Souce: MSN News Feb 12 2003 Could Blacks Fight in the Am Rev, War of 1812 and Civil War? Although their lives were circumscribed by numerous discriminatory laws even in the colonial period, freed African-Americans, especially in the North, were active participants in American society. Black men enlisted as soldiers and fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Pine Ridge Agency, S. D. trooper, Buffalo Soldier Corporal / C. G. Morledge. The 9th and 10th Cavalries were nicknamed the "Buffalo Soldiers" by Cheyenne and Comanche Indians who saw a similarity between the troopers’ hair and buffalo fur. These black soldiers were charged with carrying out orders to clear the way for whites as they headed West. Until the early 1890s, African-Americans constituted 20 percent of all cavalry forces on the American frontier. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry was a volunteer group of African-Americans who fought during the Civil War. The unit was made up of former slaves from throughout the North. The regiment was one of the first black units organized in the northern states. Abraham Lincoln's election led to secession and secession to war. When the Union soldiers entered the South, thousands of African-Americans fled from their owners to Union camps. The Union officers did not know how to manage this addition to their numbers. Some sought to return the slaves to their owners, but others kept the blacks within their lines and dubbed them "contraband of war." Many "contrabands" greatly aided the war effort. After Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which was effective Jan. 1, 1863, black soldiers were officially allowed to participate in the war. Over 180,000 African-Americans eventually served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Of these, more than 33,000 died. The Library of Congress holds histories and pictures of most of the regiments of the United States Colored Troops as well as manuscripts and published accounts by African-American soldiers and their white officers. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus