One of the goals of the Natchez U.S. Colored Troops Monument Committee is to identify and recognize the descendants of the U.S. Colored Troops assigned to Fort McPherson in Natchez. If you want to know if you are a descendant of these brave men, then follow the guidelines below.

Step 1: Check your family tree.

Start with what you know. Begin with yourself and work backwards. Check your resources such as: A) records at home which may include obituaries, family reunion booklets, and even the family Bible. Take pictures / make copies of the pages. B) Talk to family members by phone, Zoom, or personal visit. C) Online websites, such as Cyndislist.com, Afroamcivilwar.org, FamilySearch.org, and Ancestry.com, as well as genealogical society websites, are helpful resources.

Step 2: Make a list of names.

Identify the men in your family who were old enough to have served in the military in the 1860s.

Step 3: Visit the National Park Service (NPS) website.

The following steps should take you directly to the information that’s needed in the search for USCT soldiers.

Search for soldiers

On the “Search for Soldiers” page https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm, scroll down to the left side of the page, beneath “FILTER YOUR RESULTS.” Under the word “Side,” click on “Union.” Under the word “State,” scroll down and click “United States Colored Troops.” Then, using the “Start A New Search” box above “Filter Your Results,” insert the person’s full name and click “Go.” Next, review the result listing for the name search.

The names can be similar or the same as someone else and the result is, there are soldiers with the same name in other regiments. From this point, you should check to see if the ancestor’s name is listed in one of the six above-mentioned Natchez regiments.

Search for sailors

On the “Search for Sailors” page https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-sailors.htm, scroll down to the left side of the page, beneath “FILTER YOUR RESULTS.” Under the words “Birth City,” scroll down and click “Natchez.” On this page, insert the person’s full name in the large “Start A New Search” box above “FILTER YOUR RESULTS” and click “Go.”

Using Natchez as the birth city results filter provides the entire list of those sailors (56) in alphabetical order by last name.”

For more information, please follow the Facebook group, “Descendants of Natchez USCT (D.O.N.-USCT), at this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/descendantsofnatchezusct