Thursday, March 28, 2024

CAM calls for USCT descendants for homecoming celebration

“Boundless” by Stephen Hayes CAM. (Port City Daily/Alexandria Sands Williams)

WILMINGTON — Cameron Art Museum is continuing its research into soldiers who bravely fought for their own freedom. It’s hoping to capture oral histories from the United States Colored Troops’ descendants who may be living across the world.

READ MORE: US Colored Troops honored in ‘Boundless,’ bronze sculpture to be unveiled on CAM’s historic grounds

CAM is located on the historic grounds of the Battle at Forks Road, where the USCT fought in a final skirmish that helped end the Civil War and contributed to the fall of slavery.

As such, CAM and community partners have opened America’s first USCT Park and erected a bronze memorial of 11 soldiers, created by Stephen Hayes. “Boundless” honors the 1,800 men who battled for two days on the land.

The museum has issued a call for living family members of those who belonged to the 1st, 5th, 10th, 27th, and 37th USCT regiments to reach out to the museum. They will help build a collection of stories that will be utilized in a homecoming celebration for descendants, slated to take place in November 2023.

Anyone interested can contact cultural curator Daniel Jones at djones@cameronartmuseum.org. A full list of soldier names can be accessed here.


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Shea Carver
Shea Carver
Shea Carver is the editor in chief at Port City Daily. A UNCW alumna, Shea worked in the print media business in Wilmington for 22 years before joining the PCD team in October 2020. She specializes in arts coverage — music, film, literature, theatre — the dining scene, and can often be tapped on where to go, what to do and who to see in Wilmington. When she isn’t hanging with her pup, Shadow Wolf, tending the garden or spinning vinyl, she’s attending concerts and live theater.

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