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Recover. Restore. Remember.
Be Part of the Project of a Lifetime
US Colored Troops
In 1862, the first of more than 200,000 members of the United States Colored Troops boldly pursued their freedom by enlisting in the Union Army. This quest for liberty left a legacy now carried by millions of descendants. It also produced a trail of documents capable of unlocking priceless family history for those who can trace their ancestry to these soldiers—many of whom were not properly honored in their lifetimes but are revered today.
In partnership with Reckoning, Inc., our volunteers are reconstructing the lives of 16,500 Black soldiers who enlisted from Kentucky—many of them formerly enslaved. Using rare ledger books from the National Archives, volunteers are tracing these soldiers’ family lineages, documenting their birthplaces, identifying enslavers, and connecting descendants to their ancestral stories. Once the work in Kentucky is complete, the project will expand to additional states, ensuring that the stories of all who served are recovered and preserved.
Resources
Resources at American Ancestors
Researching Black Soldiers in the Civil War webinar: https://www.americanancestors.org/video-library/researching-black-soldiers-civil-war
Profiles of Black Soldiers who served in the Civil War, 1861-1865 database: https://www.americanancestors.org/search/databasesearch/2822/profiles-of-black-soldiers-who-served-in-the-civil-war-1861-1865
Online Collections and Resources
Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served With the United States Colored Troops: https://www.fold3.com/collection/us-civil-war-union/publications
United States Civil War Pensions Index, 1861-1900, Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900, compiled 1949-1949, documenting the period 1861–1942: https://www.fold3.com/publication/57/us-civil-war-pensions-index-1861-1900
1890 Veterans Schedules of the U.S. Federal Census: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8667/
International African American Museum USCT pension applications: https://iaamcfh.omeka.net/s/IAAM_CFH/page/usct-pension-applications
USCT Pension Project: https://www.usctpensions.com/
Reckoning, Inc. Pension Files: https://reckoningradio.org/pension-files/
General Books
United States Army Quartermaster’s Department, Roll of Honor: Names of Soldiers Who Died in Defense of the American Union (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1994): https://library.nehgs.org/record=b1090727
William A. Dobak, Freedom by the Sword: the U.S. Colored Troops, 1862-1867 (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 2011). https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/225207-freedom-by-the-sword-the-u-s-colored-troops-1862-1867
Hondon B. Hargrove, Black Union soldiers in the Civil War (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1988). https://library.nehgs.org/record=b1007145
Edwin S. Redkey, editor, A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African American Soldiers in the Union Army 1861-1865 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). https://search.worldcat.org/title/25787839
Ronald S. Coddington, African American Faces of the Civil War: An Album (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012). https://search.worldcat.org/title/774147862