Maryland's Black Civil War Soldiers

When Private Jacob Butler, Company E, was a 4-year-old slave child, he was owned by Richard Gardiner of Charles County, Maryland. When Gardiner died in 1848, an inventory of his estate listed young Jacob as worth $125. Gardiner's brother William purchased Jacob for $100. When William died, Jacob passed to William's sister Frances Helen Gardiner. In 1864, 18-year-old Jacob Butler ran away from the Gardiner farm and enlisted in the 19th Regiment. He survived the war, passing away many years later in 1912.

Mildy Finnick, Company K, ran away from his Maryland slave owner to join the 19th Regiment, was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia, sold back into slavery to a Virginia doctor/farmer, escaped from his new slave owner, found his way back to the regiment, was promoted, finished his service with the regiment in Texas, married, raised children, and is now buried in a place of honor with his comrades at Arlington National Cemetery near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Lemuel Dobbs, Company C, was shot in the chest at the Battle of the Crater, taken prisoner, sent to the Confederate prison at Columbia, South Carolina, tunneled out of the prison, and made his way to the Union Army lines at Knoxville, Tennessee 41 days later.

Asbury Murphy, Company E, and David Mars, Company C, were also taken prisoner at the Battle of the Crater. They were sent to the notorious Salisbury, North Carolina prisoner of war camp where they died and were buried, unmarked, in one of the prison's mass burial trenches.

Richard Combs, Company A, was wounded in the right arm by an exploding shell at the Battle of the Crater. He lived for a while after the war in Washington, D.C., then re-enlisted in the 10th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers), and fought in the Indian wars out West. He went with the 10th Cavalry to Cuba where he fought with Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders" at the battles of Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill. He retired from the Army in 1904, living with his wife in Nebraska until he died in 1911.

More than a thousand men served in the 19th Regiment. Each one of them is profiled in this book.