On Saturday, September 19, 2026, representatives from Arlington County Parks & Recreation, the Penrose Neighborhood Association, Arlington Historical Society (AHS), Black Heritage Museum of Arlington (BHMA), the 23rd Regiment United States Colored Troops Reenactors, Arlington dedicated a new historical marker at Towers Park in the Penrose Neighborhood honoring Camp Casey, the Civil War camp where the county organized two regiments: the Second and Twenty-Third United States Colored Troops (USCT).
During the Civil War, Arlington was an important center for recruitment and training of US Colored Troops (USCT). With this historical marker’s dedication, Arlington’s Camp Casey and the soldiers who trained here will finally receive some of the recognition they earned more than a century and a half ago.
The dedication program included music from the 8th Green Machine Regiment Band, George Mason University. There were introductions by Alex Sakes, President, Penrose Civic Association, and Blake Lindsey, with Arlington County Parks
The 23rd United States Colored Troops reenactors presented the flag, and the keynote speaker was Edward W. Gantt, Captain USN (Ret.), as “Pvt. Ed Gantt, 23rd USCT.”
A Short History of Camp Casey
From 1863 to 1865, Camp Casey in Arlington served as the camp of organization for the only two regiments raised in the County during the Civil War – the Second and Twenty-Third United States Colored Troops (USCT).
The Second, raised from July to November 1863, would go on to serve in Florida and distinguish itself in the battle of Natural Bridge, the second largest Civil War engagement in the state.
The Twenty-Third, raised from December through July 1864, would become the first USCT regiment to engage Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, defeating rebel cavalry at the Alrich Farm near Spottsylvania. It would later suffer the heaviest casualties of all federal regiments in the battle of the Crater.
For the next several weeks USCT soldiers continued to enlist at Camp Casey, and a detachment from the camp participated in the defense of Washington against General Jubal Early’s army during the attack on Washington that in July, 1864 culminated at Fort Stevens.
By September 1864 Camp Casey had become an official Rendezvous of Recruitment for USCT soldiers serving in the armies besieging Richmond, ultimately putting thousands more men into the ranks of nearly thirty regiments. Four of the seven USCT regiments present at Appomattox had men recruited in Arlington, some of whom fired what proved to be among the last shots of the war.
Before the war the land Camp Casey occupied was owned by Richard Williams, a constable of Alexandria who in 1858, on the orders of Robert E. Lee, whipped three people enslaved on the Custis estate who had attempted to escape. Among the greatest ironies of Arlington history is that Williams’ property would later serve to put more than 5,000 United States Colored Troops into the United States Army. Further some of the men recruited here would fight at Appomattox, helping to put an end to the military career of Robert E. Lee, the last master of Arlington House.
During the war, Camp Casey not only raised Black soldiers but also employed others, including Charles and William Syphax. They and their employees ran a store on the post catering to soldiers, many of whom had spending money for the first time in their lives. With Arlington itself serving as a magnet for freedom seekers throughout the region, newly self-emancipated Americans, both men and women, also found employment working as teamsters, laborers, nurses, laundresses, and in other occupations.
After the war, several new Black communities grew up in the larger neighborhood, including the Butler-Holmes development in Penrose, cofounded by William Henry Butler, a soldier of the Second Regiment, United States Colored Troops.
With the dedication of this historical marker, Arlington’s Camp Casey and the soldiers who trained here have finally received some part of the recognition they earned more than a century and a half ago.
