Private Richard Giles
Pvt. Richard Giles
On March 13, 1864, an enslaved 15-year-old boy gave his name as Richard Giles, a farmer, and voluntarily enlisted in Company A of the 42nd United States Colored Regiment at Chattanooga, Tennessee. He mustered in on April 20, 1864. He reported that his place of birth was Franklin County, VA. Army records described him as having black hair and eyes, brown skin, and five feet nine inches tall. Richard would have been only a boy when he was sold to an enslaver in Tennessee, sometime before 1864. Enlistment with the USCT as the Union Army marched through the South was a path to freedom.
The 42nd United States Colored Infantry was organized under the command of Colonel Joseph R. Putnam as a "disability" regiment or "Invalid Corp." Men served in the 42nd were deemed "unfit for field service yet fit for common garrison duty”. Pvt Giles was probably assigned here because of his youth.
Pvt Giles served for twenty-one months until his discharge on January 13, 1866. During July 1864 he fell into a rifle pit (what might be called a “foxhole” today) dislocating his right hip and received medical attention before returning to his Regiment. The 42nd U.S. Colored Infantry mustered out of service January 31, 1866. Military records indicate he still owed the Army .65 cents for his haversack.
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On mustering out of the Army, Pvt Richard Giles returned to Giles County Tennessee. On December 28, 1871, a supposedly “25-year-old" Richard left Tennessee and married a seventeen-year-old named Emma Adkins, with her father’s consent, in Huntsville, Madison County Alabama, where she lived with her family. His age was Emma’s recalled estimation. Years later In her widow’s pension application, Emma stated, “He never told me just how old he was, but he had just grown a pretty good mustache at that time.” A marriage certificate was filed. Emma was formerly enslaved and lived with her mother Rosette working for the Adkins family. Her father, Wesley, was formerly enslaved and worked for the Raney family.
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Emma had five children with Richard, but approximately nine years later Richard deserted her and left for Tennessee with another woman named Clara Bailey after he received a $300 indemnity bounty from the US Army for a lost check. He gave Emma $5 before he left, Emma explained in a deposition for that pension. The 1880 Census identified Emma as single, head of household, with five children: Alicia ,9, Rose, 7, Grant (Willie), 5, Walter, 4, and Athenea, an infant. Emma had also taken in boarders: a young mulatto couple, James and Jane Vaugh, who had three young children. Emma stated that several years later Richard visited and gave the children $5 each.
In the city directory of 1884 for Chattanooga, Tennessee, Giles’ occupation was listed as a laborer, but he had difficulty working after his Army exit due to disability. In 1890 Richard filed a claim with the US Pension Bureau for an “invalid” or disability pension. He provided evidence of medical examinations, and his attempts to earn a living. Sworn statements were filed by others who knew him.
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On Wednesday, April 15, 1896, The Chattanooga Daily Times listed Richard Giles as participating in The Grand Army of the Republic encampment, Post No. 22, Veterans of the Union Army. The newspaper reported that this group “was the most powerful single-issue political lobby of the late nineteenth century, securing massive pensions for veterans and helping to elect five postwar presidents from its own membership. To its members, it was also a secret fraternal order, a source of local charity, a provider of entertainment in small municipalities, and a patriotic organization.”
After several years of review, Pvt Giles finally received a pension from the Army. But he died shortly after, on November 23, 1896, from heart failure and lung disease at the age of 47. He was buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery, Tennessee, Plot Q #13107.
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On April 3, 1897, Richard’s wife Emma filed a Civil War pension claim as a widow, with no results. She again filed a pension claim, seventeen years later in 1914, and explained that she could not find anyone to help her complete the paperwork necessary for filing before this time. Emma did not recall Richard having any family and said he was from either Giles Town or Giles County in Tennessee, and she testified she never “heard him say where he was born.”
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Depositions during a special examination by the Bureau of Pensions, made by those who knew Emma and Richard before and after the War, indicated there was never a formal divorce between the two. Descriptions of their marriage suggest that it was troublesome. The pension report stated that both parties committed adultery and Emma Giles' claim for a pension was denied. It is important to point out that white society gave no consideration to the conditions under which enslaved people were forced to live. Richard was enslaved as a child and taken from his family. Enslaved children belonged not so much to their parents but to the enslaver, who could take a child away from his or her home at most any time. Under those circumstances, the skills important to developing healthy personal relationships would have been hard to come by.
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The census record for 1900 in Madison Alabama described Emma Giles as widowed, working as a cook, and living with son Walter age 24 and daughter Athenea age 19, as well as a child Ella age 2, who is said to be Emma’s daughter, rather than Athenea’s, but that could be an error. Athenea is a laundress, and Walter works for Mr. & Mrs. James Harriston as a farm laborer. In this census record, Walter is also identified as widowed. A marriage record was found for Walter Giles and Miss Sarah Gurley on January 28th, 1897, Madison, AL. Ella Giles could have been Walter and Sarah’s daughter, and Sarah’s death may have been related to childbirth.
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During the 1914 pension hearing, Walter Giles testified that Emma was indeed his “Mama,” and they lived in the same house. He says his “Papa” left home “when he was perhaps four years old and never came back.” Walter saw him again when he was fifteen or sixteen years old when he came to Huntsville, Alabama “where we were living and gave us children five dollars apiece. That was the only time that any of us ever saw him from that time until he died.”
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Contributors: Chance Cheek, Fran Koch, Sheridan Brown and Cathie Cummins
