"To Free Our Race"

"To Free Our Race". The Reunion of the 35th United States Colored Troops. , Nearly four decades after the Civil War, veterans of the 35th United States Colored Troops (USCT) gathered on this spot to remember the time in their younger days when they fought "to free race" from enslavement., The 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers were raised in this region in May 1863 before being redesignated as the 35th USCT on February 8, 1864. During their service, the regiment fought with valor at the battles of Olustee, Florida, and Honey Hill, South Carolina, where they "went in with a cheer" against "tremendously destructive fire." They paid dearly, suffering 24 casualties at Olustee and 114 at Honey Hill. By the time the regiment mustered out on June 1, 1866, 205 men had died., Almost 40 years later, the Civil War veterans of the 35th UCST and their families gathered for a reunion at the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge that once stood here. Such a gathering was dangerous in an era when Southern whites used intimidation and violence to reassert their authority and control. Yet still these men came., The photograph above is from that reunion, showing the proud, brave men who freed themselves from bondage, then volunteered to risk their lives to preserve the Union and end slavery.,

"We want to help fight to free our race. , , Sgt. William Henry Singleton, who organized the core of the regiment.

, [Captions:] , Reunion of the 35th United States Colored Troops, ca. 1902-1905, Among the men in the photograph is Luke Martin (1838-1920), who was enslaved near Plymouth but escaped and served in the 35th USCT from May 1863 to June 1866. In 2013, his son, Luke Perkins Martin (1917-2016), identified his father in the photograph.