Black Men in Lincoln Blue

“Mr. Qualls, who is a one armed veteran…colored citizen”

James H. Qualls, the soldier

In late October 1864, the men in the 27th United States Colored Infantry (USCI) participated in their second battle while serving in the Army of the Potomac’s IX Corps. Both Col. Albert M. Blackman and Lt. Col. John W. Donnellan were injured on the first day of fighting along Boydton Plank Road in the battle of Hatcher’s Run, Virginia (October 27-28, 1864). Fifteen soldiers from the regiment were killed or wounded, including seventeen-year-old James H. Qualls from Jackson County, Ohio.

Qualls enlisted at Berlin Crossroads, where he lived with his Virginia-born parents, Arthur and Lucy (Shepperd) .… Read more

“And at his death had almost completed a history of his life,” Lafayette Rose, 27 USCI

Soldiers, you have lady friends in Cleveland

In the News: Oneonta Herald, February 10, 1864

Leave a Comment / Letters, Soldiers

RIKERS ISLAND, Jan. 29, 1864.

SIR i must Tell you a little a bout the Camp a fairs & how thing Goes here last nite we had a mobe fite bee twixt the Clord & white But the ofesers sune stop it But if they had let the nigs goe they wood Not have benn a sun of the Eemeral Ile left here for the Colord Trupes at Rikers Island & i for my self am Just as well as Ever i was & As tuff But when i First a Rived i thought it hard but now i am Natueralised to the Camp Lif there is a Bout 2000 Colord troups here and one Ridgiment Will Leave sune that Is the 20 Ridg I thout Colord men wood not Make good Solgers but I was greatly mistaken For they are as fine as is here & learn Just as fast as the whites & More Promp & spunkey The wether is mild & warm Spring like Mine to the oneonte herald untill a Beter one or Beter ComPosed & more time i have got to bee a Coprill and will sune get to Bee a sarjant i make the Boys stand a Round as fare as my athorety.… Read more

Old John Brown GAR Post #450: Oxford, OH, Black Veterans

Leave a Comment / Burials, Commemoration, Soldiers, Veterans

In May 1884, Black Civil War veterans in Butler County, Ohio, received a charter for the Old John Brown Post# 450. It is believed to be the second African American Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) post recognized in the state. The William Anderson Post # 244 in Washington Court House, Fayette County, was the first in May 1882.

Over the years, the local press in Butler County recognized African American residents for their military service, their roles in the community after the war, and with announcements of their deaths.

Peter Bruner, 12 USCHA, born in Kentucky, died in April 1938.