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Sergeant Clement Johnson
In the back of his account book,
Capt. Earle records the history of the regiment. Among his notes is an account
of his company sergeant, Clement Johnson, a slave from Missouri.
Transcription:
Sergeant
Clement Johnson
1862 Note
August When enlisting men in Leavenworth, a tall
well deposed colored man can into my
Store
he had the [ ] of a
gentleman.
Clement Johnson. He told me he was
Methodist
preacher in Missouri, but was a
Slave!
that he had a wife and a daughter, who
were Slaves in Tennesee, that he
thought
by enlisting in this Regt. if it went
South,
he might possibly find his wife and
daughter.
I told him I would
give him the
first position in my company,
and if we
should go down as far as Tennesee,
if that State was
occupied by our troops (U.
troops) I would go
there to find them if I
could.
When the Regiment
arrived at
Fort Smith, about the first
colored people
we met were his wife and daughter
of this
man. – They heard in Tennesee that a
Colored
Army was coming down from Kansas, they
pro-
cured passage in a government Steamer to
Fort
Smith from there he procured conveyance
In a gov’t train to Leavenworth – where
I
Saw them after the war, happy in the
enjoyment of their freedom. Mr.
Johnson
remained with the Regiment to the close
of the
War, then joined his family in
Leavenworth.
This man could
neither read
nor write, but his language in his
religious Services
was as good as most educated
men,
particularly at the burial of
dead.
He learned to read and write at my
School at Fort Scott – through the entire War;
he conducted
at all times with great dignity
and propriety, and was
more respected by all
classes than any man in the Regt.
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