Research


Administrative History

Laws of 1887 authorized the Adjutant General to "procure copies of all military records relating to New York volunteers in the war of the rebellion, not on file in his office, from the proper departments of the general government."

In addition, the Adjutant General was "to establish as part of his office a bureau of records of the war of rebellion, in which all records in his office relating to said war, and the records and relics of the bureau of military statistics shall be united and kept."

The 26th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops was organized at Riker's Island, New York harbor on February 27, 1864. The regiment's term of enlistment was three years. During its existence, the unit served in the Department of the East to March, 1864; the District of Beaufort, Department of the South to April, 1865; and at Port Royal, South Carolina until it was honorably discharged and mustered out on August 28, 1865.