November 14, 1865 dawned warm and sunny on Pennsylvania’s state capital.

It was the perfect day for a parade. And that’s just what the Harrisburg’s Black leaders had planned.

Almost 180,000 African American soldiers served in the US Army during the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln had credited these soldiers with ensuring Union victory in the conflict. Yet, these soldiers were mostly absent during honor the “Grand Review of the Armies” staged in Washington in May 1865. This was not a snub as much as the fact that many USCT remained in the field to provide a buffer between freed populations and hostile white Southerners.

So the Black residents of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania planned their own “Grand Review.” On November 14, 1865, hundreds of black veterans participated in a parade through the city to the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

The parade marched beneath banners that read “HE WHO DEFENDS FREEDOM IS WORTHY OF ALL ITS FRANCHISES” and speeches throughout the event spoke in support of black men gaining the coveted right to vote.

Former Secretary of War Simon Cameron spoke to the parade from his house in the city, telling these heroes: “Like all other men, you have your destinies in your own hands, and if you continue to conduct yourselves hereafter as you have in the struggle, you will have all the rights you ask for, all the rights that belong to human beings.”

Cameron had been an early advocate for recruiting Black men into the US Army during the Civil War; he supported their efforts to gain suffrage after the war.

The parade ultimately ended with speeches near the Pennsylvania State Capitol. Ultimately, the event was deemed successful; more than 7,000 Black men and women attended the parade and the event at the Capitol.

The “Grand Review” in Harrisburg in November 1865 has gone down in history as it celebrated the crucial role played by African American soldiers during the Civil War.

---