This is the story of Maryland's 19th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, during the Civil War. The enlisted men were black, mostly escaped slaves. The officers were white. They suffered and died together. Many were killed in action, died from their wounds, died in prisoner of war camps, or died from disease. Many of those who survived their service suffered for the rest of their lives from battlefield wounds and amputations, or the effects of malaria, scurvy, cholera, chronic dysentery, typhoid fever, acute rheumatic fever, pneumonia, measles, blindness, hearing loss, and other illnesses contracted during their service. The 19th Regiment trained in Maryland during the winter of 1863-64, and fought in Virginia until General Lee surrendered. The regiment took part in the bloody Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia, and was among the first units to enter and occupy Richmond when Lee abandoned it. After the war, the regiment was posted to Texas where it kept the peace along the Mexican border. The men returned to Maryland when the regiment was disbanded in January 1867, but not everyone stayed home. Alfred Dennis (Company K) enlisted in the 10th Cavalry, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, and served five years in Oklahoma Indian Territory. Richard Combs (Company A) also joined the 10th Cavalry. He fought the Indians in Texas, and went to Cuba in 1898 with the 10th Cavalry and Teddy Roosevelt to fight at San Juan Hill. Others also returned to live out their final years in Texas.The book includes similar profiles on the lives of each of the 1,142 soldiers who served in the 19th Regiment. The information on the soldiers is taken from their military and pension files at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., a ten year project.

When the Civil War began in April 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for 90-day volunteers to put down the insurrection. 75,000 patriotic men enlisted. But as the war dragged on, it became clear that many more volunteers would be needed to replace the dead and wounded. The President issued more calls for volunteers, but fewer men answered each time. The true horror of war had begun to sink in. The Union Government then began to offer cash bonuses for enlistment, and instituted a draft. The first draft law was enacted on July 17, 1862. A more comprehensive one, the Enrollment Act, followed on March 3, 1863. But there were still not enough men to replace those lost in battle. After having initially resisted the idea, President Lincoln authorized the Army, in his Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, to begin enlisting free African-Americans. Later that year, he authorized the Army to begin enlisting slaves as well. This is the story of the 19th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, comprised of 1,000 men, most of whom were runaway slaves. The 19th Regiment fought at the famous Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia. Almost a third of the men had died in battle or from disease by the time their 3-year enlistment was up.

The Civil War changed the United States in many ways—economic, political, and social. Of these changes, none was more important than Emancipation. Besides freeing nearly four million slaves, it brought agricultural wage labor to a reluctant South and gave a vote to black adult males in the former slave states. It also offered former slaves new opportunities in education, property ownership—and military service. From late 1862 to the spring of 1865, as the Civil War raged on, the federal government accepted more than 180,000 black men as soldiers, something it had never done before on such a scale. Known collectively as the United States Colored Troops and organized in segregated regiments led by white officers, some of these soldiers guarded army posts along major rivers; others fought Confederate raiders to protect Union supply trains, and still others took part in major operations like the Siege of Petersburg and the Battle of Nashville. After the war, many of the black regiments took up posts in the former Confederacy to enforce federal Reconstruction policy. Freedom by the Sword tells the story of these soldiers' recruitment, organization, and service. Thanks to its broad focus on every theater of the war and its concentration on what black soldiers actually contributed to Union victory, this volume stands alone among histories of the U.S. Colored Troops.

From late 1862 to the spring of 1865, the federal government accepted more than 180,000 black men as soldiers, something it had never done before on such a scale. Known collectively as the United States Colored Troops and organized in segregated regiments led by white officers, some of these soldiers guarded army posts along major rivers; others fought Confederate raiders to protect Union supply trains; and still others took part in major operations like the siege of Petersburg and the battle of Nashville. After the war, many of the black regiments garrisoned the former Confederacy to enforce federal Reconstruction policy. This book tells the story of these soldiers' recruitment, organization, and service.

During the Civil War, African American war correspondent Thomas Morris Chester was so inspired by the men of the 36th United States Colored Troops that he declared the group to be "a model regiment." Composed primarily of former slaves recruited from Union-occupied areas of eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, the 36th USCT participated in large-scale expeditions to liberate slaves, guarded Confederate prisoners at major POW camps, served in the trenches before Petersburg and Richmond, and stood as one of the first units to enter the abandoned Confederate capital on April 3, 1865. This volume, which includes a complete regimental roster, explores the background of these former slaves and their families, examines their initial recruitment and chronicles their military contributions throughout the war. More than a unit history, the story of the 36th USCT offers a vivid portrait of the challenging transition from slavery to freedom.

Chronicles the Civil War experience of a representative African American regiment The Black Civil War Soldiers of Illinois tells the story of the Twenty-ninth United States Colored Infantry, one of almost 150 African American regiments to fight in the Civil War and the only such unit assembled by the state of Illinois. The Twenty-ninth took part in the famous Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, joined Grant's forces in the siege of Richmond, and stood on the battlefield when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. In this comprehensive examination of the unit's composition, contribution, and postwar fate, Edward A. Miller, Jr., demonstrates the value of the Twenty-ninth as a means of understanding the Civil War experience of African American soldiers, including the prejudice that shaped their service. Miller details the formation of the Twenty-ninth, its commendable performance but incompetent leadership during the Petersburg battle, and the refilling of its ranks, mostly by black enlistees who served as substitutes for drafted white men. He recounts the unit's role in the final campaign against the Army of Northern Virginia; its final, needless mission to the Texas border; the tragic postwar fate of most of its officers; and the continued discrimination and economic hardship endured after the war by the soldiers.