Scenes from Civil War New York: Two members of the USCT
ECW is pleased to welcome back Jonathan W. White and Timothy Justin Orr, authors of New York City in the Civil War (Arcadia, 2025) with another scene from Civil War New York. Part of a series.
LEFT: This photograph depicts Corporal William Henry Blood, who was born in Mohawk, New York, in 1842. On December 11, 1863, at age twenty-one, while in New York City, he enlisted in Company A, 20th U.S.C.I. Blood’s regiment spent much of the war guarding forts along the Mississippi River. Although his regiment endured months of boredom and disease, many of the soldiers experienced high times when they confiscated rebel property, occupying stately abandoned homes. When a Union general criticized the men of the 20th U.S.C.I. for having too much fun, one of them commented, “I did not blame him, for I thought we were laying the thing on a little too thick.” Corporal Blood was discharged on October 7, 1865.
RIGHT: Private Richard Oliver was born in April 1832 New Paltz, New York, on the Wallkill River. His parents had been born enslaved but were freed by New York’s 1817 Manumission Law. On December 26, 1863, at age thirty-one, he enlisted in the ranks of the Company K, 20th U.S.C.I., and served on Riker’s Island until his regiment shipped off to war. Like most soldiers in the 20th, Oliver experienced a fairly uneventful war, performing garrison duty at New Orleans and Dry Tortugas. However, in October 1865, he contracted malaria and never recovered. On October 25, he died aboard the steamer Northern Light, which was en route to New York City for the regiment’s muster out. The disposition of Oliver’s remains uncertain. It is highly likely that his comrades buried him at sea. His widow fought for three years to receive a pension, having to provide proof that her two children were his.
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Today’s scene relates to “Gotham’s Black Soldiers,” Chapter Nine in Jonathan and Tim’s book New York City in the Civil War, part of the Images of America Series from Arcadia Press.
