African American Civil War Veterans

54th Massachusetts

• Barnes, William, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)
   
• Bennet, Horace B.  Harrisburg historian Calobe Jackson notes "M/Sgt Horace Bennett, 54th Mass, fought at Ft. Wagner and was wounded at Millikins Bend." (email, Calobe Jackson, Jr. to Afrolumens Project, March 27, 2005).  Bennett's tombstone shows a date of death as January 4, 1905, aged 68 years.  This would make his year of birth 1836 or 1837.  His reported age at enlistment suggests that his year of birth was 1837 or 1838.
  Burial location: Lincoln Cemetery, Penbrook, Dauphin County
  Notes:  NPS records show Horace B. Bennett, rank in, private; rank out, sergeant; Company F.  Microfilm M589, roll 6.  According to muster records, when mustered in, Bennett reported his residence as Middletown, Pennsylvania.  He enlisted at age 25 on April 8, 1863. (Thomas L. Doughton, Afroyankees, "Pennsylvania Men in Massachusetts Colored Infantry Units--Enlistees Arranged by Pennsylvania Town Residence," 1999, url: http://www.geocities.com/afroyankees/Military/penn1.html)
  The men from Middletown were some of the first to arrive in Boston to enlist in the newly forming 54th Massachusetts.  On April 13, 1863, a Harrisburg newspaper, The Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph, ran a story that it copied from the April 9th edition of the Boston Journal, reporting on the appearance of the Middletown men in Boston:

  Recruits for the Fifty-fourth Regiment -- A party of nineteen colored men just arrived from Middletown, Pa, for the purpose of joining the 54th regiment, were at the State House yesterday, and attracted considerable attention. Many of them were fine looking fellows, and appeared to possess genuine fighting pluck. They had a guitar and violin, with which to while away the leisure hours of life in camp. (Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph, April 13, 1863)

• Brummzig, George, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  burial location not known
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg, PA  (Christopher Frisby research)  Described as "mulatto"
   
• Burgess, Thomas E, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)
   
• Burgess, William H., II, 54th Massachusetts, Company K
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)

• Butler, David, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  burial location not known
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Welsh Run, a few miles from Mercersburg, PA  (Christopher Frisby research)

• Carson, George, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  burial location not known
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg, PA  (Christopher Frisby research)

• Christy, Jacoab, 54th Massachusetts, Company I  (Christopher Frisby research)
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:
   
• Christy, Joseph, 54th Massachusetts, Company I  (Christopher Frisby research)
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes: 
   
• Christy, Samuel, 54th Massachusetts, Company I  (Christopher Frisby research)
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:
   
• Christy, William, 54th Massachusetts, Company I  (Christopher Frisby research)
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:
   
• Cuff, Thomas, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)
   
• Darks, Charles H., 54th Massachusetts, Company K
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)
   
• Darks, Edward, 54th Massachusetts, Company K
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)
   
• Henson, John, 1843 - 1880, 54th Massachusetts, Company C
  Burial location: Union American M.E. Church Cemetery, East Fallowfield Township, Chester County

• Keith, William, 54th Massachusetts, Company K
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)
   
• Krunkleton, James, 54th Massachusetts, Company K. Died June 23, 1899 at age 52.
  Burial location: Lebanon Cemetery, Chambersburg, Franklin County
  Notes: Born circa 1847.

• Krunkleton, Wesley, 54th Massachusetts, Company K
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)
   
• Little, William H., Sergeant, 54th Massachusetts, Company D. 1846 - 1926.
  Burial location: Lebanon Cemetery, Chambersburg, Franklin County
  Notes: NPS records show rank in, private; rank out, private. Film no. M589, roll 54.

• Plowden, John, Corporal, 54th Massachusetts, Company O.
  Burial location: Lebanon Cemetery, Chambersburg, Franklin County
  Notes: NPS records shoe rank in, corporal; rank out, corporal; Company D. Film no. M589, roll 69.

• Rideout, Charles, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  burial location not known
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg, PA  (Christopher Frisby research)

• Rideout, James, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  burial location not known
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg, PA  (Christopher Frisby research)

• Scott, George, 54th Massachusetts, Company D
  Burial location: Lincoln Cemetery, Penbrook, Dauphin County
  Notes:  Great grandfather of John Weldon Scott.  NPS records show rank in and out as Private. (Film no. M589, roll 77).  Muster records show that Scott enlisted on March 25, 1863, reporting his residence as Harrisburg and his occupation as laborer.  He reported his age as 20 years old. 

• Shirk, John, 54th Massachusetts, Company K
  Burial location:  North Queen Street Cemetery, Shippensburg
  Notes:  NPS records show rank in, private; rank out, private. Film no. M589, roll 78.
   
• Stoner, Thomas, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  burial location not known
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg, PA  (Christopher Frisby research)
   
• Teal, Jefferson, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)
   
• Watson, Hezekia, 54th Massachusetts, Company I
  Burial location:  Zion Union Cemetery, Mercersburg, Franklin County
  Notes:  Born/enlisted from Mercersburg (Christopher Frisby research)

Notes

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
Christopher Frisby, correspondence with Afrolumens Project, 3 February 2007.
1870 Census of the United States,

Pennsylvania African Americans in the Civil War -- Main Page