To celebrate Emancipation Day, the Pope House Museum on S. Wilmington Street in Raleigh, North Carolina, presented “Fighting for Freedom: Black Civil War Reenactors” on Saturday. The free event brought history to life as reenactors portrayed United States Colored Troops (USCT) and their allies, sharing the incredible stories of Black soldiers and their lives both in the camps and on the front lines.
During the Civil War, Black soldiers were primarily commanded by white officers, and Black officers were generally forbidden from leading white troops. While Black soldiers could rise to non-commissioned officer ranks, such as sergeant or lieutenant, instances of them commanding white soldiers were extremely rare and temporary, usually only occurring in emergencies if all other officers were killed or incapacitated. Martin Delany, for example, became the first officially commissioned Black major in the U.S. Army, leading the 55th Massachusetts, but he never officially commanded white troops.
By the end of the war, thousands of Black men from North Carolina had joined the USCT, with units including the 1st and 2nd North Carolina Colored Volunteers (later the 35th and 36th U.S. Colored Infantry) and the 37th and 38th US Colored Infantry, many recruited from eastern North Carolina. These regiments were composed largely of formerly enslaved men, whose local knowledge and personal stakes fueled their determination…