View information related to Cumberland County soldiers who served their country during the Civil War as members of the United States Colored Troops.
Jesse Tarlton was born somewhere in Virginia around 1824.[1] Nothing else is known of his life prior to his service in the Union Army. His name is sometimes spelled “Tarlton” and sometimes “Talton.” He was drafted into Company K of the 31st USCT in Washington D.C. on October 31, 1864. He had been working as a Laborer.
John Thomas served in Company K of the 4th U.S.C.T. He died on February 7th, 1881, and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Jesse G. Thompson was born around 1844, in Carlisle Pennsylvania, to parents Benjamin and Mary Thompson. In 1850 he was the youngest child in his household at six years old, with three older siblings named William, Richard, and Jane.1 In 1860 he was sixteen years old and working as a laborer, with two younger siblings named George and Mary.2 Thompson enlisted into Company A of the 32nd U.S.C.T. as a private, on February 17, 1864, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
According to the “U.S. Find a Grave Index, 1600s to Current for Richard Turner,” Turner was born in 1840 in Virginia.1 However, legal documents filed on his behalf through his life, however, imply birth years of a range from 1830 to 1840. Turner himself gives his birthplace as Woodstock; Shenandoah Valley, VA but census records for Shenandoah County are not available for either 1830 or 1840 so his age is unknown.2 This is due to speculation that Turner was likely a slave born in Virginia but sold south to a large and prosperous plantation in Louisiana.
According to the “U.S. Find a Grave Index, 1600s to Current for James H. Tyson,” Tyson was born in 1821 in Carroll County, Maryland[1]. While Tyson does not appear in any official capacity until 1864, he made his way to Carlisle, Cumberland County, PA sometime before 1864. In Carlisle, Tyson enlisted as a private in the 32nd USCT, Company F on February 25, 1864[2]. Upon his enlistment, Tyson was listed as a forty-three-year-old laborer who stood at five feet two inches[3].
Henry Ward was born in Clarke County Virginia on October 11, 1842. Not much is known about his early life, but his obituary states that he was enslaved. On January 20th, 1864, Ward enlisted into Company E of the 25th regiment of the USCT in Carlisle, PA
Alexander Washington served in Company B of the 127th U.S.C.T. He was born around 1838 in Perry County, Pennsylvania.1 He enlisted in as a private in Harrisburg on August 24, 1864, and was mustered in on August 26 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His company descriptive book describes him as 26 years old and five feet and seven inches tall, with dark hair, eyes, and complexion. He was working as a ferryman at the time.2 Due to an injury sustained while on duty, he was absent sick in the General Hospital at Fort Monroe, Virginia, starting October 4, 1864.