Portrait of Major Martin Delany

Martin R. Delany, the only Black field officer who received the rank of major during the Civil War. This distinction recognized Delany's stature as a black leader, although it proved to be mostly symbolic. In the decade before the war, Delany had been active in the movement to relocate free blacks to Liberia, where they might have greater freedoms. In 1863 following President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the call for the enlistment of black militia regiments, Delany began actively recruiting in New England. The chance to organize his own unit came in February 1865, when Lincoln commissioned him a major in the army. Delany hurried to Charleston, South Carolina, and began recruiting two regiments of former slaves. The war ended two months later, however, before Delany or any of his men had a chance to participate.