The First South Carolina Volunteer - African Descent (SCV) was an out growth of the famed "Hunter's Regiment" and is credited as the first regiment of colored soldiers mustered into Federal service during the Civil War.(3)

During March 1862, shortly after assuming command of the Department of the South,(4) Major-General David Hunter declared martial law and liberated slaves in Union occupied areas. He immediately began recruiting able-bodied men to form a regiment of colored soldiers -- promising them freedom at the conclusion of the War as an inducement to enlist. His orders were soon rescinded by President Lincoln "both because they had been given without authority from the War Department, and because Hunter was interfering with the President's own plans for emancipation."(5)

On August 25, 1862, however, Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, authorized General Rufus Saxton, military governor of the region including South Carolina, to organize an army of five thousand Black soldiers for the purpose of "protecting the women and children of fellow-laborers who might be absent from home in the public service."(6) Before the end of war, a total of 5,462(7) ex-slaves from South Carolina had served in six infantry regiments and one artillery battery in support of the Union.

During January to July 1863, five regiments of colored soldiers from South Carolina were formally organized and mustered into service of the Union Army.(8) The 1st, 2nd and 3rd regiments were composed of ex-slaves from Sea Islands along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The majority came from plantations in the Beaufort and Hilton Head area, but a good number came from areas surrounding Savannah, Georgia, including St. Simon's Island, and the vicinity of Fernandina, Florida. The 4th regiment was organized at Fernandina and consisted mostly of Flordian ex-slaves from Jacksonville and along the St. Marys River. The 5th regiment was never fully organized.(9)

As a result of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, administration at the War Department was so overwhelmed by the number of enlistment applications from free blacks in northern states and ex-slaves in Confederate states that it became necessary to organize a separate unit for colored soldiers. On May 22, 1863 the War Department issue General Order No. 143, establishing the Bureau of Colored Troops. The primary purpose of the Bureau was to provide administrative support for colored troops.

Prior to the establishment of the Bureau, colored regiments were organized and supported by state governments in free states and in areas in Confederate states occupied and controlled by Federal troops. However, after the establishment of the Bureau those regiments that were previously raised by state governments and carried state designations, were redesignated as regiments of United States Colored Troops (USCT) and assigned a USCT number.

During February and March of 1864, the 1st SCV was redesignated as the 33rd USCT Infantry Regiment; the 2nd was redesignated as the 34th USCT; and the 3rd, 4th and 5th SCV were redesignated as the 21st USCT. Prior to and after the redesignation elements of all three regiments participated in skirmishes in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Perhaps the most notably of these encounters were the battle of Jacksonville, Florida; the battles of Honey Hills and Boykin's Mills, South Carolina, as well as several skirmishes on James and Johns Islands, South Carolina.

During January 1865 federal troops occupied Charleston, South Carolina and in February several additional regiments were organized from the Charleston area and other areas north of Charleston along the Atlantic Coast. In order to implement these new regiments, Martin R. Delany, a leading abolitionist and recruiter from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was commissioned a Major of Infantry and dispatched to Charleston with orders to raise two regiments from that area -- the 104th and 105th.(10) There were much excitement and anticipation of the arrival of Major Delany. By the time he arrived in Charleston the word that preceded his arrival had it that he was a Major General.(11)

Major Delany was successful in raising and organizing the 104th regiment, which was mustered into service during June 1865, however, by that time the war was essentially over so the 105th regiment was never completed.(12) Two other regiments were being raised at the same time -- the 103rd and the 128th. Most of these soldiers were recruited from plantations in Charleston, Beaufort and Berkeley(13) counties. However, many ex-slaves came from other surrounding counties, not exclusively, but primarily from the counties of Georgetown, Williamsburg, Sumter, and Clarendon.(14)

By the end of 1866 all regiments were mustered out of service. In a little more than three years more than 5,000 men were transformed from slaves to veteran soldiers.

Very little can be found in South Carolina records of colored soldiers because they were Federal troops in a Confederate state, however, vast volumes of information are available in files stored and indexed by name(15) and by unit(16) at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Of particular interest and importance are pension applications filed by colored civil war veterans after the passage of a pension act during1890. There are probably more than one million pages of documentation in pension files of South Carolina colored civil war veterans.(17) Many of these documents are affidavits and depositions in their own words and the words of family members, friends, acquaintances, and other members of the community where they resided when applications were filed.

Another most useful document for researchers is a special census taken to identify Union civil war veterans who resided in South Carolina during 1890.(18) In cases where the veteran did not survive 1890 this special census lists the widows of veterans. It provides a variety of information on each veteran, including the name of the veteran, or if he did not survive, the names of both the widow and her deceased husband; the veteran's rank, company, regiment or vessel, date of enlistment, date of discharge and length of service; and the post office address.(19)