White Flint Bill
Sergeant
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2017
- Location
- Southern Virginia
I read the story of Jeremiah Asher on the interpretive marker at the Yorktown National Cemetery. It was previously unknown to me and I expect some here will find it interesting. From the marker:
Chaplain Jeremiah Asher was the grandson of a slave, but was born free in Connecticut. On the eve of the Civil War he was a prominent abolitionist and minister of Shiloh Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When the federal government began recruiting African Americans for newly formed United States Colored Regiments, Asher wrote President Abraham Lincoln, advocating African Americans should serve as military chaplains in these units. African Americans were prohibited from serving as commissioned officers in their own regiments, which included chaplain positions. However, Lincoln eased the policy and began allowing and began allowing some African Americans to serve as regimental chaplains. Though 50 years of age, Asher, with the signed support of every white officer in the 6th United States Colored Infantry Regiment, mustered with the unit as a chaplain, in December 1863. In addition to ministering to the troops, Asher also, at Yorktown, helped form a new Shiloh Baptist Church in the local contraband community. Jeremiah Asher gave his life for his ideals, being the first African American to die in military service. He died on July 27, 1865 from disease contracted while tending ill soldiers.
Chaplain Jeremiah Asher was the grandson of a slave, but was born free in Connecticut. On the eve of the Civil War he was a prominent abolitionist and minister of Shiloh Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When the federal government began recruiting African Americans for newly formed United States Colored Regiments, Asher wrote President Abraham Lincoln, advocating African Americans should serve as military chaplains in these units. African Americans were prohibited from serving as commissioned officers in their own regiments, which included chaplain positions. However, Lincoln eased the policy and began allowing and began allowing some African Americans to serve as regimental chaplains. Though 50 years of age, Asher, with the signed support of every white officer in the 6th United States Colored Infantry Regiment, mustered with the unit as a chaplain, in December 1863. In addition to ministering to the troops, Asher also, at Yorktown, helped form a new Shiloh Baptist Church in the local contraband community. Jeremiah Asher gave his life for his ideals, being the first African American to die in military service. He died on July 27, 1865 from disease contracted while tending ill soldiers.
Bringing the