3rd Regiment Heavy Artillery U.S. Colored Troops

Sergeant Tom Strawn of Company B, 3rd U.S. Colored Troops USCT Heavy Artillery Regiment (Library of Congress)

3rd Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery was a unit of the United States Army based in West Tennessee during the American Civil War. According to a 2003 article in the journal Army History, "More than 25,000 black artillerymen, recruited primarily from freed slaves in Confederate or border states, served in the Union Army during the Civil War...Federal military authorities armed and equipped the soldiers in these twelve-company heavy artillery regiments as infantrymen and ordinarily used them to man the larger caliber guns defending coastal and field fortifications located near cities and smaller population centers in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina."

The magazine of the unit's Battery A exploded at Fort Pickering on September 24, 1864, killing two and injuring four. A number of the black men killed in the Memphis riots of 1866 were soldiers of the 3rd Regiment.

Founded in 1783, the third regiment, often called the “Old Guard” is the oldest active-duty regiment currently serving to this day. Prior to the conditions of the Civil War, Blacks were barred from service by the Federal Militia Acts of 1792. While black soldiers did serve during the War of 1812, their presence was severely limited, with only Louisiana having the special privilege of forming a black militia. When blacks were finally allowed to serve following the Emancipation Proclamation, which allowed escaped slaves or former slaves to serve in the military. As a result, roughly 200,000 black men fought as a part of the Union. However, before that, escaped slaves from the Confederate states were allowed to serve via the 1862 Second Confiscation Act as well as a modified understanding of the Militia Act. the second confiscation act itself grants the federal government the right to seize the property of disloyal citizens, or citizens in active rebellion, because this act was codified prior to the emancipation proclamation, the act freed slaves through the idea of confiscating human property. By 1862, there were around three regiments that consisted of black soldiers, or USCI; New Orleans, Louisiana: the First, Second, and Third Louisiana Native Guard. Following the second Confiscation, several states formed regiments of colored troops that varied in size and lacked true competence due to a lack of leadership and equipment. By May of 1863, As part of official US War Department policy, the US War Department issued General Order 143 to standardize the training and enlistment of African Americans. While they were allowed to serve as infantrymen, black regiments were still segregated from white regiments and blacks were barred from serving as officers. The 3rd regiment was itself a sub-section of the fourth brigade, ten corps. The third regiment participated in expeditions as well as assaults on forts Wagner and Greg. the regiment was distinct in the fact that it primarily served as heavy artillery during service.

They also served in; Operations on Forts Wagner and Gregg. On July 18, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts, a black African American infantry led an attack on Forts Wagner and Greg. Located in Charleston, South Carolina, Fort Wagner was the sight of the initial conflict of the Civil War where Confederate forces fired at and seized Fort Sumter. While not a strategically important fort, the attack was intended to boost Northern Moralle and a hit to Southern, assuming the operation was successful. At first, the 54th as well as nine other infantries were able to capture the fort before being driven out by Confederate forces, resulting in heavy casualties for the Union Army.

Expedition to Florida Led by Major General Glen Quincy A. Gilmore, the expedition into Florida served to secure Union enclaves, attack rebel supply routes, and recruit black soldiers.

Expedition to Lake City, Fla. As part of the Union expedition to Florida, Brigadier General Truman Seymour led 5,500 men from Jacksonville deep into Florida, as he approached Lake City on February 20th, he met resistance from Brigadier General Joseph Finegan’s comparable Confederate force. After an initial retreat, Seymour's forces were backed by the 54th and 35th colored infantry.

Expedition to Camp Milton, Fla. As part of the Union expedition to Florida, Union troops engaged in several battles with the troops of Camp Milton. Housing over 8,000 Confederate troops, the camp was the site of Florida's largest encampment of Confederate troops.

See also

• Franklin–Nashville campaign
• Massacre at Fort Pillow
• List of United States Colored Troops Civil War units