[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 12, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E136-E137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING A BUFFALO SOLDIER
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HON. MIKE ROSS
of arkansas
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, February 12, 2002
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, today I have the honor to share with you a
touching story of dedication to country under extraordinary conditions.
I recently had the pleasure of visiting with a constituent who has
dedicated her life to education, teaching and helping others, Mrs.
Eunice Davis Pettigrew. Mrs. Pettigrew, now in her 80s, is a former
small business owner and retired teacher and counselor at the
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Over the past several years, she
has continued her lifelong quest for academic excellence by researching
the life of her grandfather, Isaac Johnson, who grew up as a slave on a
southern plantation and later served in one of the first regular army
regiments of African-Americans on the American frontier following the
Civil War.
When I visited with Mrs. Pettigrew, she shared with me a heartfelt
narrative she recently completed about her grandfather's journey from
slave to soldier. Not only did her grandfather overcome a childhood of
slavery, he chose to serve his country even in the face of racial
prejudice and inequalities as a member of the U.S. Calvary in a
regiment that come to be known as the famous ``Buffalo Soldiers.''
Hearing this story reminded me that we should never forget the
challenges our predecessors faced to preserve this great nation. The
Civil War ended the nightmare of slavery, but we must all continue to
work, together and as individuals, each day to make sure that our
country truly is a community of all people.
As this month we celebrate Black History, we should take a moment to
remind those like Isaac Johnson and the many others who came before us
and made this nation strong, free, and prosperous. It is with
humbleness and gratitude that I share with you and submit to the
Congressional Record Mrs. Pettigrew's narrative about her grandfather,
Isaac Johnson, and how he overcame significant challenges to become a
true American patriot.
Isaac Johnson, A Slave--A Buffalo Soldier
This is a narrative of the life Isaac Johnson, the
experiences he had as a slave on a North Carolina plantation
as well as his experiences as a soldier on the Western
Frontier. It is a study of the development and the survival
of one Buffalo Soldier in particular, an unusual combination
of events such as the impact that slavery had on Isaac
Johnson's life, the Emancipation Proclamation and grandpa's
role in the Buffalo Soldiers. It is hoped this writing will
make known my
[[Page E137]]
grandpa's accomplishments during his life time.
Purpose
My name is Eunice Davis Pettigrew. I am Isaac Johnson's
grand-daughter. While consulting many secondary materials on
the history of the Buffalo Soldiers, the information
detailing Isaac Johnson's life comes directly from me. This
writing is to make known the facts as documented by my
research in the Pine Bluff-Jefferson County Library, The
Arkansas Historical Commission and The National Archives. I
also have a collection of pictures, notes and the family
Bible that I have kept over a period of about forty years. A
pictorial tour will reveal some of the injustices that black
solders endured. I have researched in eight states namely:
Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas,
Alabama and Arkansas.
I was about nine (9) years old when my grandmother passed
in 1926. My grandpa came to live with us in Pine Bluff
Arkansas after my grandmothers' death. Our family eventually
moved to Forrest City, Arkansas. During the years that
Grandpa lived with my family, he told me many stories of his
life as a slave and as a soldier. I was fifteen (15) years of
age when my grandpa died on December 7, 1931.
Isaac Johnson's Life Sketch
My grandpa was born about 1846, a slave in Charlottesville,
North Carolina. He was never told his real age. He had only
one (1) family member, a sister, who was sold from him at a
very early age. Grandpa's mother died during childbirth as
well as a twin sister.
To understand the bond that Isaac Johnson and his sister
shared, I think first we must examine the slave family. The
slave family had no standing in law. Marriages among slaves
were not legally recognized and masters rarely respected
slaves in selling adults or children. The male's sole purpose
was to breed in order to maximize the number of offspring.
Slave holders would also take sexual advantage of the female
slaves, most of the time with the master's wife's knowledge.
This created a multitude of biracial babies and an even
larger number of human beings to be used for servitude. Slave
owners had little or no regard for the emotional needs of
slaves. The slave holder, not the parents, decided at what
age children began to work in the fields. The slave family
could not offer its children shelter or security, rewards or
punishments. Despite all of this, my grandpa spoke on many
occasions of the close relationship that he and his sister
shared. Grandpa worked as a water boy on the plantation while
his sister worked as a wet nurse. She nursed all of the slave
babies while the slave women worked the fields. She was also
responsible for nursing the master's babies. Grandpa told me
about his sister making small bags of sugar and butter called
sugar ticks that were used to pacify the babies between
feedings. The babies were housed in a tee-pee like structure
with pallets all around the walls. My grandpa's sister still
found time in her busy day to show him love and affection.
Isaac Johnson remembered never leaving the plantation, so
when the opportunity finally arrived he was excited to say
the least. On the journey, he remembered looking outside of
the covered wagon and thinking out loud what a big world it
was. He noticed his sister sitting with her eyes closed and
tears streaming down her face. He could not understand her
tears at the time because there was so much excitement in the
air. He asked her continuously, what was wrong but got no
response. It was not until they reached their destination did
grandpa's excitement start to fade away. Confusion began to
set in for Grandpa, who was approximately two or three years
of age at the time. He observed his sister on the auction
block and being held up for public display to be sold. On
completion of the bidding, his sister was led away
blindfolded never to be seen by Grandpa again. What he
observed was a very humiliating and degrading experience for
his sister. Grandpa cried when he realized she had been taken
away from him. The loss that Grandpa felt from this
experience would be incomparable to anything else that he
would endure in life. No longer did he have that strong
family bond of someone to love him.
Grandpa often told me stories of life on the plantation.
One incident in particular, a group of slaves had been
chained together for a march when a woman went into labor.
She was loosed from the chains and left alone to deliver the
baby while the others continued on their journey.
To ensure the slaves obeyed the rules as set forth by the
Slave Codes and the will of the master, whenever someone was
found in violation of a rule, all the salves were called to
the ``Big House'' to watch the punishment of the slave in
question. Grandpa told me that he observed many of these
beatings. He described to me a large platform with a square
cut out of the center in which slaves were placed face down
and beat repeatedly with a whip. Violations of these rules
were dealt with in a variety of ways. Mutilation and branding
were not unknown. However, most violators were whipped. A
slave owner was immune from prosecution for any physical
abuse against slaves. This was due largely in part to the
fact that slaves could only testify against other slaves
accused of a crime. Alabama, as a store clerk. During this
time he lived with Emma Clark, a white woman. Emma Clark was
the head of her household and had a two-year-old daughter at
the time. It is my belief that Grandpa was Emma Clark's
slave. Clark's daughter's name was Maretta Clark, so I
believe this was Emma Clark's married name and that her
maiden name was Johnson. I further believe my grandfather
having no slave family's name to take, took his owner's
family name.
My grandpa entered the Army while living in Montgomery,
Alabama. He enlisted on the 6th day of May, 1867. He was a
private in Company K, 24th Regiment of Infantry. Grandpa was
transferred to Company 38 Infantry. He fought in the war with
the Comanche Indians in the territory of the Texas Frontier.
Isaac Johnson was shot in the right shoulder by a Comanche
Indian, while escorting mail from Fort Harker to Fort Union.
The wound was received near Cow Creek, Kansas in the Spring
of 1868. He was treated at Fort Selden, New Mexico and at
Fort Harker by Surgeon McClindon. My grandpa, Isaac Johnson,
was honorably discharged at Fort Selden, New Mexico, on about
May 6, 1870, due to the injury he received in the Spring of
1868. Grandpa returned to Montgomery, Alabama and to Emma
Clark's household. He worked as a hotel employee until he
reenlisted in the Army on June 14, 1878. He served in the
Colored Cavalry of Saint Louis, Missouri. Isaac Johnson
served in the Army for a period of five years but due to his
previous injury, complicated by other medical problems, he
was honorably discharged at Fort Stanton, New Mexico. He last
served in the Company F-9 Regiment Cavalry.
After my grandpa's service in the Army, he lived in several
areas including Montgomery, Alabama, Walls, Mississippi,
Austin, Mississippi, Plummerville, Arkansas, and Menifee,
Arkansas. Grandpa applied for bounty land and this
undeveloped land was given to him in the township of Menifee,
Arkansas. His family (The Johnsons), his sister-in-law's
family (The Williamsons) and the Tally families were among
the first settlers of this township. Menifee, Arkansas was my
grandpa's home until the death of my grandmother, Sallie
Walls Johnson, in 1926.
Isaac Johnson lived with my family in Pine Bluff, Arkansas
and then Forrest City, Arkansas until his death on December
7, 1931. He was memorialized and buried at his church,
Philadelphia Baptist in Menifee, Arkansas. He is buried in
the Community Cemetery with some of his descendants.
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