Gettysburg’s Lincoln Black Cemetery
In 1866, a group of Black men organized the Society of the Sons of Good Will. Their first priority was to establish a proper burial site. On April 18, members of the Society purchased a half-acre parcel situated just west of the Catholic cemetery then located on the west side of the present 300-block of South Washington Street on the outskirts of the towns working-class neighborhood. The oldest section of the Lincoln Cemetery was originally known as the Good Will Cemetery.
When Lincoln Cemetery was established, existing laws, custom, and practice required the segregation of Blacks even in death. Since its establishment in 1867, approximately 400 people have been interred there, also the cemetery also serves a the final resting place for more than 30 Civil War veterans of the United States Colored Troops, who served without reservation in a segregated army, and after death were buried in a segregated cemetery even though their fight was for freedom, and full citizenship, and veterans of subsequent wars.
As the Black population continued to grow, so did the need for burial spaces, especially after the York Street cemetery was sold and the remains buried there were re-interred in the Good Will Cemetery. With the inception of Memorial Day in 1868, but the 1870’s the Black community held separate ceremonies annually honoring those, living and dead, who had served in the military during the Civil War and subsequent conflicts.
CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS BURIED IN LINCOLN CEMETERY:
William Bedford Co. A, 30th USCT
George Bolen Co. D, 24th USCT
Isaac Buckmaster Co. A, 8th USCT
William Burley Co. A, 22nd USCT
Isaac Carter Co. I, 127th USCT
Benjamin Craig Co. F, 25th USCT
Emmanuel Craig Co. A, 24th USCT
Joseph Craig Co. B, 22nd USCT
John A. Disnick Co. D, 41st USCT
Charles Hill Co. H, 127th USCT
George Hillman Co. C, 30th USCT
John Edward Hopkins Co. F, 25th USCT
Francis Jackson Co. K, 3rd USCT
Thomas McCollough Co. F, 32nd USCT
Nelson F. Matthews Co. I, 127th USCT
Richard Monroe Co. B. 32nd USCT
John Redding Co. D, 22nd USCT
Samuel Asbury Reed Co. A, 43rd USCT
Nelson Roy Co.D, 25th USCT
Alexander Scott Co. F, 25th USCT
Lewis Spriggs Co. B, 32nd USCT
Samuel M., Sr, Stanton Co. C, 3rd USCT
David J. Stevens Co. B, 22nd USCT
William A. Thompson Co. D, 25th USCT
Joseph Turner Co. D, 25th USCT
George W. Wagner Co. I, 127th USCT
John W. Watts Co. A, 8th USCT
Lloyd F.A. Watts Co. B, 24th USCT
John Wilson Co. D, 165th PA
SOURCE BY:BETTY DORSEY MYERS, EDITED BY: LAWRENCE E. WALKER FOUNDATION, 2005