Rev. Thomas L. Johnson, a former slave, begins his biography “Twenty Eight Years a Slave” with the words: “According to information I received from my mother, I was born August 7th, 1836, at a place called Rock-Rayman, in the State of Virginia; but I do not know the place, as I was REMOVED when a…
This month Samuel Augustus Hayden (1839-1918), Louisiana native and Baptist minister, is released from Johnson’s Island Prison in Ohio. The war interrupted Johnson’s ministerial training as he enlisted in Company B, Sixteenth Regiment, Louisiana Infantry. Fighting in Shiloh (April 1862) and other western theater battles, Johnson rose to the rank of captain prior to being…
Today Robert Smalls, a hero of the war, is discharged from military service. Smalls is a former slave who during the war daringly escaped from slavery in Charleston by capturing a Confederate steamer, the Planter. His heroics were celebrated throughout the North, where he conducted speaking tours. In addition, he was made captain of the…