In northern towns during the Civil War, like Ypsilanti, about 25% of soldier-age white men served in the Union Army; for Black men it was around 75%. Nearly seventy Ypsilanti men served in the Civil War's Black regiments, including many who had previously escaped from slavery. A dozen never returned. Whether with Michigan’s 102nd United States Colored Troops or the “Glory” regiments of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantries, Ypsilanti men were largely stationed on the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina. There they were at some of the War’s most iconic moments like the assault on Fort Wagner, the liberation of Charleston, and Sherman’s March to the Sea. Others, mainly from Ohio, moved to Ypsilanti after the war and brought their own Civil War experiences with them.
Join historian Matt Siegfried as we learn who the Ypsilanti volunteers were; their life in camp and the racism they faced in the military, the battles they fought, the plantations they liberated, and the lives lived in Ypsilanti after the war as we visit the final resting places of nearly two dozen veterans and their families in Ypsilanti's historic Highland Cemetery. Saturday November, 2025 1pm. Meet at the Soldier's Monument. Free and open to all. Please allow for two hours for this walk. For more info or questions email
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Note: Much of the ground is uneven and sloping in this Victorian-era cemetery and some of the graves lay off regular paths. If folks have accessibility concerns, let me know and we’ll do whatever we can to accommodate. Parking is limited, but available around the monument (park as if you were going to a funeral). The AATA #3 also runs regularly on Saturdays with a stop close by. As always with walking tours, it is weather dependent, I will post on the morning here if we are on.
