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| Levi Miller of Virginia after the War wearing his United Confederate Veterans (UCV) uniform. |
Confederate Veteran Levi Miller, born in Rockbridge County, Virginia,
was one of thousands of slaves who accompanied their owners to the war
as a body servant. After nursing his master back to death from a
near-fatal wounding in the Wilderness campaign, Miller was voted by the
regiment to be a full-fledged soldier.
Miller
served the remainder of the war, exhibiting bravery in battles in
Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. His former
commander spoke highly of Miller's combat record, giving a riveting
account of his performance at Spotsylvania Courthouse. "About 4 p.m.,
the enemy made a rushing charge," wrote Captain J. E. Anderson. "Levi
Miller stood by my side-- and man never fought harder and better than he
did-- and when the enemy tried to cross our little breastworks and we
clubbed and bayoneted them off, no one used his bayonet with more skill,
and effect, than Levi Miller." Captain Anderson wrote: "During the
fight, the shout of my men was 'Give 'em hell, Lee!'"
In his letter of recommendation, Anderson dispelled any doubts as to
whether Miller had fought for the South of his own free will. "He was in
the Pennsylvania campaign, and at New Castle and Chambersburg he met
several Negroes whom he knew, and who had run away from Virginia," wrote
Anderson. "They tried to get Levi to desert -- but he would not".
After the war, Miller received a full pension
from Virginia as a Confederate veteran. According to the Winchester
Evening Star, "The pension was granted without trouble, and he had the
distinction of drawing one of the largest amounts of any person in the
state." Upon his death in 1921, the Evening Star published a front-page
obituary under the headline "Levi Miller, Colored War Veteran." It was
the sort of stirring tribute fit for a local hero.
Sources: Jordan, Jr., Ervin. (1995). Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia. University Press of Virginia, Page 447.
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| Levi Miller's gravestone in Lexington, Virginia. Photo taken by this blogger in January, 2019 following Lee-Jackson Day events. |
1 comment:
Original source: The Times-Dispatch, 12 October 1912.
"He has in in his possession a letter written by Captain J. E. Anderson of Company C, 5th Texas Regiment, which gives his war record and of which he is very proud. The letter, in part, follows:
"In accordance with your request, I have this day written Mr. B.C. Shull of Marlboro, Va., giving him a full account of your connection with our army. I told him of all the campaigns you were in, beginning with Yorktown, Fair Oaks, and Seven Days in front of Richmond, Maryland, Fredericksburg, Suffolk, Pennsylvania, Chickamauga, East Tennessee, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House, where, in the morning of May 10, 1864, you ran across to us over an open field and the Yankee sharpshooters fired several shots at you before you could get into your trench. You brought me some rations and you had to stay all day before you could get out, and how on that day the Yankees made a rushing charge on us, and you stood by my side and fought as gallantly as any man in the company; and after we had driven the Yankees away, Jim Swindler made the motion that Levi Miller be enrolled a full member of Company C, Fifth Texas Regiment. I put the motion and it was carried by a unanimous vote. I immediately enrolled your name on the roll of the company, and I still have that same roll."
After the war, Levi Miller received a full pension from Virginia as a Confederate veteran. According to the Winchester Evening Star, "The pension was granted without trouble, and he had the distinction of drawing one of the largest amounts of any person in the state." Upon his death in 1921, the Evening Star published a front-page obituary under the headline Levi Miller, Colored War Veteran (Jordan, 1995). Cited By Vernon R. Padgett, Ph.D
Excerpt from Virginia's Black Confederates: Essays and Rosters by Greg Eanes, Military Historian, Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest, Professor Hampden-Sydney College, Communication and Media and military history.
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