Cultural Heritage

Black Civil War Soldiers Honored With Highway Marker

Several regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) fought with conspicuous gallantry in the Union Army efforts to capture Fort Fisher in 1865. The efforts of these former slaves and free blacks was recognized with the dedication of an NC Highway Historical Marker on June 2 at the National Cemetery in Wilmington.

The Union Army and Navy staged a successful effort to capture Fort Fisher in Wilmington in January and February 1865, eliminating the South’s largest blockade-running port and entry of supplies to the Confederate Army. USCT units engaged in the actions included the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th, 27th, 30th, 37th and 39th regiments. These soldiers and their white officers faced a determined enemy and possible execution if captured, as several captured Confederate officers claimed.

The Confederates statements were not official Confederate policy, but they offered some insight, saying that if the blacks were free men, they would not be killed. If they were former slaves, they would be treated as house burners and robbers and would be killed, as would Union officers.

Several hundred USCT are thought to be buried in Wilmington, although the exact number is unknown. The Wilmington National Cemetery records burials of 92 members of the USCT, including those who died in combat and those who later succumbed to disease. The burials include 88 African-American soldiers and four white officers. This is the largest USCT burial ground in North Carolina. The ceremony is also part of the Civil War Sesquicentennial.

The NC Highway Historical Marker Program is administered by the Office of Archives and History within the NC Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available at www.ncculture.com.

added: June 1, 2011

updated: June 7, 2011