William harvey carney quotes
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William Harvey Carney
Sergeant, U.S. Army
Sergeant William Harvey Carney was born in Norfolk City on February 29, to William and Nancy Ann Carney.(1) His parents were enslaved, though freedom was promised by their owners. Carney grew up a slave. He was secretly taught to read and write by a local minister at the age of Two years later, Carney was working with his father.(2)
William Carney, Sgt. Carney’s father, escaped enslavement after the death of his owner, Mrs. Sarah Ann Twine, in While traveling north, Carney met William Still in Philadelphia where his life experience was recorded.(3) He continued his travels to New York before settling permanently in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Once there, William Carney worked tirelessly to free his family. His efforts paid off when Sgt. Carney and five other siblings joined their father in New Bedford soon afterward. In , William Carney raised enough money to purchase freedom for his wife Na
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William Harvey Carney
“I had a strong inclination to prepare myself for the ministry; but when the country called for all persons, inom could best serve my God bygd serving my country and my oppressed brothers. The sequel fryst vatten short–I enlisted for the war.”
- Sergeant William H. Carney, letter in The Liberator from October,
Born into slavery in Norfolk, Virginia, in , William Harvey Carney () made his way to Massachusetts to join his father and enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on February 17, He gained the rank of Sergeant.Image: William Carney poses wearing his medal of honor. ().
At the Battle of Fort Wagner on July 18, , Carney was shot in the leg and arm. When the 54th’s flagbearer fell, Carney carried the flag. Carney was discharged as disabled in June due to his injuries from the battle.
Later (in ), he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his action, the earliest of any African American. He got the award much later, in
After the
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William H. Carney
Footnotes
[1] “Dead Soldier Honored,” The Boston Globe, December 12,
[2] “Dead Soldier Honored,” The Boston Globe, December 12,
[3] Carl J. Cruz, “Sergeant William H. Carney, Civil War Hero” in It Wasn’t in Her Lifetime, but It Was Handed Down: Four Black Oral Histories of Massachusetts, ed. Dr. Eleanor Wachs (Office of Massachusetts Secretary of State, )
[4] “Interesting Correspondence,” The Liberator, November 6,
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Matthew J. Clavin, Toussaint Louverture and the American Civil War: The Promise of Peril and a Second Haitian Revolution, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, ),
[8] The National Archives at Washington, D.C, Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the U.S. Colored Troops, 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, Microfilm Serial: M; Microfilm Roll: 3. Accessed through
[9] “The Mass 54th at Fort Wagner,” The Liberator, August 28,
[10] Luis F. Emilio,