Ohio

In the News: Capt. O. S. B. Wall, 104th USCI, an African American Commissioned Officer Writes to His Hometown Newspaper

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized
Capt. O.S.B. Wall, 104th U.S. Colored Troops
From Joseph T. Wilson’s The Black Phalanx: African American Soldiers in the War of Independence, the War of 1812 & the Civil War

The Lorain County News, Oberlin, Ohio
July 19, 1865

Letter from Capt. O.S.B. Wall
PORT ROYAL, S.C.,
June 24th, 1865.

EDITOR OF THE NEWS, OBERLIN, O.:

I have thought for some time that it might not be amiss to drop you a line, with reference to myself since I arrived in this department, and to say something of other matters that may be of interest to a few of your many patrons.

About the 1st of last April, I was ordered to Savannah, Ga.,… Read more

In the News: Capt. O. S. B. Wall, 104th USCI, an African American Commissioned Officer Writes to His Hometown Newspaper Read More »

USCT in Lawrence County, Ohio

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized

Over Memorial Day weekend I will be speaking in Lawrence County, Ohio, about the 27th USCI in Ohio. The General William H. Lytle Camp #10 Department of Ohio Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is holding a ceremony to recognize the installation of new government headstones at the W.D. Kelly cemetery in Ironton. The two soldiers, John Evans and Jefferson Finley, served in the 27th USCI, and some of their descendants will be in attendance.

Here is a list of Black men who lived in Lawrence County before, during, and/or after the war. I will continue to update this list.… Read more

USCT in Lawrence County, Ohio Read More »

A Mother Writes to Abraham Lincoln

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized

On December 7, 1864, Alcia Bass wrote to Abraham Lincoln. The distraught mother was concerned about her son, Armor, who served in the 27th USCT. She wrote to the president that her son “was underage and ran away from me,” and that she “would give him up freely” but he was also ill with consumption.

To read the complete post, please subscribe below:

To read more about “underage” enlistments, families at home, and the post-war lives of men from the 27th USCT, see For Their Own Cause: The 27th United States Colored Troops, The Kent State University Press, 2016.… Read more

A Mother Writes to Abraham Lincoln Read More »

Soldiers from Rockbridge County, Virginia

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized

Over 300 of the men who served in the 27th USCI listed Virginia as the state of their birth. On the blog, Southern Unionists Chronicles,  a reader requested information about one of the soldiers in the USCT included on the site’s list of men born in Rockbridge County.  This led me to compare that list with my files. I have so far found at least nine soldiers who served in the 27th USCI who reported Rockbridge County, Virginia, as their place of birth. Here are their stories:

To read the complete post, please subscribe below


Want to learn more about the 27th United States Colored Infantry?… Read more

Soldiers from Rockbridge County, Virginia Read More »