Rockbridge Historical Society

Fighting for Freedom: Black Union Soldiers

 Larry Spurgeon & Cinder Stanton

June 2021 Program

With Archived Video and Materials

Watch the Zoom Recording HERE

Browse the 60+ Soldier Bios HERE

Read the 2-Part News-Gazette Series: 

Part 1: General Patterns and Pathways 

Part 2: Personal Profiles – Rockbridge USCT

Rockbridge-tied soldiers fought with state-organized and federal forces across the Union theaters of war, in and beyond Virginia.  Among the many regiments they served in were the 107th and 5th U.S. Colored Infantry (above, below).

During the Civil War, more than 60 Black men from Rockbridge served in 29 Union regiments, enlisting in 14 states. Some were free before the war while others were enslaved men who escaped to join the fight to end slavery. They included carpenters, farmers, waiters, a blacksmith, and a descendant of the Hemings family of Monticello.

Cinder Stanton and Larry Spurgeon will discuss their research, and RHS Executive Director Eric Wilson will moderate, with audience Q&A to follow.

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