Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Daniel Proctor (b. circa 1844 - d. circa 1890)
MSA SC 5496-050579
Enlisted with Company C, 39th Regiment, USCT, in Montgomery County, 1864

Biography:

On March 23, 1864, the slave Daniel Proctor enlisted in Montgomery County with the newly-formed 39th Regiment of the Maryland Volunteer Infantry. He served in Company C along with Patrick Hoons, another soldier from the same county. The 39th participated in battles that included Petersburg, Spotsylvania Court House, and the Crater.1 Although Proctor signed up for three years, the end of the Civil War resulted in his discharge in June of 1865.2

According to the 39th's muster rolls, Daniel Proctor was the slave of Thomas Sellman when he joined the infantry.3 However, 1855 slave assessment records listed the seven-year-old Daniel as one of Gassaway Sellman's seven slaves.4 In 1867, Gassaway Sellman's heirs requested compensation from the federal government for the eight slaves that Sellman had lost to emancipation, including Daniel Proctor. Sellman's heirs omitted the fact that Proctor had enlisted with the Union army.5

Following the Civil War, Proctor briefly worked in Howard County as a farm laborer. He lived near Savage Mill, close to Jerome C. Berry's farm, with his wife Haddia and their children James (b. 1866) and George (b. 1868).6 Proctor returned to his native Montgomery County by 1880, where he lived with his second wife, Frances "Fannie" Walker (b. 1858), and their children John H. (b. 1876), Maria (b. 1878), and Elliott (b. May 1880).7 In 1890, the invalid and widowed Fannie Proctor applied for a pension. She listed "Daniel Proctor" of Maryland's 39th Regiment as her late husband.8

The African American Civil War Memorial in Washington D.C. lists Daniel Proctor name on the Wall of Honor, among 209,144 other soldiers, with Proctor's name appearing on plaque C-54.9


1.     L. Allison Wilmer, J. H. Jarrett, and Geo. W. F. Vernon. History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-65. Vol. 2 (Baltimore, MD: Guggenheimer, Weil & Co., 1899) 261.

2.     ADJUTANT GENERAL, (Muster Rolls), 1863-1866, U.S. Colored Troops, [MSA S936-50]. Daniel Proctor, Company C, 39th Regiment, Line 45.

3.     ADJUTANT GENERAL, (Muster Rolls), 1864-1865, Slaves mustered into U.S. Colored Troops, [MSA S936-51]. Daniel Proctor, Montgomery County, Folder No. 38.

4.     MONTGOMERY COUNTY, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, (Assessment Record, Slaves), 1853-1864, [MSA C1112-1]. Slaveholder: Gassaway Sellman. Slave: Daniel. 3rd District, 1855, page 115.

5.     MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS (Slave Statistics), [MSA CM750-1]. Gassaway Sellman, heirs of, per William O. Sellman. Page 138 (Page 118 electronic).

6.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Daniel Proctor, 1870, Howard County, District 6, Page 27, Line 18 [MSA SM61-275, M 7256].

7.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Dan'l Proctor, 1880, Montgomery County, District 115, Page 24, Line 26 [MSA SM61-324, M 4748-2].

8.     "Daniel Proctor (widow of)." Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934. Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. www.ancestry.com.

9.     "Daniel Proctor." 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.

Return to Daniel Proctor's Introductory Page


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