Maryland's Black Civil War Soldiers

Maryland's Black Civil War Soldiers reconstructs the lives of all the men who served in Maryland's 19th Regiment, United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War. The purpose of this web site is to provide expanded accounts of a select few of them. Click the Soldiers link above to view their stories.

They escaped slavery. They fought for the Union. They helped capture the Confederate capital. Yet for more than 150 years, the stories of most of the men of Maryland's 19th USCT remained buried in forgotten military and pension records—until now.

Maryland's Black Civil War Soldiers is more than a regimental history. It is a comprehensive biographical and genealogical reference that restores these men to their rightful place in American history.

Organized at Camp Stanton in Benedict, Maryland, the 19th Regiment fought in many of the Civil War's most important campaigns, including the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Chaffin's Farm, Hatcher's Run, and the Battle of the Crater. On April 3, 1865, the regiment was among the first Union troops to enter Richmond. After General Robert E. Lee's surrender six days later, its service continued for nearly two more years as part of the occupation of Texas, protecting the freedom of formerly enslaved people during the earliest days of Reconstruction.

The soldiers paid a terrible price. Of the original thousand men organized at Camp Stanton, 268 died before the regiment was disbanded in 1867. Twenty-three were killed in action at the Battle of the Crater, while most of the others died from disease.

Each biographical profile is drawn from original military and pension records, revealing not only wartime service but also family relationships, occupations, health, marriages, and life after the war. Through pension testimony and affidavits, many of the soldiers tell their own stories in their own words.