Ohio’s Black Civil War Soldiers / Riverside Cemetery’s Civil War Soldiers

Side A: Black soldiers played a major role in the Civil War and more than 5,000 free Black Ohioans served in Union forces. While prejudice marginalized the Black man’s ability to serve early in the war, an 1862 Act of Congress authorized their admission into the Union Army and Navy. President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation welcomed all freed men to join the fight. About 300 Black Ohioans joined the 54th and 55th Massachusetts (Colored) Volunteers – the first all-Black regiments raised in the North. Although offered $13 per month, the new recruits had to wait eighteen months to receive equal pay. In June 1863, Ohio’s Governor David Tod authorized a regiment of Black soldiers. The 127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI), the state’s first Black regiment, became known as the 5th U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). Side B: “For the grave hath eloquence –lectures teach in silence louder than Divines can preach.” Riverside Cemetery opened in 1867, two years after the Civil War ended. More than 20 Black Civil War soldiers are buried in the cemetery, the majority laid to rest in the “Soldier’s Circle.” Although the service of Black soldiers had challenged the prevailing racism, the circle created to honor Civil War veterans remained segregated into Black and White sections. Black Civil War soldiers buried in Riverside include: Thomas Asbury, Clemon Burn(e)s, Daniel Clark, George Clifford, Eli Copeland, Hannibal Cox, William Gibson, John Hall, Beverly Harris, Henderson Hill, William Hunt, Daniel James, Nicholas Johnson, Robert Johnson, Edward Latcher, Joseph Moton, Samuel Spain, George Stewart, Thomas Stewart, Enoch Stoglin, Henry Vickers, Benjamin White, Isaac White, Robert Wicker, Dennis Wilkenson, and two unknown soldiers.