United States Colored Troops The United States Colored Troops ( USCT ) were regiments of the United States Army during the American Civil War that were composed of African - American ( " colored " ) soldiers . First recruited in 1863 , by the end of the Civil War , the men of the 175 regiments of the USCT constituted approximately one - tenth of the Union Army . African Americans in the United States Army in the decades after the war became known in the West as the Buffalo Soldiers . They fought in the Indian Wars later in the nineteenth century and received their nickname from Native Americans who compared their hair to the fur of bison . History . The U . S . Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act in July 1862 . It freed slaves of owners in rebellion against the United States , and a militia act empowered the President to use freed slaves in any capacity in the army . President Abraham Lincoln was concerned with public opinion in the four border states that remained in the Union , as they had numerous slaveholders , as well as with northern Democrats who supported the war but were less supportive of abolition than many northern Republicans . Lincoln opposed early efforts to recruit black soldiers , although he accepted the Army ' s using them as paid workers . Union Army setbacks in battles over the summer of 1862 led Lincoln to emancipate all slaves in states at war with the Union . In September 1862 Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation , announcing that all slaves in rebellious states would be free as of January 1 . Recruitment of colored regiments began in full force following the Proclamation of January 1863 . The United States War Department issued General Order Number 143 on May 22 , 1863 , establishing a " Bureau of Colored Troops " to facilitate the recruitment of African - American soldiers to fight for the Union Army . Regiments , including infantry , cavalry , engineers , light artillery , and heavy artillery units , were recruited from all states of the Union and became known as the United States Colored Troops ( USCT ) . Approximately 175 regiments composed of more than 178 , 000 free blacks and freedmen served during the last two years of the war . Their service bolstered the Union war effort at a critical time . By war ' s end , the men of the USCT composed nearly one tenth of all Union troops . The USCT suffered 2 , 751 combat casualties during the war , and 68 , 178 losses from all causes . Disease caused the most fatalities for all troops , black and white . USCT regiments were led by white officers , and rank advancement was limited for black soldiers . The Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments in Philadelphia opened a " Free Military Academy for Applicants for the Command of Colored Troops " at the end of 1863 . For a time , black soldiers received less pay than their white counterparts , but they ( and their supporters ) lobbied and gained equal pay . Notable members of USCT regiments included Martin Robinson Delany , and the sons of Frederick Douglass . The courage displayed by colored troops during the Civil War played an important role in African - Americans gaining new rights . As the abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote , " Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter , U . S . , let him get an eagle on his button , and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket , there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship . " The historian Steven Hahn proposes that the self - organized involvement of slaves in the Union Army , including some regiments of the USCT , during the American Civil War composed a slave rebellion that dwarfed all others . Volunteer Regiments . Before the USCT was formed , several Volunteer regiments were raised from free black men , including freedmen in the South . In 1863 the former slave William Henry Singleton helped recruit 1 , 000 blacks from escaped 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 FNCCV and the 35th . In 1922 Singleton published his memoir of going from slavery to being a Union soldier . Years later , he marched in a Grand Army of the Republic ( GAR ) reunion in 1938 at the age of 95 . Nearly all of the Volunteer regiments were converted into USCT units . State Volunteers . Four regiments were considered Regular units , rather than auxiliaries , because they were formed from free northern blacks at the start of the war . They got the same pay and benefits as Regular Army or State Militia regiments . Their veteran status allowed them to get valuable federal government jobs after the war , from which African Americans had usually been excluded in earlier years . However , the men received no formal recognition for combat honors and awards until the turn of the 20th century . The units were : Corps d ' Afrique . The " Corps d ' Afrique " was formed in New Orleans after it was taken and occupied by Union forces . It was formed from the Louisiana Native Guards . The Native Guards were militia units raised in New Orleans . They were property - owning free people of color ( " gens du couleur libres " ) . Free mixed - race people had developed as a third class in New Orleans since the colonial years . Although they had wanted to prove their bravery and loyalty to the Confederacy like other Southern property owners , the Confederates did not allow these men to serve and confiscated their arms . The Confederates said that enlisting black soldiers would hurt agriculture . Since the units were composed of freeborn creoles and black freemen , it was clear that the underlying objection was to having black men serve at all . For later units of the Corps d ' Afrique , the Union recruited freedmen from the refugee camps . Liberated from nearby plantations , they and their families had no means to earn a living and no place to go . Local commanders , starved for replacements , started equipping volunteer units with cast - off uniforms and obsolete or captured firearms . The men were treated and paid as auxiliaries , performing guard or picket duties to free up white soldiers for maneuver units . In exchange , their families were fed , clothed and housed for free at the Army camps ; often schools were set up for them and their children . Despite class differences between freeborn and freedmen , the Corps served with distinction at the Battle of Port Hudson . Its troops served throughout the South . Units included : Right Wing , XVI Corps ( 1864 ) . Colored troops served as laborers in the 16th Army Corps ' Quartermaster ' s Department and Pioneer Corps . Notable actions . USCT regiments fought in all theaters of the war , but mainly served as garrison troops in rear areas . The most famous USCT action took place at the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg . Regiments of USCT suffered heavy casualties attempting to break through Confederate lines . Other notable engagements include Fort Wagner , one of their first major tests , and the Battle of Nashville . USCT soldiers suffered extra violence at the hands of Confederate soldiers . They were victims of battlefield massacres and atrocities , most notably at Fort Pillow in Tennessee . They were at risk for murder by Confederate soldiers , rather than being held as prisoners of war . The prisoner exchange protocol broke down over the Confederacy ' s position on black prisoners of war . The Confederacy had passed a law stating that blacks captured in uniform would be tried as slave insurrectionists in civil courts — a capital offense with automatic sentence of death . USCT soldiers were often murdered by Confederate troops without being taken to court . The law became a stumbling block for prisoner exchange . USCT soldiers were among the first Union forces to enter Richmond , Virginia , after its fall in April 1865 . The 41st USCT regiment was among those present at the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox . Following the war , USCT regiments served among the occupation troops in former Confederate states . Awards . Soldiers who fought in the Army of the James were eligible for the Butler Medal , commissioned by that army ' s commander , Maj . Gen . Benjamin F . Butler . In 1861 at Fort Monroe in Virginia , Butler was the first to declare refugee slaves as " contraband " and refused to return them to bondage . This became a policy throughout the Union Army . It started when a 3 enslaved men , today known as Frank Baker , James Townsend , and Sheppard Mallory , escaped to Butler ' s lines in May 1861 seeking freedom . Charles Mallory sent a representative , Major John B . Cary of the Virginia Militia , under a flag of truce to ask Butler to return these men to him as his property under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 . Butler informed him that since Virginia seceded and claimed to no longer be part of the Union , the Fugitive Slave no longer applied . Further , because the Confederacy considered enslaved persons as property and were using enslaved men in their war effort against the United States , Butler argued these freedom seekers would be considered property and retained as " contraband of war . " African - American soldiers won the Medal of Honor , the nation ' s highest award : Postbellum . The USCT was disbanded in the fall of 1865 . In 1867 the Regular Army was set at 10 regiments of cavalry and 45 regiments of infantry . The Army was authorized to raise two regiments of black cavalry ( the 9th and 10th ( Colored ) Cavalry ) and four regiments of black infantry ( the 38th , 39th , 40th , and 41st ( Colored ) Infantry ) , who were mostly drawn from USCT veterans . In 1869 the Regular Army was kept at 10 regiments of cavalry but cut to 25 regiments of Infantry , reducing the black complement to two regiments ( the 24th and 25th ( Colored ) Infantry ) . Legacy . The history of the USCT ' s wartime contribution was kept alive within the black community by historians such as W . E . B . Du Bois . Since the 1970s and the expansion of historical coverage of minorities , the units and their contributions have been the subject of more books and movies . During the war years , the men had difficulty gaining deserved official recognition for achievement and valor . Often recommendations for decorations were filed away and ignored . Another problem was that the government would mail the award certificate and medal to the recipient , who had to pay the postage due ( whether he was white or black ) . Most former USCT recipients had to return the medals for lack of funds to redeem them . The motion picture " Glory " , starring Denzel Washington , Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick , portrayed the African - American soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment . It showed their training and participation in several battles , including the second assault on Fort Wagner on July 18 , 1863 . Although the 54th was not a USCT regiment , but a state volunteer regiment originally raised from free blacks in Boston , similar to the 1st and 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry , the film portrays the experiences and hardships of African - American troops during the Civil War .