To Colored Men. 54th Regiment! Massachusetts Volunteers, Of African Descent
Broadside; 109.9 cm x 75.2 cm
Boston: J. E. Farwell & Co., [1863]
This advertisement that appeared in the Boston Journal on 16 February 1863 recruited "Good men of African descent." It offered a "$100 bounty at the expiration of the term of service, pay $13 per month, and State aid for families." The Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment was the first military unit consisting of black soldiers to be raised in the North during the Civil War. The passage of the Emancipation Proclamation in December of 1862 provided the impetus for the use of free black men as soldiers and Massachusetts was the first to respond. By the end of the war a total of 167 units, including other state regiments and the United States Colored Troops, were raised, totaling 186,097 men of African descent who served in the Union Army.
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