![]() Prior to the war, the United States Navy capped the percentage of African American sailors to 5% of its enlisted ranks, but to meet its manpower needs it recruited more Black sailors starting in 1861. ![]() naval vessels.Īfrican Americans regularly served in the United States Navy and the merchant marine before the Civil War, perhaps accounting for one-fifth of the nation’s sailors in the early nineteenth century. At the height of the conflict, African American soldiers made up 10% of the Union Army and 23% of all enlisted men on U.S. Additional men from the commonwealth served with the United States Navy. ![]() Of the approximately 180,000 African American men who served in the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War, 8,612 came from Pennsylvania-the largest contingent from any Northern state. “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 Collection of the National Archives, public domain. ![]() United States Colored Troops, Port Hudson, LA, c. ![]()
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