Abstract
Federal records offer tantalizing evidence of the struggle for freedom in Civil War–era Pennsylvania. Among the more recent additions to the holdings of the National Archives at Philadelphia are records of Camp William Penn. Situated just outside of the city, Camp William Penn was the first camp built exclusively for the training of African American soldiers and the largest training facility for the US Colored Troops. It trained African American men from both Union and Confederate states who enlisted in the Union army. Surviving records detail conditions at the camp and the personal and familial circumstances of many of the men who enlisted. The records offer glimpses into race relations in Philadelphia as a whole, and Pennsylvania more broadly.