Who was the first black man to die in the Civil War?
The answer is twofold. First, a soldier directly involved in
hostilites died, though primarily by what could (and to me should)
be called an accident, on the day of the firing on Fort Sumter.
Here's an account. "At 4:30 on the morning of April 12th, 1861 the
batteries surrounding the harbor opened fire on Fort Sumter. The
bombardment lasted 33 hours with the Confederates firing 4,000
rounds and the fort answering with 1,000, before Anderson
surrendered the fort, knowing the situation was hopeless. There
were no deaths from the bombardment, but as the Union troops fired
a last volley (actually a fifty gun salute to the colors before
they were lowered) a keg of powder was ignited by a spark and the
explosion killed Private Daniel Hough, the first American to be
killed [or rather the first to die as no one literally and
purposefully killed him] in the war." Through a google search you
can easiliy confirm this information. Secondly, and the true answer
IMO, is Luther C. Ladd, a Massachusetts Volunteer killed at
Baltimore, April 19, 1861. Here is an account of the Massacre and
below that about Mr. Ladd: Dubbed "The Massacre at Baltimore" by
Southerners, the Baltimore riots unfolded just outside the
current-day museum's doors on President Street and along nearby
Pratt Street, but actually began brewing the day before as angry
crowds heckled Union troops marching elsewhere in town. By the time
the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia Regiment arrived at
President Street Station on April 19, the troops were well aware
that an angry public was waiting. What the troops probably didn't
expect was just how angry the crowd would get. "Their orders were
to ignore taunts and sticks and stones," says O'Neil. But the
Southern sympathizers were armed with a lot more, dropping sand,
bricks and even an anchor across the train tracks. They managed to
trap 200 soldiers at President Street Station, leaving them no
choice but to set out on foot. As the troops made their way toward
the next station, the mob attacked, killing four soldiers. While
the rest of the Sixth Massachusetts made its way out of town, the
mob quickly turned its attention back to President Street Station,
attacking the unarmed and out-of-uniform Washington Brigade, which
had just arrived from Pennsylvania. "Finally, to make things even
more interesting, from present day Little Italy there comes a third
group of men-mostly pro-Union Irish and German immigrants- and they
start attacking the secessionist rioters," O'Neil says. "They're
all in civilian clothing, and no one knows who is who." In the end,
at least five soldiers from the Washington Brigade and 11 civilians
died in the melee, in addition to the four soldiers killed
earlier." You can confirm this at
http://aaaworld.com/pages/archive/JA02baltcivilwar.html As far as
identifying the first of these four soldiers to die, it only seems
to be found only in the June 1, 1861 Harper's Weekly where it
states that he was "The First Victim of the War". The obituary goes
on to say, "Mr. Ladd was murdered by the rowdies of Baltimore, on
his passage through that city on April 19, 1864". The piece quotes
Mr. Ladd as saying, "I shall go for my stars and my stripes any
way", whatever that means exactly. You can confirm this information
as well as see a picture of Luther C. Ladd at this address-
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/singles/h1861p341.htm Though the page
is copyrighted, the seller would very much like as many people as
possible to view this page until the original print he is selling
is sold. I hope this is of interest. On Feb. 12, 1861 Noble Leslie
Devotie was boarding a steamer in Fort Morgan, Alabama when he
slipped and fell in the water. 3 days later his body washed up on
shore. His was the first recorded death that was associated with
the Civil War. Even though Feb. 12 was prior to the first battle of
the war, this death is still attributable. He was an enlisted
chaplain with bad footing. He died neither as a result of the
opposing side, nor during a battle, but only by accident. Only
Sigma Alpha Epsilon wishes him to carry this epitaph. It is not
attributable. If two months before Operation Iraqi Freedom, a
chaplain fell boarding a troop ship & died, would he have been
the first death of OIF, absolutely not. He did not die in enemy
territory, under enemy fire, or during the war. If you call the
civil war anything before it was declared there are many instances
of soldier's deaths that can be pointed to before Fort Sumpter. I
am certain that many soldiers died of accidents and sicknesses
beforehand.
The first battle death has been generally recognized as Private
Henry Wyatt of the 1st North Carolina, at the Battle of Big Bethel
(Bethel Church) on June 10, 1861.
