regimental colors from falling into enemy hands after the color sergeant was killed. Due to a lack of official records, he was not awarded the medal until 2001.
The Butler Award
Soldiers who fought in the
Legacy and modern views
The historian Steven Hahn proposes that when slaves organized themselves and worked with the Union Army during the American Civil War, including as some regiments of the USCT, their actions comprised a slave rebellion that dwarfed all other slave revolts.[31] The African American Civil War Memorial Museum helps to preserve pertinent information from the period.[32]
Tributes
- In 1924, the Grand Army of the Republic unveiled the Colored Soldiers Monument in Frankfort, Kentucky.
- In September 1996, a national celebration in commemoration of the service of the United States Colored Troops was held.
- The African American Civil War Memorial (1997), featuring Spirit of Freedom by sculptor Ed Hamilton, was erected at the corner of Vermont Avenue and U Street NW in the capital, Washington, D.C. It is administered by the National Park Service.
- In 1999 the African American Civil War Museum opened nearby.
- In July 2011, the African American Civil War Museum celebrated a grand opening of its new facility at 1925 Vermont Avenue Northwest, Washington DC, just across the street from the memorial.[34][35]
Other
The motion picture
Similar units
- 92nd Infantry Division (United States)
- 93d Infantry Division (United States)
- 366th Infantry Regiment (United States)
- 369th Infantry Regiment (United States)
- 761st Tank Battalion (United States)
- 1st Louisiana Native Guard (CSA)
See also
- Corps of Colonial Marines
- Ethiopian Regiment
- List of United States Colored Troops Civil War units
- Military history of African Americans
- Military history of African Americans in the American Civil War
- Marching Song of the First Arkansas
- Native Americans in the American Civil War
Notes
- Butler
- ^ Capt. Francis Jackson Meriam (pictured), was commander of the 3rd South Carolina Colored Infantry.
References
Citations
- ^ "Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military During the Civil War". National Archives. August 15, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ Douglass, Frederick (July 6, 1863). Speech at National Hall, for the Promotion of Colored Enlistments (Speech). Mass meeting held at National Hall, Philadelphia. National Hall, Philadelphia. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
- ^ Rodriguez, Junius P. Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 2007, vol. 2, pg 241
- ^ Cornish, The Sable Arm, pp. 29–111.
- ^ Cornish, The Sable Arm, p. 130.
- ^ Henderson, Steward (October 27, 2020). "The Role of the USCT in the Civil War". www.battlefields.org. American Battlefield Trust. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
- ISBN 0-8071-2535-0
- ^ Cornish, The Sable Arm, p. 288; McPherson, The Negro's Civil War, p. 237
- ^ a b Herbert Aptheker, "Negro Casualties in the Civil War", "The Journal of Negro History", Vol. 32, No. 1. (January, 1947).
- ^ "National Park Civil War Series: The Civil War's Black Soldiers".
- ^ Cornish, The Sable Arm, p. 218.
- ^ McPherson, The Negro's Civil War, Chapter XIV, "The Struggle for Equal Pay," pp. 193–203.
- ^ Fry, Zachery A. (October 2017). "Philadelphia's Free Military School and the Radicalization of Wartime Officer Education, 1863-64". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 141 (3): 278–279. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
- ^ "The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony"; Carolina Country Magazine, date?, accessed November 10, 2010
- mixed-race people were descended generally from male native-born Spanish and French colonists (called Criolla or Créole) and African slave women, or free African-American women. After the United States made the Louisiana Purchase (1803), many Americans moved to Louisiana. They ignored the status of the free people of color, grouping them with the mass of blacks, then mostly slaves. (Today the people of color descended from this group are generally referred to as Louisiana Creoles.)
- ^ "Affairs In The West.; A Negro Regiment in Action – The Battle of Island Mounds – Desperate Bravery of the Negros – Defeat of the Guerrillas – An Attempted Fraud", The New York Times, 19 November 1862, accessed 22 February 2016
- ^ Chris Tabor, "Skirmish at Island Mound", Island Mound website, accessed 12 Oct 2009
- ^ Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site; Missouri Department of Natural Resources
- ^ a b Cornish, The Sable Arm, pp. 173–80.
- ^ Words of our Hero: Ulysses S. Grant, edited by Jeremiah Chaplin, Boston: D. Lothrop and Company, pp. 13–14.
- Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. 98, no. 2 (The Trumpet Unblown: The Old Dominion in the Civil War). pp. 242–243.
- ^ Williams, George W., History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880: Negros as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens, vol. II, New York: G.P. Putnam Son's, 1883, pp. 351–52.
- ^ Congress of the Confederate States of America (April 15, 2014). "No. 5". Joint Resolution on the Subject of Retaliation. May 1, 1863. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ Republican Party (June 7, 1864). "Republican Party Platform of 1864". Archived from the original on April 21, 2015.
[T]he Government owes to all men employed in its armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protection of the laws of war—and that any violation of these laws, or of the usages of civilized nations in time of war, by the Rebels now in arms, should be made the subject of prompt and full redress.
- ^ Grant, Ulysses (1863). "Letter to Richard Taylor". Vicksburg.
I feel no inclination to retaliate for the offences of irresponsible persons; but if it is the policy of any General intrusted with the command of troops to show no quarter, or to punish with death prisoners taken in battle, I will accept the issue. It may be you propose a different line of policy towards black troops, and officers commanding them, to that practiced towards white troops. So, I can assure you that these colored troops are regularly mustered into the service of the United States. The Government, and all officers under the Government, are bound to give the same protection to these troops that they do to any other troops.
- ^ 45th United States Colored Troops
- ^ a b Gladstone, William A., United States Colored Troops, p. 120
- ^ ISBN 9780842025867.
- ^ "Wild West Western Facts, Buffalo Soldiers". The Wild West. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
- ISBN 9780842025867.
- ^ Hahn, Steven (2004). "The Greatest Slave Rebellion in Modern History: Southern Slaves in the American Civil War". southernspaces.org. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
- ^ African American Civil War Memorial and Museum; organization website
- ^ "District of Columbia. Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, at Fort Lincoln". loc.gov. 1863.
- ^ "African American Civil War Museum To Hold Grand Opening". WAMU. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
- ^ "Memorial & Museum History". www.afroamcivilwar.org. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
- ^ See film review by historian James M. McPherson, "The 'Glory' Story," The New Republic, January 8 & 15, 1990, pp. 22–27.
- ISBN 978-0-8039-4602-6.
General references
- Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. New York: W.W. Norton, 1965.
- Dobak, William A. Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862–1867. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2011.
- Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops, 1863–1867. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1996.
- Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Boston: Fields, Osgood, & Co., 1870.
- Johnson, Jesse J. Black Armed Forces Officers 1736–1971. Hampton Publications, 1971.
- Matthews, Harry Bradshaw, African American Freedom Journey in New York and Related Sites, 1823–1870: Freedom Knows No Color, Cherry Hill, NJ: Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers, 2008.
- McPherson, James M., The Negro's Civil War: How American Negroes Felt and Acted During the War for the Union. New York: Pantheon Books, 1965.
- ISBN 9780842025867.
- Smith, John David, Lincoln and the U.S. Colored Troops (Southern Illinois University Press, 2013). 156 pp.
- Williams, George W., A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1887.
- Film review, James M. McPherson, "The 'Glory' Story," The New Republic, January 8 & 15, 1990, pp. 22–27
Further reading
- Lee, Ulysses. The Employment of Negro Troops. Published by the Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 1966. 740 pp.
External links
- 19th USCT service record cards
- United States Colored Troops in the Civil War
- United States Colored Troops US Army
- "Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military During the Civil War" at the [National Archives and Records Administration|U.S. National Archives and Records Administration] website