The African American regiments that fought at Milliken’s Bend would serve in what would later become known as the “United States Colored Troops” – or USCT for short. In fact, the Bureau of Colored Troops was established in the U.S. Army on May 22, 1863 – about two weeks before the battle at Millikens’ Bend. So at the time of the battle, the official designation had hardly even gotten off paper.

The black regiments at Milliken’s Bend were known – at the time – by their state designations, just like any other Union regiment, although their names still bore a racial distinction. There was the 9th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent; the 11th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent; the 13th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent; and the 1st Mississippi Infantry, African Descent.  Other new regiments forming in the region had names in the same style.  Despite these somewhat cumbersome names – and the fact that they were Union troops bearing the names of Confederate states – these regiments served as the foundation of the “Colored Troops.”

Within these regiments, white men also served – as officers, and at Milliken’s Bend, also as first sergeants. Black men could hold lower non-commissioned officer positions, such as sergeants and corporals, and all enlisted men were black. Nearly all of the African Americans at Milliken’s Bend had been slaves just weeks or months before.

At the time of Milliken’s Bend, the idea of arming African Americans – especially former slaves – was, as one reporter put it, “an untried experiment.” Indeed, when recruiting began in April and May of 1863, it was only a few months after Lincoln issued his final Emancipation Proclamation.

A few regiments elsewhere, most notably in Kansas, South Carolina, and some regiments of free blacks from New Orleans known as the “Louisiana Native Guards” were in service prior to 1863, but these were exceptions. Though many black men served as teamsters, cooks, and laborers, no effort had been made to incorporate them into the Union army as soldiers in any large numbers.

The recruiting of former slaves in the Mississippi Valley that began in earnest in the spring of 1863 would see more than 11,000 men enlisted from the region by year’s end. The fight at Milliken’s Bend came just a week after the 1st and 3rd Louisiana Native Guards had proven their bravery with their blood by assaulting Confederate fortifications at Port Hudson, Louisiana.

But Milliken’s Bend was different. The troops were poorly trained because they were new recruits. The initial organization of the Louisiana Native Guards predated the Civil War, so they had experience, and they were mostly well-to-do free men of color. They were part of a much larger, majority white, force which was besieging Port Hudson. The several African American regiments at Milliken’s Bend, former slaves, composed the majority of the Union forces. This may have been the first time a majority-black Union force met Confederate troops in battle.To the surprise of many, North, South, and even their own officers, the black troops fought well, despite being overwhelmed by the Confederate assault.

Sources:  “Siege of Vicksburg,” Cincinnati Daily Commercial, June 24, 1863. Like Men of War: Black Troops in the Civil War 1862-1865 by Noah Andre Trudeau. Lorenzo Thomas to Sec. of War Edwin M. Stanton, Dec. 24, 1863; Letters, Enclosures, Telegrams Sent and Special Orders Issued, Nov. 26, 1863 to Feb. 3, 1864; Box 1; General Lorenzo Thomas; General’s Papers, Subseries I (Entry 159); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office (RG94); National Archives.