I decided to catalogue my veteran ancestors. I’ve mentioned some, but not all, and I’ve likely missed several.
A few years ago, I noted a piece from the Equal Justice Initiative: “Military service sparked dreams of racial equality for generations of African Americans.” It was seen as ‘proof’ of their worthiness to be included in the American dream… No one was more at risk of experiencing violence and targeted racial terror than black veterans who had proven their valor and courage as soldiers during the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Because of their military service, black veterans were seen as a particular threat to Jim Crow and racial subordination.”
Civil War
James Archer, my mother (Trudy Williams Green)’s mother (Gertrude Yates Williams)’s mother (Lillian Bell Archer)’s father. Served in the 26th New York Colored Regiment. I’ve known about him for decades, as he was buried in Binghamton, NY, near my grandmother’s house.
William Bell, my mother’s mother’s mother’s mother (Harriet Bell Archer)’s brother. Served in the 26th New York Colored Regiment with James Archer.
Henry Bell, my mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s brother. Served in the Massachusetts 54th Colored Regiment. In the 1865 New York State Census, although they were all at war, William, Henry, and James were listed as living together in Binghamton, NY, with William and Henry’s recently widowed father, Edward Bell, their sisters Harriet Archer (married to James) and Francelia Bell, two of James and Harriet’s sons, Morgan and James, and William’s son, Martin.
Daniel Williams, my mother’s father (Clarence Williams)’s father (Charles Williams)’s father. Served in Company F of the 43rd United States Colored Infantry Regiment. I discovered him trying (and failing) to find my Irish ancestors.
Samuel Patterson, my father (Leslie Green)’s mother (Agatha Walker Green)’s mother (Mary Eugenia Patterson Walker)’s father. Served in the 5th Regiment, Massachusetts Calvary (Colored). I have three great-great-grandfathers who fought in that great Civil War, “testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
World War I
McKinley Green, my father’s stepfather. Served from October 1917 to February 1919 in the 368th Infantry. Stationed in Argonne and elsewhere. Discharged from Fort Mead, MD. McKinley and his wife/my grandmother Agatha, lived upstairs from my birth family at 5 Gaines Street in Binghamton.
World War II
Edward Yates, my mother’s mother’s brother. Served as “Branch Immaterial – Warrant Officers, USA.” Since my mother’s grandmother, Lillian Archer, reportedly “drove off” my mother’s father, Clarence Williams, Ed was my mother’s primary male role model. I remember seeing his photo at my grandmother’s house; the family was so proud.
Leslie Green, my father. “At the end of February 2010, I gave a presentation for the Underground Railroad conference about Black Soldiers in Post-WWII Germany,” which I wrote about here.
I’m pleased all the men here escaped the wars alive.
*Preserving a Legacy: Caring for Your Ancestor’s Military Uniform
It occurred to me that when I have written about my mother’s ancestors, I’ve almost always written about my maternal grandmother’s side but little about my mom’s paternal relatives. The reasons are several.
Charles Williams, the elder, married Margaret Collins c. 1883. They were together in 1915 but not in 1920. I assume they divorced since the elder Charles married Margaret Greenleaf in 1921, as I