Samuel R. Wilson (abt. 1842 - 1865)

Born about 1842 in United States [uncertain]

Died 17 Jan 1865 at about age 23 in Florence, South Carolina, United States

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Biography

Samuel Wilson is a part of US Black heritage.

Private Samuel Wilson served in the United States Civil War.
Side: USA

Occupations

• 1863: Farmer

Residences

• 1863: West Chester, Pennsylvania (military enlistment)

Military Service and Death

Private Samuel Wilson served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: Mar 9, 1863
Mustered out: Dec 8, 1863
Side: USA
Regiment(s): Co. B 54th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry

Private Samuel Wilson was Wounded in Action during United States Civil War.

Private Samuel Wilson was Missing in Action during the United States Civil War.

Private Samuel Wilson was a Prisoner of War during the United States Civil War.

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 about 21 years old, single and working as a farmer when he enlisted on 9 March 1863 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He was wounded in action (a hip injury) on 18 July 1863 and captured by the Confederates. He survived until at least 8 December 1864 when the 54th prisoners of war were transferred to the Florence Stockade. Daniel States, who survived the brutality of the prisons and was eventually exchanged, witnessed Samuel as still alive in June of 1864. Samuel died in a hospital in Florence, South Carolina two months before the black prisoners were finally exchanged.^[1]

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.^[2]

Projects

• 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry

Sources

1. ↑ Emilio, Roster p. 349
2. ↑ 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.)
• Find a Grave: Samuel R. Wilson