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US Colored Troops

Freedom in New York: Chenango County, the Underground RR & US Colored Troops

April 4, 2023 by Harry Bradshaw Matthews 11 Comments

Chenango County, NY Map (1897)During Black History Month 2023, I received an email from Jill Mirabito, a longtime resident of Norwich, Chenango County, NY, and Associate Vice President for University Advancement at SUNY Oneonta. The note pertained to the Chenango County Historical Society having honored Benjamin J. Tillett, an African American resident of Norwich during and after the Civil War. He had been a slave in Northeast North Carolina before arriving in Norwich.

In November 1863, Tillett enlisted in the 11th United States Colored Heavy Artillery (also known as the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery). He returned to Norwich after the war and died there in 1902. Before his death, he had a membership with the E.B. Smith Post, GAR, A Knight Templar of Palestine Commandery, and attended religious services frequently at the local AME Zion Church. The admiration that Tillett received from his adopted residence caught my attention. I was intrigued. [Read more…] about Freedom in New York: Chenango County, the Underground RR & US Colored Troops

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Cemeteries, Chenango County, Chenango County Historical Society, Civil War, Genealogy, Military History, Norwich, Otsego County, Religious History, Slavery, Susquehanna River, Underground Railroad, US Colored Troops

Black History Historiographic Genealogies: Sources & Resources

February 6, 2023 by Harry Bradshaw Matthews 1 Comment

Water Color Honoring Harry Bradshaw Matthews, Class of 1974, by Xiaoyi Zeng, 2017, a visiual student artist at SUNY OneontaWith the arrival of Black History Month, the 2023 theme, “Black Resistance,” will certainly emphasize the standard bearers of freedom seekers. Most noticeable will be the attention devoted to Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. There will also be discussions about the 1619 Project and the Critical Race Theory. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ attack on the teaching of the AP course in African American History will surely be debated.

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, were two personalities that Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson honored in 1926 with his launching of Negro History Week. He selected the second week of February as the time of the annual celebration since it coincides with the birthdays of Douglass and Lincoln. [Read more…] about Black History Historiographic Genealogies: Sources & Resources

Filed Under: History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Academia, Black History, Delaware County, Hartwick College, Oneonta, Otsego County, Political History, Publishing, SUNY Oneonta, Underground Railroad, US Colored Troops

NY’s Frank Myers Of The 54th Massachusetts: Correcting The Historical Record

October 23, 2022 by Ellen Cassidy 2 Comments

FO Myers Milltown Cemetery 10.2022 by E Cassidy 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

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Black History, Cemeteries, Civil War, Massachusetts, Military History, Putnam County, Southeast, US Colored Troops

Stephen Myers of Albany: Abolitionist Writer, Advocate & Underground Railroad Activist

August 30, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Stephen Myers portraitStephen Myers was a Black activist in connection with the Underground Railroad and African American rights in general. He was born and enslaved in Hoosick, Rensselaer County, New York State and raised when it was a slave state working on progressive abolition. He was the principal agent and a key writer for the Northern Star and Freeman’s Advocate, he was also the editor of The Elevator and The Telegraph and Temperance Journal.

As early as 1831 he was assisting fugitives from enslavement making their way to Canada. He was also active in 1827 with a group of little-known significance called the Clarkson Anti-slavery Society. As time went on he was involved in organizing and serving as a delegate to many of the Colored Men’s Conventions of the 1830s to the 1860s, to secure African American rights. He was involved in voting rights campaigns through the NYS Suffrage Association, was involved in organizing a school, and sued Albany Schools over segregation. [Read more…] about Stephen Myers of Albany: Abolitionist Writer, Advocate & Underground Railroad Activist

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Albany, Albany County, Black History, Hoosick, Journalism, Labor History, National Abolition Hall of Fame, Oneida County, Onondaga County, Political History, Publishing, Rensselaer County, Slavery, Stephen Meyers, Syracuse, Troy, Underground Railroad, Underground Railroad Education Center, US Colored Troops, Voting Rights

Isaac Johnson: A Soldier, Quarryman, Master Mason

July 5, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Isaac Johnson as a Young ManThe Clinton County Historical Association will host the lecture “Isaac Johnson: Slave, Soldier, Quarryman, Master Mason, Contractor” by Cornel “Corky” Reinhart, on Tuesday, July 13th, in Plattsburgh. [Read more…] about Isaac Johnson: A Soldier, Quarryman, Master Mason

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Events, History Tagged With: Architecture, Black History, Churubusco, Clinton County, Clinton County Historical Association, Grass River, Historic Preservation, Ogdensburg, Ontario, US Colored Troops, Waddington

Slave To Soldier: George Martin’s Fight For Freedom

February 9, 2021 by Pete Ames 3 Comments

Martin George with flag 2 As the Town of Niagara, NY municipal historian I’m researching the lives of those buried in one of our local cemeteries. Witmer Cemetery was originally the burying ground of the Witmer family, who settled here after arriving from Pennsylvania in 1811. The earliest gravestone in the cemetery is from 1828, but it’s estimated that about 200 people have been buried there since.

I began my research at the front row, where a toppled headstone marked the final resting place of George Martin and Jane, his wife. [Read more…] about Slave To Soldier: George Martin’s Fight For Freedom

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Black History, Cemeteries, Civil War, Cultural History, Military History, Niagara County, Political History, Slavery, Social History, US Colored Troops, USCT

African American History At The National Archives

February 8, 2021 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Roscoe C Brown JrThe National Archives holds a wealth of materials documenting the African American experience, and the contributions of African Americans to United States history and culture.

In 1984, to support the growing demand for knowledge of African American history, Dr. Debra Newman Ham, with the help of several other colleagues, took on the responsibility of compiling a guide to Black history records at the National Archives. [Read more…] about African American History At The National Archives

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Black History, Genealogy, National Archives, US Colored Troops

Children Who Served In The Civil War

April 13, 2017 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Johnny Clem On Thursday, April 27, from 7 pm to 9 pm. at the Senior Center (next to the Florida Library), at 4 Cohen Circle in Florida, NY, Civil War historian and re-enactor Yvonne Bigney will tell the story of 12 year-old Johnny Clem’s experience in the Battle of Chickamauga.

Clem was one of many children who served in the Civil War.  In 1863, escaped slave, “Contraband Jackson”, served as a drummer boy and stretcher-bearer in the 79th Infantry Regiment – U.S. Colored Troops. It was an all-black unit that incurred heavy casualties. Fifteen year-old Tillie Pierce served as a nurse at Gettysburg. They were just three of the thousands of boys and girls engaged in the Civil War; whether on the front lines or back home, active in vital adult roles that would astonish us today. [Read more…] about Children Who Served In The Civil War

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Civil War, Florida, milhist, US Colored Troops

Freedom Journey: Westchester Co Black Civil War Soldiers

May 9, 2015 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Freedoms Journey Black Civil War SoldiersAlmost 200,000 black men served in the Army during the Civil War, but only 34,000 were from the North. An underrepresented segment in Civil War studies, the stories of some of these Northern soldiers are told in Edythe Ann Quinn’s Freedom Journey: Black Civil War Soldiers and the Hills Community, Westchester County, New York (SUNY Press, 2015).

Freedom Journey presents in-depth, personal histories of thirty-six free black men from New York State who fought in the war. The book is both an African-American community history and a Civil War history of three regiments of the United States Colored Troops (USCT). [Read more…] about Freedom Journey: Westchester Co Black Civil War Soldiers

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Black History, Civil War, Military History, US Colored Troops, Westchester County

Black Civil War Veteran James Lucas of Albany

May 6, 2015 by Richard White 1 Comment

coloredtroops recruitment“Albany’s Only Negro Civil War Veteran” was the title of an article in The New York Age in May, 1933. The paper reported an interview with the city’s last surviving black veteran from the War Between the States, Sergeant James N. Lucas.

After serving with Company E of the 38th U.S. Colored Volunteers from early 1865 until 1867, he lived in Troy before moving to Albany in 1869. [Read more…] about Black Civil War Veteran James Lucas of Albany

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Albany, Black History, Civil War, Military History, Troy, US Colored Troops

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