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Images at Petersburg National Battlefield
The United States Colored Troops (USCT) played a decisive and courageous role in the campaigns around Petersburg, Virginia, from 1864 to 1865. As part of the Union Army’s prolonged effort to cut off Confederate supply lines to Richmond, USCT regiments were heavily engaged in trench warfare and direct assaults.
Most notably, USCT soldiers took part in the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, where they were originally trained to lead the attack but were reassigned at the last moment. Despite this, many USCT troops were sent into the fight and faced intense enemy fire and brutal treatment if captured. Throughout the siege, they continued to serve with distinction, helping to extend Union lines and ultimately contributing to the fall of Petersburg—an event that led directly to the collapse of the Confederacy. -
Images of the Battlefield at Petersburg, Virginia
The United States Colored Troops (USCT) played a decisive and courageous role in the campaigns around Petersburg, Virginia, from 1864 to 1865. As part of the Union Army’s prolonged effort to cut off Confederate supply lines to Richmond, USCT regiments were heavily engaged in trench warfare and direct assaults.
Most notably, USCT soldiers took part in the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, where they were originally trained to lead the attack but were reassigned at the last moment. Despite this, many USCT troops were sent into the fight and faced intense enemy fire and brutal treatment if captured. Throughout the siege, they continued to serve with distinction, helping to extend Union lines and ultimately contributing to the fall of Petersburg—an event that led directly to the collapse of the Confederacy. -
Pictures from Appomattox
In early April 1865, the 2nd Division of the all-Black 25th Corps took part in General Ulysses S. Grant’s final operations against Petersburg. Although they did not engage in heavy combat, they were among the first Federal troops to enter the city on the morning of April 3, marking a symbolic and historic moment as United States Colored Troops (USCT) helped secure a major Confederate stronghold.
As General Robert E. Lee’s army retreated west and Union forces pursued, USCT units marched along the South Side Railroad. On April 7 near Farmville, the division’s two brigades—commanded by Colonels Ulysses Doubleday and William Woodward—were attached to elements of the 24th Corps. Over the next two days, as Confederate forces attempted to escape, the USCT and the rest of the Army of the James moved in parallel to the south, working to cut off Lee’s line of retreat.
Demonstrating extraordinary endurance, these troops marched nearly thirty miles in less than twenty hours, arriving near Appomattox Station around 1:30 a.m. on April 9, 1865—just hours before Lee’s surrender.
USCT regiments present during the Appomattox Campaign, particularly within the 25th Corps, included units such as the 1st, 5th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st United States Colored Infantry, along with supporting artillery units. Their presence at Appomattox underscored the central role African American soldiers played not only in sustaining the Union war effort, but in bringing about its final victory. -
McLean House, Appomattox Court House Virginia
The McLean House in Appomattox Court House, Virginia, is famous as the site where the Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865. -
Image of Slave Quarters Adjacent to McLean House Appomattox
Slave Quarters adjacent to the McLean House. At least nine enslaved people lived in the small buildings behind the McLean House at the time of Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses Grant. Photo taken by Dawn Chitty, please cite the African American Civil War Memorial Museum