Stephen Atkins Swails (23 February 1832 – 17 May 1900) was a soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although originally enlisting as a private, he was the first African-American soldier promoted to noncommissioned officer rank in that conflict, as evidenced by the U.S. War Department's initial refusal of that promotion due to his "African descent."Swails was a free black who was so light in coloring that he was often mistaken as white.