A state historical marker issued by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources will be dedicated Saturday in Culpeper County that highlights the first African American soldiers who served with the Army of the Potomac in the Overland Campaign of 1864, a series of battles in Virginia that helped secure victory for the Union in the Civil War.
The public dedication ceremony for the marker will be held Saturday starting at 11 a.m., at the Brandy Station Fire Hall at 19601 Church Road. On-site parking will be available for attendees at the event.
Howard Lambert, founder and president of the Freedom Foundation of Virginia, will deliver opening remarks, and Ed Gant, president of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) 23rd Regiment reenactors group, will serve as the master of ceremony. Event speakers include David Ruth of the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and Steward Henderson, a Civil War living historian and 23rd Regiment USCT reenactor.
The ceremony’s keynote speakers are Rev. Eugene Triplett, associate pastor of the Rising Zion Baptist Church, and Dr. James K. Bryant II, a historian, author, and educator. Rev. Triplett is a descendant of a soldier from the 27th Regiment USCT. Dr. Bryant, a former professor of history at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va., worked for many years as a National Park Service historian at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He has authored several books and publications, including The 36th Infantry United States Colored Troops in the Civil War: A History and Roster (2012).
On May 5, 1864, thousands of African American soldiers from the USCT entered Culpeper County at Kelly’s Ford to serve alongside the Army of the Potomac, the Union’s primary fighting force in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War, for the first time. These men, including some who had escaped slavery in Culpeper and nearby counties, formed the 4th Division of the IX Corps in the Union Army, serving in the 19th, 23rd, 27th, 30th, 39th, and 43rd USCT, as well as in the 30th Connecticut Colored Infantry.
Confederates captured and executed at least three Black soldiers during the time that Union troops stayed in Culpeper. The troops soon marched south across the Rapidan River to join Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, where they succeeded in neutralizing Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia before the Siege of Petersburg. In April 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. The USCT were disbanded in the fall of 1865, shortly after the end of the Civil War.
The marker was approved for manufacture and installation in 2021 by the Virginia Board of Historic Resources, which is authorized to designate new state historical markers. The marker’s manufacturing costs were covered by its sponsor, the Freedom Foundation of Virginia.
Text of marker:
U.S. Colored Troops in the Overland Campaign
On 5 May 1864, thousands of United States Colored Troops entered Culpeper County at Kelly’s Ford, six miles southeast of here, marking the first time Black troops served alongside the Army of the Potomac. These men, including some who had escaped slavery in Culpeper and nearby counties, served in the 19th, 23rd, 27th, 30th, 39th, and 43rd USCT and the 30th Connecticut Colored Infantry, which made up the 4th Division of IX Corps. After a brief stay in Culpeper County, the troops marched south across the Rapidan River to join Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign. While in Culpeper, at least three Black soldiers were captured by Confederates and summarily executed along the roadside.
