I pride myself on knowing about every museum in Washington DC, so I was quite surprised when I discovered this treasure: The African American Civil War Museum dedicated to the black troops (USCT), who served in the Civil War. It is a museum full of documents and artifacts dedicated to the brave people who served in this war. I discovered the museum when I went to go see the beautiful African American Civil War Memorial, The Spirit of Adventure.  The memorial, sculpted by Ed Hamilton depicts soldiers and sailors on one side defending freedom and a sailor and family on the other side.There is a curved inscribed wall surrounding the memorial honoring the 209,145 people (not just men) who served in this war. It’s another place you should EXPLORE in Washington, DC.

     While I was admiring the memorial, one of the docents from the museum invited me to come over and see the museum.  He is one of the people that participates in Civil War reenactments of the black troops. You will find out more about that when you visit the  museum.  Everything was amazing. I was surprised to see how many artifacts and history had been collected about these troops.  The museum also hosts a database that will help you locate people you may know that served in the war.  They will be moving the museum to a larger 15,000 square feet facility in the historic Grimke School, soon.  The new facility has a 99 year old lease,  so it will be around for a while.

When the new facility opens, there is a very good chance that First Lady Michelle Obama will be in attendance, since two of her family members, Jerry Sutton/Suter, 55th USCT and Caesar Cohen 128th USCT served in the war and are remembered on the Wall of Honor. This place is definitely a To Do Destination to EXPLORE.

Men were not the only ones fighting the war.  Over 400 women served as spies, guides, couriers, scouts and some even dressed as men to fight. We are still learning the number of black women who participated in the effort.  However, some of the more notable who have garnered attention include: Harriet Tubman, Mary Elizabeth Bowser and Mary Touvestre (or Louvestra).

    Harriet Tubman, was a major conductor on the  Underground Railroad, a spy and guide. It is estimated that she travelled back to the south at least 19 times and helped 300 slaves to freedom.  She also posed as Colonel James Monthgomery’s servant and led a raid to destroy a southern plantation and supplies.  

Mary Elizabeth Bowser, a freed slave (with Elizabeth Van Lew, a white woman) ran a spy ring in the Confederate Capital (Richmond, VA). It is believed that she had a photographic memory but she acted like she couldn’t read or write.  Her master and others thought she was illiterate.  This gave her access to documents detailing troop movements, manpower and locations of important prisoners.  Plus, living accommodations (in you call it that) the confederate stronghold provided the perfect camouflage to pass along pertinent information to Union forces.

Mary Touvestre was a free woman working as a housekeeper for a Naval Engineer who was working on a plan to restore the USS Merrimack to the Confederate ironclad ship CSS Virginian.These ships were made to sink wooden ships. Before the war the Navy in Hampton Roads was ordered to destroy the ships there, so they wouldn’t fall into enemy hands.  When the officer who lived in Norfolk, VA brought these plans home Mary took the plans and led to Washington, DC.  There, she asked to meet with Navy officials and gave them the plans.  Because,and we were able to build the USS Monitor.  The ships did meet in battle but that needs to be a future post. If you would like to EXPLORE more about this subject check out my references page.