Currently on display at the Troy University Library, the 97th United States Colored Troops Exhibit focuses on raising awareness of the military service of 78 African American veterans interred at Mobile National Cemetery.
Mobile National Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama, is the final resting place of more than 140 Black Union soldiers from the American Civil War. The largest group served in the 97th United States Colored Troops (USCT), a regiment of formerly enslaved men who fought from the bayous of Louisiana to the beaches of Pensacola and Mobile.
Presented by the Department of History and Philosophy, the exhibit explores the beginnings of Black enlistment in the Union Army, the duties assigned to United States Colored Troops, the impact of military service on Black soldiers’ lives and the role of disease in soldiers’ lives.
The exhibit is a product of the Veterans Legacy Program (VLP), funded by the National Cemetery Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The VLP commemorates our nation’s veterans and service members by uncovering and sharing their stories in communities across the country.
Led by Dr. David Carlson, history lecturer, the purpose of the $200,017 grant is to heighten awareness of the military service of veterans who are interred at national cemeteries.
Many of the soldiers died not from war, but from a smallpox outbreak that struck Mobile in 1865-1866.
“This is the third year the grant has been offered, and most other projects have focused on World War II, Vietnam, the more modern wars,” he said. “But there are lots of Civil War soldiers, so I started looking at the cemeteries in our area and what kind of research had been done about them, and what I discovered was that there is a whole contingent of northern, Black troops buried at the Mobile National Cemetery, but no research had been done on them.”
Through his research, it was discovered that most of the soldiers died as a result of a smallpox outbreak in 1863 that made its way into the Deep South by 1865 and into Mobile by 1866.
“The US Colored Troops who were stationed there, many of whom were former slaves, had no immunity to it,” Carlson said, “and suddenly they’re thrown into these camps with people from all over the country. We wanted to highlight the military service of the men who were buried there, but we also wanted to understand what it was like for troops at the end of the war, how they transitioned to the post-war period and some of the problems they faced.”
In addition to the exhibit on the Troy Campus, the research team worked with area high school students and TROY students to teach research skills and how to read primary documents, as well as what it truly means to be a historian.
“The VA uses this as a dual purpose: classroom education and training and public-facing research,” Carlson said. “These documents are written not just in cursive, but in 19th Century cursive. It’s a challenge.”
The research team consisted of Carlson, Dr. Tim Buckner, history professor and associate chair, Dr. Karen Ross, associate professor of history, Dr. Avington Medeiros, history lecturer, and Chris Stagl, Department of Art and Design assistant chair and associate professor. Carlson’s area of focus was on military records and court documents, while Buckner and Ross focused on slavery and medicine, respectively. Meideros served as the high school liaison, and Stagl designed the graphics and displays.
The Roll of Honor features the names of the 97th Regiment soldiers buried at Mobile National Cemetery.