Qualla: African American Civil War Memorial Museum

African American Civil War Memorial Museum: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AJ Schonewolf, CC BY-SA 4.0. Two hundred and nine thousand, one hundred and forty-five names. That is how many African American men served in the Union Army of the United States during the American Civil War, almost all of them in the 175 regiments of the United States Colored Troops. Their names - along with about 7,000 white officers, 2,145 Hispanic soldiers, and 20,000 Black sailors who served alongside them - are inscribed on 166 stainless steel plaques set into curved granite walls at the corner of Vermont Avenue, 10th Street, and U Street NW in Washington, D.C. In the middle of the panels stands a nine-foot bronze figure of three Union soldiers and a sailor, with a family they are about to leave behind. The sculpture is called The Spirit of Freedom. It was made by Ed Hamilton of Louisville, Kentucky. It was dedicated in July 1998, more than 130 years after the war it commemorates ended.

Image: AJ Schonewolf | CC BY-SA 4.0

African American Civil War Memorial Museum: Bureau of Colored Troops

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dr. BlofeldOpenStreetMap contributors, CC BY-SA 2.0. On May 22, 1863, the U.S. War Department issued General Order Number 143, creating the Bureau of Colored Troops to recruit and organize regiments of African American soldiers. Frederick Douglass had been arguing for two years that the war could not be won without Black soldiers, ...

Image: Dr. BlofeldOpenStreetMap contributors | CC BY-SA 2.0

African American Civil War Memorial Museum: The Spirit of Freedom

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 2.5. The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities commissioned the statue in 1993 from Ed Hamilton, an African American sculptor who had spent his career making public monuments in Louisville and around the South. The work depicts three USCT soldiers and one sailor on one side, and ...

Image: CC BY-SA 2.5

African American Civil War Memorial Museum: The Grimke School

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit APK PRAISE JEEBUS, CC BY-SA 3.0. The museum that interprets the memorial opened in January 1999 in a small storefront at 1925 Vermont Avenue, directly across the street from the statue. In 2018 it moved to the historic Grimke School building at 1923 Vermont Avenue. Archibald Grimke, the school's namesake, was an...

Image: APK PRAISE JEEBUS | CC BY-SA 3.0

African American Civil War Memorial Museum: The Descendants Registry

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ted Eytan, CC BY-SA 2.0. Among the museum's collections is the African American Civil War Memorial Registry, which holds the family trees of more than 2,000 documented descendants of men who served in the USCT and the segregated Navy. Living descendants can register their lineage and search the database ...

Image: Ted Eytan | CC BY-SA 2.0