Twenty-six soldiers of the 26th Regiment United States Colored Infantry enlisted at St. James A.M.E. Zion Church in Ithaca, New York, between Dec. 3, 1863 and Feb. 18, 1864, to fight for God and liberty: Henry W. Adams, Henry Allen, Morgan E. Dennis, Isaac Desmond, Sylvester T. Dorsey, Henry L. Green, Jacob Guess, George W. Guinn, Daniel Johnson, Jacob Johnson, George E. Jones, Thomas McChesney, George A. Richardson, John R. Ross, Henry Selby, Charles S. Shaw, Alonzo Smith, Henry Smith, James E. L. Smith, John Smith, John F. Smith, Joseph B. Smith, Edward Sorrell, John Sorrell, John Tyler, and Zacharial Tyler. The regiment was organized at Riker’s Island in New York Harbor on Feb. 27, 1864, was ordered to the Dept. of the South in April 1864, served at Beaufort, South Carolina, and was discharged at Brownsville, Texas, on Aug. 28, 1865.