Twentieth Colored Regiment March and Presentation

“The Twentieth Regiment United States Colored Volunteers, now quartered at Riker’s Island, will embark to-morrow morning from this City on their way to the field. The Regiment will march down Fifth-avenue, at 11 o’clock, to Fourteenth-street, down Fourteenth-street to Union-square, in front of the Union League Club House, where President King of Columbia College, will make the presentation address. . . . A full band of forty pieces from Governor’s Island has been chosen to furnish the music.  This is one of the finest bands in the army. After receiving the colors and partaking of a luncheon, the regiment will march down Broadway at 3 P.M. to the foot of Canal-street, where they will embark in the steamer Ericsson, to report to Gen. Banks, at New Orleans. The regiment will be in full marching order, with knapsacks, muskets, white gloves, &c. Their discipline and soldierly bearing are described as highly commendable. The Twentieth Regiment was organized under the auspices of the Union League, and is the second colored regiment that patriotic body has assisted to take the field.”

Long article on the regiment and their send off; lists officers of the Regiment and members of the Union League Club. Includes transcripts of speeches given. No account of music.

“The scene yesterday was one which marks an era of progress in the political and social history of New-York. A thousand men, with black skins, and clad and equipped with the uniforms and arms of the United States Government, marched from their camp through the most aristocratic and busy streets, received a grand ovation at the hands of the wealthiest and most respectable ladies and gentlemen of New-York, and then moved down Broadway to the steamer which bears them to their destination—all amid the enthusiastic cheers, the encouraging plaudits, the waving handkerchiefs, the showering bouquets, and other approving manifestations of a hundred thousand of the most loyal of our people.

In the month of July last the homes of these people were burned and pillaged by an infuriated political mob; they and their families were hunted down and murdered in the public streets of this city; and the force and majesty of the law were powerless to protect them. Seven brief months have passed, and a thousand of these despised and persecuted men march through the City in the honorable garb of United States soldiers, in vindication of their own manhood, and with the approval of a countless multitude…

The Twentieth Regiment United States Colored Troops received a grand reception at the hands of the New-York Union League Club and the citizens of New-York…Union-Square was packed with a dense crowd of citizens, among whom were great numbers of the colored friends and relatives of the recruits, and the large force of police found it almost impossible to save room even for the regiment…”