Enlistment Data on Soldier from the 27th US Colored Infantry
Source: Military Service Record, Pvt. Jacob Thomas, National
Archives Publication M1824 As one who has researched their
ancestors' involvement in the Civil War, I have come to
understand something about the myths and the realities of who
did and did not serve in the Civil War. The reasons why some
stories are not refuted even when they are purely nonsensical,
and downright untrue, is because many of us who descend from
enslaved people, have never studied the Civil War. For example
---in a recent genealogy chat, the involvement of black men who
enlisted in the Union Army came up. One member described
information about her ancestor who served in a unit from
Mississippi. Another member of the same group---a regular to the
chat for over 10 years, remarked that it was amazing to him, to
hear that her Mississippi Ancestor enlisted in the Union Army.
Soldier is buried in Dripping Springs Cemetery in Crawford
County Arkansas. (Cemetery was documented by Toni