The November 2025 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable will take place on November 12, 2025 beginning at 6:00 p.m. This will be an in-person meeting. The speaker will be Edward Gantt, and the title of Ed’s presentation is “United States Colored Troops (USCT).”
The Union did not allow Black enlistments early in the Civil War. However, Black enlistments were eventually permitted beginning in the middle of the war, and Black men of the United States Colored Troops were critical for the eventual Union victory. Over 180,000 African Americans enlisted, and there were 175 USCT regiments, which comprised about 10% of the Union Army. The men in the USCT regiments fought with courage and distinction, and their performance refuted the prevailing notion about their fighting ability. President Abraham Lincoln asserted that “without the military help of the black freedmen, the war against the South could not have been won.”
Moreover, the service of the men in the USCT laid the groundwork for enhanced social equality after the war. Because Black men had shown that they were willing to fight and sacrifice for the nation, this provided the impetus for civil rights advancement and for greater equality for all Black Americans, although the struggle for civil rights continued for many years.
Captain Edward Gantt, Retired U.S. Navy Flight Officer, began an association with the 23rd Infantry Regiment, USCT, reenactors and living historians in 2014. He is a member of the 54th Massachusetts Civil War reenactors in the Washington, D.C. area. His military service includes serving in combat for 12 months in South Vietnam as a helicopter door gunner and crew chief. He then graduated from Howard University, after which he again joined the armed forces, attended the Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School, and was commissioned a Naval Flight Officer in 1978.
He subsequently served in several F-14 Tomcat squadrons and had a number of overseas assignments while flying over 2,000 hours, including from aircraft carriers. After 30 years of active service, he retired in 2003 and began a career as a public school teacher.
The November 2025 meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn Independence (6001 Rockside Road, Independence, Ohio 44131). Reservations should be made by sending an email to the Roundtable’s reservation email account (ccwrtreserve@gmail.com). Reservations must be made no later than eight days before the meeting (i.e., no later than November 4, 2025). When making a reservation, please include your name and the number and names of any guests. Please also indicate the meal choice for you (and any guests). The three meal options are chicken cordon bleu, bourbon salmon, and grilled eggplant bruschetta.
If a reservation needs to be canceled, it must be canceled no later than November 11, 2025. Dinner will be provided to anyone who has a reservation. The cost of dinner is $35 per person. It is not necessary to purchase dinner in order to attend the meeting, but reservations are requested from everyone in order to have sufficient chairs set up in the meeting room. Those who plan to attend the meeting without purchasing dinner should indicate “no dinner” when they make a reservation. Other details can be found on the Reservations web page by clicking on this link.