News article: Thousands of black troops entered war zone via Culpeper

This excerpt is from a January 9, 2019 Culpeper Star Exponent article about the Graffiti House Museum exhibit “Culpeper’s Forgotten Heroes: Black Union Soldiers of Culpeper County, Virginia.”As winter approaches spring in the Culpeper area, historically minded people’s thoughts may turn to the events of 155 years ago. When the mud dried and the roads grew passable, the Union and Confederate armies prepared to march through Central Virginia.

That fact is well-trod ground. Many thousands of people the world over know of the first clashes between the men of Gens. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant in the Wilderness and Spotsylvania during the American Civil War.

But few know that black soldiers were part of Grant’s infantry column, and that they—unexpectedly—distinguished themselves here.

To learn more, read the full article by Clint Schemmer originally published January 9, 2019 in the Culpeper Star Exponent: link to article text and image