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Black Civil War Soldiers Honored

Sgt. Furney Bryant, 1st NC Colored Troops
NC Dept. of Cultural Resources

A ceremony today in Wilmington is honoring black soldiers who served in the Civil War. A North Carolina Highway Historical Marker will be unveiled just outside the National Cemetery in the city. Jim Steele is the manager of the Fort Fisher State Historic Site. He says a combination of free blacks and former slaves participated in a fight to take the fort.

Jim Steele: "Two divisions of United States soldiers attacked Fort Fisher on January 15th of 1865 and fully one division, at least 3,000, were what were then known as the U.S. Colored Troops back when the army was segregated and so they played a significant role in the Fort's capture and in the subsequent campaign to capture Wilmington."

Steele says the fall of Wilmington closed one of the last ports the Confederacy could rely on to supply the war effort.

Eric Hodge hosts WUNC’s broadcast of Morning Edition, and files reports for the North Carolina news segments of the broadcast. He started at the station in 2004 doing fill-in work on weekends and All Things Considered.
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