Study Areas

Enslavement

Anti-Slavery

Free Persons of Color

Underground Railroad

The Violent Decade

US Colored Troops

Civil War

Year of Jubilee (1863)

20th Century

Others contributed to the war effort in many ways:  by raising aid for soldiers, working in camps and hospitals, recruiting men for the new African American regiments, and by enlisting to serve in those regiments. These pages will document the varied contributions of African Americans to the war effort in central Pennsylvania.  

As part of it's Sesquicentennial Celebration, the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania invited Civil War re-enactors and volunteers to re-create the historic "Grand Review of Colored Troops" that occurred in the city in 1865. That earlier event, coming months after the end of the Civil War, sought to remedy the injustice wrought by federal officials on African American soldiers by excluding them from the celebratory "Grand Review of Troops" in Washington, DC. African American citizens from all over the country, but chiefly in Pennsylvania, organized a similar review for all soldiers of the United States Colored Troops to assemble and parade through the streets of Harrisburg and then assemble at the home of Simon Cameron, where the stateman addressed them and praised their service.

The 2010 commemoration of this significant and historic event brought hundreds of re-enectors to the city to re-create the parade, listen to speakers, and view historic exhibits. The videos below were filmed by George Nagle at the parade on Saturday, November 6, 2010 and are stored on this website's YouTube channel.

Photos from the event may be found here.

Grand Review Parade, Video 1 of 4

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