When the Civil War began, many Black men were eager to enlist and fight for the Union, hopeful that their service would put an end to slavery in the South. This vision was not shared by white men; Abraham Lincoln was uninterested in a war for emancipation, and white Northerners had no desire to allow Black soldiers to fight what they saw as a white man’s war.[1] As the war progressed, however, Lincoln’s goals shifted.  With the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, Black soldiers were permitted to enlist.

Just as Black Americans had served in every other American war, whether as soldiers or as servants and laborers[2] in camps, they would continue their service to the Union in Black regiments. The first of these formed in Massachusetts in January 1863 after its governor, John A. Andrew, was eager to give such a unit an opportunity to fight. Andrew’s 54th Massachusetts Infantry set in motion what would become a large part of the Union’s new strategy: the formation of the United States Colored Troops (USCT).[3] Ohio’s governors hesitated to follow this example, but eventually they would recruit their own units.

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