The 54th Massachusetts, the first Black regiment of the Union Army, 1863 Boston.
On Jan. 26, 1863, the U.S. War Department authorized the governor of Massachusetts to recruit Black troops to the Union Army.
Since the early days of the Civil War, African Americans had joined the Union’s military in unofficial capacities. A 1792 federal law had prohibited them from formally enlisting, but that changed in 1863.
As the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center notes,
Frederick Douglass and other prominent African Americans petitioned Congress and President Lincoln to allow African American men to enlist in the military. . . .
The first step in recruiting African Americans was the Second Confiscation and Militia Act which gave Lincoln the authority “to employ as many persons of African descent as he may deem necessary and proper for the suppression of this rebellion. . . in such manner as he may judge best for the public welfare.” This act formed a number of unofficial African American regiments in Louisiana, Kansas and South Carolina. However, it wasn’t until the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863 that official African American regiments formed.
When the 54th Massachusetts infantry formed on Jan. 26, 1863, it became the first all-Black regiment in the history of the United States.
The lesson, “A War to Free the Slaves?” addresses the Civil War, President Lincoln, the 54th regiment, and the abolition of slavery.
See more photos of the 54th Massachusetts infantry at the Massachusetts Historical Society, and learn more about the history of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) at the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum in Washington, D.C.
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