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The 13th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.
United States Colored Troops skirmishing in Dutch Gap, Virginia, 1864 Taylor, young drummer boy for 78th Colored Troops Infantry, in rags Taylor, young drummer boy for 78th Colored Troops Infantry, in uniform with drum Union soldier in uniform with family-recently Identified as Sgt Samuel Smith of the 119th USCT and family [1]
The United States War Department issued General Order Number 143 on May 22, 1863, establishing the Bureau of Colored Troops to facilitate the recruitment of African-American soldiers to fight for the Union Army. [7]
[69] [70] The trailing regiment in the 2nd Colored Brigade of Steedman's Division, the 13th United States Colored Troops, went in essentially on its own and gained the Confederate parapet, losing one of its flags and 220 officers and men in the process, about 40% of the regiment's strength. [71] [72]
This category relates to individual regiments, organizations, and batteries raised as part of the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War. For more information, see Military history of African Americans in the American Civil War .
The organization of the regiment may have been instigated in some small part by Lt. Colonel Thomas J. Morgan, commander of the 14th U.S. Colored Troops. [4] In an 1893 reminiscence, John Encill MacGowan wrote that circa April 1864 at Knoxville he was the "senior officer in charge of organizing the First United States Colored Heavy Artillery."
Of the approximately 180,000 United States Colored Troops, however, over 36,000 died, or 20.5%. In other words, the mortality "rate" amongst the United States Colored Troops in the Civil War was 35% greater than that among other troops, notwithstanding the fact that the former were not enrolled until some eighteen months after the fighting began.
General W.T. Sherman called the performance "unequaled in the Army" and authorized the 13th Infantry to inscribe "First at Vicksburg" on its colors. [2] During the first post-war expansion of the United States Army following independence, a 13th Regiment of Infantry was formed on 16 July 1798, and was mustered out 11 January 1800.