Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry Colored Troops (Union)

Hampton Roads

When Virginia seceded in April 1861, many of the vessels, guns and repair facilities of the U. S. Navy at the Gosport Naval Yard in Portsmouth were hastily scuttled, destroyed or left behind for the new Confederate government to use. This included the steam frigate USS Merrimack, which had been sunk pierside and her upper works destroyed by fire. The Confederates raised the ship, moved her into the graving dock, and replaced her wooden superstructure with an iron-covered citadel mounting 10 guns. By early…READ MORE

Arkansas Post

The Battle of Arkansas Post, also known as the Battle of Fort Hindman, was a combined land-river assault by Union forces on the Confederate Fort Hindman, which loomed over a bend in the Arkansas River near the town of Arkansas Post. As the Union advance down the Mississippi River passed the mouth of the Arkansas, the presence of Fort Hindman outflanked the Federal forward positions.READ MORE

Olustee

In February 1864, the commander of the Union Department of the South, Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, launched an expedition into Florida to secure Union enclaves, sever Rebel supply routes, and recruit black soldiers. Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour moved his 5,500-man force from Jacksonville deep into the state, meeting little resistance. On February 20th, as he advanced toward Lake City, he approached Brig. Gen. Joseph Finegan's 5,000 Confederates entrenched in an open pine woods near Olustee. Finegan send forw…READ MORE