Lincoln museum seeks material on black soldiers

The Lincoln Presidential Library is looking for information about black soldiers who served in the Civil War.

Library officials hope people will come forward with pictures, letters, diaries or any artifacts pertaining to black Civil War soldiers from Illinois.

The state's largest unit of black soldiers was known as the 29th U.S. Colored Infantry. It began enrolling men in Quincy and saw action at the horrible "Battle of the Crater" late in the war, during which a black division suffered severe casualties due to the incompetent leadership of Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside.

The library will use the material on black soldiers to update "Illinois Answers the Call," its exhibit on the state's Civil War soldiers. This update will focus on units formed in 1862 and later.