Allison Brophy Champion, Culpeper Star-Exponent
Feb 12, 2022
Culpeper-born African-Americans served bravely with the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, fighting to preserve the Union and to end the cruel yet entrenched practice of enslaving human beings.
Reva historian Zann Nelson has researched, compiled and created a list of 110 such men, many former slaves, who would subsequently break the chains of bondage and join the U.S. Army.
Nelson formally presented the document Feb. 8 to Culpeper Town Council as part of ongoing work with others through the local African-American Heritage Alliance to heighten knowledge and appreciation of these unknown and hidden stories.
Each of the 110 names of the Culpeper USCT members was spoken aloud by the group while behind them Town Council members stood up and in front of them the public got to its feet in a show of respect for the unsung veterans.
It’s been a year since the Alliance received unanimous Town Council approval of a resolution acknowledging the generational impacts of racial injustice, Nelson mentioned during Tuesday’s presentation.
The resolution stated historically the Culpeper community has not always demonstrated a willingness to protect the civil and constitutional rights of its African American citizens. And it stated the military service and sacrifice by Culpeper’s own African Americans had not been fully and publicly commemorated.
The public reading of USCT names was a purposeful step in that direction.
“We wanted to start doing some things to document African-American history in Culpeper and to recognize these extraordinary people,” Nelson said.
Michelle Tutt, Simone Logan, Angela Chapman, Charles Jameson, Keith Price, Jamie Clancey, and Ed Gantt took turns reading each of the names, including six corporals, two sergeants and 102 privates.
Not all of the men were living in Culpeper when they enlisted and not all of them returned at the end of the war, according to Nelson. Some enlisted from places like Mississippi, New Orleans and Kentucky, indication they were sold south or carried south as enslaved individuals.
Most of the Culpeper USCT troops enlisted in Washington, D.C—Washington City at the time—during periods when the Union Army was in town and they were able to escape, cross the Rappahannock River and into occupied territory, Nelson said.
Many would have taken this route during the Winter Encampment of 1863-64.
Other Culpeper-born men joined the Union Army from Philadelphia, Pa., including a few with the surname, “Hurley.” This indicates they were probably free, Nelson said.
One USCT serviceman from Culpeper was killed at the Battle of Petersburg and a few served with the 23rd Regiment, according to Nelson’s research.
The 23rd was the first to fight Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia—at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 15, 1864, according to the American Battlefield Trust.
Gantt, a retired Navy captain who portrays a member of the historic unit, is president of the USCT 23rd Reg. re-enactors group.
He drove from Washington, D.C. to partake in the reading of the names acknowledging the Culpeper Black soldiers.
Gantt got into re-enacting while learning about the Civil War and upon discovering four Black soldiers with his surname were listed on the 1864 rolls of the 23rd Regiment, according to a 2016 article in the Baltimore Sun.
At the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, the regiment was called on to help the 2nd Ohio Cavalry hold off a Confederate cavalry brigade.
The USCT troops marched from the Chancellorsville ruins for two miles and pushed back the brigade, according to the American Battlefield Trust. It was a minor skirmish, but it gained a lot of respect from the white troops who cheered their actions.
Some Culpeper USCT members were discharged from duty at Brownsville, Texas, port for the Buffalo soldiers, and many reenlisted with that historic Black fighting force after the Civil War, Nelson said.
Of the estimated 200,000 USCT troops that fought with the USA during the Civil War, how many were from Virginia, she wondered. Nelson has counted 97 USCT servicemen from Orange County and more elsewhere in Virginia. She suspected Virginians comprised a significant part of African-American units.
Their service tipped the scales of the Civil War, finally brought it to an end and reunited the country, Nelson said.
“It’s never a wrong time to honor a U.S. veteran,” she said, at the reading of the names beginning.
The men from Culpeper who served with the USCT are:
Private John Aylor, Private Monroe Alexander, Private Frank Allen, Private Joseph Allen, Private Lewis Arthur, Private Barnett Banks, Private Jerry Banks, Private Lewis Barber, Private Peter Barker, Private William Bell, Corporal Anthony Bell, Private Charles Berkley, Private George Bird, Private Westly Blue, Private Felden Bolan, Private William Boothe, Private John Brent, Private Daniel Broaddus, Private Samuel Brogden, Private Joseph Brooks, Private Henry Brooks, Private Frederick Brown, Private Red Brown, Private Henry Brown, Private Abraham Brown, Private Ephraim Brown, Private Frank Buchanan, Private Robert Bundy, Private Ruben Butler, Private John Campbell, Private Carter Canterberry, Private Joseph Carpenter, Private William Carpenter, Private Joseph Carter, Private Champ Carter, Private George Clark, Private Elias Cotes, Private Benjamin Dobbs, Private Albert Davis, Private William Dodson, Private William Eddington, Private Benjamin Eddins, Private Anderson Farmer, Private Moses Farmer, Private Robert Frazier, Corporal Summer Fry, Private Daniel Gardner, Corporal William Garison, Private Washington Gaylor, Private Robert Gibson, Private Horace Gray, Private Abraham Gray, Private Harrison Green, Private Jefferson Harrison, Private Henry Hawkins, Private Alexander Howard, Private Allen Hughes, Corporal Granville Hurley, Private Joseph Hurley, Private Thornton Hurley, Private Washington Hurley, Private Willis Hurley, Private Thomas Henry, Private Willis Jackson, Private Levi King, Private Thomas Lee, Private William Lemons, Private Charles Lewis, Private William Lightfoot, Private John Lucas, Private Alfred Mallory, Private Milton Mallory, Private Richard Miller, Private Cyrus Monroe, Corporal John Newby, Private William Newby, Private John S. Parker, Private John Peck, Sergeant James Robinson, Private Henry Smith, Private William Smith, Private William Tabsico, Private Burr Taylor, Private Samuel Taylor, Private Josiah Thomas, Private Samuel Thompson, Private Farley Thornton, Private George Ticklin, Private James Warren, Private Albert Washington, Private Abraham Washington, Private George Washington, Private George Webster, Private James Wedge, Private Henry Weeks, Private Pompey Wheatley, Private Daniel White, Private Edmond White, Private Peter White, Private George White, Private Archie Williams, Private Henry Williams, Private Robert Willis, Private Cate Wilson, Private John Wilson, Private Strotty Winston, Private Humphrey Wisdom, Sergeant Richard Wright, Private James Wright and Corporal Edmond Wright.