Ellen Cassidy

Ellen Cassidy is currently a high school senior and resident of Putnam County, New York. She is interested in pursuing history, law and film studies in college and most recently earned her Girl Scout Gold Award for her profile of Sgt. Clinton J. Peterson, a mixed race soldier from Kent Cliffs, NY, who served with the 369th Infantry, Harlem Hellfighters. Her project included one of the earliest Black History markers in Putnam County.

In the Milltown Rural Cemetery located in the Town of Southeast, Putnam County, NY, there is a small, well-weathered military headstone that offers a faint hint to a story of courage and glory.

There lies a hero from the Civil War, a Black veteran, who didn’t live long enough for post-war decoration or celebration, and one who has regularly been misreported in history books, until now. [Read more…] about NY’s Frank Myers Of The 54th Massachusetts: Correcting The Historical Record