Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments of the United States Army during the American Civil War that were composed of African-American soldiers. The men of the USCT were the forerunners of the famous Buffalo Soldiers. The U.S. Congress passed a confiscation act in July 1862 that freed slaves of owners in rebellion against the United States, and a militia act that empowered the President to use freed slaves in any capacity in the army. President Abraham Lincoln, however, was concerned with public opinion in the four border states that remained in the Union, as well as with northern Democrats who supported the war. Lincoln opposed early efforts to recruit black soldiers, even though he accepted their use as laborers. Union Army setbacks in battles over the summer of 1862 forced Lincoln into the more drastic response of emancipating all slaves in states at war with the Union.