Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

John Lyles (b. circa 1842 - d. 1902)
MSA SC 5496-050578
Enlisted with Company E, 30th Regiment, USCT, in Montgomery County, 1864

Biography:

John A. Lyles was born around 1842 to farmer Vachel Lyles and his wife, Lucinda Mason. Both of whom appeared in Montgomery County's 1850 census as free African Americans.1sVachel and Lucinda Lyles had four more children: Malinda in 1851, William in 1852, Vachel, Jr. in 1857, and Jeremiah in 1859. John and his sister, Christina (b. 1849), may have been Lucinda's children, whom Vachel adopted, since both John and Christina had the Mason surname in 1850. Christina married Moses Prather in 1875, one of the founders of the African American community of Prathertown.2

On February 29, 1864, John Lyles enlisted with the 30th Regiment of the Maryland Volunteer Infantry. Colonel Samuel M. Bowman mustered him into service as a private on March 4.3 Lyles transferred to the U.S. Navy on April 17th, 1864.4 He was registered as a landsman, meaning a recruit with little or no sailing experience.5 He served until the end of the war, and received his final pay on December 23, 1865.

Following the war, Lyles worked as farm laborer in the Clarksburg area. He and his wife, Margaret Elizabeth Plummer, lived north of Damascus between Richard Watkins's farm and William H. Bowman's farm. Lyles was still living in Damascus in 1890, when he appeared in Maryland's census of war veterans that year.6 In 1900, the census recorded John and Margaret Lyles as having had one child who was no longer living.7 John Lyles passed away on October 30, 1902.8 The African American Civil War Memorial in Washington D.C. lists John Lyles name on the Wall of Honor, along with 209,144 others. Lyles appears on plaque B-46.9
 

1.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for John Lyles, 1850, Montgomery County, Clarksburg District, Page 34, Line 37 [MSA SM61-142, M 1499-1].

2.     MONTGOMERY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, (Marriage Licenses), 1867-1899, [MSA T2490-1]. Moses Prather and Christina Lyles, March 5, 1875.

3.     ADJUTANT GENERAL, (Muster Roll Record), Date: 1863-1865, Description: Colored, Location: 02/08/05/025, MdHR Number: 5598, MSA Citation: MSA S343-5.

4.     U.S. Colored Troops Military Service Records, 1861-1865, Infantry. John Lyles, Company E, 30th Regiment.

5.     "John Lyles." The Union African American Sailors Index. National Park Service. http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/sailors_trans.htm.

6.     U.S. Veteran Schedule (Census Record, MD) for John Lyles, 1890, Montgomery County, Damascus, Page 1, Line 6 [MSA SM61-364, M 28-9].

7.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for John Lyles, 1900, Montgomery County, Damscus, District 64, Page 18 [MSA SM61-416, M 2386-2].

8.     BOARD OF HEALTH, (Death Record, Counties), 10/1902, [MSA S1178-1219]. John Lyles, October 30, 1862, Montgomery County.

9.     "John Lyles." Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System. National Park Service. http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm.
        "The African American Civil War Memorial." African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation and Museum. http://www.afroamcivilwar.org/.
   

Researched and written by Rachel Frazier, 2010.

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