Among the soldiers who fought for the North during the
American Civil War were nearly 200,000 blacks. Many were former slaves who had
escaped through a system of hiding places called the Underground Railroad. Although
they were often discriminated against, in pay and other ways, they fought courageously. (Below:
Black and white soldiers on the field at the Battle of Olustee, Florida , 1864.) (Grolier's New Book of Knowledge Encyclopedia)