Private William Brown
Pvt. William Brown
Private William Brown was born in 1841 in Franklin County, Virginia. At 22 years old, on December 8, 1863, Brown enlisted in the 6th USCT Heavy Artillery, Company H, located in Natchez, Mississippi. Brown stood 5’4 ½ with dark skin, dark brown eyes, and black hair. His occupation prior to enlistment was listed as laborer. During the Civil War, United States Colored Troops were stationed in Natchez on garrison duty, defending strategic points along the Mississippi River. Brown may have been posted at the Rosalie Mansion, a Union headquarters in Natchez on the Mississippi River. This townhome of a wealthy cotton broker was built from 1820-1823. Brown may have also been stationed at Fort McPherson, located in the northern suburbs of Natchez. Fort McPherson was a pentagonal earthwork fort, accommodating over 5,000 troops, and was home to many USCT regiments. Brown’s regiment might have labored at Forks of the Road, which was the site of the second-largest domestic slave market in the Deep South. Union troops destroyed the slave pens at the Forks of the Road to obtain lumber for barracks at Fort McPherson. The soldiers set up refugee camps for the formerly enslaved at the Natchez waterfront.
On February 7, 1864, William Brown participated in the Vidalia, Louisiana skirmish led by Lt. Col. Hubert A McCaleb of the 2nd MS Heavy Artillery. Less than a month later, he deserted the army on March 3, 1864. Desertion was not uncommon among the USCT and increased among the soldiers on both sides as the war dragged on. There were many motives for desertion, such as worry over family members, not being paid, racism, the desire for freedom and the horrors of war itself. The USCT soldiers faced some unique challenges different from those of white soldiers. If a white commanding officer was racist, being a soldier was little different from being enslaved. However, many USCT were more motivated to fight than their white comrades because being a soldier was a pathway to citizenship and freedom.
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Brown reenlisted on January 1, 1865, in the 6th USCT Heavy Artillery, Company I in Vidalia. At this time, Brown identified himself as a 30-year-old farmer. Because of this connection to the site of the February 1864 skirmish, it is believed that both enlistment documents are for the same man. He mustered in at Natchez, right across the Mississippi River, on January 4th. However, he deserted again on January 21, 1865. Desertion was considered a serious crime, and Brown was fortunate in that he was never punished. No further confirmable evidence was found of William Brown in census records after the Civil War.