Six months following the war, guerrilla activity and murders of freedmen are common in the South. Less common in the sight of white southerners, and much resented, are “colored troops.” Today a U.S. Colored Troops officer, Lieutenant J. M. Warren of Company D, 42nd Colored Troops, stationed in Decatur, Alabama, is ordered to take a…
Today in Charleston, South Carolina some 10,000 mostly black persons, of whom Baptists are predominant, gather in the city’s Hampton Park in what becomes America’s first Memorial Day observance, also known as Decoration Day. Among the crowd are church leaders, women’s organizations and freedmen. All gather to honor the fallen Union soldiers whose death brought…
News of the Confederate massacre of black Union soldiers at Fort Pillow is spreading like wildfire throughout the North. As the public demands justice, famed black abolitionist Frederick Douglass today addresses a crowd assembled at the Twelfth Baptist Church in New York City. Expressing hope that Congress is finally committed to providing fair pay to…