On January 25, 1863 the Governor of Massachusetts received the authority to recruit black troops. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers was the first black regiment from the North - and also a fine fighting unit.
"It presaged the full-scale organization and employment of Negro soldiers. It initiated the new Negor soldier policy of procedding not by the the parceling out of authority to selected individuals and states but by decree and direction of the War Department acting through the army. This step was the great turning point in the development of the movement to arm the Negro as a soldier."