by Chris G. Layt
North Brunswick Magazine: Fall 2024 Edition
Fighters for Freedom
The Bauers addressed the public at the free Juneteenth event sponsored by the African American Heritage Foundation of Southeastern North Carolina. The program recognizes the 159th anniversary of the muster of the 135th Infantry and took place at the Navassa Community Center on Wednesday, June 19.
Learning about the history of African Americans who served in the Civil War brings a lot of pride to descendants and to patriots in general. President Lincoln said that the addition of colored troops likely helped end the four-year Civil War a year early, saving lives in a war that saw nearly a million casualties.
Deborah Jones, a retired USAF nurse who resides in Goldsboro, said that one descendant of a 135th member, Silas Cogdel, noted in an interview, “Who are you going to believe, the men who were actually there and wrote about it in their pension records, or others who wrote about the history?” An interview with Jones, a descendant of the 135th, can be seen on YouTube by searching Wayne County Museum Civil War Interviews.
Historians Amy and Jay Bauer have been uncovering the history of the 135th USCT for many years. The Wayne County Museum in Goldsboro recently hosted an interview with the Bauers introducing a reenactment of songs and conversations from the 135th. One actor portrayed Isiah Thompson, who at age 33 traded in his raggedy clothes for the famous blue uniform to fight for freedom. His history states that he learned to read and write and his “reward” was to be a spy for General Burnside.