There are many USCT reenactors out there, but I don't have a number. FYI,
@Yulie provided this directory of USCT units throughout the US, which was created in 2014:
usct-directory-december-15-2014. I've spent time with a lot of guys doing events in the PA-MD-DC-VA region, and they do great work.
Are there "enough?" I don't think there's ever enough, I'd like to see more myself. It's an expensive hobby, to be sure. The current "business model" for reenacting is that an individual becomes interested in reenacting, discovers a local reenacting group, and then invests his own money to be properly outfitted and equipped. That is cost prohibitive for a lot of people.
There are other issues which could be discussed, but I will pass on that for now. However, I would give my own opinion that, as nice as it is to see USCT at battlefield reenactments, their presence as living historians at non-battlefield reenactment events and places, such as schools, libraries, even holiday parades, is perhaps more useful. There's a large group of people who don't go to reenactment events, but benefit from what reenactors/living historians can teach in a school setting, for example.
FYI,
this is from a quick Google search of images featuring USCT reenactors. These are some other images which I could quickly/easily access featuring USCT reenactors in the past 10 years. Consider this a small sample of USCT reenactor involvement in various events.
African American Civil War Living Historians at Emancipation Day Activities in Tallahassee, FL in May 2017
Source: Tallahassee Democrat, photo by Ashley White
Civil War reenactors/living historians Ed Gantt, Marquett Milton, and Michael Schaffner at the dedication of Freedmans Village Bridge in Arlington, Virginia, September 2015. Milton is holding the regimental flag of the XXV Army Corps of the United States army. The XXV Corps, which was created during the American Civil War, was composed entirely of soldiers from the United States Colored Troops.
Image Source: Courtesy Ed Gasaway of the African American Civil War Museum
USCT Living Historians march through Richmond, Virginia in 2015, commemorating the capture of the CSA Capital during the Civil War
Source: From Timothy Fredrikson at the Stories of the United States Colored Troops Facebook Page
In April of 2015, a detachment of United States Colored Troops marched from Rockett’s Landing on the James River, through the streets of Richmond, & to Capitol Hill … where the proud colors of the U.S.C.T. flew to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the fall & occupation of Richmond.
This
Youtube video, from the C-SPAN network, provides footage from an 2015 reenactment of the Grand Review Parade in Washington, DC. It includes useful commentary from Dr. Malcolm Beech, a USCT reenactor/living historian, who is the president of the
USCTLHA – the USCT Living History Association:
An extended video of the reenactment, and additional comments from Dr. Malcolm Beech about the USCT Living History Association, is here, from the C-SPAN network.
These are additional photos from that event:
Banner for the 25th Army Corps, which was comprised solely of USCT regiments.
USCT Reenactors at the 2011 Gettysburg Remembrance Day Parade. Several of the female reenactors are from FREED (Female Re-Enactors of Distinction), a reenactors group based in Washington, DC.
USCT Reenactors at the 2011 Gettysburg Remembrance Day Parade. The person on the left is Dr. Franklin Smith, who heads the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC.
USCT Reenactors at the 2011 Gettysburg Remembrance Day Parade. I believe the man to the far left is James Price, who published The Sable Arm, a blog about the United States Colored Troops.
US Colored Troops reenactors/living historians at the 2010 Pennsylvania Grand Review commemoration in Harrisburg Pennsylvania.
Image Source: Courtesy Yulanda Burgess.
- Alan