ARW
Sergeant
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2018
- Location
- Lebanon Pa
Jerome Ticknor Furman, my 1st cousin 3 generations back, first served as a Sergeant on Co. B of the 52nd Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry from October 1861 until August 1863, when he was granted his discharge to accept a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the first negro regiment, Co. D of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, later the 33rd Regiment of United State Colored Troops. 2nd Lt. Jerome Ticknor Furman served in this regiment for the remainder of the war and was murdered , shot in the back by Manson Sherrill "Manse" Jolly, on the front porch or near the steps of the principal hotel of Wall Hollow/Walhalla, South Carolina in August of 1865, four months after the end of the Civil War. He was 25 years old.
As night came on and the evening meal was over, Lieut. Furman stepped out on the front porch when a tall, villainous looking ex-Confederate came up, bade him good-evening, and said: "We are glad to have you come into our town for we are absolutely without any kind of government. The town is full of desperate characters; we are living in constant fear of our lives and the presence of United States troops will no doubt soon restore order and be a blessing to us." His mode of speech and cordial manner threw the officer completely off his guard and he foolishly accepted an invitation to take a walk with his newly made acquaintance. They had only walked a few steps before the villain drew his revolver, shot the officer in the back, and as he fell, put the muzzle of his pistol to the head of the dying man and discharged two more bullets into his brain, and then disappeared into the darkness.