Private Charles Lawrence

Pvt. Charles Lawrence

Pvt Charles Lawrence was born c. 1840 in Franklin County, Virginia, and enlisted on September 8, 1864, in Rome, Georgia, for a term of 3 years. Military records described him as 24 years old, 6’0” tall, with a brown complexion, black eyes, and black hair. In a census record, years later, he is described as mulatto. He enlisted in the 44th USCT Infantry Co. K for a bounty of $300.

Pvt Lawrence was captured on October 11, 1864, at Dalton, Georgia. Two days after his capture, under the command of Col. Lewis Johnson, the entire regiment was surrendered to Confederate General John B. Hood. This was the largest surrender of African American soldiers during the war. Although the white officers were soon paroled, approximately 250 enlisted men were returned to their former owners. Another 350 enlisted men were pressed into Confederate service as personal servants for officers or as engineer labor in Mississippi and at Mobile, Alabama.

On May 1, 1865, Lawrence managed to escape and flee to Union troops near Thomasville, Georgia. He returned to the 44th USCT Infantry Co. K. and reported for duty, and was marked present at the June 5, 1865, muster roll. By December 1, 1865, only 125 of the original 600 men in the regiment were still alive. Col. Johnson returned to Tennessee as soon as he was able and recruited again for the regiment, mustering approximately 300 men at Chattanooga.

Lawrence was posted for garrison duty at Chattanooga until mustering out on April 30, 1866. Despite all that he had been through, he was charged 28 cents for a screwdriver and cone wrench in November 1865 and charged $8.25 for clothing in February 1865. Also in February, his muster roll notes that he was paid $100 of his bounty but was still owed $100.

After his service with the USCT, at age 26, Lawrence left Chattanooga to work as a freedman laborer making repairs to the railroad for the Mississippi Central Railroad Company. A contract through the Freedmen’s Bureau indicated that Lawrence was one of 28 men contracted for $20 a month, to be paid between the 15th and 30th of each month, for a period of one year. The contract stated the men will also receive “quarters, substantial and healthy rations, all necessary medical attendance and supplies in case of sickness.”

Lawrence, at age 39, was found listed in the 1880 Census living in Mangohick, King WIlliam County, Virginia, with his wife, Susan (Braxton), 29; their son William T., age 5; their son Charles F., age 3, and daughter Alberta, age 1. Lawrence was listed as a farmer and his wife a housekeeper. The census stated that neither Charles nor Susan could read or write.

The couple had additional children, but thirty years later the 1910 census indicated that Susan was a 59-year-old widow. She resided with her 25-year-old son Emanuel Lawrence, his wife Evelin and their daughter Beulah, who was 2 years old at that time. Emanuel worked at a lumbermill, and he owned his home and a farm, free and clear. Both he and his wife could read and write. The census record indicated that Susan could now read.

Contributors: Sarah Plummer and Cathie Cummins