6th U. S. COLORED TROOPS
| In addition to the white Pennsylvania soldiers who fought in the civil war, more than 8,000 Pennsylvania blacks fought in eleven regiments raised in the Union.
One of these regiments, the 6th United States Colored Troops, distinguished itself in the fighting at Chapin's Farm on September 29, 1864. The 6th suffered 209 casualties of the 367 soldiers who went into the battle. Company D suffered the highest loss of any Union Company during the entire Civil War: 27 of 30 men being struck down. Two men who bore the colours, adjutant Nathan Edgerton and Sergeant Alexander Kelley, one white and one black, won medals of honour for their gallantry. |
 Regimental colour |
The above article first appeared in the ACWS Newsletter, December 1997