2nd Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops Memorial

2nd Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops Memorial. and Companies D and I which Served at The Battle of Fort Myers. , (left panel) , On July 20 1861, U.S. Army Officer Major French wrote to U.S. Naval Officer McKean "I have information that a schooner, fitted out as a slaver is in the Caloosahatchee River. Her appointments I am told are full.", On February 20, 1865 Confederates of the 1st Battalion, Florida Special Cavalry attacked Fort Myers. The attack erupted into a cannon duel with the 2nd USCT in charge of artillery. The New York Times reported: the colored soldiers at Fort Myers were in the thick of the fight. Unconscious of danger, their constant cry was to get at them. At nightfall, the Confederate force withdrew. A Confederate participant later recalled, "It was seen that nothing was accomplished.", The Battle of Fort Myers marked the final action of the 2nd USCT in South Florida. Companies D and I left Fort Myers in March of 1865. Fort Myers was then decommissioned., USCT Troops freed and enlisted over 1000 of the enslaved in Florida during the Civil War., (right panel) In Freedom Cover Me , The war between the states it's called , to make us all one people , one man's bullet is another man's death , in this God makes us equal, The men who died in the fight today , all knew this was the start , of some new age yet undefined , of which we're all a part, This Union Flag I stand beneath , is what's protecting me , from a life of moral death , a life in slavery , When muskets fire if I should fall , in freedom cover me , with these stars from this flag , like leaves from God's great tree , -Clayton.