Road Trip Countdown: Port Hudson, Louisiana



Port Hudson, Louisiana
Home of the 82nd USCT

Port Hudson State Historic Site was originally an Army post known as Port Hudson. From 1863 to 1865, my ancestor Benjamin Thompson served on active duty in the 82nd USCT and was stationed at this fort. He fought in various battles from Alabama to Florida in support of the Union during the Civil War. After leaving the Army he followed what is today known as highway 61 into Adams County, Mississippi where he settled and started the Thompson family line.

Juneteenth: In Honor of African-American Civil War Soldiers

This is a re-post from June 2010. Enjoy your Juneteenth weekend everyone!

5th USCT Heavy Artillery Flag of Natchez, Mississippi
 (Courtesy Forks of the Road and Ser Seshs Ab Heter-Clifford M. Boxley)



For African-Americans, the commemoration of the Civil War and Emancipation is an extra special time of year known as Juneteenth. Juneteenth came about originally in Texas when Union General Granger issueed a field order officially liberating enslaved African descendants there on or about June 19, 1865. Since that time, Texans and later African-Americans from all over the U.S. began to commemorate Emancipation.

I honor and remember the service of African-American men and women in the war of African liberation in America. Those men and women who didn't think it was robbery to sacrifice their lives to ensure the physical freedom of African descended people in the United States of America. In my own family research, I've been able to identify four men who served in the USCT (United States Colored Troops)who are my ancestors. Today I'd like to remember them by name: Benjamin Thompson (82nd USCT), Charles Rounds Jr.(50th USCT) Thomas Hinyard and Edward Hinyard.

Happy Juneteenth!

Memorial Day Monday: In Honor of Family Veterans

James Thompson, World War II Navy Veteran, Son of Calvin and Sarah Thompson, grandson of Benjamin Thompson Civil War Veteran who served in the 82nd USCT Light Infantry headquartered in Port Hudson, Louisiana.

*A very special thank you to all the freedom fighters especially those who participated in the Civil War and other freedom movements in the United States to bring justice here at home and not just abroad. I appreciate your selfless service.

The Family Griot

Benjamin Thompson's Civil War Pension File

In today's blog entry, I'm going to revisit one of my ancestors, Benjamin Thompson. Since my first writing on him, I have been able to obtain greater detail into his life by ordering his Civil War Pension file. I first looked to census records to verify his marriage to my great grandmother, Hannah Thompson and his residence in Adams County, MS. Looking through additional documentation, his pension card and Hannah's pension card; I was able to obtain the unit in which he served, the date the pension was approved and the pension claim numbers.
With this information, I was able to order Benjamin Thompson's pension application from the National Archives. The documents included in the pension file offered quite a bit of personal information and insight to the lives of Benjamin and Hannah Thompson and genealogical information.
The pension application includes medical reports from the doctors that treated Ben Thompson, power of attorney letters from his lawyers, documents pertinent to Ben Thompson being granted a pension, sworn statements from family and community members and his wife Hannah.
I was able to locate a wealth of new information about the family, some of his personal history according to witnesses and people who knew him in the community of Sibley, Mississippi. One of the first things of interest I learned from witness statements is that Ben Thompson had been married prior to marrying Hannah Thompson. I was able to locate in the statements was that Benjamin Thompson married shortly after the end of the Civil War to Susan Robinson Thompson. They appear in the Natchez city census records as married in 1870 without any children.

Name: Benj Thompson
Estimated birth year: abt 1847
Age in 1870: 23
Birthplace: Mississippi
Home in 1870: Adams, Mississippi
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Value of real estate:
Post Office: Natchez

Household Members:
Name Age
Benj Thompson 23
Susan Thompson 19


Additionally according to witness statements from perhaps Susan’s brother and sister, they had two children together, Nicey and William Thompson. By 1900 Nicey is said to have been married to Nathan Minor. The son William is not mentioned to have a spouse or children. At the time of this writing, I have not been able to locate any definite record of either offspring.
Further review of the sworn statements, I also discovered that Hannah Thompson’s eldest daughter Elizabeth was fathered by a man named Andrew Jackson prior to her marriage to Benjamin Thompson. According to witness statements from friends and relatives of the Thompson’s, he passed in about 1890.
The documents also provide information on how and when Benjamin Thompson and Hannah Thompson pass away. According to medical records submitted to the Department of the Interior and the Pension Board, Benjamin Thompson suffered from several ailments including arthritis, blindness in his left eye, gunshot wounds in his head and his left side. Because of these ailments as well as a probable case of PTSD, Benjamin Thompson passed away prematurely in 1909. Another important document is the certificate to stop pension payments to Hannah Thompson for November 1936 due to her death.
I was also able to locate some significant landmarks and workplaces in the area. The York Plantation or York Swamp, as it is referred to locally, is a former plantation whose historical owners I am unable to locate at this time. From speaking to relatives who still reside in the area, it is set back just off Hwy 61 S. Another plantation also mentioned in the statements is Deer Park Plantation which is in Wilkinson County, MS. Also I’m unable to locate or confirm much information about this location.
I strongly recommend any researcher who has a family member who served in the Armed Forces and applied for a pension to request their pension files from the National Archives. It is well worth the investment.

Family Griot

Thompson and Smith Family Research

After taking a hiatus for the month of October to conduct research, I've uncovered some interesting new information and new family connections on both my maternal and paternal families. I'd like to thank my newly discovered cousins, Philip and Margaret of Michigan for introducing me to the history of the Smith Family of Dallas county, Alabama. Thank you so much for your genealogical research of our family. I'd also like to thank the staff at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., without their research I would not have the information I have about my Thompson Family.

This month will highlight the new information discovered in my family tree.

- The Family Griot

Benjamin Thompson on the African American Civil War Memorial

I want to thank Khathu from Afrigeneas for sending me these pictures! This is the plaque bearing the name of my ancestor Benjamin Thompson who served in the 82nd and photos of the Civil War Memorial. Enjoy!

Benjamin Thompson WHERE ARE YOU???

Hannah Barnes-Thompson and eldest granddaughter Mary, early 1900's. Wife of Benjamin Thompson

Recently I've been working on tracking down my great-great grandparents Benjamin and Hannah Thompson. These are the relatives that I can go back the furtherest on my mother's paternal lineage. Oral history of our family tells of Benjamin Thompson who was 'captured over the seas' and brought to America and who also fought in the Civil War. I've used Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org extensively in an attempt to find any information about Benjamin Thompson before 1880. I didn't have much luck, just a census record here and there.

Today, I was querying online about Benjamin Thompson's Civil War records because I needed assistance with tracking him down in order to get additional information. A genealogical guru, A. Thomas, pointed me in the right direction. He referred me to a Civil War site maintained by the National Park Service. I was able to find not only my great great grandfather Benjamin Thompson, I also located vital information about the unit he fought in and where they were located.

Here is an excerpt on the 82nd Regiment US Colored Infantry which Benjamin Thompson was assigned to during the Civil War, from the National Park Service website:

82nd Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Organized April 4, 1864, from 10th Corps de Afrique Infantry. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Corps de Afrique, Dept. of the Gulf, to July, 1864. Consolidated with 80th United States Colored Troops July 6, 1864, to form new 79th United States Colored Troops. Reorganized July, 1864, by consolidation of 97th and 99th United States Colored Troops. Attached to Pensacola, Fla., District of West Florida Dept. of the Gulf, to October, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, United States Colored Troops, Dept. of the Gulf, to October, 1864. 1st Brigade, District of West Florida, to January, 1865. 3rd Brigade, District of West Florida, to March, 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, District of West Florida,, to May, 1865. Pensacola, Fla., District of West Florida and Dept. of Florida, to muster out.

SERVICE.- Duty at Port Hudson, La., till April 17, 1864. Moved to Fort Barrancas, Fla., and duty there till March, 1865. Expedition toward Pollard, Ala., July 21-25, 1864. Camp Gonzales, Fla., July 22. Near Pollard, Ala., July 23. Expedtion from Fort Barrancas August 15-19. Expedition to Marianna September 18-October 4. Euchee Anna Court House September 23. Marianna September 27. Expedition up Blackwater Bay October 25-28. Near Milton October 26. Expedition to Pollard, Ala., December 13-19. Mitchell's Creek December 15-16. Pine Barren Ford, December 17-18. March from Pensacola to Blakely, Ala., March 20-April 1, 1865. Siege of Fort Blakely April 1-9. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely April 9. Occupation of Mobile April 12. March to Montgomery April 13-25. Duty there till May. Moved to Mobile, thence to Barrancas, Fla., May 23. Expedition to Appalachicola May 31-June 6. Duty at Appalachicola and in District of Florida till September, 1866. Mustered out September 10, 1866.

What makes this extra special to me is that in 2007, while attending another family branch's reunion, my family and I were able to go to the African-American Civil War Memorial in the Shaw district of Washington D.C. Due to time constraints, I wasn't able to look for Benjamin Thompson on the plaque. However today I was also able to locate this tidbit of information:

African American Civil War Memorial
Displayed as: Benjamin Thompson
Plaque Number: C-89

So there it is... my great-great grandfather, Benjamin Thompson Civil War veteran. I still have many more unanswered questions about Benjamin Thompson. When was he actually born? How did he in fact come to America? Or was he born here? Where is he buried? (Some say in the Natchez Veteran's Cemetery on the Bluff, a rumor I will definitely have to confirm) Who was his enslaver?

When and if I get those answers, you will be the first to know!

Family Griot