Perseverance

Perseverance. . , I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America. , , from the volunteer enlistment form of Felix Battles, August 8, 1864, Felix Battles was 20 years old when he enlisted. He was born into slavery near Memphis, Tennessee, and possibly freed himself by escaping north., Battles was one of 106 African American men who enlisted at Fort Snelling during the Civil War. He was a corporal in Company G, 18th United States Colored Infantry. His and other Black regiments helped win the Battle of Nashville., On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln authorized African American enlistment in the US Army as part of the Emancipation Proclamation., About 185,000 men served in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) during the Civil War. This number includes white officers. Even as they served their country, Black men could not advance beyond the rank of lieutenant. History has not yet done justice to the share borne by colored soldiers in the war for the Union, wrote Col. Thomas Freeman of the 14th USCT in 1885., Captions , Grand Army of the Republic parade, Moorhead, Minnesota, June 25, 1891 , In 1880, Felix Battles moved to Moorhead, where he operated a barber shop. He died in 1907. , Photograph from Flaten/Wange collection, courtesy Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, Recruitment poster, 1863–65