Luke Letcher (b. circa 1845 - d. 1865)
MSA SC 5496-050586
Enlisted with Company B, 39th Regiment, USCT, in Montgomery County,
1864
Biography:
Born around 1845, Luke Letcher was one of thirteen slaves owned by the Montgomery County farmer Samuel Riggs of R.1 On March 22, 1864, Letcher enlisted in Baltimore as a private with the 39th Regiment, U.S.C.T., of the Maryland Volunteer Infantry.2 He served in Company B along with other soldiers from Montgomery County, including Bazel Ciphas, Samuel Debtor, Bazil Hall, Richard Harriday, and Robert Lincoln. When Luke Letcher joined the 39th, he left behind five other slaves with the Letcher surname: John Letcher, age 23; Alcinda Letcher, age 25; Hannah Letcher, age 17; Emily Letcher, age 15; and Adolphine Letcher, age 13.3 Another of Riggs' slaves, Mortimer King, joined with the infantry as well, although he enlisted with the 30th instead.
The 30th participated in the Wilderness Campaign as well as the Siege of Petersburg in 1864, and also fought in the battles for Fort Fisher and Wilmington in 1865. At the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, "the 30th regiment took a distinguished part."4 Luke Letcher must have distinguished himself in particular during his service, since he had been promoted to the rank of sergeant by the end of the war. Unfortunately, the details surrounding his promotion are unknown.
On August 29, 1865, Sergeant Letcher died from typhoid fever in the
Regimental Hospital in New Bern, North Carolina.5 He was interred
at New Bern National Cemetery, as one of 3,500 Union soldiers buried there.6
His grave stands in section 14, grave 2548.7 In 1998, the African
American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C. commemorated Sergeant Letcher
among the 209,145 black soldiers listed on the monument. His name appears
on plaque C-54 on the Wall of Honor.8
1. MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSIONER
OF SLAVE STATISTICS (Slave Statistics) MSA CM750-1, Accession No.: CR 12255-2.
Samuel Riggs of R, Page 148 (Page 128 electronic).
ADJUTANT GENERAL,
(Muster Rolls), 1864-1865, S936, Date: 1864-1865, Description: Slaves mustered
into U.S. Colored Troops, 19th, 30th, and 39th Regiments Md. Volunteer
Infantry. Folder for AA at RB/2/1/1. Location: 02/05/04/045, MdHR Number:
50,055-51, MSA Citation: MSA S936-51. Luke Letcher, Montgomery County,
Folder No. 38.
2. Maryland Soldiers in the Civil War, Vol. 2, Record for Luke Letcher. www.ancestry.com.
3. MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS (Slave Statistics), [MSA CM750-1]. Samuel Riggs of R, Page 148 (Page 128 electronic).
4. Wilmer, L. Allison, 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.
5. ADJUTANT GENERAL, (Muster
Rolls), 1863-1866, U.S. Colored Troops, [MSA S936-50]. Luke Letcher, Co.
"B," 39th Reg. USCT.
Maryland Soldiers
in the Civil War, Vol. 2, Record for Luke Letcher. www.ancestry.com.
6. Federal Writers' Project. North Carolina: a Guide to the Old North State (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1939) 231.
7. U.S. Veterans Gravesites,
ca.1775-2006, Record for Luke Letcher. National Cemetery Administration.
Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. www.ancestry.com.
Roll of Honor,
Vol. XIX, Page 175, Record for Sergeant Luke Letcher, New Bern National
Cemetery, North Carolina. www.ancestry.com.
"Luke Letcher."
Nationwide Gravesite Locator. United States Department of Veteran Affairs.
http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1.
8. "Luke Letcher." 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/.
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