U.S. Colored Troops at Appomattox

On the morning of 9 April 1865, Union forces closed in on Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The Confederates attacked Union cavalry near here, trying to break through to the west. Their advance faltered when Union infantry, including two brigades of U.S. Colored Troops, arrived on the field. Among the 5,000 Black soldiers who helped block Lee’s escape were formerly enslaved men, free-born African Americans, and foreign-born individuals of African descent. Lee surrendered to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant later that day. African Americans long commemorated 9 April as a day of liberation, celebrating the role played by Black soldiers in the final defeat of Lee’s army.