Private John Cole of Pottsville, Pennsylvania joined the 43rd United States Colored Infantry in March 1864.
Cole was a 43-year-old shoemaker when he joined the US Army, joining the ranks alongside hundreds of other Black men who joined the unit in Philadelphia.
During the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, the 43rd USCI futilely attacked Confederate lines. Private Cole fell wounded. He was lucky to survive the fight, as many Black men who had been wounded in the fight at the Crater were summarily executed by vengeful Confederate soldiers.
He was later evacuated to nearby City Point, Virginia where he died on August 4, 1864.
His obituary, published in the Miners’ Journal on September 3, 1864, read as follows:
Death of a Patriotic Colored Man – We regret to learn that John C. Cole, a member of the 43rd Philadelphia Colored Regiment, fell mortally wounded in a recent, gallant charge on the enemy works near Petersburg, and died on the road to City Point.
At the time of his death, he was 44 years and 2 months old. He leaves a wife and five children.
When he enlisted, he had been an industrious and respected resident of Pottsville for more than 15 years. Patriotic motives alone induced him to enter the service, for he was doing a good business as a shoemaker at the time he entered the service. He was considered an excellent workman.
Mr. Cole was an exemplary man; one who read and thought much; one who was familiar with the issues at stake in this contest, and one who gave his life freely in defense of the great principle of human freedom and happiness.
A good man gone.
Private John Cole’s remains were interred at City Point National Cemetery in Hopewell, Virginia.
Read more about Private Cole on John Hoptak’s excellent blog
Subscribe to the latest from Jake Wynn – Public Historian
Enter your email below to receive the newest stories.
Do have any information on Martin V. Snowell/Snowden, who is my paternal Great Grandfather, who was wounded twice in the Civil War.