Posted on 08/27/2006 9:13:18 AM PDT by smug
UDC marks another black Confederate grave By Clayta Richards / Chronicle staffwriter
On Sunday afternoon at Old Union Cemetery in southern White County, over 180 people gathered to pay a debt owed nearly 80 years. The group included members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Sons of Confederate Veterans, family and friends, all there to memorialize the service of Pvt. Henry Henderson, a black Confederate soldier.
Henderson was born in 1849 in Davidson County, NC. He was 11 years old when he entered service with the Confederate States of America as a cook and servant to Colonel William F. Henderson, a medical doctor. Records show Henry was wounded during his service, but he continued to serve until the war's end in 1865. He was discharged in Salem, NC, age 16.
After the war, Henry married Miranda Shockley, of White County, TN. The couple raised five children.
"We're here to honor him," said his great-grandson, Oscar Fingers, of Evansville, IN. "I think he would be proud his family has come this far and to know all we have done." Several other family members made the trip with Fingers from Indiana for Sunday's ceremony.
Sons Dalton and Lee received Henderson's first and last Tennessee Colored Confederate pension check upon their father's death in September 1926. The check provided enough funds to bury their father, but not enough to buy a headstone for his grave.
The 60,000-90,000 black Confederate soldiers are often called "the forgotten Confederates," but through the concerted efforts of the Capt. Sally Tompkins Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy along with the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, several graves have been found in the Upper Cumberland and have been or will be marked.
Pvt. Henry Henderson's service was finally recognized and his grave officially marked on Sunday, all to the snap of salutes from the grandsons of fellow Confederates, volleys of gunfire and cannons shot toward the distant hillsides of his final resting place.
Official U.S. government grave markers are available to all Confederate veterans. For additional information, contact Barbara Parsons, 484-5501.
"...by 'soldiers", they of course mean slaves..."
WRONG!!
They were FREE men.
People who don't study history may find it remarkable that there were free blacks living in the South; but there were. Furthermore, some slaves were owned by "persons of color" (as the title documents record.)
BTW, only 12% of white southerners owned slaves.
"I guess if one were to think any point one way or the other with regard to these activities it would be why did they not give a confederate veteran's family enough money to even buy a gravestone at the veteran's death?"
Who do you think "they" were, in 1926?
I subscribe to CIVIL WAR TIMES. I did not know there was anything wrong with their reporting. Can you fill me in? I don't want a magazine that lies.
Let's review what it said.
"Henderson was born in 1849 in Davidson County, NC. He was 11 years old when he entered service with the Confederate States of America as a cook and servant to Colonel William F. Henderson, a medical doctor."
Eleven years old, later took the same name as the person he served, can there be any doubt that in this case he was a slave?
Just out of curiosity how many free black men do you think served in the confederate army?
The majority of 90,000.
According to the 1860 census there were, at best, about 23,000 free black men of military age in the entire south. Did each of them enlist 4 times?
It would be, if it hadn't been rendered with ironic intent.
smug "You are a moron, aren't you?,<
....And the point of your comment is?
tallhappy just showing its ignorance and disrespect for for a confederate soldier
It's fitting that the young conscript receives recognition so long overdue.
We learn that one hundred and fifty able-bodied free colored men of Charleston offered their services gratuitously to the Governor to hasten forward the important work of throwing up redoubts wherever needed along our coasts. [Charleston Mercury, January 3, 1861]
A gentleman from Charleston says that everything there betokens active preparations for fight. The thousand negroes busy building batteries, so far from inclining to resurrection, were grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of shooting the Yankees. [Washington dispatch to the Evening Post, date not provided in the Congressional Globe]
We learn that about seventy of the most respectable free negroes in this city have enrolled themselves, and design tendering their services to the Governor to act in whatever capacity may be assigned them in defense of the State. Three cheers for the patriotic free negroes of Lynchburg. [Republican, Lynchburg, Virginia, April, 1861]
The negroes in all this section of the country, slave and free, are as loyal as could be desired. They freely proffer their services to the State and zealously contend for the privilege of being allowed to work on the batteries. Yesterday General Gwynn declined the services of three hundred from Hampton who solicited employment on the batteries, and twice and thrice that number could be obtained in this vicinity in a single day, if it was thought advisable to accept them. Indeed the entire fortifications of this harbor might be constructed by the voluntary labor of negroes, who would claim no higher reward than the privilege of being allowed to contribute their share toward the defense of the State and the protection of their masters and mistresses, who had always extended a sheltering hand over them. [Petersburg, Virginia Express, dated at Norfolk, April 23, 1861]
http://37thtexas.org/html/BlkHist.html
Black Confederates Why haven't we heard more about them? National Park Service historian, Ed Bearrs, stated, "I don't want to call it a conspiracy to ignore the role of Blacks both above and below the Mason-Dixon line, but it was definitely a tendency that began around 1910" Historian, Erwin L. Jordan, Jr., calls it a "cover-up" which started back in 1865. He writes, "During my research, I came across instances where Black men stated they were soldiers, but you can plainly see where 'soldier' is crossed out and 'body servant' inserted, or 'teamster' on pension applications." Another black historian, Roland Young, says he is not surprised that blacks fought. He explains that "some, if not most, Black southerners would support their country" and that by doing so they were "demonstrating it's possible to hate the system of slavery and love one's country." This is the very same reaction that most African Americans showed during the American Revolution, where they fought for the colonies, even though the British offered them freedom if they fought for them. It has been estimated that over 65,000 Southern blacks were in the Confederate ranks. Over 13,000 of these, "saw the elephant" also known as meeting the enemy in combat. These Black Confederates included both slave and free. The Confederate Congress did not approve blacks to be officially enlisted as soldiers (except as musicians), until late in the war. But in the ranks it was a different story. Many Confederate officers did not obey the mandates of politicians, they frequently enlisted blacks with the simple criteria, "Will you fight?" Historian Ervin Jordan, explains that "biracial units" were frequently organized "by local Confederate and State militia Commanders in response to immediate threats in the form of Union raids". Dr. Leonard Haynes, an African-American professor at Southern University, stated, "When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you've eliminated the history of the South."
I seem to have missed your point. Could you please clarify?
I don't believe sarcasm really is needed for this particular thread.
Tennessee. Also, any organizations publkic or private providing funds for confederate veterans.
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