The movie "Glory" made the 54th Massachusetts famous, but the story of African American units that formed earlier in the Civil War has not been told as effectively. The Union Army's first Black unit was organized at Port Royal, South Carolina in May 1862 as the First South Carolina Volunteers of African Descent (1SCVAD). The unit was composed entirely of enslaved men and was formed during turbulent and controversial times. On the night of 31 December 1862, the Soldiers of the 1SCVAD went to sleep as "contraband" but on the morning of 1 January 1863 with the first public reading of the Emancipation Proclamation these men were transformed into free men. This presentation will be an image-heavy conversation between LTG (RET) Ben Hodges and COL (RET) Chris Allen and will seek to elevate this little-known chapter of American history into a more proper light.