As USCT regiments entered southern states, they had the opportunity on numerous occasions to liberate slaves. After one USCT regiment liberated slaves from a plantation in North Carolina, an editorial in Harpers Weekly noted that they “[left] ‘Ole Massa’ to glory in solitude and secession.” You can read the full article here as well as view the accompanying illustration.
(Courtesy of House Divided Project – “Negro Soldiers Liberating Slaves,” Harper’s Weekly, January 23, 1864, p. 54: 1.)
This is an important remembrance in the necessary, continuous writing of our shared history. The sacrifices of our African American progenitors in the Civil War, no matter our own ethnicity or race, each citizen needs to know, and honor this history.
Van A. Reidhead
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania