- U.S. Colored Troops -
After the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, the First Regiment of Missouri Colored Infantry was formed. It immediately attracted 300 African Americans. Another African American Unit belonged to the Enrolled Missouri Militia and was based in Hannibal. In Missouri, which as a slave holding border state was exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union army recruited slaves from both anti-Union slave owners and from loyal slave owners as well.
- The muster rolls featured on this panel show that some African American troops enrolled as residents of Canada, England and Jamaica. These troops often suffered from a lack of supplies, since priority was given to white soldiers.
All of the accounts on this panel are from the white officers who commanded the colored units, since literacy was not widespread among slaves. You may also have noticed that the accounts we have presented up until now are mostly from a pro-Union perspective.