United States Colored Troops

Men of Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, at Fort Lincoln, District of Columbia, 1865

Over 180,000 black men fought for the Union army during the Civil War. Most of them served in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) which came into existence after the Emancipation Proclamation finally provided presidential endorsement for the much-discussed proposals for arming free blacks and former slaves in what had become the great conflict over slavery. USCT training camps in places such as Camp William Penn, located in historic La Mott (Cheltenham, Pa), provided skills and a new sense of identity to black soldiers, despite unequal pay with white soldiers and other forms of continuing discrimination in a segregated military. More than 11,000 black soldiers mobilized for service from Camp William Penn. (By Matthew Pinsker)

Events

Date	Event
09/25/1861	U.S. Navy Secretary Gideon Welles authorizes the enlistment of runaway slaves into the naval service
01/01/1863	At Port Royal, South Carolina, the 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry receives its regimental colors
05/01/1863	The Confederate Congress outlines dire consequences for black Union soldiers and their white officers
05/19/1863	Meeting in Washington DC demands protection for black Union prisoners of war
05/22/1863	The Army creates the Bureau of Colored Troops to oversee the creation of African-American regiments
05/27/1863	Afro-Creole Captain Andre Cailloux falls at the head of his troops in the attack on Port Hudson
05/27/1863	African-American troops perform well in the abortive attack on Port Hudson and earn wide praise
05/28/1863	The 54th Massachusetts leaves Boston for active service in South Carolina
06/01/1863 - 06/03/1863	Harriet Tubman leads an armed raid against Confederate forces in South Carolina
06/07/1863	Black soldiers and naval gunfire drive off a Confederate attack on Union supply lines at Milliken's Bend
06/11/1863	Raiding into Georgia, former "jayhawker" James Montgomery burns the town of Darien
07/18/1863	On Morris Island, South Carolina, Confederate defenders of Fort Wagner beat back a second heavy attack
07/18/1863	The African-American 54th Massachusetts earns fame across the North with its brave attempt to storm Fort Wagner
07/18/1863	Sergeant William H. Carney becomes the first African-American to win the Congressional Medal of Honor
07/29/1863	In New Orleans, leading Creole citizen Captain Andre Cailloux is given a hero's funeral
08/01/1863	General George C. Strong, dead of wounds received at Fort Wagner, is buried at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn
02/23/1864	In the Senate, a Kentucky senator proposes the immediate discharging of all African-American troops
03/05/1864	In Union Square in New York City, the 20th U. S. C. T. receives its colors and departs for New Orleans
04/12/1864	Battle of Fort Pillow
09/29/1864	In Virginia, three soldiers from the same regiment win the Medal of Honor in the attack on New Market Heights
12/07/1864	In Philadelphia, black leaders meet with city transport companies to demand desegregation of their streetcars
08/28/1865	In Philadelphia, the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon closes its doors
05/01/1866 - 05/03/1866	In Memphis, serious riots break out as whites kill, rape, and burn in African-American sections of the city
09/21/1866	Two more African-American regiments, the soon to be famous Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, come into being
11/06/1866	In Massachusetts, Republicans win smashing victories in the fall state elections.
12/24/1866	Lieutenant Henry Wilson, only son of U.S. Senator Henry Wilson, dies at his station in Austin, Texas.
01/08/1867	Veterans from across the country meet in Philadelphia at the Colored Soldiers' and Sailors' Convention.
04/09/1867	George Luther Stearns, leading abolitionist and member of "the Secret Six' dies of pneumonia in New York City.

People

Fort Pillow, TN

Camp William Penn, PA

Documents

Date	Title
	Recollection by Noah Brooks, April 1863, Army of the Potomac
04/01/1861	New York Times, “Negro Regiments to be Raised,” April 1, 1861
04/22/1861	Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Cannot Be Accepted,” April 22, 1861
12/04/1861	Brigadier General John W. Phelps, Proclamation to "The Loyal Citizens of the Southwest," December 4, 1861
07/26/1862	Abraham Lincoln to Reverdy Johnson, Washington, DC, July 26, 1862
01/14/1863	Abraham Lincoln to John Dix, January 14, 1863
03/22/1863	Entry by Kate Stone, March 22, 1863
05/01/1863	The Retaliatory Act, Confederate Congress, May 1, 1863
06/16/1863	Ulysses S. Grant to Lorenzo Thomas, June 16, 1863
07/17/1863	Boston (MA) Liberator, “Enlistment of Colored Troops,” July 17, 1863
07/22/1863	Edward L. Pierce to John Albion Andrew, July 22, 1863
08/26/1863	Abraham Lincoln to James C. Conkling, August 26, 1863
09/11/1863	Abraham Lincoln to Andrew Johnson, September 11, 1863
12/08/1863	Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1863
04/03/1864	Recollection by Orville Hickman Browning, April 3, 1864, Washington, D.C.
04/04/1864	Abraham Lincoln to Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864
04/22/1864	Albert G. Hodges to Abraham Lincoln, April 22, 1864, Frankfort, Kentucky
04/28/1864	John M. Mackenzie to Abraham Lincoln, April 28, 1864, Paducah, Kentucky
05/02/1864	Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Justice to Colored Soldiers,” May 2, 1864
05/05/1864	Benjamin Brown French to Abraham Lincoln, May 5, 1864, Washington, D.C.
09/05/1864	Entry by Kate Stone, September 5, 1864
04/08/1865	Editorial, "Grant's Negro Troops," Chicago Tribune, April 8, 1865
10/10/1865	Andrew Johnson, "Remarks to the First Colored Regiment of the District of Columbia," October 10, 1865, Washington D.C.
11/15/1865	Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Reception of Colored Troops,” November 15, 1865
11/15/1865	Philadelphia (PA) North American, "Reception of Colored Troops," November 15, 1865
11/22/1865	Bangor (ME) Whig and Courier, “Protection of the Freedmen,” November 22, 1865
11/25/1865	Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, "Generals Meade and Butler on Negro Soldiers," November 25, 1865
11/25/1865	New Haven (CT) Palladium, “The Reception,” November 25, 1865
02/15/1866	Charles Jones Jenkins to Andrew Johnson, Milledgeville, Georgia, February 15, 1866

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