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:
“We are told to maintain constitutions because they are constitutions, and what is laid down in those constitutions?... Certain great fundamental ideas of right are common to the world, and ... all laws of mans making which trample on these ideas, are null and voidwrong to obey, right to disobey. The Constitution of the United States recognizes human slavery; and makes the souls of men articles of purchase and of sale.”
—Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (18421932)
“Emblem: the carapace of the great crowned snail is painted with all the flags of the United Nations.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“It may be said that the elegant Swanns simplicity was but another, more refined form of vanity and that, like other Israelites, my parents old friend could present, one by one, the succession of states through which had passed his race, from the most naive snobbishness to the worst coarseness to the finest politeness.”
—Marcel Proust (18711922)
“Please stop using the word Negro.... We are the only human beings in the world with fifty-seven variety of complexions who are classed together as a single racial unit. Therefore, we are really truly colored people, and that is the only name in the English language which accurately describes us.”
—Mary Church Terrell (18631954)
“A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.”
—Douglas MacArthur (18801964)