8th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery
Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
8th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery. During the Civil War, Paducah was the first city in Ky. where an African American regiment, the 8th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, was officially organized & credited to the state. Parts of other black regiments also recruited here. Slaves who joined earned their freedom. Paducah also the site of Ft. Anderson, an earthen fort built by Union soldiers. (Reverse) On March 25, 1864, Confederate troops attacked Ft. Anderson. The fort’s left flank was located near here, and the 8th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery helped repulse the assault. This unit and other African American regiments recruited in Ky. and across the nation helped win the war for the Union.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Paducah was the first Kentucky city where an African American regiment—the 8th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery—was officially organized and credited to the state, and enslaved men who enlisted earned their freedom in the ranks. Union soldiers here built the earthen Fort Anderson, and when Confederate troops assaulted it on March 25, 1864, the 8th helped repulse the attack. Other Black regiments also recruited in this river town.
Why it matters
Kentucky's Black soldiers turned enlistment into emancipation, and their defense of Fort Anderson stands among the many actions in which United States Colored Troops helped decide the war for the Union.
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Related events
- · Battle of Paducah
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Daviess County U.S. Colored Troops
Owensboro, KY
In 1864, several hundred enslaved African American men in Daviess County left bondage to enlist in the Union army, a choice that promised eventual freedom for themselves and their families. They served in the 100th, 109th, and 118th U.S. Colored Infantry and the 5th and 6th U.S. Colored Cavalry, fighting at Richmond, Petersburg, and Appomattox and across the western theater. In a Kentucky where pro-slavery Unionists bitterly opposed Black recruitment, enlisting was an act of extraordinary courage and risk.
Col. Albert P. Thompson & the Battle of Paducah
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On March 25, 1864, Confederate cavalry under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest swept into the Ohio River town of Paducah, seeking the medical supplies and munitions his raiders badly needed. In the fighting, Col. Albert P. Thompson — a respected local lawyer who had left his practice to command the 3rd Kentucky Infantry — was killed on this ground by a Union cannonball, dying near the town where he had made his home. After the war his remains were reinterred at Murray, Kentucky.
Gunsmith Ferd Hummel
Paducah, KY
Gunsmith Ferd Hummel arrived in Paducah in 1861 and set up a small frame shop that soon served the Federal soldiers occupying the town, who brought their firearms to him for repair. When Confederate raiders looted his shop in March 1864, he had already hidden his best arms at home. He carried on his trade for years, earning a patent for a breech-loading firearm in 1881.
Col. Hicks' Headquarters
Paducah, KY
This was the headquarters of Colonel Stephen G. Hicks, who commanded Union occupation forces during the Battle of Paducah on March 25, 1864. When Confederate raiders used nearby houses as cover for their assault on the fort, Hicks ordered some sixty private homes burned to the ground the following day. Most owners sued for compensation, but were never repaid for their losses.