A Rare Monument Marker

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Hertford in Perquimans County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

A Rare Monument
“In Memory of the Colored Union Soldiers”

A Rare Monument Marker Photo, Click for full size

By Bernard Fisher, June 28, 2012

1. A Rare Monument Marker

Inscription. News of the bombardment of Fort Sumter inspired many African American men to rnlist in the U.S. armed forces, but federal law prohibited their service. Frederick Douglass and other black leaders urged changes to allow black enlistments. By mid-1862, as the numbers of white volunteers diminished, the needs of the U.S. Army grew, and the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, became imminent, more voices called for black recruitment. The Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, formally authorized African American military service. By the end of the war, about 180,000 blacks – including some from Perquimans County – had borne arms in the U.S. Army (almost 10 percent of total enlistments) and about 19,000 had served in the U.S. Navy.

To remember the county’s African American Union soldiers, women of the black community, many of them the wives and widows of those men, erected one of the few such monuments in the nation on Academy Green in 1910. Coordinated by First Baptist Church and the United Daughters of Union Veterans, the monument is inscribed “In Memory of the Colored Union Soldiers Who Fought in the War of 1861-1865.” Academy Green was the location of the county’s first black school, library, and church (present-day First Baptist Church), which freed-men formed in a bush shelter in 1866. The

In Memory of the Colored Union Soldiers Photo, Click for full size

By Bernard Fisher, June 28, 2012

2. In Memory of the Colored Union Soldiers

congregation later built a church across the street..

(sidebar)
They Answered the Call

Three of the men whom this mounument commemorates are buried in Perquimans County. Sgt. John Gordon served in Co. A, 1st U.S.C.T., organized in Washington, D.C., in May-June 1863. The regiment fought in Virginia (Wilson’s Wharf, The Crater, New Market Heights) and North Carolina (Fort Fisher). It also participated in Gen. Edward A. Wild’s eastern N.C. expedition in Dec. 1863 and burned a Confederate camp near Hertford. It mustered out on Sept. 29, 1865. Pvt. John Sharp enlisted in Co. B. 37th U.S.C.T. at age 19 on Jan. 21, 1864, in Plymouth, N.C. His regiment fought at New Market Heights and Fort Fisher and mustered out on Feb. 11, 1867. Pvt. Arthur Mixon served oinCo. G, 40th U.S.C.T., organized in Aug. 1864 in Tennessee, where it guarded railroads and bridges. It mustered out in Oct. 1865.

Erected by North Carolina Civil War Trails.

Location. 36° 11.215′ N, 76° 28.244′ W. Marker is in Hertford, North Carolina, in Perquimans County. Marker is at the intersection of Hyde Park Street and King Street, on the right when traveling south on Hyde Park Street. Click for map. Marker is in this post office area: Hertford NC 27944, United States of America.

Other nearby markers.

Erected by the United Daughters of Veterans Photo, Click for full size

By Bernard Fisher, June 28, 2012

3. Erected by the United Daughters of Veterans

At least 8 other markers are within 12 miles of this marker, as the crow flies. John Skinner (approx. 0.2 miles away); Edmundson-Fox Memorial (approx. 0.2 miles away); John Harvey (approx. ¼ mile away); Quaker Activity (approx. one mile away); George Durant (approx. 1.7 miles away); Ann Marwood Durant (approx. 1.7 miles away); Edenton Cotton Mill (approx. 11.4 miles away); Edenton Mill Village (approx. 11.5 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Hertford.

Unidentified brothers in arms, ca. 1863-65. Photo, Click for full size

circa 1865

4. Unidentified brothers in arms, ca. 1863-65.

Courtesy Library of Congress [LC-DIG-ppmsca-13484]

Part of 1st U.S.C.T., Pvt. John Gordon’s regiment, in formation. Photo, Click for full size

By Mathew Brady

5. Part of 1st U.S.C.T., Pvt. John Gordon’s regiment, in formation.

Courtesy Library of Congress [LC-USZC2-6431]

Credits. This page originally submitted on June 30, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia. This page has been viewed 116 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on June 30, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia. 5. submitted on June 25, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia.