Charles Tyler Trowbridge

Charles Tyler Trowbridge (January 10, 1835 – December 24, 1907) was an American politician from New York. He was the first organizer and commander of black soldiers in the American Civil War.

Life Trowbridge was born on January 10, 1835, in Morris Plains, New Jersey, the son of Elijah Freeman Trowbridge and Temperance Ludlow Muchmore.

In 1854, Trowbridge moved to Brooklyn with his parents. He worked as an apprentice for a mason and builder. Shortly after finishing his apprenticeship, he went to the building business until the start of the Civil War.

Trowbridge enlisted in the 1st New York Volunteer Engineer Regiment in December 1861, and was mustered in as a sergeant in Company F. He served as an orderly for General David Hunter and went with the regiment to the coast of South Carolina. There, he began drilling the slaves that came to the camp as refugees. In May 1862, he was made captain of a provisional organization, the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. He was the first person to organize and command black troops during the Civil War, but Colonel Shaw's unit was the first to be formally mustered in. In 1882, he moved to Minneapolis and worked as a contracting brick mason. In 1901, he was appointed custodian of the old Minnesota State Capitol, where he lived for the rest of his life. He was buried in Lakewood Cemetery.