Black Confederate Veteran 'Dad' Brown Remembered

Hartsville Messenger ^ | 11-07-01 | Jim Faile, Managing Editor

[WhowasGustavusFox]

Darlington-A memorial service to honor a free black man from Darlington who voluntarily served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War became a call for unity and tolerance Friday.

As uniformed Confederate reenactors-white and black-stood at attention and the Confederate battle flag stirred gently in the breeze along side the Stars and Stripes...a state historical marker(was unveiled) commemorating the life of Henry 'Dad' Brown, a brick mason who served as a drummer with the 1st, 8th, and 21st SC Volunteer Infantry Regiments from 1861 to 1865.

....Born in 1830, Brown joined the Confederate army in 1861 as a drummer. Although he volunteered, he, like other blacks who served in the Confederate ranks, was not allowed to carry a firearm. Drummers were often used in the war to transmit messages by tapping out different cadences to troops in the field.

Brown returned to Darlington after the Civil War and established himself as a respected brick mason.

....Darlington county Historian Horace Rudisill recalled when Brown's memorial was originally dedicated nearly a decade ago and referred to criticism at that time that Brown was in fact a slave forced to serve in the Confederate Military. "Every shred of evidence indicates that Henry Brown, as a free man, affiliated with the Confederate Army out of loyalty to friends and neighbors, and out of great love for South Carolina."

[WhowasGustavusFox]

**mp

[meenie]

Most of the time in Civil War days the drummer led the charge. The bravery of the drummers was undisputed.

[aomagrat]

Southern Heritage Bump!

[TomServo]

Southern Bump - thanks!!

[billbears]

Thanks for the bump. Now that the truth is starting to come out more and more, the Confederacy is not seen as some evil power but more as the side that respected the Founders and the Constitution and the north as the destroyers of the Republic. BTW, there is a memorial in Fort Mill or Rock Hill SC(can't remember which) as well, dedicated to the 'men of color' who fought for the Confederacy.

[Twodees]

Jim Faile gets that dead wrong about black Confederates carrying firearms. He really should know better if he's from Hartsville and not some transplant.

[shuckmaster]

Great atricle. thanks!

[justshutupandtakeit]

And the point of this is to prove?

While interesting lets see evidence of armed black involvement in the fighting. NOt drummers, valets, laborers, muleskinners, cooks, orderlies etc. But black men with guns in their hands. (No passing for white types either.)

[WhowasGustavusFox]

And that would prove.....?

[Puertorrican]

Howdy! Y'all: For some information on the Black Confederates go to http://www.37thtexas.org/ It is a reenactment unit and you will find plenty information on the topic. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Critter company included blacks, both slave and free. And yes, many of those Black Confederates were fighting men. I am out of town, in a couple of weeks I’ll locate some information on, at least one, contingent of armed Black Confederates deployed to protect a train depot. And they did see combat. Deo Vindice Jaime R. Purcell