Camp William Penn, established in 1863, was the largest federal facility to train black Northern-based soldiers during the Civil War and is steeped in Civil War history. Almost 11,000 troops and officers trained at the sprawling facility outside of Philadelphia and a special officers' training school in the city. The camp, backed by the Union League of Philadelphia, was located near the home of antislavery abolitionist Lucretia Mott. The area, today known as Cheltenham Township's LaMott, was also instrumental in the Underground Railroad, with such great abolitionists as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass addressing the troops. The soldiers were a part of Abraham Lincoln's Bureau of United States Colored Troops, and several earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroics during battle. The vintage photographs in Camp William Penn were obtained from government agencies, universities, historical organizations, and the personal collections of soldiers' descendants.

Camp William Penn, established in 1863, was the largest federal facility to train black Northern-based soldiers during the Civil War and is steeped in Civil War history. Almost 11,000 troops and officers trained at the sprawling facility outside of Philadelphia and a special officersAa' training school in the city. The camp, backed by the Union League of Philadelphia, was located near the home of antislavery abolitionist Lucretia Mott. The area, today known as Cheltenham TownshipAa's LaMott, was also instrumental in the Underground Railroad, with such great abolitionists as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass addressing the troops. The soldiers were a part of Abraham LincolnAa's Bureau of United States Colored Troops, and several earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroics during battle. The vintage photographs in Camp William Penn were obtained from government agencies, universities, historical organizations, and the personal collections of soldiersAa' descendants.

The first Civil War facility to exclusively train federal black soldiers Philadelphia and Camp William Penn hosted the greatest anti-slavery abolitionists and Underground Railroad of that century Over 130 rare images

"Camp William Penn was the largest and first Civil War facility to exclusively train Northern-based federal black soldiers during the war. Located in Chelten Hills just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the 19th-century's epicenter of the Underground Railroad.... At a time when America's very existence was threatened, the warriors and freedom fighters for human equality associated with Camp William Penn were a major part of the country's salvation. The complete story is told here."--Jacket.

A coffee table book - Photographs of the Officers of Camp William Penn - the first and largest training camp for United States colored Troops (USCT) during the American Civil War

After two years of vicious warfare, the North was reeling. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, and a group of prominent Philadelphia businessmen pledged themselves to support the Union and President Lincoln without reservation. Mostly of Quaker beliefs and long-time supporters of abolition, the group formed a patriotic club named the Union League. Next, they took on the task of raising colored regiments and establishing Camp William Penn, the first Federal training ground for colored troops. This is the story of that valiant enterprise.

Pictures of the officers of the 11 regiments that were trained at Camp William Penn soldiers as well as a picture of their gravestone

Sixteen months after the start of the American Civil War, the Federal government, having vastly underestimated the length and manpower demands of the war, began to recruit black soldiers. This revolutionary policy gave 180,000 free blacks and former slaves the opportunity to prove themselves on the battlefield as part of the United States Colored Troops. By the end of the war, 37,000 in their ranks had given their lives for the cause of freedom. In Forged in Battle, originally published in 1990, award-winning historian Joseph T. Glatthaar re-creates the events that gave these troops and their 7,000 white officers justifiable pride in their contributions to the Union victory and hope of equality in the years to come. Unfortunately, as Glatthaar poignantly demonstrates, memory of the United States Colored Troops' heroic sacrifices soon faded behind the prejudice that would plague the armed forces for another century.