US Colored Troops in the Overland Campaign

F-38

On 5 May 1864, thousands of United States Colored Troops entered Culpeper County at Kelly's Ford, six miles southeast of here, marking the first time Black troops served alongside the Army of the Potomac. These men, including some who had escaped slavery in Culpeper and nearby counties, served in the 19th, 23rd, 27th, 30th, 39th, and 43rd USCT and the 30th Connecticut Colored Infantry, which made up the 4th Division of IX Corps. After a brief stay in Culpeper County, the troops marched south across the Rapidan River to join Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign. While in Culpeper, at least three Black soldiers were captured by Confederates and summarily executed along the roadside.

Department of Historic Resources, 2021

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, 36 (1), 987-988. OR 36 (2), 387. Military Records, Civil War African Americans, National Archives. Mysteries & Conundrums blog: https://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/a-rare-photograph-of-uscts-on-the-eve-of-the-overland-campaign/ “Petersburg, Virginia. Field and staff officers of 39th U.S. Colored Infantry,” Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018672501/ Clark B. Hall, “Free Black Men Come to Culpeper as Civil War Soldiers” (2008). Gilbert Thompson diary, 30 April 1864. Byrd C. Willis diary. Richmond Dispatch, 9 May 1864. Kelly D. Selby, “The 27th United States Colored Troops: Ohio Soldiers and Veterans,” Ph.D. diss., Kent State University, 2008). Daniel E. Sutherland, Seasons of War: The Ordeal of a Confederate Community, 1861-1865 (New York: The Free Press, 1995). Emerging Civil War blog: https://emergingcivilwar.com/2014/05/15/the-23rd-usct-at-spotsylvania/