Robert Summers

Maryland's Black Civil War Soldiers: 19th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops Robert Summers

This book tells the story of Maryland's 19th Regiment, U. S. Colored Troops, during the Civil War. The enlisted men were black, mostly escaped slaves. The officers were 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.

Movies could be made about the lives of several of the men. For example, Miley Fenwick ran away from his slave-owner to join the 19th Regiment, Company K, at Camp Stanton, enlisting under the name Mildey Finnick. He was captured during the Battle of the Crater, sold back into slavery to a doctor who lived near Appomattox, escaped from his new slave-owner several months later as the final battle of the war raged around Appomattox, found his way to Richmond where he rejoined the 19th Regiment, and served with the regiment in Texas after the war. After returning home, he resumed the name of Miley Fenwick, married, and moved to Washington, D. C. where he raised a large family. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Army knew him as Mildey Finnick, so that is the name they engraved on his headstone.

The book includes profiles of each of the 1,151 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.