SPANISH FORT, Ala. (WKRG) — One thing you should know is that many of the thousands of Black soldiers who fought for the Union Army during the Battle of Fort Blakeley are buried at Mobile National Cemetery. They are identified with the headstone engraving U.S.C.T. for United States Colored Troops.
“For me, I always stressed to my students that these were the original civil rights leaders, in my book,” said Frank Barrow, a veteran and former teacher of JROTC students at Mobile County Public Schools.
“The infantry soldiers had United States Colored Infantry–and they are all scattered through here. I just think it’s so important that we pay them honor for what they sacrificed,” he explained. Those classes always included trips to the cemetery–and to Historic Blakeley State Park, on the very ground where the last major battle of the Civil War was fought. The park’s interpretive ranger, Brian Desrochers, explained the role of the Black soldiers…