Known Information
James Reeder had an account in the Freedmen’s Bank. He identified his wife and child and mother on the depositor slip. Additionally, he identified St. Mary’s County as his birth place.
Sources
Plan of Fort Monroe
Sneden, Robert Knox. Plan of Fortress Monroe, Virginia, March 6. [to 1865, 1862] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00203/.
Service Records
The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States Colored Troops: 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavalry, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry; Microfilm Serial: M1817 | ancestry.com
Service records show that James Reeder served in Company K of the 1st US Calvary of Colored Troops, which was attached to Camp Hamilton at Fort Monroe in Virginia.
Fort Monroe
Stampede of slaves from Hampton to Fortress Monroe. United States Fort Monroe Hampton Virginia, 1985. [? from a Print In1861] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/92515012/.
His services records indicate that he enlisted in February of 1864. One sheet indicates Camp Nixon which was north of Georgetown near District of Columbia, and the second sheet indicates Fort Monroe. It is possible that he made his way to DC from St. Mary’s and then was dispatched to Fort Monroe once he enlisted, as his arrival in Fort Monroe is recorded as Mar 1864.
Fort Monroe sits near Hampton Roads and guards the harbor at Old Point Comfort. In 1861, three enslaved men escaped their bondage and asked Gen. Butler to harbor them rather than return them to their enslavers. Butler contended that since the enslavers were in open rebellion against the US, the enslaved were “contraband of war” and did not need to be returned. As a result, the enslaved made their way to Fort Monroe to free themselves from slavery, the media calling it a “stampede”. The Fort became known as “Freedom’s Fortress”. Gen. Butler helped to establish camps for the freedpeople, providing clothing and food, and finding jobs and training for them. Several of the refugees joined the military. This cartoon from the 1860s (drawn with racist tropes in its imagery and language) depicts the “contraband” policy that Butler established.
He was nineteen when he enlisted. His service records do not document any injuries or illness, suggesting that he stayed with his company throughout the war. During May of 1864, it indicates that his company was dispatched to guard cattle, a common duty when the US Army first starting enlisted Black men into the US Army during the Civil War, especially along the James River and the road up to DC from Richmond.
He died in 1897 and was buried in section 27 of Arlington National Cemetery.
Further Research Needed:
- Research the 1st Regiment of the US Colored Calvary
stories of Then 