Marching On! - The Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Colored Regiment Singing John Brown's March in the Streets of Charleston, February 21, 1865

This engraving from Harper's Weekly Illustrated Newspaper depicts the Massachusetts Fifty-Fifth Regiment marching into Charleston, South Carolina following the evacuation of Confederate troops in February of 1865. The city of Charleston carried special significance as the capital of secession and heart of the Confederacy, so it was particularly poignant for a regiment of African American soldiers to march there in triumph, singing in tribute to abolitionist martyr, John Brown.