| USCT | |
|---|---|
| United States Colored Troops | |
 USCT recruiting poster  Unidentified private  24th US Colored Troops banner | |
| Active | May 22, 1863 – Oct 1865 |
| Disbanded | October 1865; 160 years ago (October 1865) |
| Allegiance | Union |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering |
| Size | 175 regiments; 178,000 men |
| Mottos | Sic semper tyrannis "Thus always to tyrants" |
| Engagements | American Civil War |
United States Colored Troops (USCT) wereUnion Army regiments during theAmerican Civil War that primarily comprisedAfrican 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, USCT regiments, which numbered 175 in total by the end of the war in 1865, constituted about one-tenth of the manpower of the army, according to historianKelly Mezurek, author ofFor Their Own Cause: The 27th United States Colored Troops (The Kent State University Press, 2016). "They served in infantry, artillery, and cavalry."[1][2] Approximately 20 percent of USCT soldiers werekilled 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 theMedal of Honor. The USCT regiments were precursors to theBuffalo Soldier units which fought in theAmerican Indian Wars.[3]
The courage displayed by colored troops during the Civil War played an important role in African Americans gaining new rights. AsFrederick Douglass said in an 1863 speech:
Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on the earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.[4]
TheU.S. Congress passed theConfiscation Act[5] in July 1862, legalizing the practice of Union officers freeing slaves and putting them to work as army laborers. Congress also passed theMilitia Act, which empowered the President to use free blacks and former slaves from the rebel states in any capacity in the army. PresidentAbraham Lincoln was concerned with public opinion in the fourborder states that remained in the Union, as they had numerous slaveholders, as well as with northern Democrats who supported the war but were less supportive of abolition than many northern Republicans. At first, Lincoln opposed early efforts to recruitAfrican American soldiers, although he accepted the Army using them as paid workers. In September 1862, Lincoln issued hisEmancipation Proclamation, announcing that all slaves in rebellious states would be free as of January 1. Recruitment and training of colored regiments began in full force following the Proclamation in January 1863.[6]
TheUnited States War Department issuedGeneral Order Number 143 on May 22, 1863, establishing theBureau of Colored Troops to facilitate the recruitment of African-American soldiers to fight for the Union Army.[7] Regiments, includinginfantry,cavalry,engineers, lightartillery, and heavy artillery units were recruited from all states of the Union. Approximately 175 regiments comprising more than 178,000 free blacks andfreedmen served during the last two years of the war. Their service bolstered the Union war effort at a critical time.
Initially, the USCT were relegated to menial jobs such as that of laborers, teamsters, cooks, and other support duties. However, even these duties were essential to the war effort.[8] For example, USCT engineers builtFort Pocahontas, a Union supply depot, inCharles City,Virginia.[9] Eventually USCT were sent into combat.
The USCT suffered 2,751 combat deaths during the war, and 68,178 losses from all causes. Disease caused the most fatalities for all troops, both black and white.[10] In the last year-and-a-half and from all reported casualties, approximately 20% of all African Americans enrolled in the military died.[11] 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 mortalityrate 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.[11]
USCT regiments were led by white Union officers, while rank advancement was limited for Black soldiers, who could only rise to the rank ofnon-commissioned officers. Approximately 110 Black soldiers did become commissioned officers before the end of the war, primarily as surgeons or chaplains.[12] The Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments inPhiladelphia opened the Free Military Academy for Applicants for the Command of Colored Troops at the end of 1863.[13] For a time, Black soldiers received less pay than their white counterparts, but they and their supporters lobbied and eventually gained equal pay.[14] Notable members of USCT regiments includedMartin Robinson Delany and the sons of abolitionistFrederick Douglass.
The process for white officers aiming to lead USCT units 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 byBrig. 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.[15]
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Before the USCT was formed, several volunteer regiments were raised fromfree black men, includingfreedmen in the South. In 1863 a former slave,William Henry Singleton, helped recruit 1,000 former slaves inNew Bern, North Carolina, for theFirst North Carolina Colored Volunteers. He became a sergeant in the 35th USCT. Freedmen from theRoanoke Island Freedmen's Colony, established in 1863 on the island, also formed part of the Free North Carolina Colored Volunteers (FNCCV) and subsequently the 35th.[16] Nearly all of the volunteer regiments were converted into USCT units.
In 1922 Singleton published his memoir (in aslave 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 aGrand Army of the Republic (GAR) event in 1938.
Six 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:
The1st Louisiana Native Guard, one of manyLouisiana Union Civil War units, was formed inNew Orleans after the city was taken and occupied by Union forces. It was formed in part from the Confederacy's former unitof the same name, which had been made up of property-owningfree people of color (gens de couleur libres).[17] These men had wanted to prove their bravery and loyalty to the Confederacy like other Southern property owners by joining Confederate Black soldiers, but the Confederacy did not allow them to serve andconfiscated their arms.
For the new unit, the Union also recruitedfreedmen from the refugee camps. Liberated from nearby plantations, they and their families had no means to earn a living and no place to go. Local commanders, starved for replacements, started equipping volunteer units with cast-off uniforms and obsolete or captured firearms. The men were treated and paid as auxiliaries, performing guard or picket duties to free up white soldiers for maneuver units. In exchange their families were fed, clothed and housed for free at the Army camps; often schools were set up for them and their children.
Despite class differences between free Black people and freedmen, the troops of the new guard served with distinction, including under CaptainAndre Cailloux at theBattle of Port Hudson and throughout the South. Its units included:
Colored troops served as laborers in the 16th Army Corps'Quartermaster's Department andPioneer Corps.
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The first engagement by African-American soldiers against Confederate forces during the Civil War was at theBattle of Island Mound inBates County, Missouri on October 28–29, 1862. African Americans, mostly escaped slaves, had been recruited into the1st Kansas Colored Volunteers. They accompanied white troops to Missouri to break up Confederateguerrilla activities based out of Hog Island nearButler, Missouri. Although outnumbered, the African-American soldiers fought valiantly, and the Union forces won the engagement. The conflict was reported byThe New York Times andHarper's Weekly.[18][19] In 2012 the state established theBattle of Island Mound State Historic Site to preserve this area; the eight Union men killed were buried near the battleground.[20]
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 theBattle of the Crater during theSiege of Petersburg. Regiments of USCT suffered heavy casualties attempting to break throughConfederate lines. Other notable engagements includeFort Wagner, one of their first major tests, and theBattle of Nashville.[21]
Colored Troop soldiers were among the first Union forces to enterRichmond, Virginia, after its fall in April 1865. The 41st USCT regiment was among those present at the surrender of theArmy of Northern Virginia atAppomattox. Following the war, USCT regiments served among the occupation troops in former Confederate states.
U.S. Army GeneralUlysses 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).[22]
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 atFort Pillow in Tennessee, at theBattle of the Crater in Virginia,[23] and at theBattle 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.[21]
The prisoner exchange protocol based on theDix–Hill Cartel broke down over the Confederacy's position on blackprisoners-of-war. TheCongress of the Confederate States of America had passed a law on May 1, 1863, stating that white officers commanding black soldiers and blacks captured in uniform would be tried as rebellious slave insurrectionists in civil courts — a capital offense with automatic sentence of death.[24][25] In practice, USCT soldiers were often murdered by Confederate troops without being taken to court. This law became a stumbling block for prisoner exchange, as the U.S. government in theLieber Code objected to such discriminatory mistreatment of prisoners of war on basis of ethnicity. TheRepublican Party's platform during the 1864 presidential election also condemned the Confederacy's mistreatment of black U.S. soldiers.[26] In response to such mistreatment, GeneralUlysses S. Grant, in a letter to Confederate officerRichard Taylor, urged the Confederates to treat captured black U.S. soldiers humanely and professionally, and not to murder them. He stated the U.S. government's official position, that black U.S. soldiers were sworn military men. The Confederacy had said they were escaped slaves who deserved no better treatment.[27]
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.[28]
| North[29] | Number | South[29] | 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 |
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 (the9th and10th Cavalry) and four regiments of black infantry (the38th,39th,40th, and41st 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 SenatorBenjamin Wade prior to the bill's passing.[30] 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 (the24th and25th (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.[30]
From 1870 to 1898 the strength of the US Army totaled 25,000 service members with black soldiers maintaining their 10 percent representation.[30] USCT soldiers fought in theIndian Wars in theAmerican West, where they became known as theBuffalo Soldiers, reportedly nicknamed by Native Americans who compared their hair to the curly fur ofbison.[31]
Eighteen African-American USCT soldiers earned theMedal of Honor, the nation's highest award, for service in the war:[32]
Soldiers who fought in theArmy of the James were eligible for theButler Medal, commissioned by that army's commander,Maj. Gen.Benjamin Butler. When several slaves escaped to Butler's lines in 1861, atFort Monroe in Virginia, Butler was the first to declare anyrefugee slaves ascontraband, and refused to return them to slaveholders, a standard that slowly became an unofficial policy throughout theUnion Army. Their owner, a Confederate colonel, came to Butler under a flag of truce and demanded that they be returned to him under theFugitive Slave Act of 1850. Butler informed him that since Virginia claimed to have left theUnion, the Fugitive Slave Law no longer applied, declaring the slaves to be contraband of war.
The historianSteven Hahn proposes that when slaves organized themselves and worked with the Union Army during theAmerican Civil War, including as some regiments of the USCT, their actions comprised a slave rebellion that dwarfed all other slave revolts.[33] TheAfrican American Civil War Memorial Museum helps to preserve pertinent information from the period.[34]
The motion pictureGlory, starringDenzel Washington,Morgan Freeman, andMatthew Broderick, portrayed the African-American soldiers of the54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. It showed their training and participation in several battles, including thesecond assault onFort Wagner on July 18, 1863. Although the 54th was not a USCT regiment, but a state volunteer regiment originally raised from free blacks in Boston, similar to the 1st and 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry, the film portrays the experiences and hardships of African-American troops during the Civil War.[38]Richard Walter Thomas, black scholar of race relations, observed that the relationship between white and black soldiers in the Civil War was an instance of what he calls "the other tradition": "... after sharing the horrors of war with their black comrades in arms, many white officers experienced deep and dramatic transformations in their attitudes toward blacks."[39]
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)[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.
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.
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