From the beginning of the Civil War, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman urged President Abraham Lincoln to allow blacks to enlist in the U.S. Army and fight for their freedom. On May 22, 1863, General Orders 143 established a bureau to record all matters related to the organization of Colored Troops, a major turning point in the war for the Union that changed America's fate. Eighteen Talbot County slaves and free blacks joined the U.S. Colored Troops, and at least half were assigned to the Seventh Regiment Infantry, which fought in some of the war's most crucial battles and was repeatedly praised for its performance. After the battle at Fussels Mills, a New York Tribune correspondent wrote that the 7th U.S. colored troops of Maryland carried a line of rifle pits with fixed bayonets without a shot, though with a loss of thirty-five, calling it one of the most stirring and gallant affairs he had ever known. In 1866, the soldiers were discharged and returned to their families here. John and Ezekiel Cowgill, conscientious Quakers who owned Lombardy Plantation, offered each veteran a plot of land and a dollar a month. The former soldiers immediately built a school and church and named their new community Cowgilltown. Later they renamed the village Unionville to honor their service during the Civil War. The eighteen veterans and founders of Unionville are buried here behind St. Stephen A.M.E. Church.