An article in the June 6, 1863 issue of the Sandusky Register reported on several
African American recruits from Sandusky who were
traveling by train to Readville , Massachusetts to enlist in the Massachusetts 55th Infantry. The
group included a large majority of
the able bodied men of color in the city of Sandusky ranging from 18 to 40 years
of age. The Massachusetts 55th
Infantry was a sister regiment to the Massachusetts
54th, the military unit featured in the film Glory. Fourteen
men from Sandusky
served in Company I of the 55th Massachusetts Infantry. They were
led by Captain George T. Garrison, the son of well-known abolitionist
William Lloyd Garrison. A previous blog post about these soldiers included pictures of the tombstones of two Civil War Veterans of the Massachusetts 55th who were buried in Sandusky at Oakland
Cemetery .
In the pension file
for Harrison Washington from the National Archives, we learn that he
enlisted in the Massachusetts 55th in June of 1863. At that time, he
was 5 feet 6 inches tall and he had been born on May 15, 1833 in Fleming County , Kentucky .
Harrison Washington was honorably discharged
in Massachusetts
in October of 1865. He returned to Ohio for
about thirty years, and then moved back to Fleming County , Kentucky .
Another page from
Mr. Washington’s pension file provides the name of his wife, Frances Washington,
whom Harrison married in 1890, his third wife.
One of his previous wives had been the former Cordelia Winfield from Sandusky , Ohio ,
who died in 1866. The file also includes the names and birth dates of Harrison
Washington’s children, who were named Matilda, Charlie, Cordelia, and Mary. In
1898, Harrison Washington was still living in Kentucky .
A note in the
pension file of Harrison Washington stated that he was dropped from the pension
roll due to his death in September of 1917.
William H. Johnson
was another Sandusky resident who served with Co. I of the Massachusetts
55th Infantry. He enlisted when he was 22 years old, and his
occupation was listed as carpenter. He died from wounds
he received in battle on July 2, 1864 at James Island, South Carolina. On September
3, 1883, Mrs. William H. Johnson, the former Anna McGuire, applied for a
widow’s military pension. She stated that she had married Mr. Johnson on
December 25, 1861, in Augusta County , Virginia .
A Sandusky attorney, John E. Moore, presented
the widow’s claim, though at the time she had moved to Cleveland , Ohio .
A recent article in
the Charleston Post and Courier reports on the unveiling of a historic
marker at Folly River Park which honors the service of the Massachusetts 55th
Infantry during the Civil War. In the 129th Ohio General Assembly,
the Ohio House of Representatives passed H.R. No. 297, to honor the 511
African American Ohioans who enlisted in the 54th and 55th Regiments of the
Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.
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