Civil War

Though left out of government and free society, African Americans in the Civil War forever shaped not only their own destinies and that of their descendants, but also the destiny of the war itself.

Learn more about African Americans in the Civil War below. Visit the NPS Civil War website for a complete exploration of the war.
Showing results 1-10 of 22

  • Gettysburg National Military Park

    Henry Gooden

    • Type: Person
    • Locations: Gettysburg National Military Park
    The dark gravestone engraved with the name of Henry Gooden lays flat with the surrounding grass.

    Civil War Veteran PVT Henry Gooden

  • Gettysburg National Military Park

    Charles Parker

    • Type: Person
    • Locations: Gettysburg National Military Park
    The gravestone of Charles Parker is a white marble stone with a curved top edge among other graves.

    PVT Charles Parker of the 3rd United States Colored Troops (USCT).

  • Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial

    • Type: Place
    • Locations: Boston National Historical Park, Boston African American National Historic Site
    Monument of a man on a horse with multiple soldiers marching around him.

    This memorial commemorates one of the first Black regiments to serve in the Civil War.

  • Massacre at Ross's Landing

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Vicksburg National Military Park
    • Offices: Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
    small American flags in front of unmarked gravestones

    In 1864, a company of United States Colored Troops on foraging detail were brutally attacked and killed by a group of Confederate guerrillas at Ross's Landing, Arkansas. The event, which was largely forgotten, was documented in 1864 newspapers and later rediscovered through meticulous burial records.

  • 54th Massachusetts Regiment

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Andersonville National Historic Site, Boston African American National Historic Site, Fort Frederica National Monument, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park,
    Crop of mural depicting the 54th Regiment

    The 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first regiment of African Americans from the North to serve during the Civil War, bravely assaulted Battery Wagner in Charleston Harbor. Their bravery increased Northern efforts to enlist African Americans. By war's end, over 180,000 African Americans fought in the US Army, roughly 10% of the fighting men.

  • Luis F. Emilio: Captain and Story Keeper of the 54th MA Regiment

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Boston African American National Historic Site, Salem Maritime National Historic Site
    • Offices: National Heritage Areas Program
    Portrait of Luis Emilio and two officers of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

    Captain Luis F. Emilio, the son of Spanish immigrants, served with the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment and emerged as the acting commander after many officers were killed or wounded at the assault on Fort Wagner. In 1891, he wrote of the history of the 54th in his book “A Brave Black Regiment.”

  • Robert Gould Shaw

    • Type: Person
    • Locations: Boston African American National Historic Site, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park
    young man with short hair and mustache in civil war era U.S. army uniform sitting at a desk.

    Robert Gould Shaw served as colonel of the 54th Massachusetts, one of the first Black regiments to fight in the Civil War.

  • Gettysburg National Military Park

    South Central Pennsylvanians in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Gettysburg National Military Park
    Part of the bronze statue to the 54th Massachusetts with a soldier marching forward holding a rifle.

    The first African American regiment to be raised in the North, east of the Mississippi River, the 54th Massachusetts ranks among the famous fighting units of the American Civil War. But did you know that when the 54th Massachusetts first departed Boston for the seat of war, there were more men from Pennsylvania within its ranks than from any other state? At least 124 of its soldiers were from south-central Pennsylvania, with two identifying Gettysburg as their place of birth

  • The Robert Gould Shaw Memorial

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Boston National Historical Park, Boston African American National Historic Site, Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
    Photo of Memorial, with Shaw on horseback accompanying his 54th Massachusetts Infantry

    The individuality of the figures in the Shaw Memorial is one of the monument's most striking and affecting characteristics. This version is on display at the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site near Cornish, New Hampshire.

  • Boston African American National Historic Site

    The Ongoing March: Commemoration and Activism at the Robert Gould Shaw/54th Regiment Memorial

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Boston African American National Historic Site
    Shaw/54th Regiment Memorial

    Explore some of the ways people have used the Shaw/54th Regiment Memorial since its dedication in this evolving exhibition.

Tags: civil war united states colored troops 54th massachusetts regiment
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Last updated: September 24, 2018

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