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Title: Black Union soldier finally receives recognition nearly 100 years after his death in Nevada
Source:
US News and World Report
URL Source: http://www.usnews.com/news/us/artic ... ried-in-nevada-finally-honored
Published: Jun 7, 2015
Author: Martin Griffith
Post Date: 2015-06-08 09:06:16 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 543
Comments: 3
John Riggs of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, left, and Linda Clements of the Historical Society of Dayton Valley pay their respects to Pvt. Scott Carnal of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry during a ceremony Sunday, June 7, 2015, at his grave in Dayton, 30 miles south of Reno, Nev. Carnal, a runaway slave who joined the Union Army during the Civil War and lost a leg after being wounded in battle, finally received recognition during a military funeral Sunday, nearly 100 years after he died in Nevada. A runaway slave who joined the Union Army during the Civil War and lost a leg after being wounded in battle finally received recognition Sunday, nearly 100 years after he died in Nevada. Nevada historians say they decided to hold a military funeral for Pvt. Scott Carnal of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry because it's unlikely he received any recognition after his death in 1917 in Dayton, about 40 miles south of Reno. Carnal was long forgotten until modern researchers discovered that he belonged to the United States Colored Troops and was severely wounded in the Battle of Honey Springs in what is now Oklahoma on July 17, 1863. He was roughly 73 when he died, and no obituary on him has surfaced. Over 200 people, many of them wearing Civil War-era attire, paid tribute to Carnal and other unsung veterans at the Dayton Cemetery during the ceremony staged by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the Historical Society of Dayton Valley and several other groups. Firing squads and a bugler stood to offer three-volley salutes and play taps. A riderless horse led by a man circled Carnal's grave. John Riggs of the Sons of Union Veterans said Carnal was a hero for putting his life on the line to preserve the Union and abolish slavery. The Virginia-born Carnal joined the Union Army in Kansas in March 1863, shortly after running away from his slave master in Missouri. He was about 19 at the time. "Can you imagine being a slave out on some plantation and seeing the Civil War going on and you say, 'Well, I need to be part of that?'" Riggs said. "For somebody that young to volunteer to go out in the field to fight and then get shot in combat, he had to be a hero. He did his duty as a volunteer for freedom." Christopher Price, director of the Honey Springs Battlefield, said Carnal's brigade played a major role in the battle, which was a turning point for the Union in the campaign west of the Mississippi River. The soldiers who fought it were mostly of African-American and American-Indian ancestry. The United States Colored Troops made up over 10 percent of the Union Army, while only 1 percent of the North's population was black, according to the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum in Washington, D.C. After President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation took effect on Jan. 1, 1863, the War Department publicly authorized the recruiting of blacks. "Without the military help of the black freedmen, the war against the South could not have been won," Lincoln said. After Carnal was hit in the thigh by a musket ball at the Battle of Honey Springs, his wound festered until doctors amputated his leg nine years later, according to his military records. His physical struggles continued, and he eventually was awarded a military pension by the government. He married after the Civil War and had a daughter. He later headed west to mine gold and silver in Colorado and Nevada. A likely grandson, Anatole Cornell, died in New York City's Harlem neighborhood in 2007, and no descendants have turned up so far. Linda Clements, president of the Historical Society of Dayton Valley, said she's baffled how Carnal ended up in Dayton. She will serve as his "surrogate mother" and tend his grave until any descendants or other family can be found, she said. "For now Scott is my adoptive ancestor ... I am fascinated by his story and I hope somehow in the great equalizer of death he's found the comfort that was so often denied him in life," she wrote by email. 
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#1. To: cranky (#0)
More HorseHillary! Lincoln never freed a single slave. The Emancipation Proclamation was a statement that said slaves in the SOUTH were free,and never once addressed slaves in the north. Since Lincoln had no dominion over the south at that time,it was the equivalent of Obomber telling the Chinese their government has no authority over them. These people just like to play dress-up and feel good about themselves. Notice how the flag is on the ground? That should tell you something about their knowledge right there. Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
That's true enough. But Carnel was a runaway slave that escaped to a free state (Kansas) and enlisted (presumably as a freed man) after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect. That's all the article asserts. There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
And who could blame him? (presumably as a freed man) after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect. Well,since he escaped to a state that forbid slavery,he WAS a free man. That's all the article asserts. To me it clearly implies that those who fought for the north were fighting for humanity and against slavery,and that just wasn't true in most cases. It also implied these amateur actors are noble people for honoring the life that led to the death of this former slave,when the truth is all they were doing was playing adult dress-up. They had researched his life so well they knew nothing about him other than someone with his name supposedly enlisted in the Union Army and lost a leg during the war. They didn't check Union Army pension records to see who got his benefit checks after he died so they could invite any of his living relatives to attend,and they are so ignorant or careless that they allowed a flag to be sat on the ground during a ceremony to honor a veteran. Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
. After President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation took effect on Jan. 1, 1863, the War Department publicly authorized the recruiting of blacks.
#2. To: sneakypete (#1)
The Emancipation Proclamation was a statement that said slaves in the SOUTH were free,and never once addressed slaves in the north. Since Lincoln had no dominion over the south at that time,it was the equivalent of Obomber telling the Chinese their government has no authority over them.
#3. To: cranky (#2)
But Carnel was a runaway slave that escaped to a free state (Kansas) and enlisted .....
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