This woodcut drawing appeared in the March 14, 1863 edition of Harper’s Weekly, of the First Kansas Colored Volunteers engaged in the skirmish at Island Mound, Bates County, Missouri, on October 27-29, 1862.
The skirmish at Island Mound is the first known engagement involving African-American soldiers in the Civil War. Despite being outnumbered by Confederate recruits and guerrillas, it ended in a complete victory for the African-American troops, ending doubts about their fighting qualities, which up to that time had been questioned throughout the North.
The 1st Kansas had eight soldiers killed and eleven wounded during the skirmish; Confederate casualties are unknown.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Library Collection
