Civil Rights in the Civil War

Born into slavery, Hilary and Christina Watson became landowners and prominent members of the African American community in Sharpsburg, Maryland during the era of Reconstruction following the Civil War.

Actress and Civil War spy, Pauline Cushman-Fryer narrowly escaped execution for her service to the Union cause. Undercover in Tennessee she performed an illness to escape hanging. She is buried in the Officer's section of the San Francisco National Cemetery at the Presidio.

On the night of June 1, 1863, Harriet Tubman and the soldiers of the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers sailed up the Combahee River. By the time they returned, they had liberated more than 750 people on what became known as the Combahee River Raid.

Women served disguised as male soldiers, they served as nurses, cooks, and laundresses. Women served in Ladies’ Relief Societies, in the U.S. Sanitary Commission, and in the U.S. Christian Commission. The Daughters of Charity, a Catholic religious order from Emmittsburg, Maryland, also responded in the aftermath of the battle. Many unnamed women from the Sharpsburg community helped care for the sick and wounded as well.

Learn about the development of Black post-emancipation schools in the South as part of the legacy of Black communities’ dedication and commitment to ensuring civil rights. Ten case studies highlight Reconstruction Era education stories and sites in and around national parks.

Clara Barton's dedication to healthcare and aiding those in need. This is a quick glimpse at her hard work.

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.

Although the abolition of slavery emerged as a dominant objective of the Union war effort, most Northerners embraced abolition as a practical measure rather than a moral cause. The war resolved legally and constitutionally the single most important moral question that afflicted the nascent republic, an issue that prevented the country from coalescing around a shared vision of freedom, equality, morality, and nationhood.

On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, ending the Civil War. Use this online activity to learn about the historical events and their impacts at this small village, especially for enslaved African Americans. It draws from historical and archeological evidence to tell the story of two women, Hannah Reynolds and Margaret Abbitt, who were enslaved at Appomattox Court House before the war and emancipated by its end.

Gravestone of Corporal Morris Link, who was killed in action in World War I, serving with the famed Harlem Hell fighters, one of the points of interest on a self guided tour exploring the African American history of St. Paul's Church N.H.S., in Mt. Vernon, NY.