Occupation: Legislator
I'm running behind on blog posts because I spent the last several weeks in Washington. DC. working in the National Archives on a project related to the 66th U.S. Colored Infantry (USCI) regiment. In (belated) honor of Black History Month, I’d like to share the stories of two of the enlisted men who served in this regiment during the Civil War.
Every Family Has a Maverick, Part 2
When we last left our intrepid protagonist, John Jones, the Civil War veteran formerly known as Walter W. Collins, he had been honorably discharged from the army in February 1866 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was settling into a new life. Somewhere along the way, he had picked up skills in the building trades and was now working as a brick mason.
11,670 Miles
11,670 miles—that’s how far my three times great-grandfather Christopher Erisman is said to have traveled with his regiment—by rail, by river, on horseback, and on foot—over the course of the Civil War.