"During the Civil War, almost 180,000 African Americans, most of them newly freed slaves, served in the artillery, cavalry, infantry units that composed the U. S. Colored Troops (USCT). A few thousand black men also served in segregated state militia and quasi-militia units that were raised for varying periods of time. Among the states that remained loyal to the Union, only Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Kansas, and Missouri allowed these black militia companies to be organized.
"Black men fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812 and served in the peacetime Navy, but they were not allowed to enlist in Regular Army, and the Militia Act of 1792 restricted mandatory militia membership to 'each and every free able-bodied white male citizen' between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. Most states interpreted this legislation as preventing them from allowing African Americans to serve as citizen-soldiers. In 1842, two companies of free black men in Providence, Rhode Island, responding to the governor's declaration of martial law, helped to put down the Dorr Rebellion , and were rewarded with immediate suffrage ."
P. 6-7, "The Unjust Distinctions Ought to be Abolished ," THE BLACK CITIZEN-SOLDIERS OF KANSAS 1864-1901, by Roger D. Cunningham (2008)
Monday, April 3, 2017
KANSAS' BLACK SOLDIERS
"During the Civil War, almost 180,000 African Americans, most of them newly freed slaves, served in the artillery, cavalry, infantry units that composed the U. S. Colored Troops (USCT). A few thousand black men also served in segregated state militia and quasi-militia units that were raised for varying periods of time. Among the states that remained loyal to the Union, only Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Kansas, and Missouri allowed these black militia companies to be organized.
"Black men fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812 and served in the peacetime Navy, but they were not allowed to enlist in Regular Army, and the Militia Act of 1792 restricted mandatory militia membership to 'each and every free able-bodied white male citizen' between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. Most states interpreted this legislation as preventing them from allowing African Americans to serve as citizen-soldiers. In 1842, two companies of free black men in Providence, Rhode Island, responding to the governor's declaration of martial law, helped to put down the Dorr Rebellion , and were rewarded with immediate suffrage ."
P. 6-7, "The Unjust Distinctions Ought to be Abolished ," THE BLACK CITIZEN-SOLDIERS OF KANSAS 1864-1901, by Roger D. Cunningham (2008)