Joseph C Proctor (abt. 1836)

Born about 1836 in Maryland, United States

Died [date unknown] in United States

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Biography

Joseph Proctor is a part of US Black heritage.

Private Joseph Proctor served in the United States Civil War.
Side: USA

Joseph C. Proctor was born in December between 1832^[1]-1839^[2] in Maryland. He served with the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War, and survived nearly two years in the Confederate prisoner of war camps.

Occupations

• 1863, 1900: Cook

Residences

• 1900: 1038 Welmer Alley, Baltimore, Maryland with the family of his cousin William H. Ringgold
• 1863: Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (military enlistment)

Military Service

During the Civil War, he served as a Private in Company H of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the second^[3] regiment in the United States made up entirely of enlisted men of color. He was about 24 years old, single and working as a cook when he enlisted on 21 April 1863 from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He was captured on 16 July 1863 on James Island in South Carolina two days before the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. Miraculously, he survived the prison camps and was finally exchanged on 4 March 1865 at Goldsboro in North Carolina. He was discharged 23 June 1865 from Annapolis, Maryland.^[4]

Military Pension Application No. 1095923 Certificate No. 887996

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.^[5]

Race

• 1900: Black

Research Notes

☑ Redkey - no letters written by or mentioning him Raymoure-1 22:46, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

Projects

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

Sources

1. ↑ 1900 census
2. ↑ calculated from estimate age at military enlistment
3. ↑ 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
4. ↑ Emilio, McKay Roster p. 376
5. ↑ Emilio, p. 415

• 1900 United States Federal Census Year: 1900; Census Place: Baltimore Ward 14, Baltimore City (Independent City), Maryland; Page: 5; Enumeration District: 0187; FHL microfilm: 1240614
• 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.)