The Metro: Detroit’s Civil War history, uncovered

In 1863, as the Civil War raged on, then-President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation. Following the speech, about 1,000 Black men in Detroit answered the call, running to fight for the freedom for millions of enslaved people.  

Many of those men served in the 102nd United States Colored Infantry Regiment and trained at Camp Ward in Detroit before heading south to fight — though not much physical existence of the camp exists today.

However, a new archaeological scan of the ground around Campau Park has identified the location of the six barracks of Camp Ward, according to a story reported in BridgeDetroit this week by Tom Perkins.

Perkins joined The Metro on Friday to talk about the new discovery and how a hunch from a small team of local archeologists and historians led to the finding.

“They think they have found pretty good evidence of where the barracks at the camp once stood,” Perkins said. “And it’s important because as you mentioned, this is where Black soldiers who lived in Detroit and Canada and southeast Michigan trained before heading south. So [the team is] reviewing what they got and looking at their next steps.”

Black soldiers at the camp were fighting for their freedom and the freedom of their families in the U.S., Perkins says. 

“You know, as one historian Dale Rich put it, he said there were a bunch of men who wanted to fight back against the masters who had done things like beat them and rape their wives,” he said.“These guys were out there on a mission. And, you know, they trained in Detroit, about 1,000 of them headed south and were a part of about 200,000 Black men that joined the fight and really turned the tide of the war at a time when things really weren’t looking good for the north.”

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with local journalist Tom Perkins. 

More headlines from The Metro on April 26, 2024:

• Metro Detroit band Collision Six was selected as the official house band of the 2024 NFL Draft. They’re playing on the main Draft Theater stage all weekend. Band leader Matt Rappaport joined the show to talk their involvement in the big event. 
• The Maple Ridge Duplexes were recently greenlit by the city of Detroit. The Osborn Neighborhood Alliance is renovating duplexes that could house up to 36 people. Executive Director of the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance Quincy Jones joined the show to discuss how similar projects could create more affordable housing in the city. 
• The National Football League visited Detroit schools and youth organizations in the days leading up to the NFL Draft. WDET’s Sascha Raiyn reports the effort was meant to introduce kids to football. But they didn’t advocate for tackle football. Instead, they pushed flag football.
• WDET’s Stephen Henderson spoke with Richard Vague, economist and author of the “The Paradox of Debt,” on Created Equal this week, as Wayne and Oakland counties are working with a nonprofit to clear medical debt.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.