Wilmington National Cemetery Black Soldiers Section in Wilmington, North Carolina
In 1865, the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th, 27th, 37th and 39th United States Colored Troops (USCT) regiments fought in the Wilmington Campaign to liberate that city from the Confederates. When USCT soldiers fell, their comrades buried them in small cemeteries on the several battlefields where they had died or near the hospitals where they had drawn their last breath. Over the next two years, after the army had left Wilmington, some of the graves were lost and more were desecrated by returning Confederate veterans who were particularly angry that they had been defeated by former slaves. In 1867 a new cemetery was opened where Union dead would be buried securely. Black and white Union soldiers were buried here. Some died in the Wilmington Campaign and others died from disease afterwards while occupying the city during the early phases of Reconstruction. In addition, since some USCT lived their post-war lives in Wilmington, these Union veterans would be buried in this section even though they died long after the war.
