World History

You are here: / Cemeteries / Collection / Lawrence E. Walker Foundation Collection / Gettysburg’s Lincoln Black Cemetery

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


PureHistory.org ℗ is your source to learn about the broad and beautiful spectrum of our shared History.