#OTD in 1865 the Grand Review concluded with the passing of General William T. Sherman's Army of the Tennessee down Pennsylvania Ave. in D.C. The Army of the Potomac paraded the day before. The Grand Review is often referenced for the absence of black soldiers. #CivilWarMemory

That absence is highlighted as clear evidence of institutional racism within the military and understood as contributing to a memory of the war that ignored the contributions of black soldiers and the legacy of slavery and emancipation by the end of the nineteenth century.

Such an observation ignores the facts on the ground in 1865. While black soldiers were absent from the Grand Review, USCTs were the first to enter the Confederate capital of Richmond on April 3, 1865. Black soldiers, including formerly enslaved men, liberated the city.

Newspaper coverage of the Grand Review did not see anything nefarious about the absence of black soldiers. In fact, they acknowledged the presence of black pioneers" who performed labor for the army and women and children (contraband) that were attached to the army.

Newspapers like the DETROIT ADVERTISER AND TRIBUNE and the DAILY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER explained to readers that black units were still stationed in the field. According to Noah Brooks, "They [USCTs] would have had a welcoming cheer from the brilliant assembly today, no doubt...

...for they have deserved and have earned the plaudits of a generous people." Other newspapers celebrated the fact that black units were trusted enough by the Union high command to remain stationed throughout the South.

It remained a violent region of the country.

William L. Garrison's newspaper THE LIBERATOR made the obvious point, in answering any lingering concerns about the absence of black soldiers, that there was one division of USCTs in Burnside's Ninth Corps, but it was transferred to the Army of the James after the Crater assault.

In addition, THE LIBERATOR acknowledged and celebrated the black pioneers who "marched shoulder to shoulder, in the review, with their white comrades, under the same flag."

Finally, many of the terms of enlistment for white soldiers was set to expire in the spring of 1865.

The majority of USCTs enlisted in 1864. Many of these men were in the process of being transferred to Texas and no one had any idea how long their assignment would last. General Weitzel observed, "They look forward to the period of embarkation with a great deal of satisfaction."

There is also a memory aspect to this story. As noted above, the absence of black soldiers feeds a narrative of Civil War memory that assumes that sectional reconciliation at the turn of the 20th century came at the cost of erasing the service of black soldiers from history...

...and the broader legacy of emancipation and slavery. This is a narrative that has been argued forcefully by historian David Blight in RACE AND REUNION, but it has also been challenged in recent years by historians like @CarrieJanney and @MKeithHarris and others.

Barbara Gannon's book THE WON CAUSE is essential reading. She argues that the Grand Army of the Potomac, with some exceptions, embraced black veterans. Many GAR chapters were integrated. Black veterans even achieved positions of leadership in the GAR. This did not mean...

...that the GAR advocated for black civil rights, but it did mean that white and black veterans continued to embrace one another as comrades who had saved the Union and brought an end to the institution of slavery.