I recently made a road trip into south-central PA and one interesting find (actually, it was one of a couple… more on the others later) was that thirteen veterans of the 54th Mass. Infantry are buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery in Mercersburg. Actually, “Little Africa,” which is essentially along Fayette Street in Mercersburg, was settled by several African-Americans in the 1820s (some of them were escaped slaves). According to one website (part of the early version of the Valley of the Shadow),
By the 1840s, they comprised almost 20% of the street’s 33 propertyholders. This neighborhood, known as “Little Africa,” also housed the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and became known as a station on the Underground Railroad. Thirty-three residents of Little Africa joined the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment during the Civil War.
Incidentally, there is a nice collection of letters pertaining to the 54th Mass. from the Demus and Christy families at the Valley of the Shadow site.
Apparently, another 11 residents of “Little Africa” joined the lesser known 55th Massachusetts Infantry. In all, 88 African-Americans from Mercersburg served in the Union army. All of the African American Civil War veterans buried in the Mt. Zion cemetery are listed on this page. From this article, it appears that a Pennsylvania Civil War Trails sign is forthcoming (between 2009-2010).
On a related note, I just realized that one of the African-Americans buried in Mt. Zion was a member of the 2nd USCT Cavalry. Well, in my recent “marker hunter” exploits, while I was documenting the monument at the Middle Spring United Presbyterian Church (where many of my Pa. relatives hailed from) I found that one of the men listed on the monument (Thomas B. Mains) was a 1st lieutenant with the 2nd USCT Cavalry. He was killed in one of the actions near Drewry’s Bluff on May 12, 1864… though no relation to me, I just find it an interesting tie-in.
Cenantua's Blog 
Coly Hope
May 6, 2009
Edward Hallowell who was an officer in the 54th Massachusetts and took over command of the regiment after Colonel Shaw was killed. Edward’s brother Norwood was also an officer in the 54th Massachusetts but transferred to the 55th Massachusetts. Both were orginally from Pennsylvania and in fact their family farm was a stop on the underground railroad. Both attended Harvard where they meet Shaw and when the regiments were formed I am sure these soldiers you mentioned was recruited by them.
cenantua
May 6, 2009
Thanks Coly. I see there is some info about Edward Needles Hallowell in Wikipedia, but Norwood doesn’t have a bio sketch there. Looks like they were from Philadelphia.
Marc Ferguson
May 7, 2009
During the 1863 campaign into Pennsylvania, the ANV rounded up blacks to be sent south “back” into slavery. Many free blacks were apparently among those who were captured, and many more escaped this as they fled the army’s advance. I wonder how this affected the African-Americans of Mercersburg?
Marc
cenantua
May 12, 2009
Marc, Excellent question. See today’s post (5/12/09) regarding the seizure of Mercersburg’s black citizens by Confederate soldiers.
David Burnette
May 24, 2010
My great -great grandfather Nathaniel Cuff is buried in Zion Union. He was in the 2nd US Colored Cavalry. He has a large grave stone but there is no indication of his service engraved. The same applies to others that we know to be veterans. My Aunt Mary Bailey left all of her money for the upkeep of the cemetery, and her names appears on the dedication plaque on the cemetery gate. We have traced our family back in Mercersburg to the mid 1700’s. They were mostly freemen who had long been established in the community. We have one Revolutionary War veteran ( Sampson Cuff) whose son Came to Mercersburg from New England in the early 1800’s as well as other veterans who served in every major war afterwards. Contrary to the source from Shadow of the Valley, Fayette Street was not Little Africa. Though it was sometimes referred to it as such, “Little Africa” was an area outside of Mercersburg along the mountain in what is now called Mt Pleasant area. The reason for the name was because most of the farmers who owned land including some of the mountain ground, was owned by black people. The whites owned the more productive ground in the valley region. The land along the mountain was owned by Cuff’s, Demas’, Stoner, etc. It was also a thorough-fare for the Underground Railroad. I am not sure as to what significant the raids had on the black population in Mercersburg, as there was a significantly well established community there of educated people. I’m sure raids were somewhat common along the borderw with Maryland but nothing that I have geard through oral history.
Robert Moore
June 3, 2010
Thanks for sharing your family’s story, David. The next time I get to Mercersburg, I’d like to visit that cemetery. Robert
Eli Plantz, AIA-CA
October 11, 2010
I grew up in Mercersburg. I have visited the local cemetaries many times. I am glad to see that someone has finally decided to talk about what had happened there. While I was attending James Buchanan High School we never talked about the rich history of the small town. There has always been a culture of racism there. Thanks for the hard work.
Robert Moore
October 12, 2010
Thanks, Mr. Plantz. Glad you enjoyed the piece.
sylvia dewald
November 5, 2011
Robert, Thomas B. Mains was a relative to me. My niece did an extensive research on anestry.com and we have his picture and some history of him during the civil war. We visited his grave site a couple years ago.
He inlisted in the New York Cavalry recruiting in Maryland. Thomas was assigned to command an African-American troop. Doing scouting assigments his troop was captured in 1864 at Drury’s Bluff. He was killed after the battle.
This is all the information that I presently have.
If you have additional information pertaining to the troops he commanded during this period, I would really appreciate it.
Robert Moore
November 6, 2011
I’m afraid I don’t have anything more about him. Thanks much for the info, however. I do find something unusual… he was killed after the battle? What’s the story behind that?
Scott Mains
April 2, 2014
The tradition in my family from grandfather is that Thomas B. Mains was executed, likely hanged, by the confederates for leading colored troops. I have not been able to find his sources for that.
Scott Mains
April 2, 2014
this article discusses the execution of white commanders of colored troops by Confederates. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4233150
Robert Moore
April 3, 2014
Thanks for your comments. Actually, service records show him as being killed in action, on May 12, 1864, at Drewry’s Bluff. The regiment was engaged in actions against Drewry’s Bluff from May 10-16.
Scott Mains
April 8, 2014
Hi Sylvia, we must be related. I am Thomas B. Mains’ great, great, grand-nephew. You mentioned that you visited his grave site. Where is this located? I would like to take my family to see it.
Sherry
August 19, 2014
Hi Sylvia ….. can you tell me where Thomas is buried? I have searched for his last resting place but cannot find it. thanks!
Scott Mains
April 2, 2014
Great post. I’ve been looking for information about where Thomas B. Mains died. He is my great, great, great uncle. My brother has an original tin-type of him in an enlisted Cavalry uniform.
Robert Moore
April 3, 2014
Is this the same picture?
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=mains&GSfn=thomas&GSmn=b&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=102324730&df=all&
Scott Mains
April 8, 2014
Yes, that is the photo! It is a copy of one of a number of restorative prints my grandfather had made from the tin-type some years ago. It appears a copy made its way to the Shippensburg Historical Society and now to Findagrave. I have put a few photographs of the tin-type on the findagrave page. My Grandfather is probably the one who pasted the caption at the bottom giving incorrect unit and rank. Accurate information is a little easier to come by today than it was a few decades ago, thanks in part to efforts of people like you.
The Middle Spring Monument and the records you mention, are the answer I’ve been looking for. Could you tell me more about these service records, where I might be able to view them? Thanks for sharing.
Robert Moore
April 8, 2014
Scott,
I took a look at his service record in the online service known as “Fold3”. They are scans of the actual service cards are stored at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
I’m glad you found the post interesting and useful!
Scott Mains
April 9, 2014
Thank you. I’ll look into that.