My Service in the U.S. Colored Cavalry A Paper Read before the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion, March 4, 1908

A vivid, first‑hand recollection from a former sergeant who accepted a commission in the newly formed 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry, this paper opens with his transition from infantry to mounted service and the hurried mustering that sent him from Newport News to Fort Monroe. He paints a clear picture of the regiment’s diverse makeup—men from northern towns and formerly enslaved people who had survived in the swamps of Virginia and North Carolina—under the guidance of seasoned officers from the famed 3rd New York Cavalry. The narrative captures the intensity of early training, the mounting of horses, and the palpable anticipation as the unit prepared for the 1864 campaign.

The account then follows the cavalry’s march through familiar Civil‑War sites, from the ruins of Big Bethel to the historic walls of Yorktown and Williamsburg, before describing a tense night‑long picket on Bottoms Bridge Road. He recounts the clash at Jones Ford on the Chickahominy, where artillery fire and a daring river crossing turned a brief skirmish into a hard‑won advance. Delivered to a post‑war audience in 1908, the paper offers listeners an authentic glimpse into the courage, challenges, and daily realities faced by the first colored cavalry regiment during its formative months.