Image from the Emancipation Proclamation America's reconstruction: Peoples and Politics After the Civil War
Emancipation Black Soldiers Rehearsal for Reconstruction A New Birth of Freedom: Reconstruction During the Civil War

Army of the James Medal, bronze

Army of the James Medal, bronze
1866
(National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)

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Commissioned by Union Army General Benjamin F. Butler, an early proponent of using black combatants, the Army of the James medal honored black Union troops who fought at the battle of New Market Heights, Virginia on September 29, 1864.

The medal portrays two black soldiers under a Latin inscription, "Freedom Comes Through the Sword."
Copyright 2003
A New Birth of Freedom: Reconstruction During the Civil War The Meaning of Freedom: Black and White Responses to Slavery From Free Labor to Slave Labor Rights and Power: The Politics of Reconstruction Introduction The Ending of Reconstruction Epilogue: The Unfinished Revolution Additional Resources Credits for this Exhibit Digital History Home