Hudson, Leonne

Dr. Leonne Hudson, Associate Professor of History at Kent State University

Black men eagerly joined the Federal army to help preserve the Union and to fight for the liberation of their enslaved brethren and sisters.  The United States Colored Troops were overwhelmed with grief upon learning that President Abraham Lincoln, the man whom they admired as their friend and earthly Savior, had been taken from them by a cruel act of violence.  More than other soldiers of the Union army the death of the commander in chief was personal in nature for African American troops.  Like many who had gone before him, Lincoln joined the common soldier in the river of death following his successful navigation of the nation through difficult and troubled waters.  It then became the responsibility of future political leaders to make certain that the revolution was not an empty vessel and that its foremost architect had not died in vain.