In 1863, the US Federal Government began to actively recruit Black men for the Union Army. In the fall of 1863, the War Department authorized the systematic enlistment of enslaved men in the Border States, including Maryland. General Order 329 promised freedom to the soldier and compensation to slaveholders loyal to the Union. The slaveholders were resistant to the enlistment of what they perceived as their “property”, despite promised compensation.
Barbara Jean Fields wrote in her book Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground that “Full-scale recruitment put an end to slavery in Maryland. Before the war was over some ten thousand Black men served in the Union army and navy. If only half of them were slaves, they would represent well over a third of the slave men aged eighteen to forty-five.”
In October 1864, the War Department organized a round of the Draft and the names were published in the Baltimore Sun. Among those pulled for the Seventh District of Prince George’s County (Queen Anne District) were Samuel and WilliamCrawford, “slave of the estate of Benjamin Lee”.
Oct 21, 1864, Baltimore Sun, page 1 | newspapers.com
Not every name was called into service and of the two brothers, William Crawford served. A service record for the 6th regiment of the USCT Infantry, Company H shows that he was born in Prince George’s County, Maryland and was drafted from the 5th Election District (Prince George’s County).. He was enlisted for one year.
The service record describes William Crawford as 28 years old [1836] and of average height at 5 feet 8 1/2 inches. His eyes, hair, and complexion was described as Black. By April 1865, he was ill and marked as “absent sick” in the muster rolls. He was mustered out in Sept 1865 in Wilmington, NC.
For the time that Crawford was enlisted in the 6th regiment, it appears to have been fighting in North Carolina as part of the attacks on Fort Fisher, North Carolina and at Sugar Loaf Hill. In February it took part in the Battle of Wilmington and in March took part in Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign.
In 1870, William Crawford filed for a pension as an invalid. It does not provide a place of residence and Crawford has yet to be identified in the 1870 census.
Lewis and Beck Medley, enslaved by Carroll family in St. Mary’s County escaped slavery by leaving with the British during the War of 1812. In the post [Lewis and Beck Medley | the British came], I speculated that because the Carroll family were neighbors to the Sewall family and both the Carrolls and the Sewall enslaved family groups with the names Lewis & Beck, that Lewis & Beck Medley may have been related to the Beck family group listed in the 1822 Robert Sewall Inventory of St. Mary’s County Property [TT 5:25].
1814 Claim
1822 Inventory
Lewis Medley, 21 [1793]
Beck, 45 [1777]
Beck Medley, 17 [1797]
Lewis, 16 [1806]
Milley, 13 [1809]
Barney, 11 [1811]
Sam, 7 [1815]
Compensation for “Manumission”
Further documentation has been found to provide more information about the relationship between the two families.
In 1865, the Dangerfield Heirs of Robert D Sewall’s estate filed multiple Deeds of Manumission in Prince George’s County Land Records [FS 3:33-41 | mdlandrec.net]. These manumissions were filed in August 1865, almost a full year after the passage of the November 1864 Maryland Constitution which emancipated all enslaved people in Maryland. The manumissions effectively did not change the status of the named individuals as they had been previously freed by the State of Maryland.
Instead, these manumissions were filed in hopes of compensation for slaves who had been used by the US Army. In 1863, the US Government began to compensate slaveholders for the enlistment of enslaved people if they could prove their status. By filing the deed of manumission, the enslavers hoped to prove ownership of the enslaved people and receive $300 “upon filing a “manumission” or deed of ownership”. [US National Archives]. Multiple enslavers named those they had enslaved who enlisted in the FS Libers of the Prince George’s County Land Records. Some enslavers named the date of enlistment and the regiment within which the enslaved mustered. In the eleven manumissions filed by the Dangerfield Heirs, none stated a date of enlistment or regiment.
Basil Medley was one of the enslaved people named in the manumissions by the Dangerfield Heirs. USCT records have been located for him under the name “Bazil Medley” (fold3.com | ancestry.com)
Basil Medley was described as a 5 foot 6 inches man, 21 years old. He had brown skin with black eyes and hair. His birth (likely 1843) was listed as Prince George’s County, about ten years after Robert D Sewall inherited the St. Mary’s property and three years after Robert D Sewall sold the St. Mary’s property to George Forbes in 1840, consolidating his holdings in Prince George’s County.
Basil Medley enlisted into Company H of the 23rd Regiment in Washington DC in the spring of 1864. He signed his enlistment papers with his mark.
1853 Inventory
In the 1853 Robert D Sewall Inventory [JH 2:699], there is a family group that included the names Lewis and Basil.
It is in the portion of the inventory that lists the people “gifted” to William P Brinham and on the property in his possession. Brinham was a friend of both Robert D Sewall and Sewall’s brother, William HB. William HB Sewall had inherited the St. Mary’s property from his father in 1820 and upon his death in 1832 had devised it to Robert D Sewall. In the 1840s, Sewall had conveyed some of those who had previously been enslaved in St Mary’s county to Brinham [JBB 3:587]. Listed in the deed are “Louis and his wife Maria, and their children, to wit: Mary and John Louis.”
These names correspond with the first two children listed in the Lewis family group in the 1853 inventory.
From 1853 Inventory of Robert D Sewall, Image 380, first column
In the family group, Lewis is listed as the inferred father, at 48 years old. This places his estimated birth year as 1805, which is consistent with the 1822 St. Mary’s inventory which estimates his birth year as 1806. The two inventories alone however did not indicate a surname name for either family. This left it open as to whether or not Beck and her children were related to the Lewis Medley who escaped the Carrolls and his Medleys, or related to his wife, Beck, and therefore related to a different family surname.
The USCT records cite Basil’s last name as Medley, which suggests that Lewis (born 1805/6) was also a Medley.
The presence of Medley for Basil suggests that Beck’s children and grandchildren are related to Lewis Medley who left with the British in 1812. It is likely that Beck’s partner and Lewis’s father is the Medley.
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.
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 