On May 22, 1863, the United States War Department issued General Order No. 143, establishing the proclamation that developed the Bureau of Colored Troops and African American regiments as United States Colored Troops, or USCT. This division of the Union army produced 179,000 African American men in approximately 175 regiments, and an additional 19,000 served in the Navy. In Illinois, 1,811 African American men served from the state. Locally, African American men from Cairo served in various USCT regiments. Special honor is given to Reverend Thomas Jefferson Houston, an ordained Baptist preacher, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and personal assistant to General Ulysses Grant, known affectionately as T.J. Houston, who was affiliated to Grant's troops in 1862, later served as a teamster in the Battle of Corinth, and became General Grant's unofficial personal bodyguard. Others who served include Christopher Guderian of Cairo in the 8th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery; Washington Love of Cairo in the Memphis 3rd U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery; Henry A. Martin of Cairo in the Cairo 3rd U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery; Joseph Sansom of Cairo at Fort Anderson, Paducah, Kentucky, in the 8th U.S. Colored Artillery; Henry Walker of Cairo in the Readville 55th Massachusetts Colored Infantry; Henry Williams of Cairo in the Vicksburg 5th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery; James Jones of Cairo in the Readville 55th Massachusetts Heavy Artillery; Alexander Canada of Mound City in the Cairo 4th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery; Henry Menton of Pulaski in the 3rd U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery; William Menton of Pulaski in the Cairo 3rd U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery; and William Thomas Scott of Cairo in the United States Navy aboard the Victoria gunboat.