Following the 1st South Carolina

The First South Carolina Volunteers, later the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), was the first regiment composed of formerly enslaved African Americans during the Civil War. If we factor in its first iteration, ordered disbanded by President Lincoln, then it is perhaps the first formal regiment of Black soldiers in U.S. history. This timeline tracks significant events in their wartime and postwar service. An additional layer tells the story of Prince Rivers, a sergeant in the 1st SCV who joined after escaping to freedom. After the war, he became a prominent politician in South Carolina's Republican party, a trial judge, and a founder of Aiken County. 

This map is part of the "Breaking Democracy into Spaces: 1st South Carolina Volunteers" project, funded by a McCausland Innovation Grant from the University of South Carolina.