Arlington National Cemetery- Section 27- the US Colored Troops and Freedmans Section

One of the oldest sections of Arlington National Cemetery, Section 27 dates from 1864, when the U.S. Army conducted the first military burials on the property. Its headstones tell stories of honorable service and sacrifice, and also document the history of slavery, segregation and struggles for freedom and equality. More than 3,800 African American “freed people” are interred in Section 27. During the era of the Civil War, freedpeople included both formerly enslaved people who escaped from the South and free African Americans from the North. Thousands of freedpeople lived in the national capital region, in settlements managed by the Freedmen’s Bureau (an agency established by the War Department in 1865 to assist formerly enslaved people).

The first 4 soldiers buried in the cemetery were buried in this section and appear below.

Private William Henry Christman (67th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment): First military burial. Christman, a 20-year-old farmer, enlisted in March 1864. Like so many other Civil War soldiers, he soon succumbed to illness, dying from rubella in a Washington, D.C. hospital on May 11, 1864. Two days later, he became the first soldier interred at Arlington. (Section 27, Grave 19)

Private William H. McKinney (17th Pennsylvania Cavalry): First service member buried at Arlington with his family present. The 17-year-old soldier succumbed to illness at a Washington, D.C. hospital and became the second service member laid to rest at Arlington, and the first to have a funeral service attended by his family, on May 13, 1864. (Section 27, Grave 98)

Private William Blatt (49th Pennsylvania Infantry): First battle casualty interred at Arlington. While fighting in General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, Blatt was seriously wounded on May 10, 1864 and died in a hospital three days later. On May 14, 1864, he became the third soldier and the first combat casualty interred at Arlington. (Section 27, Grave 18)

Private William Reeves (76th New York Infantry): First draftee interred at Arlington, May 13, 1864. At 19 years of age, Reeves was inducted into service in August 1863. Less than a year later, he died from a gunshot wound received during the Overland Campaign. Reeves was the fourth soldier and first draftee interred at Arlington. (Section 27, Grave 99)

Approximately 1,500 United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) are interred in Section 27. U.S.C.T. were regiments in the U.S. Army composed mainly of African American soldiers (and white officers) who fought in the Civil War and, during the following decades, in the so-called “Indian Wars” in the American West. The United States Colored Troops was the official designation of African American regiments during the Civil War.