Historical Organization
Union Army
Union Army
Details
Organization Timeline
Second Confiscation Act authorizes freedom for people held by Confederate supporters
📅 17 July 1862The act declared enslaved people held by people engaged in rebellion against the United States to be free and empowered the president to employ Black men in military service. Its reach depended on...
Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in designated Confederate areas
📅 1 January 1863The Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved people in designated areas in rebellion to be free and authorized Black men to enlist in the Union Army. It did not immediately free everyone, and its...
US War Department establishes the Bureau of Colored Troops
📅 22 May 1863General Orders No. 143 established a bureau to organize Black regiments in the Union Army. Black men had already pressed to fight, and their military service became a direct struggle for freedom and...
Union forces announce emancipation in Texas
📅 19 June 1865Union troops arrived in Galveston and announced that enslaved people in Texas were free under federal policy. The announcement came more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation and...