Maryland's Black Civil War Soldiers

By Robert K. Summers

After having initially resisted the idea, President Abraham Lincoln authorized the Army, in his Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, to begin enlisting free African-Americans into U.S. Colored Troops regiments. Later that year, he authorized the Army to begin enlisting slaves as well. This is the story of one of those regiments, Maryland's 19th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops.

The officers were white. The enlisted men were black. Most of the enlisted men were runaway slaves, but there were also a few draftees, substitutes, and free men who voluntarily enlisted. Black or white, they suffered and died together. Many were killed in action, died from their wounds, died in prisoner of war camps, or died from disease. Many of those who survived their service suffered for the rest of their lives from battlefield wounds and amputations, or the effects of malaria, scurvy, cholera, chronic dysentery, typhoid fever, acute rheumatic fever, pneumonia, measles, blindness, hearing loss, and other illnesses contracted during their service.

The 19th Regiment trained at Camp Stanton, Maryland during the winter of 1863-64, and then fought under Union General Ulysses S. Grant in several battles in Virginia until Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered after the final major battle at Appomattox, Virginia. The regiment took part in the bloody Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia, and was among the first units to enter and occupy Richmond when General Lee abandoned it.

After the war, the regiment was posted to Texas where it kept the peace along the Mexican border. The men returned to Maryland when the regiment was disbanded in January 1867, but not everyone stayed home. Alfred Dennis (Company K) enlisted in the 10th Cavalry, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, and served five years in Oklahoma Indian Territory. Richard Combs (Company A) also joined the 10th Cavalry. He fought the Indians in Texas, and went to Cuba in 1898 with the 10th Cavalry and Teddy Roosevelt to fight at San Juan Hill. Others also returned to live out their final years in Texas.

Two hundred sixty-eight of the original 1,000 men of the 19th Regiment organized at Camp Stanton died from all causes before the regiment was disbanded in 1867. Twenty-three were killed in action at the Battle of the Crater. The other 245 died of disease. Disease killed 75 at Camp Stanton, 82 while encamped at Petersburg, and 70 after the war in Texas.

The book includes profiles of each of the soldiers who served in the 19th Regiment. Their information was taken from the military and pension files at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.. Enlistment, service, and discharge information is provided for all soldiers, including those who volunteered as substitutes. For those with pension records, more detailed information is provided, including slave-owner names, depositions from friends and family members, personal letters, and information on the soldier's life and death after discharge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Summers
• Release date: Aug 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201143138

Robert K. Summers

Robert Summers has published two books. The first book, The Assassin's Doctor, is a biography of his great grandfather, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, who provided medical assistance to John Wilkes Booth following the Lincoln assassination. Robert's earlier writings on Dr. Mudd have all been incorporated into The Assassin's Doctor.  Robert's mother was born and raised on the Mudd family farm where John Wilkes Booth sought medical help from Dr. Mudd after Booth had assassinated president Lincoln. Her father was Samuel Mudd II, a one year-old baby when Booth came to the farm. Her room growing up on the farm in the early 1900's was the same room Booth stayed in when he was there in 1865. Dr. Mudd was not a subject of much discussion when Robert was growing up, despite many happy visits to the Mudd farm as a youngster. As an adult, he learned more about Dr. Mudd's involvement in the Lincoln assassination story, and decided to conduct additional research into Dr. Mudd's life. The Assassin's Doctor contains information about Dr. Mudd's life never reported before. Robert's second book, Maryland's Black Civil War Soldiers, is the story of Maryland's 19th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops. In addition to a history of the regiment's actions during the Civil War, the book includes short biographies of each of the thousand soldiers in the regiment. Anyone conducting genealogical research on these soldiers will find this information invaluable.  This large book was a ten year project, requiring the personal review of the soldiers' military and pension files at the U.S. National Archives in Washington, D.C. The regiment was organized and trained at Camp Stanton, only ten miles from Dr. Mudd's farm. Most of the soldiers were former slaves from farms in southern Maryland and the eastern shore of Maryland. Some had been slaves on Mudd family farms.