An Army of Liberation: Ypsilanti, Michigan's Black Civil War Experience

Nearly seventy Ypsilanti men served in the Civil War's Black regiments, including many who had previously escaped from slavery. A dozen never returned. Whether with Michigan’s 102nd United States Colored Troops or the “Glory” regiments of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantries, Ypsilanti men were largely stationed on the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina.
There they were at some of the War’s most iconic moments like the assault on Fort Wagner, the liberation of Charleston, and Sherman’s March to the Sea. Others, mainly from Ohio, moved to Ypsilanti after the war and brought their own Civil War experiences with them.
Join historian Matt Siegfried for this online presentation as we learn who the Ypsilanti volunteers were; their life in camp and the racism they faced in the military, the battles they fought, the plantations they liberated and the lives lived in Ypsilanti after the war as we take a look at Ypsilanti's Black Civil War experience. Recorded April 20, 2021.