![Photo: First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Memorial
Butler, MO.
The memorial features a statue of an African American soldier in the 1st Kansas, the first Black military unit to see battle in the uniform of the Union Army in the American Civil War.
The soldier wears a belted jacket and a foraging cap. He holds a rifle at hip level and leans forward into battle.
Its plaque reads:
'First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry'
The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry fought and won the Battle of Island Mound, also known as The Battle of Fort Toothman, on October 28 & 29, 1862 in Charlotte Township approx 7.5 miles southwest of Butler. It is said to have been the only battle fought on Bates County soil in which regular U.S. troops were involved. The First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry was the first black unit to fight in the Civil War. Reportedly, Southern rebels outnumbered the black troops five to one, attacked the fort and fierce hand-to-hand combat ensued. Of [them] it was written, 'They Fought Like Tigers.'
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The memorial was funded and placed on the Bates County courthouse by The Amen Society](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rvwr7wsyoytxmareckgpor4f/bafkreihwop4xl43npfglmcxhwzw6gqe2g6ktey5obaw6tl4saimsnxkzd4)
Photo: First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Memorial Butler, MO. The memorial features a statue of an African American soldier in the 1st Kansas, the first Black military unit to see battle in the uniform of the Union Army in the American Civil War. The soldier wears a belted jacket and a foraging cap. He holds a rifle at hip level and leans forward into battle. Its plaque reads: 'First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry' The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry fought and won the Battle of Island Mound, also known as The Battle of Fort Toothman, on October 28 & 29, 1862 in Charlotte Township approx 7.5 miles southwest of Butler. It is said to have been the only battle fought on Bates County soil in which regular U.S. troops were involved. The First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry was the first black unit to fight in the Civil War. Reportedly, Southern rebels outnumbered the black troops five to one, attacked the fort and fierce hand-to-hand combat ensued. Of [them] it was written, 'They Fought Like Tigers.' -- The memorial was funded and placed on the Bates County courthouse by The Amen Society
#OTD (18 April) in 1864, in one of the Confederacy's most notorious atrocities, secessionists killed 117 members of the 1st Kansas Volunteer Colored Infantry at Poison Springs, AR, slaughtering & mutilating many as they lay wounded.
#CivilWarHistory #USCT
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