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View information related to Cumberland County soldiers who served their country during the Civil War as members of the United States Colored Troops.
Casper Shirk
Casper Shirk served in Company E of the 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry Regiment. He was born around 1836, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, the middle of nine siblings, to parents Harriet and Casper Shirk. He was about 14 years old and attending school when the 1850 Federal Census was taken.1 He enlisted as a private with Company E on January 29, 1864, and his Company Descriptive Book lists him as twenty-eight years old, 5 feet and 4 inches tall, with black hair, eyes, and complexion.
Chas. H. Simms
Charles (Chas) H. Smith, was born in 1837 in Pennsylvania. While little is known about his early life, records have indicated that he was raised by his father Harry Simms. Simms enlisted in Company G of the 6th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops on July 29th, 1863, and served until August 20th, 1865. Simms moved to Carlise, where he married an unknown woman, who died in 1866. Simms would get married two more times, to Mary Simms until her death in 1900, then to Elizebeth Jackson. Simms had one child, Emma.
Charles Slaughter
According to the "U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for Charles Slaughter", Charles Slaughter was born around 1841 in Fauquier County, Virginia.1 He was the son of Philip Slaughter and Mary Slaughter; his census records do not state where his parents were born.2 Before 1880, there are no census records stating his activities or residences.
Henry Smallwood
a. Veteran’s Register Carlisle pp. 34-40 Union Colored Cemetery Carlisle Section B, Grave 61
Army Infantry Co. H, 25th Regt. 1/29/1864 to 12/6/1865
b. Bates, Vol. V, p. 1042
c. PA State Archive Muster Roll 25th, Co. H, Folder 1, #62 on roll (name “William” H.)
d. Evening Sentinel, Roll 1-45, Obituary 7/13/1907