Southern Maryland Studies Center
Hidden Identities: Southern Maryland Slaves & the United
States Colored Troops at Camp Stanton, Maryland
 Civil War Slave/Soldier’s Listing
Project Summary
The establishment of Camp Stanton in Charles County,
Maryland during October of 1863 provided an unparalleled opportunity for slaves
in the Southern Maryland Region to escape their masters. Six regiments
totaling over 8,700 African-American soldiers were trained at Camp Stanton.
Many, free and slave, came from Maryland's Eastern Shore. Others came from
the Southern Maryland Counties of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's. While
regimental histories and even some company histories exist for the 7th, 9th, and
30th Colored Infantries of the United States Colored Troops (USCT), to date no
effort has been made to identify individual African-Americans from Southern
Maryland who used the opportunity of enlistment with the Union Army during the
Civil War as a means to escape slavery.
The purpose of this project is to begin identifying USCT
members from Southern Maryland differentiation wherever possible between free
African-Americans and runaway slaves. One or more Companies from either
the 7th, 9th, or 30th Regiments will be selected. Individuals from
Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's Counties will be identified as either free or
slave. Life histories of these individuals will be compiled using records
from the National Archives, the Maryland State Archives, and the Southern
Maryland Studies Center. The African-American community will be solicited
for additional family and genealogical information.
The end result of the project will be a searchable web site
created by the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) and maintained by the Southern
Maryland Studies Center. Whenever possible, copies of microfilm used
during the course of the project research will be purchased and added to SMSC's
microfilm collection. SMSC is centrally located within Southern Maryland.
Providing copies of the microfilm used in the research phase of the project will
make the information available to a wider audience outside of Washington, D.C.
and Annapolis, Maryland.
|
