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“F” is for First South Carolina Regiment

“F” is for First South Carolina Regiment. Elements of what became the First South Carolina Infantry Regiment (later designated the Thirty-third United States Colored Troops) were organized in 1862, giving it the distinction of being the first African American United States Army unit in the Civil War. The regiment spent most of the war in various expeditions, skirmishing, or serving on garrison duty along the coast. In the summer and autumn of 1864, the regiment participated in the operations against Charleston, serving on James, Folly, and Morris Islands and other locations along the South Carolina coast. With the fall of Charleston in February 1865, the unit served as part of the city’s U.S. Army garrison. The Thirty-third United States Colored Troops, formerly the First South Carolina Regiment, was mustered out of service in January 1866.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.