Eagles on their buttons
Subtitle: a Black infantry regiment in the Civil War
By: Versalle F. Washington.
Series: Shades of blue and gray series
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Columbia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 113
Subjects: United States. Army. Colored Infantry Regiment, 5th (1863-1865); African American soldiers -- Registers.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Participation, African American.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Regimental histories.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspects.
Genres: Registers.
Description: Eagles on Their Buttons is an examination of the Fifth Regiment of Infantry, United States Colored Troops - the Union Army's first black regiment from Ohio. Although the 5th USCT was one of more than 150 regiments of black troops making up more than 10 percent of the Union Army at the end of the war, it was unique. The majority of USCT regiments were made up of freed men who viewed the army as an escape from slavery and a chance to take up arms against their former masters.

The men serving in the 5th USCT, however, were freemen who were raised in a northern state and saw serving in the army both as a way to gain equal rights under the law and as an opportunity to prove their worth as men.

Versalle Washington shows what caused the soldiers in the 5th USCT to join their regiment, what sort of men they were, and how they fought and lived as African American soldiers under white officers. He discusses the regiment's service, addressing its role in the siege of Petersburg, the battle of Chapin's Farm, and the capture of Fort Fisher and the port of Wilmington. Washington also looks at what effects the soldiers' service had in terms of societal changes following the Civil War.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-109) and index.