New Exhibit Highlights African American Soldiers Of The Civil War

More than 179,000 African Americans served in the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) during the Civil War. The USCT made up over 10% of the Union Army and 25% of the Union Navy, but the service of those men is often a footnote in history books.
A new exhibit at Gulf Islands National Seashore’s Fort Pickens Discovery Center highlights 17 members of the 25th USCT, Company G, who served in the Pensacola Bay area, defending Fort Barrancas from April to August in 1864. The exhibit of life-sized portraits stems from a collection of postage-stamp-sized photographs that became the fascination of Ann Arbor illustrator Shayne Davidson in 2012.
“I was working on a family tree for a friend when I asked if she had any photos, and she put me in touch with her cousin, who told me about this tiny album that belonged to her great-grandfather, Captain William A. Prickett,” Davidson recalled.
Inside the locket-sized album are 18 portraits of men from the USCT, Company G. While the photos had little to do with her friend’s family tree, she became fascinated by the men from the album. Her friend sent photos of each portrait — all but one had names handwritten on the matte.