Besides freeing all slaves held in areas of the United States under rebellion, the Emancipation Proclamation also allowed for black men to enlist in the United States Army. Around 190,000 African-Americans fought for the Union and made up one tenth of the entire Federal Army. Their successes in battle dispelled existing arguments that black men could not be trusted to bear arms. Despite this, they were only paid half as much a white soldiers, were often assigned menial tasks, and provided inferior clothing and medical care. The U.S.C.T. suffered an extremely high casualty rate, and 40,000 perished by the war’s end.
This print, published by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments, served as a recruitment poster for the U.S.C.T. In the illustration, 18 African American soldiers look out at potential black volunteers, calling upon them to join the fight in liberating those who remained enslaved. A black drummer boy plays in the lower right. The soldiers’ white commanding officer stands on the left, since black men could not become commissioned officers until the final months of the war. The men are stationed near Philadelphia at Camp Penn, the largest camp that exclusively trained U.S. Colored Troops. This image was based on a photograph taken in Philadelphia, in February 1864, of either Company C or G of the U.S.C.T.’s 25th Regiment.
Peter S. Duval, a French-born lithographer, was hired by Cephas G. Childs in 1831 to work for the firm of Childs & Inman in Philadelphia. Duval formed a partnership with George Lehman, and Lehman & Duval took over the business of Childs & Inman in 1835. From 1839 to 1843, Duval was part of the lithography and publishing house, Huddy & Duval. He established his own lithography firm in 1843, and was joined by his son, Stephen Orr Duval, in 1858.
