The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments of the United States Army during the American Civil War that were composed of African American ("colored") soldiers. First recruited in 1863, by the end of the Civil War, the men of the 175 regiments of the USCT constituted approximately one-tenth of the Union Army.
African Americans in the United States Army in decades after the war became known as the Buffalo Soldiers; they fought in the Indian Wars later in the nineteenth century and received their nickname in the American West.
Read more about United States Colored Troops: History, Notable Actions, Awards, Postbellum, Legacy, Legacy and Honors, Numbers of United States Colored Troops By State, North and South
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, colored and/or troops:
“So here they are, the dog-faced soldiers, the regulars, the fifty-cents-a-day professionals riding the outposts of the nation, from Fort Reno to Fort Apache, from Sheridan to Stark. They were all the same. Men in dirty-shirt blue and only a cold page in the history books to mark their passing. But wherever they rode and whatever they fought for, that place became the United States.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“There was no speculation so promising, or at the same time so praisworthy, as the United Metropolitan Improved Hot Muffin and Crumpet Baking and Punctual Delivery Company.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“My opinion is that the Northern states will manage somehow to muddle through.”
—John Bright (1811–1889)
“The colored people arrive, sit firmly down,
Eat their Express Spaghetti, their T-bone steak,
Handling their steel and crockery with no clatter,
Laugh punily, rise, go firmly out of the door.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)