John Edwards III combed through archives to find information about black soldiers in the Civil War, but a frustrating thread ran through everything he saw.
“Most of the information started off with ‘very little is known,’ so our position was to help make it known,” he said. “When people have done so much and fought so hard to get where we are — and then to not take advantage of that — is a slap in the face to people who contributed.”
Fifteen years ago, Mr. Edwards, curator at the Mary Walker Historical and Education Foundation, started the research project with his father. The culmination of his efforts is on display as a temporary exhibit at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.
According to the exhibit, the Union Army did not enlist black soldiers at first, but economic factors prompted officials to change policy early in the conflict.
About 80 percent of the 178,975 black troops who fought with the Union during the Civil War escaped from slave states. While many had jobs burying bodies and harvesting plants, some earned positions as officers and 16 received Medals of Honor.