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This book consists of profiles of each of the soldiers in Maryland's 19th Regiment, U. S. Colored Troops, Union Army, during the American Civil War. It will be of particular interest to anyone conducting genealogical research on the lives of these men, most of whom were runaway slaves. Those researching the lives of former slaves are usually frustrated when encountering the "brick wall of slavery." This book helps to break through that wall.
Information on the soldiers' lives is taken from their military service and pension records at the U. S. National Archives in Washington, D. C. There is no pension file for soldiers who were killed in action, died later from their wounds, or died from disease during their service. However, for those who survived the war and collected a pension, the biographical information in the pension files often contain affidavits, letters, medical records, and a variety of other information about their lives before, during, and after their military service.
The pension file for Private Jacob Butler, Company E, shows that when he was a 4-year-old slave child, Jacob was owned by Richard Gardiner of Charles County, Maryland. When Gardiner died in 1848, an inventory of his estate listed young Jacob as worth $125. Gardiner's brother William purchased Jacob for $100. When William died, Jacob passed to William's sister Frances Helen Gardiner. In 1864, 18-year-old Jacob Butler ran away from the Gardiner farm and enlisted in the 19th Regiment.
He survived the war, passing away many years later in 1912. The pension file for Mildy Finnick, Company K, shows he ran away from his Maryland slave owner to join the 19th Regiment, was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia, sold back into slavery to a Virginia doctor/farmer, escaped from his new slave owner, found his way back to the regiment, was promoted, finished his service with the regiment, married, raised children, and is now buried in a place of honor with his comrades at Arlington National Cemetery near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Lemuel Dobbs, Company C, was shot in the chest at the Battle of the Crater, taken prisoner, sent to the Confederate prison at Columbia, South Carolina, tunneled out of the prison, and made his way to the Union Army lines at Knoxville, Tennessee 41 days later. Asbury Murphy, Company E, and David Mars, Company C, were also taken prisoner at the Battle of the Crater. They were sent to the notorious Salisbury, North Carolina prisoner of war camp where they died and were buried, unmarked, in one of the prison's mass burial trenches.
Richard Combs, Company A, was wounded in the right arm by an exploding shell at the Battle of the Crater, lived for a while after the war in Washington, D. C., re-enlisted in the 10th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) fighting in the Indian wars, went with the 10th Cavalry to Cuba where he fought with Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders" at the battles of Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill. He retired from the Army in 1904, living with his wife in Nebraska until he died in 1911.
This large book is filled with many similar stories of the lives of the brave men of the 19th Regiment. Their stories deserve to be read and remembered.