55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company I

Date: 1863 to 1865
Location: Readville, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States
Surnames/tags: us_civil_war USCT usbh

On 26 January 1863, Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts received authorization from the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, to recruit black men into the Union Army for the first time. Although Governor Andrew would have preferred that at least some of the commissioned officers be black men, he was overruled. The units were to be segregated units with white officers.

Regimental Colors.

Resources

• Fox, Charles Barnard. Record of the Service of the Fifty-Fifth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Cambridge, Massachusetts : Press of John Wilson and Son, July, 1868, pg. 139-140.
• 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Blog
• Voices of the 55th; Letters of Volunteers

Company I Enlisted Soldiers

The following chart contains the names of the men from Company I as listed on pages 139-141 of Charles Barnard Fox's book (see resources above). Links to the other companies of the 55th Massachusetts:

• Space:55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company A
• Space:55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company B
• Space:55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company C
• Space:55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company D
• Space:55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company E
• Space:55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company F
• Space:55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company G
• Space:55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company H
• Space:55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Company K

Name	Age	Rank	Residence	Occupation	Remarks	Connected?
Anderson, John	18	PVT	Niles, MI	farmer
Breckenridge, Zack	19	SGT	Bloomington, IN	barber	reduced 16 Jul 1863; d. from wounds rec'd in resisting the guard on Boston Common 25 Sep 1865
Burditt, Nelson	20	PVT	Lancaster, KY	farmer
Brown, Elijah	18	PVT	Sandusky, O	farmer
Berry, Nicholas	20	PVT	Columbia, PA	farmer	deserted Newbern, NC 30 Jul 1863
Burton, Isaac	21	PVT	Dover, TN	farmer
Butler, Benjamin	19	PVT	Vincennes, IN	farmer
Brown, Joseph	18	PVT	Philadelphia, PA	farmer	Fort Marion, FL sentence General Court-Martial
Brown, Henry	19	PVT	Beverly, MA	farmer	died Folly Island, SC 20 Oct 1863 typhoid fever
Boyd, John	22	PVT	Princeton, IN	farmer
Baker, Wallace	19	PVT	Hopkinsville, KY	farmer	shot by sentence General Court-Martial for mutiny Folly Island, SC 18 Jun 1864
Clay, William H.	20	PVT	Aberdeen, O	farmer
Cox, Andrew	20	PVT	Vincennes, IN	labor
Cole, Joshua	22	PVT	Sandusky, O	farmer
Cain, Isaac	19	PVT	Columbia, PA	farmer	wounded 30 Nov 1864
Crummer, Charles	25	PVT	Newtown, PA	butcher	wounded 2 Jul 1864
Coats, Isaac	19	PVT	Columbia, PA	farmer	CPL 26 May 1864; reduced
Cooper, William	18	PVT	Salem, NJ	sailor	drummer; discharged Folly Island, SC 22 Aug 1864 disability
Cole, David	21	PVT	Princeton, IN	farmer	discharged Folly Island, SC 1 Jun 1864 disability
Call, Henry	22	PVT	Princeton, IN	farmer
Cornelius, Alfred	21	PVT	Gallipolis, O	boatman	wounded 2 Jul 1864
Davis, Robert	40	SGT	Columbia, O	farmer	reduced 28 Dec 1863; CPL 19 Sep 1864
Davis, WIlliam	36	PVT	Sandusky, O	drayman
Darnell, Morris	29	PVT	Sandusky, O	barber	wounded 2 Jul 1864; discharged 16 Jun 1865 disability
Dorsey, Perry	17	PVT	Newport, RI	waiter	drummer
Erving, Joshua	20	PVT	Paradise, PA	farmer
Freeman, Ephraim	37	PVT	Buffalo, NY	farmer	appointed CPL 3 May 1864
Fearce, Samuel	19	PVT	Lawrenceville, NJ	farmer
Filpot, Thomas	20	CPL	Princeton, IN	farmer	died Folly Island, SC 7 Sep 1863 typhoid fever
Griffin, Harrison	18	PVT	Cleveland, O	waiter	reduced 12 May 1864
Gray, David	19	PVT	Sandusky, O	servant	CPL 3 May 1864; reduced 21 May 1864
Gardren, Frank	22	PVT	Sandusky, O	servant
Gunthier, Eldridge	18	PVT	New London, IN	farmer
Guffin, Jackson	19	PVT	Columbia, PA	wagoner	discharged Folly Island, SC 24 Jun 1864 disability
Gilson, Charles	24	PVT	Princeton, IN	butcher
Graham, John N.	22	PVT	Brownsville, IN	farmer	wounded 30 Nov 1864; discharged 17 May 1865 wounds
Harris, William	19	PVT	Sandusky, O	waiter	CPL 14 May 1865; reduced 24 Jun 1865
Harris, William, 2	19	PVT	Princeton, IN	farmer

Privates

1. Clark, Theodore transferred from unassigned company, 54th Massachusetts
   • Source: Carvalho, Joseph. Black Families in Hampden County, Massachusetts, 1650-1865. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Genealogical Society, 2011.
2. Private Nahum Gardner Hazzard of Shirley, Massachusetts
   • Parents and siblings identified
   • Spouse and children identified
   • Image identified
   • Grave identified
3. Wickliffe, Rowan of Kentucky
   • Spouse and children identified