Description: Illustration from "The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775-1812, 1861-'65" by Joseph T. Wilson. Caption reads: "Negroes building fortifications for the Confederates at James Island, S. C., under direction of General Beauregard, to repel the land attack of the Federal troops." ALTERNATE TEXT: A large Confederate army camp during the American Civil War: A group of African Americans digging a hole in the ground, none are dressed as soldiers. They are largely in farming type clothes, including bibbed overalls. Most men are using pick axes and shovels to work the ground. One man is pushing a wheelbarrow full of dirt. A man on a horse watches the men dig. A few men on a hill near the digging site stand and talk. There are two cannons near the middle of the scene, and horses are pulling a train at the far middle of the scene. Down the hill from the scene are large tents in the rest of the army camp. There is a fort to the far right of the camp and what looks to be water and boats near the fort. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: blackphalanx_31
Subjects: African American soldiers; African American men; Civil War 1861-1865
Places: National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center