Editing Siege of Petersburg (section)

===Serving the Union===
During the war a total of nearly 187,000 African Americans served in the [[Union Army]]. Of those the greatest concentration of U.S. Colored Troops was at Petersburg. In the initial assault upon the city on June 15, a division of USCTs in the XVIII Corps helped capture and secure a section of the [[Dimmock line]]. The other division at Petersburg was with the IX Corps and it fought in the [[Battle of the Crater]], July 30.<ref name=NPS/>

In December, all the USCTs around Petersburg were incorporated into three divisions and became the [[XXV Corps (Union Army)|XXV Corps]] of the [[Army of the James]].<ref>Welcher, p. 504.</ref> It was the largest black force assembled during the war and varied between 9,000 and 16,000 men. Overall in the Petersburg Campaign USCTs would participate in 6 major engagements and earn [https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/history/honoring-the-african-american-recipients-of-the-civil-war 15 of the 25 total] [[Medal of Honor|Medals of Honor]] that were awarded to African American soldiers in the Civil War.<ref name=NPS/>