Veterans

Veterans. Liberty African American Legacy Memorial. , Private David Drake Blue , (1818-1896) , Born in Kentucky, David Drake (Blue) moved to Liberty in the 1850’s, along with Miles C. Drake’s other enslaved estate. He is recorded on census records through his live as “mulatto,” meaning he was possibly the mixed-race child of an enslaved woman and her white enslaver. On the 1850 Slave Schedule, he is listed as a “freedom seeker,” meaning he had previously attempted to escape., In 1863, notices in the center of small towns all across the South and slaveholding states proclaimed, “To colored men! Freedom, Protection, Pay, and a Call to Military Duty!” Perhaps he heard echoes of the famous words of Frederick Douglas: “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his right shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”, In 164, Miles C. Drake, his enslaver, filled out paperwork enlisting David in the Union Army, and Miles was guaranteed financial compensation, as the “lawful owner of David Drake.” David served and fought in the Union Army for the next 19 months., On his Certificate of Disability for Discharge, it said, “Loss of left index finger which occurred before enlistment.” Slave narratives record several instances of enslaved persons who attempted to escape plantations being punished by amputation of a finger on their nondominant hand. At age 54, David changed his surname to become David Drake Blue. Many enslaved persons changed their names after emancipation, believing the names they were given at birth were slave names, not reflective of their full humanity. , David Drake Blue’s name can be found under his enlisted name, David Drake, engraved on the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C., along with fellow soldiers of the 67th Regiment of United States Colored Infantry. He was buried by his family in an unmarked grave., Private Merrit Withers , (1808-1890) , In 1864, Merrit Withers joined the Union’s Missouri Colored Recruits at the Liberty recruiting office. He then served for the remainder of the Civil War as a private in Company C, 67th Missouri Infantry Regiment. Kentuckian Abijah Withers migrated to the city of Liberty with Merrit, his enslaved servant, 12 years after the signing of the Missouri Compromise that admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state., Abijah and Merrit build a log house and cabins for the enslaved African Americans on the Wither’s new farm. Abijah left Merrit as manager of the far, while he returned to Kentucky to bring his wife and the rest of the family back to Liberty. According to Robert Withers, a family historian, “Uncle Merrit was a proud man who never failed to remind strangers, guests and his own African American people of his Kentucky roots and importance in the Withers family.” He was a pillar in Mt. Zion First Baptist Church and a master barbeque man of all big picnics and political gatherings in the entire county. Despite the Withers family being southern sympathizers, loyal to the Confederacy, Merrit was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party., Merrit Lane was named after him, the only street in Clay County named in honor of an African American pioneer. It was a place where a small group of enslaved African American lived in log cabins on the Withers’ farm. Their descendants, the Houstons and Birds (Byrds) among others, have been an integral part of Liberty for almost 200 years., Private Alonzo “Lon” William Monroe, Sr. , (1890 – 1938) , Alonzo “Lon” William Monroe, the son of Gable and Annie (Weathers) Monroe, was born and raised in Liberty, Missouri. He attended Garrison School and was a member of First Baptist Church. Monroe enlisted for the world war one army in 1918 and was assigned the rank of private in Company “G” of the 805th Pioneer Infantry., There were 916 African American men, mainly from Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Mississippi, in the regiment. Eight of the Missouri men, including Monroe, are buried in Fairview and New Hope cemeteries: James Colley Jr., James Albert Robinson, Thomas Calvin Hammond, Frank Shepherd, Harry Stewart, Joseph Hill Straughter and Clarence Claybrooks Parker. In France, Monroe was part of the “Bear Cats Unit” whose work varied, consisting of building roads and a light railroad, consolidating positions captured by the infantry, tunneling, mining, wiring, deep dugout work, laying out buildings and keeping trenches in repair. His unit was part of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and spent 39 consecutive days in action and other combat engineering activities., In the 1930 U. S. Federal Census, Monroe is listed as living in Liberty, Clay County, Missouri ad 245 Richfield, owning his home valued at $400 and working as a lineman for an electric company. He died on July 20, 1938, at the age of 52 in Excelsior Springs, Clay County, Missouri. At the time of his death, his family members included his wife Amie Monroe, two surviving children, Alonzo William Monroe, Jr. (1915 – 1959) and Joe Zora Prince (1917 – 1958)., Staff Sergeant James Allen Brooks , (1923-2012) , World War II veteran James Allen Brooks was the son of one of the African American pioneer families of Liberty, Missouri, Eugene and Kathrine Brooks. He enlisted in the United States Army on April 22, 1943 and served until he was honorably discharged on December 12, 1945 As a world war two cargo technician, he received the Asiatic Pacific Theater Campaign Ribbon, four Overseas Bars, a Victory Ribbon and a Good Conduct Medal., Clay County veterans participated in some of the most crucial D-Day operations, including the Red Ball Express, a massive round-the-clock truck operation that resupplied the Allied front line and made the push toward Paris possible. Of the 31,912 U.S. troops landing on Utah Beach, approximately 1,200 were African American., Over his lifetime, Brooks received numerous awards and recognitions. In 2002, he received the Liberty Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award, and in 2007, he received the Older Workers award from the State of Missouri. As a community activist, Brooks was a founding member of the Liberty Fellowship of the Concerned. For more than forty-five years, he served this ecumenical consortium of men dedicated to social justice and assisting community residents in charitable need. He served the Fellowship, volunteering countless hours of labor, ten years as treasurer and as president of the organization for multiple terms., With a lifetime membership to First Baptist Church of Liberty, brooks served over thirty years as a trustee and many years on the board of directors. Always a hard and willing worker, he spent over fifty years employed with Commerce Bank of Liberty, serving in many capacities from equipment engineer to customer service associate, retiring at 86 years of age in 2010.