Serving with Honor

Many former bondsmen and free black men enlisted when the United States Colored Troops was formed in 1863. By war's end, over 220,000 black soldiers and sailors had served in Union forces. About 40 percent of the burials at Vicksburg National Cemetery are United States Colored Troops. After the brutal Battle of Milliken's Bend north of here, Captain M. M. Miller declared, "I never more wish to hear the expression: 'The [Negroes] won't fight.'" African American troops had proven their bravery and commitment, and Union public opinion about black soldiers was forever changed.

Mississippi · United States