George Counsel (abt. 1826)

Born about 1826 in Norfolk, Virginia, United States [uncertain]

Died [date unknown] in United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: K Raymoure [send private message]

Biography

Private George Counsel served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: 25 Feb 1863
Mustered out: 20 Aug 1865
Side: USA
Regiment(s): Co. B, 54th Mass. Inf. (Colored)

George Counsel was born c1836 in Norfolk, Virginia.^[1]

Occupations

• 1863: Laborer

Residences

• 1863: West Chester, Pennsylvania (military enlistment)

Military Service

During the Civil War, he served as a Private in Company B of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the second^[2] regiment in the United States made up entirely of enlisted men of color. He was about 26 years old, married and working as a laborer when he enlisted on 25 February 1863 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. On 16 July 1863, he was captured on James Island in South Carolina during a skirmish and imprisoned, first at the Charleston Jail. He miraculously survived the prisoner of war camps and was exchanged 4 March 1865 in Goldsboro, North Carolina and returned to the regiment on 7 June 1865. He soldiered through and mustered out with the regiment on 20 August 1865.^[3]

POW, Charleston Jail

Of Charleston Jail, Captain Samuel C. Timson of the 95th NY 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]

Research Notes

There is a George W. Counsel in the 1890 Rowley, Massachusetts Veterans Schedules without regimental information. I suspect this is him.

☑ Redkey - no letters written by or mentioning him Raymoure-1 22:56, 19 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. ↑ Compiled Military Service Record: Counsel, George, "Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States Colored Troops," 54th Massachusetts Infantry (Colored), Images available on FamilySearch.
2. ↑ and the first with federal recognition; the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry regiment was against the wishes of the Secretary of War and filled only six companies, but did see action a full year before the 54th
3. ↑ Emilio, McKay Roster p. 345
4. ↑ Emilio, p. 415

• 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.)