Maryland, USA
(Library of Congress)
This soldier is believed to be Sergeant Samuel Smith, together with his wife Molle, and daughters Mary and Maggie. Smith served as a soldier in the 119th US Colored Infantry, enlisting at Camp Nelson, Kentucky.
Formed during the American Civil War, after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation came into effect on January 1, 1863, the 175 regiments of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) were largely but not exclusively formed of African-American soldiers. In total, around 180,000 free African Americans together with Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Island Americans were enrolled in the USCT – around one-tenth of the Union force.
Almost 2,700 were killed in combat, but that is a figure dwarfed by a total of 68,000 killed chiefly by disease – the largest cause of death in the war. The regiments were led by white officers.
‘THE NEGRO TROOPS ENTER CHARLESTON.
The first national soldiers that landed in Charleston in the capacity of masters of the rebel city were the South Carolina Negroes (thank God!) of the Twenty-first United States Colored Troops. There was also a detachment of gallant Massachusetts troops to demonstrate on Southern soil the splendid fighting qualities of the colored race.’
Daily Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, March 7, 1865
