Pvt William Harris
| Harris, William H. Born: c. 1844, Canada Died: Unknown Burial: Unknown (Initially indicated as New Haven, CT. Further research needed) Occupation: Gas Worker Enlisted: March 15, 1864, Hartford, Connecticut Unit: 30th Connecticut Colored Infantry (later 31st U.S. Colored Troops) Company: D Rank: Private *Note: Under pressure to meet federal quotas, the State of Connecticut would arbitrarily assigned enlistees from other locations to various Connecticut towns to meet its quota. This appears to be the case with Pvt. Willim H. Harris. --------------------------- A Civil War casualty sheet indicates that Private William H. Harris of Company D, 31st United States Colored Infantry was wounded at “Cemetery Hill, Virginia, July 30, 1864.” Beyond a handful of such military records, little is known about the man himself. Like many soldiers of the Civil War era, Harris survives in history primarily through the documents created during his military service. William Harris was born around 1844 in Canada. It was fairly common for Black men living in Canada to enlist in Union “colored” regiments during the Civil War. Historians estimate that several thousand Black Canadians served in the Union army, many in the United States Colored Troops (USCT). After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, thousands of freedom seekers fled the United States through the Underground Railroad and settled in Ontario, then known as Canada West. When the Civil War began, many of these men still saw the conflict as their fight for freedom and for the destruction of slavery in the United States. William enlisted in the Union army on March 15, 1864, in Hartford, Connecticut. He was assigned to Company D of the 31st United States Colored Troops. His enlistment papers list his residence as Windsor. Medical records created in August 1864 list his residence as Rochester, New York. In those same records, Harris identified his next of kin as a woman named Henrietta Harris, who may have been his mother, as Harris is listed as unmarried at the time of his enlistment. During this period Connecticut was attempting to meet its federal enlistment quota. Listing Harris’s residence as Windsor may have been a means of crediting his enlistment toward the town’s required quota. On July 30, 1864, Union forces attempted to break the Confederate defensive lines outside Petersburg, Virginia, in what became known as the Battle of the Crater. Soldiers of the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry had dug a long mine beneath the Confederate earthworks and packed it with thousands of pounds of gunpowder. When the mine exploded before dawn, it created a massive crater and killed many Confederate defenders, opening what Union commanders hoped would be a path into the city. Instead, confusion and poor leadership caused attacking troops to rush directly into the crater rather than around it, leaving them trapped under intense Confederate fire from the surrounding embankments. Units of United States Colored Troops were then sent forward in an effort to revive the failing assault. Among them was the 31st United States Colored Infantry, the regiment in which William Harris served. As Confederate forces counterattacked and fired down into the crowded crater and surrounding trenches, the fighting became desperate and chaotic. During this brutal engagement, William Harris sustained injuries later noted in his military record. Harris spent the next two months recovering in hospitals. On August 19, 1864, he was transferred to Summit House Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Summit House was one of several large military hospitals used during the Civil War to treat wounded Union soldiers transferred from battlefields in Virginia. The fact that Harris was sent all the way to Philadelphia suggests that his wound was serious enough that it could not be treated in field hospitals near Petersburg. Soldiers with minor wounds were usually treated in division or corps hospitals in Virginia rather than transported north. Because Harris was transferred to Summit House Hospital, he likely passed through the Union army’s medical evacuation network from Petersburg, which typically included a field hospital near the battlefield, transfer through the large depot hospital complex at City Point, Virginia, and then transportation by rail or hospital vessel to a major northern hospital. Hospital records indicate that Harris was treated using cold water dressings. At the time, such treatments were commonly used to reduce inflammation, control bleeding, and soothe wounded tissue. Frequently applied to gunshot wounds, shrapnel injuries, and severe inflammation following trauma, this treatment gives us some indication of the type of wounds Harris may have suffered. On October 2, 1864, Harris returned to duty. He remained with his regiment through the end of the war mustering out with the 31st United States Colored Troops on November 7, 1865. In the 1870 federal census, a Canadian-born Black man named William Harris who matches Harris’s age appears living in New Haven, Connecticut, with a wealthy Virginia woman named Matilda Chase. Though William is listed as head of household, all property is listed under Matilda, and a note next to her name appears to say, “her home.” While their relationship is unclear, I suspect the record errantly lists her surname as Chase and she is likely not related to William. On March 22, 1871, a Canadian-born Black man named William H. Harris of a similar age applies for United States citizenship in New Haven. Finally, in the 1880 census, a Canadian-born Black man named William Harris of a similar age appears living in New York City, married to a woman named Mary. These records suggest that Harris may have lived for a time after the war in New Haven before possibly moving back to the state of New York, which is where he lived prior to the war. Unfortunately, there are many veterans in both New Haven and New York who share the name William Harris, making it extremely difficult to trace him with certainty. What ultimately became of William H. Harris remains unknown. |