Samuel Bailey was a USCT soldier killed at the Fort Pillow Massacre on April 12, 1864. His age at the time of his enlistment may have been estimated after his death since the unit records were lost in the battle.
He enlisted in Company D of the 1st Alabama Siege Artillery on November 19, 1863 at Corinth, Mississippi. That regiment was re-designated in March 1864 as the 6th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery. (In 1865, the regimental designation changed again, to the 11th U.S. Colored Infantry, new organization; the personnel records are now filed under that designation.)
Many enslaved people escaped to the Corinth and Shiloh area following the advance of the Union Army into that area, and also following the Emancipation Proclamation. The Union Army therefore created a camp for these "contraband" refugees, as they were called. It was from this camp that Samuel enlisted.
The men who died in the Fort Pillow Massacre were buried at the time in mass graves. After the war they were re-interred in the Fort Pillow section of the Memphis National Cemetery. The USCT dead from Fort Pillow are buried in graves 1512 and 1523-1630 of Section B, all of which are labeled unknown. Although these 109 grave plots are far fewer than the number of USCT soldiers who were killed at Fort Pillow on April 12, they represent the only known final resting place for the USCT soldiers who died that day.
"For the remainder of the war, 'Remember Fort Pillow' became the rallying cry of the nearly 179,000 African-American soldiers who fought to free the country from the scourge of slavery." --from the memorial plaque honoring the Fort Pillow dead at the front gate of the Memphis National Cemetery.
He enlisted in Company D of the 1st Alabama Siege Artillery on November 19, 1863 at Corinth, Mississippi. That regiment was re-designated in March 1864 as the 6th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery. (In 1865, the regimental designation changed again, to the 11th U.S. Colored Infantry, new organization; the personnel records are now filed under that designation.)
Many enslaved people escaped to the Corinth and Shiloh area following the advance of the Union Army into that area, and also following the Emancipation Proclamation. The Union Army therefore created a camp for these "contraband" refugees, as they were called. It was from this camp that Samuel enlisted.
The men who died in the Fort Pillow Massacre were buried at the time in mass graves. After the war they were re-interred in the Fort Pillow section of the Memphis National Cemetery. The USCT dead from Fort Pillow are buried in graves 1512 and 1523-1630 of Section B, all of which are labeled unknown. Although these 109 grave plots are far fewer than the number of USCT soldiers who were killed at Fort Pillow on April 12, they represent the only known final resting place for the USCT soldiers who died that day.
"For the remainder of the war, 'Remember Fort Pillow' became the rallying cry of the nearly 179,000 African-American soldiers who fought to free the country from the scourge of slavery." --from the memorial plaque honoring the Fort Pillow dead at the front gate of the Memphis National Cemetery.
Samuel Bailey was a USCT soldier killed at the Fort Pillow Massacre on April 12, 1864. His age at the time of his enlistment may have been estimated after his death since the unit records were lost in the battle.
He enlisted in Company D of the 1st Alabama Siege Artillery on November 19, 1863 at Corinth, Mississippi. That regiment was re-designated in March 1864 as the 6th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery. (In 1865, the regimental designation changed again, to the 11th U.S. Colored Infantry, new organization; the personnel records are now filed under that designation.)
Many enslaved people escaped to the Corinth and Shiloh area following the advance of the Union Army into that area, and also following the Emancipation Proclamation. The Union Army therefore created a camp for these "contraband" refugees, as they were called. It was from this camp that Samuel enlisted.
The men who died in the Fort Pillow Massacre were buried at the time in mass graves. After the war they were re-interred in the Fort Pillow section of the Memphis National Cemetery. The USCT dead from Fort Pillow are buried in graves 1512 and 1523-1630 of Section B, all of which are labeled unknown. Although these 109 grave plots are far fewer than the number of USCT soldiers who were killed at Fort Pillow on April 12, they represent the only known final resting place for the USCT soldiers who died that day.
"For the remainder of the war, 'Remember Fort Pillow' became the rallying cry of the nearly 179,000 African-American soldiers who fought to free the country from the scourge of slavery." --from the memorial plaque honoring the Fort Pillow dead at the front gate of the Memphis National Cemetery.
He enlisted in Company D of the 1st Alabama Siege Artillery on November 19, 1863 at Corinth, Mississippi. That regiment was re-designated in March 1864 as the 6th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery. (In 1865, the regimental designation changed again, to the 11th U.S. Colored Infantry, new organization; the personnel records are now filed under that designation.)
Many enslaved people escaped to the Corinth and Shiloh area following the advance of the Union Army into that area, and also following the Emancipation Proclamation. The Union Army therefore created a camp for these "contraband" refugees, as they were called. It was from this camp that Samuel enlisted.
The men who died in the Fort Pillow Massacre were buried at the time in mass graves. After the war they were re-interred in the Fort Pillow section of the Memphis National Cemetery. The USCT dead from Fort Pillow are buried in graves 1512 and 1523-1630 of Section B, all of which are labeled unknown. Although these 109 grave plots are far fewer than the number of USCT soldiers who were killed at Fort Pillow on April 12, they represent the only known final resting place for the USCT soldiers who died that day.
"For the remainder of the war, 'Remember Fort Pillow' became the rallying cry of the nearly 179,000 African-American soldiers who fought to free the country from the scourge of slavery." --from the memorial plaque honoring the Fort Pillow dead at the front gate of the Memphis National Cemetery.
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