It’s long been said that the U.S. Colored Troops were denied the right to march in the Union victory parades in Washington City in May, 1865. Apparently a few did. The rest were busy working:

Hari Jones, curator of the African-American Civil War Museum in Washington D.C., busted the popular notion that the U.S. Colored Troops were not welcome at the official Grand Review in Washington one month after Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Va.

In fact, he noted, a handful of colored regiments assigned to Army corps that were done with their duties did participate in Washington.

More to the point, Jones said, is the fact that many of the colored regiments, having played key roles in the war’s latter campaigns, were still on duty as part of occupying forces in Charleston, S.C., Tallahassee, Fla. and other places. Several more helped defeat Texas, the last hold-out of the seceded states.

Pity they couldn’t help defeat Delaware, the last holdout among the slave states on emancipation. But Delaware was, ahem, in the North. Lots more on this update here, including video of USCT reenactors.