African American Civil War Veterans

Southard's Company, United States Colored Infantry (Pennsylvania)

• Cumpton, Jacob T. / Died / Sep. 6, 1905 / Aged 69 Y. / Co. D. 24 Reg. / U.S.C.T.
  Unit:  Independent (Colored) Co. I, Militia of 1864. Mustered in as private 28 July 1864; mustered out with company as corporal, 14 November 1864 (Bates).  After this service, Cumpton served in Company D, 24th USCI, in 1865.
  Burial Location: Lincoln Cemetery, Penbrook, Dauphin County
  Notes:  Cumpton is said to have been the carriage driver who, during the president-elect's journey to Washington in 1861, drove Abraham Lincoln in secrecy from his hotel in Harrisburg to a waiting train in Lochiel, south of town.  The ruse was part of a plan to get the president-elect safely to Washington in the wake of a plot to assassinate him as he passed through Baltimore.  Cumpton was working as a driver for stagecoach line owner Alexander Calder.
  NPS records show Cumpton's rank in as private, and rank out as corporal. (Film M589, roll 18)  His name is misspelled as "Compton."


• Gooseberry, Benjamin M.
  Unit: Southard's Company, USCI.  Mustered in as private 28 July 1864.  The company was discharged on 14 November 1864, but Gooseberry was mustered into the 41st USCI prior to the general discharge, on 21 September 1864.
  Burial Location:  Philadelphia National Cemetery, Philadelphia.
  Notes: NPS notes show rank in, private, rank out, private.  Film no. M589, roll 33.  Also served in 41st USCT, Company D.

Sources

• Samuel P. Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1868.
• National Park Service, "Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System," https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm

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