The Civil War (1861-1865) opened the door for opportunity and civil rights for African American Virginians, about 90 percent of whom were enslaved in 1860. The upheaval from battles and the federal presence in Alexandria and eastern Fairfax . . . — — Map (db m149734) HM
The first school for African Americans in Appomattox County began near here. Before the Civil War's end, educational opportunities in rural Virginia were often limited for White residents and practically nonexistent for African Americans, . . . — — Map (db m181152) HM
The three brick cabins in the field before you are tangible connections to the enslaved people of Rappahannock County before and during the Civil War. Many slaves escaped to Union lines here and elsewhere, and some former bondsmen served in the U.S. . . . — — Map (db m49451) HM
George Washington Williams was born in 1849 in Bedford, Pennsylvania. At age 14, he enlisted in the Union Army to fight in the Civil War and received a medical discharge in 1868. In 1874, he became the first African American to graduate from the . . . — — Map (db m25125) HM
On June 27, 1864, Austin Gilmore of Tennessee fell, mortally wounded, in ferocious fighting near this wide field. But Gilmore held no military rank and no rifle. He held only a stretcher bearing a wounded soldier. An American of African descent, . . . — — Map (db m243772) HM
In March 1864, a regiment of United States Colored Troops (USCT) camping in Annapolis inspired William Evans, who was enslaved on this land, to self-liberate by fleeing Sandy Point to enlist in the 30th USCT. Evans was among 800 USCTs . . . — — Map (db m221221) HM
Divided loyalties and ironies tore at Marylander's hearts throughout the Civil War: enslaved African-Americans and free United States Colored Troops; spies and smugglers; civilians imprisoned without trial to protect freedom; neighbors and families . . . — — Map (db m72089) HM
William Evans, a slave of Capt. Thomas Mezick, the owner of Sandy Point Farm here, enlisted in the 30th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, in March 1864. The 22-year-old, thereby, gained his freedom. He joined 122 other area slaves who had been . . . — — Map (db m72087) HM
Divided loyalties and ironies tore at Marylander’s hearts throughout the Civil War: enslaved African-Americans and free United States Colored Troops; spies and smugglers; civilians imprisoned without trial to protect freedom; neighbors and . . . — — Map (db m24540) HM
Divided loyalties and ironies tore at Marylanders' hearts throughout the Civil War: enslaved African Americans and free United States Colored Troops; spies and smugglers; civilians imprisoned without trial to protect freedom; neighbors and . . . — — Map (db m186732) HM
Although isolated from Maryland's largest population centers, the Eastern Shore was important to the state's role in the Civil War and exemplified the citizens' divided loyalties.
In the years before the war, enslaved African-Americans here . . . — — Map (db m8331) HM
African American Civil War veterans constructed this meeting hall for Charles Sumner Post No. 25, Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) in 1908. The hall is one of only two known to survive that were built for soldiers who served in . . . — — Map (db m156672) HM
This hand hewn log cabin was built in Aquasco, Maryland around 1880 as a farm tenant house. This one up and one down design with one room and a loft was typically used for slave cabins during the early 1800s. By the late 1800s, it was the . . . — — Map (db m6096) HM
Queenstown, like most of the Eastern Shore in 1861, was a slaveholding community, and the impending conflict was regarded with concern and fear. When war erupted, families were torn apart because of their conflicting loyalities. It was not uncommon . . . — — Map (db m3113) HM
Private Shedrick Campbell Co. M. 2nd United States
Colored Cavalry Regiment
Post Commander
Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S. let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder . . . — — Map (db m194808) HM
Isaiah Fassett was born into slavery south of here in Sinepuxent in 1844. On November 11, 1863, when he was nineteen, his owner, Sara A. Bruff, released him from bondage to enlist in Co. D, 9th United States Colored Troops. Bruff, who was loyal . . . — — Map (db m206342) HM
Side A: Oscar D. Boggess Homestead
Oscar D. Boggess (1832-1907) was born in Virginia, the son of a slave and her master. He and his family were granted freedom in the will of his father and master. The will was contested up to the United . . . — — Map (db m43861) HM
St. Paul's A.M.E. Zion Church, erected in 1917, is the third church to be used by Gettysburg's oldest African American congregation—founded ca. 1838 in a small frame building on nearby Franklin Street. Members of this congregation have long . . . — — Map (db m130259) HM
The Grand Review for Union armies took place in Washington, D.C., in late May 1865. The veterans marched down Pennsylvania Avenue past President Andrew Johnson amid the cheers of thousands of grateful citizens. Conspicuously absent, however, were . . . — — Map (db m121992) HM
In memory
of the 20,133 who served as
United States Colored Troops
in the Union Army
Dedicated 2003
Sculptor: Roy W. Butler • Model: William C. Radcliffe
Presented by: The African American Cultural Alliance • United Association . . . — — Map (db m198942) WM
Between 1861 and 1865 the Civil War claimed the lives of over 625,000 Americans. Few communities, North or South, were left untouched by the conflict's hardship and loss, including Nashville. Tentatively pro-Union before the war, the city was the . . . — — Map (db m178383) HM
In 1860, African-Americans — both enslaved and free — made up more than half of Franklin's residents, as well as half of Williamson County's population. When the Federal army arrived late in 1862, many slaves freed themselves by . . . — — Map (db m120385) HM
On March 24, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln told Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson, “The colored population is the great available, and yet unavailed of, force for restoring the Union.” In September 1863, Johnson gave permission to Maj. . . . — — Map (db m189735) HM
During the Civil War, Alexandria's population swelled with more than 20,000 enslaved African Americans fleeing Confederate territory for safety behind Union lines. Initially called Contrabands because they were considered "property" taken during . . . — — Map (db m127734) HM
Nearby were the homes of three Afro-Virginians who served in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) during the Civil War. Sgt. March Corprew, Co. I, 2nd USCT Cavalry, and his brother Pvt. Daniel Corprew, Co. D, 1st USCT Cavalry, lived on a . . . — — Map (db m48918) HM
On May 8, 1864, following the Battle of the Wilderness, troopers of the 9th Virginia Cavalry scouted through this region and captured several United States Colored Troops (USCTs) near Madden's Tavern. Private Byrd C. Willis of the 9th recalled, . . . — — Map (db m185516) HM
As you watch boats being launched here today, imagine the challenge faced by Union engineers tasked with constructing a pontoon bridge at this site on June 20th, 1864. Under the cover of night, and without alerting nearby Confederate pickets, . . . — — Map (db m216519) HM
"The busiest place in Dixie" City Point, Virginia, played a significant role in the final year of the Civil War. General-in-Chief of the Union Army Ulysses S. Grant established his headquarters here on June 15, 1864. Union ships sailed . . . — — Map (db m131786) HM WM
Loudoun County experienced continuous Union and Confederate activity during the war. Carter's Mill Road, in front of you, provided access to the agricultural abundance of Oatlands and other farms south and east of here, where the use of slave . . . — — Map (db m124387) HM
"…they went forward with undaunted bravery!"
- Sgt. J. Payne 27th USCT
By 8:30 am, over the now wooded ground before you, nearly 4,000 black Union soldiers (known then as United States Colored Troops or USCT) . . . — — Map (db m184826) HM
The Third Union invasion was significant because it was the first deployment of African American troops in Florida by the federal government. The 33rd USCT (United States Colored Troops), formerly known as the 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry . . . — — Map (db m143682) WM
Side 1
Beginning in 1909, Union Civil War veterans from all over the United States began to move to St. Cloud, many drawn by promotions in Northern newspapers. The first veteran to die in St. Cloud, Lucius L. Mitchell, passed away in December . . . — — Map (db m172100) HM
The Confederate "Army of Tennessee" that defended Dalton from November 1863 to May 1864 briefly returned here the following October. It was much depleted in both size and spirit. Their unsuccessful defense of Atlanta ended with its fall on September . . . — — Map (db m86563) HM
( Upper Left Section )
Welcome to the Knox County Veterans’ Memorial Park. The monuments that stand before you are dedicated to the memory of all the military veterans from Knox County. Most prominent is the “Soldiers and . . . — — Map (db m23581) HM
During February 1864, the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army, Lorenzo Thomas, under the direction of the Secretary of War, Edwin L. Stanton, authorized the recruitment of African Americans by the Union Army in Kentucky. The 8th United States Heavy . . . — — Map (db m48462) HM
Nearby stood Camp Stanton, a Civil War-era recruiting and training post for African American Union soldiers. Named for Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, the camp was established in August 1863. Although black soldiers had served in the nation’s armed . . . — — Map (db m195735) HM
(front)
Powhatan Beaty
Born in Richmond, Virginia. Powhatan Beaty moved to Cincinnati in 1849, where he spent the majority of his life. Beaty enlisted as a private in the Union Army in June 1863, and two days later was promoted . . . — — Map (db m87543) HM
By 1873, Bethel AME Church served three elements of the city’s Black population; those free before the Civil War, those emancipated and placed in Bethel’s care by the Freedman’s Bureau; and immigrants fleeing the South’s Jim Crow laws.
To shelter . . . — — Map (db m85932) HM
Eighty-eight African Americans from Mercersburg volunteered to defend the Union during the Civil War. At least 36 of those veterans lie in Mercersburg Zion Union Cemetery, established in 1876 by local Black citizens.
By 1850 Mercersburg had 26 . . . — — Map (db m44650) HM
Opened at a time when blacks and whites legally could not be buried next to one another, this cemetery is the final resting place for generations of African-American wives, mothers, daughters, husbands, and sons—including valiant soldiers. In 1863 . . . — — Map (db m215521) HM
The location of the Anderson County Courthouse Annex on the corner of Fant and River Street has unique significance to Anderson's history. The site is the location of the 1865 federal encampment of the First Maine, 33rd Regiment, United States . . . — — Map (db m19838) HM
National Cemetery Beaufort National Cemetery was established in 1863. The U.S. Army Quartermaster General's Office laid out the 22 acres in sections that radiate outward from a central plaza to form a half circle. Of the 9,226 interments here . . . — — Map (db m134421) HM
In November 1863, Federal troops occupied Kingston Springs to serve as headquarters for the supervisors of the U.S. Military Railroad Construction Corps. They oversaw the construction of this section of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. When . . . — — Map (db m69365) HM
“A little distance from these barracks is a Negro village [Affricanna Town]. Those that are able to procure their own lumber are permitted to put up their own houses with little garden lots. The best class of negroes do this. Most of . . . — — Map (db m205379) HM
(preface) Early in 1864, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commander of all Federal armies, ordered advances throughout the Confederacy in the spring. On May 5, Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler landed his Army of the James on Bermuda Hundred . . . — — Map (db m164324) HM
Shortly after the Army of the James landed in Bermuda Hundred, a field hospital was established here at Point of Rocks. The hospital originally consisted of tents set up in the orchard around the Strachan House. The tents were 50 feet long and . . . — — Map (db m109377) HM
"Petersburg at that hour was clearly at the mercy of the Federal Commander who had all but captured it"
Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard on the June 15th attack at Petersburg.
On June 9, 1864, as Grant prepared to shift his army . . . — — Map (db m180819) HM
In 1867, African Americans built Galloway United Methodist Church and established the historic cemetery you are facing. According to local tradition, before and during the Civil War enslaved people on the Dulany plantation secretly worshiped in the . . . — — Map (db m72029) HM
You are standing across the street from land that Harriet Brice, a “free woman of color,” purchased in 1864. Together with her husband, George Brice, she struggled to farm the property during the Civil War. Although she had gained her freedom . . . — — Map (db m206332) HM
The 4th, 5th, 6th, and 22nd regiments of United States Colored Troops (USCT) seized this point on May 5, 1864, in advance of Union Gen. Benjamin Butler's force sailing up the James River. As the USCTs landed here, . . . — — Map (db m149551) HM
During the Civil War this church served as a signal station for both the Confederacy and the Union. On May 5, 1864 Col. Samuel A. Duncan’s brigade of United States Colored Troops (4th, 5th, and 6th U.S.C.T.) occupied City Point and the signal . . . — — Map (db m19604) HM
"The War That Ended Slavery"
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, from his 1881 Storer College Commencement speech
"I want to free all the negroes in this [slave] state ... if the citizens interfere with me I must only burn . . . — — Map (db m143940) HM
Lawyer and Businessman
Charles Cruft was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1826 and graduated from Wabash College in 1842. He taught school and worked at a bank before reading law and being admitted to the bar in 1848. An excellent . . . — — Map (db m210652) HM
On June 7, 1863, black troops fought a vicious battle to defend the Union supply base at Milliken’s Bend, 15 miles northwest of here. Their victory proved black troops could fight well and helped ensure that the siege at Vicksburg would end in Union . . . — — Map (db m84474) HM
General Butler to Governor Hicks
Off Annapolis, April 22, 1861
"Have I your excellency's permission...to land my men, to supply their wants, and to relieve them from the extreme and unhealthy confinement of a transport vessel not fit to . . . — — Map (db m114563) HM
Divided loyalties and ironies tore at Marylanders’ hearts throughout the Civil War: enslaved African-Americans and free United States Colored Troops; spies and smugglers; civilians imprisoned without trial to protect freedom; neighbors and . . . — — Map (db m168144) HM
Imagine the now-quiet fields south of Rt. 231 full of activity that signified a revolutionary shift in American society. Shouted commands and gunfire filled the air as Black men, some formerly enslaved, learned to march and fire their weapons as . . . — — Map (db m214802) HM
Divided loyalties and ironies tore at Marylanders’ hearts throughout the Civil War: enslaved African-Americans and free United States Colored Troops; spies and smugglers; civilians imprisoned without trial to protect freedom; neighbors and families . . . — — Map (db m922) HM
You are looking at a rare survivor—a building that embodies the radical social change brought on by the Civil War. In 1882, 28 African American veterans of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) chartered the Charles Sumner Post #25, Grand Army . . . — — Map (db m199235) HM
Divided loyalties and ironies tore at Marylanders’ hearts throughout the Civil War: enslaved African-Americans and free United States Colored Troops; spies and smugglers; civilians imprisoned without trial to protect freedom; neighbors and families . . . — — Map (db m1000) HM
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, . . . — — Map (db m231429) HM
On July 4, 1864, a small brigade of
Confederate cavalry under the command
of Col. Robert C. Wood attacked a
Union force composed of the Mississippi
Marine Brigade and two regiments of
United States Colored Troops on an
expedition from . . . — — Map (db m117953) HM
George Avery, a 19-year-old enslaved blacksmith, joined Co. D, 40th United States Colored Troops, in Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1865. According to local tradition, his master, Confederate Maj. William W. McDowell, sent Avery to enlist for a post-war . . . — — Map (db m75527) HM
After John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859, new militia companies were formed in the South. Businessman William W. McDowell, whose wife acquired this house from her father’s and brother’s estates, raised a company called the . . . — — Map (db m75524) HM
A Final Resting Place Before the mid-20th century, cemeteries were often part of institutional settings such as prisons, workhouses, poor farms, and public hospitals. When a patient died at a state mental hospital, the body was usually returned . . . — — Map (db m233380) HM
About the Art
Monumental Stories is a dedication to the History, Heritage, and Honor of the African American community of Gettysburg, PA, and the United States Colored Troops (USCT).
The art is designed to communicate an everlasting . . . — — Map (db m67395) HM WM
Below the hill to your front and concealed by thick brush, Confederate troops under the command of Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest constructed five artillery positions to deploy guns against the Union supply depot at Johnsonville. On November 3, . . . — — Map (db m146438) HM
Capt. Jacob C. “Jake” Bennett, a native Kentuckian and noted Confederate partisan ranger, is buried in Donaldson Cemetery (four miles north of here). During the war, bushwhackers and guerrillas on both sides raided the sparsely populated . . . — — Map (db m112197) HM
"The sharp points of frozen mud rendered it difficult, and even painful, for Hood's brave bare-footed men to maneuver. Why Thomas did not capture Hood's whole army seemed strange to us." — Private W.J. Worsham, 19th Tennessee, . . . — — Map (db m178446) HM
Johnsonville was a major Federal supply depot on the Tennessee River at the western terminus of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, completed in May 1864. Col. Charles R. Thompson commanded the 2,000-man garrison here. The 12th, 13th, and 100th . . . — — Map (db m74390) HM
Before the Civil War, 75 enslaved people toiled at Rippavilla, and many of them worked the fields in front of you. That changed after the January 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation. While the decree freed slaves only in areas not under Federal . . . — — Map (db m209551) HM
Securing the Capital
On May 24, 1861, Gen. Winfield Scott ordered eleven regiments of Union troops from Washington, D.C., across the Potomac River, where they captured Arlington and Alexandria.
After their defeat in July at Manassas, . . . — — Map (db m92113) HM
Patients at Point of Rocks Hospital were under the care of two pioneer women in the field of medicine, Clara Barton and Harriet Dame. At a time when most women were not allowed to be near the fighting, these women saw the war close up at field . . . — — Map (db m109378) HM
In April of 1864, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant met with Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler and approved his plan for attacking Richmond by moving an army up the James River. Grant decided that while the Army of the Potomac moved against Robert E. Lee and the . . . — — Map (db m73968) HM
In the years after the Civil War, African Americans across the country commemorated fallen Union soldiers with Decoration Day, a precursor to modern Memorial Day celebration.
Following the creation of the Fredericksburg National Cemetery . . . — — Map (db m242243) HM
Prior to the Civil War, Dr. Eppes commanded his slaves to not get drunk, steal, commit adultery, damage property, nor attack him, the overseers, or each other. The enslaved people resisted by stealing, feigning illness, breaking tools, and at . . . — — Map (db m149560) HM
During the Civil War this church served as a signal station for both the Confederacy and the Union. On May 5, 1864 Col. Samuel A. Duncan's brigade of United States Colored Troops (4th, 5th, and 6th U.S.C.T.) occupied City Point and this signal . . . — — Map (db m149544) HM
After the Union 9th Corps advanced, General John W. Turner's men from the 10th Corps moved into the Poor Creek bottom behind the Union picket line. This line came down the hill in front of you, crossed upstream (to the right) and up the ridge behind . . . — — Map (db m184417) HM
“The Union soldiers would put out the fires and push into the city within hours of the Confederates passing over the bridges. Among the first Union soldiers to put down their muskets and pick up fire hoses and axes would be several regiments of the . . . — — Map (db m41840) HM
Shiloh Baptist Church was started in 1863 by former slave and lay minister, John Carey; and Reverend Jeremiah Asher from Shiloh Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The church sewed the residents of Slabtown, a community established by the . . . — — Map (db m162586) HM
Shiloh Baptist Church was started in 1863 by former slave and lay minister, John Carey; and Reverend Jeremiah Asher from Shiloh Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The church sewed the residents of Slabtown, a community established by the . . . — — Map (db m90962) HM
Martin Robison Delany was born in Charlestown, Virginia (now Charles Town, West Virginia) on May 6, 1812. His mother, Patti Peace was a free black woman. She married an enslaved man from Berkeley County named Samuel Delany. They had five children . . . — — Map (db m132450) HM
Divided loyalties and ironies tore at Marylander’s hearts throughout the Civil War: enslaved African-Americans and free United States Colored Troops; spies and smugglers; civilians imprisoned without trial to protect freedom; neighbors and families . . . — — Map (db m1104) HM
This was the home of Nathaniel Hopkins, known affectionately in Talbot County as "Uncle Nace." He was born a slave near here in 1831. After leaving his owner, Percy McKnett, and serving in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, . . . — — Map (db m154465) HM
In 1868 the "Little Bethel" AME Church was built as a permanent place of worship for free yet segregated Native and Black Americans. Here they worshiped "Almighty God." The diverse congregation included Monroe County's Veterans of the United . . . — — Map (db m217042) HM WM
The construction of Johnsonville's Upper Redoubt - called Fort Johnson during the Civil War - is shrouded in mystery. A redoubt is an earthwork enclosed on all sides. The overall configuration may be square, polygonal, or circular. There is . . . — — Map (db m177359) HM
A garrison is a contingent of military personnel stationed at a strategic location for defensive purposes. Federal troops at Johnsonville were responsible for protecting the supply depot and guarding the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. Between . . . — — Map (db m177278) HM
The three brick cabins in the field before you are tangible connections to the enslaved people of Rappahannock County before and during the Civil War. Many slaves escaped to Union lines here and elsewhere, and some former bondsmen served in the . . . — — Map (db m173050) HM
Battery C sat directly above Helena and was the key to the city's defenses. The small earthen battery manned by the 33rd Missouri held two artillery pieces. A series of infantry trenches in front of the battery defended the approach. Union engineers . . . — — Map (db m107956) HM
President Abraham Lincoln and Congress resisted the enlistment of African Americans into the military during the early stages of the Civil War despite intense pressure from abolitionists. This changed in July 1862, when Congress passed the Second . . . — — Map (db m169974) HM
The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, enacted on December 18, 1865, abolished slavery within the United States. Immediately before the ratification of this amendment, slavery remained legal only in Kentucky and Delaware. Elsewhere, slaves . . . — — Map (db m169975) HM
Fall of Port Hudson In May 1863, Union Gen. Nathaniel Banks landed 30,000 soldiers at Bayou Sara north of Port Hudson. A force of 7,500 men commanded by Confederate Gen. Franklin Gardner held the Mississippi River stronghold. General Banks' . . . — — Map (db m129210) HM
Black men responded to the call for military service long before enactment of the 1863 Enrollment Act which first included Blacks in the draft. Despite
segregation and discrimination, these service members fought with courage and valor, many paying . . . — — Map (db m219766) HM WM
Near this location stood the settlement of African American families known as
“The Lett Settlement.” The Lett Settlement was a self-sustaining community of mixed race families, including the Caliman, Guy,
and Lett families. The . . . — — Map (db m135923) HM
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Tennessee allied with the South in June 1861, making Nashville a Confederate capital. Unable to defend the city after the fall of Ft. Donelson, Nashville was surrendered to the Federal army in February 1862. Union . . . — — Map (db m205365) HM
Thirteen African American veterans of the Civil War are interred nearby at the Cuffeytown Historic Cemetery. They served in the 5th, 10th, and 36th United States Colored Troops infantry regiments organized in 1863 and 1864, after the Emancipation . . . — — Map (db m48917) HM
(left panel)
Fort Brady
Visiting Richmond National Battlefield Park
The concentration of Civil War resources found in the Richmond area is unparalleled. The National Park Service manages 13 sites, giving visitors an . . . — — Map (db m180911) HM
(Side 1)
Fort Norfolk
First Series Fort 1794
On 28 March 1794, President George Washington approved funding for the fortication of 19 coastal harbors in the United States, stretching from Portland, Maine to Savannah, Georgia. . . . — — Map (db m200212) HM
Journey to Kansas A former slave, Henry McDaniel fought in the Civil War with the 122nd United States Colored Troops. Although he continued to work after the war, the injuries he sustained during battle made physical work very difficult. . . . — — Map (db m223493) HM
In Memory of Queen Anne's County Veterans Who Gave All in Defense of Freedom
Revolutionary War
William Adair 1780 • William Alexander 1777 • Nathaniel Bateman 1781 • Alexander Beck 1779 • Michael Clancy 1779 • James Clift . . . — — Map (db m244985) WM
