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The virginia sesquicentennial organized this hourlong event. Welcome back everyone. We are here in our fourth and final panel. I am joined by fitzhugh brundage, barbara gannon, and Thavolia Glymph we want to begin with a discussion of the scope and significance of the service in the u. S. Army of African American troops. Barbara, maybe want to get us started. Prof. Gannon u. S. Colored troops are more than anyone ever imagined. The u. S. Colored troops are federal volunteer units, theres over 140 of them of various times. They were a significant military force. Its interesting, at the beginning of the war, none of the white northerners would have ever imagined you would have had black northern soldiers. In fact, they turned many, many patriotic northern free men away. Its only the process of the war, the high discounts, sickness, and the fact that it didnt go well, that pr ....
Barbara, maybe want to get us started. Prof. Gannon well, first you have to understand the u. S. Colored troops are more than anyone ever imagined. The u. S. Colored troops are federal volunteer units, theres over 140 of them of various times. They were a significant military force. Its interesting, at the beginning of the war, none of the white northerners would have ever imagined you would have had black northern soldiers. In fact, they turned many, many patriotic northern free men away. So its only the process of the war, i. E. The high death count sickness, and the fact that it didnt go well, that prompted people to really think about arming African Americans. The emancipation proclamation was authorized. So you had over 180,000 troops which on one hand, people always say, well, there were 2 Million Union troops, but they came when they were needed. They were fresh troo ....
That is the one vindication i could not think of. But the way in which black ministers made sense of this, god had intervened in Human Affairs in 1861 and god had chosen Abraham Lincoln to do his work in 1862. That gods will was to transform the status of africanamericans because they were his chosen people. Now god had released them from bondage at there were great they great things in their future. One thing to keep in mind as we talk about the grim days of reconstruction and grimmer days of the jim crow south, there is an optimism that god cant be doing this to us if he will put us back in a situation like slavery. There has to be a forwardlooking progress to this and that is essential as to how africanamericans are interpreting what happened after the civil war. Prof. Varon that is the investment in the idea that they are a redeemer race that will redeem america from the ....
Makes the case of the number of men from slave states that wore blue uniforms gave a decisive edge to the union in the end. He finds 450 thousand men from slave states were union blue. This is a new framework for thinking about the war. Lets talk a little bit about men in the ranks and give some examples to the audience of some of these troops and their stories. Prof. Gannon there are so many. One of the things people have no idea is how many medal of honor winners there were among colored troops there were 14 in one battle. Christian fleetwood was one of those medal of honor winners. Robert penn, there are so many others. There were also the African Americans in the navy who were also awarded the medal of honor. They were so much more. So many stories. Its incredible about their sacrifice. Most people dont realize the men who fought at port hudson were officers, black officers among them. The 54th massachusetts had black offic ....