{"id":807,"slug":"african-american-civil-war-memorial-washington-d-c","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["The African American Civil War Memorial is where 209,145 names finally got a wall. The United States Colored Troops — 175 regiments raised after 1863, a tenth of the Union Army, men fighting for their own and their families' freedom — had gone 130 years without a national monument. The Spirit of Freedom memorial on U Street, dedicated in 1998, put Ed Hamilton's bronze infantrymen and sailor under the watching figure of Freedom, with the Wall of Honor carrying every name the records held.","The placement is the point — the Shaw neighborhood, named for Robert Gould Shaw of the 54th Massachusetts, on the corner where contraband camps had sheltered the first self-emancipated people of the war. The memorial stands steps from the Metro station that bears its name, in the district that was Black Washington's heart.","The names are the archive — soldiers of the USCT's 175 regiments, the white officers who led them, 2,145 Hispanic surnames, and the note that the Navy's 20,000 Black sailors aren't listed because the Navy was never segregated. Lincoln's judgment is carved into the base: 'without the military help of the black freedmen, the war against the south could not have been won.'","The African American Civil War Memorial is the archive's names file — the 1998 Spirit of Freedom monument on U Street where the 209,145 USCT soldiers are finally inscribed, in the Shaw neighborhood named for the 54th's colonel."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["The African American Civil War Memorial is the archive's roster file — the nation's only monument to the USCT, the 1998 Spirit of Freedom and Wall of Honor carrying 209,145 names in the Shaw district.","A memorial that lists the names keeps its wall — the file's suggestion being that the monument's hold is the inscription: the soldiers who freed four million finally named, one hundred thirty years after they fought."]}],"name":"African American Civil War Memorial","aliases":[],"type":"HISTORIC_SITE","type_label":"Historic Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","UNDERGROUND_RAILROAD_HISTORY","AFRICAN_AMERICAN_HISTORY","CIVIL_WAR","UNDERGROUND_RAILROAD","MONUMENT"],"groups":["dark-history","historic-sites"],"desc":"NPS-listed historic site associated with the Underground Railroad.","full_desc":"A historic site in Washington, Washington, D.C., a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom listing, African American Civil War Memorial is filed here for what the record attaches to it. NPS-listed historic site associated with the Underground Railroad. The archive files it under dark history, Underground Railroad history and the Underground Railroad. The dossier holds 2 documented facts — a documented spine with no haunting reports attached. The site is open to visitors.","address":"1000 U St., NW","city":"Washington","county":"Washington D.C.","state":"Washington, D.C.","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":38.904243,"lon":-77.016524,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":"NPS public listing access field: Yes. This is a listing snapshot; current arrangements still require confirmation.","ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":"National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom listing","current_use":"Historic site","research_notes":"Government-registry discovery record, unique ID 13DC01, source row 267. Inclusion concerns slavery, freedom-seeking and resistance history; no haunting is inferred. City, coordinates and detailed history are not inferred from the name. The source Year Established field is not treated as year built/opened. ","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":62.1,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.35,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"NPS includes this site in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. African American Civil War Memorial's past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer the museum itself interprets. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. 'Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01' documents the entry. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01","url":"https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/sortable_dataset/undergroundrailroad/F0E29766-00A1-12E5-C3D062151C3F7E26/nri-NTFListings6426NOPIItable.csv?t=1784017173223","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},{"description":"African American Civil War Memorial is documented on the National Park Service Network to Freedom for its role in the Underground Railroad. A documented site gives the file real substance; this entry is part of that record. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. 'NPS Network to Freedom listing' documents the entry. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"NPS Network to Freedom listing","url":"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Historic site; verify hours and access with the managing agency before visiting; check nps.gov for current hours and alerts.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Public NPS Network to Freedom listings, row 2, ID 01GA01","url":"https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/sortable_dataset/undergroundrailroad/F0E29766-00A1-12E5-C3D062151C3F7E26/nri-NTFListings6426NOPIItable.csv?t=1784017173223","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"NPS Network to Freedom listing","url":"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm","publisher":"National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"Underground Railroad","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[{"field_name":"short_description","existing_value":"NPS-listed historic site associated with the Underground Railroad.","incoming_value":"The memorial—where the USCT are honored.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"historic_designation","existing_value":"National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom listing","incoming_value":"NPS Network to Freedom","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"research_notes","existing_value":"Government-registry discovery record, unique ID 13DC01, source row 267. Inclusion concerns slavery, freedom-seeking and resistance history; no haunting is inferred. City, coordinates and detailed history are not inferred from the name. The source Year Established field is not treated as year built/opened. ","incoming_value":"UGRR enrichment wave 4; VERIFY task auto-queued.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."}],"wiki":{"title":"African American Civil War Memorial Museum","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Civil_War_Memorial_Museum","desc":"Memorial and Museum in Washington, DC","extract":"The African American Civil War Memorial Museum, in the U Street district of Washington, D.C., recognizes the contributions of the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The site consists of a 9-foot bronze statue entitled The Spirit of Freedom by sculptor Ed Hamilton of Louisville, Kentucky, and indoor exhibits at the historic Grimke School, named after Archibald Grimke.","img":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/African_American_Civil_War_Memorial_Museum_%2855257411795%29.jpg/330px-African_American_Civil_War_Memorial_Museum_%2855257411795%29.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail","score":75,"lat":38.91638889,"lon":-77.02583333},"counts":{"claims":0,"history":2,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":3}}