Lemuel H. Blakes (1842 - 1885)

Born 1842 in Pennsylvania, United States

Died 16 May 1885 at about age 43 in Pennsylvania, United States

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Biography

Lemuel Blakes is a part of US Black heritage.

Lemuel Blake (also Blakes) was born about 1843^[1] in Pennsylvania. He served with the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War.

Occupations

• 1870^[2], 1880^[3]: Farmer
• 1863^[1]: Farmer

Residences

• 1880: Concord, Pennsylvania with his daughters May and Ann^[3]
• 1870: Concord, Pennsylvania with his wife Caroline and daughter Anna^[2]
• 1863: West Chester, Pennsylvania (military enlistment)^[1]

Military Service

During the Civil War, he served as a Private in Company B of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first regiment in the United States made up entirely of enlisted men of color. He was 21 years old, single and working as a farmer when he enlisted on 9 March 1863 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He was captured on 16 July 1863 on James Island in South Carolina during a skirmish, a few days before the Second Battle of Fort Wagner and imprisoned. He miraculously survived the prisoner of war camps and was finally exchanged 4 March 1865 at Goldsboro, North Carolina and returned to the regiment on 7 June 1865. Perhaps more miraculously, he continued to serve and mustered out with the regiment on 20 August 1865.^[1]

POW, Charleston Jail

Of Charleston Jail, Captain Samuel C. Timson of the 95th New York had this to say:

There were twenty-one negro soldiers, most of them belonging to Colonel Shaw's Fifty-fourth Mass. regiment of immortal memory, among the number. They were never to be exchanged, but were to be reduced to slavery. They were all that were left of the colored troops captured at Wagner. The rest were bayoneted and shot after they surrendered. Their rations were bread and water; still they would sing Union songs, pouring their melody through their prison bars for the entertainment of the Union officers in the prison and below.^[4]

Race

• 1870^[2], 1880^[3]: Black

Death

He passed away in 1885 and is buried at Thornbury African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery in Cheyney, Pennsylvania.^[5]

Thornbury AME Church, where he is buried, was purchased in 1840 by Thornbury AME members. The build was originally a school house built by Quaker Nathan Hunt.^[6]

Research Notes

☑ March 2019 Ancestry.com Library Edition preliminary check Raymoure-1 18:27, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

☑ March 2019 Fold3.com preliminary check by Raymoure-1

☑ Emilio check: McKay Roster; POW appendix p. 396 Raymoure-1 18:37, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

☑ Letter of inquiry sent to Reverend Coston of Thornbury AME Church Raymoure-1 19:17, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

☑ Redkey - no letters written by or mentioning him Raymoure-1 05:39, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

Projects

• 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
• African American Civil War veterans of Chester County, Pennsylvania
• James Island Skirmish 16 July 1863

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Emilio, McKay Roster
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} 1870 federal census
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} 1880 federal census
4. ↑ Emilio, McKay Roster p. 415
5. ↑ Find a Grave memorial
6. ↑ History of Thornbury AME Church

• 1870 United States Federal Census Year: 1870; Census Place: Concord, Delaware, Pennsylvania; Roll: M593_1336; Page: 227B; Family History Library Film: 552835
• 1880 United States Federal Census Year: 1880; Census Place: Concord, Delaware, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1126; Page: 561A; Enumeration District: 031
• 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.) as Lemuel Blake
• Find A Grave: Memorial #23461631
• National Archives Catalog NARA Catalog #300398. Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Volunteer Organizations During the American Civil War, 1890 - 1912. Fold3.com: Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States Colored Troops: 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (Colored).
• Thornbury African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. "The History of Thornbury A.M.E. Church."