Twenty-five African Americans received the Medal of Honor during the
Civil War, 14 of them at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, just outside of
Richmond, Virginia in September 1864. One of those brave men was
Christian Fleetwood, a free black from Baltimore, Maryland.
Fleetwood was born on July 21, 1840 in Baltimore to Charles and Anna
Marie Fleetwood, both free persons of color. He received an excellent
early education from a wealthy sugar merchant, John Brune. Later,
Fleetwood continued his studies under the secretary of the Maryland
Colonization Society, an organization promoting the immigration of free
blacks to Liberia and Sierra Leone. In 1860, Fleetwood graduated from
Ashmun Institute in Oxford, Pennsylvania. He went into publishing with
several other men, founding the Lyceum Observer in Baltimore, which was
among the first African American newspapers in the South.
In August 1863, Fleetwood enlisted in the 4th Regiment United States
Colored Infantry. Being so well-educated, he received an immediate
promotion to the rank of Sergeant Major. The regiment saw most of its
action in the Richmond-Petersburg campaign, taking part in the Second
Battle of Petersburg in June 1864 and the infamous Battle of the Crater
one month later in July.
Click here for the full article.
Source: https://www.civilwar.org
No comments:
Post a Comment