Eli Fisher (b. 1842 - d. 1904)
MSA
SC 3520-8738
USCT Soldier, Caroline County, Maryland
Biography:
Eli Fisher was born a slave in Queen Anne's County, in 1842. Immediately prior to his military service, Fisher was owned by John B.D. Thomas, who had about $15,000 worth of property near Ruthsberg, Queen Anne's County.1 He was officially freed, through a deed of manumission, by Thomas in May of 1864.2 Fisher had actually been enlisted in February, earlier that year. Like many other Eastern Shore slave holders, Thomas realized that this was probably his last chance to get compensation for his chattel. He was ultimately paid $100 for Fisher's service in the United States Colored Troops, 30th Regiment.3
The pension record revealed little about his military action, and none of his injuries were attributed to that cause. Fisher's regiment trained at Fort Stanton, Charles County from February 12th to March 18th, 1864. The 30th would go on to see action in several key battles, including the siege of Petersburg, VA and the capture of Fort Fisher, NC. Over 200 men died as a result of these engagements. Eli Fisher most likely contributed to these efforts in some capacity, but the depositions and medical reports provide very little detail about that issue. He was listed as "absent sick since April 10, 1865." Confederate troops in North Carolina would surrender shortly thereafter. Fisher and the rest of his regiment were discharged in December 1865, at which point he moved back to the Eastern Shore.4
He and Ann Maria Thomas were married in 1867 by Reverend Philip
Kennedy, listed as an M.E. Church deacon, at the house of his brother
Perry.5 Philip and Perry were either nephews or cousins of David Canada,
one of the most prominent free African-Americans in the immediate
community. Just the next year, Canada would donate a portion of his
land to the church.6 Eli Fisher and his wife settled nearby,
in Ridgely, Caroline County. However, the former soldier was not back
on the Eastern Shore long before losing his freedom once again.
In 1868, Fisher was involved in an altercation with a fellow black
farmhand named William Holmes. Both had been attending an August camp
meeting, "in John Reed's woods." Fisher shot Holmes in the chest with a
pistol, almost instantly killing him. Though the crime occurred in
Caroline County, for unknown reasons, the trial and conviction took
place in Talbot County. Eli Fisher was sentenced to the Maryland
Penitentiary in Baltimore for 16 years.7 Prison records indicate that he was "strictly temperate," a rarity within the list of convicts.8
He appears to have served the whole length of time, finally being
released in 1884. Ann claimed to have visited him for about 6 years
during that time.
After imprisonment, she contended that he intermittently returned to
Caroline County to visit her, despite the fact that she had been
co-habitating and had children with Perry Smith since at least 1880.9,10 Furthermore, Fisher had been remarried to an Amanda Smith, during his residence in Baltimore,
December of 1886.
Through the course of several depositions by federal officials, Ann
Maria Fisher's dishonesty about these details was exposed.
In 1896, an unspecified attack effectively left him paralyzed and therefore unable to support himself. He was listed simply as a "Pensioner" in the 1900 Census, while living in a predominantly black district of Baltimore's 15th Ward.11 About five years later, Fisher's brother Thomas traveled to Baltimore and brought Eli back to Caroline County. Witnesses, including Fisher's nephew and sister in law claimed that Ann Maria "did not nurse nor care for him, showed no interest in him at all except to him for his pension papers."12 They had been separated for over 20 years, and she was even referred to as Ann Maria Smith by her neighbors. Toward the end of his life, Eli Fisher was so paralyzed that his brother became responsible for his payments, along with local justice of the peace W.E. Temple. He could hardly move or speak by the time he died in November, 1904. The tedious review process ended roughly two years later, and his first wife's efforts to be the pension recipient after Fisher's death were ultimately rejected by the federal government.13
For a visual representation of Eli Fisher's journey from slavery to freedom, click here. Users must have access to Google Earth in order to utilize this file, which includes landmarks(pins) in Fisher's life from 1864 to 1904. You may take the tour and investigate individual sites under the "Places" tab on the left of the screen, or you may navigate using the slider and cursor on the map itself.
Footnotes -
1. Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census. Queen Anne's County, MD, District 3, p. 75.
2. QUEEN ANNE"S COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records), Book SED 1, 1863-1865, p. 225.
3. COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY (Bounty Rolls), 1864-1880, "USCT 30th Regiment, Slave - Eli Fisher."
4. History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-6, Volume 2 - "Thirtieth Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops" <aomol.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/2908/000001/000366/html/am366--233.html>
5. CAROLINE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Marriage Record), 1865-1886.
6. CAROLINE COUNTY COURT (Land Records), MSA CE 95-9, THK 33, p. 182.
7. TALBOT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Criminal Record), 1858-1882, pp. 240 - 244, "State of Maryland vs. Eli Fisher".
8. Ibid.
9. U.S. Colored Troops Pension File Collection, SC4126, Folder 173
11. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census, Baltimore, Ward 15, District 192, p. 23.
12. Pension.
Researched and Written by David Armenti and Tanner Sparks, 2012.
Return to Eli Fisher's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|
