The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.

The 1st United States Colored Infantry Regiment was organized at Washington, D.C. beginning May 19, 1863 and mustered in June 30, 1863.

They soon received a regimental flag described as: “The Goddess of Liberty stands with her feet on a snake which is biting itself to death.

In one hand she holds the President's Proclamation of freedom ; in the other a musket, which the offers to a bareheaded and dusky freedman.”[1] The regiment was attached to United States Forces, Norfolk and Portsmouth, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, July to October 1863.

1st Brigade, Hincks' Colored Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to June 1864.

1st Brigade, 3rd Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to August 1865.

After its formation the regiment saw duty at Norfolk, Portsmouth and Yorktown in Virginia until April 1864.

Butler's operations south of the James River and against Petersburg and Richmond, Va., May 4 – June 15.