Black soldiers are honored, name by name, at a Civil War battlefield

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — A Civil War battlefield in Mississippi is providing more information about Black history. Recent ceremonies honored the memory of 18 Black soldiers and two white officers who fought for the Union and were killed or wounded in 1864 by irregular Confederate soldiers. The massacre happened at Ross Landing, Arkansas. The Black soldiers killed that day were buried as unknowns in Vicksburg National Cemetery in Mississippi. The cemetery is part of Vicksburg National Military Park. A park historian identified most of them through military records and other documents. The park dedicated a monument to Black soldiers 20 years ago and has taken other steps to tell a fuller story.