This is Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the Union refused to put African American men in uniform. Abolitionist leaders, however, argued that such men could help win the war. Frederick Douglass foresaw the powerful impact that wartime service would have on the fight for equality, writing that once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters US Let him get an eagle on his button and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket. There is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, authorized the General recruitment of African Americans for service in the Union Army. The famous 54th Massachusetts infantry was the first such regiment, soon followed by regiments from other states. Michigan's 1st African American Regiment, the 1st Michigan Colored infantry, was formed in February 1863 after an editorial and letter writing campaign by Henry Barnes, an editor for the Detroit Tribune and Advertiser newspaper. The regiment was organized at Camp Ward, located on a farm in Detroit. 845 men from Detroit, southern Michigan and Ontario volunteered for the regiment. Military service for any soldier took great courage. African American men faced even greater hazards than their Euro American counterparts. Ordinarily, soldiers captured in battle were treated as prisoners of war. The Confederacy threatened African American soldiers with summary execution or enslavement if they were captured. The regiment mustered in as the 102nd U.S. colored Troops on February 17, 1864. Like all such Union regiments, African Americans filled the ranks of its enlisted men and non commissioned officers. Commissioned officers in the regiment, however, were all Euro Americans. Even Northerners would not tolerate the issuance of an officer's commission to an African American soldier. The 102nd Colored Troops lost nearly 10% of its men during campaigns in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Eleven of its soldiers died of wounds, with another 129 succumbing to disease. Like almost all Civil war regiments, the 102nd lost more men to germs than bullets. At Baldwin, Florida, near Jacksonville, the 102nd routed a force of Confederate cavalry and proved to their officers that they were just as skilled and reliable as any other regiment. After the war, the 102nd served on occupation duty until it mustered out of service on September 30, 1865. The regiment returned to Detroit and disbanded on October 17. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.