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African American Re-Enactors Commemorate Civil War’s End

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For more information contact Fay Mitchell Henderson at 919-807-7389.


( RALEIGH) – Marvin Nicholson, retired African-American educator, has a new classroom. It’s on Civil War battlefields of N.C. State Historic Sites. He wears not shirt and tie, but the blue wool uniform of a sergeant major in the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). He’s a re-enactor helping to observe the 140 th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and illustrate part of history often unknown or ignored.

“When I retired from New Jersey schools 13 years ago, I didn’t know that blacks had fought in the Civil War. It blew my mind,” Nicholson exclaimed.

Correcting that historical oversight led Nicholson and nine other African American men to form a re-enactor group representing Battery B, 2 nd USCT, Light Artillery unit. These soldiers manned cannons and assisted the Union cause in segregated companies during the Civil War. Although Battery B was formed in Virginia and served in Petersburg during the war and in Texas in the occupation at the war’s end, Nicholson’s group in North Carolina serves as re-enactors generally representing Colored Troops. The group operates from Wilmington and participated in re-enactments of the final battles at Fort Fisher and Fort Anderson State Historic Sites near Wilmington in January and February, respectively.

The fact is that one third of the Union troops involved in the second and deciding battle that led to the fall of Fort Fisher were black. They participated with Union forces at Fort Fisher and Fort Anderson attempting to take control of Wilmington, the last open Confederate port that could provide supplies to the Confederate Army. The black troops dug and manned the trenches in the rear flank at Fort Fisher, then joined the fighting in the final assault that broke the Confederate resistance. It was natural for Nicholson’s re-enactor group to be present at Fort Fisher’s program, and historically accurate to represent colored troops.

“In planning special events it’s not difficult to engage USCT re-enactors, there are just fewer of them involved in re-enacting,” said Site Manager Barbara Hoppe at Fort Fisher State Historic Site. “Our volunteers are enthusiastic about our events and involving the black re-enactors helps foster an avenue for sharing their story and the role they played in this conflict.

The Battery B re-enactors also will participate in the re-enactment of the Battle of Bentonville, south of Smithfield, on March 19 and 20, and in a program on the post-war occupation of Goldsboro by black and white Union soldiers at Aycock Birthplace State Historic Site near Fremont on May 14 and 15. For a complete list of 140 th anniversary programs, visit www.ncdcr.gov and click on the link below the cannon.

African Americans were allowed to serve in the Union Army late in the Civil War. Some Confederate politicians also recommended enlisting African Americans late in the war, as the tide turned against the South. For Southern legislators, agreement to enlist blacks could not be reached. Nonetheless, some free blacks are known to have served in the Confederate Army. Other enslaved blacks served the Confederates as laborers, musicians, teamsters, body servants or cooks.

“I’m addicted to re-enacting,” Nicholson explained. “I was glad to understand part of my past, because all of my life I was so confused.”

Since retiring, Nicholson has studied about African American involvement in the Civil War and American history, citing “Free Negroes in North Carolina, 1790-1860,” by John Hope Franklin, Duke University history professor emeritus, and “A History of the U.S.,” by Howard Zinn, historian and social activist, as good sources. The slave narratives available from the U.S. Archives he also considers must reading for blacks. He laments that many African Americans don’t know this Civil War history, but that whites who attend the re-enactments often do.

“It’s not the way Hollywood portrays it,” he continued, “It’s terribly complicated.” Nicholson works to further education about blacks in the Civil War at schools and other venues. He says youngsters, used to multicultural education, are open to his presentation and ask lots of questions. He also does a presentation about black confederate soldiers, who were usually free blacks fighting for the Confederate cause. “They wanted freedom, but were not sure they wanted Northern freedom,” he adds.

Nicholson is looking forward to involvement with the Battle of Bentonville 140 th anniversary observance in March. Although USCT soldiers did not fight there, the 110 th USCT were “unassigned” and accompanied forces of U.S. Gen. William T. Sherman to Bentonville. That battle sought to take control of the rail lines at nearby Goldsboro, a further step to stop the movement of supplies to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army in Virginia. The black troops likely served as guards for wagon trains or in similar support roles. African Americans were a large part of the forces occupying Goldsboro after the war, and black re-enactor groups have been invited to participate in the May program at Aycock Birthplace.

The North Carolina State Archives has information about blacks who served in the Union Army, as well as of blacks who served support roles in the Confederate Army or in a few cases, as Confederate fighters. During Black History Month, Nicholson is reclaiming that history and urging other blacks to do so, and to become re-enactors as well.

For additional information, call Fay Mitchell Henderson in the Information and Marketing Services at 919-807-7389. The Division of State Historic Sites and the Office of Archives and Records are part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

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[Ed. Note: Additional information on U.S. Colored troops can be found in “The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865,” “Black Soldiers in Blue: African American Troops in the Civil War Era,” by John David Smith, and “Like Men of War: Black Troops in the Civil War, 1862-1865,” by Noah Andre Trudeau.]

Shown are:  Cpl. Charles Williams, Sgt. Major Marvin Nicholson, Pvt. JoJo White, Edward Keith, Sgt. Fred Johnson, 1st Sgt. James White.  Photo courtesy of the N.C. Office of Archives and History.

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