Private Sandy Lewis

Pvt. Sandy Lewis

Pvt Sandy Lewis was born c.1839 in Franklin County, Virginia. Sandy Lewis enlisted on April 25, 1865, in southern Alabama. Military records described him as 26 years old, 5’ 10.5” tall, with yellow complexion, black eyes, and black hair. His occupation was listed as farmer, and he enlisted for three years.

Lewis served with the 48th United States Colored Infantry, enlisting just after the regiment fought in the Battle of Fort Blakeley in April 2 to 9, 1865 as part of the Mobile Campaign. The Battle of Blakeley was the final major battle of the Civil War, with surrender just hours after Grant had accepted the surrender of Lee at Appomattox in the afternoon of April 9, 1865.[3] Mobile, Alabama, was the last major Confederate port to be captured by Union forces, on April 12, 1865.[4] After the assassination of President Lincoln on April 15, 1865, other Confederate surrenders continued into June 1865.

The 48th USCT then served in various garrison roles in Texas until it was mustered out on January 4, 1866. During its time of service, the regiment lost three officers, and 59 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, while one officer and 464 enlisted men died of disease, for a total of 527. Lewis served with 224 other men in Company A. He was honorably discharged on Jan. 4, 1866, in Baton Rouge, LA.

The U.S. Census for 1870 identified Sandy Lewis as a farm laborer, 30 years old, in Cahaba Precinct, Dallas County, Alabama, just southwest of Montgomery. Lewis resided with Sarah, age 22, who was also a farm laborer and presumably his wife. Both Sandy and Sarah were born in Virginia. Nothing else has yet been discovered regarding their lives, which at that point, offered as much challenge as opportunity. They, as did a few of the other Franklin County-born soldiers, may have known each other as enslaved children, and together were part of a community which navigated a new world after the Civil War. Seeking to realize hopes and dreams, Black Americans brought much to the South which had previously been missing.

Alabama's Black Belt area is part of a larger, national Black Belt region that stretches from Texas to Virginia. This region has historically been home to "the richest soil and the poorest people" in the United States. Originally, the term referred to the exceptionally fertile black soil that encouraged early pioneers in the 1820s and 1830s to settle Alabama and construct a network of cotton plantations that supported half of Alabama's enslaved population. During this time, the Black Belt was one of the wealthiest and most politically powerful regions in the United States, and its commerce elevated Montgomery, Selma, and Demopolis into some of the most affluent towns in the nation. As the Civil War began in the early 1860s, Montgomery was chosen as the first capital of the Confederacy.

In recent decades, the region has been known for the birth of the Civil Rights Movement initiated by the high population of African American residents in the region. The legacy of this plantation culture has left the region in a state of economic depression, underemployment, and poor social services. Once sought after for its rich soil, the Black Belt has become a region defined by its dire socioeconomic situation. Nine out of the 10 poorest counties in Alabama are in the Black Belt.

Contributors: Rebecca Steele and Cathie Cummins