On March 6th, 1864, Preston joined the Union efforts as a private in Co. F of the 30th USCT.4 The 30th USCT was organized at Camp Stanton in the beginning of 1864 and assigned to the 9th Corps.5 The regiment’s first major action was in the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg.6
The regiment also notably participated in the Battle for Sugar Loaf
Hill, Cox’s Bridge March, both efforts to capture Fort Fisher, and the
Capture of Wilmington.7
Preston
was one of many African Americans engaged in the Siege of Petersburg, a
costly nine month campaign from June of 1864 to March of 1865 of trench
warfare designed by Union officers to commandeer the trade post city of
Petersburg.8 One of the significant battles of the Siege of
Petersburg was the Battle of the Crater. Ordered by Lieutenant Colonel
Henry Pleasants, federals dug a mine
under the Petersburg battlefield and set up four tons of gunpowder to
explode under the confederate banks in the early morning of July 30th,
1864; the ensuing battle resulted in high casualty combat.9 During the siege of Petersburg, the Mine Explosion in the Battle of the Crater lacerated Prestons’ left hand.10 A victim of the brutally cold winter, Preston lost much of his big right toe to frostbite.11 Preston was discharged June 26th, 1865.12
According to John Hynes, Preston returned to the Hynes family for work
because the economic landscape was foreboding for former slaves.13
Hynes recalled, “George Preston was in my employment cutting fodder
[when] his left hand was caught in the wheels of the machine which was
no fault of his...this happened in November 1878”.14 In
1892, Preston successfully filed his first invalid claim and became a
pensioner at $6 per month due to frostbite in hands and feet leading to
disease, injury to left hand, and rheumatism, a nonspecific medical
term for muscle and joint pain.15 In 1904, Preston
successfully applied for a $6 increase in his pension; he was 74 years
old and could not earn a living performing manual labor.16
On February 1st, 1893, Rev. R.H. Adams wed George Preston and Agnes Green in Ellicott City, Maryland.17 Green was never married prior to Preston, but had a child before their marriage named Sarah.18 Sarah died on June 18, 1905, and her father remains unknown.19 Mr. and Mrs. Preston had five children together: Ida, Daniel, Dora, Reba, and Della. In April 1901.20
“All of the soldier’s children except Della were taken away from their
parents and placed in charitable institutions several years before the
parents died. This was because the soldier’s house burned, his wife was
blind, and they could not take proper care of the little ones”.21 In addition to being blind, Mrs. Preston developed severe tuberculosis, leading to her death on September 4th, 1907.22 Agnes Preston was 50 years old when she died in Oella.23 George Preston died approximately one year later on December 18th, 1908.24
Sallie Rideout Brown, a gardener and coachman, was appointed the
guardian of Della Preston on April 13th, 1910 by the Orphan Court of
Baltimore County, Maryland.25 Brown was appointed as the
guardian of Della after the death of Mr. and Mrs. Preston. Brown was
never made aware of the whereabouts of any other Preston children
besides Della. Two years after Mrs. Preston’s death, Brown applied for
a Pension of Minor Children on behalf of the Preston children. On June
9th, 1909, the Preston children were awarded $12 per month, plus an
additional $2 per month for each subsequent child.26
LS Perkins, Commissioner of Pensions and Special Examiner, recorded the
birth dates and whereabouts of all the Preston Children. Perkins wrote,
“Ida Preston, now an inmate of the Industrial Home for Colored Girls at
Melvale, Baltimore Company, Maryland, was born on March 4th, 1894.
Daniel Preston, now an inmate of the Home for Friendless Colored
Children at No. 1624 Druid Hill Ave., Baltimore, Maryland, was born on
March 12th, 1896…Della Preston, now in the care of the guardian at
Oella, Baltimore County, Maryland, whose post-office address is
Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland, R.F.D. No. 3, born on May 10th,
1902…”.27 Dora died on March 14th 1903 at 4 months old and Reba died April 26th, 1901.28
Mother Mary Mildred, nun in the Maryland Home for Friendless Colored
Children, wrote that “the baby Reba Preston died in 1901. She was only
four months old when received and little babies we find it almost
always impossible to raise,”.29 Unfortunately, not much is known about what happened to Ida, Daniel, and Della.
24. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (U.S. Colored Troops Pension File Collection) [MSA SC 3520] George Preston, Box 30, Folder 2, Page 51.
25. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (U.S. Colored Troops Pension File Collection) [MSA SC 3520] George Preston, Box 30, Folder 2, Page 126.
26. SPECIAL COLLECTION (U.S. Colored Troops Pension File Collection) [MSA SC 3520] George Preston, Box 30, Folder 2, Page 1.
27. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (U.S. Colored Troops Pension File Collection) [MSA SC 3520] George Preston, Box 30, Folder 2, Page 128.
28. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (U.S. Colored Troops Pension File Collection) [MSA SC 3520] George Preston, Box 30, Folder 2, Page 30.
29. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (U.S. Colored Troops Pension File Collection) [MSA SC 3520] George Preston, Box 30, Folder 2, Page 28.
Written and Researched by Daniel Ingham, 2013.
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