United States Colored Troops


United States Colored Troops 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, 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 historian Kelly Mezurek, author of For Their Own Cause: The 27th United States Colored Troops. "They served in infantry, artillery, and cavalry." 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.
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:

Background

The Confiscation Act

The U.S. Congress passed the Confiscation Act in July 1862, legalizing the practice of Union officers freeing slaves and putting them to work as army laborers. Congress also passed the Militia Act, which empowered the President to use free blacks and former slaves from the rebel states in any capacity in the army. President Abraham Lincoln was concerned with public opinion in the four border 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 recruit African American soldiers, although he accepted the Army using them as paid workers. In September 1862, Lincoln issued his Emancipation 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.

Formation

The United States War Department issued General Order Number 143 on May 22, 1863, establishing the Bureau of Colored Troops to facilitate the recruitment of African-American soldiers to fight for the Union Army. Regiments, including infantry, cavalry, engineers, light artillery, and heavy artillery units were recruited from all states of the Union. Approximately 175 regiments comprising more than 178,000 free blacks and freedmen 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. For example, USCT engineers built Fort Pocahontas, a Union supply depot, in Charles City, Virginia. 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. In the last year-and-a-half and from all reported casualties, approximately 20% of all African Americans enrolled in the military died. Notably, their mortality rate was significantly higher than white soldiers:
USCT regiments were led by white Union officers, while rank advancement was limited for Black soldiers, who could only rise to the rank of non-commissioned officers. Approximately 110 Black soldiers did become commissioned officers before the end of the war, primarily as surgeons or chaplains. The Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments in Philadelphia opened the Free Military Academy for Applicants for the Command of Colored Troops at the end of 1863. For a time, Black soldiers received less pay than their white counterparts, but they and their supporters lobbied and eventually gained equal pay. Notable members of USCT regiments included Martin Robinson Delany and the sons of abolitionist Frederick 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 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.

Volunteer regiments

Before the USCT was formed, several volunteer regiments were raised from free black men, including freedmen in the South. In 1863 a former slave, William Henry Singleton, helped recruit 1,000 former slaves in New Bern, North Carolina, for the First North Carolina Colored Volunteers. He became a sergeant in the 35th USCT. Freedmen from the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony, established in 1863 on the island, also formed part of the Free North Carolina Colored Volunteers and subsequently the 35th. Nearly all of the volunteer regiments were converted into USCT units.
In 1922 Singleton published his memoir 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 event in 1938.

State volunteers

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:
The 1st Louisiana Native Guard, one of many Louisiana Union Civil War units, was formed in New Orleans after the city was taken and occupied by Union forces. It was formed in part from the Confederacy's former unit of the same name, which had been made up of property-owning free people of color. 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 and confiscated their arms.
For the new unit, the Union also recruited freedmen 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 Captain Andre Cailloux at the Battle of Port Hudson and throughout the South. Its units included:
  • 4 Regiments of Louisiana Native Guards.
  • 1st and 2nd Brigade Marching Bands, Corps d'Afrique.
  • 1st Regiment of Cavalry.
  • 22 Regiments of Infantry.
  • 5 Regiments of Engineers whose work building Bailey's Dam saved the Union navy's Mississippi River Squadron.
  • 1 Regiment of Heavy Artillery.

    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, 16th Army Corps.
  • Pioneer Corps, Cavalry Division, 16th Army Corps.

    USCT Regiments

  • 6 Regiments of Cavalry
  • 1 Regiment of Light Artillery
  • 1 Independent USC Artillery Battery
  • 13 Heavy Artillery Regiments
  • 1 unassigned Company of Infantry
  • 1 Independent USC Company of Infantry
  • 1 Independent USC Regiment of Infantry
  • 135 Regiments of Infantry
;Details
  • The 2nd USC Artillery Regiment 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 was created by converting the 7th USC Artillery into an infantry unit.
  • The second raising of the 79th USC Infantry was formed from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry.
  • The second raising of the 83rd USC Infantry 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.

    Notable actions

The first engagement by African-American soldiers against Confederate forces during the Civil War was at the Battle of Island Mound in Bates County, Missouri on October 28–29, 1862. African Americans, mostly escaped slaves, had been recruited into the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers. They accompanied white troops to Missouri to break up Confederate guerrilla activities based out of Hog Island near Butler, Missouri. Although outnumbered, the African-American soldiers fought valiantly, and the Union forces won the engagement. The conflict was reported by The New York Times and Harper's Weekly. In 2012 the state established the Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site to preserve this area; the eight Union men killed were buried near the battleground.
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.
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: