Comments on: A Black Veteran’s Story

By: Donald R. Shaffer

Donald R. Shaffer — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 02:39:27 +0000

Hi Mark. Thanks for the background on this battle. It is much appreciated.

By: Mark Curenton

Mark Curenton — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 02:28:58 +0000

In his deposition Charles Crosby mentions that he was in the fight at Pollard, Alabama and Pine Barren Creek. The Union raid on Pollard, an important station on the Mobile to Montgomery railroad, occurred in December 1864. The Union force, consisting of the 82nd, 86th and 97th US Colored Infantry, the 1st Florida Cavalry, 2nd Maine Cavalry, Co. M, 14th New York Cavalry, and two artillery pieces, numbering about 1,850 men. They left Fort Barrancas on December 13 and easily captured Pollard on Dec. 16, since most of the Confederate troops had been transferred west of Mobile to counter a raid from Baton Rouge. The Union force spent a day destroying anything useful to the Southern war effort in the vicinity. When they started marching back to Fort Barrancas on the morning of the 17th they found that Confederate troops from Mobile contested every creek crossing, trying to delay the Union troops until enough Southern troops could be assembled to surround and capture the raiding force. The bridges were torn up and trees cut down in the fords. The entire journey from Big Escambia Creek to Pine Barren Creek saw skirmishing between the two forces, with pitched battles at every creek crossing, where the Union forces had to pause to repair the crossings so the wagons could get across. The final battle was at Pine Barren Creek about midnight on the 17th. In the dark here a charge by southern cavalrymen was met by a massed volley from the Union infantrymen, which ended the pursuit. The Union losses were 1 officer and 16 men killed and 3 officers and 61 men wounded during the expedition. Confederate Brigadier General St. John Liddell admitted in his report the skill of the black troops.

By: Donald R. Shaffer

Donald R. Shaffer — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 04:30:57 +0000

Hi Enrique. Glad to be of service. It is always nice to meet descendants of people I’ve studied.

Don Shaffer

By: Enrique Crosby

Enrique Crosby — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 04:12:46 +0000

This article is a Godsend. Charles Franklin Crosby is my great-great-grandfather. Information about him had been lost to our family until this article. Thank you. Adela, the 13 year old of this article was my great grandmother. She died at 17 after childbirth to my grandfather Ernesto Rubio Crosby b. 1918.

By: howardbdavis

howardbdavis — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 03:32:31 +0000

Thank you for this story. My great-great grandfather fought at
Mobile against Fort Blakely. He was with the 76th. Crosby’s story
fleshes out ggreat-grands experience.

By: Will Hickox

Will Hickox — Wed, 30 May 2012 06:50:49 +0000

It’s very interesting to me that he enlisted at the age of 12 or 13 as a combat soldier. In my own research on New York volunteers I’ve found many who were far below the age requirement, including one of my ancestors who was 13. Many recruiting officers got into trouble for enlisting boys, sometimes by claiming that they would be in a band or some other noncombat duty. I believe the practice was more common than historians have realized, for checking census records reveals that many who were recorded as 16 or 18 were far below even these minimum age requirements. It truly was a boy’s war. On the other hand, of course, there were a lot of old-timers who found their into the service as well.

By: Tree Gardener

Tree Gardener — Mon, 28 May 2012 20:05:15 +0000

Thank you for sharing the story of this black Civil War veteran.