In the summer of 1863, two companies of the 2nd West Tennessee Infantry (African Descent) were raised at Collierville. The regiment was later renamed the 61st U.S. Colored Infantry. Company G, under Captain Henry Sturges, enrolled men at Collierville from June 10 to June 25 and was mustered in at La Grange on June 30. Company I, under Captain Charles S. Graff, enrolled men there from July 10 to August 23 and was mustered in at La Grange on August 27. Their story is told in Part VIII, “The Other Collierville Companies.”
The names below are every man whose enlistment the original muster-in rolls record at Collierville: 51 in Company G and 52 in Company I, with one more in Company I whose place of enlistment was written as both Collierville and La Grange. The companies’ officers, who enrolled at La Grange, and the men who joined later at La Grange, Moscow and Memphis are not listed here.
Anyone searching for an ancestor should keep three cautions in mind. Names are spelled as the clerks wrote them, often by ear; where the National Park Service’s Soldiers and Sailors index spells a name differently, the variant is noted, and every spelling is worth searching. Ages are as the rolls give them, and they are estimates: few men who had been enslaved knew their birth dates, and the army wrote down what it was told. And the list is not complete. A page of the Company G roll, which would carry the privates after number 40, has not been found. One more man, Nelson Buck, enlisted at Collierville on June 14, but his name is struck through on the roll, and he is not counted here.
The men of the 61st are remembered in Washington, D.C., on the African American Civil War Memorial at Vermont Avenue and U Street NW, whose walls carry the names of the U.S. Colored Troops by regiment. In Collierville, as of this writing, no marker names them.
Name · rank · age · enlisted · notes
Allen, Martin · Private · — · June 11, 1863 · Age illegible.
Askew, Charles · Private · 35 · June 12, 1863
Askew, Wiley · Private · 17 · June 13, 1863 · Day of enlistment uncertain.
Butler, Willis · Private · 20 · June 25, 1863
Carleton, Samuel · Private · 22 · June 16, 1863
Carleton, Stephen · 7th Corporal · 26 · June 10, 1863
Carleton, Sterling · Private · 27 · June 16, 1863
Carter, Allen · 6th Corporal · 36 · June 10, 1863
Carter, Cyrus · Private · 40 · June 15, 1863
Carter, Humphrey · Private · 24 · June 15, 1863
Carter, Samuel · Private · 17 · June 15, 1863
Carter, Stephen · Private · 30 · June 15, 1863
Clanton, Benn · Private · 27 · June 16, 1863 · Given name read as Benn or Burr.
Cleaves, Solomon · Private · 16 · June 12, 1863
Coleman, Nelson · Private · 25 · June 16, 1863
Coleman, Randall · Private · 40 · June 16, 1863
Collwell, Moses · Private · 18 · June 12, 1863
Collwell, Ruffin · Private · 18 · June 16, 1863
Cross, Samuel · Private · 22 · June 16, 1863
Fallwell, Frank · Private · 20 · June 13, 1863
Farris, Arthur · Private · 21 · June 15, 1863
Faussett, Luke · 4th Sergeant · 35 · June 10, 1863 · Also indexed as Fausett, Fossett.
Fletcher, Stephen · Private · 24 · June 14, 1863
Grassey, Edward · Private · 26 · June 15, 1863
Hunt, Henry · Private · 16 · June 16, 1863 · Two men of this name on the roll; one may be Harry.
Hunt, Henry · Private · 20 · June 16, 1863 · Two men of this name on the roll; one may be Harry.
Hunter, Henry C. · 2nd Sergeant · 28 · June 11, 1863
Hunter, Marion · Private · 17 · June 12, 1863
Ivory, Benjamin · Musician · 16 · June 14, 1863
Jammison, Jacob · 3rd Sergeant · 24 · June 10, 1863
Jammison, Randolph · 5th Sergeant · 27 · June 10, 1863
Larson, Andy · Private · 18 · June 25, 1863
Leek, Hampton · Private · 47 · June 10, 1863
Maben, Dempster · Private · 22 · June 10, 1863
Maben, Eden · 2nd Corporal · 18 · June 10, 1863
Maben, Frank · Private · 16 · June 10, 1863
Maben, James · Private · 20 · June 10, 1863
Maben, Jeremiah · 3rd Corporal · 19 · June 10, 1863
Maben, Jeremiah · Private · 16 · June 10, 1863 · A second Jeremiah Maben; see the corporal above.
Maben, Joseph · Private · 18 · June 10, 1863
Maben, Lafayette · Private · 26 · June 10, 1863
Maben, Robin · Private · 19 · June 10, 1863
Maben, Wiley · Private · 19 · June 10, 1863
Mayweather, Washington · Private · 28 · June 17, 1863 · Age 28 or 20.
Miller, Payton · Private · 42 · June 18, 1863
Morris, George · 5th Corporal · 23 · June 10, 1863 · Age 23 or 25.
Morris, Munroe · Private · 18 · June 12, 1863
Murrel, Playes · Private · 19 · June 15, 1863
Thompson, Jeremiah · 8th Corporal · 48 · June 15, 1863 · Age 48 or 45.
Thurragood, Frederick A. · 4th Corporal · 16 · June 10, 1863 · Also indexed as Thuragood.
Williamson, Robert · 1st Corporal · 45 · June 10, 1863
51 men.
Name · rank · age · enlisted · notes
Allen, Charles · Private · 18 · Aug. 23, 1863
Asque, Joseph · Private · 20 · July 11, 1863
Bobo, Eli · Private · 18 · Aug. 23, 1863
Bobo, Henry · Private · 22 · Aug. 23, 1863
Bowen, Alfred · Private · 30 · July 20, 1863
Brown, Charles · Private · 20 · Aug. 23, 1863 · Born Franklin, Tenn. Appointed corporal Dec. 23, 1863; reduced to the ranks Apr. 9, 1864. Deserted at Lafayette, Tenn., June 28, 1864; taken Sept. 1, 1864, and sentenced by court-martial to a year’s imprisonment at Alton, Ill.; returned to the rolls. Deserted at New Orleans, Apr. 3, 1865.
Bunden, Lydle · Private · 18 · July 20, 1863
Calwin, Ruben · Private · 30 · Aug. 23, 1863
Carter, Henry · Private · 18 · July 20, 1863 · Born Williamson Co., Tenn. Died of disease, regimental hospital, Moscow, Tenn., Oct. 13, 1863 (service record).
Cleaves, Lilburn · Private · 30 · July 20, 1863
Dottson, James · Private · 19 · July 10, 1863
Garner, Hansom · Private · 27 · Aug. 23, 1863
Giles, James · Private · 30 · Aug. 23, 1863
Greene, Douglass · Private · 30 · Aug. 10, 1863
Greene, Joseph · Corporal · 24 · July 10, 1863
Ham, Sidney · Private · 39 · Aug. 23, 1863
Harrison, Peter · Private · 27 · Aug. 23, 1863
Ingram, Richard · Private · 18 · Aug. 23, 1863
Jeffries, Strander · Private · 19 · July 10, 1863
Lacklin, Wiley · Private · 33 · Aug. 23, 1863
Linnard, Thomas · Private · 22 · July 10, 1863 · Also indexed as Lennard, Leonard.
Lot, Lawyer · Private · 30 · Aug. 23, 1863
Lot, Obed · Private · 22 · Aug. 23, 1863
Mars, Benjamin · Private · 23 · July 10, 1863 · Also indexed as Mears.
Mars, Cyrus · Private · 18 · July 10, 1863 · Also indexed as Mears, Marrs.
Milum, Allen · Corporal · 20 · July 10, 1863
Milum, Edmond · Sergeant · 24 · July 10, 1863
Milum, George · Private · 18 · July 10, 1863
Mitchell, Harry · Private · 51 · Aug. 23, 1863
Mitchell, James · Private · 22 · Aug. 23, 1863
Moore, Ransom · Corporal · 27 · July 20, 1863
Parker, Washington · Private · 22 · Aug. 23, 1863
Parrish, Peter · Private · 33 · Aug. 23, 1863
Paty, Pompey · Private · 19 · Aug. 23, 1863
Raydon, Henderson · Private · 18 · July 20, 1863
Raydon, Jacob · Corporal · 21 · July 10, 1863
Redrick, Washington · Private · 45 · Aug. 10, 1863
Richards, Henry · Private · 26 · Aug. 23, 1863
Roan, James · Private · 39 · July 20, 1863
Robinson, Richard * · Private · 23 · Aug. 10, 1863 · Place written as both Collierville and La Grange.
Scott, William · Private · 25 · Aug. 23, 1863
Standback, Squire · Corporal · 42 · Aug. 23, 1863
Stricklin, Levi · Private · 22 · July 10, 1863
Thomas, John · Corporal · 39 · Aug. 23, 1863
Vaughn, Levondus · Private · 29 · Aug. 23, 1863 · Also indexed as Leonidas.
Walter, Daniel · Private · 18 · July 20, 1863
Warren, Samuel · Private · 27 · Aug. 23, 1863
Weaver, Peter · Private · 24 · Aug. 23, 1863 · Born Williamson Co., Tenn. Died of disease at Moscow, Dec. 6, 1863 (secondary source; not confirmed in his service record).
Wesley, John · Private · 21 · Aug. 23, 1863
Williford, John · Private · 25 · Aug. 23, 1863
Wilson, Henry · Private · 30 · Aug. 10, 1863
Wise, Henry · Private · 18 · Aug. 23, 1863
Young, Berry · Private · 27 · Aug. 23, 1863
53 men, including Richard Robinson (*), whose place of enlistment is uncertain.
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