Opening Reception: Thursday, September 1, 2022 at 4PM (FREE). More Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/476221280593328   Head to the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) Interpretive Center to see “Seventeen Men: Portraits of African American Civil War Soldiers” by professional artist and illustrator Shayne Davidson about the U.S. Colored Troops during the American Civil War.   Exhibit Dates: Dates: Every Wednesday, and one Saturday a month, from Sept 7 to Dec 7   While working on a family tree for a friend, Shayne Davidson was shown a photograph of a soldier who had served in the 25th Infantry, Co. G of the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War. The friend’s grandfather, a white man, had served as the unit’s captain. Seventeen of the 113 men under Captain Prickitt’s command had had their pictures made during the war, and they were all in an album that the family had kept (the album has since been donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington D.C., where it is currently on display.) After seeing the album, Davidson began to wonder about who these men were. She used her skills as a genealogist to create their biographies and her skills as an artist to create life-sized portraits from the miniatures she had first been shown in the album. Each of the men depicted survived the war and were mustered out in December 1865. Each of these portraits was done with colored pencils on card stock and is approximately life-sized. A short biography of each man accompanies the artwork, as does the original photograph that inspired the portrait. Also on display in the USCT Interpretive Center are portraits and biographies of two St. Mary’s County soldiers who served in the USCT in the 38th Infantry Regiment. These two men were awarded the Medal of Honor for their valor and bravery at the Battle of New Market Heights, Virginia, in 1864. EVENT IS FREE. Sponsored in part by Civil War Trails and other community partners.