Black Brigade of Cincinnati
The Black Brigade of Cincinnati was a military unit of African-American soldiers, that was organized in 1862 during the American Civil War, when the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, was in danger of being attacked, by the Confederate Army. The members of the Cincinnati "Black Brigade" were among the first African Americans to be employed in the military defense of the Union. The fortifications—including forts, miles of military roads, miles of rifle pits, magazines, and hundreds of acres of cleared forests—at the border of Northern Kentucky thwarted the major threat to Cincinnati during the Civil War.
The Black Brigade of Cincinnati American Civil War Memorial honors the free African Americans who constructed the defensive fortifications, around Cincinnati, Ohio, during the American Civil War, in preparation of a potential Confederate attack. The Brigade would later shoulder their shovels in a military manner and march in the victory parade through the city.
Cincinnati, September 27, 1862, lithograph, Harper's Weekly. View north from Kentucky.
1862 Black Brigade of Cincinnati Flag provided by William M. Dickson and James Lupton, Dickson's aide, is now at the Ohio Historical Society. For a digitial reproduction, see Black brigade of Cincinnati flag
Henry Mosler, Preparations for Defense at Cincinnati, sketch, Harper’s Weekly, September 20, 1862
The Defense of Cincinnati occurred during what is now referred to as the Confederate Heartland Offensive or Kentucky Campaign of the American Civil War, from September 1 through September 13, 1862. Confederate Brigadier General Henry Heth was sent north from Lexington, Kentucky, to threaten Cincinnati, Ohio, then the sixth-largest city in the United States. Heth was under orders from his superior, Major General Edmund Kirby Smith, not to attack the city, but to instead make a "demonstration". Once Heth arrived and reconnoitered the defenses, he realized an attack was pointless. After a few minor skirmishes, he took his men back to Lexington.
A modern mural depicting the "Squirrel Hunters" crossing the Ohio River for the defense of Cincinnati.
Henry Mosler, Preparations for Defense at Cincinnati, sketch, Harper’s Weekly, September 20, 1862