27 USCI

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

Clyde Enterprise, October 21, 1897

Lafayette D. Rose, a veteran of the 27th USCI, requested in his will that “If for any reason I shall be unable to complete the writing and publication of my history at work now well under way I here by request and designate my said wife and my half brother William H. Sparrow to take charge of the same and carry out my arrangements provisions or agreement I may have made with other parties for the same… As soon as sufficient number of copies of my said work or book shall have been sold to pay the cost of publication and sale there of then as to all subsequent sales my said wife shall be entitled to receive a royalty.”… Read more

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Black Veterans at the Ohio Soldier’s and Sailors’ Home

After the Civil War, African Americans who served in the United States Colored Troops and the United States Navy could apply to reside in both federal and state soldiers’ and sailors’ homes. Below is the list of Black veterans who were admitted to the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Sandusky, Ohio, between November 1888 and August 1919.

Cottage I, from Souvenir Book of Views: Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, Sandusky, O.
Sandusky Star-Journal,
July 13, 1901

You can view the admission records on Family Search, “Ohio Soldier Home Records, 1888-1919.” This collection of images comes from 20 volumes that include the records of the first 10,000 residents of the Home.… Read more

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In the News: Anglo-African, May 6, 1865

FROM THE REGIMENTS.

CAMP OF THE 27TH U.S. COLORED REGIMENT.
FAISON’S STATION, W. & W. R.R., April 2, 1865.

MR. EDITOR: Perhaps the people would like to know where we are and what we are doing.

We, i.e. the Third Division of the Twenty-fifth Army Corps, are encamped at present at the above-named place guarding the railroad, and supplies now being sent along this line to the Western army now lying in our front. This division was detached from the main corps in the front of Richmond on the 3d of January and transported to North Carolina, where we with the Second Division of the Twenty-fourth Corps have been operating up to this date.… Read more

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USCT in Lawrence County, Ohio

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

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A Mother Writes to Abraham Lincoln

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.

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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

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