Birth of United States Colored Troops Bureau - May 22, 1863

May 22, 1863 is the birth of the Bureau of United States Colored Troops.
1,918 USCT were enlisted from California, according to the African American Civil War Museum in Washington D.C.

“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”

-Frederick Douglass

Roughly 10% of the US Army and 25% of the US Navy were men of Pan African Ancestry, both free and enslaved who helped preserve the Union and end chattel slavery throughout America.

General Order 143 was issued on May 22, 1863, which created the Bureau of United States Colored Troops. Regiments accepted into the Union Army would receive a numerical name based on their order of organization.

The order also organized recruiters for these regiments and that officers would not be African American men. White men would command regiments some were Whites from abolitionist families who volunteered to lead the regiments while others volunteered to advance their careers.

Despite sometimes poor leadership, and pervasive racial prejudice, the USCT proved themselves worthy of praise.