The Union League, Black Leaders, and the Recruitment of Philadelphia's African American Civil War Regiments

In 1848 the slave-turned-abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote in the National Anti-Slavery Standard newspaper that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, "more than any other [city] in our land, holds the destiny of our people."¹ Yet Douglass was also one of the biggest critics of the city's treatment of its black citizens. He penned a censure in 1862: "There is not perhaps anywhere to be found a city in which prejudice against color is more rampant than Philadelphia."² There were a number of other critics. On March 4, 1863, the Christian Recorder, the official organ of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, commented after race riots in Detroit, "Even here, in the city of Philadelphia, in many places it is almost impossible for a respectable colored person to walk the streets without being assaulted."³

To be sure, Philadelphia's early residents showed some moderate sympathy with black citizens, especially through the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, but as the nineteenth century progressed, Philadelphia witnessed increased racial tension and a number of riots. In 1848 Douglass wrote in response to these attitudes, "The Philadelphians were apathetic and neglectful of their duty to the black community as a whole." The 1850s became a period of adjustment for the antislavery movement. Julie Winch writes, "In conceding that prejudice, and not their alleged degradation, lay at the root of the restrictions they faced, the elite acknowledged that they could not expect to achieve everything they hoped for through self-improvement."⁴ A small, cohesive group formed in the 1850s that more actively lobbied the state for civil and political rights, taking a different approach from their predecessors. They were the same black leaders who mobilized the community to support the Union cause. Despite Philadelphia's history and the unfavorable comments of Douglass, black leaders, and the Christian Recorder, the year 1863 appeared to be a significant turning point in the city's race relations. That year, Philadelphia's African Americans had the chance to serve in the Union army. This, many believed, would lead to acceptance and equality with the white citizenry.

In 1862, as opposition to the war grew throughout the North, wealthy white Philadelphians established the Union League. Although this organization formed to foster support for preserving the Union, it ultimately became the impetus for the recruitment of African American soldiers, laying the foundation for the city to raise more black regiments than any other northern city. This article will argue, however, that the Union League's efforts would not have been successful without the cooperation and assistance of local African Americans and national figures like Frederick Douglass. He and other leaders spoke of the opportunities that military service could open. They hoped that this demonstration of patriotism and manhood would ease racial tensions and open the door to equal rights as citizens. This is not to diminish the importance of the Union League, but to contend that the whole recruitment process would have failed if African Americans were not willing to serve. This collaboration between whites and blacks led to the creation of some of the most successful black regiments in the Union army. Moreover, at the local level, the city's white residents had no violent reactions despite initial opposition to the use of black soldiers. There was relative peace between Philadelphia's communities at a time of great national crisis.

This article adds to the work of J. Matthew Gallman's Mastering Wartime:A Social History of Philadelphia during the Civil War. Despite the war's physical, economic, and emotional costs, the city's residents maintained prewar routines. Gallman wrote that the city had a "complex system of private and public institutions" in the antebellum period that wartime associations built upon. The Union League, for example, can trace its origins to Republican organizations of the 1850s. Just as the city's Republican Party did not dwell on the issue of slavery, it was not the League's primary focus. Its goal was to save the Union and it raised both white and black...