Hari Jones, Independent Scholar presented on The United States Colored Troops on Occupation Duty 1865 - 1867 as part of the NCWM Lessons in History Speakers Series on September 16, 2017.


The first Union regiment to enter Charleston, the Cradle of Secession, was a USCT regiment subsequently assigned to occupation duty. The first Union regiment to enter Richmond, the Capital of the Confederacy, was a USCT regiment subsequently assigned to occupation duty. The Union brigade composed of USCT regiments that stopped General Lee's army at Appomattox Court House was assigned to occupation duty. The only Union regiment commanded by an African American officer, Major Martin R. Delany, was assigned to occupation duty. African American leaders such as Frederick Douglass argued that the occupation of the South after the war was essential in ensuring emancipation and securing the rights of these emancipated Americans as citizens. Esteemed by their noteworthy victories and understanding the importance of occupation for the aforementioned reasons, United States Colored Troops were highly motivated to perform their duties as an occupying force. This lecture will examine this period of occupation from a military perspective drawing exclusively on the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion and the writings of the officers and soldiers on occupation duty.


Harold (Hari) Jones was a writer, lecturer, historian, curator, and motivational speaker. For twelve years, he was the assistant director and curator at the African American Civil War Freedom Foundation and Museum in Washington, DC. He was an independent history consultant and on the Board of Directors of the National Civil War Museum, where he presented his award-winning lecture series “The Lost Story” in the fall of 2015. He is one of the foremost authorities on the role of African Americans in the Civil War.