Ex-slave Sam Lovelace received Confederate pension

Register & Bee ^ | Feb 16, 2003 | JOHN HALE

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CHATHAM, Va. - Gathering food for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's troops earned Sam Lovelace a rare reward.

In 1933, Lovelace began drawing a Civil War pension - $300 a year - for his service to the Confederate States of America.

Lovelace collected the pension for his work as a teen-aged slave in the Chatham area during the Civil War. He is believed to be the last Confederate pensioner in Pittsylvania County, according to Herman Melton's book, "Thirty-Nine Lashes - Well Laid On: Crime and Punishment in Southside Virginia 1750-1950."

The annual pension was the result of an act passed by the Virginia General Assembly that awarded pensions to ex-slaves.

According to Gretna resident Eunice Bennett, Lovelace's first cousin, the $300 annual pension was a sizable sum at the time.

"He worked hard and he saved his money. He put it away and didn't drink it up," Bennett said. "He was a good father and took care of his family."

Lovelace also had a penchant for remembering details. He told a WPA historian in 1936 about 400 Union prisoners of war who were marched through Chatham to prisons in Danville. He also told the historians about the days when Chatham was a village of 18 homes, listing the names of each resident.

"He was a gold mine of history," Melton said.

Bennett remembers Lovelace sitting and telling stories for as long as he had an audience.

"He remembered down through his childhood, working at Chatham Hall," Bennett said.

Lovelace, who died in 1953 at the age of 107, was married and had four children - daughters Emma and Marie and a son, Thomas. A second son died during childhood.

He ate what he grew on a small plot of land located in the shadow of the Wooding Plantation, where he was a slave until the end of the Civil War.

Lovelace's work ethic never waned.

"He cut his own firewood (for his log cabin home) until he died," Melton said. "He was a pretty remarkable man."

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Putting a New Face On a Confederate Past

Another good story about John Wayne Holland and others rediscovering their Southern roots.

[TomServo]

Dixie Bump!

[Ff--150]

BTTT

[cyborg]

That's a great post! I want to know what Jesse Jackson thinks of people like this. I mean that seriously. There's another fellow called HK Edgerton on a similar mission.

[vetvetdoug]

In the book, Life in Rebel Prisons the author was imprisoned at Andersonville. The book was published in 1865 and the author stated clearly that the black Union prisoners of war were treated better than the white Yankees. The black prisoners of war were given ample food and allowed to venture outside of the prison in groups when the white pow's were not offered the same priveledges. Since the book was published in 1865 it is considered a primary source and flies in the face of current history book diatribes against the South. McPherson would never use this as a source for any of his works since it does not fit his agenda.

[Non-Sequitur]

He told a WPA historian in 1936 about 400 Union prisoners of war who were marched through Chatham to prisons in Danville.

I wonder why he wasn't included in the Slave Narratives then.