Civil War, United States Colored Troop  - U.S.C.T

The United States Colored Troops made up over ten percent of the Union or Northern Army even though they were prohibited from joining until July 1862, fifteen months into the war. They comprised twenty-five percent of the Union navy. Yet, only one percent of the Northern population was African American. Clearly overrepresented in the military, African Americans played a decisive role in the Civil War.

In July of 1862, Congress passed the Militia Act of 1862. It had become an “indispensable military necessity” to call on America’s African descent population to help save the Union. A few weeks after President Lincoln signed the legislation on July 17, 1862, free men of color joined volunteer regiments in Illinois and New York. Such men would go on to fight in some of the most noted campaigns and battles of the war to include, Antietam, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.

On September 27, 1862, the first regiment to become a United States Colored Troops (USCT) regiment was officially brought into the Union army. All the captains and lieutenants in this Louisiana regiment were men of African descent. The regiment was immediately assigned combat duties, and it captured Donaldsonville, Louisiana on October 27, 1862. Before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, two more African descent regiments from Kansas and South Carolina would demonstrate their prowess in combat.

After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863, the War Department publicly authorized the recruiting of African Americans. The first regiment raised with such authority was the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. (Leading many to report that it was the first African descent regiment.) By the end of 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant viewed the African descent population armed with the Proclamation as a “powerful ally.”

Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act into law on April 16, 1862. The bill immediately freed enslaved people in the district and compensated former slave owners who were loyal to the Union up to $300 for each freeperson, according to the U.S. Senate Historical Office — just under $8,886 per person in 2023.

Source: African American Civil War Memorial and Museum

The 209,145 names are drawn from official records of the Bureau of US Colored Troops (USCT) at the National Archives and engraved on the Wall of Honor of the African American Civil War Memorial, Washington, D.C. Following are the numbers of enlistees attributed to the states in which they enlisted:

African American Civil War Soldiers  - 40,000 records already transcribed

Colored Troops Division,1863-1888. Adjutant General's Office  

United States Colored Troops Prisoners of War

Confederate prisons were in Andersonville, Georgia; Salisbury, North Carolina; Danville, North Carolina, and Libby

The U.S. Colored Troops at Andersonville Prison: Author - Bob O'Connor

• Records of Slave Claims Commissions, 1867-1867  - National Archives

• Maryland Slave Claims Commission Correspondence, 1864-1865. NAID 6267233  -  National Archives

• Vouchers for Disbursements to Members of Slave Claims Commissions, 1864-1866. NAID 608296  -  National Archives

• Registers of Claims for the U.S. Colored Troops, 1864-1867. NAID 608297  -  National Archives

• Register of U.S. Colored Troop Deaths Durning the Civil War, 1861-1865  -  National Archives

• United States District Court. Kansas, Slave compensation records, 1866-1867  - FamilySearch

• United States, National Archives, Slave Compensation Files  -  FamilySearch

• Descriptive List of Colored Volunteers, 1864

• Descriptive List of Colored Volunteers, 1864-1864, Volume 58
  

• Descriptive List of Colored Volunteers, 1864-1864, Volume 59

• Descriptive List of Colored Volunteers, 1864-1864, Volume 60

• List of the Names of the Enlisted Men of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Missing After the Assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina

• M1817, 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavalry, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry
• 1st United States Colored Infantry; 1st South Carolina Volunteers (Colored), Company A, 1st United States Colored Infantry
• M1820, Infantry Organizations 2nd through 7th including Tennessee and Louisiana
• M1821, Infantry organizations 8th through 13th including the 11th (new)
• M1822, Infantry organizations, 14th through 19th
• M1823, Infantry organizations, 20th through 25th
• M1824, Infantry Organizations 26th through 30th including 29th Connecticut
• M1992, Infantry organizations, 31st through 35th
• M1993, Infantry organizations, 36th through 40th
• M1994, Infantry Organizations, 41st through 46th
• M2000, Infantry Organization, 47th through 55th.
• M1898, 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (Colored)
• M1801, 55th Massachusetts Infantry (Colored)
• M1894, Descriptive recruitment lists of volunteers for the United States Colored Troops for the State of Missouri,1863-1865

• United States Civil war Service Records of Union Colored Troops, 1863-1865 . FamilySearch.org
• United States, Compiled Military Service Records Of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served With The U.S. Colored Troops, 1861-1866

• United States, Missouri, Recruitment Lists of Volunteers for the United States Colored Troops, 1863-1865

Note : As of July 2011, both of the above databases are incomplete. A list of regiments included in their databases can be found at  Ancestry  and  Fold3 .

FamilySearch Wiki United States Civil War Union Colored Troops

United States Colored Troops Military Units

• Register of U.S. Colored Troop Deaths During the Civil War 1861-1865. NARA NAID 1226169   ​
• Records of Death and Interment at Camp Nelson, Kentucky - 1864 - 1865 - National Archives Catalog  
• Center for Civil War Research,  U. S. Colored Troops Burials , has a list of USCT cemeteries and burial plots across the United States. The page is a work in progress. They would like information about any additional burial places.
• Resting Places of United States Colored Civil War Soldiers , Sailors and White Officers; Lest We Forget. Searchable by 32 states.

• USCT buried in the  cemeteries and graveyards of Bedford County , Pennsylvania. The list includes names, companies, regiments, and grave locations if known.
• National Grave Registration Database 
  

• U.S. Colored Troops Military Service Records 1863-1865

• U.S. Register of Colored Troops Deaths Durning the Civil War, 1861-1865

• National Park Service Soldiers and Sailors Database
• National Park Service  - The Civil War's Black Soldiers
• American Battlefield Trust - United States Colored Troops
• American Battlefield Trust - The Role of African Americans in the United States Army
• Black Virginians in Blue
  
• National Archives - Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military Durning the Civil War
• National Archives -  Black Men in Navy Blue Durning the Civil War. by Joseph R. Reidy
• African American Civil War Museum
• Naval History and Heritage Command
• United States Colored Troops USCT
• USCT History
• United States Colored Troops, Collection Highlight
• United States Colored Troops - Encyclopedia Virginia

Back To Top