Civil War

The cataclysm of civil war affected descendants of Monticello’s African American community on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line.  For some who were still enslaved, it meant a chance at last to gain their freedom.  For others who were living free in the north, it was an opportunity to fight for the cause of freedom.  Those fighting for the Union army soon realized, however, that racist sentiments persisted and they would have to struggle to be treated as equals in the ranks. The experience of the soldiers in black Union regiments has often been expressed as fighting a war on two fronts. They not only had to battle the Confederates but also contend with the obstruction and prejudice of white men—in their units and in their government.

Ten descendants of Monticello slaves on both sides of the color line are known to have fought in the Union army.  Four, including John Wayles Jefferson and his brother Beverly Jefferson, sons of Eston Hemings Jefferson, fought in white regiments.  Other Hemings descendants who maintained their African American identity joined up with “colored” regiments, including the 55th Massachusetts, sister regiment to the more famous 54th Massachusetts depicted in the film Glory.

Col. John Wayles Jefferson by Alexander Marquis, ca. 1864. Courtesy of the Museum of Wisconsin Art.

Civil War: Military Service

The Civil War was a seminal event for the descendants of Monticello slaves.  For some, it was an opportunity to fight for the cause of freedom. Ten descendants of Monticello slaves on both sides of the color line are known to have fought in the Union army. 

Civil War: The Homefront

For families and individuals who were still enslaved following the dispersement of Jefferson’s property, the Civil War and ensuing emancipation provided them with a chance to at last gain their freedom.

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Civil War Stories

“I Have Been Almost Completely Exhausted”

HAINES’ BLUFF, in rear of Vicksburg, May 21, 1863.                  Dear Brother:—I hasten to drop you this line; I…
“I Have Been Almost Completely Exhausted”

In 1863 Lt. Col. John Wayles Jefferson writes his brother Beverly Jefferson during the siege of Vicksburg.

“HAINES’ BLUFF, in rear of Vicksburg, May 21, 1863.

                 Dear Brother:—I hasten to drop you this line; I cannot write much, as I have no time or spirits. Since the 2nd of May up to yesterday (excepting two days I was in Jackson, Miss.,) I have been continually on the March and fighting the rebels. I had not until to-day changed my clothes or had a decent meal for nineteen days. We marched around Vicksburg on the Louisiana side 90 miles, crossed the river at Grand Gulf, marched about 170 miles in a roundabout way to Jackson, Miss. Our brigade charged the rebel works at Jackson, and were the first troops in the town. Four days before this we met the rebels at Mississippi Springs, and had a hard skirmish but whipped them (I am speaking about our regiment and our brigade); we have had a number of other battles. At Jackson Major General Sherman made me Provost Marshal of the town, had also charge of all the prisoners and was ordered to destroy five million dollars worth of rebel property. We are now in the rear of Vicksburg, and in sight of the city. We have been fighting for four days, and have them surrounded. Their entrenchments and breastworks are awful to attack. Their works were stormed to-day by part of our army, and to-morrow all the army will attack the works at 9 a. m. We are losing a great many men, and there will be an awful slaughter to-morrow.  We have captured 81 cannon, 10,000 stands of small arms at the different battles (not Vicksburg). I was ordered to turn over 5,500 prisoners in my charge to-day, and that is why I am here. Will return to my regiment in one hour which is only five miles distant. We just lived on what we could pick up during the past three weeks, and I have been almost completely exhausted from hunger, loss of sleep and fatigue. Vicksburg will be ours in a day or two, but it has and will cost as many thousand lives.

I write this hoping you may get it in season.

Yours &c.                       

J. W. JEFFERSON.” (Weekly Wisconsin Patriot, 13 June 1863)

“The Great Changes Which Time Brings About”

When I came to Cincinnati, I was employed as a waiter in a private house, at ten dollars a month…
“The Great Changes Which Time Brings About”

Israel Jefferson describes his work in Ohio and his visit to Thomas Jefferson’s grandson after the Civil War.

“When I came to Cincinnati, I was employed as a waiter in a private house, at ten dollars a month for the first month.  From that time on I received $20, till I went on board a steamboat, where I got higher wages still.  In time, I found myself in receipt of $50 per month, regularly, and sometimes even more.  I resided in Cincinnati about fourteen years, and from thence came on to the farm I am now on, in Pebble township, on Brushy Fork of Pee Pee creek.  Have been here about sixteen years.

“Since my residence in Ohio I have several times visited Monticello.  My last visit was in the fall of 1866.  Near there I found the same Jefferson Randolph, whose service as administrator I left more than forty years ago, at Monticello.  He had grown old, and was outwardly surrounded by the evidences of former ease and opulence gone to decay.  He was in poverty.  He had lost, he told me, $80,000 in money by joining the South in rebellion against the government.  Except his real estate, the rebellion stripped him of everything, save one old, blind mule.  He said that if he had taken the advice of his sister, Mrs. Cooleridge [Ellen Coolidge], gone to New York, and remained there during the war, he could have saved the bulk of his property.  But he was a rebel at heart, and chose to go with his people.  Consequently, he was served as others had been—he had lost all his servants and nearly all his personal property of every kind.  I went back to Virginia to find the proud and haughty Randolph in poverty, at Edge Hill, within four miles of Monticello, where he was bred and born.  Indeed, I then realized, more than ever before, the great changes which time brings about in the affairs and circumstances of life.” (Israel Jefferson, Pike County Republican, 25 Dec. 1873)

“Glory! Glory!”

Vicksburg is ours. Glory!  Glory!  Glory!  I have just returned from the city and actually saw the heads, hides and…
“Glory! Glory!”

Lt. Col. John Wayles Jefferson reports the long-awaited surrender of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.

“Vicksburg is ours. Glory!  Glory!  Glory!  I have just returned from the city and actually saw the heads, hides and entrails of mules which the rebels have been subsisting on for days.  We all feel so joyful today. Even the poor sickly soldiers in the hospitals seem to revive, and look well again. Congress, at its next session, must be petitioned to add 24 hours to the 4th of July, making it 48 hours long, because hereafter we cannot possibly get done celebrating the day in 24 hours.” (Wisconsin State Journal, July 1863)