This cased photo depicts an unknown African-American corporal, standing in front of a backdrop with a camp scene. He is holding a musket in his right hand.
With a guarded endorsement of arming African-Americans contained in Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the Union army launched a vigorous recruitment drive that raised 166 Black regiments, consisting of 7,122 officers and 178,895 African-American enlisted men. More than 80% of the enlisted men came from Confederate states, and most were former slaves.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30457-C
