Jackson County's African-American Civil War Veterans: The Rev. Henry Guy - IL

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Jackson County's African-American Civil War Veterans: The Rev. Henry Guy
  • Feb 5, 2017

Editor's Note: Throughout February, The Southern will run a series of profiles of Civil War veterans on Sundays. The profiles are from a special exhibit at the John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro called "Forgotten Soldiers: Jackson County's African-American Civil War Veterans." The exhibit is part of A Celebration of Freedom, which commemorates Black History Month.

The Rev. Henry Guy (1827-1902)

Co. A, 55th Regt. United States Colored Troops


Born a slave in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1827, Henry Guy was probably owned by Dr. Joseph Guy and later by his son, Joseph Albert Guy Jr. He married a slave named Nancy from a neighboring farm, but lost her when her owner sold her to a man in Mississippi “and he never saw her again.” After he gained his freedom with the Emancipation Proclamation, Guy joined Company A of the First Alabama Colored Troops in May 1863, and one month later married his second wife, former slave Hannah Ricks. Along with other freed slaves, Hannah then traveled to Cairo, Illinois, to await the war’s end while her husband returned to military duty.


 
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