Provides deeply researched information on the black Americans who served in the U.S. Army and the combat history/battle participation of all black troops (including the two infantry divisions, supporting organizations of the Services of Supply, and the special troops) as well as nearly 300 detailed color and war-era photographs of these men.

Shaffer's study shines a light on this previously obscure part of African-American history, revealing for the first time black veterans' valiant but often frustrating efforts to secure true autonomy and equality as civilians. The heroics of black Union soldiers in the Civil War have been justly celebrated, but their postwar lives largely neglected. Donald Shaffer's illuminating study shines a bright light on this previously obscure part of African-American...

"In an effort to bolster black pride and stem the increasing racism of the age, Dr. T.G. Steward, chaplain of the U.S. army's 25th Infantry, requested and received permission for the army to publish this fascinating account of the black soldier's military service in Cuba."

When Abraham Lincoln issued his final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, he not only freed the slaves in the Confederate states but also invited freed slaves and free persons of color to join the U.S. Army as part of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), the first systematic, large-scale effort by the U.S. government to arm African Americans to aid in the nation's defense. By the end of the war in 1865, nearly 180,000 black soldiers had fought...