United States Colored Troops in the Rio Grande Valley

United States Colored Troops in the Rio Grande Valley. . After General Order No. 143 created Union regiments exclusively for African American troops in 1863, the 62nd, 87th and 91st Infantry regiments of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) arrived in the Rio Grande Valley by the fall of that same year. The first soldiers arrived as part of the strategic Union blockade of Brazos Santiago. For a year, Union forces monitored the Confederate occupation of forts and trade along the border. During the Battle of Palmito Ranch on May 12-13, 1865, Union forces consisted of roughly 250 troops of the 62nd USCT, 50 from the 2nd Texas Cav. (US), and later 200 from the 34th Indiana Infantry., After the Confederacy surrendered, the USCT was instrumental in the post-war stabilization of the Rio Grande Valley. In late May 1865, 16,000 USCT troops arrived with orders to guard the river and secure the area, operating from Fort Brown at Brownsville, Ringgold Barracks at Rio Grande City, Fort McIntosh at Laredo and Fort Duncan at Eagle Pass. Troops stationed at Brazos Santiago and White’s Ranch, including the 62nd, 87th, 91st and 25th Corps, built a railroad between the two points. Various USCT regiments stationed at Fort Brown, including the 19th and 114th, built a pontoon bridge across the Rio Grande and invaded Matamoros. USCT occupied the area until July 1867, when the 117th left Ringgold Barracks. Before and after their deployment, members of the 62nd raised money to found Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri., With the last USCT troops mustered out, many outstanding service members, such as George Owens, reenlisted in the new African American regiments formed in 1866: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st Infantry, redesignated the 24th and 25th in 1869. These regiments would later be known as the Buffalo Soldiers. Buffalo Soldiers would return to Texas to fight in the Indian Wars of the 1870s and 1880s.