- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Location
- Central Massachusetts
Joseph Clovese, 63rd U.S.C.T.
Joseph Clovese of Slidell, La, was 94 years of age at the time of the Last Reunion of the Blue and Gray at Gettysburg. He was one of a very few colored veterans present (the attendance lists I’ve seen do not distinguish the veteran’s color, and I have never seen them named as a group).
Born a slave, on January 30, 1844, on a plantation in St. Bernard Parish, “Uncle Joe” Clovese always said he was “a favorite house-boy” of his master, was taught to read, and kindly treated. But, nonetheless, he ran away at the age of 16 or 17, to the nearest Union camp. He said he was a drummer-boy for a Union regiment for a time, during the siege of Vicksburg, but records of that have not been found. On November 1, 1863, however, Joseph Clovese enlisted, at Vicksburg, for three years in Company C of the 63rd United States Colored Infantry. With one exception, he was recorded as ‘present’ with his company from that time until discharged at De Vall Bluff, Ark., on January 9, 1866. That exception was in July 1864, when he was “on duty with mountain howitzer.” For most of its service, the 63rd was on garrison at and around Natchez.
We are told that following the war he worked on Mississippi river steamboats. He later worked on the crew “stringing the first (?) telegraph wires between New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi.” He became a member of New Orleans’ Abraham Lincoln Post No. 4. This was the first colored post in the Grand Army of the Republic’s Department of the Gulf (Louisiana and Mississippi). In other G.A.R. Departments, colored veterans were allowed to join the organization, either in integrated Posts, or with designated “colored” posts of their own. But, the Department of the Gulf alone refused to admit any colored members. The Abraham Lincoln Post was one of four groups of African-Americans that organized themselves prior to 1888, and then appealed to the National Organization, which forced Gulf Department’s Commander, Capt. Jacob Gray (over his vehement objections) to decree the admittance of qualified colored veterans.***
Joseph Clovese settled eventually in Slidell, La., and I find almost no further mention of him before 1938. After the Gettysburg event, he returned to Louisiana, remaining there another decade, at which time, he moved to Pontiac, Michigan, to live with relatives.
In 1949, with 4-year old Gail Sleeth.
Sixty-some years later she would recall: “He was very nice.
I had never seen a man in a wheelchair before,
so I remember being very curious about the chair.”
(Ah, innocence!)
Earlier that year, Michigan had buried its last Civil War veteran, Department Commander Orlando LeValley. So, when 104-year-old Clovese called the Pontiac Press ... to find the location of the nearest G.A.R. Post, he was told that the Michigan Department had been disbanded following the death of Commander LeValley, and there was no Post for him to join. His transfer card from Abraham Lincoln Post No. 4, was duly deposited with the National Organization and he became a member-at-large.
But news got around: once his presence was known , the community of Pontiac embraced him. “Uncle Joe” Clovese became an instant celebrity.
Just a year after settling in Michigan, Joseph Clovese attended his very first G.A.R. National Encampment, in Indianapolis. The 1949 event was also to be the very last for the great veterans’ organization. There were at the time only 12 living members, six of whom were able to attend.
The last G.A.R. National Encampment. Indianapolis, 1949.
(L to R) Theodore A. Penland, Charles L. Chappel, Albert Woolson,
Joseph Clovese, Robert Barrett and James A. Hard.
Obituary from the New York Times, June 14, 1951
*** coincidentally, that Louisiana Department Commander, Jacob Gray, was later “Court Martialled” by the G.A.R. for attending the funeral of Jefferson Davis in uniform, and telling other members that if they didn’t attend, too, he’d “make them march with the negroes” at the next Department Encampment.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42199181/joseph-clovese
http://www.historybyzim.com/2017/08/joseph-clovese-at-the-last-gar-reunion-1949/
https://historicindianapolis.com/aindianapolis-collected-the-last-of-the-civil-war-soldiers/
https://www.suvcwmi.org/messenger/V8_N4.pdf
Born a slave, on January 30, 1844, on a plantation in St. Bernard Parish, “Uncle Joe” Clovese always said he was “a favorite house-boy” of his master, was taught to read, and kindly treated. But, nonetheless, he ran away at the age of 16 or 17, to the nearest Union camp. He said he was a drummer-boy for a Union regiment for a time, during the siege of Vicksburg, but records of that have not been found. On November 1, 1863, however, Joseph Clovese enlisted, at Vicksburg, for three years in Company C of the 63rd United States Colored Infantry. With one exception, he was recorded as ‘present’ with his company from that time until discharged at De Vall Bluff, Ark., on January 9, 1866. That exception was in July 1864, when he was “on duty with mountain howitzer.” For most of its service, the 63rd was on garrison at and around Natchez.
We are told that following the war he worked on Mississippi river steamboats. He later worked on the crew “stringing the first (?) telegraph wires between New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi.” He became a member of New Orleans’ Abraham Lincoln Post No. 4. This was the first colored post in the Grand Army of the Republic’s Department of the Gulf (Louisiana and Mississippi). In other G.A.R. Departments, colored veterans were allowed to join the organization, either in integrated Posts, or with designated “colored” posts of their own. But, the Department of the Gulf alone refused to admit any colored members. The Abraham Lincoln Post was one of four groups of African-Americans that organized themselves prior to 1888, and then appealed to the National Organization, which forced Gulf Department’s Commander, Capt. Jacob Gray (over his vehement objections) to decree the admittance of qualified colored veterans.***
Joseph Clovese settled eventually in Slidell, La., and I find almost no further mention of him before 1938. After the Gettysburg event, he returned to Louisiana, remaining there another decade, at which time, he moved to Pontiac, Michigan, to live with relatives.
In 1949, with 4-year old Gail Sleeth.
Sixty-some years later she would recall: “He was very nice.
I had never seen a man in a wheelchair before,
so I remember being very curious about the chair.”
(Ah, innocence!)
But news got around: once his presence was known , the community of Pontiac embraced him. “Uncle Joe” Clovese became an instant celebrity.
“Large gatherings were organized for his 105th, 106th and 107th birthdays. Joseph Clovese died at Dearborn Veterans hospital on July 13, 1951. More than 300 people were packed into the small Newman A.M.E. Church for the service. Hundreds more gathered at the grave site in Perry Mount Park cemetery. Oakland County Council of Veterans members served as pall bearers. A firing squad from Selfridge Air Force Base fired the final salute and taps was sounded over the cemetery.”
Just a year after settling in Michigan, Joseph Clovese attended his very first G.A.R. National Encampment, in Indianapolis. The 1949 event was also to be the very last for the great veterans’ organization. There were at the time only 12 living members, six of whom were able to attend.
The last G.A.R. National Encampment. Indianapolis, 1949.
(L to R) Theodore A. Penland, Charles L. Chappel, Albert Woolson,
Joseph Clovese, Robert Barrett and James A. Hard.
*** coincidentally, that Louisiana Department Commander, Jacob Gray, was later “Court Martialled” by the G.A.R. for attending the funeral of Jefferson Davis in uniform, and telling other members that if they didn’t attend, too, he’d “make them march with the negroes” at the next Department Encampment.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42199181/joseph-clovese
http://www.historybyzim.com/2017/08/joseph-clovese-at-the-last-gar-reunion-1949/
https://historicindianapolis.com/aindianapolis-collected-the-last-of-the-civil-war-soldiers/
https://www.suvcwmi.org/messenger/V8_N4.pdf
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