Colored Convalescent Troops at Aiken's Landing, James River

These convalescent colored troops are resting at Aiken's Landing after a march. On the right is A. M. Aiken's house, on the brow of the hill overlooking the river. The scene was much the same when this was a point of exchange in 1862, but there were no colored troops in the Union armies until the following year. These men are evidently exhausted; they sit or lie upon the ground without taking the trouble to remove their knapsacks. This appears to be only a temporary halt; the wayfarers will shortly march out on the pier to a boat waiting to take them down the James. The opposite shore can dimly be seen on the left of the picture. Here as on the following page, in front of Aiken's mill, appears a martin-box.