54th United States Colored Infantry Regiment

Following the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, an organization of African-American troops was commenced in the Mississippi River Valley under the personal supervision of the adjutant-general of the army, Lorenzo Thomas. His first regiment was mustered into service on May 1, 1863, as the 1st Arkansas Volunteers of African Descent, The 2nd Arkansas was one of four regiments of African Americans that was raised in Helena, Phillips County, an important Union held fortified city and naval port on the Mississippi River. Twenty-one-year-old Minos Miller of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry, stationed at Helena Arkansas wrote in January 1863: On April 7, Miller attended a speech by Adjutant General of the Army Lorenzo Thomas, who was promoting the raising of black regiments for service in the Union army (under white officers). Reaction to Thomas's address was so favorable that three companies of a hundred soldiers each were recruited immediately, forming the nucleus of the 1st Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment (African Descent). On March 11, 1864, the designation of Regiment changed to 54th U. S. Colored Troops. ==Service==

In the summer of 1863, the regiment, which had not been officially mustered into federal service, as it had not yet gained the required number of troops, was located at Helena, Arkansas, organizing and drilling. The regiment was present for the Confederate attack upon Helena on July 4, 1863, occupying the far left of the union line. The unit remained at Helena from its official formation until May, 1864. As the war drew toward a close, the 54th continued to search for Confederate raiders, engaging one of the last remaining bands of guerrillas at the Saline River in a series of running skirmishes in the spring of 1865. General Orders No. 14, Department of Arkansas, dated February 1, 1865, from Little Rock, included the 113th United States Colored Infantry is reported as belonging to the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division of the 7th Army Corps. At the surrender of the Confederate in the Trans-Mississippi on May 26, 1865, the 54th was stationed in Little Rock as part of a garrison force to oversee the end of guerrilla fighting and to aid in reconstruction. The regiment continued regular duty in the Little Rock area through 1866. The Regiment participated in the following actions: • Fort Gibson September 16, 1864. • Cabin Creek September 19, 1864. • Cow Creek, Kansas, November 14 and 28, 1864. == Mustered out of service ==

Mustered out of Federal Service by companies between August 8 and December 31, 1866. ==See also==