Henry County IAGenWeb

Henry County's Men of Color: Rising to the Cause

By Joy Lynn Conwell

In the fall of 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, word arrived within days and was reported in the local Henry County newspapers to the great jubilation of county residents, especially the numerous African-American residents.

The first arrival of African-Americans or Free Blacks was noted in late-1850s records of the county. This early group seems to have migrated from Ohio, through Indiana and Illinois, finally stopping in the Mount Pleasant area. The newly developing railroad system provided opportunities for employment and Mount Pleasant's location in relationship to Salem and Denmark, both known Underground Railroad stops, added to the opportunity for settlement of those escaping the slavery of Missouri.

The Emancipation Proclamation also cemented a desire among the African-American population with the hope that they might assist and participate in the War. The first actual skirmish that African-Americans fought against the Confederate Army was Island Mound, Missouri (near Osage, Missouri) in October of 1862.

Frederick Douglass, close friend of Rev. Joseph and Ruth Dugdale of Mount Pleasant, and one of the most prominent African-American abolitionist of the time, proclaimed, "[He] who would be free must himself strike the blow." And although since the beginning of the war there had been calls for the right of African-Americans to join the U.S. Army, that right had not been authorized by the U.S. government.

In early 1863, President Lincoln, recognizing the desire of free blacks, former slaves and even slaves themselves, wrote a letter to Andrew Johnson stating, "The colored population is the great available yet unavailed of force for restoring the Union. The bare sight of fifty thousand armed and drilled black soldiers upon the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once; and who doubts that we can present that sight if we but take hold in earnest."

Finally two months later on May 22, 1863, the War Department General Order #143 created the USCT, United States Colored Troops and colored units were integrated into the Union Army. By the end of the war, African-Americans accounted for 10% of Union soldiers. The 200,000 plus men of color who volunteered for service represented 85% of the eligible population of African-American men in the country. Approximately 40,000 gave their lives for the cause.

Henry County's African-American men joined their comrades in service. From Salem, New London, Mount Pleasant and outlying townships, these men stepped forward when the call was made for the First Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry of African Descent (later known at the U.S. 60th Infantry-CTINF). This unit was organized under special orders from the U.S. War Department on July 27, 1863. At the time, Iowa had less than 1,500 African-Americans living within its boundaries. It is said that "almost every man of African descent in the State who was capable of performing military service" joined. The Henry County African-American community sent 23 men who have been documented.

The 1st Iowa-CTINF was comprised of six companies from Iowa and four companies recruited in Missouri, totaling 1,100 men. According to the Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Deyer, the unit has the distinction of being the "only regiment of the Negro race which the State of Iowa sent into the field". Some Henry County African-American soldiers were also affiliated with the Eighteenth Regiment of U. S. Colored Infantry which was raised at Benton's Barracks at St. Louis, Missouri. Unlike other African-American units, the 18th U.S. Regiment was mustered directly into the U.S. Army and was not a "state" unit.

In recognition of their service of the Union cause, slaves and free blacks, living in both the North and the South, are recognized for advancing the cause of freedom for their brothers and sisters at the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D. C. The names of 209,145 soldiers representing 175 USCT regiments, 7,000 white officers, and 2,145 Hispanic soldiers are etched into stainless steel panels of the memorial. On the panels are the names of our Henry County soldiers of African descent.

Through the National Park Service's Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS), a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War, families and historians can search for information related to the soldiers of the "African Descent" who fought in the war. This database provided the documentation for the construction of the African American Civil War Memorial in 1992.

The U.S. Colored Troops story is a watershed in national and local African-American history. As Frederick Douglass put it: "Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his soldier, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on the earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States." And in tribute to the Colored Troops, shortly before his death in 1865, President Lincoln stated, "without the military help of the black freedmen, the war against the south could not have been won".

Henry County, Iowa - Civil War Soldiers of African Descent

Adams, National. Age 21. Enlisted August 15, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865. Unit: First Infantry (Sixtieth U.S.) –CTINF. Died Jan. 31, 1910. Buried Forest Home Cemetery, Mount Pleasant.

Baxter, George. Age 20. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Arkansas. Enlisted Sept. 12, 1863. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Died of disease June 7, 1864, Helena, Ark.

Bond, William A. Age 29. Residence Salem, nativity Indiana. Appointed Second Lieutenant Oct. 11, 1863. Mustered Oct. 11, 1863. Died of disease July 24, 1864, Helena, Ark. See Company I, Fourth Cavalry. Buried Salem South Cemetery.

Edwards, William. Age 20. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Sept. 30, 1863. Mustered Dec. 8, 1863. Promoted Seventh Corporal Feb. 20, 1865, Sixth Corporal June 24, 1865. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Ford, Ephraim P. Age 21. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity North Carolina. Enlisted Sept. 9, 1863. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Granville, Padon. Age 21. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Sept. 16, 1863. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Gray, William. Age 20. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Sept. 5, 1863, as Sixth Corporal. Mustered Oct. 21, 1863. Promoted Fifth Corporal March 25, 1864, Fourth Corporal Aug. 13, 1864, Third Corporal Aug. 28, 1864. Died of disease Aug. 29, 1864, Helena, Ark.

Gilbert, Sandy. Age 18. Residence Mount Pleasant. Enlisted April 3, 1865. Mustered April 3, 1865. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865. Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Greyson, Henry. Age 21. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Aug. 23, 1863. Mustered Oct. 11, 1863. Died of disease May 24, 1864, Helena, Ark.

Hawkins, William. Age 20. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Aug. 21, 1863, Mustered Oct. 11, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Holmes, Abram. Age 19. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Sept. 30, 1863. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Howard, George. Age 23. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Oct. 10, 1863, as Third Corporal. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Promoted Second Corporal Aug. 13, 1864, First Corporal Aug. 28, 1864. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Johnson, George. Age 20. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Sept. 3, 1863. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Jones, Wesley. Age 30. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Tennessee. Enlisted Sept. 7, 1863. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Died of disease Sept. 25, 1864, Helena, Ark.

Jones, William. Age 22. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Kentucky. Enlisted Aug. 18, 1863, as First Sergeant. Mustered Oct. 11, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Kinsellow, Frank. Age 20. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Aug. 22, 1863. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Kinselo, John. Age 18. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Aug. 23, 1863. Mustered Oct. 11, 1863. Promoted Eighth Corporal Feb. 1, 1865, Seventh Corporal June 8, 1865. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Mason, Alfred. Age 27. Residence Mount Pleasant. Enlisted: Sep. 19, 1863. Mustered out: Oct. 15, 1865. Unit: Fed 60th-CTINF, Company F. Rank: Sargent. Buried at Forest Home Cemetery, Mount Pleasant.

Rice, Alexander F. Age 35. Residence New London, nativity Indiana. Unit: Co. E, 1st Iowa-CTINF. Mustered Oct. 11, 1863. Appointed Second Lieutenant, and assigned to Co. K known as Bissell’s Missouri Engineers of the West. Later reassigned to Co. E, 60th U.S.-CTINF. Resigned June 5, 1865. Mustered out Jun. 6, 1865. Buried in the Rice Farm Cemetery, Pulaski County, Arkansas.

Todd, George. Age 33. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Aug. 22, 1863. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Walker, William. Age 18. Residence Salem, nativity Iowa. Enlisted Aug. 14, 1863. Mustered Oct. 11, 1863. Died of disease May 5, 1864, Helena, Ark.

Wicks, James R. Enlisted: Sep. 12, 1863. Mustered out: Oct. 15,1865. Unit: Fed 60th-CTINF. Rank: Private. Died 1914. Buried in Forest Home Cemetery, Mount Pleasant.

Wright, George A. Age 18. Residence Mount Pleasant, nativity Missouri. Enlisted Sept. 21, 1863. Mustered Nov. 21, 1863. Mustered out Oct. 15, 1865, Devall's Bluff, Ark.

Colored Troops buried in Henry County who mustered in Missouri:

Alfred M.G. Colson and Harvey Keith. Part of the Federal 18th—CTINF. Buried in Forest Home Cemetery, Mount Pleasant.

Patrick Bartlett, soldier in the 56th U.S.—CTINF is buried in Old City Cemetery, Mount Pleasant.

William Ford, Company E, U.S. 60th—CTINF, mustered originally with the 11th Missouri. Buried in Old City Cemetery, Mount Pleasant.

Article by Joy Lynn Conwell (1952-2021), taken from the book “Remembering: Civil War Impact on Henry County, Iowa”, published in 2018 by Henry County Heritage Trust, Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Joy Lynn Conwell loved history and was a passionate, knowledgeable researcher and writer.

Contributed to Henry County IAGenWeb by Pat White, December 2021.