Army Life in a Black Regiment

Army Life in a Black Regiment is Thomas Wentworth Higginson's personal account of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, a black regiment mustered into the Army of the United States during the Civil War. It was composed of escaped slaves from South Carolina and Florida. Colonel Higginson transformed almost 800 former slaves into soldiers. The regiment was very effective along the Florida and Georgia coast. Harriet Tubman served with these men as a cook, nurse, spy, and scout. The regiment was re-designated the 33rd United States Colored Infantry Regiment on February 8, 1864.