USCT Recruitment Office Opens in Philadelphia Timelines: The Catto Years

The USCT recruitment offices open at 1210 Chestnut Street. The site is originally the headquarters and recruiting station of The Supervisory Committee for the Enlistment of Colored Troops and later for The Free Military School for Applicants for the Command of Colored Troops, seeking white officers. The temporary Union League clubhouse is three doors at 1216 Chestnut Street. The Union League worked in concert with black leaders such as Frederick Douglass, Robert Purvis, William and O.V. Catto, Jacob White, John Pierre Burr, and William Still to recruit black soldiers.