The United States Colored Troops of the Union Army

Subtitle: Fighting for Freedom and Citizenship
In August 1861, Congress passed the Confiscation Act which allowed Union forces moving into Confederate territory to seize enslaved persons.  The purpose was more of a measure meant to harm the efforts of the rebellion than an act of abolition.  The Confiscation Act however, did not allow these men to work or fight for the Union Army.
In July 1862, Congress passed the Militia Act. The intent of the Militia Act was to allow Blacks to both work and fight for the Union Army, however Congress only passed the section that allowed Blacks to work as laborers only and designated their pay to be $10 per month, $3 of which would be in the form of clothing. This was significantly lower than the direct $13 of monthly pay White soldiers received.
In September 1862 President Lincoln in his efforts to re-unite the Union, published the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation stating that if the Southern states did not return to the Union it would go into effect on January first.  On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation into law, and it was the Emancipation Proclamation that allowed Blacks to serve as soldiers in the Union Army.  In May 1863, the War Department issued General Order No. 143 to recruit African Americans into the Union Army within regiments designated as the United States Colored Troops led by White officers.
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton wanted all officers of the USCT units to be White, but that policy was softened to allow African American surgeons and chaplains.  Since African Americans had not been allowed in the army prior to this point, there also was a significant problem that virtually no blacks had military experience not to mention officer’s training.  Many, particularly those from the border states and southward, could not read or write –  a requirement to be an officer.  By the end of the war however, there were at least eighty-seven African American officers in the Union army.
Interestingly, the Militia Act of 1862, prevented the USCT from receiving normal Union soldier pay and these men received nearly 40% less than White soldiers. Congress corrected this in mid-1864 but only for the men who had joined the USCT as freemen and not for those who had been enslaved. It took another nine months before Congress approved equal pay for all black soldiers which they made retroactive to January 1, 1864.  Many USCT soldiers took serious offense to this discrimination against them.