Families

The Civil War Search – did your Ancestors Serve?

“AFRO readers who have in their possession documentary proof or pictures of Civil War veterans are invited to write to: Civil War, AFRO magazine Section.”

Baltimore Afro-American, January 19, 1960

In 1960 editors of the Baltimore Afro-American prepared their readers for the U. S. Civil War centennial commemorations. They asked “survivors” of Civil War veterans, including 8718 soldiers and 640 sailors who had served for Maryland, to share information. The newspaper also printed the rosters of the 4th, 7th, 19th, and 30th United States Colored Infantry (USCI) to help families remember or to determine if they had a relative who had donned the “blue uniform of his country.”… 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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Soldiers from Rockbridge County, Virginia

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:

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

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