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Military Service

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A real photo postcard of a group of military service men and women taken at the YMCA camp near Chambery, France, during World War I. The image depicts five women standing in a row on a lawn, with four men crouched in a row in front of them. Addie Waites Hunton is in the center of the back row; the other women and men are unidentified. In the background is a large building with a double staircased entrance. A temporary sign reading [Y.M.C.A.] has been placed on the portico at the top of the stairs. Other individuals are visible along the top and bottom of the stairs. The verso has printing reading [CARTE POSTALE] with spaces for [Correspondance] and [Adresse] and a horse and horsehead mark for the publisher Guilleminot. The postcard has not been sent, but there is an inscription across the back by hand in brown ink reading [From Sgt. Thomas, who / was on leave at colored, / Y.M.C.A. at Chamberry / France]. There is an inscription by a different hand in graphite above the [Adresse] label reading [(ALFRED JACK THOMAS)].

1861African Americans During The Civil War

"Men of Color" Recruitment Poster

Serving the Union Cause

Susie King Taylor, 1902

Though the Civil War began on April 12, 1861, Black men were not able to officially enlist in the Union Army as part of the United States Colored Troops until September 1862, when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Nearly 250,000 Black men served in the USCT, winning battlefield acclaim including the Congressional Medal of Honor and Butler Medal. Black women also played a critical role in the war. Women like Susie King Taylor and Harriet Tubman served as battlefield nurses, teachers, scouts, spies, and camp laborers. Enslaved people also found ways to undermine the Confederate cause, by harboring Union soldiers, breaking machinery and equipment, assisting with raids in Confederate cities, and passing along information about the actions of the Confederates. Gen. Robert E. Lee noted that enslaved Black people were the chief sources of information to the enemy. Some Confederates forced enslaved African Americans to serve alongside them as body servants and laborers.

Susie King Taylor, 1902

Racism and Discrimination in the Union Army

Butler Medal, 1865

In addition to fighting Confederates, African American soldiers dealt with racism and discrimination within the Union Army. Members of the United States Colored Troops were paid less than white soldiers, and colored regiments were led by white officers. Unlike the army, the Union Navy was integrated, and Black and white sailors served side by side. Like generations before them who fought in the Mexican-American War, Seminole Wars, War of 1812, and the American Revolution, African Americans used military service during the Civil War to gain freedom for themselves.

Butler Medal, 1865