Fallen, but not Forgotten: Sgt. John Grinnell, Co. E, 38th USCI

ECW is pleased to welcome back Tim Talbott, founding member and President of the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association.

In the Border States of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri the process of emancipation and enlisting formerly enslaved men played out under unique circumstances. Those individuals who remained loyal to the Union and claimed ownership of the enslaved eligible for United States service believed they deserved compensation for their loss in human property. Some received payment if they could prove their allegiance. It appears that enslaved man John Grinnell fell under Maryland’s enrollment act and thus left bondage under his enslaver, William J. Edelen, Sr. of St. Mary’s County. Due to his military service, Grinnell experienced the sweet taste of liberty, if only for a brief time.

John Grinnell enlisted at Leonardtown, St. Mary’s County, on March 1, 1864. Less than a week later he officially mustered into United States service at Norfolk, Virginia. St. Mary’s County sent hundreds of men into the ranks of the United States Colored Troops. Two St. Mary’s County men, William H. Barnes and James H. Harris, both 38^th USCI comrades of Grinnell, received the Medal of Honor for their valor at the Battle of New Market Heights. In addition, another 38^th soldier, Edward Ratcliff, a Virginian, also received the honor.

Records indicate that John Grinnell was a native of St. Mary’s County, 26 years old, five feet three inches tall, and possessed a “dark” complexion. In less than two months after signing up, Grinnell received promotion to sergeant. By the time of Grinnell’s enlistment, he was a family man. John married Jane Lee on Christmas Eve, 1862. The couple’s union produced a daughter named Emily (Emma), who arrived on November 1, 1863.

It is unknown if William Edelen, Sr. also enslaved Jane Lee, or if she and John Grinnell endured an abroad marriage, which was not uncommon. William Edelen, Sr. appears in the 1860 census for District 3 of St. Mary’s County, as a physician and farmer of considerable wealth. Edelen’s family consisted of his wife, Ellen, and their seven children, ranging in age from 22 to three. Much of Edelen’s $49,000 in personal property was due to his claiming 57 human laborers, who lived in five slave dwellings. Two of Edelen’s sons, Philip F. (1^st Battery, Maryland Artillery), and William, Jr. (2^nd Maryland Infantry Battalion) served in the Confederate army. Ironically, both soldier sons lost their freedom for time while confined at Point Lookout prison in their native St. Mary’s County.

The 38^th USCI initially trained and served in the Norfolk, Portsmouth, and northeastern North Carolina area. However, as operations heated up around Petersburg and Richmond in the summer of 1864, the regiment transferred and eventually became part of the 3^rd Division of the XVIII Corps, composed of all USCT regiments. Despite being an eight-company regiment, the 38^th soon proved they were more than worthy of joining Col. Alonzo Draper’s brigade, which also included the 5^th USCI, recruited primarily in Ohio, and the 36^th USCI, recruited in northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia.

Located at Deep Bottom landing on the James River by the night of September 28, the 38^th USCI and their brigade comrades moved out before daylight to a staging area where they formed and then awaited orders. After receiving a word of encouragement from Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, who encouraged the men to “Remember Fort Pillow!,” Draper’s Brigade went to ground while Col. Samuel Duncan’s small brigade, consisting of the 4^th USCI and 6^th USCI, attacked the Confederate earthworks along New Market Road. Duncan’s Brigade received devastating fire from along the Confederate front held in large part by the famous Texas Brigade. Unable to completely break the defensive line, and reeling after taking over 50 percent casualties, Duncan’s Brigade, or what was left of it, fell back to reorganize.

Col. Alonzo Draper’s Brigade received orders to attack next. Division commander, Brig. Gen. Charles J. Paine, ordered that Draper’s Brigade assault in column with the 5^th USCI leading, followed by the 36^th USCI, and finally the 38^th USCI. Like Duncan’s Brigade, the 5^th USCI met extremely heavy fire from the Confederates. During the time between the first and second assaults, the Southerners had come out in front of their earthworks and collected the rifles of the killed and wounded in Duncan’s Brigade for Confederate use against Draper’s attack. While assaulting, the 5^th and the rest of Draper’s Brigade halted at a line of abatis. After a pause of about half an hour, a cheer by the surviving officers and non-commissioned officers rallied the momentum of the brigade who surged through the abatis, up to and then over the earthworks, driving out the defenders.

Although Sgt. Grinnell’s regiment was last to attack, they sustained significant casualties. The horrific tally was 21 killed in action, 12 fatally wounded, and 75 surviving wounded. Those who fell killed in the fight included John Grinnell. In Gen. Butler’s October 11, 1864 report, the commander of the Army of the James commended Grinnell’s 38^th USCI comrades Ratcliff, Barnes, and Harris, as well as a white NCO, Sgt. Maj. Martin Weiss, and white commissioned officers, Lt. Samuel Bancroft and Capt. Peter Schlick. Sgt. Grinnell went unmentioned, and thus, unfortunately, largely forgotten to the history of the Battle of New Market Heights.

Jane Grinnell appears in the historical record immediately following the Civil War. It is unknown if she relocated to Norfolk, Virginia, during the war or afterward, but pension and Freedman’s Bureau records show her and Emily living there at Taylor’s Farm and having an account with the Freeman’s Bank. However, mother and daughter were not located in the 1870 census or records thereafter.

William Edelen, Sr. filed a compensation claim in 1867 for the loss of John Grinnell to the United States army three years earlier. In it Edelen swore he maintained loyalty throughout the war and that he never gave “any aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement to any person or persons engaged . . . in insurrection, rebellion or armed hostility against the United States,” despite having two sons in the Confederate army. Edelen also had two fellow citizens vouch for his war-time allegiance. Nothing in Sgt. Grinnell’s service records positively indicates that Edelen received payment, but chances are good that he did. Had Sgt. Grinnell survived he probably would not have cared one way or the other. Ultimately, he broke his bonds of slavery by enlisting, and his service helped abolish slavery for others, forever.

The location of Sgt. Grinnell’s grave is unidentified. His remains may be among those unknown soldiers reinterred at Fort Harrison National Cemetery or at City Point National Cemetery. Regardless of Grinnell’s ultimate resting place, we honor his courage in making the attack at New Market Heights, and we remember his sacrifice in service to the United States and for the causes of citizenship, liberty, justice, and Union.

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Tim Talbott is the Chief Administrative Officer for the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. He is the former Director of Education, Interpretation, Visitor Services, and Collections at Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier in Petersburg, Virginia. Tim is also the founding member and President of the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association. He maintains the “Random Thoughts on History” blog and has published articles in both book and scholarly journal format. Tim’s current project is researching soldiers captured during the Petersburg Campaign.

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The mission of the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association is to commemorate and educate. We seek to erect a monument at the site of the Battle of New Market Heights honoring the United States Colored Troops who served in the Third Division of the XVIII Corps (Army of the James). Among these men were fourteen African American soldiers and two white officers who received the Medal of Honor for acts of heroism on September 29, 1864. We also seek to educate the public about this significant military victory by the United States Colored Troops. More information is available at https://battleofnewmarketheights.org. As part of a collaboration between ECW and BNMHMEA, this piece is cross-posted at their website. 

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Sources:

1860 Census, accessed via Ancestry.com

Civil War “Widows” Pensions, accessed via Fold3.com

Compiled Military Service Record for Pvt. Philip F. Edelen, 1^st Battery, Maryland Artillery (CSA), accessed via Fold3.com

Compiled Military Service Record for Pvt. William J. Edelen, Jr., Co. A, 2^nd Maryland Infantry Battalion (CSA), accessed via Fold3.com

Complied Military Service Record for Sgt. John Grinnell, Co. E, 38^th USCI, accessed via Fold3.com

O.R. Vol. 42, Part 3