The story of African Canadians who fled slavery in the United States but
returned to enlist in the Union forces during the American Civil War.
On New Year's Eve in 1862, blacks from across British North America
joined in spirit with their American fellows in silent vigils to await
the enactment of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The
terms declared that slaves who were held in the districts that were in
rebellion would be free and that blacks would now be allowed to enlist
in the Union Army and participate in the civil war that had then raged
for more than a year and a half.
African Canadians who had fled from the United States had not forgotten
their past and eagerly sought to do their part in securing rights and
liberty for all. Leaving behind their freedom in Canada, many enlisted
in the Union cause. Most served as soldiers or sailors while others
became recruiters, surgeons, or regimental chaplains. Entire black
communities were deeply affected by this war that profoundly and
irrevocably changed North American history.