Many USCC soldiers (later called troopers) volunteered for further service after their Civil War units were retired.

[1] At the time of the battle, over 600 colored soldiers joined General Burbridge in the, as yet unorganized, 5th USCC.

However, Lieutenant Colonel L. Henry Carpenter soon realized that his newly formed black troops were illiterate.

Therefore, Carpenter petitioned command to place white noncommissioned officers in charge of the black units.

Yet Colonel James F. Wade was temporarily placed in charge of the group with orders to join Burbridge in Kentucky.

In his haste to create the unit, Wade mounted his 600 men on untrained horses and supplied them with Enfield infantry rifles.

In comparison, the troops of the 11th Michigan and 12th Ohio cavalries were armed with Spencer repeating carbines, which were wholly effective from horseback.

The 5th USCC, therefore, was attached to Colonel Brisbin's forces and joined Burbridge in Prestonburg, Kentucky.

The 5th USCC participated in the Battle of Saltville I on 1–3 October 1864, as part of the Union forces under the command of General Stephen Gano Burbridge.

In the ensuing hours after its finish, Confederate partisans, led by Champ Ferguson, murdered captured and wounded Union soldiers, notably members of the 5th USCC, in their hospital beds.

[3] In December 1864, General George Stoneman ordered the 5th USCC to participate in a raid from East Tennessee into southwestern Virginia.

During the Battle of Marion, Division Commander Stephen G. Burbridge ordered the 5th USCC between two white units on the left flank of the Union line.

Lieutenant Colonel James S. Brisbin and his second in command, Carpenter, led their dismounted soldiers forward toward the Confederate defensive works.

[4] The Confederates opened heavy fire upon the advancing Union troops, which included four ten-pound Parrott rifled cannons.

With a mighty yell the 5th USCC rushed forward toward the breastworks but could not break the defensive line.

General Stoneman claimed a victory and retreated from Virginia before Confederate forces could completely surround him.

About 41 men were bringing up the rear on 25 January near Simpsonville, when they were ambushed by Confederate guerrillas, led by Henry C. Magruder.

Few of the Union troops were able to fire their muzzle-loaded Enfield infantry rifles, due to fouled powder.

As Confederates quickly closed the distance, almost all of the colored soldiers bringing up the rear were wounded or dismounted.

[6] Locals reported what had happened and the boasts of the Confederate guerrillas, led by Captain Dick Taylor, who had murdered or shot many of the Union soldiers after they had been captured.

[8] The 5th USCC remained on duty for almost a year after the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House.

[citation needed] Historians believe that it is likely the murdered black soldiers who were being treated at Wiley Hall may have been buried at what is now known as the Holston Cemetery on campus.