Revolution #2

Here's my top choice for the City Daily Photo Theme Day image for the May topic: Revolution. Like the picture I posted previously, this may require an explanation.

Re-enactor Robert Wright portrays a Civil War soldier, a member of the United States Colored Troops. These troops were part of a social and economic revolution, the end of slavery in the United States.

This was not the revolution that secessionists had in mind when they fired the first shots of the war in 1861. They believed they were starting the second American Revolution, one that would split the country in two, enabling them to continue their path to prosperity as they spread westward into new states and took slavery with them. It did not work out that way.

I shared a different photo of this re-enactor  a few weeks ago. Readers may also recall a post about the new marker at Gleedsville.  Here's an excerpt from the marker itself:

"After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, the U.S. Army began  recruiting both free blacks and slaves in occupied areas. More than 5,000 men were mustered into six United States Colored Troops (USCT) regiments raised in Virginia. Among the 250 from Loudoun County was 19-year-old Martin Van Buren Buchanan, born of a free mother and a father enslaved at nearby Oatlands. Buchanan enlisted on September 30, 1863, for three years in Co. G, 2nd USCT, organized in Arlington. The regiments served in Florida until the end of the war and fought in engagements at Cedar Keys and Fort Tyler. Buchanan was promoted to corporal in November 1863. He was mustered out January 5, 1866, and returned here to his family."

Marker at UUCL on Gleedsville Road near Leesburg, VA

Note: This makes my 524th post on the US Civil War.  I also have an older site on Civil War Field Trips.

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and That Friday Blog Hop