page_title: United States Colored Troops
section_title: Volunteer regiments
hierarchical_section_title: United States Colored Troops / History / Volunteer regiments
caption_attribution_description: Photograph showing soldier in uniform, wife in dress and hat, and two daughters wearing matching coats and hats. In May 1863, U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton issued General Order No. 143 creating the Bureau of U. S. Colored Troops. This image was found in Cecil County, Maryland, making it likely that this soldier belonged to one of the seven U.S.C.T. regiments raised in Maryland. (Source: Matthew R. Gross and Elizabeth T. Lewin, 2010) This is the only known photograph of an African American Union soldier with his family.
context_page_description: The United States Colored Troops were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served with the units. They were first recruited during the American Civil War, and by the end of the war in 1865, the 175 USCT regiments constituted about one-tenth of the manpower of the Union Army. About 20% of USCT soldiers died, a rate about 35% higher than that of white Union troops. Despite heavy casualties, many fought with distinction, 15 USCT soldiers receiving the Medal of Honor and numerous others receiving other honors.
  The USCT regiments were precursors to the Buffalo Soldier regiments in the American Old West.
context_section_description: Before the USCT was formed, several volunteer regiments were raised from free black men, including freedmen in the South. In 1863 a former slave, William Henry Singleton, helped recruit 1,000 former slaves in New Bern, North Carolina for the First North Carolina Colored Volunteers. He became a sergeant in the 35th USCT. Freedmen from the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony, established in 1863 on the island, also formed part of the Free North Carolina Colored Volunteers (FNCCV) and subsequently the 35th. Nearly all of the volunteer regiments were converted into USCT units.
  In 1922 Singleton published his memoir (in a slave narrative) of his journey from slavery to freedom and becoming a Union soldier. Glad to participate in reunions, years later at the age of 95, he marched in a Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) event in 1938.
caption: Union soldier in uniform with family; he has been identified as Sgt. Samuel Smith of the 119th USCT[12]
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