During a speech in March of 1863 Frederick Douglass said: “The day dawns; the morning star is bright upon the horizon! The iron gate of our prison stands half open. One gallant rush from the North will fling it wide open, while four millions of our brothers and sisters shall march out into liberty.”
And fling the door open the North did, including nearly 200,000 men – soldiers – of African descent. Lincoln, himself, would acknowledge that the men of color serving in the US Colored Troops, as well as in the US Navy, helped to turn the tide of the Civil War. They freed a people, and preserved the United States.
No single group experienced such a dramatic change in fortunes during the Civil War as families of color. In 1861 and the earliest part of the war, the vast majority were enslaved in the Southern states.
The small number who had gained their freedom, whether legally or by escape from their enslavers, and the rapidly increasing number of displaced refugees, lived in precarious straits. Able-bodied men willing to serve in the military could not legally do so.
In 1862, the War Department’s position on enlisting Black men in the army and navy began to shift towards acceptance.
Black men wanted to fight for freedom. Among the many vocal proponents for Black enlistments was Martin Delany, the prominent abolitionist, author and journalist.
“He stated that it had become inseparable with his daily existence, almost absorbing everything else, and nothing would content him but entering the service,” according to one biographer, who added, “He cared not how, provided his admission recognized the rights of his race to do so.”
By 1865, more than 180,000 Black men wore blue and a small number served as commissioned officers. Not all men enlisted — some worked in service to Union officers or as laborers.
In the middle of this transformation stands the Emancipation Proclamation, which charted a course to universal equality. The remarkable rise to freedom in the war was followed by a steep decline during and after Reconstruction. The struggle for equality continues today.
A new exhibit at the Lincoln Depot Museum, “Faces of Freedom,” you’ll look upon the faces of those who served and read their stories.
The portraits are prints from original, wartime, identified photographs. The stories are the result of research of primary source documents, including military service records and pension files, newspaper reports, regimental histories, and other writings.
The exhibit features 37 high-quality prints of wartime portraits of Black soldiers and sailors who served in the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) and Navy. Each portrait is paired with a biographical sketch detailing their wartime experiences — some gave their lives in service against the Confederacy, and others continued their fight for justice as Buffalo Soldiers in the West.
The Museum will host an opening of the exhibit on Saturday, June 7, 2025 at 2 pm (museum doors open at 1 pm) with historian and the publisher of Military Images magazine, Ronald S. Coddington. Program admission is $10; Free for Museum members.
This exhibit is made possible by Military Images, a quarterly magazine founded in 1979 and dedicated to showcasing, interpreting, and preserving Civil War portrait photography, and the generosity of the William C. Goodridge Freedom Center & Underground Railroad Museum in York, Pa..
The Faces of Freedom Exhibition will remain on display at the Lincoln Depot Museum Saturdays and Sundays, from 1 until 4 pm, from June 7 through July 12, 2025.
The Museum is located at 41 South Water Street in Peekskill, New York inside the Peekskill Freight Depot. For more information visit their website.
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