“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters ‘US,’ let him get an eagle on his button and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States.”The Task ~ To educate ROTC Cadets about the history and traditions of the United States Army and to learn more about the history of the local area by researching Veterans of the Civil War interred in the North Queen Street and Locust Grove Cemeteries, both of which are located in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. The two small cemeteries are the final resting place of several African American Veterans of the Civil War (the cemeteries are adjacent to each other).--Frederick Douglass
The Conditions ~ The Shippensburg University, Department of Military Science, Sophomore Classes (MS II, Spring 2003 & Spring 2004) were tasked by their Military Science Instructor to attempt to learn more about the lives of those men who are interred in those cemeteries, both of which are within walking distance of Shippensburg University. After a brief overview of the history of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) in class, Cadets were assigned specific tasks and areas to research.
The Results ~ The results of their research is found on the pages linked below. The Cadets used newspapers, images and data from federal census records along with excerpts from Shippensburg In The Civil War, authored by William H. Burkhart, which contains short sketches about most of the Veterans, compiled from interviews and from Mr. Burkhart's research at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Please direct questions or comments to:
