New Civil War Trails Sign: Winchester's Colored Troops

A ceremony was held on Juneteenth to unveil this sign about the Black men who joined the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) during the American Civil War. I did not attend the unveiling but made it a point to find the marker after reading about it. This is next to Rouss City Hall.

Signs, Signs / My Corner of the World

The day was sunny and trees cast shadows on the sign, making it difficult to read in the photo. Google Photos transcribed the text for me (to my surprise), so I only had to correct a few errors. United States Colored Troops, by the way, was the official name for regiments consisting of Black and Native American men.

WINCHESTER'S U.S. COLORED TROOPS
Fighting to End Slavery
On April 3, 1864, as part of a recruiting effort in the lower Shenandoah Valley, the 19th United States Colored Troops (USCT) marched into Winchester and stopped here on the old Market House site. A block behind you, at her house near the present-day George Washington Hotel, staunch Confederate sympathizer Mary Greenhow Lee was aghast. She wrote in her diary that she felt "inexpressible horror" at the thought of "being where negro troops were garrisoned." Although the regiment only remained in Winchester until day's end and gained no new recruits during its brief visit, nearly 170 African Americans from Winchester did serve in USCT regiments during the war. The 19th USCT, which had been organized in Maryland, continued its march south to join the Army of the Potomac in the Overland Campaign to Richmond and Petersburg, Va.

Edward Hall, an enslaved man, fled Winchester late in 1863 and ventured into Maryland, where he enlisted in the 30th USCT. Hall rose to the rank of sergeant and fought in some of the Civil War's fiercest engagements, including Petersburg's notorious Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, and assaults against Fort Fisher, NC. After the war, Hall returned to Winchester, reunited with family, and worked as a gardener and laborer until his death in 1915. He is buried in Winchester's Orrick Cemetery, along with another African American Union veteran, Richand Festus (alias Dickson) who served in the 11th United States: Colored Heavy Artillery.

[Inset] FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Proud USCT soldiers pose while recuperating from illness and wounds at L'Overture Hospital, Alexandria, Va. From left to right: Toblas Trout, 31st USCT, wounded at the Crater: William DeGraff, 22nd USCT; John Johnson, 27th USCT; Jerry Lisle, 28th USCT, wounded at the Crater: Leander Brown, 30th USCT, wounded at the Crater: Samuel Bond, 19th USCT, Robert Deyo, 26th USCT. --Charles T Joyce Collection.

[Right-hand panel] 
When the war began, Black men were forbidden to serve as United States soldiers, but by 1863 they had become an important part of the war effort. Recruiting posters such as this one encouraged them to enlist and fight. Courtesy NMAAHC.
 ——
MEN OF COLOR
To Arms! To Arms!
NOW OR NEVER
THREE YEARS' SERVICE!
BATTLES OF LIBERTY AND THE UNION
FAIL NOW, & OUR RACE IS DOOMED
SILENCE THE TONGUE OF CALUMNY
VALOR AND HEROISM