May 22, 1863: The U.S. Government Finally Let Black Men Bear Arms

Today in History

Library of Congress

On May 22, 1863, the United States War Department officially established the Bureau of Colored Troops. While it may sound like a bureaucratic formality, this move signified a turning point in both the Civil War and the place of African Americans in the country’s future. For the first time, the U.S. government formally created a system to recruit, organize, and manage regiments made up entirely of Black soldiers.

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Until then, Black men had been largely shut out of the Union Army, despite their willingness to fight. The early years of the war were marked by hesitation and outright racism—fears that arming formerly enslaved men or free Black citizens would upset delicate political balances. But the need for soldiers—and the undeniable bravery of men who had already been serving unofficially—forced a shift.

The Bureau's formation gave birth to more than 170 units known as the United States Colored Troops (USCT). Over 178,000 Black soldiers would serve before the war ended, many of them risking everything while still receiving unequal pay, poor equipment, and inferior treatment from white officers. But they fought. And in doing so, they laid claim not only to military victory but to dignity, citizenship, and a future that would not come easily, but could no longer be ignored.

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The establishment of the Bureau of Colored Troops wasn’t just about uniforms and enlistment forms. It was an acknowledgment—however delayed—that African Americans were part of the nation’s fate. They were not spectators. They were builders, defenders, and claimants of freedom.

May 22 deserves more attention than it gets. It marks a day when the official machinery of a reluctant government finally gave Black men the right to fight for a cause that had already defined their lives for centuries: liberty.