Aaron Spencer (abt. 1843 - 1863)

Born about 1843 in Massachusetts, United States

Died 5 Sep 1863 at about age 20 in Morris Island, Charleston, South Carolina, United States

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Biography

Aaron Spencer is a part of US Black heritage.

Samuel was born about 1842 in Massachusetts.

He was the son of Louisa and Samuel Spencer, and the twin brother of Ann Spencer.

Occupations

• 1863: Farmer
• 1860: Farmhand

Residences

• 1863: North Lee, Massachusetts (military enlistment)
• 1860: Lee, Massachusetts with his widowed mother and siblings
• 1850: Sheffield, Massachusetts with his parents and siblings

Military Service and Death

Corporal in Company A of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry of the Union Army, the first regiment in the United States made up entirely of enlisted men of color. He was about 20 years old, single and working as a farmer when he enlisted on 18 February 1863 in North Lee, Massachusetts. He died of wounds on 6 September 1863 on Morris Island in South Carolina.

Killed Sept. 5th by our own guns - Charles Van Allen, of Lenox, Mass., and Aaron Spencer, of North Lee, Mass., both of Co. A, 54th Mass. regiment.^[1]

He is buried at Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Census Race

• 1850, 1860: Black

Projects

• 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
• African American Civil War veterans of Berkshire County, Massachusetts

Sources

1. ↑ Gooding, p. 58

• 1850 United States Federal Census Year: 1850; Census Place: Sheffield, Berkshire, Massachusetts; Roll: M432_306; Page: 253B; Image: 504
• 1860 United States Federal Census Year: 1860; Census Place: Lee, Berkshire, Massachusetts; Roll: M653_487; Page: 637; Family History Library Film: 803487
• Emilio, Luis Fenollosa. History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865, Boston, Massachusetts: Boston Book Co., 1891 (1st ed.) and 1894 (2nd ed.)
• Find a Grave; Aaron Spencer
• Gooding, James Henry and Virginia M. Adams (ed.) On the Altar of Freedom: A Black Soldier's Civil War Letters from the Front. University of Massachusetts Press: April 1999.