North Carolina city honors black Civil War soldiers

Mayor Bill Saffo and area Civil War re-enactors formally unveiled Wilmington's newest highway historical marker on Thursday – a salute to African-American soldiers who died in the Civil War.

The marker on the 2100 block of Market Street commemorates members of the "United States Colored Troops" buried in the nearby Wilmington National Cemetery. About 500 African-American soldiers and their white officers are believed to be buried there, many in unmarked graves.

"They gave everything they had for national unity and for personal freedom," said Jim Steele, manager of the Fort Fisher State Historic Site. "Their service and their sacrifice will not be forgotten again."

In a ceremony organized by the city's Commission on African-American History, Mayor Saffo presented a special certificate of appreciation to Fred Johnson, a local Civil War re-enactor who had researched the story of the black soldiers buried in Wilmington.

The dedication Thursday also honored Fred Johnson, a local Civil War re-enactor who has researched the story of the black soldiers buried in Wilmington and pushed for them to be recognized.

A Philadelphia native and an Army Sergeant during the Korean War who retired to Wilmington in the 1990s, Johnson became interested in the Civil War through studying his family history.

Johnson said his great-great grandfather, Peter Quomony, served in the U.S. Colored Troops from 1863 to 1865. Another ancestor who died in the war is buried in an unmarked grave at the New Bern National Cemetery.

Civil War historian Chris Fonvielle said the historical marker deserved to be erected, pointing out some 3,300 African-American soldiers in two brigades served in the Cape Fear region.

He said many of the Colored Troops were North Carolinians and ex-slaves, and one of their regiments, the 37th, included men from the Wilmington area.

The troops served as occupation forces in the area after the war, and many stayed on after their discharges.
Oh, what a morning!" shouted Johnson, wearing the uniform of a Civil War-era artillery sergeant.

He thanked Chris Fonvielle, a historian with the University of North Carolina Wilmington who serves on the state committee that approves new highway markers. Fonvielle had been a strong advocate for the project, Johnson said.

Spectators included both re-enactors of U.S. Colored Troops in Union blue and members of Cape Fear Chapter No. 3 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, many of whom dressed in black as hoop-skirted Civil War widows.