This summary of Major Martin R. Delany’s service comes from his military service file. Delany was a black doctor, abolitionist, writer, and politician who recruited for the United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) during the Civil War. After meeting with President Abraham Lincoln about a strategy to end the war, including Delany’s idea for all-black regiments led by black officers, Lincoln appointed Dr. Delany a Major, making him the first black field officer in the United States Army.
Upon the war’s end, Major Delany was transferred to the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands – better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau – in South Carolina. He worked helping formerly enslaved people acquire land and economic independence.
