History: The First Black Men Who Bled

Name: George Foster

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which effectively ended segregation in the Armed Forces of the United States. While it wasn’t until 1954 that the last all-Black units were disbanded, the order itself was huge and a major turning point. Ever since the days of the Continental Army, African-American men in the Army (the Navy was integrated, although still facing similar problems of discrimination) had at best served in segregated units that were treated with disdain and contempt, and at worst were made to work as servants, labourers, cooks, engineers, or other low-ranking (albeit still important) roles. However, despite being treated as second-class citizens and often facing discrimination and ridicule (even after the military's desegregation), African Americans have consistently shown their valour in segregated units for the defense of a nation that had offered freedom but given none. 

While in recent years, many of these men and their units have been honored and respected with high praise, when the public recalls famous African American military units, thoughts often go to those from the 20th century. Often, attention is given to the Harlem Hellfighters of the 369th Infantry Battalion in World War I, or the Tuskegee Airmen of the 332nd Fighter Group, with less attention being given to Black units from the 19th or even 18th century of warfare.  Furthermore, a recent push by the current Trump Administration to cut Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs (DEI) has not only threatened the equity and representation of the current US military but also has resulted in thousands of photos and webpages that portray or record the aforementioned men being taken down. In an attempt to symbolically undo this disrespect by the current administration, as well as recognize the less well-known contributions made by Black soldiers, this article will explore famous military units with Black soldiers all the way from the Revolutionary War to the early 20th century.

Revolutionary War

During the Revolutionary War, both sides had offered freedom to enslaved African Americans in exchange for their military service, albeit the Americans were less enthusiastic at first due to fears of arming slaves. As previously mentioned, most African Americans (even those who were freemen) usually served in support roles, with the most respected ones serving in local militias, not the Continental Army. However, needing to replenish the ranks, George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, agreed to enlist former slaves after lobbying from James Varnum in 1778, a commander who argued a regiment of Black men could quickly be made from former slaves. 

One state that took this idea to heart was Rhode Island, which was struggling to supply men for the war effort and whose assembly had offered freedom to any “negro, mulatto, or Indian man slave” who enlisted. This proclamation was revoked four months later due to the objections of the state’s slaveholder class. By then, however, 100 Black men (former slaves and freemen) had enlisted, and 44 more would enlist even after the repeal. It should be noted that while this was not the only military unit with Black men in it during the war (5,000 to 8,000 Black men served), what made the newly formed 1st Rhode Island Regiment interesting was that it had a majority African American presence. Roughly 140 of the 225 men serving under Colonel Christopher Greene were Black men who served in segregated units. This diversity caused many to refer to it as the “Black Regiment,” although the lack of Black recruits following the revocation of the proclamation eventually caused it to become integrated. 

The first major combat the regiment saw during the war was the Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778, where, while covering the American army’s right flank, the regiment successfully repelled three assaults by Hessian mercenaries (suffering only three dead, nine wounded) before later withdrawing in good order with the rest of the army. Their actions received praise both from General Sullivan and Lafayette (commanders of the overall force). After this, the regiment would spend the next three years largely inactive, temporarily guarding Rhode Island from another attack before moving into an area of the Hudson River valley for general security duties. However, this calm period ended on May 14th, 1781, when a loyalist force of 260 men under Colonel James Delancy attacked Colonel Greene and a small detachment of men at the Battle of Pines Bridge. It is said that the men serving under Greene fought with incredible bravery, holding their ground and guarding the body of Colonel Greene to the death after he had been mortally wounded. Eight men died defending his body, with the Loyalists being so outraged over the defiance shown by the unit that they reportedly mutilated the corpse of Greene for commanding Black soldiers. After this battle, the regiment would serve under the command of Jerimiah Olney, the men later serving in the war’s last major battle at Yorktown before the war ended, with the unit later being stationed at Newburgh and then disbanded in 1783.

While only the regiment’s white soldiers received full pay and compensation, the Black men serving did receive freedom after the war (in contrast to some other Black men), and the men’s legacy did live on as being the first US military unit to have a majority of Black men serving in it, with monuments at Portsmouth and Yorktown Heights honoring their valour. . And while they were certainly not the only Black men to serve during the war, they are by far some of the most famous and well-recognized.

Civil War

Despite showing heroism in the fight for independence, Black men were generally kept off the frontline combat in subsequent US wars such as the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War, with a few exceptions (i.e., Black volunteers at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815). And at the start of the Civil War, it seemed like this policy would be continued, even though many Black men offered to enlist as soon as the war started. The reason for this was that while all the Southern states that had seceded had done so due to the desire to preserve slavery (a cause very few Black men supported), some slave states had remained in the Union, and President Abraham Lincoln did not wish to further alienate them by enlisting Black men or making the war officially about ending slavery. However, as the war dragged on and Union losses mounted, Lincoln (with encouragement from abolitionists like Frederick Douglass) decided to not only declare the Emancipation Proclamation (freeing all slaves in rebelling states) on January 1, 1863, but also decided that the time was right to enlist Black men. Not long after this, Governor John A. Andrew quickly responded to the request, quickly gathering volunteers to form units all over the United States, as Massachusetts did not have enough Black men alone for this task, resulting in many former slaves inevitably joining the ranks. And so was born the most famous Black unit on this list, the infamous 54th Massachusetts.

Put under the command of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (son of an abolitionist and wounded at the Battle of Antietam), the regiment was composed of roughly 1,000 men and would be involved in training activities until the latter half of May in 1863 before departing for South Carolina as part of the campaign to capture Charleston. Arriving at Beaufort in June, Shaw and his men spent their first month in and on islands surrounding Beaufort, spending most of their time doing manual labour and participating in a raid on the town of Darien, Georgia. It wasn’t until July 16, however, that they first saw combat, engaging in a small skirmish with Confederate troops on James Island, an action that earned them praise from their fellow white soldiers. Yet this was only a taste of what was in store for the 54th, as when plans to take Fort Wagner, a stronghold guarding Charleston’s harbour, were put into motion, Colonel Shaw readily offered his men as the vanguard of the attack, realising this was his chance to prove his unit’s mettle. What followed was a mix of bravery, tragedy, and legend.

Beginning their assault at dusk following an artillery barrage, Shaw and 650 of his men bravely charged their way through heavy gunfire, making their way to the parapet of the fort, quickly engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the defenders. Despite the men’s heroism and sheer will in the face of this gunfire, with men like William H. Carney holding the unit’s colors (flag) despite multiple injuries (he later received a Medal of Honor for this), the assault failed. Of the 650 men from the regiment that participated, 270 were killed, wounded, or captured, among them Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. However, while the battle was a military defeat, it was a massive propaganda victory for Black soldiers. After seeing and hearing how Black men, long ridiculed as incompetent and cowardly, bravely assaulted a Confederate fort and inflicted 174 losses on their enemy, many critics were silenced, and even General Ulysses S. Grant gave his approval for the recruitment of more Black soldiers, with 180,000 enlisting in the wake of the battle. 

After the Battle of Fort Wagner, the unit would spend the rest of the war in the Southeast, fighting in a few minor battles at Honey Hill and Boykin’s Mill before returning to Massachusetts in 1865. To commemorate Colonel Shaw and his men, several private citizens (including Shaw’s family) funded Augustus Saint-Gaudens ’ bronze monument depicting the Colonel leading his men, a memorial located in downtown Boston, which has become part of the Boston African-American National Historic Site.

While the 54th Massachusetts was officially the first army regiment to be made up of Black men, technically the honor of the first Black military unit goes to the 1st Kansas Colored Regiment. 

Historically, Kansas had been pro-abolitionist, with many radical abolitionists, including John Brown, who settled in the area and fought pro-slavery factions in the region in a period called Bleeding Kansas. This violent time eventually led to the then territory of Kansas becoming a free state. Even at the start of the Civil War, as Lincoln initially refused to recruit Black men, Senator James Long had already begun the process in August 1862, creating the 1st Colored Kansas regiment under Colonel James M. Williams, enthusiastic about the idea of using former slaves to fight against their former masters. While this was several months ahead of Lincoln’s decision to recruit Black men in the army, Long got around this as not only had the Militia Act of 1862 authorized the recruitment of Black men, but the 1st Kansas was officially a state regiment, not part of the Union army.

In contrast to the 54th that had several months of training and wouldn’t see combat for several more months, the 1st Kansas saw combat within two months of being organized at the Skirmish of Island Mound in Missouri, where on the 29th of October a force of 250 men from the regiment held off and defeated 350-500 Confederate guerrillas, inflicting 40 casualties while suffering 19 of their own. The battle was the first time Black soldiers had fought in battle, and Senator Lane used it as proof that Black regiments could fight successfully. 

Following the Emancipation Proclamation, the 1st Kansas was officially inducted into the Federal Army on January 13, 1863, and would later be reorganized as the 79th United States Colored Troops in 1864. Throughout the rest of the war, the 1st Kansas would fight in several other minor engagements such as Reeder Farm in Missouri and Poison Springs in Arkansas, yet the majority of their engagements were actually engaged in fighting the nearby Native American tribes in what is today Oklahoma, as many of these tribes had sided with the Confederacy due to resentment toward the US government or because they themselves practiced slavery. Several of the battles they fought included Cabin Creek and Honey Springs in July of 1863, as well as battles at Flat Rock Creek and Timber Hills in September and November of 1864. 

It should be noted that while the Civil War marked a turning point for African Americans in the military, as they could now officially serve in uniform and made up 10% of the Union army during this time, there were still problems. Firstly was that while the North had many abolitionists, it also had many racists, and many white officers showed prejudice toward Black soldiers. Furthermore, Black soldiers got paid only $10 per month, with $3 used to buy clothing, while white soldiers got paid $13 a month with no deduction. It also took until the end of the war before there could be Black commissioned officers (ranks above sergeant), with only 80 serving in total. Another terrifying aspect was that during the war, the Confederacy had a very brutal policy regarding Black regiments, often killing white officers in charge while putting Black men back into slavery. While this was reduced after Lincoln threatened to stop protecting Confederate POWs, there were still brutal instances, such as the massacre at Fort Pillow, where Confederate troops reportedly opened fire on and killed Black men who had surrendered to them.

After the war, men from both these regiments (along with all others) would continue to face discrimination and prejudice both in and out of the military. However, their participation in the war had not only guaranteed freedom for them, but also citizenship and voting rights after the war. And while these new rights would be challenged and contested, their actions had still been a monumental step forward for civil rights in the United States, and at the very least, that nearly century-old promise of freedom had finally been kept.

Buffalo Soldiers.

After the Civil War, the US had somewhat warmed up to the idea that Black men could serve honorably and proudly in the military. As such, in 1866, Congress passed an act that created four (down from six) Black infantry regiments, the 9th and 10th cavalry, and the 24th and 25th infantry. These regiments were declared as peacetime forces, as the Civil War had just ended and there technically was no war left to fight. However, these soldiers would not spend the next few decades of their regiments' existence stationed in barracks, performing military drills, or even marching in parades. Instead, they would fight and show bravery in upcoming wars of US expansion, wars in which their participation seemed incredibly ironic.

The US began engaging in what are known as the Indian Wars, a series of conflicts in the West to pacify Native American tribes that were resisting expansion by the US. During these conflicts, the four previously mentioned African-American regiments served throughout the American West, and not just in combat roles. While they did take part in many campaigns against the resisting natives, earning 18 medals of honor in the process, it was also their job to guard settlements as well as build infrastructure and develop the regions where they were deployed. It was also during this conflict that they earned their nickname of “Buffalo Soldiers”, coming from the Native Americans who were either comparing the soldiers' tenacity in battle or their skin color to that of the buffalo of the area. Whatever the reason, the soldiers quickly took up their new name, which stayed with them and other African American units all the way up to WWII. 

Following the Indian Wars, the Buffalo soldiers would go on to fight in the US invasion of Cuba as part of the Spanish-American War, where the US fought to “free” Spain's colonial territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific. While in Cuba, the soldiers performed well both on and off the battlefield. In the case of actual fighting, men from the 24th, 9th, and 10th would join future President Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders in attacking fortified Spanish positions on San Juan Hill, losing 26 men in the process but also taking the hill and earning respect from their white counterparts. On the battlefield, the men helped nurse and serve sick white troops due to the tropical climate of the region, which caused disease. The reason they were specifically chosen was due to a stereotype that Black men could better handle the diseases and other sicknesses of the Caribbean. Just as in the Indian War, several soldiers received medals of honor for their actions.

The final major conflict involving the Buffalo Soldiers was the Philippine-American War, a conflict that arose from the US annexation of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. Angered, the local population rose in revolt. It was during this conflict that the irony of the Black troops fighting for the US became most apparent. Many Black soldiers (and their families at home) felt that this was an unjust race war against another non-white group that the US considered to be inferior. While this question had been raised during the Indian War as well, sympathies toward Native Americans were not nearly as high as many Black men had fought them during the Civil War. In the Philippines, however, at least six Black soldiers defected to the rebel cause, mainly resulting from the belief that they shouldn’t be fighting for the US, but also due to the tedious and constant patrols and ambushes they undertook to fight the rebels.  It should also be noted that the rebels, taking note of the irony, often spread propaganda aimed at the Black soldiers, trying to convince them to desert the cruel and hypocritical US. Despite this, Buffalo soldiers still served admirably in the Philippines. With the exception of several expeditions into Mexico, this was the last war fought by these regiments, as many were not sent over to fight in WWI due to racial policies and were later disbanded during the interwar period.

Much like previous regiments, the Buffalo soldiers faced massive discrimination, with the regiments being commanded by white officers, with some officers, such as General George Armstrong Custer, refusing to lead them. Furthermore, even white civilians were hostile to them, often showing little distinction between them and Black civilians when stationed near urban centers. During the Indian wars, Black soldiers were also forbidden from serving East of the Mississippi River, as very few white citizens wanted armed Black men within or near their cities and towns.

Conclusion

While this paper does not provide an exhaustive review of African American military units, those reviewed were arguably some of the most important. These regiments not only made an important impact in terms of America’s independence, abolitionism, and expansion, but they also proved that Black men could and would fight for a nation that discriminated against them. And while it would be several decades away from these men’s time that desegregation and equality would be achieved, the work they did arguably laid the groundwork for future movements, and they were and still are symbols of Black men’s bravery and sacrifice for the US.

Works Cited

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Smithsonian. "The Proud Legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers." National Museum of African American History & Culture, by Smithsonian, Smithsonian, nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/proud-legacy-buffalo-soldiers. Accessed 27 July 2025.