Abraham Lincoln - The Emancipation Proclamation

Slave Runaway: 24-Year-Old William

SEVENTY DOLLARS REWARD. -– Ran away from the Third Section of the James River and Kanawha Canal, about the middle of July last, a bright mulatto, named WILLIAM.  He has a bushy head of hair, a smiling countenance and polite manners; is about twenty-four-year old, and five feet ten or eleven inches in height.  He belongs to the estate of Dr. J. L. Trent, deceased or Cumberland, and may have gone to that county or to Richmond, where he has relations, or made his way to some military station, as he was last year in the service of General Longstreet, and acquired a fondness for camp life.  He had some military clothing with him.  He has a rupture, which may serve more readily to identify him.

The above reward and reasonable expenses will be paid for his delivery at the office of the James River and Kanawha Company in Richmond; at the plantation of J. Robertson, seven miles below Lynchburg; to the undersigned, or any agent of the Company; or half the sum for such information as may lead to his recovery.  A. MICHAELS

                          

                                  Superintendent Third Section

   se 27 – 6t              James River and Kanawha Canal

Source:  “Runaways.” Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) · Tuesday, September 27, 1864,·Page 1 http://www.newspapers.com/clip/453149/slave_william Downloaded on Mar 25, 2014.

Slave Runaway: Celia Jackson

ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD – Ran away from my house on the 25^th April 1864, my negro woman CELIA JACKSON.  She is forty-five or fifty years of age.  She has been hiring herself out in Rocketts as a washer woman.  I will pay the above reward if she she be delivered to Grady’s jail, corner Fifteenth and Cary streets.  [sc 24 – 3t*]    F. W. DOGGETT

Source:  “Runaways.” Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) · Tuesday, September 27, 1864 · Page 1 http://www.newspapers.com/clip/453186/slave_celia Downloaded on March 25, 2014 

Slave Runaway, 16-Year-Old Henry

RUNAWAY. -- Ran away from the subscriber on the 24^th instant, at Manchester, boy HENRY; about sixteen years of age; five feet high; nearly black; slender; long face and thick lips; on right or left side a wen about the size of a walnut; has eruption on his skin, resembling mosquito bites.  When the said boy left he had on a soldier’s jacket and a common cotton shirt, rather light-colored pants, old hat and shoes; all of which were very dirty.

I will give ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS in the present Confederate currency for the apprehension and delivery of said BOY to Messrs. LEE & BOWMAN, Richmond, or in any jail so I can get him.

Said boy was sold by Messrs. Hill, Dickinson & Co. for James Gray’s sons.  He is supposed to be lurking about Richmond, or at Mr. Mallory’s, on the Mountain road, ten miles above the city, where his mother lives, or in Manchester, where he has a sister living with Mr. Rowlett Winfree.

Sc 27—12t*      JACK HALL.

Source:  “Runaways.” Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), Tuesday, September 27, 1864 · Page 1, http://www.newspapers.com/clip/453183/slave_henry Downloaded on March 25, 2014.

Poem: The Colored Soldiers

The Colored Soldiers is a poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906).  I discovered this poem while watching online video performances by storyteller, recording artist, poet, actor and author Mitch Capel aka “Gran’daddy Junebugor.” Mr. Capel is the national interpreter of the works of poet  Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Mitch Capel’s Performance of The Colored Soldiers by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote several black soldier-themed poems as a tribute to his father, Joshua Dunbar, an escaped slave from a Kentucky plantation who served in the 55th Massachusetts Regiment of the United States Colored Troop (USCT) during the Civil War.  The sentiments expressed in Dunbar’s black soldier-themed poems also give accolades to all soldiers of the USCT for their courage and sacrifices in the fight for freedom. 

Soldier-Themed Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

• Dirge for a Soldier 
• Our Martyred Soldiers
• The Colored Soldiers 
• Whistlin’ Sam 
• W’en Dey ‘Listed Colored Soldiers 

In the last stanza of the poem, The Colored Soldiers, Dunbar sums up what he hoped to accomplish by writing this poetry tribute.

And their deeds shall find a record

In the registry of Fame;

For their blood has cleansed completely

Every blot of Slavery's shame.

So all honor and all glory

To those noble sons of Ham--

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Read More About Paul Laurence Dunbar

• Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar  
• Paul Laurence Dunbar Website 
• Paul Laurence Dunbar: Online Resources  

Flight to Freedom

Voices of the Civil War Episode 12: "Emancipation Proclamation"