An Unknown Hidden Hero - Charles G. Boley

Volunteering at the Frontenac is not only full of fun but full of surprises too, some of which can be found right before our eyes! Recently the museum was visited by Tony Gero, former teacher and military historian, who will be presenting a program at the Frontenac on November 10th at 2pm. While viewing an 1898 photo found in our collection and labeled as Civil War veterans, Tony noticed an African American soldier. This photo has been on display for many years in the Thomas Eldred Military History Room yet we had never noticed this soldier before and were intrigued. Could we identify him? (2nd Row Left)

A search of the 1890 Civil War Veterans Schedule revealed a Charles G. Boley living in Ledyard with his race listed as black. In searching the same record for Union Springs, we found no other African American listed. We found him! Now to find his story.

Looking at the 1892 Federal Census, the same Charles G. Boley is living in Ledyard as a single man working as a day laborer. The 1900, 1905 and 1910 censuses of Springport recorded him as now married to Sarah (in 1898), living in a home they owned on the Lake Road (present day Route 90) and name spelled as Bollie, to be located just south of the hamlet of Hamburg behind the present day home of Joe and Linda DeCaro. This area was known as Hamburg, home to several active stone quarries which would fit with his employment as a day laborer.

We next turned to the pages of the Union Springs Advertiser and several Auburn newspapers of this period and found that Charles, together with Springport Civil War veterans James Hammond, Alexander Chambers, John Murphy and Abe Thompson, had participated in an 1893 celebration held in Waterloo, the birthplace of Memorial Day. We also learned that in 1910 he moved from Union Springs to the National Veterans Home in Marion, Indiana where he died in 1913 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. The records of this home revealed much more about Boley. He was 5.5 feet tall, gray haired, disabled and single. It looks like there may be another story for another day as his closest relative is shown to be a cousin in Geneseo, not his wife Sarah.

A closer look at the 1890 Veterans schedule showed Boley had enlisted in Rochester in 1883, serving for 5 years with Company C of the 10th New York Cavalry, 97th Regiment, United States Colored (sic) Infantry well past the Civil War era. As we were unable to find him in the Civil War muster rolls of this unit, we realized that Charles was a proud veteran, not of the Civil War, who shared his love of his country with other veterans.

Charles's unit was founded as a segregated African American unit, one of the original "Buffalo Soldier" regiments formed in the post-war regular army. Boley was discharged at Ft. Grant, AZ confirming that he had indeed served, not in the Civil War, but as a Buffalo Soldier. Ft. Grant was founded along a trail often used by Apache fleeing Mexico. Its purpose was to stop marauding bands of Apache from attacking New Mexico and Arizona, the campaign ending with surrender of Geronimo in 1886. During Boley's last years at Ft. Grant, he would have participated in civil duties such as pursuing train robbers and other outlaws.

The 1920 and 1930 Springport censuses confirmed that his wife, Sarah, remained in Springport. The Union Springs Advertiser reported that in 1927 Sarah broke her wrist after falling off a porch while chasing a runaway spool of thread she was using while sewing. No further records have been found for Sarah.

While Charles's efforts as a Buffalo Soldier were heroic and protected the lives of settlers in the westward expansion, we can't help but reflect on the paradox of African American soldiers fighting native people for a government which did not accept either group as equals. As we near the close of Black History Month, we are excited to share the story of Charles G. Boley, a hero hidden no more.

America 250!

America250 is a nonpartisan initiative working to engage every American in commemorating the 250th anniversary of our country. It is spearheaded by the congressionally-appointed U.S, Semiquincentennial Commission made up of private citizens, U.S. Representatives and Senators, along with 12 ex-officio members representing all three branches of the federal government, and its nonprofit supporting organization, the America250 Foundation. This multi-year effort, from now through July 4, 2026, is an opportunity to pause and reflect on our nation's past, honor the contributions of all Americans, and look to the future we want to create for the next generation and beyond.

In keeping with our mission to keep history alive, the Frontenac has joined the march to America250. Over the next 2+ years, we will be sharing some of the stories and events leading up to this pivotal date in American History.

Did you know?

In November of this year, several members of Congress introduced the Semiquincentennial Congressional Time Capsule Act. The bill would direct the Architect of the Capitol to create a time capsule to be buried in the west lawn of the Capitol, which would remain sealed until July 4, 2276, the nations's 500th anniversary. This marks the second major time capsule slated to be buried as part of the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, with another to be buried in Independence Mall in Philadelphia on July 4, 2026.

In keeping with the 250th commemorations' commitment to bipartisanship, the capsule's contents will be selected by the Office of the Speaker of the House, the Office of the Minority Leader of the House, and the Offices of the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate. The items chosen will represent monumental legislative milestones and a letter to the future Congress with lessons from the past and hope for the future.

Stay tuned for more!

Did You Ever Wonder How Thanksgiving Came About?

A proclamation made by President Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863 in Washington, D.C is as follows:

The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the every-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessing, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widow, orphans, mourners,or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

The Frontenac Historical Society and Museum wish you every happiness as you join with family and friends to celebrate this Thanksgiving.