The 19th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, was organized at Camp Stanton, Maryland, in late 1863 and early 1864 following President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Many of the men were slaves recruited from the plantations of eastern and southern Maryland. The unit trained at Camp Stanton and Camp Birney until April, when it was attached to the 9th Corps, Army of the Potomac. Men of the 19th served as train guards during the Wilderness Campaign and participated in siege operations against Petersburg, Virginia, where they were among those killed and wounded at the Battle of the Crater on 30 July 1864. After the war, the unit was sent to Brownsville, Texas. Captain James O. Blakeley (1838-?) served as commanding officer from November 1864 until the unit mustered out of service on 15 January, 1867.