A bronze plaque will be erected at the burial site of the 56th United States Colored Infantry at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Unlike the monument that currently stands identifying the soldiers as “unknown,” the plaque will list the names of all 118 soldiers buried in the mass grave.
The regiment of former slaves served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Most died of cholera in August 1866.
The recognition is the result of lengthy lobbying by the St. Louis African American History and Genealogy Society. When society member Sarah Cato visits Jefferson Barracks, she said, she is bothered by a particular sight.
“I see the pointed headstones that distinguish Confederate dead from Union dead,” Cato said. “Then I go to the mass grave where the men of the 56th are buried, and I see tombstones that say ‘Unknown’ with no recognition of these men at all.”
It was Alfred Katzenberger with the Jefferson Barracks Chapel Association who informed the society of the situation last March. Cato said she and other members were appalled. Soon after, they formed a research committee to investigate the matter. Members sent letters to U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt and U.S. Reps. Wm. Lacy Clay and Ann Wagner.
Cato said Wagner, whose congressional 2nd District includes Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, has been supportive of their efforts. Wagner spoke at the society’s inaugural memorial ceremony for the regiment held last August at Jefferson Barracks.
Society members also reached out to Brion Moore with the National Cemetery Administration at the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. Moore said the VA is required by law to appropriately mark each grave in a national cemetery. Society members ran into issues when they attempted to add the names of 55 soldiers whose remains were deemed unrecoverable to the plaque. Cato said the remains were likely buried along the banks of the Mississippi River.
Moore said the law currently stipulates that only next of kin can request a memorial when remains are unrecoverable. He said the National Cemetery Administration is currently working on revising currently “restrictive” regulations and revisions would be published in the federal register. Society members were given until May 31 to locate a descendant of at least one of the 55 soldiers. They found George Abington.
Abington was conducting his own genealogical search when he sought help from the St. Charles County Historical Society. When the St. Louis African American History and Genealogy Society hosted a general meeting, Cato was approached by a member from the St. Charles County Historical Society.
“She pulled me to the side and said, ‘I have a descendant that I’ve been in contact with,” Cato said of Abington. “We found him and talked with him.”
Abington is the great-great-great nephew of Private Granville Avington, who is believed to have been 18 or 19 years old when he died of cholera aboard the Steamer Continental. Cato said the society recently submitted paperwork with Abington as a descendant to the VA. She hopes the new plaque will be installed before this year’s memorial ceremony in August.
Abington attended last year’s memorial ceremony and was presented with a triangular-folded flag (traditional at military funerals) in honor of his ancestor. Society members will meet at Jefferson Barracks on Memorial Day at noon where the soldier’s names will again be read.
“Y’all didn’t know their names,” Cato said. “We’re going to read their names every time so they’re not forgotten.”
The St. Louis African American History and Genealogy Society meets on every third Saturday of each month at the Missouri History Museum.
Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil.
