On this date in 1862, Fort Negley, Nashville, TN, was completed. This military facility was built during the American Civil War mainly with Black labor supervised by the Union Army.
learn more*On this date, in 1862, the XIX Army Corps was formed. They were a segregated regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent most of its service in Louisiana and the Gulf, though several units fought in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. The XIX Corps was assigned to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, the […]
learn more*On this date in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation; ordering that all slaves in rebel territory be freed.
learn more*On this date in 1863, the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored) was formed. This was a Union Army regiment during the American Civil War, formed by General Rufus Saxton. It was composed of escaped slaves from South Carolina and Florida. It was one of the first black regiments in the Union Army. Department of the South staff officer James D. Fessenden was heavily involved in efforts to recruit […]
learn more*This date celebrates the creation of the all-Black Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry in 1863.
Robert Gould Shaw, twenty-six year old member of a prominent Boston abolitionist family, organized the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry in March of that year at Camp Meigs, Readville, and Massachusetts. Shaw had earlier served in the Seventh New York National Guard and the Second Massachusetts Infantry, and was appointed colonel of the Fifty-fourth in February of that year by Massachusetts’s governor John A. Andrew.
learn moreOn this date in 1863 in North Carolina, the United States Department of War established the Bureau of Colored Troops, to help the Union Army fight the Civil War.
Regiments of colored troops from all states of the nation were reorganized into what became known as the United States Colored Troops (USCT).
Blacks have a rich history in United States military, and this was one of the first authorized attempts by the Federal government to enlist former slaves in the defense of the Union. The policy was innovative, new, and controversial with varying degrees of success.
learn more*John Archer was born on this date in 1863. He was a Black British lawyer, and politician.
learn more*On this date in 1863, The 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was formed. This was the sister regiment of the Massachusetts 54th Volunteers during the latter half of the American Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation, enacted by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, opened the way for the enlistment of free men of color and newly liberated slaves to fight […]
learn more*On this date, in 1863, William Henry Hunt was born. He was a Black diplomat. He was born in Tennessee, a mulatto. His father, William B. Hunt, was a white enslaver who fathered many children with his female slaves. His mother, Sophia Hunt, one of his father’s slaves, had a white grandfather. Young Hunt had three […]
learn more*The 7th Louisiana Regiment Infantry (African Descent) was formed on this date in 1863. This regiment was in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was first organized and was on duty in New Orleans, Louisiana, until August 6, 1863. In December 1863, it was organized in Memphis, Tennessee, Holly Springs, Mississippi, and […]
learn moreJohn Mitchell Jr. was born on this date in 1863. He was an African American journalist, activist, and politician.
He was born in Richmond, VA, and as a child, he helped support his parents by selling newspapers. He graduated first in his class from Richmond Normal High School. He became the editor of The Richmond Planet, (later the Richmond Afro-American). Mitchell was a brilliant man of many talents. In 1890, he was elected to the Richmond City Council, but around the turn of the century, he became cynical of politics.
learn more*The Battle of Honey Springs, also known as the Affair at Elk Creek, occurred on this date in 1863 during the American Civil War. This was a significant victory for Union forces in gaining control of the Indian Territory. It was the most crucial confrontation between Union and Confederate forces, eventually becoming Oklahoma. In the battle, […]
learn moreOn this date in 1863, the first Black soldier received America’s Congressional Medal of Honor.
Sergeant William H. Carney was the recipient because of his bravery in action during the Civil War. Carney, a member of the 54th Massachusetts Colored infantry, was wounded twice during the charge on Fort Wagner, S.C., while rescuing the Union Flag.
After making it through the barrage of bullets and delivering the flag he shouted, “The Old Flag never touched the ground.”
learn moreOn this date in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued what was called an “eye-for-eye” order, warning the Confederacy that Union soldiers would shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot. It also would condemn a rebel prisoner to a life of hard labor for every Black prisoner sold into slavery.
The order had a slight “restraining” influence on the Confederate government’s voiced policy, but individual commanders and soldiers continued to murder captured black soldiers.
learn more*On this date in 1863, the First Michigan Colored Regiment was organized.
Raised at Camp Ward, these troops were paid no bounty, received ten dollars per month, one ration per day, and three dollars of monthly pay was deducted for clothing, and white officers commanded the troops. Under this order the Regiment known originally as the First Regiment of Colored Infantry, afterwards its designation changed to the 102nd. United States Colored Troops was commenced on August 12th 1863 with 895 men on its roll.
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