20 USCI - Black Men in Lincoln Blue

In the News: Oneonta Herald, February 10, 1864

RIKERS ISLAND, Jan. 29, 1864.

SIR i must Tell you a little a bout the Camp a fairs & how thing Goes here last nite we had a mobe fite bee twixt the Clord & white But the ofesers sune stop it But if they had let the nigs goe they wood Not have benn a sun of the Eemeral Ile left here for the Colord Trupes at Rikers Island & i for my self am Just as well as Ever i was & As tuff But when i First a Rived i thought it hard but now i am Natueralised to the Camp Lif there is a Bout 2000 Colord troups here and one Ridgiment Will Leave sune that Is the 20 Ridg I thout Colord men wood not Make good Solgers but I was greatly mistaken For they are as fine as is here & learn Just as fast as the whites & More Promp & spunkey The wether is mild & warm Spring like Mine to the oneonte herald untill a Beter one or Beter ComPosed & more time i have got to bee a Coprill and will sune get to Bee a sarjant i make the Boys stand a Round as fare as my athorety.… Read more

Black Veterans at the Ohio Soldier’s and Sailors’ Home

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After the Civil War, African Americans who served in the United States Colored Troops and the United States Navy could apply to reside in both federal and state soldiers’ and sailors’ homes. Below is the list of Black veterans who were admitted to the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Sandusky, Ohio, between November 1888 and August 1919.

Cottage I, from *Souvenir Book of Views: Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, Sandusky, O.*
[photo by author]

You can view the admission records on Family Search, “Ohio Soldier Home Records, 1888-1919.” This collection of images comes from 20 volumes that include the records of the first 10,000 residents of the Home.… Read more