When the Civil War started in 1861, there were about 4.5 million blacks living in the United States. Four million of that number were enslaved blacks living in the agricultural regions of the South. As one contemporary observer noted these men, women, and children were surrounded by a "hellish institution... unparalleled in its mode of evil treatment by the master to the slave." But the great national strife that was the war between the states gave thousands of enslaved young men of African descent an opportunity to help end the rebellion and gain their liberty.
Approximately 150,000 of the soldiers listed on the Wall of Honor of the African American Civil War Memorial were enslaved when the war started. Approximately 50,000 of the men listed on the wall were free blacks. These free men were mostly laborers, farmers, waiters, craftsmen, and mechanics.
We find the largest number of formerly enslaved soldiers coming from the state of Louisiana, with approximately 24,000. The state of Kentucky was second with approximately 23,000. Tennessee was third and Mississippi was fourth with each supplying about 20,000 black men to the Union forces. There are more than 209,000 men listed on the wall. They hailed from all over the United States, Canada, South America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
In comparison with the figures above, the number of black soldiers credited to the District of Columbia, 3,265, seems small. And yet this number is equal in size to three regiments and demonstrates that African Americans in the nation's capital sent a larger percentage of their population to war-time service than the number - 13,265 - credited to whites in the city who comprised a far larger number of eligible citizens. It is this commitment, courage, and sacrifice that C.R. Gibbs recounts in Black, Copper, and Bright: The District of Columbia's Black Civil War Regiment. This book tells us the largely forgotten story of the First Regiment, United States Colored Troops organized in the District of Columbia in the spring and summer of 1863. There was tremendous opposition to the organization of this regiment from the very beginning and Mr. Gibbs weaves a masterful and exciting story of the unit's travails and triumphs. He rescues this story from the dust of history and reminds us all of the struggles that occurred here on the streets we walk today and climaxed on the battlefields of Virginia and North Carolina.
We must challenge ourselves to do all we can to correct the great oversight in history by telling the story of the service and courage of these soldiers. As we honor them, we honor the best in our country and ourselves as we prepare the next generation to be more noble and patriotic.
Frank Smith, Ph.D.
Founding Director,
African American Civil War Memorial
Freedom Foundation
