Ethnicity, Race, and the Military

Photo of African American soldier

Racial and ethnic groups played an important role in both armies during the Civil War. Many black soldiers fought for the North, enraging Southerners on the battlefield. Hispanic soldiers fought on both sides. American Indians acted as scouts and guides, hoping to regain land and freedom if they aided the victors.

Unfortunately, it would be decades before significant numbers of Americans recognized the considerable contributions of ethnic groups that had suffered chronic discrimination and a racial group that had been alternately enslaved, segregated, or ignored for more than 200 years.

Showing results 1-7 of 7

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Civil War Defenses of Washington
    Flag of the 22nd United States Colored Troops

    Coming from free states, or straight off of the plantations, freemen or former slaves, thousands of African Americans fought to destroy slavery once and for all with the United States Colored Troops. Despite the skepticism or outright hostility of some whites, these troops played a major role in both defending the Union capital and taking the Confederate one.

  • Fort Smith National Historic Site

    Fort Smith's United States Colored Troops

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Fort Smith National Historic Site
    Presentation of colors to the 20th United States Colored Infantry

    Although African-Americans served in every previous American war, it was through the decisions of specific commanders. In a controversial move, the War Department called for all Union commanders to receive black soldiers into the Union forces. This official action led to the formation of the 11th Regiment United States Colored Troops, among others, in the fall of 1863.

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Civil War Defenses of Washington
    Photo of three African American boys in a Union army camp

    For thousands of African Americans during the Civil War, Washington, D.C. was a beacon of freedom - and a place where they could work to assist the war effort. There they found themselves digging fortifications, driving wagons, or cooking, but as free men and women selling their services, many for the first time in their lives.

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Antietam National Battlefield,Castle Clinton National Monument,Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park,Governors Island National Monument
    Recruiting Poster for the 69th New York, comprised entirely of Irish Americans

    Although many Irishmen were found throughout the Union, and to a lesser degree, Confederate forces, numerous specifically "Irish" regiments and companies enabled new immigrants to join comrades with a similar background. Most famous was the Irish Brigade of the Army of the Potomac, particularly distinguished for hard fighting at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg.

Last updated: April 23, 2015

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