United States Colored Troops - Awards

Awards

Soldiers who fought in the Army of the James were eligible for the Butler Medal, commissioned by that army's commander, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler. In 1861 at Fort Monroe in Virginia, he was the first to declare refugee slaves as contraband and refused to return them to slaveholders. This became a policy throughout the Union Army.

African-American soldiers won the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award:

• Sergeant William Harvey Carney of the 54th Massachusetts (Colored) Volunteer Infantry was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Fort Wagner in July 1863. During the advance, Carney was wounded but still went on. When the color-bearer was shot, Carney grabbed the flagstaff and planted it in the parapet, while the rest of his regiment stormed the fortification. When his regiment was forced to retreat, he was wounded two more times while he carried the colors back to Union lines. He did not relinquish it until he handed it to another soldier of the 54th.
• Sergeant Major Christian Fleetwood was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions with the 4th USCT in the Battle of Chaffin's Farm in Virginia in September 1864, during the campaign to take Petersburg. Fleetwood took up the regimental colors after 11 other USCT soldiers had been shot down while carrying them forward.