Rochester-Monroe County Freedom Trail Commission to Pay News Release - Tribute to Civil War ‘United States Colored Troops’ (USCT)

City of Rochester

News Release

(Monday, May 18, 2015) ― The Rochester-Monroe County Freedom Trail Commission will pay tribute to the nearly 200,000 men of color who joined the Union Army Civil War effort as members of the ‘United States Colored Troops’ (USCT) from 9:15 to 11 a.m., Saturday, May 23 in Mount Hope Cemetery, 1133 Mt. Hope Avenue.

“The day’s events — free and open to the public — will tell the story of Civil War veterans with connections to Greater Rochester who served in regiments designated ‘United States Colored Troops’ (USCT),” said Dr. David Anderson, chairman of the Freedom Trail Commission and coordinator for the event. Several of these soldiers are interred at City cemeteries: Mount Hope and Riverside.

This year marks the 152nd anniversary of the Bureau of United States Colored Troops (USTC) created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863 during the Civil War to handle "all matters relating to the organization of colored troops."

The event also commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation. The advocacy of Frederick Douglass, noted abolitionist, social reformer, statesman and editor of “The North Star,” was crucial to President Lincoln’s decision to issue the executive order which marked the Union’s belated decision to enlist men of color.

Shortly after that executive order was issued, Frederick Douglass was named an official recruiter by Massachusetts Governor John Andrew who was intent on raising the first “colored” regiment in the North.
 
In April of that year, two of Frederick and Anna Douglass’ sons were among the first 23 men sent to Massachusetts for training.  When the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment engaged in its first battle, the eldest son, Lewis Henry Douglass was the regiment’s Sergeant Major.

The program includes reenactments in what the organizers regard as “Hallowed Ground.” Tributes will be spoken by women volunteers; each aided by children, who will also plant a small American flag at each gravesite. All but three of these testimonials will take place at the Grand Army of the Republic section, Fireman’s Avenue. The gathering will also stop at the gravesites of William A. Brown (D-17, near North Gate), Nathan Sprague, and wife Rosetta (Woodland Avenue, Range 2, Lot 200) and David Wycoff (Grove Avenue, Section O, Lot 291).

Commemorative events are co-sponsored by the Rochester-Monroe County Freedom Trail Commission, Buffalo Soldiers Presentation Team and AKWAABA: the Heritage Associates, with assistance from the Institute for Pluralism at Nazareth College.

For further information, contact 753-2001 or 389-5140.

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News Media: For more information, contact Press Officer Jessica Alaimo at 428-7135. 

 

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