The 29th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment of United States Colored Troops from Illinois that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was officially accepted for service in April 1864 and sent to fight in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. Assigned to an infantry division where all the rank and file were African-American, the unit guarded the army wagon train and dug trenches for a few weeks. The regiment fought its first major action at the Battle of the Crater in July, where it suffered heavy casualties. It fought in other actions during the Siege of Petersburg and participated in the final Appomattox Campaign in April 1865. The unit transferred to Texas and was probably present in Galveston when Union General Gordon Granger announced emancipation on Juneteenth (19 June 1865). The regiment was mustered out in November 1865.
Formation
After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on 1 January 1863, he requested that four regiments should be raised from African-Americans. Eventually, 300,000 soldiers in 166 so-called colored regiments were raised during the Civil War. These consisted of one engineer, one field artillery, 145 infantry, 12 heavy artillery, and seven cavalry regiments, of which about 60 took part in field operations. Of the personnel assigned to these regiments, 143 (white) officers and 2,751 (black) enlisted men were killed or died of their wounds. In late 1863, Illinois Governor Richard Yates issued an executive order that prescribed how the regiment would be raised. At first, enlistment was slow because of the low pay for black recruits and because it was expected that captured black soldiers would be badly treated by the Confederates. The War Department set up the Bureau for Colored Troops; this organization determined which white soldiers to commission as officers for the new colored regiments. Non-commissioned officers and privates were African-American. Initially, there was a stigma attached to white officers in the colored regiments, but this was quickly overcome by the prospect of rapid promotion. Soon there was a large number of white applicants for the new positions.
The 29th United States Colored Infantry Regiment (29th USCI) was organized at Quincy, Illinois and mustered into Federal service on 24 April 1864. Lieutenant Colonel John A. Bross of Chicago organized the regiment and became its commanding officer. Bross formerly commanded Company A of the 88th Illinois Infantry Regiment and was a veteran of the Battle of Stones River. His brother was a Chicago Tribune newspaper editor who later became lieutenant governor of Illinois. Because of his political connections, Bross' enemies questioned whether he was a real soldier or a mere political hack. T. Jefferson Brown of Quincy was appointed major on 22 April 1864. Other initial appointments were Sergeant Major William McCaslin, Quartermaster Sergeant Joseph N. Scott, Commissary Sergeant James H. Brown, and Musician Lewis T. Wood. Positions at the regimental level, such as colonel, adjutant, quartermaster, surgeon, and chaplain were not filled until later in 1864 and 1865.
Company F was credited to Wisconsin. Although Wisconsin provided a handful of recruits, most of the soldiers were really from Illinois or Missouri and agreed to take the place of Wisconsin residents. William H. Costley of Pekin was mustered into B Company as a recruit on 21 September 1864. Costley, whose surname is variously spelled in directories, census records, court documents, military records and burial records as Costly, Cosley, Corsley, and Crossley, was the son of Nance Legins-Costley, who was freed from slavery in 1841 by the Supreme Court of Illinois in a case where she was represented by Abraham Lincoln. The company captains and the approximate recruitment areas of the 29th USCI were as follows.