Robert Lincoln (b. circa 1836 - d. circa ?)
MSA SC 5496-050577
Enlisted with Company B, 39th Regiment,
USCT, in Montgomery County, 1864
Biography:
On March 22, 1864, Robert Lincoln enlisted with the newly-formed 39th Regiment of the Maryland Volunteer Infantry in Montgomery County, Maryland. He then transferred to the Navy on April 11thof the same year.1 His tranfser was not unusual, since the U.S. War Deparment had sent out General Orders that spring asking any experienced seamen to consider transferring to the Navy. The orders also specified the goal of transferring one thousand men, "in the most expiditious manner," to the naval station in Baltimore.2 At least fourteen other soldiers from Company B transferred along with Lincoln, including Private Bazil Hall, who had also enlisted in Montgomery County. Four other soldiers from Montgomery County, Samuel Debtor, Bazel Ciphas, Richard Harriday, and Luke Letcher, also served in Company B.
Upon arriving at the naval station, Lincoln would have received payment
for the short time he had served with the United States Colored Troops,
which was slightly over a month. At 5'3" tall, Lincoln was classified as
a landsman, showing that he actually had little or no experience at sea.
From October 1864 to January 1867, Lincoln served two months on the
U.S.S.
Philadelphia and approximately two years aboard the
U.S.S.
Lancaster (1865 to 1867).3
Following
the War, Lincoln may have returned to Montgomery County, since a Robert Lincoln, born around 1825, was living in
Montgomery County in 1870.4 This Robert Lincoln lived only a
few houses away from Wilson
J. Lincoln, another African American veteran of the war.
As a vetaran of the Civil War, Robert Lincoln's name appears
on the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C., among the
names of the 209,145 soldiers. His name is found on plaque C-54 on the Wall
of Honor.5
1. ADJUTANT GENERAL, (Muster Rolls), 1863-1866, U.S. Colored Troops, [MSA S936-50]. Robert Lincoln, Company B, 39th Regiment, Line 10.
2. Col. Robert Nicholson Scott. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 33 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1891) 926.
3. "Robert Lincoln." The Union African American Sailors Index. National Park Service. http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/sailors_index.html.
6. U.S. Census Bureau (Census
Record, MD) for Robert Lincoln, 1870, Montgomery County, District 5, Page
26, Line 8 [MSA SM61-275, M 7256].
5. "Robert Lincoln." 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/
Return to Robert Lincoln's Introductory Page
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