District of Columbia, Company E, Fourth U.S. Colored Infantry, at Fort Lincoln

Source: Smith, William Morris, photographer. District of Columbia. Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, at Fort Lincoln. United States District of Columbia Washington D.C. Washington D.C, None. [Between 1863 and 1866] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018667050/.

Date: ca. 1863-1866

Text/Transcription:

Despite petitions for enlistment in the Union Army, federal authorities blocked Black men’s participation in combat service. The government reconsidered the ban when, in July 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation and Militia Act, employing formerly enslaved men into military service but not in combat. This prohibition stood until Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863. Notwithstanding, a handful of African American Union regiments formed in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Kansas in the fall of 1862. This photograph of twenty-seven soldiers represents the over 3,000 African Americans who enlisted in the defenses of Washington, DC, and who succeeded in agitating for fuller participation in the war effort.