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‘We will prove ourselves men’: Black Civil War sergeant recognized

4 min read
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A group of about 20 Black recruits and a white officer stand before a flying U.S. flag and Union tent in this recruiting poster.

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U.S. Colored Troops soldiers at an abandoned farmhouse in Dutch Gap, Va., in 1864

Thanks to the passion of a retired historian, an unknown local Black Civil War hero has received the recognition he was long overdue.

T. Morgan Jones, who fought in the 127th U.S. Colored Troops, was honored on Thursday by the Washington County Board of Commissioners, who issued a proclamation designating Feb. 18, 2021, as T. Morgan Jones Day.

Walter Seal, a historian and artifact collector, shared Jones’ life story during the commissioners’ meeting. Then, the commissioners passed the resolution honoring Jones.

Washington County Commissioner Chairman Diana Irey Vaughan called Jones “a remarkable man.”

“It was an honor for us to recognize the accomplishments of this warrior, this leader in civil rights, this leader who defended our country during a time of war,” said Irey Vaughan.

Seal was grateful for the commissioners’ action.

“Ten years ago, I realized there is nothing on Black history in Pennsylvania prior to the 19th century. I started looking, and I realized nobody had heard about (Jones). He had zero recognition,” said Seal.

Jones, a fugitive slave from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, escaped in the 1850s, traveling through Maryland and into Pennsylvania, where he settled in Washington County.

During that time, Amish, Quaker, and Mennonite families taught him to read and write, and gave him food, shelter and work to keep him going.

In Monongahela, Jones took a job working on the steamboats, where a sympathetic steamboat captain gave Jones his name and fake freedom papers to protect him because Pennsylvania still participated in the Fugitive Slave Act.

When the Civil War began on April 12 1861, Jones brought the news to the Black communities to the river towns along the Mon River.

But freeborn Black men between the ages of 18 and 45 in the Mon Valley who rushed to enlist to fight for Pennsylvania and the Union were turned down because of their color, Seal said.

Jones, however, cobbled together a company of 100 men, which included some fugitives and over-aged and under-aged men from Washington, Fayette, Westmoreland, and Allegheny counties.

Seal recounted the first time Jones addressed his men.

Jones told them: “Fear is in the background of more lives than we can imagine. For some of you, it’s about your past, the fear of discovery. For some of you, it’s about the present, the fear of inability. And for the rest of you, it’s fear of the future, of insufficiency and uncertainty. But above all else, we will prove ourselves men.”

Jones, who was elected captain, trained the soldiers – clad in tattered clothing and worn-out shoes, and using tree limbs for guns.

But again, Gov. Andrew Curtain turned down the group, called “The Invincible Grays,” because they were Black.

Eventually, the men in the company were assigned to different U.S. Colored troops, Seal said.

Jones, who had earned a reputation as a troublemaker, was assigned to the 127th, where he quickly rose to the rank of sergeant.

Jones fought in several battles and skirmishes in Virginia in 1864 and 1865, and while leading a charge, he was severely wounded.

After recovering from his injuries, Jones and his regiment were sent to Texas for post-war duties along the Mexican frontier and Rio Grande River.

There, Jones contracted a lung disease and returned to Monongahela, where he died on Nov. 15, 1866, as a result of complications from the injuries and the lung disease.

At Jones’ bedside was William Hilton Catlin, who also served in the U.S. Colored Troops and later led a Pennsylvania National Guard company.

Jones was believed to have been 26 years old when he died.

He was buried with military honors in Monongahela, but it’s unknown where his burial site is located.

According to Seal, it’s believed that only two of Jones’ men died in battle. The soldiers of The Invincible Grays believed they survived the war, in large part, because of Jones’ training.

Seal has contacted the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to nominate Jones for a historical marker to recognize his achievements.

“I’ll keep fighting to make it happen,” said Seal.

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