1. Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Williamstown, MA: Corner House Publishers, 1870, p.263. Colonel Higginson served as the first commanding officer of the First South Carolina regiment (later -- the 33rd USCT). In 1870 he transcribed his diary recorded during his two years with the regiment.

2. Taylor, Susie King. (Rumero, Patricia W. , and Willie Lee Rose - Ed). A Black Woman’s Civil War Memories. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 1988, p. 41. Mrs. Taylor served as a laundress, cook, teacher and nurse with the First South Carolina regiment from muster-in to muster-out. Around the turn of the century she documented her account of the time she spent with the regiment.

3. Higginson, p. 263. The First Kansas regiment is recognized as the first colored regiment to be mustered into service during the civil war, however the men of Company "A", First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, is given credit as the first colored soldiers to engage the enemy.

4. The Department of the South included the areas of South Carolina, Georgia and the northern portion of Florida.

5. Taylor, p. 48.

6. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: African American Soldiers in the War of Independence, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994, p.160.

7. Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops (1863-1865). Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1990, p. 120. Mr. Gladstone own the largest collection of civil war artifacts of black civil war soldiers. This book documents and displays his vast collections and details the contribution of black soldiers during the civil war.

8. During August 1862, Secretary of War authorized the formation of the first regiment of colored troops from South Carolina, but the regiment was formally mustered into service on January 31, 1863.

9. Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Dayton, OH: Press of Morningside Book Shop, 1978., p.1636.

10. Rollins, Frank A. Life and Public Services of Martin R. Delany: Sub-Assistant Commissioner, Bureau Relief of Refugees, Freedman, and of Abandoned Lands, and Late Major, 104th U.S. Colored Troops. Boston: Lee Shepard, 1868, p. 177-78.

11. Rollins, p. 189.

12. Rollins, p. 200-02, 209-13; Dyer, p1738.

13. NOTE: During the time of the Civil War the area designated as Charleston District included the area that is now Charleston and Berkeley counties. Berkeley County was incorporated as a separate county in 1882.

14. Gourdin, John Raymond. Name Changing Since the Civil War: Colored Civil War Soldiers from South Carolina. Paper presented at the African American History and Genealogy Conference: United States Colored Troops Memorial Symposium, Morris Conference Center, SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY, April 18, 1998. Freedmen from practically every county along the Atlantic coast, and a few areas of Georgia and Florida, served in the 103rd, 104th and 128th USCT.

15. T288 - General Index to Pension Files. National Archives Record Administration. Washington, District of Columbia.

16. T289 - Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans who Served Between 1861 and 1900. NARA, WDC.

17. U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Pensions, Pension Act of June 27, 1890. Declaration For Invalid Pension. NOTE: Text of Pension Acts can be found in pension folders at the National Archives.

18. Gourdin, Author's estimate - based on a review of more than 2,000 pension records of the 103rd, 104th and 128th USCT.