Park Rangers Chris Bingham from Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park and Harry Caldwell from Booker T Washington National Memorial offered a presentation on the 180,000 African-American soldiers who comprised the U. S. Colored Troops during the Civil War at a special presentation at the park on Sunday, Feb. 15.
Seventy soldiers born in Franklin County were among the troops of Black soldiers who helped liberateslaves in the Confederacy. Their names are engraved on the monument unveiled last month in Rocky Mount by the Raising the Shade Project.
Five thousand USCT soldiers were present in Appomattox when Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. Several soldiers born in Franklin County were part of the seven “colored infantry”regiments who participated in Grant’s attack that ended the Civil War. These infantry soldiers marched 30 miles in 20 hours to Appomattox as part of Grant’s campaign…