General Order No. 143 was an 1863 military directive of the

United States War Department The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...

which authorized the establishment of a bureau regulating the recruitment, training and organization of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

's first regiments composed entirely of

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

soldiers.Cornish (1965) p. 130. While state-raised units like the 1st South Carolina Volunteers and the

54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry ...

had already begun recruitment and training, the order issued May 22, 1863, directly created a new designation among regular U.S. Army regiments:

United States Colored Troops The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...

References

Bibliography

* Cornish, Dudley Taylor. ''The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865.'' New York: W.W. Norton, 1965.

External links

Images of the official order
at Ourdocuments.gov General orders American Civil War documents African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement 1863 in the United States 1863 documents {{Reconstruction Era